Imperfect Tense

El Tiempo Imperfecto

Introduction

Introducción

Also known as the past continuous, the imperfect verb tense is used to describe events taking place in the past without regards to when the event began or ended.

The imperfect tense describes actions that:
• were happening,
• used to happen,
• or happened regularly in the past and on going.

The preterite is more akin to the English past tense, in that it specifies an exact time the action took place.

The examples below illustrate the difference with the word hablar (to speak, talk):

Imperfect
Ella hablaba.
She was talking.

Preterite
Ella habló.
She talked.

Vocabulary

Vocabulario

Play hablar
to talk to speak
Play saber
to know
Play comer
to eat
Play escribir
to write

Ask the Polly Ambassadors a question

Haz una pregunta a los Embajadores Polly

Have questions about this lesson? Get a video answer from a Polly Ambassador, if your question is relevant and interesting.

Comments

Comentarios

Change language Flag fr French Flag en English Flag it Italian Flag de German Flag pt Portuguese