Most verbs in Spanish are regular verbs in the imperfect past tense. They follow simple rules for conjugating the verb from the infinitive.
Here are the rules for each of the 3 verb types. Notice that -ir and -er verbs suffixes are the same.
| Pronoun | -ir | -er | -ar |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | ía | ía | aba |
| tú | ías | ías | abas |
| ud. | ía | ía | aba |
| nosotros | íamos | íamos | ábamos |
| vosotros | íais | íais | abais |
| uds. | ían | ían | aban |
The imperfect past is used to describe an action that occurred in the past that was continuous.
| Pronoun | vivir | comer | hablar |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | vivía | comía | hablaba |
| tú | vivías | comías | hablabas |
| usted | vivía | comía | hablaba |
| nosotros | vivíamos | comíamos | hablábamos |
| vosotros | vivíamos - ? | comíamos - ?? | hablabais |
| ustedes | comían | hablaban | vivían |