Learning to talk about your past is a key step in mastering Spanish. This interactive activity, “Cuando era pequeño”, helps you or your students practice the imperfect tense in a meaningful way.
In this activity, the goal is to complete a short text about childhood memories using verbs in the imperfect tense. The story describes daily routines, hobbies and dreams from the past. This is a perfect context to understand how this tense works in real life.
Level and skills
This activity is adequate for a A2-B1 level (pre-intermediate to intermediate), and the practiced skills are grammar, reading comprehension and listening.
This exercise is also ideal for students who already know the preterite (past simple) and want to go deeper into expressing past habits, descriptions and ongoing actions in Spanish.
Instructions
- Read and listen to the short story.
- Complete the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in the imperfect tense.
- Check your answers and reflect on the meaning of each verb: why do we use the imperfect here?
- Repeat the activity to reinforce your understanding.
- Practice storytelling in Spanish and continue the story using your own childhood memories. You can use flashcards with verbs for this purpose (download link at the end of this page).
Why this activity is useful
The imperfect tense often confuses people learning Spanish because it doesn’t always have a direct equivalent in English. This exercise helps you:
- Recognize common patterns of the imperfect.
- Practice verbs in context instead of memorizing rules.
- Connect grammar with storytelling.
Let’s practice!
Start the activity to practice the imperfect tense in Spanish!
(Note that his time you won’t need to use the buttons with accent marks that appear when you click the blanks)
Extra free resources
Download the mini illustrated story of “Cuando era pequeño” here.
You can also download flashcards with common verbs here. This is helpful for practicing storytelling and imperfect tense in Spanish.
