Spanish II: Three Imperfect Irregular Verbs

Three Imperfect Irregular Verbs

The verbs ir (to go), ver (to see), and ser (to be) are completely irregular in the imperfect tense. Note that the forms of the verbs ir (Table 1 ) and ser (Table 2 ) show the complete imperfect conjugation, not just an ending.

TABLE 1

Imperfect Tense Forms of the Verb Ir (to Go)

Subject	Verb	Subject	Verb
yo	iba	nosotros/nosotras	íbamos
tú	ibas	vosotros/vosotras	ibais
él	iba	ellos	iban
ella	iba	ellas	iban
usted	iba	ustedes	iban

TABLE 2

Imperfect Tense Forms of the Verb Ser (to Be)

Subject	Verb	Subject	Verb
yo	era	nosotros/nosotras	éramos
tú	eras	vosotros/vosotras	erais
él	era	ellos	eran
ella	era	ellas	eran
usted	era	ustedes	eran

The verb ver is barely irregular. In Table 3 , notice that ver has the regular endings for an - er verb. Rather than removing the - er from the infinitive, remove only the r and put ve in front of the regular endings.

TABLE 3

Imperfect Tense Forms of the Verb Ver (to See)

Subject	Verb	Subject	Verb
yo	veía	nosotros/nosotras	veíamos
tú	veías	vosotros/vosotras	veíais
él	veía	ellos	veían
ella	veía	ellas	veía
usted	veía	ustedes	veía