1. Spanish 2 – Grammar Notes
¡El imperfecto!
Spanish 2 – Grammar Notes

2. El imperfecto In Spanish, there are 2 ways to talk about the past:
1. the PRETERITE (from the last chapter) é, aste, ó, …
2. the IMPERFECT

3. El imperfecto
For now, we will ONLY focus on how to form the IMPERFECT tense. We will learn how to recognize the differences between the two (preterite vs imperfect) in the next chapter.

4. El imperfecto THE GOOD NEWS:
The “imperfecto” is the EASIEST verb tense to form in all of SPANISH!!!

5. El imperfecto
1. The imperfect tense is used to talk about repeated/habitual actions in the past. Sometimes it is like saying “used to…” or “was/were” doing something.
Ex: I used to go to the beach every summer.

6. El imperfecto
2. The imperfect is also used to describe people, places, or things in the past. Ex: I was shy. (or) The homework was easy.

7. El imperfecto 3. Verb endings used in the imperfect tense: AR - aba
- ábamos
- abas
- abais
- aba
- aban
ER / IR
- ía
- íamos
- ías
- íais
- ía
- ían

8. El imperfecto Try to conjugate the following verbs in the imperfect:
Hablar
Vivir

9. El imperfecto ANOTHER AWESOME THING ABOUT THE IMPERFECT:
Verbs that normally have a stem- change don’t change in the imperfect!
Jugar > Jugaba
Tener > Tenía
Dormir ---> Dormía

10. El imperfecto
Finally, one last thing: there are ONLY 3 IRREGULAR VERBS in the imperfect! Ir
Ver
Ser

11. El imperfecto IR
iba
íbamos
ibas
ibais
iba
iban

12. El imperfecto
VER
veía
veíamos
veías
veíais
veía
veían

13. El imperfecto
SER
era
éramos
-eras
erais
era
eran

14. El imperfecto
Common phrases you will see in sentences that use the imperfect are:
Por lo general (in general)
Generalmente (generally)
A menudo (often)
De vez en cuando (once in a while)
Todos los días (every day)
Siempre (always)
Nunca (never)