Lesson 46: Past Tense: The Line in the Past
In this lesson we'll recap the basic past tense we have covered ('I have easten') and look at how to express longer periods of the past: 'I was eating', 'I used to eat', 'I would eat when'
We can think of this as a line in the past - something which wasn't happening at a particular moment but over time - even if that time period was short.
At the same time there is a way to express the "dot" in the past which gives us three ways to talk in the past tense:
- EXPLAINING: "I have eaten - using "haber".
- LINE: "I was eating", "I used to eat", "I would eat when I was ...".
- DOT: "I ate"
Haber recap
So just as a reminder lets look at the "I have" was of expressing the past for verbs that come after "haber" in the past:
- For 'ar' verbs we take off the 'ar' and add on 'ado'<
- For 'er' and 'ir' verbs we take off the 'er' or 'ir' and add on 'ido'
 Spanish |  English |
|---|---|
| He comido | I have eaten |
| He hablado | I have spoken |
| He bailado | I have danced |
| Han bailado | They have danced |
| He podido comer | I have been able to eat |
| No he podido comer | I haven't been able to eat |
| Habría salido | I would have gone out |
| Habría podido salir | I would have been able to go out |
| No habría podido salir | I wouldn't have been able to go out |
As a useful way to remember this always think: "Am I using 'haber' and talking about the past?". If the answer is "Yes" then it doesn't matter in what form you are using 'Haber' - 'He' or 'habría' - the verb that comes afterwards always follows these rules:
- For 'ar' verbs we take off the 'ar' and add on 'ado'<
- For 'er' and 'ir' verbs we take off the 'er' or 'ir' and add on 'ido'<
Well of course not always - we'll find exceptions eventually - but you're mostly covered now!
THE LINE IN THE PAST: "I was eating", "I used to eat", "I would eat when I was ...".
As you can see talking about a "line" in the past - about something which happened over time - it is complex in English ... but it is much simpler in Spanish.
- For 'ar' verbs we take off the 'ar' and add on 'aba' - 'hablar' -> 'hablaba' ("I/he/she/you (formal) used to speak" | "I/he/she/you (formal) was/were speaking")
- For 'er' and 'ir' verbs we take off the 'er' or 'ir' and add on 'ía' - 'comer' -> 'comía' ("I/he/she/you (formal) used to eat" | "I/he/she/you (formal) was/were eating")
The pattern we notice here more and more is that in the past tense we see the I form joining the he/she/you (formal) forms in being the same and that we have one form instead of the many in English.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hablaba | I/he/she/you (formal) used to eat |
The other versions of 'Hablaba' follow very standard Spanish patterns so you can probably guess them right now before you scroll further!
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hablabas | You (informal) used to eat |
| Hablaban | They / you guys used to eat |
| Hablábamos | They / you guys used to eat |
Note that accent on the 'we' form. That's just to tell you to move the accent back. It is normally on the penultimate syllable but here the accent tells us to put it on the 'a' before the 'b'. There is no other accent on the other forms because the 'a' before the 'b' is the penultimate syllable!
Esperar recap
So lets put some verbs we have already covered into the line in the past
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Esperaba | I used to wait / I was waiting |
| Te esperaba | I was waiting for you (informal) |
| Lo esperaba | I was waiting for you (formal) / him |
| La esperaba | I was waiting for her |
| Lo esperábamos | We were waiting for you (formal) |
| Los esperábamos | We were waiting for them / you guys |
Other verbs
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Intentaba | I/he/she was trying |
| Intentaban encontrarlo | They were trying to find it |
| Intentaban encontrar me lo | They were trying to find it for me / They were trying to find me it |
| Intentaban encontrarlo para mi | They were trying to find it for me |
As always the last two show multiple ways to say the same thing and both would be understood. However when faced with a choice and you want to choose the most natural sounding one always remember that the Spanish language tries to avoid prepositions ("with","for", etc.) so more commonly you would hear or say 'Intentaban encontrar me lo' than'Intentaban encontrarlo para mi'
Lesson 47: Past Tense: The Line in the Past with Reflexive Verbs