Lesson 48

The -ía Line in the Past

Language Transfer Complete Spanish is by Mihalis Eleftheriou. Listen to the original audio first; use these notes for revision.

For -er/-ir verbs, the imperfect ending is -ía — the same sound as the conditional. The difference: the conditional adds to the FULL infinitive (comería), while the imperfect removes the ending first (comía).

Tense	Formation	Example
Conditional (would)	full verb + ía	comería (I would eat)
Imperfect (was ___ing)	stem + ía	comía (I was eating)

Se vende = for sale ("it sells itself"). You'll see this sign everywhere in Spanish-speaking countries on houses and cars. Se vendía = it was for sale. Se vendería = it would be for sale.

Decir = to say/tell. Dices = you say (informal). Dicen = they say. Decimos = we say. ¿Cómo se dice? = How do you say? ("How does one say?")

Me queda un = I have one left ("it remains to me one"). Me quedan dos = I have two left. Here quedar works like gustar — the thing remaining is the subject.

Sentences practiced

Spanish	English
Comería.	I would eat.
Comía.	I was eating.
Lo vendería.	I would sell it.
Lo vendía.	I was selling it.
Se vende.	For sale.
Se vendía.	It was for sale.
Se vendería.	It would be for sale.
Lo rompía.	I was breaking it.
Se rompía.	It was breaking.
Se rompían.	They were breaking.
Lo rompería.	I would break it.
Lo romperían.	They would break it.
Lo rompían.	They were breaking it.
Se rompe.	It breaks.
Se va a romper.	It's going to break.
Dices.	You say.
Dicen.	They say.
Decimos.	We say.
¿Cómo se dice?	How do you say?
Me queda un.	I have one left.
Me quedan dos.	I have two left.
Le quedan dos.	He/she has two left.
Me quedo.	I stay.
Nos quedamos.	We stay.
Se queda.	He stays.
Se quedan.	They stay.
Se quedaban.	They were staying.
No se quedaban aquí.	They weren't staying here.
No me quedaba aquí.	I wasn't staying here.
No nos quedábamos aquí.	We weren't staying here.