quitar means: to quench, to remove, to take off, to unstick
Click to see all conjugation charts of quitar in every tense

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

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

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 correctly locate the desired position on the timeline is an important skill for proper use of tenses. So pay attention to the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while speaking, listening, writing and reading. After some practice you will 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 its conjugated forms are one word long. There are also compound (compuesto) tenses in Spanish language, where each conjugated verb form consists of two words.The verb quitar has a completely regular conjugation in the Imperfecto tense of the Indicativo mood. It means that this verb simply follows the general rules for its conjugation group (-ar) without any exceptions. This tense is really easy, as there are only three exceptions! The basis for the conjugation in this tense is the stem of the verb, so we need to 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 to get the ending — one of -ar, -er or -ir. What’s left is the stem. So for quitar:

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

Use the stem quit- in each subject as the basis for the conjugations, the common prefix that each of the forms begins with. Next, add to this regular stem the endings specific to each person. Analyze the image showing all six endings. Notice both 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 quitaba:

• yo quitaba – I quenched

And one more time add the regular ending -abas for the second person singular to create quitabas:

• tú quitabas – you quenched

And as before add the regular ending -aba for the third person singular to create quitaba:

• él quitaba – he quenched
• ella quitaba – she quenched
• usted quitaba – (formal) you quenched

And similarly add the regular ending -ábamos for the first person plural to create quitábamos. 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 quitábamos:

• nosotros quitábamos – we quenched
• nosotras quitábamos – (feminine) we quenched

Again add the regular ending -abais for the second person plural to create quitabais:

• vosotros quitabais – (plural) you quenched
• vosotras quitabais – (feminine, plural) you quenched

And add the regular ending -aban for the third person plural to create quitaban:

• ellos quitaban – they quenched
• ellas quitaban – (feminine) they quenched
• ustedes quitaban – (formal, plural) you quenched

This is it! The conjugation is now done. That’s the final result:

yo	quitaba	I quenched
tú	quitabas	you quenched
él/ella/usted	quitaba	he/she/it quenched
nosotros/nosotras	quitábamos	we quenched
vosotros/vosotras	quitabais	you quenched
ellos/ellas/ustedes	quitaban	they quenched

Click to see all conjugation charts of quitar 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 next steps.

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

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