complacer means: to please, to satisfy
Click to see all conjugation charts of complacer in every tense

In this Spanish conjugation lesson we will see how to conjugate the verb complacer in the Imperfecto tense of the Indicativo mood. It means we will see step by step how to create and translate forms of each grammatical person.

This lesson is specifically about the complacer conjugation. For a general overview of Simple Tenses conjugation see our Simple Tenses Conjugation Chart.

We also have a Video Presentation on how to conjugate verbs in Imperfecto. It’s embedded below, but using the above link you can find more detailed information on conjugation in this tense and explanation of exceptions and special cases.

How to translate Imperfecto to English

Notice that the phrases in English provided below next to each conjugation are not direct translations from Spanish to English. They are usually the closest general equivalents. The example differences are:

• In Spanish conjugation, there is the form usted in the third person singular. But this person does not translate to the English third person singular. It translates to the so called formal you and uses the inflected form which is most often represented as he/she/it in English conjugation charts.
• Similar situation happens in the third person plural, where ustedes translates to the English plural formal you but uses the form which corresponds to the they form in English.
• Tenses are used differently in Spanish and English, so the actual translation should always take into account the context and focus on translating the meaning, not just words.
• In both languages each verb may have multiple meanings and not every meaning translates directly to the other language. Here also, the context and focusing on the particular meaning helps to create the most accurate translation.

Note the timeline

The ability to accurately locate the desired position on the timeline is a crucial skill for the right use of tenses. So note the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, writing and reading. After some practice you’ll be able to select the right tense to use much easier.

Step by step instructions

Imperfecto belongs to the simple tenses group, which means that all of the conjugated forms are one word long. There are also compound (compuesto) tenses in Spanish language, where each inflected verb form consists of two words.The verb complacer has an almost regular conjugation in the Imperfecto tense of the Indicativo mood. An exception is the first person singular, which has an irregular form. It means the other persons follow the general rules for this group (-er) without further spelling corrections or exceptions. The basis for the conjugation in this tense is the stem of the verb, so we start by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s easy to do. Simply remove two letters from the end of the infinitive to get the ending — one of -ar, -er or -ir. What’s left is the stem. So in case of the verb complacer it’s easy to see that:

• the stem is: complac-
• and the ending is: -er

Use the stem complac- in each person as the basis for conjugation, the common prefix that each of the forms begins with. Next, add to this regular stem the endings specific to each person. Check out the image showing all the endings. Notice the colors and shapes of the letters. They are arranged to help you find patterns and make it easier to remember these endings.

Also note that in verb groups -er and -ir all six endings in both Pretéterito Imperfecto and Condicional tenses are the same. Good tip to remember. The only difference is that the Condicional uses the entire infinitive as the stem.Each grammatical person has a specific ending in each of the three conjugation groups -ar, -er, -ir. Add the regular ending -ía for the first person singular to create complacía:

• yo complacía – I pleased

And as before add the regular ending -ías for the second person singular to create complacías:

• tú complacías – you pleased

Like in the previous case add the regular ending -ía for the third person singular to create complacía:

• él complacía – he pleased
• ella complacía – she pleased
• usted complacía – (formal) you pleased

Once more add the regular ending -íamos for the first person plural to create complacíamos:

• nosotros complacíamos – we pleased
• nosotras complacíamos – (feminine) we pleased

Similarly add the regular ending -íais for the second person plural to create complacíais:

• vosotros complacíais – (plural) you pleased
• vosotras complacíais – (feminine, plural) you pleased

Again add the regular ending -ían for the third person plural to create complacían:

• ellos complacían – they pleased
• ellas complacían – (feminine) they pleased
• ustedes complacían – (formal, plural) you pleased

This is it! The conjugation is now done. The final result looks as follows:

yo	complacía	I pleased
tú	complacías	you pleased
él/ella/usted	complacía	he/she/it pleased
nosotros/nosotras	complacíamos	we pleased
vosotros/vosotras	complacíais	you pleased
ellos/ellas/ustedes	complacían	they pleased

Click to see all conjugation charts of complacer in every tense
But do not end your session yet – it is very important to repeat and practice the material in order to retain it. Check below for suggestions.

Next Steps to Perfection To practice this conjugation and test your skills check this Conjugation Exercise or the Memory Game To see other conjugation lessons for this verb choose another tense: PresentePretéritoCondicionalFuturoPretérito Perfecto CompuestoPretérito PluscuamperfectoFuturo PerfectoCondicional PerfectoPretérito Perfecto Compuesto (subjuntivo)Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A (subjuntivo)Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto B (subjuntivo)Futuro Perfecto (subjuntivo)  For exercises and examples related to complacer visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for complacer visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

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