More past continuous
Continuing with our “past continuous” theme, we have now resolved all possible doubts regarding –ar verbs in this tense, as they all behave in exactly the same way. Sometimes there just isn’t anything else to say about something!
Now here is even more good news about this remarkably easy tense, which is that the –er verbs and the –ir verbs do exactly the same things as each other. In both of these two groups the endings contain an “í” instead of an “ab” as follows:
-ia -íamos
-ías -íais
-ía -ían
So here is an –er verb for you:
Beber
Bebía (I was drinking) Bebías (you were drinking) Bebía (he or she was drinking – or formal “you”)
Bebíamos (we were drinking) Bebíais (you were drinking – plural)
Bebían (they were drinking)
And now for an –ir verb, just so you can see I’m telling the truth.
Vivir
Vivía (I was living) Vivías (you were living) Vivía (he or she was living – or formal “you”)
Vivíamos (we were living) Vivíais (you were living – plural)
Vivían (they were living)
Some people might still be guilty of confusing the pronunciation of these two very different verbs, (beber and vivir) but really at this stage there’s no excuse! It all hangs on the correct differentiation between the “e” and “i” vowels in the roots of the verbs “beb” and
“viv”, since the “b” and “v” is practically indistinguishable. As far as the endings are concerned, notice that the letter “í” at the beginning of all the endings is accented, placing the beat of the word always on that same place.
Now you have a perfect sentence to practise on unsuspecting passers-by. “Cuando yo vivía en Inglaterra, bebía todos los días, pero ahora bebo todo el tiempo” – just my little joke.
Once we start reminiscing about years gone by and the things we used to do (which you can now do in Spanish with no problem at all) you will soon discover you need at least two of our three irregular verbs, so here is a small advance on these to get you going. Era (I was, from ser) and iba (I used to go/I went, from ir).
So here’s a sentence to start you off: “When I was a child, I used to go to school by bus”. “Cuando yo era niño/niña, iba al colegio en autobús”.
Next week we’ll see what else ser and ir do in this tense.