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The present tense can replace not only the perfect tense, but also sometimes the imperfect tense: [40] tōtīs trepidātur castrīs (Caesar) [41] 'in the whole camp there is panic' (i.e. people were panicking) After dum 'while', in a past context, the present indicative regularly has the meaning of an imperfect tense: [42]
In Latin the PIE aorist merged with the perfect. [20] Consequently, the Latin perfect tense serves both as a true perfect (meaning, for example, I have done), and as a simple preterite, merely reporting a past event (I did). It contrasts with the imperfect, which denotes uncompleted past actions or states.
The perfect passive is usually made with the perfect participle combined with sum, e.g. missus sum 'I was sent, I have been sent', ductus sum 'I was led, I have been led'. Some perfect tenses have an irregular stem, for example sum, fuī 'I am', eō, īvī 'I go', ferō, tulī 'I bring, I bear', tollō, sustulī 'I raise, I remove'.
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 ...
The imperfect subjunctive of every verb looks like the infinitive + an ending: Regular: amārem, vidērem, dūcerem, caperem, audīrem; Irregular: essem, possem, ferrem, vellem, īrem; In the various perfect tenses, all verbs have regular endings. However, the stem to which the perfect endings are added cannot always be guessed, and so is given ...
Some verbs are conjugated only in the perfective aspect's tenses, yet have the imperfective aspect's tenses' meanings. As such, the perfect becomes the present, the pluperfect becomes the imperfect, and the future perfect becomes the future. Therefore, the defective verb ōdī means, "I hate." These defective verbs' principal parts are given in ...
Latin example English translation Comment perfect in imperfect past in present 'perfect subjunctive' mīror, quid causae fuerit quā rē cōnsilium mūtārīs. (Cicero) [52] 'I wonder what the reason was that you changed your plan' did in English quid tāmen agās, quaerō, et an tuīs pedibus pervēnerīs domum. (Petronius) [53]
In other languages such as Latin, the distinction between perfective and imperfective is made only in the past tense (e.g., Latin veni "I came" vs. veniebam "I was coming", "I used to come"). [3] However, perfective should not be confused with tense—perfective aspect can apply to events in the past, present, or future.