The Imperfect Tense of reírse is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past, for example, Me reía mucho con sus chistes. (I used to laugh a lot at his jokes.)

This verb follows the accented -ía conjugation pattern in the Imperfect Tense, with stress on the last syllable in all forms.

Conjugations

Conjugations of Reírse (to laugh) in the Imperfect Tense tense (Castilian Spanish):

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

Expressing laughter or amusement in the past: Por ejemplo, de niño me reía mucho con las payasadas de mi hermano. (As a child, I used to laugh a lot at my brother’s antics.)

Describing a state or condition in the past: Por ejemplo, en aquella época me reía de todo. (Back then, I used to laugh at everything.)

Expressing a habitual or repeated action in the past: Por ejemplo, cada vez que veía esa película me reía a carcajadas. (Every time I watched that movie, I would burst out laughing.)

Expressing an action interrupted by another in the past (with the preterite tense): Por ejemplo, me reía cuando de repente sonó el timbre. (I was laughing when suddenly the doorbell rang.)

Idiomatic usage (rude): Por ejemplo, ¿te estás riendo de mí? (Are you laughing at me? / Are you making fun of me?)

Examples

Examples of Reírse in the Imperfect Tense

Cuando era niño, me reía mucho con las caricaturas. (When I was a child, I used to laugh a lot at cartoons.)

Mis amigos y yo nos reíamos de los chistes malos que contaba el profesor. (My friends and I would laugh at the bad jokes the teacher told.)

En la fiesta, todos se reían de las ocurrencias del payaso. (At the party, everyone was laughing at the clown’s antics.)

Ella se reía de sus propios errores para no sentirse mal. (She would laugh at her own mistakes so as not to feel bad.)

Tú te reías tanto que se te salían las lágrimas. (You would laugh so much that tears would come out of your eyes.)

Vosotros os reíais a carcajadas durante la película de comedia. (You all would roar with laughter during the comedy movie.)

Ellos se reían de las bromas pesadas que se gastaban. (They would laugh at the practical jokes they played on each other.)

Yo me reía por no llorar ante las dificultades. (I would laugh so as not to cry in the face of difficulties.)

Nosotros nos reíamos de las modas ridículas de nuestra juventud. (We would laugh at the ridiculous fashions of our youth.)

Ustedes se reían de los memes que circulaban en las redes sociales. (You would laugh at the memes circulating on social media.)

Ella se reía entre dientes para no ofender a nadie. (She would laugh under her breath so as not to offend anyone.)

Tú te reías de las bromas inocentes que hacían tus compañeros. (You would laugh at the innocent jokes your classmates made.)

Vosotros os reíais de las payasadas que hacía el profesor para animarnos. (You all would laugh at the silly antics the teacher did to cheer us up.)

Ellos se reían de las situaciones incómodas en las que se metían. (They would laugh at the awkward situations they got themselves into.)

Nosotros nos reíamos de las exageraciones que contaban nuestros abuelos. (We would laugh at the exaggerations our grandparents told.)

Conjugations with English Translations

Conjugations of Reírse (to laugh) 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.