We mainly use the imperfect tense when talking about repeated, usual, or habitual actions in the past:

To form the imperfect tense of -ar verbs, take off the -ar ending and add the endings: -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban. To form the imperfect tense of -er and -ir verbs, take off the -er and -ir endings and add the endings: -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. ser, ir and ver are irregular in the imperfect.

• Los sábados yo jugaba con mi vecino.
• Usualmente él llegaba temprano.
• Mi madre siempre me preparaba desayuno.
• La ciudad era vieja y sucia.
• La sirenita se llamaba Ariel y tenía seis hermanas.
• Isabel tenía ocho años.

The imperfect tense is used: to describe repeated or continuous actions in the past. to describe what something or someone was like in the past.

In very general terms, the preterite tense is used to refer to a single event that happened at a specific point of time or had a specific duration in the past, while the imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing events or events without a specific time period in the past.

Hubo is preterite. You use hubo when talking about a completed action or something that happened/existed in a definite amount of time. Había is imperfect.

But it may be helpful to think of the imperfect (such as era and eran) being used primarily when talking about inherent characteristics and to think of the preterite (such as fue and fueron) to refer to events in the broadest sense of the word.

The imperfect (abbreviated IMPERF) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). English has no general imperfective and expresses it in different ways.

In general, the imperfect is used to talk about past actions, conditions, or events that occurred habitually or repeatedly or that were in progress at a point in the past….Uses of the Imperfect Tense

1. Habitual or Repeated Actions.
2. Actions that Were in Progress in the Past.
3. Times and Dates.
4. Age.

Another tense that has to do with the past is the ‘imperfect indicative’. Basically, this refers to an action that took place in the past, but was ongoing for a period of time and where the time of completion of the action is not specified.

The imperfect tense endings for -er and -re verbs are: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. The imperfect tense endings for -ir verbs are: -issais, -issais, -issait, -issions, -issiez, -issaient.

The perfect tense describes things that happened and were completed in the past. It is not used for things that happened regularly or in descriptions. The perfect tense is formed with the present tense of avoir or être and a past participle. Most verbs take avoir in the perfect tense.

How to Conjugate Verbs in the Imparfait:

1. The stem consists of the first-person plural (nous) form of the present tense without the o n s ending.
2. Add the following endings to the stem: a i s, a i s, a i t, i o n s, i e z, a i e n t. All of the singular and the third-person plural endings are pronounced the same way.

Let’s conjugate ÊTRE

1. I am = Je suis. I am a woman = Je suis une femme.
2. You are = Tu es (casual) You are so friendly = Tu es si gentil.
3. She is = Elle est.
4. He is = Il est.
5. We are = on est.
6. We are = nous sommes.
7. You are = vous êtes (formal or you all)
8. They are = Elles sont (for an exclusively feminine group)

You’re off the hook with the stem change in the imperfect; venir conjugates normally in this tense….Conjugating the Irregular Spanish Verb Venir (to Come)

Imparfait vs passé composé In a nutshell, the imparfait is used for incomplete actions while the passé composé is reserved for completed ones, but of course it’s more complicated than that.

jamais can be used in L’Imparfait or Le Passé Composé.

We use the imparfait to describe conditions, or the backdrop to the main action. This is one reason why the imparfait and passé composé are often used in the same passage or phrase—the imparfait sets up the main action by giving background, while the passé composé is used for the primary, completed action.

Tex has gone to the Alamo. Tex did go to the Alamo. The passé composé consists of two parts, the present tense of an auxiliary, or helping verb (either avoir or être ), and a past participle. In most instances the auxiliary verb used is avoir….

Conjugation French verb finir with the auxiliary verb avoir.

Sortir (to get out) is a verb full of exceptions. It’s irregular, and it can have either être or avoir as an auxiliary verb, depending on the meaning you want to convey.