While the preterite is used to talk about actions or events that are completed, the imperfect is another past tense in Spanish. It is used to talk about actions or events that were in progress in the past, things that were habitual or customary, or that happened over a long period of time. It is also used to describe ongoing mental, physical, or emotional states in the past, and to tell time in the past.
 

Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect tense.
 

There are no stem-changes in the imperfect tense. Verbs that are stem-changing in the present or preterite are conjugated like regular verbs in the imperfect: volvía, jugaba, pensaba, perdía, etc.

Examples of Imperfect

• ¿Pero no querías comer pescado?
• Quería, pero ahora quiero comer carne.