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| Learn Spanish __ Imperfect Tense , Gustar |
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Imperfect Tense
The imperfect is another past tense that is used to express an action as going on in the past, as repeated or habitual. It is also used with mental and physical conditions and for descriptions. The preterite tense is used much more often than the imperfect tense though, except with these verbs: querer, creer, pueder, esperar, tener, and saber. It is formed by adding these endings to the infinitive stem.
| -ar verbs |
|
-er and -ir verbs |
-aba
-abas
-aba |
-ábamos
-abais
-aban |
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-ía
-ías
-ía |
-íamos
-íais
-ían |
Yo vivía en España. I used to live in Spain.
Luisa estaba triste. Louise was tired.
El vendía radios. He was selling radios.
Only a few verbs are irregular in the imperfect tense:
| ser - to be |
|
ir - to go |
|
ver - to see |
era
eras
era |
éramos
erais
eran |
|
iba
ibas
iba |
íbamos
ibais
iban |
|
veía
veías
veía |
veíamos
veíais
veían |
Gustar
Gustar plus a noun means to like something. Literally, it means to please and takes an indirect object, so the construction of the sentence will be different than that of English.
| Me gusta(n) |
I like |
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Nos gusta(n) |
we like |
| Te gusta(n) |
you like |
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Os gusta(n) |
you like |
| Le gusta(n) |
you/he/she likes |
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Les gusta(n) |
you/they like |
Gusta is used with singular nouns, while gustan is used with plural nouns. With le and les, you can add a Ud., a él, a ella, a Uds., a ellos and a ellas to make the meaning clear.
Me gustan las flores. I like the flowers. (Literally: To me are pleasing the flowers or the flowers are pleasing to me.)
Nos gusta la casa. We like the house.
No me gusta. I don't like it.
Le gusta a Ud.? Do you like it?
Le gustan a ella. She likes them.
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