Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The imperfect (abbreviated IMPERF) 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 walking" or "used to walk".
The imperfective aspect may be fused with the past tense, for a form traditionally called the imperfect. In some cases, such as Spanish and Portuguese , this is because the imperfective aspect occurs only in the past tense; others, such as Georgian and Bulgarian , have both general imperfectives and imperfects.
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]
It semantically corresponds to the distinction between the morphological forms known respectively as the aorist and imperfect in Greek, the preterite and imperfect in Spanish, the simple past (passé simple) and imperfect in French, and the perfect and imperfect in Latin (from the Latin perfectus, meaning "completed").
The imperfect indicative generally has an imperfective meaning and describes situations in the past. Often the imperfect can be translated into English as 'was doing', but sometimes the simple tense 'did' or expressions such as 'used to do', 'would do', 'kept doing', 'began to do', 'had been doing' are more appropriate.
“I mean, you can,” Massie added. “You’ll weed out the weak. But the rest of us will have antibodies.” ...
Rhubarb is a vegetable high in fiber. "[Rhubarb is] rich in fiber, so it really helps with digestion. [It] has a pretty good source of fiber per serving," Wright told Fox News Digital.
Thus, the meaning "he has been doing" is typically expressed with the present tense, and "he had been doing (earlier)" is expressed with the imperfect tense: [30] πολλά γε ἔτη ἤδη εἰμὶ ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ. [31] pollá ge étē ḗdē eimì en têi tékhnēi. I have been (lit. I am) in the business for many years now.