Topic:
Learn to form the imperfect tense of all -ar verbs.
All -ar Verbs Follow the Rules in the Imperfect
Good news! Once you learn these patterns to conjugate -ar verbs in the imperfect tense, you will be able to use it for every single -ar verb. There are no -ar verb exceptions to the pattern.
So let's get started with a look at the verb endings for the imperfect tense of -ar verbs.
Imperfect Conjugation of ayudar
Details of the -ar Conjugation
Every one of the forms has an ending that starts with "aba".
Actually, each verb ending aside from the Yo form is just "-ab" plus the present tense -ar verb ending.
With a little effort, this tense should be one of the easiest to remember.
A Few More Details
Also notice that the 1st person Yo form, and the 3rd person Él form are identical. So the verb ayudaba can mean any of the following:
I used to help / He used to help / She used to help / You (formal) used to help.
As usual, context is used to tell which one is meant by the speaker.
This is a trend that you will see frequently as we learn additional tenses. The Yo and Él form of the more advanced tenses in Spanish are often the same.
Also don't forget the mandatory accent mark in the Nosotros form ayudábamos.
The distinctive pronunciation of that form is easy to pick out from spoken Spanish, so start listening for it.
An Example Sentence
To say You helped me a lot in those years you would say Me ayudabas mucho en esos años.
Another Example of an -ar Verb
Now let's look at the verb jugar, which means to play.
Imperfect Conjugation of jugar
Another Example Sentence
To say We played on the same team, it would be Jugábamos en el mismo equipo.
Familiar Territory
With so many more difficult tenses already under your belt, this one may be easier to remember. If we ignore the vosotros form, you have only four verb endings to learn and they are each derived from -ab plus the present tense ending.
Once you're ready, head on to the exercises and quiz.
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On to the Exercises and the Quiz
To practice the verb forms in this lesson, click Practice Exercises below.
Whenever you want, you can take the quiz for this lesson.
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