# Regular imperfect: hablaba, comía, vivía

> id: conjugation.imperfect.regular · category: conjugation · depth: standard · levels: A2 · review: internally_reviewed

**Summary.** -ar verbs take -aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, -abais, -aban; -er/-ir verbs take -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. The imperfect describes background, habits, and ongoing past situations.

Two sets of endings cover everything: -aba for -ar verbs (hablaba, hablábamos) and -ía for -er and -ir verbs (comía, vivíamos). Only ser, ir, and ver are irregular.

First and third person singular are identical (yo hablaba / él hablaba), so Spanish often keeps the subject pronoun here for clarity.

Use it for what was ongoing, habitual, or descriptive in the past: age, time, weather, states, and scene-setting — while the preterite carries the events that happened against that background.

## Examples
- Trabajaba en un banco cuando lo conocí. — I was working at a bank when I met him.
- De niño, comía empanadas cada domingo. — As a kid, I ate empanadas every Sunday.
- Eran las diez y llovía. — It was ten o'clock and it was raining.

Related: conjugation.imperfect.irregular, conjugation.preterite.regular

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