Capítulo 8 Gramática Imperfect tense

Imperfect tense

Used to describe past habits, or routines. In English, we frequently use the expression used to or would.
Often used with expressions that indicate repetitions such as siempre, todos los días, todos los años, con frecuencia, a menudo, normalmente, generalmente, a veces, etc.

• De niño, era mi responsabilidad sacar la basura.
  As a child, it used to be my responsibility to take out the trash.

• Todos los sábados limpiábamos la casa.
  Every Saturday we used to clean the house.
  

Another use of the imperfect is to describe an action in progress at a particular moment in the past where there is no emphasis on when the action began or ended.

• ¿Qué hacías a las tres?
  What were you doing at three o’clock?

• Yo cortaba el césped.
  I was cutting the lawn.

To form the imperfect of regular verbs, add the following endings to the stem.

The imperfect form of regular verbs of -er and -ir.

The verbs ser, ir, and ver are the only irregular verbs in the imperfect.

Stem-changing verbs in the imperfect
There are no stem-changing verbs in the imperfect. All verbs that have changes in the stem in the present or the preterite are regular.

• Mi madre cuelga la ropa afuera.
  Mi abuela también colgaba la ropa afuera.

The imperfect of the verb haber (hay) is había. Just as in the present tense (hay), there is onnly one form.

• Siempre había platos en el fregadero.
  There were always plates in the sink.

Present progressive
Present progressive describes actions in progress in the present. It’s also possible to use the imperfect of estar with the present participle

• Mi hermano estaba planchando su ropa.
  My brother was ironing his clothes.

• Yo estaba cortando el césped.
  I was mowing the lawn.