PRETERITE/PAST TENSE of the verb

- used to talk a about a SINGLE / COMPLETED event in the past.

El año pasado viajé a Estados Unidos.

Last year I traveled to the United States

The IMPEREFECT TENSE of the verb

- another verb tense used to talk about the past.
Use the imperfect tense to talk about:
➔ REPEATED / CONTINUOUS actions in the past
Tenía clases de gimansia cada semana. Jugaba al tenis todos los dias.
I had gymnastics classes every week. I played tennis everyday.

➔ what people USED TO DO/ how things USED TO BE

Iba al cine todos los sábados.
I used to go to the cinema every Saturday.

Antes jugábamos al fútbol, pero ahora preferimos hacer kárate.

Before we used to play football, but now we prefer to do karate.

➔ DESCRIPTIONS in the past - to DESCRIBE what something or someone was like in

the past.
En mi escuela primaria, las instalaciones eran mejores.
In my primary school, the facilities were better.

Cuando era pequeño las fiestas de Navidad eran las mejores del año.
When I was young, the Christmas festivities were the best of the year.

➔ To say what was happening at a certain time in the past

Trabajaba entonces en Madrid.
At that time I was working in Madrid.

To form/conjugate the imperfect tense

REGULAR verbs: simply drop the ending (-ar/-er/-ir) and add the proper ending:
SUBJECT PRONOUNS -AR -ER -IR
- aba - ía - ía
S
I
Yo  (I)
N
G
U
Tú  (You) - abas - ías - ías
L
A
R Él / Ella (He/She) - aba - ía - ía

- ábamos - íamos - íamos

P
L
Nosotros/Nosotras (We)
U
R
A
Vosotros/Vosotras (You) - abais - íais - íais
L
Ellos Ellas (They) - aban - ían - ían
Three common verbs that are IRREGULAR in the imperfect tense.
SUBJECT PRONOUNS ser ir ver
(to be) (to go) (to see)
S Yo  (I) era iba veía
I
I was I went I saw
N
G Tú  (You) eras ibas veías
U You were You went You saw
L
A
Él / Ella (He/She) era iba veía
R
She/He/It was She/He/It went She/He/It saw

P Nosotros/Nosotras (We) éramos ibamos veíamos

L
We were We went We saw
U
R Vosotros/Vosotras (You) erais ibais veíais
A You (pl) were You (pl) went You (pl) saw
L
Ellos Ellas (They) eran iban veían
They were They went They saw