Imperfect tense

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The imperfect tense, in the classical grammar of several Indo-European languages, denotes a past tense with an imperfective aspect. It corresponds to the English past-continuous tense. In contrast, the imperfect tense in Hebrew grammar is called thus because it refers to "uncompleted" action and therefore denotes present or future time.

Contents 1 Imperfect in Indo-European languages 2 English 3 French 4 Spanish 5 Italian 6 Hebrew

Imperfect in Indo-European languages

English

In English, the imperfect tense is manifested in the verb phrases:

• I was eating.
• I used to eat.

French

In French, the imperfect is a past tense. Its uses include representing:

• An action that was happening, used to happen, or happened regularly in the past and is now completed
• People, things, or conditions of 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 utilized in such a manner:
  • aimer - to love
  • desirer - to desire
  • vouloir - to want
  • préférer - to prefer
  • éspérer - to hope
  • sentir - to feel
  • regretter - to regret
  • être - to be
  • pouvoir - to be able / can
  • connaître - to know [a person]
  • savoir - to know [of a thing]
  • croire - to believe
  • penser - to think
  • imaginer - to imagine
• A time in the past
• A situation that was in progress in the past when another isolated and important event occurred

Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:

	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:

• There is only one irregular verb in the imperfect tense: être.
• 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.

Spanish

In Spanish, the imperfect is a past tense. Its uses include representing:

• An action that was happening, used to happen, or happened regularly in the past and is now completed
• People, things, or conditions of the past
• A physical or mental state or condition in progress in the past when used with verbs of being, emotion, capability, or conscience; the following verbs are often utilized in such a manner:
  • amar - to love
  • desear - to desire
  • querer - to want
  • preferir - to prefer
  • esperar - to hope
  • sentir - to feel
  • lamentar - to lament
  • ser - to be
  • estar - to be
  • poder - to be able / can
  • conocer - to know [a person]
  • saber - to know [of a thing]
  • creer - to believe
  • pensar - to think
  • imaginar - to imagine
• A time, date, or age in the past
• A situation that was in progress in the past when another isolated and important event occurred

Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:

	hablar	comer	insistir	ir	ser	ver
yo	hablaba	comía	insistía	iba	era	veía
tú	hablabas	comías	insistías	ibas	eras	veías
él	hablaba	comía	insistía	iba	era	veía
nosotros	hablábamos	comíamos	insistíamos	íbamos	éramos	veíamos
vostros	hablabais	comíais	insistíais	ibais	erais	veíais
ellos	hablaban	comían	insistían	iban	eran	veían

Notes:

• There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense: ir, ser, and ver.
• The yo and el/ella/usted forms are the same for verbs ending in ar, er, and ir; thus, in the cases of subjective ambiguity where context be insufficient, a pronoun or subjective noun is included for the sake of clarification.
• Humorously, the verb for work, trabajar, in the personal imperfect becomes "trabajaba". The effect is amplified in the first-person plural: "we were working" becomes "trabajábamos".

Italian

In Italian, the imperfect is a past tense. Its uses include representing:

• An action that was happening, used to happen, or happened regularly in the past and is now completed
• People, things, or conditions of the past
• A physical or mental state or condition in progress in the past when used with verbs of being, emotion, capability, or conscience. The following verbs are often utilized in such a manner:
  • amare - to love
  • desiderare - to desire
  • volere - to want
  • preferire - to prefer
  • sperare - to hope
  • sentire - to feel
  • essere - to be
  • potere - to be able / can
  • conoscere - to know [a person]
  • sapere - to know [of a thing]
  • stare - to stay / stand
  • credere - to believe
  • pensare - to think
  • immaginare - to imagine
• A time in the past
• A situation that was in progress in the past when another isolated and important event occurred

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	eramo	parlavamo	credevamo	finivamo	dicevamo	opponevamo
voi	avevate	eravate	parlavate	credevate	finivate	dicevate	opponevate
loro	avevano	erano	parlavano	credevano	finivano	dicevano	opponevano

Notes:

• Verbs are formed by dropping the -re suffix and adding -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, and -vano.
• There is only one irregular verb in the imperfect tense: 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.

Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew had only two aspects (not tenses). The perfect aspect was used for completed actions, and generally implies past time. The imperfect aspect was used for uncompleted actions, and thus could imply present or future time. Modern Hebrew uses the participle for the present time and reserves the imperfect for future time. The Hebrew imperfect is noteworthy for having not only suffixes but also a syllable added at the beginning of the stem, and thus is often called the prefix conjugation.es:Pretérito imperfecto wa:Durant Indicatif Erirece fi:imperfekti