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Spanish Verb Conjugation: Indicative Mood
Introduction to Imperfect Progressive Tense

©RCAguilar
OBJECTIVE:
Start communicating in Spanish about things as they were going on ... back when ...
TASK:
Use the verb "estar" in the imperfect tense combined with the present participle of any verb you want to use!
PERPLEXED?
How were you living 5 years ago? Were you going to school? Where were you working? Can't remember? You're not perplexed ... you have Alzheimer's !!!
Imperfect Progressive Tense ...
It's a compound verb in a form that tells you:
It's on-going but in the past. It was happening as a process, as it's being spoken about . It's current back then. It's a real activity in the past. It isn't necessarily earlier today, because it might be going on for the last 5 or 10 years, or it just went on all the time, or it's something one was doing regularly.

This tense describes an on-going process ... but in a past time-frame!!!

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VERB CONJUGATION
Indicative Mood
Present Tense
Imperfect Tense
Preterite Tense
Future Tense
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Progressive Tenses
Present Progressive
Imperfect Progressive
Preterite Progressive
Future Progressive
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Perfect Progressive Tenses
Imperfect Progressive
Progressive tenses use a form of "to be" along with the present participle of the verb or action stated. The participle form in English is the "---ing" form of a verb.
An English Verb Conjugated in the Imperfect Progressive Tense
I was driving we were driving
you were driving y'all were driving
he, she, it was driving they were driving
Note that the only change in these tenses is what you do with the verb to be. The same thing will be true in Spanish.
The imperfect progressive shows something on-going in the past. There is no indicated time reference for a beginning or an end. Hence, it is normally used to provide background information for other events that occurred during the "on-going process." This tense can refer to any given length of time.

In Spanish, you use the verb estar (to be) along with the -ando or -iendo form of a verb.
AR verbs: -ando
ER & IR verbs: -iendo

For - AR verbs:
For putting an -ar verb into the imperfect progressive, study the following chart where estar is conjugated in the imperfect tense. You can substitute any -ar verb into the ---- (dashes) and attach the -ando ending to achieve the results in the right column.
imperfect tense forms ofESTAR+present participleof the verb----- AR
estaba ----- ando I was ----- ing
estabas ----- ando you were ----- ing
estaba ----- ando he was ----- ing
estaba ----- ando she was ----- ing
estaba ----- ando you were ----- ing
estábamos ----- ando we were ----- ing
estábamos ----- ando we(ladies)were ----- ing
vosotros
estabais ----- ando y'all were ----- ing
vosotras
estabais ----- ando y'all (ladies) were ----- ing
estaban ----- ando they were ----- ing
estaban ----- ando they(ladies)were ----- ing
estaban ----- ando y'all were ----- ing
This is what was going on in one's life, ... as one saw it [actually in progress] ...

For - ER verbs:
For putting ER verbs into the imperfect progressive, study the following chart where estar is conjugated in the imperfect tense. You can substitute any -er verb into the ---- (dashes) and attach the -iendo ending to achieve the results in the right column.
imperfect tense forms ofESTAR+present participleof the verb----- ER
estaba ----- iendo I was ----- ing
estabas ----- iendo you were ----- ing
estaba ----- iendo he was ----- ing
estaba ----- iendo she was ----- ing
estaba ----- iendo you were ----- ing
estábamos ----- iendo we were ----- ing
estábamos ----- iendo we(ladies)were ----- ing
vosotros
estabais ----- iendo y'all were ----- ing
vosotras
estabais ----- iendo y'all (ladies) were ----- ing
estaban ----- iendo they were ----- ing
estaban ----- iendo they(ladies)were ----- ing
estaban ----- iendo y'all were ----- ing
This is what was going on in one's life, ... as one saw it [actually in progress] ...

For - IR verbs:
For putting IR verbs into the imperfect progressive, study the following chart where estar is conjugated in the imperfect tense. You can substitute any -ir verb into the ---- (dashes) and attach the -iendo ending to achieve the results in the right column.
imperfect tense forms ofESTAR+present participleof the verb----- IR
estaba ----- iendo I was ----- ing
estabas ----- iendo you were ----- ing
estaba ----- iendo he was ----- ing
estaba ----- iendo she was ----- ing
estaba ----- iendo you were ----- ing
estábamos ----- iendo we were ----- ing
estábamos ----- iendo we(ladies)were ----- ing
vosotros
estabais ----- iendo y'all were ----- ing
vosotras
estabais ----- iendo y'all (ladies) were ----- ing
estaban ----- iendo they were ----- ing
estaban ----- iendo they(ladies)were ----- ing
estaban ----- iendo y'all were ----- ing
This is what was going on in one's life, ... as one saw it [actually in progress] ...