The Spanish imperfect: how things were
You use the imperfect to build the background in the past: what things were like, what was ongoing, and what you used to do. It is ideal for descriptions, age, weather, time of day, and habits in past routines. The best part is how regular it is.
The rule
The imperfect is the tense you choose to set the past scene. It does not present a finished event, it paints the background: a situation, a repeated routine, a description, an atmosphere. Use it when you want to say what something was like, what was ongoing, or what happened regularly.
You will often see it with time and frequency markers that naturally point to background and repetition: “antes”, “siempre”, “todos los días”, “mientras”, “de pequeño”, “normalmente”, “a menudo”, “cada verano”. These words are not required, but they strongly suggest the imperfect because they talk about habits, ongoing time, and setting.
At a glance
Regular imperfect endings
| Persona | -ar (hablar) | -er (comer) | -ir (vivir) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablaba | comía | vivía |
| tú | hablabas | comías | vivías |
| él/ella/usted | hablaba | comía | vivía |
| nosotros/nosotras | hablábamos | comíamos | vivíamos |
| vosotros/vosotras | hablabais | comíais | vivíais |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hablaban | comían | vivían |
Heard in real Spanish
Native speakers on YouTube, in videos about something other than grammar. The notion is in pink. Each clip starts a second before the line.
Yo sentía que tenía que jugar Barrabas como había sido.
I felt Barrabas had to play as he always had.
Cuando un futbolista fue ASES1NAD0 por un AUTOGOL by Mafia e Historia | Jonah · Watch on YouTube
Elisabeth era con la que tenía más dudas.
Elizabeth was the one he had the most doubts about.
Orgullo y prejuicio y la locura de su adaptación by SensaCine · Watch on YouTube
Examples
- Antes yo vivía en el centro.Before, I lived downtown.“Antes” sets a past frame, the imperfect describes a situation.
- Siempre tenía mucha hambre por la mañana.I was always very hungry in the morning.“Siempre” + imperfect signals a repeated pattern.
- Todos los días iba al trabajo a las ocho.Every day, I went to work at eight.“Ir” is irregular: iba, ibas, iba.
What to remember
- The imperfect builds the past background: habits, descriptions, states, atmosphere.
- Two regular patterns: -aba for -ar, and -ía for -er and -ir.
- Only three irregulars: ser, ir, ver.
- In the singular, “yo” and “él/ella/usted” share the same form, a subject pronoun is often helpful.
- For an interruption, the ongoing action is imperfect and the interrupting event is completed.
Check yourself
1 Fill the blank with the correct imperfect form of “vivir” (yo).
Antes yo ___ en el centro.
- vivía
- viví
- vivo
- vivir
Show the answer
vivía. With “antes”, you describe a past situation. “Vivir” in the imperfect, first person: “vivía”.
2 Choose the sentence that describes a past habit.
- Todos los días iba al trabajo a las ocho.
- Ayer fui al trabajo a las ocho.
- Voy al trabajo a las ocho.
- Mañana voy al trabajo a las ocho.
Show the answer
Todos los días iba al trabajo a las ocho.. “Todos los días” + “iba” expresses a repeated routine in the past.
Take the full lesson
“The imperfect: how things were” in the Streal course: the whole explanation, the quiz, and every YouTube extract picked for it. Free to start, nothing to install. The full lesson goes on with the rest of the explanation and more examples, the common mistakes and the practice quiz.