THE IMPERFECT TENSE
The Imperfect Tense: Expresses action that took place repeatedly or customarily in the past Is often translated with the helping verb “was” or “were” Has a special set of verb endings
The imperfect tense endings: bam bas bat bamus batis bant
Add the imperfect endings to an infinitive, minus the -re amare - re = ama + bam amabam= I was loving,I used to love, I kept loving, I began to love
imperfect of amare amabam amabas amabat amabamus amabatis amabant
imperfect of tenere tenebam tenebas tenebat tenebamus tenebatis tenebant
imperfect of dicere dicebam dicebas dicebat dicebamus dicebatis dicebant
The imperfect of fourth conjugation verbs and third “-io” verbs has an IE before the imperfect endings: Capiebam, faciebas, audiebat, veniebat, etc.
imperfect of salire saliebam saliebas saliebat saliebamus saliebatis saliebant
The imperfect tense of esse and posse is irregular!
imperfect of esse eram eras erat eramus eratis erant
imperfect of posse poteram poteras poterat poteramus poteratis poterant
The imperfect of ire and its compounds have an “i” before the imperfect endings.
Imperfect of ire ibam ibas ibat ibamus ibatis ibant
Imperfect of exire exibam exibas exibat exibamus exibatis exibant
FINIS