The Imperfect Tense of contar is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past, for example: Cuando era niño, mi abuela me contaba cuentos todas las noches. (When I was a child, my grandmother used to tell me stories every night.)

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

Conjugations

Conjugations of Contar (to count, tell) in the Imperfect Tense tense (Latin American Spanish):

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

Narrating past events: For example, Cuando era niño, mi abuela me contaba cuentos todas las noches. (When I was a child, my grandmother used to tell me stories every night.)

Describing habits or routines in the past: For example, De joven, contaba las estrellas antes de dormir. (When I was young, I used to count the stars before going to sleep.)

Expressing age: For example, Cuando nos conocimos, yo contaba 25 años. (When we met, I was 25 years old.)

Expressing time: For example, Contábamos los días para las vacaciones. (We were counting down the days until the holidays.)

Telling a story: For example, Había una vez un rey que contaba con un gran ejército. (Once upon a time, there was a king who had a great army.)

Slang/Idiomatic: Contaba con que me ayudaras. (I was counting on you to help me.) No cuentes con eso. (Don’t count on that, slang for “don’t expect that to happen”.)

Examples

Examples of Contar in the Imperfect Tense

Cuando era niño, mi abuela contaba historias fascinantes sobre su infancia. (When she was a child, my grandmother used to tell fascinating stories about her childhood.)

En la reunión, el gerente contaba los logros del equipo el año pasado. (In the meeting, the manager was recounting the team’s achievements from last year.)

Mi amigo contaba los días que faltaban para las vacaciones de verano. (My friend was counting down the days until summer vacation.)

La maestra contaba con la participación de todos los estudiantes en el proyecto. (The teacher was counting on the participation of all the students in the project.)

Aunque no tenía mucho dinero, mi tío contaba cada centavo para ahorrar. (Even though he didn’t have much money, my uncle used to count every penny to save up.)

En la fiesta, mi prima contaba chistes y todos se reían a carcajadas. (At the party, my cousin was telling jokes and everyone was laughing out loud.)

El equipo de fútbol contaba con un gran portero que atajaba todos los tiros. (The soccer team had a great goalkeeper who used to stop all the shots.)

Aunque era un secreto, mi hermano contaba todo lo que pasaba en la casa. (Even though it was a secret, my brother used to tell everything that happened at home.)

En la clase de matemáticas, el profesor contaba los pasos para resolver los problemas. (In math class, the teacher was counting the steps to solve the problems.)

Mi mamá contaba las calorías de todo lo que comía para mantener una dieta saludable. (My mom used to count the calories of everything she ate to maintain a healthy diet.)

El político contaba sus promesas de campaña en cada discurso. (The politician was recounting his campaign promises in every speech.)

Aunque era difícil, el escritor contaba con la inspiración para terminar su novela. (Even though it was difficult, the writer was counting on inspiration to finish his novel.)

En la reunión familiar, mi tío contaba anécdotas graciosas de cuando éramos niños. (At the family gathering, my uncle was telling funny anecdotes from when we were kids.)

La abuela contaba las ovejas para conciliar el sueño por las noches. (Grandma used to count sheep to fall asleep at night.)

Aunque no era rico, mi vecino contaba sus ahorros con ilusión para comprar una casa. (Even though he wasn’t rich, my neighbor used to count his savings with hope to buy a house.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Contar (to count, tell) 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.