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Conjugation Chart of “Jugar” (to play) in the Imperfect Tense

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Understanding the Imperfect Tense of “Jugar”

The Imperfect Tense of jugar is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions 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.)

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

How to Use Jugar in the Imperfect Tense

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

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.)

Habitual or repeated action in the past: For example, De pequeños, jugábamos a las escondidas en el parque. (When we were little, we used to play hide-and-seek in the park.)

Idiomatic usage: For example, No estaba jugando cuando dije eso. (I wasn’t kidding when I said that.) Estás jugando con fuego. (You’re playing with fire – taking an unnecessary risk.)

Slang usage: Jugar a dos bandas means to play both sides or be a double agent. Jugar vivo means to be cunning or street-smart.

Real Life Examples of Jugar in the Imperfect Tense

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

Mi hermana jugaba a las muñecas durante horas cuando éramos pequeñas. (My sister used to play with dolls for hours when we were little.)

En la fiesta, los invitados jugaban a las cartas y se divertían mucho. (At the party, the guests were playing cards and having a lot of fun.)

Antes de tener hijos, jugábamos videojuegos en nuestro tiempo libre. (Before having kids, we used to play video games in our free time.)

Mis abuelos jugaban al dominó todas las tardes en el parque. (My grandparents used to play dominoes every afternoon at the park.)

Cuando jugábamos a las escondidas de niños, siempre me escondía en el armario. (When we used to play hide-and-seek as kids, I always hid in the closet.)

En la oficina, jugábamos al “amigo secreto” durante las fiestas navideñas. (At the office, we used to play “Secret Santa” during the Christmas parties.)

Mis primos y yo jugábamos a la pelota en el patio trasero de la casa de mis abuelos. (My cousins and I used to play ball in the backyard of my grandparents’ house.)

En la playa, los niños jugaban a construir castillos de arena. (At the beach, the kids used to play building sandcastles.)

Cuando era adolescente, jugaba al básquetbol en el equipo de la escuela. (When I was a teenager, I used to play basketball on the school team.)

En las reuniones familiares, jugábamos a juegos de mesa como el Monopolio. (At family gatherings, we used to play board games like Monopoly.)

Mis amigos y yo jugábamos a los videojuegos en línea durante horas. (My friends and I used to play online video games for hours.)

Cuando jugábamos al escondite en el parque, siempre me escondía detrás de los arbustos. (When we used to play hide-and-seek at the park, I always hid behind the bushes.)

En las fiestas, jugábamos a juegos de beber como la “ruleta rusa”. (At parties, we used to play drinking games like “Russian Roulette”.)

Mis compañeros de trabajo y yo jugábamos al golf los fines de semana para relajarnos. (My coworkers and I used to play golf on weekends to relax.)

Conjugation Chart with English Translations

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

This post covers Latin American Spanish. For Castilian 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.