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Verbs: The Imperfect Indicative

Not too difficult eh? Right then, let’s start to make things a little more complicated. Another tense that has to do with the past is the ‘imperfect indicative’. Basically, this refers to an action that took place in the past, but was ongoing for a period of time and where the time of completion of the action is not specified. It is precisely because of this lack of a specified time that the tense is called ‘imperfect’.

We don't really have a direct equivalent in English - we use the preterite, past continuous, or conditional instead. Here are some English equivalents of the imperfect indicative:

I was working here in those days (past continuous)
I worked here in those days (preterite)
In those days I would work here then go home (conditional)

In English, it is typically the context that places the use of the verb in the imperfect - in the above examples, the use of 'in those days' indicates an ongoing action with no specific start or end. Without that context, we would not know that it was imperfect (relating to an ongoing past action without a specified completion event). In Portuguese, the verb ending directly implies the imperfect aspect, so you don't need the extra contextual information to know that the timing of the action the verb relates to is not specific.

This tense is also used when you want to refer to something that used to happen. You can either use appropriate conjugation of the verb in the imperfect tense directly, or use the appropriate conjugation of the verb ‘costumar’ in the imperfect, followed by the infinitive of the verb you are referring to (so ‘Eu costumava trabalhar aqui’ and ‘Eu trabalhava aqui’ could both be used to mean ‘I used to work here’).

Imperfect indicative tense of the first conjugation regular verb:  trabalhar (to work)
trabalhava
trabalhávamos
trabalhavas
trabalháveis
trabalhava
trabalhavam

Imperfect indicative tense of the first conjugation regular verb:  pensar (to think)
pensava pensávamos
pensavas pensáveis
pensava pensavam

Imperfect indicative tense of the second conjugation regular verb:  comer (to eat)
comia
comíamos
comias
comíeis
comia
comiam

Imperfect indicative tense of the second conjugation regular verb:  escrever (to write).
escrevia
escrevíamos
escrevias
escrevíeis
escrevia
escreviam

Imperfect indicative tense of the second conjugation regular verb:  escrever (to write).
garantia
garantíamos
garantias
garantíeis
garantia
garantiam

Imperfect indicative tense of the third conjugation regular verb:  assistir (to attend; to watch)
assistia
assistíamos
assistias
assistíeis
assistia
assistiam

Irregular imperfect indicatives…

Imperfect indicative tense of the irregular first conjugation verb:  estar (to be)
estava estávamos
estavas estáveis
estava estavam

Imperfect indicative tense of the irregular second conjugation verb:  ser (to be)
era éramos
eras éreis
era eram

Imperfect indicative tense of the irregular third conjugation verb:  ir (to go)
ia íamos
ias
íeis
ia
iam

So when you are talking about something that extended over an indefinite period of time – as opposed to an event or something that was accomplished – you use the imperfect indicative rather than the preterite.

Foi or Era?

Note the difference between the words ‘foi’ (preterite) and ‘era’ (imperfect indicative) – and their equivalents for the other ‘persons’ of their respective tenses. This is often the source of confusion, because both words are usually translated as ‘was’ in English, and both come from the verb ‘ser’. The rule is exactly the same as for the other verbs though – ‘foi’ is used for an event or accomplished action, and ‘era’ relates to an action or process which occurred over an indefinite period of time in the past. So…

A exposição foi boa
The exhibition was good (referring to a known time period)
Era um homem bom
He was a good man (over an unspecified period of time)

Comments
Correction
Written by Administrator on 2006-08-12 08:16:39 IP: 80.3.128.8
Thanks to Cláudio Peixoto for correcting this page.
confused
Written by JANET on 2007-06-25 08:49:08 IP: 82.71.28.120
i always got confused with "foi" and " era". Didn't really know when to use them...thanks for the info it helped me to correct myself...
about "foi" & "era"
Written by de Carvalho on 2007-10-28 07:19:33 IP: 200.212.150.50
Maybe my explanation is not the best but everytime you can change the translation to " used to be " like in " he used to be ... " you have to use " era " (verb ser).
Not Confused Anymore
Written by Johnny on 2011-05-03 08:29:07 IP: 113.108.102.229
Very nice explanation thank you.


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