The Imperfect Tense of ser is used to describe ongoing states or habitual actions in the past, for example: Yo era estudiante. (I was a student.)

Ser is an irregular verb, meaning its conjugations do not follow a set pattern in the Imperfect Tense.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Ser (to be) in the Imperfect Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

The imperfect tense of ser is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions, states of being, or descriptions in the past.

Describing an ongoing state or action in the past: For example, Yo era estudiante en la universidad. (I was a student at the university.)

Describing repeated or habitual actions in the past: For example, Cuando era niño, íbamos al parque todos los domingos. (When I was a child, we went to the park every Sunday.)

Describing physical or personality traits in the past: For example, Mi abuelo era alto y delgado. (My grandfather was tall and thin.)

Describing the time or weather in the past: For example, Eran las tres de la tarde cuando llegamos. (It was three o’clock in the afternoon when we arrived.)

Expressing age in the past: For example, Cuando me casé, era muy joven. (When I got married, I was very young.)

Expressing location in the past: For example, La fiesta era en el parque central. (The party was in the central park.)

Expressing emotions or feelings in the past: For example, Estaba muy emocionado por mi nuevo trabajo. (I was very excited about my new job.)

Idiomatic expressions: For example, ¡Eras tú! (It was you!) or ¡Esa era la gota que derramó el vaso! (That was the straw that broke the camel’s back!)

Examples

Examples of Ser in the Imperfect Tense

Cuando era niño, jugaba al fútbol todos los días. (When I was a child, I played soccer every day.)

Mis abuelos vivían en una granja y cultivaban sus propios vegetales. (My grandparents lived on a farm and grew their own vegetables.)

En la universidad, estudiábamos mucho pero también salíamos con amigos. (In university, we studied a lot but we also went out with friends.)

Antes, tenía un trabajo aburrido en una oficina. (Before, I had a boring job in an office.)

Cuando éramos jóvenes, íbamos de vacaciones cada verano. (When we were young, we went on vacation every summer.)

Mis padres trabajaban duro para darnos una buena vida. (My parents worked hard to give us a good life.)

De niño, soñaba con ser astronauta. (As a child, I dreamed of being an astronaut.)

Antes de mudarnos, vivíamos en un barrio tranquilo. (Before we moved, we lived in a quiet neighborhood.)

En esa época, hacía mucho ejercicio y comía sano. (Back then, I exercised a lot and ate healthy.)

Mis amigos y yo pasábamos horas jugando videojuegos. (My friends and I spent hours playing video games.)

Cuando era adolescente, escuchaba mucha música rock. (When I was a teenager, I listened to a lot of rock music.)

En la escuela secundaria, participaba en el club de ajedrez. (In high school, I participated in the chess club.)

Mis tíos viajaban mucho por trabajo. (My uncles traveled a lot for work.)

De pequeño, leía cuentos antes de dormir. (As a child, I read stories before bed.)

Mis primos y yo jugábamos al escondite en el patio trasero. (My cousins and I played hide-and-seek in the backyard.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Ser (to be) 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.