The Pretérito imperfecto

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To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the imperfect tense, drop the -ar ending and add: -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban. Note that the first and third person singular share the same form.

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Both -er and -ir verbs share the exact same set of endings in the imperfect: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. All endings carry a written accent mark on the letter í.

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The verb 'ser' is completely irregular in the imperfect tense. Its forms are: era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran. Use 'ser' to describe past characteristics, age, or time.

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The verb 'ir' is highly irregular in the imperfect: iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban. It is frequently used to describe habitual past actions of going somewhere.

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The verb 'ver' is only slightly irregular because it retains the 'e' from the infinitive before adding the endings: veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían.

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The imperfect tense is used to describe actions that were repeated habitually or formed part of a routine in the past, often translated as 'used to' or 'would' in English.

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When painting a picture of the past—describing physical appearance, weather, emotions, settings, or conditions without a defined endpoint—use the imperfect tense.

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To express how old someone was at a specific point in the past, use the verb 'tener' in the imperfect tense (tenía, tenías, tenía, teníamos, teníais, tenían).

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Just like present-day time uses 'es la una' and 'son las dos', past time requires the imperfect forms of 'ser' ('era' for 1 o'clock, 'eran' for other hours).

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Weather verbs and expressions like 'hacer', 'llover', and 'nevar' take the imperfect when describing ongoing or background weather conditions in a past story or memory.

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The imperfect is frequently used with 'mientras' (while) to show two ongoing actions happening simultaneously in the past, neither of which has a definite beginning or end.

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Certain phrases naturally signal habitual past actions and trigger the imperfect: 'siempre' (always), 'todos los días' (every day), 'a menudo' (often), 'de niño / pequeño' (as a child), and 'normalmente' (normally).