Pretérito imperfeito

falava, comia, era — the past as scenery, not snapshot.

If the pretérito perfeito (lessons 16–17) is the past as a snapshot — one finished event — the pretérito imperfeito is the past as scenery. It paints what used to happen, what was happening, what things were like. Quando era pequeno, jogava futebol todos os dias = When I was little, I used to play football every day. Two ideas in one sentence: era (was — ongoing state) and jogava (used to play — habit). Both imperfeito.

What it's for

Three jobs: (1) habit in the past — 'I used to ___' — Aos domingos íamos 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 / state — age, weather, feelings, looks — Tinha cinco anos, Fazia frio, Estava cansado. Compare: Ontem fui ao Porto (perfeito — one trip, finished) vs Quando era estudante, ia ao Porto todos os meses (imperfeito — repeated habit, no fixed endpoint).

-ar verbs — falar

Drop -ar, add -ava endings: eu falava, tu falavas, ele/ela falava, nós falávamos, eles falavam. Same for every regular -ar verb: trabalhava, trabalhavas, trabalhava, trabalhávamos, trabalhavam. The eu and 3rd-singular forms are identical — context (and pronouns) sort it out. Nós falávamos keeps an acute on the á in PT and BR alike (no PT/BR split here, unlike the perfeito falámos).

-er and -ir verbs — comer, partir

Both families share one set of endings: -ia. comer → comia, comias, comia, comíamos, comiam. partir → partia, partias, partia, partíamos, partiam. The nós form gets an acute on the í: comíamos, partíamos. bebia, escrevia, dormia, abria — all the same shape. Notice the eu and 3rd-singular look the same here too: eu comia / ele comia.

The four big irregulars

Only four verbs are truly irregular in the imperfeito, and they're heavy hitters. ser: era, eras, era, éramos, eram — 'was/were' in the descriptive sense. ter: tinha, tinhas, tinha, tínhamos, tinham — 'used to have'. ir: ia, ias, ia, íamos, iam — 'used to go / was going'. vir: vinha, vinhas, vinha, vínhamos, vinham — 'used to come'. A fifth one worth knowing: pôr (to put) → punha, punhas, punha, púnhamos, punham.

Imperfeito vs perfeito side by side

Quando era pequeno, jogava futebol (imperfeito + imperfeito) — childhood scenery, a state and a habit. Ontem joguei futebol (perfeito) — one match, done. Eu lia o jornal quando o telefone tocou (imperfeito + perfeito) — the reading was the backdrop; the phone ring was the event that interrupted it. Rule of thumb: if you can paraphrase with 'used to' or 'was ___ing', use the imperfeito. If it's a single completed moment, use the perfeito.

Polite imperfeito

European Portuguese commonly uses queria (the imperfeito of querer) instead of quero to soften a request. Queria um café, por favor = I'd like a coffee, please. Same flavor as English 'I'd like' rather than 'I want'. Podia ajudar-me? = Could you help me? — softer than Pode ajudar-me? This little politeness move comes up at cafés, shops, and on the phone.

Examples

Quando era pequeno, jogava futebol.

When I was little, I used to play football.

era (ser) + jogava (jogar) — childhood scenery.

Aos domingos, íamos à praia.

On Sundays, we'd go to the beach.

íamos = nós form of ir, imperfeito. Habit.

Eu lia o jornal quando o telefone tocou.

I was reading the paper when the phone rang.

lia (imperfeito — backdrop) + tocou (perfeito — interrupting event).

Ela tinha cinco anos.

She was five years old.

tinha = imperfeito of ter. Age in the past = imperfeito.

Fazia frio e nevava.

It was cold and snowing.

Weather descriptions live in the imperfeito.

Queria um café, por favor.

I'd like a coffee, please.

Polite queria instead of quero — softer.

Vinha do trabalho quando te vi.

I was coming from work when I saw you.

vinha (imperfeito of vir) sets the scene; vi (perfeito) is the moment.