Cuando Era Pequeño - Imperfecto and Storytelling
Era, Tenía, Vivía - The Imperfecto in One Card
The pretérito indefinido in Module 9 covered the events of a story — what happened, who did what, the moment things changed. Now you need a tense for everything around those events: how things were, what you used to do, the weather, the mood, the long Sunday afternoons that all blended together. That's the pretérito imperfecto, and it's the kindest tense in Spanish. There are only three irregulars and the regular endings are forgiving. By the end of this lesson, you can describe your childhood in three sentences.
The -ar Verbs
Every regular -ar verb takes the same six endings. Drop the -ar from the infinitive and add the imperfecto endings:
| Pronoun | hablar (to speak) |
|---|---|
| yo | hablaba |
| tú | hablabas |
| él / ella / usted | hablaba |
| nosotros / nosotras | hablábamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | hablabais |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | hablaban |
Three things to lock in:
- The yo and él/ella forms are identical: hablaba can mean "I spoke" or "he/she spoke." Context tells you which.
- Only the nosotros form carries an accent: hablábamos stresses the second syllable. Drop the accent in writing and the word reads wrong.
- Every ending is built on -aba-. If you hear that sound, you're listening to an imperfecto -ar verb.
A few real -ar examples:
- Cuando era pequeña, hablaba con mi abuela todos los días. – When I was little, I spoke with my grandmother every day.
- Mi padre trabajaba en una fábrica. – My father worked at a factory.
- De niño jugábamos en la calle hasta la noche. – As kids we used to play in the street until night.
- ¿Estudiabais juntos? – Did you all study together?
- Mis hermanos escuchaban música todo el rato. – My brothers used to listen to music all the time.
The -er and -ir Verbs
Spanish hands you another shortcut: -er and -ir verbs share the same imperfecto endings, just like in the indefinido. One pattern, two conjugations.
| Pronoun | comer (to eat) | vivir (to live) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | comía | vivía |
| tú | comías | vivías |
| él / ella / usted | comía | vivía |
| nosotros / nosotras | comíamos | vivíamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | comíais | vivíais |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | comían | vivían |
Two things to notice:
- Every form carries an accent on the í. No exceptions. Comía, comías, comía, comíamos, comíais, comían. The accent is the spine of the conjugation.
- The yo and él/ella forms are again identical: vivía means "I lived" or "he/she lived." Spanish leans on context.
Some real examples:
- Vivía en Vigo cuando era niña. – I lived in Vigo when I was a child.
- Comíamos en casa de mi abuela los domingos. – We used to eat at my grandmother's house on Sundays.
- Mis primos venían de Sevilla cada verano. – My cousins used to come from Sevilla every summer.
- ¿Salíais mucho los fines de semana? – Did you all go out a lot on weekends?
- Yo escribía cartas a mi mejor amigo. – I used to write letters to my best friend.
The Three Irregulars
The whole imperfecto has only three irregular verbs. Memorise them once and you're done.
| Pronoun | ser (to be) | ir (to go) | ver (to see) |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | era | iba | veía |
| tú | eras | ibas | veías |
| él / ella / usted | era | iba | veía |
| nosotros / nosotras | éramos | íbamos | veíamos |
| vosotros / vosotras | erais | ibais | veíais |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | eran | iban | veían |
Two notes worth keeping:
- Ver looks irregular because it keeps an extra e before the regular -ía endings (veía instead of vía). Once you spot the pattern, it falls in line.
- Ir and ser are the two verbs you'll use constantly: era pequeño, iba al colegio, era domingo, íbamos a la playa. Drill these first.
A few sentences with all three:
- Era un pueblo muy tranquilo. – It was a very quiet village.
- Íbamos a la playa todos los veranos. – We used to go to the beach every summer.
- Mis abuelos veían las noticias después de cenar. – My grandparents used to watch the news after dinner.
The Imperfecto on One Card
Strip everything down and you have just two patterns plus three irregulars:
| Ending | yo | tú | él/ella | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ar | -aba | -abas | -aba | -ábamos | -abais | -aban |
| -er/-ir | -ía | -ías | -ía | -íamos | -íais | -ían |
Three things to notice:
- The vosotros form drops the i in -ar (hablabais — yes, with that awkward double i sound) but keeps a clean -íais in -er/-ir. Spaniards say it constantly: ¿qué hacíais los domingos?
- Yo and él/ella are always identical. Spanish handles the ambiguity with context or a pronoun: yo era pequeño, mi hermano también era pequeño.
- No stem changes. A verb that changes its stem in the present (pensar → pienso, dormir → duermo) goes back to the regular stem in the imperfecto: pensaba, dormía.
A pronunciation note for Castilian: every -ía form puts the stress on the í. Vivía is bee-BEE-ah, not BEE-bee-ah. Drop the accent and the word collapses into the wrong tense.
Practice
Words to Remember
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| era | I/he was |
| eras | you were |
| éramos | we were |
| iba | I/he was going / went |
| íbamos | we were going / went |
| veía | I/he saw / used to see |
| tenía | I/he had |
| hablaba | I/he spoke |
| jugaba | I/he played |
| estudiaba | I/he studied |
| trabajaba | I/he worked |
| comía | I/he ate |
| vivía | I/he lived |
| salía | I/he went out |
| escribía | I/he wrote |
| cuando era niño | when I was a kid (m.) |
| cuando era niña | when I was a kid (f.) |
| de pequeño | as a child (m.) |
| el pueblo | the village |
| el barrio | the neighbourhood |
Conversation
Where you grew up
Pablo: ¿Dónde vivías de pequeña? Where did you live as a kid?
Marta: Vivía en un pueblo cerca de Vigo. I lived in a village near Vigo.
Pablo: ¿Y cómo era? And what was it like?
Marta: Era muy tranquilo. It was very quiet.
Childhood routines
Pablo: ¿Ibais al colegio andando? Did you all walk to school?
Marta: Sí, íbamos andando todos los días. Yes, we walked every day.
Pablo: Yo iba en autobús. I went by bus.
Weekends with family
Marta: Los domingos comíamos en casa de mi abuela. On Sundays we ate at my grandmother's.
Pablo: ¿Y qué hacíais después? And what did you do afterwards?
Marta: Veíamos la tele todos juntos. We watched TV all together.
Practice
Recall
Type the Spanish for each English meaning. Leave a row blank if you draw a blank — that counts as a miss.
Practice
Translation Exercise
Translate each English sentence into Spanish.
Cultural Note
The imperfecto is the tense of Spanish nostalgia, and Spaniards are nostalgic in a particular way. Every Spanish family has a phrase that sounds something like en mis tiempos (in my day) or antes era todo distinto (things used to be different) — and what follows is always imperfecto. Antes los niños jugaban en la calle. Antes la gente se conocía. Antes no había tantas pantallas. The whole "back in the day" speech is grammatical imperfecto and emotional truth wrapped together.
The Castilian classroom teaches the imperfecto early because it's the tense of the abuela story. Every grandparent in Spain has a stock of stories that begin cuando yo era pequeño, and those stories are how a family transmits its memory. If you can listen to a Spanish grandmother for ten minutes without losing the thread, you've crossed a real line. The verbs will be era, vivía, había, íbamos, comíamos, jugábamos, and you can ride those six verbs through almost any childhood story you'll ever hear.
A small note on accents: éramos, íbamos, hablábamos, comíamos — every nosotros form in the imperfecto carries a written accent. Drop the accent and Spanish stresses the wrong syllable. Spaniards write the accent because they hear it. Once you hear it too, you'll write it without thinking.