The imperfect is another past tense that is used to express an action as going on in the past, as repeated or habitual. It is also used with mental and physical conditions and for descriptions. The preterite tense is used much more often than the imperfect tense though, except with these verbs: querer, creer, poder, esperar, tener, and saber. It is formed by adding these endings to the infinitive stem.
-ar verbs
-aba -ábamos
-abas -abais
-aba -aban
-er and -ir verbs
-ía -íamos
-ías -íais
-ía -ían
Yo vivía en España. I used to live in Spain.
Luisa estaba triste. Louise was sad.
El vendía radios. He was selling radios.
Only a few verbs are irregular in the imperfect tense:
ser – to be
era
eras
era
éramos
erais
eran
ir – to go
iba
ibas
iba
íbamos
ibais
iban
ver – to see
veía
veías
veía veíamos
veíais
veían
Links
http://www.ielanguages.com/spanish2.html
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Word Document at: 033 Spanish Imperfect Tense
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