Imperfeito for Background

Level 2

Think of the Pretérito Imperfeito as the 'scenery' or 'background' of a movie. While the Pretérito Perfeito tells you what happened (the action), the Imperfeito tells you what the world looked like at that moment (the description).

How It Works

The Pretérito Imperfeito do Indicativo is essential for storytelling. It provides the context in which specific events occur. Unlike the Pretérito Perfeito, which focuses on completed actions with a clear beginning and end, the Imperfeito views the past as an open window.

Key Functions:

  • Setting the Scene: Describing the weather or the atmosphere (e.g., chovia / estava chovendo - 'It was raining').
  • Physical/Mental States: Describing how someone looked or felt (e.g., ela estava cansada - 'She was tired').
  • Ongoing Circumstances: Describing a situation that was already happening when something else occurred (e.g., eu lia quando ele chegou - 'I was reading when he arrived'). Note: In modern spoken Portuguese, especially in Brazil, the past continuous (estar in the Imperfeito + gerund/infinitive) is much more commonly used for actions in progress (e.g., eu estava lendo / eu estava a ler).
  • Habitual Actions: Describing routines or things you used to do in the past (e.g., eu morava lá - 'I used to live there'). Note: You can also use the verb costumar in the Imperfeito followed by an infinitive as a common way to express 'used to' (e.g., eu costumava ler - 'I used to read').
  • Polite Requests: Making polite requests in the present (e.g., queria um café, por favor - 'I would like a coffee, please').

Morphology:
To form the Imperfeito, take the verb stem and add these endings:

  • -AR verbs: eu -ava, tu -avas, ele/ela/você -ava, nós -ávamos, eles/elas/vocês -avam (the vós form -áveis is archaic and rarely used in modern Portuguese) (e.g., falava).
  • -ER/-IR verbs: eu -ia, tu -ias, ele/ela/você -ia, nós -íamos, eles/elas/vocês -iam (the vós form -íeis is archaic and rarely used) (e.g., comia/abria). Note that the verb ir (to go) is completely regular in this tense: eu ia, tu ias, ele/ela/você ia, nós íamos, eles/elas/vocês iam.

Irregulars: There are only four base irregular verbs: ser (era), ter (tinha), vir (vinha), and pôr (punha). Verbs derived from these four follow the exact same irregular pattern (e.g., manter becomes mantinha, supor becomes supunha).

Examples (4)

  1. Era uma noite escura e chovia muito.

    It was a dark night and it was raining a lot.

    Word by Word: Was a night dark and rained much.

    Both 'era' (ser) and 'chovia' (chover) are in the Imperfeito because they describe the background atmosphere of the story.

  2. Ela estava cansada e não sabia o que fazer.

    She was tired and didn't know what to do.

    Word by Word: She was tired and not knew the what to do.

    Mental and physical states like 'being tired' or 'knowing' are typically described using the Imperfeito in the past.

  3. Eu dormia quando o telefone tocou.

    I was sleeping when the phone rang.

    Word by Word: I slept when the telephone rang.

    'Dormia' (Imperfeito) is the background action that was already happening when the 'tocou' (Perfeito) interrupted it.

  4. A casa tinha janelas grandes e era muito antiga.

    The house had big windows and was very old.

    Word by Word: The house had windows big and was very old.

    Physical descriptions of objects or places always use the Imperfeito.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the Perfeito for weather or background states.

    Ontem foi um dia frio e choveu o tempo todo.
    Ontem era um dia frio e chovia o tempo todo.

    While 'foi' is grammatically possible, 'era' is much more natural when describing the 'state' of the day rather than treating the day as a single completed event.

  • Confusing duration with aspect.

    Eu morava lá por dez anos.
    Eu morei lá por dez anos.

    Even if an action lasted a long time, if you view it as a 'closed box' with a specific duration (10 years), you must use the Pretérito Perfeito.

How It Connects

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Imperfeito for BackgroundLevel 2

Learn This First

To use the Imperfeito for background descriptions, you first need to learn the conjugation forms of regular verbs (-AR, -ER, -IR) and the highly frequent irregular verb 'ser' in this tense. This allows you to set the scene by describing what was happening or how things were in the past.

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Patterns that build on this one.