Portuguese Imperfect Tense

Learn how to conjugate verbs in the imperfect tense in Portuguese

 

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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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