The regular Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish is one of those grammar topics that looks intimidating at first but becomes surprisingly systematic once students see how it works. For English-speaking learners, the challenge is not so much the form itself, but understanding when and why Spanish uses this tense instead of the present subjunctive or the indicative.

In this article, we’ll focus exclusively on the regular Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish. We’ll cover how to form it, when to use it, and how it fits naturally into real Spanish sentences.

Imperfect Subjunctive –ra Endings

The regular Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish is formed using the third-person plural (ellos/ellas) form of the preterite tense. If the preterite is irregular in the ellos form, that same irregularity would appear in the Imperfect Subjunctive. Let’s see some examples.

Step-by-step process

  1. Take the preterite third-person plural form.
  2. Remove the ending –ron.
  3. Add the imperfect subjunctive endings (-ra, –ras, –ra, –ramos, –rais, –ran)

These endings are the same for –ar, –er, and –ir verbs, which makes the regular Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish much easier to learn than it first appears.

AmarComerVivir
amara
amaras
amara
amáramos
amarais
amaran		comiera
comieras
comiera
comiéramos
comierais
comieran		viviera
vivieras
viviera
viviéramos
vivierais
vivieran

Esperaba que yo amara mi trabajo para quedarme en la empresa muchos años.

He hoped that I would love my job to stay at the company for many years.

El médico te dijo que comieras más verduras todos los días.

The doctor told that you eat more vegetables every day.

Yo quería que mi hermano viviera cerca de mi universidad.

I wanted my brother to live close to my university

Era importante que amáramos el idioma para aprenderlo.

It was important that we loved the language in order to be able to learn it.

Era extraño que vosotros no comierais nada antes de salir de casa.

It was strange that you didn’t eat anything before leaving the house.

Nos molestaba que vivieran en el mismo edificio y nunca saludaran a nadie.

It bothered us that they lived in the same building and never greeted anyone.

Imperfect Subjunctive –se Endings

In addition to the –ra endings, you can also form the regular Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish using –se endings. Both forms are grammatically correct and mean exactly the same thing. The formation process is identical to the –ra form.

Step-by-step process

  1. Take the preterite third-person plural form.
  2. Remove –ron.
  3. Add the –se endings (-se, –ses, –se, –semos, –seis, –sen)
AmarComerVivir
amase
amases
amase
amásemos
amaseis
amasen		comiese
comieses
comiese
comiésemos
comieseis
comiesen		viviese
vivieses
viviese
viviésemos
vivieseis
viviesen

Se sorprendió que yo amase la ciudad desde el primer día.

She was surprised that I loved the city from the first day.

No creía que comieses tan tarde después de un día tan largo y agotador.

I didn’t think that You would eat so late after such a long and exhausting day.

Preferían que viviese en una ciudad más pequeña con menos estrés y más tranquilidad.

They preferred that she live in a smaller city with less stress and more calm.

Nos pidió que amásemos a su familia incluso en los momentos más difíciles.

He asked us to love her family even in the most difficult moments.

Era necesario que vosotras dos comieseis juntas después de la reunión.

It was necessary for you two to eat together after the meeting.

Era mejor que ustedes viviesen la experiencia antes de tomar una decisión.

It was better that you experience it yourselves before making a decision.

The regular Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish has two forms:

–ra form is much more common in modern spoken Spanish.

–se form appears more often in written Spanish, formal texts, and literature.

You should never mix –ra and –se forms within the same sentence.

Exercises

Now you know how to form regular Imperfect Subjunctive in Spanish. Let’s do some exercises to practice these verb forms.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

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GrammarSubjunctive