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Lesson 16 · Lección decimosexta - Lección dieciséis

The Imperfect Past Tense in Spanish

El hotel de Cestona

María encuentra a Juana.
— ¿Cómo estás Juana, cómo está José?
— José está en el balneario de Cestona. Hint Está muy contento, pero en lugar de una carta manda un trozo de lectura.
— ¿Tienes su carta aquí?
— Sí. Oye.
“Queridos padres y hermanas:
Durante mi primera semana en Urberuaga hablaba con muchos enfermos, y también con médicos y todos me aconsejaban ir a Cestona. text translation
En Urberuaga, por la tarde, en mi habitación, hablaba con otros enfermos de ... enfermedades. Hablaban sobre todo ellos y yo escuchaba, pero todo esto me cansaba mucho. En un libro de Azorín hay una excelente descripción del hotel de Cestona, donde estoy ahora. Escuchad:
“... Don Juan, don Andrés, don Rafael... son como todos los hombres que vosotros tratáis en la calle, en el tranvía, en el teatro, en la oficina, en la redacción ... todos ellos charlan, fuman, beben, marchan por los pasillos, pasean por la carretera ... y todos ellos toman las aguas de Cestona... En Cestona el veraneante toma rápidamente su baño y el resto del día tiene libre ...”
Y esto es todo por ahora. text translation
Abrazos de Pepe Hint

Vocablos

  encontrar to meet, to encounter; to find
el balneario resort, spa
  contento, -a happy, pleased, glad, content
el lugar place
  mandar to send
el trozo piece, bit, fragment
la lectura reading
  querido, -a dear
  durante during
  primera first
la semana week
el médico doctor
  aconsejar to advise; to recommend
  poco little, few, not much/many
  hablar to talk; to speak
la enfermedad illness, disease
  sobre todo above all, mainly, mostly
  cansar to tire; to get tired
  excelente excellent
la descripción description
el hombre man, mankind
  tratar to treat, to address, to deal with
el tranvía tram, streetcar
la oficina office
la redacción editorial office; essay
  charlar to chat, to talk
  fumar to smoke
  beber to drink
  marchar to walk, to march
el pasillo hall(way), corridor
la carretera road, highway
  tomar to drink; to take; to have; to get
las aguas waters
el veraneante vacationer, holidaymaker
  rápidamente quickly, fast
el baño bathroom; bath
el resto rest (what is left)
el día day
  libre free
  por ahora for now

Learn the expressions:

 

en lugar de ...

instead of

 

sobre todo

above all, mainly, mostly

 

todo esto

all this

 

se puede decir

it can be said

 

tomar el baño

take a bath

 

por ahora

for now

Grammar

The Imperfect Past Tense of the Indicative Mood (pretérito imperfecto de indicativo).

In Spanish, the imperfect past tense of the indicative mood expresses repeated actions which were happening, habits in the past, actions that used to happen, or it is used for emphasizing the prolongation in time of an action. It is often translated as ‘used to + verb,’ ‘would + verb,’ or ‘was/were + verb + -ing.’

An incomplete past action is usually carried out simultaneously with another past action. Pretérito imperfecto is most often used for descriptions in the past.

The imperfect past tense is formed from the infinitive verb by adding the following endings:

For conjugation I

-aba, -abas, -aba; -ábamos, -abais, -aban

For conjugations II and III

-ía, -ías, -ía; -íamos, -íais, -ían

The stress in the verbs of conjugation I always falls on the syllable preceding the -ba syllable; in the verbs of conjugations II and III the stress falls on the vowel í.

Pretérito imperfecto
The imperfect past tense

Conjugation I
tomar — to take
singular plural
1. tomaba I was taking tomábamos we were taking
2. tomabas you were taking tomabais you were taking
3. tomaba he was taking tomaban they were taking
Conjugation II
comer — to eat
singular plural
1. comía I was eating comíamos we were eating
2. comías you were eating comíais you were eating
3. comía he was eating comían they were eating
Conjugation III
partir — to divide
singular plural
1. partía I was dividing partíamos we were dividing
2. partías you were dividing partíais you were dividing
3. partía he was dividing partían they were dividing

Exercises

I. Conjugate the following verbs in the imperfect past tense:

 

marchar

cansar

mandar

yo

él

nosotros

ellos

 

beber

vivir

 

yo

 

él

 

nosotros

 

ellos

 

Key

II. Translate into English:

María escuchaba la carta de José y pensaba: “¿Por qué no escribe cuándo regresa?”, pero en casa ya esperaba a María una carta de José. — ¿Qué escribe José? — pregunta la madre de María. — ¿Quieres leer su carta, mamá? — No, lee tú, yo voy a escuchar. María lee: — “Querida María: Estoy en el balneario de Cestona. Tengo ya muchos amigos aquí y voy con ellos al cine o al teatro, pero sobre todo paseamos por las calles de la ciudad y charlamos mucho ...”

Key

III. Translate into Spanish:

Maria enters and says: — Jose is coming back (returns). Then the girls talk about Jose. — Why is he sick? — Juana asks. — Because he was smoking a lot. — No, because he was studying a lot. — The uncle was helping Jose. — But Jose was studying at night. Juana’s mother enters and says: — You chat a lot. Study! — We were studying today in the morning at Maria’s. Her mother was working and was listening to how we were studying. — Study, study! — Mum, what are we going to buy for Jose? Buy flowers, this is enough.

Key