crear means: to create
Click to see all conjugation charts of crear in every tense

In this conjugation lesson we will see how to conjugate the verb crear 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 crear conjugation. For a general overview of all the Simple Tenses conjugation have a look at our Simple Tenses Conjugation Chart.

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

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 properly locate the desired position on the timeline is a crucial skill for the right choice of tenses. So note the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, writing and reading. After some practice you’ll be capable of selecting 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 the Spanish language, where each conjugated verb form consists of two words.The verb crear has a completely regular conjugation in the Imperfecto tense of the Indicativo mood. It means that this verb just follows the general rules for its group (-ar) without any exceptions. This tense is really easy, as there are only three irregular verbs! The basis for this conjugation is the stem of the verb, so we start by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s very easy to do. Simply remove two letters from the end of the infinitive form and you have the ending — one of -ar, -er or -ir. What’s left is the stem. So in case of our verb:

• the stem is: cre-
• and the ending is: -ar

Use the stem cre- in each person as the basis for conjugation, the common prefix or root that each of the forms begins with. Next, add to this regular stem the endings specific to each person. See the image on the side showing all the six endings. Note the colors and shapes of the letters. It will help you find patterns and make it easier to remember these endings.Each grammatical person has a specific ending in each of the three conjugation groups -ar, -er, -ir. Add the regular ending -aba for the first person singular to create creaba:

• yo creaba – I created

And as before add the regular ending -abas for the second person singular to create creabas:

• tú creabas – you created

And again add the regular ending -aba for the third person singular to create creaba:

• él creaba – he created
• ella creaba – she created
• usted creaba – (formal) you created

Similarly add the regular ending -ábamos for the first person plural to create creábamos. Note difference in spelling

Only the first person plural has an accent here.

This difference exists only in case of the verbs from the -ar group. Other groups always have an accented i in the ending in this tense.So add the accent to get creábamos:

• nosotros creábamos – we created
• nosotras creábamos – (feminine) we created

And add the regular ending -abais for the second person plural to create creabais:

• vosotros creabais – (plural) you created
• vosotras creabais – (feminine, plural) you created

Once more add the regular ending -aban for the third person plural to create creaban:

• ellos creaban – they created
• ellas creaban – (feminine) they created
• ustedes creaban – (formal, plural) you created

Hurray! The conjugation is now complete. That’s the final result:

yo	creaba	I created
tú	creabas	you created
él/ella/usted	creaba	he/she/it created
nosotros/nosotras	creábamos	we created
vosotros/vosotras	creabais	you created
ellos/ellas/ustedes	creaban	they created

Click to see all conjugation charts of crear in every tense
But do not end your session yet – it’s 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 yourself 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 crear visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for crear visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

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