Imperfecto
Paint past habits, scenes and feelings — the storytelling tense, spoken out loud.
The imperfect is the background tense — it paints what the past looked like rather than what happened in it. Use it for habits (Siempre llegaba temprano a clase, De niña jugaba en el jardín), for descriptions and states (Hacía frío y nevaba mucho, Estaba cansado), and for an ongoing action that a preterite event interrupts: Leía un libro cuando llamaron a la puerta. The forms are friendly: -aba for -ar verbs, -ía for -er/-ir, and only three irregulars in the whole language — ser (era), ir (iba), ver (veía).
Below: the phrases that carry past-tense stories, the habit markers that signal the imperfect, the preterite mix-ups to avoid — and a way to practise it the way it's actually used: telling someone about your life, out loud, no conjugation tables.
The warm-up pack
The habits, scenes and childhood memories that only exist in the imperfect — said out loud, not conjugated on paper.
01 · The habit you had, not the thing you did
Hablaba español con mi abuela todos los días.
I used to speak Spanish with my grandmother every day.
This isn't one afternoon — hablaba says you did it again and again. The imperfect is built for anything repeated.
02 · Setting up 'always'
Siempre llegaba temprano a clase.
I always used to arrive early to class.
Siempre is the tell. Hear it, and your brain should already be reaching for the imperfect, not the preterite.
03 · Painting the weather
Hacía frío y nevaba mucho.
It was cold and it was snowing a lot.
Weather never 'finishes' in a story — it's the backdrop. That's always imperfect, never a preterite that wraps it up.
04 · The three irregulars, all in one breath
Era tímido, iba al colegio caminando y veía dibujos después.
I was shy, walked to school, and watched cartoons afterwards.
Ser, ir and ver are the only three irregular verbs in the whole imperfect tense — and here they are, all in one breath: era, iba, veía.
05 · When something cuts in
Leía un libro cuando llamaron a la puerta.
I was reading a book when there was a knock at the door.
The reading was already happening (imperfect) when the knock cut in (preterite). That pairing is the whole trick of telling a story.
06 · The mid-task blackout
Cocinaba y escuchaba música cuando se fue la luz.
I was cooking and listening to music when the power went out.
Two things going on at once, then one event stops them both. Stack as many imperfects as you like before the interruption lands.
07 · Childhood on autopilot
Cuando era niño, me levantaba temprano y jugaba en la calle.
When I was a child, I used to get up early and play in the street.
This is what 'used to' sounds like in Spanish — no extra word needed, the ending does the work.
08 · The softener nobody teaches you
Quería preguntarte algo.
I wanted to ask you something. (polite)
Quería instead of quiero softens the ask. It's not that you didn't finish wanting — it's just gentler, and that's why people reach for it.
09 · Setting a whole scene
Olía a café, se oía música suave y la gente hablaba en voz baja.
It smelled of coffee, soft music could be heard, and people were speaking quietly.
No single sentence sets a scene — you stack imperfects, one detail at a time, until the listener can picture the room.
10 · Before and after
Antes vivíamos en la ciudad y todo era ruidoso.
Before we lived in the city and everything was noisy.
Antes is how a story pivots — everything after it is the 'used to be' half, before the turn.
11 · The habit-word that skips 'used to'
Todos los días paseaba al perro.
Every day I used to walk the dog.
Todos los días plus the imperfect ending is doing double duty — you don't need a separate word for 'used to,' the verb already carries it.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/imperfectoRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
You won't fill in a single verb ending here — in the Imperfecto lessons, Carla gets you telling stories. She asks what your life was like cuando era niño and you paint it: where you lived, what you always did, how things felt. Then the before-and-after: Antes vivíamos en la ciudad y todo era ruidoso — and now? She'll even push you into the senses (olía a café…), because a scene you describe out loud is a tense you never forget.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Imperfecto is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
The imperfect is the background — ongoing, habitual, descriptive; the preterite is the event. They work together: Leía un libro cuando llamaron a la puerta — the reading was in progress (imperfect), the knock happened (preterite).
Only three: ser (era, eras, era, éramos, eran), ir (iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, iban) and ver (veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veían). Everything else follows the -aba / -ía patterns.
The imperfect carries it on its own: Iba al parque todos los días — I used to go to the park every day. You can also use soler in the imperfect: Solía correr por las mañanas.
Stack imperfects — time, weather, atmosphere, feelings: Eran las tres de la tarde y todo estaba tranquilo; La plaza estaba llena de gente y había música. Keep it to the essentials, then let the preterite deliver the event.
Quería is the imperfect of querer — an ongoing state of wanting. That softness makes it polite in requests: Quería preguntarte algo sounds gentler than a blunt present-tense demand.
