Spanish uses the imperfect tense to talk about ongoing past actions, background descriptions, and past habits (things you "used to" do or "would" do repeatedly).
| In my childhood, I used to jump rope in the yard. | En mi infancia, yo saltaba la cuerda en el patio. |
Conjugating regular -ar verbs
To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the imperfect, drop the -ar ending and add the following endings. Here is the verb saltar (to jump):
| Pronoun | Imperfect ending | Example (saltar) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -aba | saltaba |
| tú | -abas | saltabas |
| él/ella/usted | -aba | saltaba |
| nosotros/nosotras | -ábamos | saltábamos |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | -aban | saltaban |
Notice that the yo and él/ella/usted forms are exactly the same. Context usually makes it clear who is acting, but you can include the subject pronoun if you need to be specific.
| My grandfather says that I used to invent silly rules. | Mi abuelo dice que yo inventaba reglas tontas. |
| My sister used to put away the dolls, and I would look for them. | Mi hermana guardaba las muñecas y yo las buscaba. |
Also, pay close attention to the nosotros/nosotras form: it always has an accent mark on the first a of the ending.
| We used to invent silly rules for the game. | Nosotros inventábamos reglas tontas para el juego. |
Here are a few more examples of the imperfect tense in action to describe childhood memories:
| Did you always climb the yard wall? | ¿Siempre trepabas la pared del patio? |
| The girls used to play with the ball and the dolls. | Las niñas jugaban con la pelota y las muñecas. |
Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io