The Spanish Imperfect: Regular Forms, Ser, Ir, and Ver

The Spanish Imperfect: Regular Forms, Ser, Ir, and Ver

In this lesson, you will learn the Spanish imperfect tense. The imperfect is commonly used for past habits, repeated actions without a defined endpoint, descriptions, age, time, and background situations.

Regular -AR imperfect endings

Use hablar — to speak as a model.

Subject	Spanish	English
yo	hablaba	I used to speak / was speaking
tú	hablabas	you used to speak / were speaking
él / ella / usted	hablaba	he / she used to speak; you used to speak
nosotros / nosotras	hablábamos	we used to speak / were speaking
vosotros / vosotras	hablabais	you all used to speak / were speaking
ellos / ellas / ustedes	hablaban	they / you all used to speak / were speaking

The regular -AR endings are -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, and -aban.

Regular -ER and -IR imperfect endings

Use comer — to eat as a model.

Subject	Spanish	English
yo	comía	I used to eat / was eating
tú	comías	you used to eat / were eating
él / ella / usted	comía	he / she used to eat; you used to eat
nosotros / nosotras	comíamos	we used to eat / were eating
vosotros / vosotras	comíais	you all used to eat / were eating
ellos / ellas / ustedes	comían	they / you all used to eat / were eating

Regular -IR verbs use the same endings. For example, vivir — to live gives vivía, vivías, vivía, vivíamos, vivíais, vivían.

Written accents are part of the forms

Notice the accent marks in forms such as:

• hablábamos — we used to speak
• comía — I / he / she used to eat
• comíamos — we used to eat
• vivían — they used to live

Do not omit these written accents.

Ser is irregular in the imperfect

Subject	Form
yo	era — I was
tú	eras — you were
él / ella / usted	era — he / she was; you were
nosotros / nosotras	éramos — we were
vosotros / vosotras	erais — you all were
ellos / ellas / ustedes	eran — they / you all were

Ir is irregular in the imperfect

Subject	Form
yo	iba — I used to go / was going
tú	ibas — you used to go / were going
él / ella / usted	iba — he / she used to go; you used to go
nosotros / nosotras	íbamos — we used to go / were going
vosotros / vosotras	ibais — you all used to go / were going
ellos / ellas / ustedes	iban — they / you all used to go / were going

Ver is irregular in the imperfect

Subject	Form
yo	veía — I used to see / was seeing
tú	veías — you used to see / were seeing
él / ella / usted	veía — he / she used to see; you used to see
nosotros / nosotras	veíamos — we used to see / were seeing
vosotros / vosotras	veíais — you all used to see / were seeing
ellos / ellas / ustedes	veían — they / you all used to see / were seeing

Use the imperfect for past habits

• De niño, jugaba en el parque todos los días. — As a child, I used to play in the park every day.
• Los sábados comíamos con mis abuelos. — On Saturdays we used to eat with my grandparents.
• Siempre iba a la escuela a pie. — I always used to go to school on foot.

For this lesson, a pie — on foot and mis abuelos — my grandparents are useful everyday expressions.

Use the imperfect for description and background

• La casa era pequeña. — The house was small.
• El barrio era tranquilo. — The neighborhood was quiet.
• Había un parque cerca. — There was a park nearby.

For this lesson, había — there was / there were is a high-frequency imperfect form of hay that will be used as a background expression.

Use the imperfect for age

Spanish commonly uses tener in the imperfect for age in the past.

• Tenía diez años. — I was ten years old.
• Ana tenía seis años. — Ana was six years old.

Use the imperfect for clock time in the past

• Eran las ocho. — It was eight o'clock.
• Era la una. — It was one o'clock.

Do not translate the imperfect with one English formula every time

The imperfect can correspond to “used to,” “was / were -ing,” or a simple English past form depending on context.

• Vivía en Madrid. — I lived / used to live in Madrid.
• Comía cuando llamó Ana. — I was eating when Ana called.
• La casa era grande. — The house was large.

The meaning comes from the function in the story, not from one fixed English translation.

Subject agreement still matters

• Yo vivía en Madrid. — I lived in Madrid.
• Nosotros vivíamos en Madrid. — We lived in Madrid.
• Ellos vivían en Madrid. — They lived in Madrid.

A practical formation method

1. Identify whether the verb is regular -AR or regular -ER / -IR.
2. Add the corresponding imperfect ending for the subject.
3. Preserve required accent marks.
4. Learn ser, ir, and ver as irregular imperfect paradigms.
5. Use the imperfect for habits, descriptions, age, time, and background situations.
6. Do not reduce the imperfect to one English translation.

From Imperfect Forms to Story Background

You can now form the regular imperfect and use ser, ir, and ver in the imperfect for habits and past states. The next lesson focuses on distinguishing background description from completed events in Spanish stories.