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32. Portuguese Imperfect Tense (Pretérito Imperfeito)
The pretérito imperfeito tense (imperfect) expresses an action that used to happen but not anymore (used to) or it expresses an action that was happening at the same time as another action (was/were + present participle in English). It is formed by adding these endings to the stem of the verb (remove -ar, -er, or -ir):
-ar verbs | -er and -ir verbs | ||
-ava | -ávamos | -ia | -íamos |
-avas | -áveis | -ias | -íeis |
-ava | -avam | -ia | -iam |
Eu falava com ela. I used to talk to her / I was talking to her.
Eu falava com ela quando ele morreu. I was talking to her when he died.
Vivia em Portugal. I lived
in Portugal. (but now I don't)
Eles falavam com as crianças. They used to speak with
the children.
Quem comia bolo de chocolate? Who used to eat chocolate
cake?
A few irregular verbs in the imperfect tense include:
ser - to be | |
eu era | nós éramos |
tu eras | vós éreis |
ele/ela/você era | eles/elas/vocês eram |
pôr - to put | |
eu punha | nós púnhamos |
tu punhas | vós púnheis |
ele/ela/você punha | eles/elas/vocês punham |
ter - to have | |
eu tinha | nós tínhamos |
tu tinhas | vós tínheis |
ele/ela/você tinha | eles/elas/vocês tinham |
vir - to come | |
eu vinha | nós vínhamos |
tu vinhas | vós vínheis |
ele/ela/você vinha | eles/elas/vocês vinham |
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