imperfect
Sign in to saveAlso known as not completed present tense, not perfect, imperfect tense, imperfect verb form
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.
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24 sectionsContents
- Indo-European languages
- Germanic languages
- English
- Italic languages
- Latin
- Romance languages
- French
- Italian
- Romanian
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Galician
- Indo-Aryan languages
- Hindi
- Assamese
- Indo-Iranian languages
- Persian
- Slavic languages
- Turkish
- Semitic languages {{anchor|Imperfect in Semitic languages}}
- Dravidian languages {{anchor|Imperfect in Dravidian languages}}
- Malayalam
- References
- External links
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'''.