This is one of the two most common past tenses used in Spanish, along with the pretérito. Compared with the pretérito, it is used for past events without a clear beginning or end. It has one of the most regular formations of any tense. It is used for:
- Habitual or repeated past actions
- Background descriptions in the past
- Ongoing actions without clear start/end
- Mental/emotional states in the past
- Time and age in the past
Regular Conjugations
| Pronoun | -AR | -ER/-IR |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -aba | -ía |
| tú | -abas | -ías |
| él/ella/ud. | -aba | -ía |
| nosotros | -ábamos | -íamos |
| vosotros | -abais | -íais |
| ellos/uds. | -aban | -ían |
Every -ar verb takes -aba, with no exceptions.
Regular -AR verb: hablar in Imperfecto
-er and -ir verbs take -ía in every person.
Regular -ER/-IR verb: comer in Imperfecto
Irregular Verbs
ser, ir and ver are the whole list. Every other verb is regular here.
| Pronoun | ser | ir | ver |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | era | iba | veía |
| tú | eras | ibas | veías |
| él/ella/ud. | era | iba | veía |
| nosotros | éramos | íbamos | veíamos |
| vosotros | erais | ibais | veíais |
| ellos/uds. | eran | iban | veían |
ser has a stem of its own, era.
ser in Imperfecto
ir builds on iba, which keeps nothing of its infinitive.
ir in Imperfecto
ver keeps the e the other verbs drop: veía, not vía.