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Definition

The word imperfect means "incomplete." With this Latin tense, we are joining the past as "our regularly scheduled program already in progress." It is past as happening, as circumstances, rather than past as discrete event that happened, and then we moved on. (For the view of the past as completed or finished, see the PerfectTense page.)

Purpose

The information on this page will help you to form and understand the use of imperfect tense in Latin. Note that it will go beyond the explanations presented in Chapters 13 and 14 of Ecce Romani I. You may wish to consult your teacher about specifics.

Formation

Imperfect Active (Latin I)

Coming Soon: Information on the formation of imperfect tense.

Imperfect of Sum and Possum

Coming Soon: Information on the formation of sum and possum in the imperfect tense.

Imperfect Passive (LatinII)

Coming Soon: Information on the formation of imperfect passive

Imperfect Subjunctive (Ecce II)

Coming Soon: Information on the formation of the imperfect tenses in the subjunctive

Imperfect Subjunctive Active

Imperfect Subjunctive Passive

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Translation

With a focus on past as process, we wind up with several ways to bring the imperfect into English. I can think of seven under normal circumstances. These translations appear in no particular order, except that #1 should be your starting point in translating and #7 normally your last.

1. was VERBing: (This is the most basic way to handle imperfect. It makes clear the work was in progress.)
2. started to VERB, began to VERB: (This translation works if we are viewing the beginning of the process in the past.)
3. kept VERBing: (In this reading, we are viewing the action in the middle of its course.)
4. used to VERB: (What we were doing every day is what we used to do.)
5. would (routinely, habitually) VERB: (This use of "would" is not the same as in "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Rather think, "When we were young, we would always hang out at the mall on Saturdays." Routine, not hypothetical.)
6. tried to VERB: (Sound weird? It shouldn't. Look at the sample sentence at the top of the page. Imagine this fuller version: "Sextus arborem ascendēbat, sed identidem ad terram cadēbat." We might render this as "Sextus was climbing/started to climb the tree, but kept falling to the earth." Well, if he kept falling, he would need to climb again and again. In that case, we might well say, "Sextus was trying to climb the tree, but kept falling to the earth.")
7. VERBed: (I recommend that we save this translation for last. "I did it" generally refers to a one-time action.) For more on the one-word translation and when it's appropriate, see the next section.

One-Word Translations and Imperfect

Sometimes a one-word translation is the best bet:

• erat="was" (COMMENTARY: Most of the time anything else, such as "kept being" just sounds awkward: if the baby kept being quiet, then it was just quiet)
• habēbat="had" (COMMENTARY: "The overseer was having a stick in his hand" just won't work. Use had instead.)
• Anytime the sentence has an adverb suggesting recurrence over time or an ongoing force, a one-word translation will work: identidem ("again and again"), saepe ("often"), adhūc ("still").
• A verb that suggests a continual state will work as a one-word past tense: manēbat ("remained," "stayed"), dormiēbat ("slept").

Conative Imperfect

Coming Soon: Additional information and explanation of the conative imperfect.

The Imperfect of Sum: A Special Translation

Here's a controversial hint for students out there. No dictionary or textbook will ever tell you this; I learned it from Mark ("Brutus") Shelby at Smith-Cotton High School. Look at this passage of Latin:

What do we do with these different imperfects?

Seems clear enough. Imperfect tense views the past as process. But what about that last sentence? Here's what you have learned since erat first appeared in Ch. 13: "erat, (it) was." If we follow that gloss, we wind up with a fairly straightforward rendering for "Aurēlia sollicita erat," namely:

We can do better. Review the list at the top of the page. One of the uses of imperfect is the sense of "began to" or "started to." If we understand that the lateness of the hour and the lack of civilization caused Aurelia's worry, it seems clear that we want a rendering like

This translation is fine, I guess, but clunky. Here's what you do. Follow the "Mr. Shelby Rule."

Check it out.

This is so clearly the sense of the imperfect erat in this situation that it seems foolish to ignore the obvious. (NOTA BENE: Don't write this new definition in your book without your teacher's permission. The Ecce Wiki cannot take responsibility for any vandalism to the textbook!)

Useful Links

Formation of Imperfect Active

With these activities you will physically create imperfect active verb forms.

Drag and Drop 1

Drag and Drop 2

Drag and Drop 3

Drag and Drop 4

Drag and Drop 5

Formation of Sum and Possum in the Imperfect

Imperfect of Sum

Formation of Imperfect Passive

With these activities you will physically create imperfect passive verb forms.

Drag and Drop 1

Drag and Drop 2

Drag and Drop 3

Drag and Drop 4

Drag and Drop 5

Formation of Imperfect Subjunctive

Create imperfect subjunctive active for each conjugation.