Suplementos—Unidade 7—Parte B
Gramática—O pretérito imperfeito
Gramática—O pretérito imperfeito. Authored by: Craig stokes. License: CC BY: Attribution
In this part of Unidade 7, we will dig deeper into the Pretérito Imperfeito. First, we will look at the verb forms. Some people think it is easier to remember one model verb, and then apply that model to conjugate other verbs. For -AR verbs, we will use the verb falar.
A conjugação dos verbos -AR
Nosso modelo é o verbo falar
eu falava
tu falavas
ela/ele/você falava
a gente falava
nós falávamos
elas/eles/vocês falavam
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
Others find it easier to understand the conjugations by looking at the new verb endings. Here is a look at the -AR endings.
As terminações dos verbos -AR
eu -ava
tu -avas
ela/ele/você -ava
a gente -ava
nós -ávamos
elas/eles/vocês -avam
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
The -ER and -IR verbs share the same conjugation in the Pretérito Imperfeito. Our two models will be comer and partir.
A conjugação de verbos -ER
Nosso modelo é o verbo comer
eu comia
tu comias
ela/ele/você comia
a gente comia
nós comíamos
elas/eles/vocês comiam
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
A conjugação de verbos -IR
Nosso modelo é o verbo partir
eu partia
tu partias
ela/ele/você partia
a gente partia
nós partíamos
elas/eles/vocês partiam
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
Again, if you want to think about the verb endings, here they are.
As terminações dos verbos -ER e -IR
eu -ia
tu -ias
ela/ele/você -ia
a gente -ia
nós -íamos
elas/eles/vocês -iam
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
The imperfect forms are quite regular, and we only have to think about a handful of verbs that will not follow this model. We will worry about three of them: ser, ter, vir, and pôr. These last three verbs keep a nasal sound that is not found in the infinitive. We have seen this in the present and preterit forms before, so we should not be surprised. We will conjugate all four of these verbs.
Ser—to be
eu era
tu eras
ela/ele/você era
a gente era
nós éramos
elas/eles/vocês eram
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
Ter—to have
eu tinha
tu tinhas
ela/ele/você tinha
a gente tinha
nós tínhamos
elas/eles/vocês tinham
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
Vir—to come
eu vinha
tu vinhas
ela/ele/você vinha
a gente vinha
nós vínhamos
elas/eles/vocês vinham
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
Pôr—to put
eu punha
tu punhas
ela/ele/você punha
a gente punha
nós púnhamos
elas/eles/vocês punham
Notice the accent mark on the «nós» form.
Uses of the Pretérito Imperfeito
We are only going to think of this verb tense in the context of Unidade 7, Parte B. We have used it to talk about what we used to do. We discussed what our lives were like when we were kids or in high school. That is the first among many uses of this tense. The main contrast is easy to see if we think about the concepts of perfect and imperfect. The simple past that we have been using is «perfect» because it is complete. Think of those actions as being finished. When an action is imperfect, it is incomplete.
If it is in the past, how is it not complete? Of course, my childhood was a long time ago, and these actions probably ended, but there is no mention whether they have ended, how many times I did the action, or when it began or ended. That is the trick. I have inserted a video where Virgínia will explain all of this in greater detail. For now, we will keep it simple and not dwell on the differences between the perfect and imperfect versions of the preterit. We will just make forms and use them separately.
Notes for my fellow Spanish speakers
The forms
- The Imperfect forms in both languages are very similar. Notice that we only need accent marks on the «nós» forms.
- Spanish has only three irregular verbs (ver, ser, and ir) in the imperfect. In Portuguese, only ser is irregular.
Usage
- The uses of the imperfect in Spanish and Portuguese is identical.
- If you are a native Spanish speaker, or a second-language learner with a solid understanding of the differences between preterit and imperfect, you will not have problems with this in Portuguese.
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Exercícios
Prática 1
Original exercise created by Craig R. Stokes
Prática 2
Original exercise created by Craig R. Stokes
Revisão de vocabulário
Original exercise created by Craig R. Stokes
Original exercise created by Craig R. Stokes
Original exercise created by Craig R. Stokes
