The Imperfect Tense of jugar is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past, for example, Jugaba al fútbol todos los días. (I used to play soccer every day.)

Jugar is a regular -ar verb, so its Imperfect conjugations follow the typical pattern for that verb type.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Jugar (to play) in the Imperfect Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The imperfect tense of jugar is used to describe ongoing, repeated, or habitual actions in the past.

Describing an ongoing action in the past: For example, Cuando era niño, jugaba al fútbol todos los días. (When I was a child, I used to play soccer every day.)

Describing a repeated or habitual action in the past: For example, De pequeños, jugábamos en el parque los fines de semana. (When we were little, we would play in the park on weekends.)

Describing a past action without a specific beginning or end: For example, Jugaba al ajedrez con mi abuelo. (I used to play chess with my grandfather.)

Describing a background action in the past: For example, Mientras mi hermana estudiaba, yo jugaba videojuegos. (While my sister was studying, I was playing video games.)

Expressing age in the past: For example, Cuando jugaba al baloncesto, tenía 15 años. (When I played basketball, I was 15 years old.)

Describing physical or emotional states in the past: For example, De niño, jugaba muy contento en el patio. (As a child, I used to play very happily in the yard.)

Colloquial usage: Jugaba al tonto para que me dejaran en paz. (I used to play dumb so they would leave me alone.)

Examples

Examples of Jugar in the Imperfect Tense

Cuando era niño, jugaba al fútbol con mis amigos todos los días. (When I was a child, I used to play soccer with my friends every day.)

Mis hermanos y yo jugábamos a las escondidas en el patio trasero. (My siblings and I would play hide-and-seek in the backyard.)

De pequeña, jugaba con muñecas y me encantaba vestirlas. (As a little girl, I used to play with dolls and loved dressing them up.)

En la escuela primaria, jugábamos a la rayuela durante el recreo. (In elementary school, we would play hopscotch during recess.)

Mis abuelos jugaban al ajedrez todas las tardes. (My grandparents used to play chess every afternoon.)

Cuando jugábamos al béisbol, yo siempre era el lanzador. (When we played baseball, I was always the pitcher.)

De adolescente, jugaba videojuegos con mis amigos después de la escuela. (As a teenager, I used to play video games with my friends after school.)

En las vacaciones, jugábamos a las cartas por horas. (During vacations, we would play card games for hours.)

Mis primos y yo jugábamos a los cowboys y los indios en el patio. (My cousins and I used to play cowboys and Indians in the yard.)

Cuando jugábamos al baloncesto, siempre hacíamos equipos mixtos. (When we played basketball, we always made mixed teams.)

De niños, jugábamos a la casita y nos turnábamos para ser los padres. (As kids, we used to play house and take turns being the parents.)

En la playa, jugábamos a enterrarnos en la arena. (At the beach, we would play by burying each other in the sand.)

Mis amigos y yo jugábamos a las atrapadas en el parque. (My friends and I used to play tag at the park.)

Cuando jugábamos al tenis, siempre hacíamos un descanso para tomar agua. (When we played tennis, we always took a break to drink water.)

En las fiestas, jugábamos a adivinar quién era la persona misteriosa. (At parties, we used to play guessing who the mystery person was.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Jugar (to play) in the Imperfect Tense tense (Castilian Spanish) with English Translations:

This post covers Castilian Spanish. For Latin American Spanish, click here

Synonyms

The Imperfect tense is also known as the Past Imperfect, Descriptive Past, Past Progressive, or Imperfect Indicative in English, and as Pretérito Imperfecto, Copretérito, Imperfecto de Indicativo, or Pasado Descriptivo in Spanish.