One of the kindest gifts the Spanish imperfect gives learners is this: -er and -ir verbs share the same set of endings. Learn one pattern and you have both conjugations at your fingertips.
The shared endings
Both -er and -ir verbs in the imperfect take the endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -ían. Every single form carries a written accent on the í — no exceptions.
| Subject | Ending |
|---|---|
| yo | -ía |
| tú | -ías |
| él / ella / usted | -ía |
| nosotros | -íamos |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | -ían |
Comer as a model (-er)
Take comer (to eat), drop the -er, and add the endings to the stem com-.
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | comía |
| tú | comías |
| él / ella / usted | comía |
| nosotros | comíamos |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | comían |
De pequeños, comíamos tamales en casa de la abuela cada domingo.
As kids, we used to eat tamales at grandma's house every Sunday.
Mi primo comía demasiado dulce y siempre le dolía el estómago.
My cousin used to eat too much candy and his stomach always hurt.
Vivir as a model (-ir)
Now vivir (to live). Drop -ir and add the same endings to the stem viv-.
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| yo | vivía |
| tú | vivías |
| él / ella / usted | vivía |
| nosotros | vivíamos |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | vivían |
Ustedes vivían cerca del mar, ¿verdad?
You all used to live near the sea, right?
Common -er and -ir verbs
Many high-frequency verbs follow this pattern. A short list:
| Infinitive | yo form |
|---|---|
| tener | tenía |
| hacer | hacía |
| querer | quería |
| escribir | escribía |
| salir | salía |
Notice that verbs irregular elsewhere — such as tener and hacer — are perfectly regular in the imperfect. This makes the imperfect one of the simplest tenses in all of Spanish.
Hacía mis tareas antes de ver televisión.
I used to do my homework before watching TV.
Mis abuelos escribían cartas a sus primos en España.
My grandparents would write letters to their cousins in Spain.
No stem changes either
Like their -ar counterparts, these verbs never show stem changes in the imperfect. Querer is quería, not quiería. Dormir is dormía, not duermía. The imperfect stem is always the plain infinitive stem.
Yo quería ser astronauta cuando tenía seis años.
I wanted to be an astronaut when I was six years old.
Common mistakes
❌ Yo comia mucho dulce de niño.
Wrong: missing the accent on the í.
✅ Yo comía mucho dulce de niño.
Correct: every -er/-ir imperfect form carries an accent on the í.
❌ Ella quiería ser doctora.
Wrong: applying a stem change that does not exist in the imperfect.
✅ Ella quería ser doctora.
Correct: no stem changes in the imperfect — quería, not quiería.
❌ Yo duermía muy bien antes.
Wrong: dormir has no stem change in the imperfect.
✅ Yo dormía muy bien antes.
Correct: dormía — the imperfect always uses the plain stem.
With regular verbs out of the way, move on to the three true irregulars: ser, ir, and ver.
Related Topics
- Regular -ar VerbsA2 — Forming the imperfect tense of regular -ar verbs with the endings -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -aban.
- Ser in the ImperfectA2 — Conjugation and use of the irregular verb ser in the imperfect tense — era, eras, era, éramos, eran.
- Usage: Habitual ActionsA2 — Using the imperfect tense to describe habitual, repeated actions in the past — the equivalent of English 'used to do' and 'would do'.