Ver in Imperfect

This grammar point acts like a slow-motion camera. Imagine you are looking at an old photo album. You see a picture of your childhood house. You might say, "I used to see the mountains from my window." That is the Imperfect tense. It covers habits that lasted for a long time. It also covers actions that were in progress. If you were watching a movie when the phone rang, you use this tense. It provides the context for the main event. It is less about the "end" of an action. It is more about the "process" of the action. Even though ver is a short word, it carries a lot of weight.

1. 1The verb ver is actually quite friendly in the Imperfect. While it is irregular in many other tenses, here it follows a predictable path. You just need to remember the stem and the endings.
2. 2Start with the stem v-.
3. 3Add the specific Imperfect endings for -er verbs.
4. 4Keep the "i" strong in all forms.
5. 5Add an accent on the nós form to keep the stress right.
6. 6Here is the breakdown:
7. 7Eu via (I used to see / I was seeing)
8. 8Tu vias (You used to see)
9. 9Ele/Ela/Você via (He/She/You used to see)
10. 10Nós víamos (We used to see) - Note the accent!
11. 11Eles/Elas/Vocês viam (They/You all used to see)
12. 12It looks a bit like the verb vir (to come), but do not get confused. Ver uses via, while vir uses vinha. Think of the "i" in via as an eye looking at something.

Use this tense when you are talking about your old habits. Maybe you saw your grandmother every Sunday. You would say, Eu via minha avó todos os domingos. Use it to describe the weather or a state of mind in the past. "The sun was shining and I saw the birds." Use it for simultaneous actions. "I was seeing the game while he was cooking." It is perfect for real-world scenarios like job interviews. You might say, "In my last job, I saw many clients every day." It is also great for travel stories. "When I was in Lisbon, I saw the river every morning." It makes your Portuguese sound much more natural and fluid.

Do not use the Imperfect for a one-time, completed action. If you saw a movie once last night, use the Preterite (Eu vi). The Imperfect is not for "sudden" things. If you saw a car crash happen in a split second, that is usually Preterite. Think of it like a grammar traffic light. The Preterite is a red light (stop, it's done). The Imperfect is a green light (keep going, it was happening). Do not use it if you specify exactly how many times something happened. "I saw that movie three times" requires the Preterite. The Imperfect hates being boxed in by specific numbers or end times.

One big mistake is forgetting the accent on víamos. Without it, the rhythm of the word breaks. Another classic error is mixing up ver and vir. If you say Eu vinha o filme, people will think you "came" the movie. That makes no sense! Always remember: via is for vision. Some people try to say veia because they think it follows the eu vejo pattern. Nope! Veia actually means "vein" in your arm. Unless you are talking about biology, stick to via. Yes, even native speakers might slip up on complex verbs, but ver is one you want to get right.

Let's compare Eu vi and Eu via. Eu vi o João means I saw João at a specific moment. Maybe we waved and that was it. Eu via o João means I used to see him often. Maybe we were coworkers or neighbors. The first is a snapshot. The second is a video. Also, compare it to olhar (to look). Ver is often about the ability to see or a passive action. Olhar is more intentional. If you were "looking" at something for a long time, you would use Eu olhava. But if you just "saw" it in the background, Eu via is your best bet.