A2.11 - Emergency services

The imperfect tense of regular verbs

El pretérito imperfecto de verbos regulares

El pretérito imperfecto de indicativo es un tiempo verbal que expresa acciones pasados cuyo principio y fin no se concretan. También sirve para describir la continuidad de una acción en pasado.

(The imperfect past tense of the indicative is a verb tense that expresses past actions whose beginning and end are not specific. It is also used to describe the continuity of an action in the past.)

Imperfect (pretérito imperfecto): what it expresses

  • Habit in the past (what you regularly did): Antes ayudaba… = “I used to help…”
  • Action in progress in the past (background): Mientras atendía… = “While I was attending to / helping…”
  • Background description (how things were): Había una reunión… = “There was a meeting…”

Key idea: the imperfect answers “what was going on / what used to happen” (not “what happened once and finished”).

How to form it (fast pattern you can trust)

Infinitive Imperfect ending Example
-ar -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban ayudar → ayudaba, ayudábamos
-er / -ir -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían atender → atendía, atendíais
  • Don’t invent “-aba” for -er/-ir verbs: atendaba → atendía
  • Accent matters: atendía, atendíamos, atendíais

The “duplicate” form: why yo = él/ella in the imperfect

In the imperfect, 1st and 3rd person singular look identical:

Person ayudar atender
yo ayudaba atendía
él/ella/usted ayudaba atendía

Self-check: if you remove the subject, the meaning comes from context: Ayudaba en la oficina = “I/he/she used to help…”

Imperfect vs. preterite: the decision that causes most mistakes

What you mean Use Spanish example Natural English
Routine / repeated past action Imperfect Antes, ayudaba a mis colegas. “I used to help my colleagues.”
Background action in progress Imperfect Mientras atendía el teléfono, llegó la ambulancia. “While I was answering the phone, the ambulance arrived.”
A completed event (one-time, finished) Preterite Llamé al 112. “I called 112.”
  • Signal words for imperfect: antes, siempre, a menudo, todos los días, los domingos, mientras
  • Signal words for one-time events: ayer, una vez, de repente, en ese momento

Mini workflow: how to build the imperfect quickly

  1. Find the infinitive ending: -ar or -er/-ir.
  2. Choose the imperfect set: -aba… or -ía…
  3. Match the person: yo / tú / él / nosotros / vosotros / ellos.
  4. Check accents (especially: -ía, -íamos, -íais).

Meaning in real workplace Spanish (ayudar vs. atender)

  • ayudar = to help (general support): Ayudaba a los clientes a encontrar su talla.
  • atender = to attend to / deal with / serve (clients, patients, calls): Atendía a mucha gente por la mañana.

Quick check: if it’s about customers/patients/phone/email, atender is often the best choice.

  1. For verbs ending in "-ar" add "-aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban".
  2. For verbs ending in "-er/-ir" add "-ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían".
Verbo ayudarVerbo atender
Yo ayudaba (I was helping)Yo atendía (I was assisting)
Tú ayudabas (you were helping)Tú atendías (you were assisting)
Él / Ella ayudaba (he / she was helping)Él / Ella atendía (he / she was assisting)
Nosotros / Nosotras ayudábamos (we were helping)Nosotros / Nosotras atendíamos (we were assisting)
Vosotros / Vosotras ayudabais (you all were helping)Vosotros / Vosotras atendíais (you all were assisting)
Ellos / Ellas ayudaban (they were helping)Ellos / Ellas atendían (they were assisting)

 

Exceptions!

  1. The first and third person singular are the same.

Exercise 1: Multiple choice

Instruction: Choose the correct answer

1. Cuando llamé al 112, la operadora me ____ si había heridos.

When I called 112, the operator ____ me if there were any injured people.

2. Mientras el médico ____, yo preparaba el botiquín de emergencia.

While the doctor ____, I was preparing the emergency first-aid kit.

3. En la ambulancia, los paramédicos ____ a la señora y le hablaban con calma.

In the ambulance, the paramedics ____ the lady and were speaking to her calmly.

4. Cuando vivíamos en ese barrio, los bomberos ____ a mucha gente en verano.

When we lived in that neighborhood, the firefighters ____ a lot of people in the summer.

Exercise 2: Multiple Choice

Instruction: Choose the correct sentence in the past imperfect tense.

1.
Incorrect form: "atender" is an -er verb and in the imperfect it is "atendía", not "atendaba".
Mixing tenses: with "cuando" + a habitual action, the imperfect is used; "trabajé" (simple past) is not appropriate here.
2.
Spelling: "emergencias" does not have an accent mark; also you have to pay attention to the verb form—although the verb form here is correct, the word has an incorrect accent mark.
Person agreement: "nosotros" takes "atendíamos", but the sentence uses "vosotros" in the given context; the correct option for vosotros is "atendíais".

Exercise 3: Rewrite the phrases

Instruction: Rewrite the sentences in the imperfect past: change the verb in parentheses to the correct form (e.g.: I (help) → I was helping).

Show/Hide translation Show/Hide hints
  1. Cuando trabajaba en la oficina, yo (ayudar) a mis compañeros con el ordenador.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Cuando trabajaba en la oficina, yo ayudaba a mis compañeros con el ordenador.
    (When I worked in the office, I used to help my coworkers with the computer.)
  2. De pequeño, tú (atender) a tu abuela todos los domingos.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    De pequeño, tú atendías a tu abuela todos los domingos.
    (When you were little, you used to look after your grandmother every Sunday.)
  3. En el hospital, ella (atender) a los pacientes por la mañana.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    En el hospital, ella atendía a los pacientes por la mañana.
    (At the hospital, she used to see patients in the morning.)
  4. Antes, nosotros (ayudar) en casa después de cenar.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Antes, nosotros ayudábamos en casa después de cenar.
    (Back then, we used to help out at home after dinner.)

Exercise 4: Grammar in action

Instruction: In pairs, tell the incident and decide what each person was doing.

Show/Hide translation
Situation
En el trabajo, recordáis una emergencia y cómo la atendíais en equipo.
(At work, you remember an emergency and how you dealt with it as a team.)
Discuss
  • ¿Qué emergencia era y dónde estabais cuando empezó? (What was the emergency and where were you when it started?)
  • ¿Quién llamaba al teléfono de emergencia y qué decía? ¿A quién llamó? (policía, bomberos, Cruz Roja) (Who was calling the emergency number and what were they saying? Who did they call? (police, firefighters, Red Cross))
Useful words and phrases
  • en la sala de urgencias (in the emergency room)
  • teléfono de emergencia (emergency number)
  • la ambulancia llegaba / la paramédica atendía (the ambulance was arriving / the paramedic was attending)
Use in conversation
  • yo ayudaba / tú ayudabas / ellos ayudaban (I was helping / you were helping / they were helping)
  • yo atendía / nosotros atendíamos / ellos atendían (I was attending / we were attending / they were attending)

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