íamos

íamos is a verb ending used in Iberian Romance languages to mark the first-person plural imperfect tense for certain verbs. In Spanish, it appears with regular -er and -ir verbs in the nosotros/nosotras form of the imperfect indicative, producing forms such as comíamos, vivíamos, bebíamos. This mood and tense express past actions that were ongoing, habitual, or without a definite endpoint. For -ar verbs, the corresponding imperfect ending for nosotros is -ábamos (hablábamos, trabajábamos), highlighting a clear distinction between the two conjugation classes.

Form and examples

In regular verbs, the imperfect is formed by removing the infinitive ending (-er or -ir) and adding -íamos to the stem. For example: comer → comíamos; vivir → vivíamos. However, not all verbs follow a strictly regular pattern in the imperfect. Irregular verbs include ser (éramos), ir (íbamos), and ver (veíamos), which alter the stem or accentuation in the nosotros form. These irregulars illustrate that -íamos is a common ending but not a guarantee of a uniform stem across all verbs.

Cross-language note

A similar -íamos ending exists in Portuguese for the imperfect with -er and -ir verbs in the nós form, though usage and accent placement can differ. In other Romance languages such as Galician, comparable forms are also found. The essential function remains the same: signaling past actions viewed from a habitual or continuous perspective.

Summary

Thus, íamos/íamos is the standard nosotros form ending for the imperfect in many -er and -ir verbs in Spanish, with important irregulars and a distinct -ábamos form for -ar verbs. It is used to describe past actions that were ongoing or repeated.