Pretérito imperfeito — the past as background
If the pretérito perfeito from lessons 16 and 17 is the past as a snapshot — one thing, finished — the pretérito imperfeito is the past as scenery. It paints what used to happen, what was happening, what things were like. Quando eu era pequeno, jogava futebol todo dia = When I was little, I played soccer every day. Two verbs, one mood: era (an ongoing state) and jogava (a habit). It's also the friendliest tense in the language — Brazilians push a request one step into the past to soften it: Queria um café, por favor.
What it's for
Three jobs. (1) Habit in the past — 'I used to ___': Aos domingos a gente ia à praia = On Sundays we'd go to the beach. (2) Ongoing background — 'was ___ing': Eu lia quando ela chegou = I was reading when she arrived. (3) Description and states — age, weather, feelings, how things looked: Tinha cinco anos, Estava frio, Eu estava cansado. Compare the two pasts: Ontem fui a Salvador (perfeito — one trip, over) against Quando eu era estudante, ia a Salvador todo mês (imperfeito — repeated, no endpoint in sight). One Brazilian habit to notice right away: for the 'was ___ing' job, speech very often reinforces the tense with estar in the imperfeito plus a gerund — Eu estava lendo quando ela chegou says the same thing as Eu lia quando ela chegou, and you'll hear it more.
-ar verbs — falar
Drop the -ar and add the -ava endings: eu falava, você falava / ele falava / ela falava, nós falávamos, vocês falavam / eles falavam. That's it — no tu row to memorize, because Brazil runs on você, which borrows the ele form. Every regular -ar verb behaves: trabalhava, trabalhávamos, trabalhavam; jogava, jogávamos, jogavam; morava, estudava, comprava. The eu form and the ele/ela form are identical, so the pronoun carries the meaning: eu falava, ela falava. And since a gente is the everyday 'we', you'll mostly use the singular: a gente jogava rather than nós jogávamos. Keep the accent on the nós form: falávamos, jogávamos. (No spelling split here, by the way: the perfeito is falamos in Brazil and falámos in Portugal, but the imperfeito falávamos is the same on both sides of the ocean.)
-er and -ir verbs — comer, partir
The other two families share one single set of endings: -ia. comer → comia, comia, comíamos, comiam. partir → partia, partia, partíamos, partiam. Nothing else to learn — bebia, escrevia, abria, dormia, corria, vivia, recebia all take the same shape. The nós form gets an accent on the í: comíamos, dormíamos, corríamos. Here too eu and ele/ela are twins: eu comia / ele comia. Watch ler, which shrinks: lia, líamos, liam — the e disappears completely.
The four big irregulars
Only four verbs are genuinely irregular in this tense, and of course they're the ones you use constantly. ser → era, era, éramos, eram. ter → tinha, tinha, tínhamos, tinham. ir → ia, ia, íamos, iam. vir → vinha, vinha, vínhamos, vinham. Worth adding a fifth: pôr (to put) → punha, punha, púnhamos, punham. Listen to the Brazilian ti in tinha — CHEE-nyah, the same sound you met in tive. And tinha and vinha rhyme while doing opposite jobs, so keep them apart: one is having, the other is coming. One extra use of ia you'll need every day: ia + infinitive = 'was going to'. Eu ia te ligar = I was going to call you. A gente ia sair, mas começou a chover. Notice where the pronoun sits: te ligar, in front, the Brazilian position.
Imperfeito vs perfeito side by side
Quando eu era pequeno, jogava futebol — imperfeito plus imperfeito: a state and a habit, pure scenery. Ontem joguei futebol — perfeito: one match, finished. Eu lia o jornal quando o telefone tocou — imperfeito plus perfeito: the reading is the backdrop, the ring is the event that cuts into it. Rule of thumb: if English would let you say 'used to' or 'was ___ing', you want the imperfeito; if it's one closed moment, you want the perfeito. The time words give it away too. ontem, semana passada, um dia pull the perfeito. sempre, todo dia, aos domingos, quando eu era criança (when I was a kid) pull the imperfeito. And a very Brazilian bonus: viver in the imperfeito followed by a gerund means 'was forever doing it' — Ele vivia jogando futebol = He was always playing soccer.
Polite imperfeito
Brazilians soften a request by nudging it into the past. Queria um café, por favor = I'd like a coffee, please — warmer than Quero um café, which lands like a demand. At a bakery counter: Eu queria um pão de queijo. On the phone: Você podia me ajudar? = Could you help me? — softer than Pode me ajudar?, and again the pronoun goes in front: me ajudar. The same move with ia opens a conversation gently: Eu ia perguntar uma coisa = I was going to ask you something. And in relaxed speech the imperfeito quietly takes over the conditional's job: Eu comprava esse carro where a grammar book wants Eu compraria esse carro = I'd buy that car. Books prefer the long form; Brazilian streets prefer the short one.
