poder imperfect tense conjugation
Poder (to be able to/can) in the imperfect tense: podía, podías, podía, podíamos, podíais, podían.
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).
Poder 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
Poder in a sentence
- Puedo ayudarte con esto.I can help you with this.
- No pudieron llegar a tiempo.They couldn't arrive on time.
Stem-changing (o→ue); irregular preterite stem 'pud-'; followed by infinitive.
FAQ
What is the imperfect tense of poder?
Poder in the Spanish imperfect tense: yo podía, tú podías, él/ella/usted podía, nosotros podíamos, vosotros podíais, ellos/ellas/ustedes podían.
Is poder irregular in the imperfect tense?
No. In the imperfect tense poder takes the regular endings for its verb class, so podía 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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