Imperfect: Complete Reference | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) is Spanish's "background past". Where the preterite reports a finished event — I called — the imperfect paints the scene around it — I was calling, I used to call, I would call (every Sunday). It expresses habits, descriptions, ongoing actions, age, time, weather, and polite requests in the past.

This page collapses every imperfect sub-topic into one reference. For the other half of the Spanish past, see Preterite: Complete Reference.

The Good News: It's Almost Completely Regular

The imperfect is the easiest Spanish past tense:

Two sets of endings cover every verb.
Only three verbs are irregular in the entire language: ser, ir, ver.
There are no stem changes and no spelling changes.

Regular -ar Endings

Drop -ar and add the -aba endings. The nosotros form is the only one with an accent.

Subject	Ending	hablar	trabajar	jugar
yo	-aba	hablaba	trabajaba	jugaba
tú	-abas	hablabas	trabajabas	jugabas
él / ella / usted	-aba	hablaba	trabajaba	jugaba
nosotros	-ábamos	hablábamos	trabajábamos	jugábamos
ellos / ustedes	-aban	hablaban	trabajaban	jugaban

💡

The yo and él forms are identical: hablaba. Context or a pronoun disambiguates — yo hablaba, él hablaba. This is true for every -ar verb in the imperfect.

Cuando era niño, jugaba fútbol todos los sábados.

When I was a kid, I used to play soccer every Saturday.

See Regular -ar.

Regular -er / -ir Endings

-er and -ir verbs share a single set of imperfect endings: the -ía endings. Every form carries an accent on the í.

Subject	Ending	comer	vivir	tener
yo	-ía	comía	vivía	tenía
tú	-ías	comías	vivías	tenías
él / ella / usted	-ía	comía	vivía	tenía
nosotros	-íamos	comíamos	vivíamos	teníamos
ellos / ustedes	-ían	comían	vivían	tenían

Antes vivíamos cerca del parque y caminábamos a la escuela.

We used to live near the park and we'd walk to school.

See Regular -er/-ir.

The Only Three Irregulars

There are exactly three irregular verbs in the imperfect — no more. Memorize these and you're done with the forms forever.

Subject	ser	ir	ver
yo	era	iba	veía
tú	eras	ibas	veías
él / ella / usted	era	iba	veía
nosotros	éramos	íbamos	veíamos
ellos / ustedes	eran	iban	veían

Cuando éramos jóvenes, íbamos a la playa cada verano.

When we were young, we used to go to the beach every summer.

Mi abuelo veía las noticias todas las noches.

My grandfather used to watch the news every night.

💡

Notice that ver isn't truly irregular — it just keeps the extra e from its stem (ve- + -ía = veía). Most textbooks list it as irregular anyway because students often drop the e.

See Ser, Ir, and Ver.

Uses of the Imperfect

The imperfect has five overlapping jobs. All of them share a common thread: the action is seen as unfinished, recurring, or in progress — not as a closed event.

1. Habitual and Repeated Actions

Things you used to do, or would do (meaning "habitually did").

Los domingos visitábamos a mi abuela.

On Sundays we used to visit my grandmother.

De niña, yo leía todas las noches antes de dormir.

As a little girl, I would read every night before bed.

Mi padre siempre llegaba tarde del trabajo.

My father always got home late from work.

See Habitual Actions.

2. Descriptions in the Past

Any description — of people, places, objects, weather, feelings — lives in the imperfect, because a description has no clear beginning or end.

La casa era grande, tenía un jardín enorme y las paredes eran blancas.

The house was big, it had a huge garden, and the walls were white.

Mi profesora tenía el pelo largo y siempre llevaba vestidos coloridos.

My teacher had long hair and always wore colorful dresses.

See Descriptions.

3. Background / Setting the Scene

When you set the stage for a story, the scene-setting verbs go in the imperfect and the action that "breaks" the scene goes in the preterite.

Era de noche, llovía a cántaros y yo caminaba solo cuando vi la luz.

It was nighttime, it was pouring rain, and I was walking alone when I saw the light.

Mientras ella cocinaba, los niños miraban la tele.

While she was cooking, the kids were watching TV.

💡

Mientras (while) almost always takes the imperfect, because it describes two things going on simultaneously in the background.

4. Age, Time, Weather in the Past

These three categories always use the imperfect when talking about the past.

Category	Example
Age	Tenía diez años. — I was ten years old.
Time	Eran las cuatro de la tarde. — It was four in the afternoon.
Date	Era lunes. — It was Monday.
Weather	Hacía frío y nevaba. — It was cold and snowing.

Cuando tenía quince años, vivía en Lima.

When I was fifteen, I lived in Lima.

Eran las once de la noche y todavía estudiábamos.

It was eleven at night and we were still studying.

💡

For telling past time, use eran with any hour except one o'clock, which takes era (era la una). Same singular/plural rule as the present.

See Age, Time, Weather.

5. Ongoing Actions (Past Progressive Equivalent)

The imperfect can describe an action that was happening at a particular moment — the English "was —ing".

¿Qué hacías cuando te llamé?

What were you doing when I called you?

Estudiaba matemáticas cuando se fue la luz.

I was studying math when the power went out.

💡

You can also use the past progressive (estaba estudiando) for emphasis on the ongoing moment, but the plain imperfect is usually enough.

See Ongoing Actions.

6. Politeness

The imperfect of querer and poder softens requests — it's the past-tense version of English "I wanted to ask..." instead of the blunter "I want to ask...".

Quería pedirte un favor.

I wanted to ask you a favor.

¿Podías ayudarme un momento?

Could you help me for a moment?

💡

Despite being in the past, these sentences are about now. The past form is purely a politeness marker.

See Politeness.

Time Markers That Signal the Imperfect

Certain adverbs and expressions strongly suggest the imperfect because they describe repeated or ongoing time.

Spanish	English
siempre	always
nunca	never
a menudo	often
a veces	sometimes
de vez en cuando	from time to time
todos los días / años	every day / year
cada semana / mes	every week / month
los sábados, los domingos...	on Saturdays, Sundays...
de niño / de pequeño	as a child
antes	before, in the past
mientras	while
generalmente	generally

De niño, iba a la playa todos los veranos con mis abuelos.

As a child, I would go to the beach every summer with my grandparents.

Antes no me gustaba el café, pero ahora sí.

I didn't use to like coffee, but now I do.

Imperfect vs. Preterite: The Quick Decision

Ask yourself...	Answer	Tense
Is the action finished and bounded?	Yes	Preterite
Is the action a habit or routine?	Yes	Imperfect
Am I describing a scene?	Yes	Imperfect
Is one thing happening while another happens?	Background = imperfect; interrupter = preterite	Both
Time, age, weather, emotions, opinions (in the past)?	Yes	Imperfect
A sequence of specific events?	Yes	Preterite

Mientras yo cocinaba, ella llegó.

While I was cooking, she arrived.

Todos los días iba al gimnasio, pero ayer no fui.

I used to go to the gym every day, but yesterday I didn't.

💡

A useful test: if the English translation works as "was doing", "used to do", or "would do (habitually)", you almost always want the imperfect. If English uses simple past (did) and the action has a clear endpoint, you want the preterite.

For more contrast drills, see Preterite vs Imperfect.

Study Checklist

Memorize the two endings (-aba and -ía) cold — they're nearly the whole tense.
Lock in the three irregulars: ser → era, ir → iba, ver → veía.
Learn the trigger adverbs (siempre, todos los días, mientras, de niño) as signals.
Practice the six uses on their own before mixing them with the preterite.
When narrating a story, think of the imperfect as the camera's long shot and the preterite as the close-up on the action.

Common mistakes

❌ Cuando era niño, fui al parque todos los días.

Wrong: habitual past actions need the imperfect, not the preterite.

✅ Cuando era niño, iba al parque todos los días.

Correct: iba (imperfect) for habitual actions.

❌ Fueron las tres cuando llegamos.

Wrong: telling time in the past always uses the imperfect.

✅ Eran las tres cuando llegamos.

Correct: eran (imperfect) for clock time.

❌ Yo quiería ser astronauta.

Wrong: there are no stem changes in the imperfect.

✅ Yo quería ser astronauta.

Correct: quería — the imperfect uses the plain infinitive stem.

❌ Ella vía la televisión todas las noches.

Wrong: ver keeps the extra e in the imperfect.

✅ Ella veía la televisión todas las noches.

Correct: veía, not vía — the stem is ve-, not v-.