Imperfect tense
Encyclopedia
The imperfect, often inaccurately called the imperfect tense in the classical grammars of several Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...

, denotes a grammatical combination of past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...

 and imperfective aspect
Imperfective aspect
The imperfective is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed with internal structure, such as ongoing, habitual, repeated, and similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future...

, and so may be more precisely called past imperfective. In English, the term refers a form of the verb that combines past tense with similar aspects, such as incomplete, continuous, habitual, or coincident with another action.

Etymology

"Imperfect" comes from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

  "unfinished", because the imperfect expresses an ongoing, uncompleted action. The Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 term was paratatikós "prolonged".

English

In English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, the imperfect or past continuous tense is manifested in the verb phrases:
  • "I was eating...."
  • "I used to eat...."


"Eating" and "eat" are non-finite verb
Non-finite verb
In linguistics, a non-finite verb is a verb form that is not limited by a subject and, more generally, is not fully inflected by categories that are marked inflectionally in language, such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, and person...

s used to complete the sentences above. Although these non-finite verbs show the action in the sentence, they themselves do not have tense. The tense is indicated by the form of "to be" ("was") or the phrase "used to." The imperfect is contrasted with the simple past tense, in this case "I ate...."

"Would" can also be used for the imperfect. In the sentence "Back then, I would eat early and would walk to school...." In this context, "would" signifies not the conditional mood
Conditional mood
In linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...

, but rather repeated past actions of imperfect in English, and one must use care when translating to other languages.

In modern linguistics, and especially in TEFL contexts, it is more commonly referred to as the "past continuous" or the "past progressive" tense.
Latin

Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:
  parāre docēre legere capere scīre esse
ego parābam docēbam legēbam capiēbam sciēbam eram
parābās docēbas legēbās capiēbās sciēbās erās
is parābat docēbat legēbat capiēbat sciēbat erat
nōs parābāmus docēbāmus legēbāmus capiēbāmus sciēbāmus erāmus
vōs parābātis docēbātis legēbātis capiēbātis sciēbātis erātis
parābant docēbant legēbant capiēbant sciēbant erant

Notes:
  • The imperfect is signified by the signs ba and ebā.
  • The imperfect forms of esse are used as auxiliary verbs in the pluperfect of the passive voice along with perfect passive participles.


In Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

, the imperfect is generally a past tense. Its uses include representing:
  • Repetition and continuity: an action that was happening, used to happen, or happened regularly in the past, as it was ongoing
  • A description of people, things, or conditions of the past
  • A time in the past
  • A relation between past happenings: a situation that was in progress in the past or a condition originated in a previous time, when another isolated and important event occurred (the first verb, indicating the status in progress or condition from the past using the imperfect, while the latter uses the preterite
    Preterite
    The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...

    ).
  • A physical or mental state or condition in progress in the past. Often used with verbs of being, emotion, capability, or conscience. The following verbs are often used in the imperfect in several Romance languages:
{|class="wikitable"

!English equivalent || French || Spanish || Italian || Portuguese || Romanian
|--
|to love || aimer || amar || amare || amar || iubire
|--
|to desire || désirer || desear || desiderare || desejar || dorire
|--
|to want || vouloir || querer || volere || querer || vrere
|--
|to prefer || préférer || preferir || preferire || preferir || preferare
|--
|to hope || espérer || esperar || sperare || esperar || sperare
|--
|to feel || sentir || sentir || sentire || sentir || simțire
|--
|to regret/lament || regretter || lamentar || rimpiangere || lamentar || regretare
|--
|to be || être || ser/estar || essere || ser/estar || fire
|--
|to be able to || pouvoir || poder || potere || poder || putere
|--
|to be familiar with || connaître || conocer || conoscere || conhecer || cunoaștere
|--
|to know (as a fact) || savoir || saber || sapere || saber || știre
|--
|to believe || croire || creer || credere || acreditar || credere
|--
|to think || penser || pensar || pensare || pensar || gândire
|--
|to imagine || imaginer || imaginar || immaginare || imaginar || imaginare
|--
|to stand/stay ||rester || quedar || stare || ficar/estar || stare
|}

A common mistake of beginners learning a Romance language is putting too much emphasis on whether the time the action occurred is known. This generally does not affect how the imperfect is used. For example, the sentence "Someone ate all of my cookies." (when translated) is not a good candidate for the imperfect. Fundamentally, it is no different from the sentence "We ate all the cookies." Note this fails the repeatability requirement of the imperfect, as it is only known to have happened once. On the other hand, the sentence "I used to have fun in the 1960s." is a good candidate for the imperfect, even though its period is known. In short, knowing when an action occurred is not nearly as important as how long it occurred (or was and still is occurring).
French

To form the imperfect for French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 regular verbs, take the present tense e.g. "nous
" (we) form, subtract the -ons ending, and add the appropriate ending (but the forms for être, whose "nous" form does not end in -ons, are formed differently):
je -ais
tu -ais
il -ait
nous -ions
vous -iez
ils -aient


Examples:
  parler choisir vendre être commencer manger étudier
je parlais choisissais vendais étais commençais mangeais étudiais
tu parlais choisissais vendais étais commençais mangeais étudiais
il parlait choisissait vendait était commençait mangeait étudiait
nous parlions choisissions vendions étions commencions mangions étudiions
vous parliez choisissiez vendiez étiez commenciez mangiez étudiiez
ils parlaient choisissaient vendaient étaient commençaient mangeaient étudiaient


Notes:
  • Verbs that terminate in a stem of -cer and -ger undergo minor orthographic changes to preserve the phonetic sound or allophone. Verbs whose root terminates in the letter "i" maintain the letter despite the consecutiveness in the "nous" and "vous" forms.

Italian

Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:
  avere essere parlare credere finire dire opporre
io avevo ero parlavo credevo finivo dicevo opponevo
tu avevi eri parlavi credevi finivi dicevi opponevi
lui aveva era parlava credeva finiva diceva opponeva
noi avevamo eravamo parlavamo credevamo finivamo dicevamo opponevamo
voi avevate eravate parlavate credevate finivate dicevate opponevate
loro avevano erano parlavano credevano finivano dicevano opponevano

Notes:
  • Dropping the -re suffix and adding -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, and -vano form verbs.
  • There is only one irregular verb in the imperfect: essere.
  • Although dire and opporre may seem irregular, they are a part of a verb family that has stronger roots to Latin equivalents. Other verbs include fare, bere, and ridurre.
  • There is another imperfect in Italian formed by combining the imperfect of the verb stare (stavo, stavi, stava, stavamo, stavate, stavano) with the gerund. For example, "parlavo" could be said as "stavo parlando". The difference is similar to the difference between "I eat" and "I am eating" in English. However, English does not make this distinction in the imperfect.

Romanian

Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:
  cânta(re) crede(re) plăcea (plăcere) dormi(re) fi(re)
eu cântam credeam plăceam dormeam eram
tu cântai credeai plăceai dormeai erai
el/ea cânta credea plăcea dormea era
noi cântam credeam plăceam dormeam eram
voi cântați credeați plăceați dormeați erați
ei cântau credeau plăceau dormeau erau

Notes:
  • The imperfect is formed from the short infinitive form of the verbs (without the -re suffix) combined with the -am, -ai, -a, -am, -ați, and -au endings.
  • Short infintives ending in „-a” (1st conjugation) don't double this letter: e.g. "pleca” in the first person singular is "plecam" and not "plecaam").
  • Short infinitives ending in "-i" take the pattern of those ending in "-e" (e.g. dormi becomes dormeam in 1st person imperfect), while short infintives ending in "-î" take the pattern of those ending in "-a" (e.g. hotărî becomes hotăram in 1st person imperfect).
  • There is only one irregular verb in the imperfect: a fi, that is created from the radical era-, instead of fi-.

Spanish

In Spanish, the imperfect can be called the imperfecto or the copretérito. Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:
  hablar comer insistir ir ser ver
yo hablaba comía insistía iba era veía
hablabas comías insistías ibas eras veías
él hablaba comía insistía iba era veía
nosotros hablábamos comíamos insistíamos íbamos éramos veíamos
vosotros hablabais comíais insistíais ibais erais veíais
ellos hablaban comían insistían iban eran veían
  • There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect: ir, ser, and ver. Historically, ir — unlike other Spanish "-ir verbs" — failed to drop the -b- of the Latin imperfect. The imperfect of ser is likewise a continuation of the Latin imperfect (of esse), with the same stem appearing in eres (thanks to pre-classical Latin rhotacism
    Rhotacism
    Rhotacism refers to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r :*the excessive or idiosyncratic use of the r;...

    ). And the imperfect of ver (veía etc.) was regular in Old Spanish
    Old Spanish language
    Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian or Mediaeval Spanish , is an early form of the Spanish language that was spoken on the Iberian Peninsula from the tenth century until roughly the beginning of the fifteenth century, before a consonantic readjustment gave rise to the evolution of modern...

    , where the infinitive veer provided the stem ve-.

  • The first person singular and third person singular forms are the same for all verbs; thus, in cases of ambiguity where context is insufficient, a pronoun
    Pronoun
    In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...

     or subject noun is included for the sake of clarification.

Portuguese

In Portuguese, the imperfect indicative, called "pretérito imperfeito", is quite similar to Spanish. However, is important to remember that in the informal Brazilian Portuguese, the pronouns "tu" and vós" are often replaced respectively by "você" and "vocês", and then the verb is conjugated like the third person.
  cantar bater partir pôr
eu cantava batia partia punha
tu cantavas batias partias punhas
ele/você cantava batia partia punha
nós cantávamos batíamos partíamos púnhamos
vós cantáveis batíeis partíeis púnheis
eles/vocês cantavam batiam partiam punham

Persian

Like all other past tenses, imperfect is conjugated regularly for all verbs. Formation: [preverb] + mi- + past stem + past ending
Conjugation of the imperfect indicative
  raftan (to go) kâr kardan (to work)
1st sg. miraftam kâr mikardam

Slavic languages

Most Slavic languages have lost the imperfect, however it is preserved in Bulgarian and Macedonian. It is also officially retained in Serbo-Croatian but considered old-fashioned and restricted to older literature, poetic and stylistic reasons.

Turkish

Turkish has separate tenses for past continuous and imperfect.
To form the past continuous tense for Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 verbs, after removing the infinitive suffix (-mek or -mak), take the present continuous tense suffix "-yor" without personal suffixes, and add the ending for the simple past plus the appropriate personal suffix:
ben -yordum
sen -yordun
o -yordu
biz -yorduk
siz -yordunuz
onlar -yorlardı


Examples:
  gelmek gitmek ağlamak beklemek toplamak söylemek satmak
ben geliyordum gidiyordum ağlıyordum bekliyordum topluyordum söylüyordum satıyordum
sen geliyordun gidiyordun ağlıyordun bekliyordun topluyordun söylüyordun satıyordun
o geliyordu gidiyordu ağlıyordu bekliyordu topluyordu söylüyordu satıyordu
biz geliyorduk gidiyorduk ağlıyorduk bekliyorduk topluyorduk söylüyorduk satıyorduk
siz geliyordunuz gidiyordunuz ağlıyordunuz bekliyordunuz topluyordunuz söylüyordunuz satıyordunuz
onlar geliyorlardı gidiyorlardı ağlıyorlardı bekliyorlardı topluyorlardı söylüyorlardı satıyorlardı


Notes:
  • As "-du"(which has a rounded back vowel) succeeds "-lar"(which has an unrounded back vowel) instead of "-yor"(which has a rounded back vowel) when the subject is the third person plural "onlar", it becomes "-dı"(which has an unrounded back vowel).
  • If a verb ends in "t", it may change into "d". (Especially gitmek and etmek)
  • If a verb ends in open vowels ("a" or "e"), the open vowels become closed while adding "-yor" (because of the closed auxiliary vowel "-i-".)
    "a" becomes "ı" if the preceding vowel is unrounded, "u" if it is rounded (ağla -> ağlıyor, topla -> topluyor)
    "e" becomes "i" if the preceding vowel is unrounded, "ü" if it is rounded (bekle -> bekliyor, söyle -> söylüyor)
  • If the verb ends in a consonant, the auxiliary vowel "-i-" must be added before "-yor". It becomes "-ı-", "-u-" or "-ü-" depending on the frontness and roundedness of the preceding vowel, because of the vowel harmony:
    "-i" if the preceding vowel is "e" or "i"(front unrounded): gel -> geliyor
    "-ı" if the preceding vowel is "a" or "ı"(back unrounded): bak -> bakıyor
    "-u" if the preceding vowel is "o" or "u"(back rounded): kork -> korkuyor
    "-ü" if the preceding vowel is "ö" or "ü"(front rounded): gör -> görüyor
  • "r" of "-yor" may be dropped in colloquial speech.


To form the negative of the past continuous tense, the negation suffix "-ma/-me", which becomes "-mi", "-mı", "-mu", or "-mü" because of the closed auxiliary vowel and the vowel harmony, must be added before "-yor".

Examples:
  gelmek gitmek ağlamak beklemek toplamak söylemek satmak
ben gelmiyordum gitmiyordum ağlamıyordum beklemiyordum toplamıyordum söylemiyordum satmıyordum
sen gelmiyordun gitmiyordun ağlamıyordun beklemiyordun toplamıyordun söylemiyordun satmıyordun
o gelmiyordu gitmiyordu ağlamıyordu beklemiyordu toplamıyordu söylemiyordu satmıyordu
biz gelmiyorduk gitmiyorduk ağlamıyorduk beklemiyorduk toplamıyorduk söylemiyorduk satmıyorduk
siz gelmiyordunuz gitmiyordunuz ağlamıyordunuz beklemiyordunuz toplamıyordunuz söylemiyordunuz satmıyordunuz
onlar gelmiyorlardı gitmiyorlardı ağlamıyorlardı beklemiyorlardı toplamıyorlardı söylemiyorlardı satmıyorlardı


Notes:
  • The negation suffix "-ma/me" is:
    "-mi" if the preceding vowel is "e" or "i"(front unrounded): gel -> gelmiyor
    "-mı" if the preceding vowel is "a" or "ı"(back unrounded): bak -> bakyor
    "-mu" if the preceding vowel is "o" or "u"(back rounded): kork -> korkmuyor
    "-mü" if the preceding vowel is "ö" or "ü"(front rounded): gör -> göryor
  • As "-du"(which has a rounded back vowel) succeeds "-lar"(which has an unrounded back vowel) instead of "-yor"(which has a rounded back vowel) when the subject is the third person plural "onlar", it becomes "-dı"(which has an unrounded back vowel).


To form the interrogative of the past continuous tense, after adding "-yor", add the question "suffix" "-mu", which is written as if it was a separate word even though it's not counted as one. "-du" and the personal suffixes are added to the question "suffix", not to "-yor":
ben muydum?
sen muydun?
o muydu?
biz muyduk?
siz muydunuz?
onlar -lar mıydı


Examples:
  gelmek gitmek ağlamak beklemek toplamak söylemek satmak
ben geliyor muydum? gidiyor muydum? ağlıyor muydum? bekliyor muydum? topluyor muydum? söylüyor muydum? satıyor muydum?
sen geliyor muydun? gidiyor muydun? ağlıyor muydun? bekliyor muydun? topluyor muydun? söylüyor muydun? satıyor muydun?
o geliyor muydu? gidiyor muydu? ağlıyor muydu? bekliyor muydu? topluyor muydu? söylüyor muydu? satıyor muydu?
biz geliyor muyduk? gidiyor muyduk? ağlıyor muyduk? bekliyor muyduk? topluyor muyduk? söylüyor muyduk? satıyor muyduk?
siz geliyor muydunuz? gidiyor muydunuz? ağlıyor muydunuz? bekliyor muydunuz? topluyor muydunuz? söylüyor muydunuz? satıyor muydunuz?
onlar geliyorlar mıydı? gidiyorlar mıydı? ağlıyorlar mıydı? bekliyorlar mıydı? topluyorlar mıydı? söylüyorlar mıydı? satıyorlar mıydı?


Notes:
  • The epenthetic consonant "y" is inserted between "-mu" and "-du".
  • As "-mu" and "-du"(which have a rounded back vowel) succeeds "-lar"(which has an unrounded back vowel) instead of "-yor"(which has a rounded back vowel) when the subject is the third person plural "onlar", they become "-mı" and "-dı"(which have an unrounded back vowel).

Semitic languages

Semitic languages do not have an imperfect, but the terms 'perfect' and 'imperfect' are commonly seen for imperfective and perfective.

Malayalam

In Malayalam (verbs are never conjugated for grammatical person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...

, which is indicated by a pronoun), there are two indicative imperfects, corresponding exactly with English:
1 -ഉകയായിരുന്നു (ukayāyirunnu) endings (... was...), for example:
ഓടുകയായിരുന്നു (ōṭukayāyirunnu) ... was running
2 -ഉമായിരുന്നു (umāyirunnu) endings (... used to ...), for example:
ഓടുമായിരുന്നു (ōṭumāyirunnu) ... used to run
  • To form the "was doing" imperfect, take the infinitive ending in ഉക (uka), for example ഓടുക (ōṭuka) - to run - and add the ending - യായിരുന്നു (yāyirunnu).
  • To form the "used to do" imperfect, take off the ക (ka) from the end of the "uka" form and add മായിരുന്നു (māyirunnu) in its stead.


To make a verb in the imperfect negative, add അല്ല് (all) after the ഉകയ (ukaya) part of the ending for the "was doing" imperfect. For example, ഓടുകയല്ലായിരുന്നു (ōṭukayallāyirunnu) (...was not running). To do the same for the "used to do" imperfect, take off the ഉമ (uma) from the ending and add അത്തില്ല (attilla) instead. For example, ഓടത്തില്ലായിരുന്നു (ōṭattillāyirunnu) (...didn't use to run)
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