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Conjugation Chart of “Suceder” (to happen) in the Imperfect Tense

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Understanding the Imperfect Tense of “Suceder”

The imperfect tense of suceder is used to describe ongoing or repeated events in the past. While it typically occurs only in third person forms when meaning ‘to happen’, all forms are shown as it can also mean ‘to succeed’ or ‘to follow after’. For example, Yo sucedía a mi hermano en la fila. (I followed after my brother in line.)

Suceder is a regular -er verb, so its imperfect tense conjugations follow the typical pattern for that verb type.

How to Use Suceder in the Imperfect Tense

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

To happen: For example, Sucedía que siempre llegaba tarde. (It used to happen that he/she always arrived late.)

To follow after: For example, Una cosa sucedía a la otra. (One thing followed after another.)

To succeed: For example, El hijo sucedía a su padre en el negocio. (The son succeeded his father in the business.)

Colloquial usage: In some Latin American regions, suceder can be used informally to mean “to occur” or “to take place”, often with a negative connotation. For example, Sucedió un desastre en la fiesta. (A disaster happened at the party.)

Real Life Examples of Suceder in the Imperfect Tense

Cuando era niño, sucedía que me quedaba dormido durante las películas largas. (When I was a child, it would happen that I would fall asleep during long movies.)

Una cosa sucedía tras otra, y no podíamos mantener el ritmo. (One thing followed another, and we couldn’t keep up.)

Yo sucedía a mi hermano mayor como el nuevo líder del grupo. (I succeeded my older brother as the new leader of the group.)

Los eventos sucedían de manera inesperada, dejándonos perplejos. (The events happened unexpectedly, leaving us perplexed.)

Nosotros sucedíamos a los ganadores del año pasado en el concurso. (We succeeded last year’s winners in the contest.)

Las cosas sucedían de tal manera que no podíamos evitarlas. (Things happened in such a way that we couldn’t avoid them.)

Yo sucedía a mi hermana como la nueva encargada de las tareas domésticas. (I succeeded my sister as the new one in charge of household chores.)

Los accidentes sucedían con demasiada frecuencia en esa intersección. (Accidents happened too frequently at that intersection.)

Nosotros sucedíamos a nuestros padres en la tradición familiar. (We succeeded our parents in the family tradition.)

Los problemas sucedían uno tras otro, sin darnos un respiro. (Problems happened one after another, without giving us a break.)

Conjugation Chart with English Translations

Conjugations of Suceder (to happen) 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.