Imperfect for Descriptions and Background | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

The preterite moves the plot forward -- it tells you what happened. The imperfect does something different: it paints the picture around the events. It tells you what the world looked like, how people felt, and what was already going on when the main action struck. Without the imperfect, narration in Portuguese sounds flat, like a police report. With it, you get atmosphere, texture, and depth.

Weather and environment

Describing past weather and surroundings is one of the most natural uses of the imperfect. The conditions were already in place -- they form the backdrop, not the action.

Chovia muito e fazia frio.

It was raining a lot and it was cold.

Já era noite e não se via nada.

It was already night and you couldn't see anything.

Notice that every verb here -- chovia, fazia, era, via -- is in the imperfect. None of these describe something that "happened." They describe what was true at that moment.

Physical descriptions of people and places

When you describe what a person or place looked like in the past, you are painting a picture, not reporting an event. The imperfect is the only natural choice.

A casa era grande e tinha um jardim enorme.

The house was big and had a huge garden.

Ela tinha cabelo comprido e olhos verdes.

She had long hair and green eyes.

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Verbs like ser, ter, and estar are the workhorses of description. In past narration, they appear in the imperfect far more often than in the preterite. If you are describing how something was rather than what happened, the imperfect is almost always correct.

Emotions and mental states

How someone felt, what they knew, what they wanted -- all internal states sit naturally in the imperfect because they describe a condition, not a completed action.

Estava cansado e queria dormir.

I was tired and wanted to sleep.

Tínhamos medo mas não dizíamos nada.

We were afraid but didn't say anything.

Here is a summary of the key verbs used to describe states and scenes in the past:

Verb	Imperfect (eu)	Typical use
ser	era	identity, permanent qualities, time
estar	estava	temporary states, weather, location
ter	tinha	possession, physical features
haver	havia	existence ("there was/were")
fazer	fazia	weather (fazia calor/frio)
querer	queria	desires, wishes
saber	sabia	knowledge, awareness
poder	podia	ability, possibility

Background + foreground: imperfect meets preterite

This is the classic narrative pattern in Portuguese. The imperfect lays down the scene -- the background. Then the preterite punches through with the event -- the foreground. The two tenses work together like a film: the imperfect is the slow establishing shot; the preterite is the sudden cut to action.

Estava a chover quando saí de casa.

It was raining when I left the house.

Dormia tranquilamente quando o alarme tocou.

I was sleeping peacefully when the alarm went off.

Enquanto eu cozinhava, o telefone tocou.

While I was cooking, the phone rang.

The following table shows how this pairing works in each sentence:

Imperfect (background)	Preterite (event)
estava a chover (it was raining)	saí de casa (I left the house)
dormia tranquilamente (I was sleeping peacefully)	o alarme tocou (the alarm went off)
eu cozinhava (I was cooking)	o telefone tocou (the phone rang)

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Words like quando (when) and enquanto (while) are strong signals. The clause with enquanto almost always takes the imperfect. The clause with quando can take either tense, but when it introduces a sudden event, the verb after quando is usually in the preterite.

Chaining imperfects for rich description

You are not limited to one imperfect per sentence. Stacking several together is how Portuguese builds vivid, atmospheric scenes. Each verb adds another layer to the picture.

Era domingo, chovia, não havia ninguém na rua e eu estava sentado à janela.

It was Sunday, it was raining, there was nobody on the street, and I was sitting at the window.

This single sentence contains four imperfect verbs -- era, chovia, havia, estava -- and zero preterites. Nothing "happened." The sentence exists purely to set a scene. This kind of descriptive chain is extremely common in Portuguese writing and storytelling.

Describing what someone was doing

When you want to express an action that was in progress at a particular moment in the past, the imperfect is the natural choice. European Portuguese uses two constructions for this:

Construction	Example	Translation
estar (imperf.) + a + infinitive	Estava a ler.	I was reading.
simple imperfect	Lia.	I was reading. / I used to read.

The estar a + infinitive form emphasises that the action was actively in progress at that moment. The simple imperfect can mean the same thing but is slightly more ambiguous -- it can also convey habit. In practice, both are used constantly, and context makes the meaning clear.

Estava a ler quando chegaste.

I was reading when you arrived.

O que fazias quando eu liguei?

What were you doing when I called?

Putting it all together

Think of the imperfect as the tense of how things were. Every time you describe a past situation where nothing is starting, finishing, or changing -- where you are simply showing the state of the world -- the imperfect is your tense. It answers questions like What was the weather like?, How did the place look?, What were they feeling?, and What was going on in the background? For the events that break into that scene, reach for the preterite. For the full picture of the imperfect -- formation, irregulars, and all its uses -- see the Imperfect Overview.