Introduction
Introdução
Also known as the past continuous, the imperfect verb tense is used to describe events taking place in the past without regards to when the event began or ended.
The imperfect tense describes actions that:
• were happening,
• used to happen,
• or happened regularly in the past and on going.
The preterite is more akin to the English past tense, in that it specifies an exact time the action took place.
The examples below illustrate the difference with the word falar:
Imperfect
Ele falava.
She was talking.
Preterite
Ele falou.
She talked.
The imperfect tense describes actions that:
• were happening,
• used to happen,
• or happened regularly in the past and on going.
The preterite is more akin to the English past tense, in that it specifies an exact time the action took place.
The examples below illustrate the difference with the word falar:
Imperfect
Ele falava.
She was talking.
Preterite
Ele falou.
She talked.
Vocabulary
Vocabulário
This is only a preview of the lesson.
Get complete access with a Polly Passport.
Buy a Polly Passport More InformationVerb Conjugations
Conjugações verbais
non-finite
nomino
indicative
indicativo
present
presente
imperfect
imperfeito
preterite
pretérito
future
futuro
pluperfect
mais-que-perfeito
French
Spanish
English
Italian
German
Comments
Comentários