Pretérito Imperfecto in Spanish

The pretérito imperfecto is used to talk about past habits, repeated actions, descriptions, and situations that were in progress.

A useful beginner rule is:

Use the imperfecto to describe what things were like or what used to happen in the past.

When to use the imperfecto

Past habits and repeated actions

Use the imperfecto for things that happened regularly in the past.

• Cuando era pequeña, jugaba en el parque todos los días. — When I was little, I used to play in the park every day.
• Antes íbamos mucho al cine. — We used to go to the cinema a lot.
• Siempre desayunaba café con pan. — I always had coffee and bread for breakfast.

Common expressions include:

• siempre — always
• normalmente — normally
• a menudo — often
• todos los días — every day
• de pequeño/a — when I was little
• antes — before / in the past

Descriptions in the past

Use the imperfecto to describe people, places, weather, age, time, or general situations.

• La casa era pequeña pero bonita. — The house was small but pretty.
• Hacía mucho frío. — It was very cold.
• Tenía diez años. — I was ten years old.
• Eran las ocho de la mañana. — It was eight in the morning.
• Había mucha gente en la calle. — There were many people in the street.

Actions in progress

The imperfecto can describe an action that was already happening when another event occurred.

• Dormía cuando sonó el teléfono. — I was sleeping when the phone rang.
• Cocinábamos cuando llegó Ana. — We were cooking when Ana arrived.

Here, the imperfecto gives the background action, while the completed event is usually in the pretérito indefinido.

How to form the imperfecto

-ar verbs

For verbs such as hablar:

Person	Form
yo	hablaba
tú	hablabas
él / ella / usted	hablaba
nosotros/as	hablábamos
vosotros/as	hablabais
ellos / ellas / ustedes	hablaban

-er and -ir verbs

Comer and vivir use the same endings:

Person	Comer	Vivir
yo	comía	vivía
tú	comías	vivías
él / ella / usted	comía	vivía
nosotros/as	comíamos	vivíamos
vosotros/as	comíais	vivíais
ellos / ellas / ustedes	comían	vivían

Irregular verbs

Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfecto:

Ser

era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran

Ir

iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban

Ver

veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían

Imperfecto vs indefinido

A useful distinction is:

• Imperfecto → background, habits, descriptions, actions in progress
• Indefinido → completed events and actions that move the story forward

Compare:

• Cuando era pequeña, vivía en Madrid. — When I was little, I lived in Madrid.
• En 2018 me mudé a Barcelona. — In 2018, I moved to Barcelona.

The first sentence describes a past situation. The second refers to a completed event.

See Pretérito Indefinido vs Imperfecto for a more detailed comparison.

Cuando and mientras

The imperfecto often appears with cuando and mientras when describing past situations.

• Cuando era estudiante, trabajaba los fines de semana. — When I was a student, I worked on weekends.
• Mientras estudiaba, escuchaba música. — While I was studying, I listened to music.

See Cuando vs Mientras for more examples.

Quick rule

Use the pretérito imperfecto for what used to happen, what was happening, and what things were like in the past.