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Quick Answer
The Spanish imperfect tense (el imperfecto ) is used to describe past
habitual actions or to talk about what someone was doing when they were
interrupted by something else.
To conjugate a regular verb in the imperfect tense in Spanish, simply remove the
infinitive ending (-ar, -er, or -ir) and add the imperfect ending that matches the subject.
yo -aba -ía
tú -abas -ías
Habitual or repeated actions are those that were done over and over in the past. These
are often things a person used to or would do.
When talking about a past action in progress that was interrupted, the action in
progress is in the imperfect, while the interrupting action is in the preterite. For more on
the differences between the preterite and the imperfect, check out this article!
Iba a clase cuando sonó el teléfono.
I was going to class when the telephone rang.
The imperfect is used to talk about times and dates in the past.
Era el 9 de mayo.
It was May 9th.
4. Age
The imperfect is used to give descriptions in the past, especially those that set the
scene in terms of the senses.