Pretérito imperfeito: falava, fazia
Pretérito imperfeito: falava, fazia means “The past for habits, descriptions and background — contrasts with the simple past”. Where the simple past says what happened, the imperfect says what used to happen or what things were like. Formation: -ar → -ava/-ávamos/-avam · -er/-ir → -ia/-íamos/-iam · irregulares: era, tinha, ia, vinha, punha
The past for habits, descriptions and background — contrasts with the simple past
A2Formation
-ar → -ava/-ávamos/-avam · -er/-ir → -ia/-íamos/-iam · irregulares: era, tinha, ia, vinha, punha
Explanation
Where the simple past says what happened, the imperfect says what used to happen or what things were like. Endings are very regular: falar → falava, falávamos, falavam; comer → comia, comíamos, comiam. Only four verbs are irregular — ser → era, ter → tinha, ir → ia, vir → vinha, pôr → punha — which makes this one of the easiest tenses in the language. Use it for repeated past habits (Quando eu era criança, eu brincava na rua), for descriptions and ongoing background (A rua estava silenciosa, ele contava histórias), and for ages, times and weather in the past. The perfeito/imperfeito split works just like Spanish hice versus hacía, so Spanish speakers transfer it directly.
Examples
Note
A useful shortcut: if English would say "used to" or "was ...-ing", Portuguese wants the imperfeito.
FAQ
Pretérito imperfeito: falava, fazia — what does it mean and how is it used?
The past for habits, descriptions and background — contrasts with the simple past. Where the simple past says what happened, the imperfect says what used to happen or what things were like. Endings are very regular: falar → falava, falávamos, falavam; comer → comia, comíamos, comiam. Only four verbs are irregular — ser → era, ter → tinha, ir → ia, vir → vinha, pôr → punha — which makes this one of the easiest tenses in the language. Use it for repeated past habits (Quando eu era criança, eu brincava na rua), for descriptions and ongoing background (A rua estava silenciosa, ele contava histórias), and for ages, times and weather in the past. The perfeito/imperfeito split works just like Spanish hice versus hacía, so Spanish speakers transfer it directly.
Pretérito imperfeito: falava, fazia — how do you form it?
-ar → -ava/-ávamos/-avam · -er/-ir → -ia/-íamos/-iam · irregulares: era, tinha, ia, vinha, punha
Pretérito imperfeito: falava, fazia — any usage notes?
A useful shortcut: if English would say "used to" or "was ...-ing", Portuguese wants the imperfeito.