Comer (to eat) · Imperfect
By TutorLily Editorial Team · Last updated
Comer in the Spanish imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) is: yo comía, tú comías, él/ella/usted comía, nosotros/as comíamos, vosotros/as comíais, ellos/ellas/ustedes comían. The imperfect of comer is the model regular -er imperfect. All forms take -ía endings, with an accent on the 'í' to break the i-vowel hiatus.
| To Eat | Comer |
|---|---|
| I used to eat | yo comía |
| you used to eat | tú comías |
| he/she used to eat | él/ella/usted comía |
| we used to eat | nosotros/as comíamos |
| you used to eat | vosotros/as comíais |
| they used to eat | ellos/ellas/ustedes comían |
Comer (to eat) in context
Sentences that use comer in the imperfect. Tap each to hear it.
As a child, I used to eat a lot of fruit.
You always used to eat too fast.
My grandmother used to eat little but well.
We used to eat at home every Sunday.
You used to eat what your mother cooked without complaining.
The boys used to eat pizza every Friday.
Working with the imperfect
The imperfect paints the background of a past scene: weather, age, habits, descriptions, ongoing actions that get interrupted. "Era de noche" (it was nighttime), "tenía cinco años" (I was five years old), "iba al parque cuando me llamaste" (I was going to the park when you called me). Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect — ser (era), ir (iba), and ver (veía). Every other Spanish verb is regular here, which makes the imperfect one of the easiest tenses to learn.
Frequently asked questions
How do you conjugate comer in the imperfect?
Are -er and -ir imperfect endings identical?
When do I use 'comía' instead of 'comí'?
Practice Comer (To Eat) in real conversations
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