The Irregular Imperfect: ser, ir, ver

Spanish: El imperfecto irregular: ser, ir, ver

Level: A2 Elementary

Category: verbs

Explanation

The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) is one of the most regular tenses in Spanish. Most verbs follow a fixed pattern: -ar verbs end in -aba, -abas, -aba, etc., and -er/-ir verbs end in -ía, -ías, -ía, etc. The best part is that there are only THREE irregular verbs in the imperfect: ser, ir, and ver. Once you memorize them, you know every exception for this tense. The verb "ser" (to be) conjugates as era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran. The verb "ir" (to go) conjugates as iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban. The verb "ver" (to see) conjugates as veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían. Notice that "ver" is almost regular: it simply keeps the "e" from the infinitive stem (ve-) before adding the regular -ía endings. We use the imperfect to talk about habitual past actions ("As a child, I went to the park every day"), to describe how things or people were ("The café was small but cozy"), and to describe what we saw or perceived ("From the hotel, we could see the square"). That is why these three verbs come up constantly when telling stories about the past. Practice these three verbs until they come out automatically, because they are extremely common in any conversation about the past. Once you master them, the rest of the imperfect is completely predictable.

Examples

• El café era pequeño pero muy acogedor. - The café was small but very cozy.
• De niño, yo iba al mercado con mi abuela. - As a child, I went to the market with my grandmother.
• Desde la habitación del hotel veíamos toda la plaza. - From the hotel room we could see the whole square.
• ¿Cómo era el camarero que te atendió ayer? - What was the waiter who served you yesterday like?
• Antes, los trenes de la estación eran más lentos. - Before, the trains at the station were slower.