Imperfect Tense and Combining Past Tenses

The imperfect tense is the second main past tense in Spanish. It describes ongoing, habitual or repeated actions in the past, descriptions, and background information. Combining the preterite and imperfect effectively is a hallmark of higher-level Spanish.

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1. Regular Imperfect Conjugation

-AR Verbs (e.g. hablar)

Subject	Ending	Example
yo	-aba	hablaba
tú	-abas	hablabas
él/ella/usted	-aba	hablaba
nosotros/as	-ábamos	hablábamos
vosotros/as	-abais	hablabais
ellos/ellas/ustedes	-aban	hablaban

-ER / -IR Verbs (e.g. comer, vivir)

Subject	Ending	Example (comer)	Example (vivir)
yo	-ía	comía	vivía
tú	-ías	comías	vivías
él/ella/usted	-ía	comía	vivía
nosotros/as	-íamos	comíamos	vivíamos
vosotros/as	-íais	comíais	vivíais
ellos/ellas/ustedes	-ían	comían	vivían

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2. Irregular Verbs in the Imperfect

There are only THREE irregular verbs in the imperfect tense:

Subject	ser	ir	ver
yo	era	iba	veía
tú	eras	ibas	veías
él/ella	era	iba	veía
nosotros	éramos	íbamos	veíamos
vosotros	erais	ibais	veíais
ellos	eran	iban	veían

Exam tip: Only THREE verbs are irregular in the imperfect (ser, ir, ver). Everything else is regular. This makes the imperfect one of the easiest tenses to learn.

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3. When to Use the Imperfect

Use	Example	English
Habitual/repeated past action	Jugaba al fútbol todos los días.	I used to play football every day.
Description in the past	Era alto y tenía el pelo rubio.	He was tall and had blond hair.
Background/setting	Hacía sol y había mucha gente.	It was sunny and there were lots of people.
Age in the past	Cuando tenía diez años…	When I was ten years old…
Time in the past	Eran las tres de la tarde.	It was three in the afternoon.
Ongoing action (interrupted)	Dormía cuando sonó el teléfono.	I was sleeping when the phone rang.
Emotions/states in the past	Estaba contento.	He was happy.

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4. Preterite vs Imperfect — The Key Distinction

graph LR
    A[Past Tenses] --> B[PRETERITE]
    A --> C[IMPERFECT]
    B --> D[Completed action]
    B --> E[Specific time]
    B --> F[What happened]
    C --> G[Ongoing/habitual action]
    C --> H[Description/background]
    C --> I[What things were like]

Examples Showing the Contrast

Preterite (what happened)	Imperfect (background/description)
Fui al cine. (I went to the cinema.)	Hacía frío. (It was cold.)
Comí una pizza. (I ate a pizza.)	Tenía mucha hambre. (I was very hungry.)
Me caí. (I fell.)	Llovía mucho. (It was raining a lot.)
Llegó mi amigo. (My friend arrived.)	Estaba esperando. (I was waiting.)

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5. Combining Both Tenses — Model Paragraph

El verano pasado fui a Barcelona con mi familia. Hacía mucho calor y el cielo estaba despejado todos los días. El primer día visitamos La Sagrada Familia, que era impresionante. Había muchos turistas pero pudimos entrar sin esperar mucho. Mientras caminábamos por Las Ramblas, vi un artista callejero que hacía trucos de magia increíbles. Nos paramos a mirar y fue muy divertido. Por la noche cenamos en un restaurante que estaba cerca del puerto. La comida estaba riquísima y el ambiente era muy agradable. Fue un viaje fantástico.

Exam tip: Using both tenses together is essential for high marks in writing and speaking. Use the imperfect for setting the scene (weather, descriptions, what things were like) and the preterite for the events/actions (what happened). This combination demonstrates excellent grammatical control.

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Key Vocabulary Summary

• Imperfect -ar: -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban
• Imperfect -er/-ir: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían
• Irregular imperfect: ser (era), ir (iba), ver (veía)
• Preterite = completed actions, events (what happened)
• Imperfect = descriptions, habits, background (what things were like)

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Worked example — translating a paragraph that requires both tenses

Task: Translate the following English paragraph into Spanish. The paragraph deliberately mixes setting (imperfect) with events (preterite) — the choice of tense is the key challenge.

English: "Last summer my family and I went to a small village in the south of Spain. The village was beautiful and there were few tourists. Every morning we used to walk to the beach because it was very close. One day, while my brother was swimming, he saw a dolphin and got really excited. We were having lunch in a restaurant when the waiter told us that there was a festival in the square. We went immediately. The music was loud and people were dancing in the streets. It was an unforgettable experience."

Step 1 — categorise each English verb: