The Imperfect Tense of cargar is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past, for example, Yo cargaba las cajas al camión todos los días. (I used to load the boxes onto the truck every day.)

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

Conjugations

Conjugations of Cargar (to load) in the Imperfect Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

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

To load or carry: Por ejemplo, Yo cargaba las cajas pesadas al camión. (I was loading/carrying the heavy boxes onto the truck.) This meaning can also be used figuratively, like cargaba con mucha responsabilidad. (I was carrying/bearing a lot of responsibility.)

To charge or load up: For example, Mi celular se cargaba lentamente. (My phone was charging slowly.) Or with electricity/energy: La tormenta cargaba el aire con electricidad. (The storm was charging the air with electricity.)

To burden or weigh down (figuratively): Por ejemplo, Los problemas me cargaban de estrés. (The problems were weighing me down with stress.) Or with a negative emotion: Me cargaba de ira cada vez que lo veía. (I would get filled with anger every time I saw him.)

To exaggerate or overdo (colloquial): For example, No la cargues tanto, fue solo una broma. (Don’t overdo it so much, it was just a joke.) Or with rudeness: ¡Deja de cargarme, viejo! (Stop messing with me, dude!)

Examples

Examples of Cargar in the Imperfect Tense

Yo cargaba la batería de mi teléfono todas las noches antes de ir a dormir. (I charged my phone’s battery every night before going to bed.)

Cuando cargábamos la camioneta con las maletas, mi hermano se lastimó la espalda. (When we were loading the truck with the suitcases, my brother hurt his back.)

El repartidor cargaba cajas pesadas en su camión. (The delivery person was loading heavy boxes onto their truck.)

Mis amigos y yo cargábamos la pipa con agua para la fiesta en el parque. (My friends and I were filling up the water tank for the party at the park.)

La anciana cargaba con dificultad las bolsas del mercado. (The elderly woman was struggling to carry the grocery bags.)

El equipo de mudanza cargaba los muebles con mucho cuidado. (The moving crew was carefully loading the furniture.)

Cuando era niño, cargaba la leña para la chimenea. (When I was a child, I used to carry the firewood for the fireplace.)

En la construcción, los obreros cargaban los materiales de un lado a otro. (At the construction site, the workers were hauling materials from one place to another.)

Mi tío cargaba con demasiadas responsabilidades en su trabajo. (My uncle was burdened with too many responsibilities at his job.)

Ella cargaba con la culpa de haber mentido a sus padres. (She was carrying the guilt of having lied to her parents.)

Los manifestantes cargaban contra la policía durante la protesta. (The protesters were charging against the police during the demonstration.)

El delincuente cargaba un arma cuando entró al banco. (The criminal was carrying a weapon when he entered the bank.)

Nosotros cargábamos la batería del carro cuando se descargaba. (We used to charge the car’s battery when it ran out of power.)

Ellos cargaban con el peso de sus decisiones equivocadas. (They were bearing the weight of their wrong decisions.)

Tú cargabas demasiados libros en tu mochila cuando ibas a la escuela. (You used to carry too many books in your backpack when you went to school.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Cargar (to load) in the Imperfect Tense 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.