Imperfect subjunctive: regular verbs (-ara, -iera)

The Imperfect Subjunctive

When talking about past wishes, doubts, emotions, or hypothetical scenarios, we use the imperfect subjunctive (pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo). You will often see it after past tense triggers like esperaba que... (I hoped that...) or no pensaba que... (I didn't think that...).

Forming regular "-ar" verbs

To form the imperfect subjunctive for regular -ar verbs, drop the infinitive ending and add:

• yo: -ara
• tú: -aras
• él/ella/usted: -ara
• nosotros/nosotras: -áramos
• vosotros/vosotras: -arais
• ellos/ellas/ustedes: -aran

Forming regular "-er" and "-ir" verbs

For regular -er and -ir verbs, the endings are identical. Drop the infinitive ending and add:

• yo: -iera
• tú: -ieras
• él/ella/usted: -iera
• nosotros/nosotras: -iéramos
• vosotros/vosotras: -ierais
• ellos/ellas/ustedes: -ieran

Don't forget the accent mark!

Notice that the nosotros forms always require a written accent on the vowel just before the ending (-áramos, -iéramos) to maintain the correct spoken stress.

The alternative "-ase" and "-iese" endings

The imperfect subjunctive has two valid sets of endings. Instead of -ara and -iera, you can also use -ase and -iese (e.g., trabajase or viviese). Both are correct and widely used in Spain, but we will focus on practicing the -ara and -iera forms here.