How do you form the imperfect tense in Spanish?
Take the infinitive without its -ar, -er or -ir and add one of two sets of endings. -Ar verbs take -aba: hablaba, hablabas, hablaba, hablábamos, hablabais, hablaban. -Er and -ir verbs share -ía: comía, vivía, tenía.
Vos uses the tú form — vos hablabas, vos comías — and yo and él share one, so add the subject when it is not clear: yo comía, ella comía.
No stem changes reach the imperfect, from the present or the preterite: jugar gives jugaba (not jueg-), acostar acostaba, tener tenía, poder podía, hacer hacía — every form built on the infinitive.
| Person | -ar (hablar) | -er, -ir (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, ustedes | hablaban | comían · vivían |
Which verbs are irregular in the imperfect?
Every other verb is regular in the imperfect, including the ones that are irregular almost everywhere else: tener (tenía), hacer (hacía), decir (decía), poder (podía), querer (quería).
Ir's iba is a form of its own — the academies' grammar calls it unique in its structure, in Latin and in Spanish. Ser takes the root er-: era, eras, éramos.
Ver is irregular only in keeping its e: veía, not vía. Its compounds follow it: prever gives preveía.
| Verb | Imperfect |
|---|---|
| ser | era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran |
| ir | iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban |
| ver | veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían |
Where do the accents go in the imperfect?
An -ar verb carries no accent until nosotros: hablaba, hablabas, hablaban — then hablábamos, stressed three syllables from the end, which always takes one. The vosotros form drops it again: hablabais.
Every form of an -er or -ir verb carries one on the í: comía, comías, comíamos. Without it, the í and the a would run together as one syllable — and hacía would turn into hacia, the preposition toward.
| Form | Accent | Why |
|---|---|---|
| hablábamos, éramos, íbamos | Yes | Stressed three syllables from the end |
| comía, vivía, veía, hacía | Yes | The í and the a are two syllables |
| hablaba, hablabas, hablaban | No | Stressed second to last |
| hablabais, erais, ibais | No | Stressed second to last |
When do you use the imperfect in Spanish?
A habit: words like todos los días, siempre, a menudo or de niño ask for it — cada mañana salía a dar un paseo. English says used to or would: when I was a child, I would have breakfast with my grandmother.
A description of how things were: people, places, the weather, the hour, someone's age — la casa era grande, llovía, eran las tres, tenía diez años.
An action in progress when something else happened, which takes the preterite: me levantaba cuando sonó el teléfono — I was getting up. The same shape can mean about to: ya me iba cuando llegaste, I was just leaving; iba a llamarte cuando llegaste.
Two uses point at the present. A polite request softens what you want now: quería pedirte un favor, ¿podíamos hablar un momento? And a plan already made can sit in the imperfect: mi avión salía mañana a las diez.
Which past to use — fui or iba, estuvo or estaba — is its own question, and preterite vs imperfect answers it with a quiz.
| Job | Example |
|---|---|
| A habit in the past | De niño, desayunaba con mi abuela. |
| A description | La casa era grande y tenía jardín. |
| In progress when something happened | Me levantaba cuando sonó el teléfono. |
| About to, then interrupted | Ya me iba cuando llegaste. |
| A polite request | Quería pedirte un favor. |
| A plan already made | Mi avión salía mañana a las diez. |
Why do English speakers get the imperfect wrong?
English has no single form for it — used to, would and was -ing all become the Spanish imperfect, and a simple past like I lived there can be either tense. So the slips come in two kinds: the form (pudía and tuvía, built on the preterite's stem; hablabamos without its accent; vía for veía) and the choice of past, which is its own page.
Our own grading data shows how often. Nivelo grades every conversation turn and writing task against the grammar it uses. Across 34 learners and 405 imperfect forms (recounted 24 September 2026), 33% were wrong — 39% at A2, 22% at B2. It covers every slip in the tense, form or use, and it is a count of our own learners, not a study.
What comes after the imperfect?
Preterite vs imperfect is the choice this tense lives in — hablé or hablaba, fue or era. The irregular preterite has the short stems the imperfect never uses (tuve, pude, hice), the conditional shares its -ía endings (comía, comería), and the imperfect subjunctive is a different tense despite the name — si tuviera, quería que vinieras. The present progressive is the -ing of now — estoy leyendo — and estar in the imperfect carries it into the past: estaba leyendo. Telling a story with both pasts is part of the step from A2 to B1: how to go from A2 to B1 is the plan. The free Spanish level test places you on the A1–C2 scale in five minutes.