comprender imperfect tense conjugation
Comprender (to understand) in the imperfect tense: comprendía, comprendías, comprendía, comprendíamos, comprendíais, comprendían.
Pretérito imperfecto Imperfect
| yo | |
|---|---|
| tú | |
| él/ella/usted | |
| nosotros | |
| vosotros | |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes |
ending regular · irr breaks the pattern · tap a form to hear it
When to use the imperfect tense
The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) describes the past as background: habits (“used to”), ongoing actions (“was doing”), descriptions, age and time. “Cuando era niño, vivía en Sevilla.”
How it is formed
Regular endings: -ar → aba, abas, aba, ábamos, abais, aban; -er/-ir → ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ían. Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect: ser (era), ir (iba) and ver (veía).
Comprender is regular here, so it is a good model for other verbs of the same class.
Read more: Preterite vs imperfect: when to use each
Comprender in a sentence
- Comprendo la lección.I understand the lesson.
- No comprendí tu explicación.I didn't understand your explanation.
Regular -er verb; synonym of 'entender'.
FAQ
What is the imperfect tense of comprender?
Comprender in the Spanish imperfect tense: yo comprendía, tú comprendías, él/ella/usted comprendía, nosotros comprendíamos, vosotros comprendíais, ellos/ellas/ustedes comprendían.
Is comprender irregular in the imperfect tense?
No. In the imperfect tense comprender takes the regular endings for its verb class, so comprendía follows the same pattern as any regular verb.
When do you use the Spanish imperfect tense?
The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) describes the past as background: habits (“used to”), ongoing actions (“was doing”), descriptions, age and time. “Cuando era niño, vivía en Sevilla.”
How is the imperfect tense formed?
Regular endings: -ar → aba, abas, aba, ábamos, abais, aban; -er/-ir → ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ían. Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect: ser (era), ir (iba) and ver (veía).
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