The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was doing (something)" or "used to do (something)". It contrasts with preterite forms, which refer to a single completed event in the past.
Traditionally, the imperfect of languages such as Latin and French is referred to as one of the tenses, although it actually encodes aspectual information in addition to tense (time reference). It may be more precisely called past imperfective.Bernard Comrie, Tense, 1985, pp. 6–7.
English has no general imperfective and expresses it in different ways. The term "imperfect" in English refers to forms much more commonly called past progressive or past continuous (e.g. "was doing" or "were doing"). These are combinations of past tense with specifically continuous or progressive aspect. In German, formerly referred to the simply conjugated past tense (to contrast with the or compound past form), but the term (preterite) is now preferred, since the form does not carry any implication of imperfective aspect.
"Imperfect" comes from the Latin "unfinished", because the imperfect expresses an ongoing, uncompleted action. The equivalent Ancient Greek term was "prolonged"..
Indo-European languages
Germanic languages
English Imperfect meanings in English are expressed in different ways depending on whether the event is continuous or habitual.
For a continuous action (one that was in progress at a particular time in the past), the past progressive (past continuous) form is used, as in "I was eating"; "They were running fast." However certain verbs that express state rather than action do not mark the progressive aspect (see ); in these cases the simple past tense is used instead: "He was hungry"; "We knew what to do next."
Habitual (repeated) action in the past can be marked by used to, as in "I used to eat a lot", or by the auxiliary verb would, as in "Back then, I would eat early and would walk to school." (The auxiliary would also has other uses, such as expressing conditional mood.) However, in many cases the habitual nature of the action does not need to be explicitly marked on the verb, and the simple past is used: "We always ate dinner at six o'clock."
Italic languages
Latin Conjugation of the imperfect indicative: parāre docēre legere capere scīre esseego parābam docēbam legēbam capiēbam sciēbam eramtū parābās docēbās legēbās capiēbās sciēbās erāsis parābat docēbat legēbat capiēbat sciēbat eratnōs parābāmus docēbāmus legēbāmus capiēbāmus sciēbāmus erāmusvōs parābātis docēbātis legēbātis capiēbātis sciēbātis erātiseī 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.
Romance languages In Romance languages, 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). A physical or mental state or condition in progress in the past. Often used with verbs of being, emotion, capability, or conscience. 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 regular verbs, take the first person plural present tense, the "nous" (we) form, subtract the -ons suffix, and add the appropriate ending (the forms for être (to be), whose "nous" form does not end in -ons, are irregular; they start with ét- but have the same endings). 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.
It is used to express the ideas of habitual actions or states of being; physical and emotional descriptions: time, weather, age, feelings; actions or states of an unspecified duration; background information in conjunction with the passé composé; wishes or suggestions; conditions in "si" clauses; the expressions "être en train de" and "venir de" in the past. parler choisir vendre être commencer manger étudierje -ais parlais choisissais vendais étais commençais mangeais étudiaistu -ais parlais choisissais vendais étais commençais mangeais étudiaisil -ait parlait choisissait vendait était commençait mangeait étudiaitnous -ions parlions choisissions vendions étions commencions mangions étudiionsvous -iez parliez choisissiez vendiez étiez commenciez mangiez étudiiezils -aient parlaient choisissaient vendaient étaient commençaient mangeaient étudiaient
Italian Conjugation of the imperfect indicative: avere essere parlare credere finire dire opporreio avevo ero parlavo credevo finivo dicevo opponevotu avevi eri parlavi credevi finivi dicevi opponevilui aveva era parlava credeva finiva diceva opponevanoi avevamo eravamo parlavamo credevamo finivamo dicevamo opponevamovoi avevate eravate parlavate credevate finivate dicevate opponevateloro avevano erano parlavano credevano finivano dicevano opponevano Notes: Dropping the -re suffix and adding -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, and -vano form verbs. Although dire and opporre (as all the composite forms of verb porre and dire) may seem irregular, they are a part of a verb family that has stronger roots to Latin equivalents (lat. pōnere/pōnēbam and dīcere/dīcēbam). Other verbs include fare(infinitive)/faccio(present tense)/facevo(imperfect) (lat.facere/facio/faciēbam), bere/bevo/bevevo (bibere/bibo/bibēbam), trarre/traggo/traevo (trahere/traho/trahēbam), durre/duco/ducevo[obs.] (dūcere/dūco/dūcēbam) and all their composite forms.. 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 eramtu cântai credeai plăceai dormeai eraiel/ea cânta credea plăcea dormea eranoi cântam credeam plăceam dormeam eramvoi cântați credeați plăceați dormeați erației 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 infinitives ending in „-a” (1st conjugation) do not 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 infinitives 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 veryo hablaba comía insistía iba era veíatú hablabas comías insistías ibas eras veíasél hablaba comía insistía iba era veíanosotros hablábamos comíamos insistíamos íbamos éramos veíamosvosotros hablabais comíais insistíais ibais erais veíaisellos 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 tú eres (thanks to pre-classical Latin rhotacism). The imperfect of ver (veía etc.) was historically considered regular in Old Spanish, where the infinitive veer provided the stem ve-, but that is no longer the case in standard Spanish. In formal Spanish: Pronouns "tú" and "vosotros" are replaced by "usted" and "ustedes", with the verb conjugated in third person. American Spanish always replaces "vosotros" with "ustedes", switching the verb accordingly. The countries that show the kind of voseo in which "tú" is replaced by "vos" use the same forms as for "tú" in this tense. Because first and third-person singular forms are the same for all verbs, such phrases can be more ambiguous (insufficient deixis); this can be improved by adding a claifying pronoun or subject noun as a reference point.
Portuguese In Portuguese, the imperfect indicative, called "pretérito imperfeito", is quite similar to Spanish: cantar bater partir pôr ser ter vireu cantava batia partia punha era tinha vinhatu cantavas batias partias punhas eras tinhas vinhasele/ela/você cantava batia partia punha era tinha vinhanós cantávamos batíamos partíamos púnhamos éramos tínhamos vínhamosvós cantáveis batíeis partíeis púnheis éreis tínheis vínheiseles/elas/vocês cantavam batiam partiam punham eram tinham vinham
There are four irregular verbs: "pôr" (to put), "ser" (to be), "ter" (to have) and "vir" (to come). Unlike in Spanish, the verbs "ver" (to see) and "ir" (to go) are regular in the Portuguese imperfect.
Like in Italian, it is also commonly formed by combining the imperfect of the verb estar (estava, estavas, estava, estávamos, estáveis, estavam) with the gerund (for example, "falando", the gerund form of "falar", to speak, to talk). In Brazilian Portuguese, both in informal oral speech and informal written language (for example, online or phone texting), it is more common to use the composite "estava falando" (commonly reduced to "tava falando"), than to use the synthetic "falava", which is more common in formal written forms.
The synthetic pluperfect ("eu falara" "I had spoken") is considered old-fashioned and never used in spoken communication – it is substituted by the composite "eu tinha falado", which is formed with the imperfect form of the verb "ter" (to have) (tinha tinhas tinha tínhamos tínheis tinham) plus the past participle ("falado"). Alternatively, the verb "ter" can be swapped with the imperfect form of the verb "haver" (to have) (havia havias havia haviamos havíeis haviam)
Galician