How to form the Spanish imperfect: two endings, three exceptions
To form the Spanish imperfect, you need two endings: -aba for -ar verbs and -ía for -er and -ir verbs. That works for almost every verb. Only ser, ir and ver are different: era, iba, veía.
The easiest way to learn it is to see it in a real text first.
A short story in the imperfect
Lucía is talking about her childhood. Every verb in bold is in the imperfect.
Cuando era niña, vivía con mis abuelos en un pueblo pequeño. Mi abuela cocinaba todos los días y mi abuelo trabajaba en el campo. Por la tarde, yo iba a la plaza con mis amigos. Jugábamos al fútbol y comíamos helado. Por la noche, veíamos la tele juntos. Tenía mucha suerte.
When I was a little girl, I lived with my grandparents in a small town. My grandmother cooked every day and my grandfather worked in the fields. In the afternoon, I went to the square with my friends. We played soccer and ate ice cream. At night, we watched TV together. I was very lucky.
Look at the verbs again:
- cocinaba, trabajaba, jugábamos come from -ar verbs. They end in -aba.
- vivía, comíamos, tenía come from -er and -ir verbs. They end in -ía.
- era, iba, veíamos are the three exceptions.
English often uses “used to” or just the simple past here: “my grandmother cooked every day.” The imperfect describes how life was, not one single event.
Two endings for almost every verb
Remove -ar, -er or -ir and add the ending. The colored letters are the endings.
| Person | hablar | comer | vivir |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hablaba | comía | vivía |
| tú | hablabas | comías | vivías |
| él / ella / usted | hablaba | comía | vivía |
| nosotros | hablábamos | comíamos | vivíamos |
| vosotros | hablabais | comíais | vivíais |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | hablaban | comían | vivían |
Two small things to remember:
- In -ar verbs, only nosotros has an accent: hablábamos.
- In -er and -ir verbs, every form has an accent on the í: tenía, not tenia.
The yo and él forms are the same: yo hablaba, él hablaba. Add the person when it isn't clear from the sentence.
Irregular elsewhere, regular here
Many verbs change in the present or in the preterite. In the imperfect, they don't. You just add the normal ending.
| Verb | Present | Preterite | Imperfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| pensar | pienso | pensé | pensaba |
| poder | puedo | pude | podía |
| querer | quiero | quise | quería |
| tener | tengo | tuve | tenía |
| hacer | hago | hice | hacía |
| decir | digo | dije | decía |
| llegar | llego | llegué | llegaba |
| empezar | empiezo | empecé | empezaba |
The same goes for pedía, volvía, jugaba, escribía and traía. If you know the infinitive, you know the imperfect.
Hay (there is, there are) becomes había (there was, there were). It stays singular, even with plural nouns:
- Había muchos niños en la plaza. (There were a lot of children in the square.)
The three exceptions: era, iba, veía
Ser and ir have their own forms. Ver is almost regular: it just keeps its e. Without the e, you'd get vía, which is wrong.
| Person | ser | ir | ver |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | era | iba | veía |
| tú | eras | ibas | veías |
| él / ella / usted | era | iba | veía |
| nosotros | éramos | íbamos | veíamos |
| vosotros | erais | ibais | veíais |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | eran | iban | veían |
In ser and ir, only éramos and íbamos have an accent. Every form of ver has one.
For ir in all its tenses, see our ir conjugation guide.
Forms that look similar
The conditional uses the same -ía endings, but it adds them to the whole infinitive:
- comía (I ate, I used to eat) and comería (I would eat)
- vivía (I lived) and viviría (I would live)
- iba (I used to go) and iría (I would go)
See our guide to the Spanish conditional.
Iba means “I used to go” or “I was going.” Fui means “I went,” one time. To decide between them in a story, read how to choose the preterite or the imperfect.
Practice: Pablo ten years ago
Pablo is talking about his life now. Rewrite each sentence about his life ten years ago. Start with Antes and put the verb in the imperfect.
- Vivo en Madrid.
- Trabajo en una oficina.
- Tengo un coche rojo.
- Juego al tenis con mi hermana.
- Mis padres van a la playa en agosto.
- Soy muy tímido.
- Veo series en inglés.
- Pido pizza los viernes.
Show answersHide answers
- Antes vivía en Madrid.
- Antes trabajaba en una oficina.
- Antes tenía un coche rojo.
- Antes jugaba al tenis con mi hermana. (No ue in the imperfect.)
- Antes mis padres iban a la playa en agosto.
- Antes era muy tímido.
- Antes veía series en inglés.
- Antes pedía pizza los viernes. (No change from e to i.)
Now try it with your own life. Write three sentences that start with Cuando era niño or Cuando era niña.
What next?
Read the short Spanish imperfect rule, then practice with the Spanish imperfect exercises on Espanido. To compare all the past tenses, see the three past tenses rule.
Full tables for every tense: hablar, comer, vivir, tener, llegar, empezar, pedir, escribir, ser, ir, ver.
