tardar means: to take time
Click to see all conjugation charts of tardar in every tense

In this conjugation lesson we will see how to inflect the verb tardar 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 tardar conjugation. For an overview of all the Simple Tenses conjugation check 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 can get additional information on conjugation in this tense as well as explanation of special cases and exceptions.

How to translate Imperfecto to English

Note 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 an important skill for proper choice of tenses. So pay attention to the timeline in our lessons and visualize it while listening, speaking, writing and reading. After a bit 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 the 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 tardar has an entirely regular conjugation in the Imperfecto tense of the Indicativo mood. It means this verb just follows the basic rules for its group (-ar) without any exceptions, spelling corrections and the like. This tense is really easy, as there are only three exceptions! The basis for this conjugation 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. Just remove two letters from the end of the infinitive and you have the ending — one of -ar, -er or -ir. What’s left is the stem. So for tardar:

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

Use the stem tard- in each person as the basis for the 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 shapes and colors 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 tardaba:

• yo tardaba – I took time

Again add the regular ending -abas for the second person singular to create tardabas:

• tú tardabas – you took time

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

• él tardaba – he took time
• ella tardaba – she took time
• usted tardaba – (formal) you took time

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

• nosotros tardábamos – we took time
• nosotras tardábamos – (feminine) we took time

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

• vosotros tardabais – (plural) you took time
• vosotras tardabais – (feminine, plural) you took time

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

• ellos tardaban – they took time
• ellas tardaban – (feminine) they took time
• ustedes tardaban – (formal, plural) you took time

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

yo	tardaba	I took time
tú	tardabas	you took time
él/ella/usted	tardaba	he/she/it took time
nosotros/nosotras	tardábamos	we took time
vosotros/vosotras	tardabais	you took time
ellos/ellas/ustedes	tardaban	they took time

Click to see all conjugation charts of tardar 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 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 tardar visit our Exercise section To see conjugation charts in all tenses for tardar visit the Conjugator To explore other learning materials visit the Study section

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