iniciar means: to initiate, to begin, to boot, to commence, to initialize, to start, to start off
Click to see all conjugation charts of iniciar in every tense

In this conjugation lesson we are going to learn how to conjugate the verb iniciar 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 iniciar conjugation. For a general overview of Simple Tenses conjugation see the 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 will find more detailed information on conjugation in this tense as well as explanation of exceptions and special cases.

How to translate Imperfecto to English

Notice that the English phrases 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 an important skill for proper choice of tenses. So pay attention to the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, reading or writing. After a bit 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 its conjugated forms are one word long. There are also compound (compuesto) tenses in the Spanish language, where each conjugated form consists of two words.The verb iniciar 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 conjugation group (-ar) without any exceptions or spelling corrections. This tense is really easy, because only three exceptions exist! The basis for the conjugation in this tense is the stem of the verb, so we need to begin by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s really easy to do. Just 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 for iniciar:

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

Use the stem inici- in each subject 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. Notice the shapes and colors of the letters. They are arranged to 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 iniciaba:

• yo iniciaba – I initiated

And add the regular ending -abas for the second person singular to create iniciabas:

• tú iniciabas – you initiated

And once more add the regular ending -aba for the third person singular to create iniciaba:

• él iniciaba – he initiated
• ella iniciaba – she initiated
• usted iniciaba – (formal) you initiated

And once more add the regular ending -ábamos for the first person plural to create iniciábamos. 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 iniciábamos:

• nosotros iniciábamos – we initiated
• nosotras iniciábamos – (feminine) we initiated

Like previously add the regular ending -abais for the second person plural to create iniciabais:

• vosotros iniciabais – (plural) you initiated
• vosotras iniciabais – (feminine, plural) you initiated

Similarly add the regular ending -aban for the third person plural to create iniciaban:

• ellos iniciaban – they initiated
• ellas iniciaban – (feminine) they initiated
• ustedes iniciaban – (formal, plural) you initiated

That’s it! The conjugation is now complete. The final result looks as follows:

yo	iniciaba	I initiated
tú	iniciabas	you initiated
él/ella/usted	iniciaba	he/she/it initiated
nosotros/nosotras	iniciábamos	we initiated
vosotros/vosotras	iniciabais	you initiated
ellos/ellas/ustedes	iniciaban	they initiated

Click to see all conjugation charts of iniciar 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 some links.

Next Steps to Perfection To practice this conjugation and test your skills try 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 iniciar visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for iniciar visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

---