Curso → Level 4 · El pasado y el futuro → Lección 8
Level 4 · Lesson 8 Cuando era pequeño
When I was little
El imperfecto: lo que pasaba muchas veces y cómo eran las cosas.
The imperfect: what used to happen, and how things were.
Escucha · Listen
Cuando Marcos era pequeño
Marcos, where did you live when you were little?
I lived in a small city, near a park.
And what was your house like?
It was old and very big. There were always flowers in the windows.
Did you go to school every day?
Every day. I usually went with my sister.
Did you see your grandparents?
Only in the afternoon. My grandmother would sing and I would dance.
Explicación · Explanation
El imperfecto tiene dos juegos de terminaciones. Los verbos en -ar: hablaba, hablabas, hablaba, hablábamos, hablabais, hablaban. Los verbos en -er y en -ir comparten el otro juego: comía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comían; vivía, vivías, vivía, vivíamos, vivíais, vivían.
After the preterite, the imperfect is a holiday. There are only two sets of endings. -ar verbs take -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban: hablaba, hablábamos. -er and -ir verbs share the other set, -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían: comía, comíamos, vivía, vivíamos. And there are no stem changes at all — the verbs that gave you trouble elsewhere behave perfectly here: poder gives podía, querer gives quería, dormir gives dormía, tener gives tenía.
Solo tres verbos son irregulares en todo el imperfecto: ser da era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran; ir da iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban; ver da veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían. Hay tiene su forma propia: había.
Three verbs, and only three, are irregular in the whole tense: ser (era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran), ir (iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban) and ver (veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían). Learn those eighteen forms and the imperfect holds no more surprises. hay has its own past, había, for there was and there were alike: Siempre había flores en las ventanas.
El imperfecto sirve para lo que pasaba muchas veces y para describir el pasado: la casa, la edad, la hora, el tiempo. Va bien con siempre, cada día y generalmente. En inglés se dice used to o would.
Use the imperfect for two things. First, habit: what happened again and again, with no interest in when it stopped — Iba a la escuela cada día, Mi abuela cantaba. English says used to go or would sing. Second, description: how things were — the house, your age, the hour, the weather. Its natural companions are siempre, cada día, generalmente. Two notes on the new words: the RAE writes solo without a tilde, and an adverb in -mente is built on the feminine form of the adjective (rápida gives rápidamente) — general has one single form for both genders, so generalmente.
Vocabulario · Vocabulary
| Palabra | Meaning | Nota · Note |
|---|---|---|
| siempre | always | |
| cada | each, every | invariable: cada día, cada casa |
| generalmente | usually, generally | |
| solo | only | sin tilde (RAE, 2010) |
| había | there was, there were | imperfecto de hay |
Práctica · Practice
Ponlo en práctica · Use it
Habla de tu infancia en voz alta, con cinco frases: «Cuando era pequeño, vivía en ________», «Mi casa era ________», «Iba a la escuela cada día», «Generalmente ________», «Siempre ________».
Describe your own childhood out loud in five sentences, starting each with Cuando era pequeño or Cuando era pequeña. Say where you lived, what your house was like, where you went every day, what you generally did and what you always did. Every verb should end in -aba or -ía; if one comes out as a preterite, say the sentence again slowly — the next lesson is about exactly that choice.