encontrar imperfect tense conjugation
Encontrar (to find) in the imperfect tense: encontraba, encontrabas, encontraba, encontrábamos, encontrabais, encontraban.
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).
Encontrar 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
Encontrar in a sentence
- Encuentro mis llaves siempre.I always find my keys.
- Encontramos un restaurante excelente.We found an excellent restaurant.
Stem-changing (o→ue); reflexive 'encontrarse' means 'to be located' or 'to feel'.
FAQ
What is the imperfect tense of encontrar?
Encontrar in the Spanish imperfect tense: yo encontraba, tú encontrabas, él/ella/usted encontraba, nosotros encontrábamos, vosotros encontrabais, ellos/ellas/ustedes encontraban.
Is encontrar irregular in the imperfect tense?
No. In the imperfect tense encontrar takes the regular endings for its verb class, so encontraba 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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