Imperfect

Imperfect Tense 

The imperfect tense is a past tense, that is can be understood with the acronym CHEATS

Continuous actions – Yo comía. I was eating.
Habits- Cuando yo era niño, yo bailaba. When I was a kid, I used to dance.
Emotional state – Yo estaba feliz.I was happy.
Age – Yo tenía diez años.I was ten years old.
Time – Eran las tres de la tarde.It was three in the afternnon.
Setting – Hacía buen tiempo.The weather was nice. 
Simultaneous actions – Yo escuchaba mientras tú hablabas. 
Think of this tense as the one you would use for descriptions and generally referring to the past, whereas the preterit would be used for specific actions.

 

-AR Verbs 

Singular		Plural
Yo	-aba	Nosotros	-ábamos
Tú	-abas	Vosotros	-abais
El Ella Usted	-aba	Ellos Ellas Ustedes	-aban

 

-ER and -IR Verbs

Singular		Plural
Yo	ía	Nosotros	-íamos
Tú	-ías	Vosotros	-íais
El Ella Usted	-ía	Ellos Ellas Ustedes	-ían

 

 

There are a few word and phrases that can be a hint to use the imperfect tense:

a veces – sometimes
de vez en cuando – once in a while
a menudo – often
siempre – always
nunca – never
mientras – while
a diario- every day
normalmente – normally, usuallyPractice

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