Verbs: Past Imperfect 1
I was imperfect
We've already seen one way to talk about the past in Portuguese, like in Ele foi um estudante. But if you want to say what you used to do in the past, you'll need to use a different verb form called the imperfect.
Use the imperfect of ser to describe something that was true for a longer time, and estar to describe something that was temporarily true.
Eles eram estudantes.
They used to be students.
O pássaro estava no meu ombro.
The bird was on my shoulder.
There are only three imperfect forms for ser and three for estar!
| subject | verb (ser) |
| eu / você / ele / ela | era |
| nós | éramos |
| vocês / eles / elas | eram |
| subject | verb (estar) |
| eu / você / ele / ela | estava |
| nós | estávamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | estavam |
What were you doing that night?
If you want to talk about what you were doing in the past, use estar in the imperfect plus an ‑ndo verb.
Você estava comendo aquele dia.
You were eating that day.
Remember that estar changes depending on the person you're talking about, but the ‑ndo verb never changes.
Nobody's perfect!
Most verbs change just a little (yay!) in the imperfect.
Here are the verb endings for ‑ar verbs, like pensar and trabalhar.
Here are the verb endings for ‑ar verbs, like pensar and trabalhar.
| subject | verb (pensar) |
| eu / você / ele / ela | pensava |
| nós | pensávamos |
| vocês / eles / elas | pensavam |
Eu trabalhava no mercado.
I used to work at the market.
Both ‑er and ‑ir verbs, like beber and dormir, have the same endings.
| verb beber | verb dormir |
| bebia | dormia |
| bebíamos | dormíamos |
| bebiam | dormiam |