Background
In English the imperfect tense emphasizes the continuity of an action in the past tense.
He was walking to the store, when he saw his friend. She was singing in the shower.
The English imperfect consists of was/were + present participle. The present participle is the form of the verb which ends in -ing (see Unit 33).
Contrast the imperfect sentences above with: He walked to the store.
This sentence does not emphasize the fact that the ‘walking’ occurred over a given point of time; rather, it treats it as a single event.
Therefore, the English past tense in -ed is similar in use to the Latin perfect tense (Unit 13).
Latin structure
The endings of the Latin imperfect are:
Singular Plural
1 -bam -bāmus
2 -bās -bātis
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Imperfect tense
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These endings are very similar to the present tense endings (Units 2 and 3) with two differences:
(a) The 1st singular ends in -m and not -ō
(b) An element -bā- occurs in every form. This is shortened to -ba- before word-fi nal -t, -nt (as seen in the present tense) as well as before word-fi nal
-m. This is part of a larger Latin rule which prohibits a long vowel from
occurring before a word-fi nal -t, -nt, -m, or -r.
Unsurprisingly, the conjugations differ as to which vowel(s) precedes the imper- fect endings. Specifi cally:
1st -ā- 2nd -ē- 3rd -ē- 3rd-io -iē- 4th -iē- 1st 2nd 3rd 3rd-io 4th
sg. 1 amābam vidēbam dūcēbam capiēbam sentiēbam
2 amābās vidēbās dūcēbās capiēbās sentiēbās
3 amābat vidēbat dūcēbat capiēbat sentiēbat
pl. 1 amābāmus vidēbāmus dūcēbāmus capiēbāmus sentiēbāmus
2 amābātis vidēbātis dūcēbātis capiēbātis sentiēbātis
3 amābant vidēbant dūcēbant capiēbant sentiēbant
Uses
Like English, Latin’s imperfect tense is used to emphasize the continuity of a past activity.
Equōs pāscēbam.
I was feeding the horses.
Herculēs stābulum sordidum pūrgābat.
Hercules was cleaning the dirty stable.
Along these lines, the Latin imperfect is used to express a repeated or habitual action in the past:
Rēgīna lēgātōs interrogābat.
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Imperfect tense
Advanced topics
The verb dare to give maintains a short vowel before the -bā- of the imperfect, while stare does not:
dabam, dabās, dabat, dabāmus, dabātis, dabant stābam, stābās, stābat, stābāmus, stābātis, stābant
Exercise 1
Convert the following present tense forms to their imperfect counterparts. 1 nūntiās 11 bibimus 21 canitis
2 cavet 12 vidēs 22 fugimus
3 nocent 13 veniunt 23 terreō
4 dīcō 14 properās 24 scrībit
5 audīmus 15 fl ētis 25 dās
6 crēscunt 16 pugnat 26 tacent
7 cupiō 17 currunt 27 amō
8 tenēs 18 geritis 28 claudō
9 habitat 19 interfi citis 29 crēditis
10 tegitis 20 vīvō 30 scītis
Exercise 2
Translate the following.
1 Mūrōs altōs castrōrum mūniēbant.
2 Līberī parvī virōrum et fēminārum īrā rēgīnae timēbant. 3 In campō aurum incola prosperus inveniēbat.
4 Propter pugnam malam et feram fīnitimōrum nostra oppida relinquēbāmus. 5 In āram sacram serva dīgna ramum silvae pōnēbat.
6 Quandō fābulās iūcundās poētae ignōtī legēbātis?
7 Inter equum dēfessum et lupum parvum stābat taurus magnus. 8 Inimīcī ad nostram patriam nāvigābant. Timēbāmus.
9 Ex hortō pulchrō dominum lentum vocābāmus. 10 Properābās in antrum. Quid ibi faciēbās?
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Exercise 3
Translate the following into Latin. 1 The god was ruling the world.
2 After the battle the teacher of the children was weeping. 3 She was seeking the aid of the master.
4 The unknown poet was writing friendly, new letters to the worthy people. 5 We were buying the broad, harsh fi eld of the farmer.
Exercise 4
Each of the following unedited Latin passages contains an imperfect tense verbal form. Match each passage with the English translation which follows. To assist you, try to think of English derivatives which stem from some of the Latin words.
1 in altum vēla dabant laetī (Vergil Aeneid)
2 vīna dabant animōs (Ovid Met.)
3 recessumque prīmīs ultimī nōn dabant (Caesar Gal.) 4 sīc ego currēbam, sīc mē ferus ille premēbat (Ovid Met.)
5 quae necessitās eum tanta premēbat (Cicero S. Rosc.) 6 premēbat illa resolūta marmoreīs cervīcibus
aureum torum (Petronius)
7 fugam quaerēbāmus omnēs (Cicero Phil.)
8 nōs igitur dē orīgine et ratiōne verbī quaerēbāmus (Gellius) 9 ecce pater tuus et ego dolentēs quaerēbāmus tē (St Jerome) 10 igitur frātrem exhērēdāns tē faciēbat hērēdem (Cicero Phil.) 11 itaque īnfrāctus furor tuus inānis faciēbat impetūs (Cicero Dom.)
12 atque ultrō in nostrōs impetum faciēbat (Caesar Civ.) (a) and so your broken, empty rage was making attacks
(b) she, relaxed, was pressing a golden couch with her marble-like neck (c) they, happy, were setting sail [literally: gave sail] into the deep (d) what so great compulsion was pressing him
(e) lo, your father and I, weeping, were seeking you (f ) therefore disinheriting his brother he made you heir (g) and voluntarily he made an attack on our [men]
(h) therefore we were seeking about the source and an account of the word
(i) we were all seeking fl ight
( j) in this way I was running, and in this way that one, wild, was pressing me
(k) the last were not giving a retreat to the fi rst (l) wines were giving courage
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Imperfect tense
Exercise 5
Return to Exercise 5 in Unit 4, and try to locate the following active imperfect verbal forms, which are listed in the sequence in which they occur:
• 3rd pl. of the 2nd conjugation • 3rd pl. of the 3rd conjugation • 2nd sg. of the 3rd conjugation
Reading: Hercules Kills His Family II
Propter factum crūdēlissimum magnā tristitiā Herculēs vīvēbat. Volēbat hanc culpam maximam expiāre. Cōnstituēbat igitur ad clārum ōrāculum Delphicum
īre. Ibi in templō Apollinis fēmina, nōmine Pȳthia, cōnsilium virīs dabat. Apollō
autem fēminam docēbat. Pȳthia voluntātēs Apollinis sciēbat et virīs eās nūntiābat.
crūdēlissimum most cruel hanc this [acc. sg.] īre to go
Apollinis [gen. sg.] nōmine by name Apollō [nom. sg.] voluntātēs wishes [acc. pl.] eās them [acc. pl.]
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