The Imperfect Tense in Spanish (A2)

what is it?

The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) is a past tense used to describe states, conditions, and actions that were ongoing or repeated at an unspecified point in the past. Unlike the preterite, which marks a single completed event with clear boundaries, the imperfect frames the background — what things were like, what someone used to do, or what was already happening when something else occurred.

when to use it

Descriptions and states in the past. Use the imperfect to describe how things were — appearance, age, feelings, weather, or any condition that simply existed rather than happened. Example: Hacía frío y la calle estaba vacía.
Habitual or repeated past actions. When something happened regularly — every day, every summer, as a child — the imperfect is the right choice. Time expressions like todos los días, cada verano, siempre, de niño are strong signals.
Background action interrupted by a preterite event. When one action was already in progress (imperfect) and a second, completed event cut across it (preterite), Spanish uses both tenses together. The imperfect sets the scene; the preterite delivers the new event.

formation

For regular verbs, drop the infinitive ending and add the imperfect endings. -ar verbs take one set of endings; -er and -ir verbs share another set.

pronoun	-ar (hablar)	-er/-ir (comer / vivir)
yo	hablaba	comía / vivía
tú	hablabas	comías / vivías
él / ella / usted	hablaba	comía / vivía
nosotros	hablábamos	comíamos / vivíamos
vosotros	hablabais	comíais / vivíais
ellos / ustedes	hablaban	comían / vivían

Note the written accent on the nosotros form of -ar verbs (hablábamos) and on every form of -er/-ir verbs (comía, comías…). These accents are required in writing.

Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect: ser, ir, and ver. All other verbs follow the regular pattern above.

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

The irregulars must be memorised as whole paradigms. Ser uses a completely different stem (er-); ir uses ib-; and ver keeps its v- and takes the regular -er endings (veía, veías…).

examples in context

Cuando era niño, iba a la playa todos los veranos.

When I was a child, I used to go to the beach every summer.

Both verbs are imperfect: era describes a state (being a child); iba marks a habitual action repeated every summer.

Mientras yo leía, mi hermana veía la televisión.

While I was reading, my sister was watching television.

Two simultaneous background activities — both imperfect. Neither interrupts the other; they simply coexisted.

Llovía mucho cuando llegamos a casa.

It was raining a lot when we arrived home.

The imperfect llovía sets the background weather; the preterite llegamos marks the single completed arrival that cuts into that background.

common pitfalls

Using the preterite for a background state. «Cuando fui niño» is incorrect because being a child is a continuous state, not a single completed event. The correct form is cuando era niño. Reserve the preterite for actions with a clear start and end point.
Regularizing the irregular imperfects. Learners sometimes produce «*ia» for ir or «*veiba» for ver. The correct forms are iba and veía. These three verbs (ser, ir, ver) are the only irregulars in the imperfect and must be memorised.
Keeping a one-time interrupting event in the imperfect. «*Mientras leía, mi hermana entraba» is wrong when a single, completed entrance is meant. A one-time event that interrupts an ongoing action must use the preterite: mientras leía, mi hermana entró. The imperfect would only be correct if the sister's entering were itself a repeated or ongoing background action.

Quick check

Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.

1 / 3

Buenas tardes, señores. ¿Ustedes ___ ver la carta de postres? (querer)

Fill in the blank with the correct imperfect form of the verb in parentheses.