Imperfect of ser, ter, vir and pór

Irregular Imperfects

Level 2

Almost every Galician verb forms the imperfect regularly. Only ser, ter, vir and pór are irregular: era, tiña, viña and puña.

How It Works

The four irregular verbs

  • ser (to be): era, eras, era, eramos, erades, eran
  • ter (to have): tiña, tiñas, tiña, tiñamos, tiñades, tiñan
  • vir (to come): viña, viñas, viña, viñamos, viñades, viñan
  • pór (to put): puña, puñas, puña, puñamos, puñades, puñan

Same form for I and he/she. As in every imperfect, the first and third person singular are identical (era, tiña). Context or a subject pronoun shows who is meant.

No accent on the we and plural-you forms. In standard Galician the stress in eramos, erades, tiñamos and viñades falls on the second-to-last syllable, so they are written without an accent, like falabamos and comiamos. Spanish writes éramos; Galician does not.

Pór and poñer. The standard accepts two infinitives for "to put": pór and poñer. Speakers who say pór use puña; speakers who say poñer use the regular poñía. Both are correct: Puña a mesa and Poñía a mesa mean the same thing.

Compound verbs follow their base verb: manter → mantiña, compor → compuña, convir → conviña.

Every other verb is regular, including verbs that are irregular in other tenses: ir → ía, ver → vía, facer → facía, estar → estaba.

Typical uses. Time and age in the past use era and tiña: Eran as dez (it was ten o'clock), Tiña oito anos (I was eight). Physical feelings with ter work the same way: Tiña frío (I was cold).

Examples (6)

  1. Cando era pequena, tiña un can chamado Lúa.

    When I was little, I had a dog called Lúa.

    Word by Word: When I-was little, I-had a dog called Lúa.

    Era and tiña describe a situation that lasted through a period of the past.

  2. Eran as once da noite e o autobús non viña.

    It was eleven at night and the bus wasn't coming.

    Time in the past uses the plural eran with as once; viña describes something that kept not happening.

  3. Os meus avós tiñan unha casa preto do mar.

    My grandparents had a house near the sea.

    Tiñan is the third person plural of ter.

  4. De neno, viña a esta praia todos os veráns.

    As a child, I came to this beach every summer.

    Viña expresses a repeated habit in the past.

  5. A miña nai sempre puña o sal no andel de arriba.

    My mother always put the salt on the top shelf.

    Puña is the imperfect of pór. A speaker who says poñer would say poñía, which is equally correct.

  6. Naquela época eramos veciños.

    Back then we were neighbours.

    Eramos has no written accent in Galician.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the Spanish-style form tenía for the imperfect of ter.

    Cando era neno, tenía moitos amigos.
    Cando era neno, tiña moitos amigos.

    The Galician imperfect of ter is tiña, tiñas, tiña... In the same way, vir gives viña, not venía.

  • Writing an accent on eramos or erades.

    Naquela época éramos veciños.
    Naquela época eramos veciños.

    Standard Galician stresses these forms on the second-to-last syllable (e-RA-mos), so no accent is written, exactly as in falabamos and comiamos.

  • Using the Spanish-style form ponía.

    Sempre ponía o sal no andel de arriba.
    Sempre puña o sal no andel de arriba.

    The imperfect is puña (from pór) or poñía (from poñer). Ponía is neither Galician form.

How It Connects

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Imperfect of ser, ter, vir and pórLevel 2Irregular Imperfects

Learn This First

Several common verbs have special imperfect stems.

Words in This Pattern

virpór