ESPAÑOL 3SEÑORITA ALDEMIR

El Imperfecto: la conjugación, los usos, y una comparación

con el pretérito

REGULARES Y IRREGULARES

La conjugación del imperfecto

La conjugación regular

Regular –AR ending verbs have the following endings: -aba -abas -aba - ábamos -aban

Tomar (to drink, to take): tomaba, tomabas, tomaba, tomábamos, tomaban

Regular –ER and –IR ending verbs have these endings: -ía -ías -ía -íamos -ían

Leer (to read): leía, leías, leía, leíamos, leían

Subir (to climb): subía, subías, subía, subíamos, subían

La conjugación de los verbos irregulares

¡Solo hay tres irregulares en el imperfecto!

IR (to go): iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, iban

SER (to be): era, eras, era, éramos, eran

VER (to see): veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veían

CONTINUACIÓN DEL EVENTO EN EL PASADO

Los usos del imperfecto

The biggest use…

The imperfect tense is used to indicate the continuance of a past action or event, or to describe a situation in past time.

Neither the beginning nor the end of the event or situation is indicated.

Debajo del paraguas…

1. The imperfect is used to express what was happening, used to happen, or happened repeatedly in the past.

Los pájaros cantaban. The birds were singing. Vivíamos en esta calle. We used to live on this

street. Miguel a menudo

llegaba tarde. Miguel often would

arrive late.

Debajo del paraguas…

2. To describe persons or things in the past.

Pedro era rubio y tenía los ojos azules.

Pedro was blonde and had blue eyes.

La sala estaba llena de gente.

The living room was full of people.

Debajo del paraguas…

3. To describe a state of mind in the past, with verbs such as creer, pensar, querer, and saber.

Creíamos que era importante.

We believed it was important.

Querían comprar un coche nuevo.

They wanted to buy a new car.

Debajo del paraguas…

4. To express a time of day in the past.

Eran las ocho.It was 8 o’clock.

Hacía + expression of time + que + imperfect tense

Use this construction to describe an action or event that began in the past and continued in the past.

If the action is STILL continuing today, use the present tense, not the imperfect tense!

“How long…?” = “¿Cuánto tiempo hacía que…? + the imperfect tense.

Hacía un mes que viajaban.

They had been traveling for a month.

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que dormían?

How long had they been sleeping?

The imperfect tense + desde hacía + an expression of time

This construction is also used to describe an event that began in the past and continued in the past.

Again—this is for events that started, continued, and ended in the past, not ones that are still happening today.

“How long…?” = “¿Desde cuándo…?” + the imperfect tense.

Viajaban desde hacía un mes.

They had been traveling for a month.

¿Desde cuándo dormían?

How long had they been sleeping?

El uso del imperfecto CON el pretérito

Use the imperfect with the preterite to describe a situation that was going on (the imperfect) when an action or event occurred—that is,was begun or completed (the preterite).

Comíamos cuando nos llamó.

We were eating when he called us.

CUANDO SE USA UNO U OTRO PARA HABLAR DEL PASADO

La comparación con el pretérito

El PretéritoEl Pretérito El ImperfectoEl Imperfecto

Narrates a series of completed actions or events.

Indicates a limit of the action or event (either the beginning or the end).

Describes a situation

Indicates the continuance of an action or event (neither the beginning or the end).

Preterite and Imperfect Compared: Concept

El PretéritoEl Pretérito El ImperfectoEl Imperfecto

Actions that started in the past and ended in the past.

Actions that happened once or a specific number of times in the past.

 Onset of a feeling in the past.

 2 or more actions in the same sentence: Series of consecutive events in the past or the Interruption of an (imperfect) action in progress  

Repetitive action in past Ongoing action in past Age in the past Time in the past Descriptions/Setting the

scene; (weather, time, etc.)

2 actions in the same sentence: Going on at the same time (imperfect – mientras in between) or being interrupted by the preterite.

Preterite and Imperfect Compared

Refer to…

These notes.Your preterite and imperfect cheat sheet.

Tell me why the sentences on the following slides use either the preterite or the imperfect.

Preterite and Imperfect Compared

Yo fui al supermercado.De repente, ocurrió un accidente.Hacía sol todo el día.Yo bailaba mientras mi hermana cantaba.Una vez comimos en este restaurante.

A Practicar

Complete the following story by filling in the blanks with the imperfect or the preterite of the verbs in the parentheses.

Ayer mientras yo (1)______(esperar) a mi amiga vi a Matt Damon. Yo ______ (estar) en un restaurante en Hollywood cuando un hombre(2)_______(entrar). El se sentó con otro hombre en una mesa cerca de mí. Luego, cuando Matt Damon se levantó para salir, de repente (3)______(levantarme). Yo le (4)___________(pedir) su autógrafo. El me lo (5) ______(dar). (6)_________(ser) un día excelente.