Transcript The Imperfect - Villanova University

The Imperfect
Describing how life used to be
Uses of Imperfect
1. To express how life used to be in
the past.
Cuando era niña jugaba en el
parque todo los días.
When I was a child I played in the
park every day.
Uses of Imperfect
2. To express repeated or habitual
actions.
Cuando estaba de vacaciones me
levantaba tarde todas las mañanas.
When I was en vacations I used to
(would) get up late every morning.
Uses of Imperfect
These words express usual or repeated actions
and are often used with the imperfect.
A menudo
A veces / muchas veces
Con frecuencia
De niño/a
Los martes
Por lo general
Todos los días / meses
Often
Sometimes / often
Frecuently
As a child
On Tuesdays
In general
Every day / month
Uses of Imperfect
The verb soler (ue) + Infinitive = used
to + Infinitive is always used in the
Imperfect . It denotes a habitual
action in the past and it is frecuently
used.
Solíamos pasar todos los veranos en
la casa de campo.
We used to spend every summer in
our house in the country.
Uses of Imperfect
3.To express ongoing actions or
states.
El pasajero leía el libro
tranquilamente.
The passenger was reading the book
quietly.
Uses of Imperfect
Estaba + -ando / -iendo is used to
emphasize the ongoing nature of the
action.
Se estaban divirtiendo mucho en la
piscina de su casa.
They were having fun in the
swimming pool of his house.
Uses of Imperfect
4. To state time in the past.
Eran las tres de la tarde.
It was three o´clock in the afternoon.
Uses of Imperfect
5. To express age.
Tenía veinte años cuando viajé a
España por primera vez.
I was twenty years old when I went to
Spain for the first time.
Uses of Imperfect
6. To express two simultaneous
actions often joined by mientras.
Yo hacía las maletas mientras mi
esposo pagaba la cuenta del hotel.
I was packing the suitcases while my
husband was paying the hotel bill.
Uses of Imperfect
7. To express the intention to do
something in the past without regard for
whether or not the action took place (iba
a + infinitive)
Nosotros íbamos a visitar Machu Pichu,
pero no tuvimos suficiente tiempo.
We were going to visit Machu Pichu, but
we did not have enough time.
FORMS
1. The regular verbs.
The regular verbs conjugation
follows this pattern: -ar verbs end in
–aba and –er and –ir verbs end in
–ía. They share a single set of
endings.
Regular Verbs
-ar
volar
-er
conocer
-ir
salir
volaba
volabas
volaba
volábamos
Volabais
Volaban
conocía
conocías
conocía
conocíamos
conocíais
conocían
salía
salías
salía
salíamos
salíais
salían
2. Irregular verbs
There are only three irregular verbs:
ser, ir, and ver.
ir
ser
ver
iba
ibas
iba
íbamos
ibais
iban
era
eras
era
éramos
erais
eran
veía
veías
veía
veíamos
veíais
veían
Exercises
Let´s do the exercises in page 447,
Cabos Sueltos section.
FIN