The imperfect tense for -er and -ir verbs
Just like with -ar verbs, you can use the imperfect tense to talk about past habits ("used to do") or describe ongoing past situations ("was doing").
The best part about regular -er and -ir verbs in the imperfect is that they share the exact same endings! To conjugate them, drop the -er or -ir from the infinitive and add the -ía endings.
| Pronoun | beber | vivir |
|---|---|---|
| yo | bebía | vivía |
| tú | bebías | vivías |
| él/ella/usted | bebía | vivía |
| nosotros/nosotras | bebíamos | vivíamos |
| vosotros/vosotras | bebíais | vivíais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | bebían | vivían |
Notice that every single form has an accent mark over the í. Once again, the yo and él/ella/usted forms are exactly the same, so you will often rely on context or pronouns to clarify who is doing the action.
Life in the old days
Because the imperfect describes how things used to be, it is the go-to tense for talking about history and setting the scene in a past century (el siglo) or era (la época).
| In that century, the train did not exist. | En ese siglo no existía el tren. |
| In that era, people lived in the country. | En aquella época, la gente vivía en el campo. |
| Before the war, we lived in peace. | Antes de la guerra, vivíamos en paz. |
Past habits and routines
You will also use these -ía endings to describe the daily routines of people in the past, including kings (reyes) and queens (reinas).
| The king drank a lot of wine in the palace. | El rey bebía mucho vino en el palacio. |
| The queen wrote letters in the palace. | La reina escribía cartas en el palacio. |
| We used to read with a candle every night. | Nosotros leíamos con una vela todas las noches. |
You can comfortably mix -ar verbs (-aba) and -er/-ir verbs (-ía) in the imperfect to describe a bustling scene from the past:
| My grandmother sewed the clothes and my grandfather cooked. | Mi abuela cosía la ropa y mi abuelo cocinaba. |
