What you’ll learn
- Form regular -aba and -ía patterns.
- Use era, iba and veía in past descriptions.
- Describe a past habit or situation without presenting its endpoint.
Look inside a past situation
The imperfect presents a past situation from within, without focusing on its start or finish. Use it for a habitual scene, a background description or an action in progress at a past reference point. De niña leía mucho describes a childhood habit, while hacía frío sets a scene. The imperfect does not mean an event never ended; it simply leaves the boundary outside the focus.
Regular -ar verbs use -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais and -aban: trabajaba, trabajabas, trabajaba, trabajábamos, trabajabais, trabajaban. The yo and él/ella/usted forms are identical, so add a subject or context when needed. The nosotros written accent in -ábamos matters.
De niña jugaba en este parque.
As a child I used to play in this park. (female speaker)
La calle estaba tranquila.
The street was quiet.
Trabajábamos cerca del río.
We used to work near the river.
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The -ía pattern and three key irregulars
Regular -er and -ir verbs share -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais and -ían: comía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comían. The written accent appears in every form of this pattern. Ser gives era/eras/era/éramos/erais/eran, ir gives iba/ibas/iba/íbamos/ibais/iban, and ver gives veía/veías/veía/veíamos/veíais/veían.
Useful background details include age, weather and time: Tenía diez años, llovía, eran las ocho. These are common contexts, not magic words forcing one tense in every possible sentence. A following event may use the preterite to move the story forward. First practise a coherent background paragraph, then add an event in the next lesson.
Íbamos a la escuela a pie.
We used to walk to school.
Tenía diez años y leía cada tarde.
I was ten and read every afternoon.
Eran las ocho y llovía.
It was eight o'clock and it was raining.
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Useful vocabulary
- de niño / de niña
- as a child
- antes
- before / formerly
- a menudo
- often
Common mistakes
- Imperfect does not mean the situation continues today.
- Keep written accents in comía and trabajábamos.
- Do not replace era or iba with a regular-looking form.
Keep these ideas
- The imperfect supplies background, habits and an inside view of a past situation.
- Use -aba for regular -ar verbs and -ía for -er/-ir verbs.
- Learn ser, ir and ver as frequent irregular patterns.
Use it in your life
Set the scene for a story in four sentences: time, weather, location and one repeated habit. Leave the main event for later.
Read it in context
Look for this lesson’s ideas in a complete Spanish story. Read the passage first, then use its translations to check your understanding.
Read a public A2 storyLesson quiz
5 equally weighted questions. Score 80% or higher to complete this lesson. You can retry as often as you need.
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