Master the pretérito imperfecto of key irregular verbs 'ser', 'ir', and 'ver' in Spanish, with examples like 'era' (I was), 'iba' (I went), and 'veía' (I saw) to describe past habitual actions.
- In the imperfect past tense, there are only three irregular verbs: ser, ir, ver.
| Pronombre | Ser | Ir | Ver | Ejemplo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | Era | Iba | Veía | El músico era muy famoso y siempre interpretaba canciones en vivo. (The musician was very famous and always performed songs live.) |
| Tú | Eras | Ibas | Veías | Cuando eras niño siempre veías videoclips de canciones modernas. (When you were a child you always watched music video clips of modern songs.) |
| Él/ Ella/ Usted | Era | Iba | Veía | La canción que veía en el canal de música era parte del álbum clásico. (The song that I saw on the music channel was part of the classic album.) |
| Nosotros/-as | Éramos | Íbamos | Veíamos | Íbamos a los conciertos de música clásica porque éramos fanáticos de las letras. (We used to go to classical music concerts because we were fans of the lyrics.) |
| Vosotros/-as | Erais | Ibais | Veíais | Cuando erais jóvenes veíais siempre el canal de música para descubrir nuevas canciones. (When you (plural) were young, you (plural) always watched the music channel to discover new songs.) |
| Ellos/-as/ Ustedes | Eran | Iban | Veían | Los miembros del grupo eran talentosos y siempre componían letras inolvidables. (The members of the group were talented and always composed unforgettable lyrics.) |
Exercise 1: Pretérito imperfecto de los verbos irregulares: "ser, ir, ver“
Instruction: Fill in the correct word.
éramos, eran, íbamos, iba, ibais, veías, veíamos, era
1.
Ser:
El músico ... muy talentoso y siempre componía canciones para el grupo.
(The musician was very talented and always composed songs for the band.)
2.
Ir:
Cuando yo era niño ... al canal de música para ver videoclips de canciones modernas.
(When I was a child, I used to go to the music channel to watch music videos of modern songs.)
3.
Ver:
Mientras el grupo interpretaba su éxito en vivo nosotros ... todo el concierto desde casa.
(While the group was performing their hit live, we were watching the whole concert from home.)
4.
Ser:
Las letras de las canciones clásicas ... más poética que las de las canciones modernas.
(The lyrics of classic songs were more poetic than those of modern songs.)
5.
Ir:
Nosotros ... a los conciertos de ese grupo porque sus álbumes eran espectaculares.
(We used to go to that group's concerts because their albums were spectacular.)
6.
Ver:
Cuando ... el videoclip de la canción siempre querías añadirla a la lista de reproducción.
(When you watched the music video of the song, you always wanted to add it to the playlist.)
7.
Ser:
Antes nosotros ... muy aficionados a la música clásica pero hoy preferimos la música moderna.
(Before, we used to be very fond of classical music, but today we prefer modern music.)
8.
Ir:
Cuando erais jóvenes siempre ... a los festivales para ver a los músicos interpretar sus canciones en vivo.
(When you were young you always went to festivals to see the musicians performing their songs live.)