Which form expresses the imperfect tense for 'I used to eat'? (restate)

Which form expresses the imperfect tense for 'I used to eat'? (restate)

• A. Yo comía
• B. Nosotros comíamos
• C. Tú comías
• D. Ud. comía

Answer: (A)

Imperfect tense is used for habitual or ongoing actions in the past. For regular -er verbs like comer, the endings add to the stem as -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. The first-person singular form is comía, so with the subject you get Yo comía, meaning “I used to eat.” This is the best choice because it matches the subject “I” and uses the correct imperfect ending. The other forms correspond to different subjects—you (informal), you (formal), or we—so they translate to “you used to eat,” “you (formal) used to eat,” or “we used to eat,” not “I used to eat.” If the sense were a completed past action, you’d use Yo comí in the preterite, which is a different tense.

Imperfect tense is used for habitual or ongoing actions in the past. For regular -er verbs like comer, the endings add to the stem as -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. The first-person singular form is comía, so with the subject you get Yo comía, meaning “I used to eat.” This is the best choice because it matches the subject “I” and uses the correct imperfect ending. The other forms correspond to different subjects—you (informal), you (formal), or we—so they translate to “you used to eat,” “you (formal) used to eat,” or “we used to eat,” not “I used to eat.” If the sense were a completed past action, you’d use Yo comí in the preterite, which is a different tense.