Portuguese/Contents/Imperfect tense regular verbs

The Imperfect Tense edit

The imperfect Tense is used in Portuguese to express something that was happening at a particular moment in time. For instance, we would NOT use the imperfect for the sentence "I ate an apple" because the action has finished. However, the sentence "I was eating an apple" describes something that was happening at a moment in time.

Let's see how to form the imperfect tense. First, take the "ar", "er" or "ir" off the infinitive (so falar becomes fal, comer becomes com and partir becomes part

Regular -ar verbs edit

I was speaking Eu fal ava
You (s,inf) were speaking Tu fal avas
He was speaking
(also ela, você)
Ele fal ava
We were speaking Nós fal
ávamos
You (f) were speaking Vós fal
áveis
They were speaking
(also elas, vocês)
Eles fal avam

Regular -er and -ir verbs edit

You only need to learn one conjugation for the 'ir' and 'er' verbs. That means that the verb partir is conjugated exactly like comer in the imperfect tense.

I was eating Eu com ia
You (s,inf) were eating Tu com ias
He was eating
(also ela, você)
Ele com ia
We were eating Nós com
íamos
You (f) were eating Vós com
íeis
They were eating
(also elas, vocês)
Eles com iam

There! It's that easy.