El imperfecto
is one of two simple past tenses in Spanish (the other is the pretérito)
To conjugate
ar
,
er & ir
verbs just drop the ending and add:
-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, íais, -ían
How do I know when not to use the pretérito?
If the action did
not
take place
at a definite time in
the past, then you use the imperfect tense, which expresses action that took place at an indefinite
time or has not been completed. The preterite is the tense that would normally be thought of as the
past tense in English.
When do we use the
imperfecto
in Spanish? You use it when you want to:
1.
Set the stage
in the past for a narration, situation or background.
2.
Express a
habitual
, customary or repeated action in the past.
3.
Express
continuous
actions in the past.
4.
Provide a
description
of something in the past.
5.
Describe the
point of origin
in the past.
6.
Express
time
in the past.
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- Spring '10
- Staff
- Spanish, simple past tenses, Express continuous actions, Sally. jugó jugaba, office frequently. estuve, television. gustó gustaba
-
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