| Ch 4.3 THE PAST
TENSE - THE IMPERFECT
TENSE
As you should have
seen, there is more than 1 PAST TENSE in English.
You should now be able to distinguish between the IMPERFECT and the PERFECT.
These 2 TENSES will now be shown separately in Latin.
LATIN
IMPERFECT
TENSE
To see how the
IMPERFECT TENSE is made in Latin,
1 Start with
the INFINITIVE ambulare (to
walk)
2 Remove the final
"re" and we are left with the stem "ambula"
3 Add the endings
shown below
Here is the table
showing the form of the IMPERFECT TENSE
in Latin, with the corresponding English table shown opposite.
| IMPERFECT
TENSE |
| LATIN |
ENGLISH |
| ambulabam |
I
was walking, used to walk, kept walking |
| ambulabas |
you
were walking, used to walk, kept walking |
| ambulabat |
he
was walking, used to walk, kept walking |
| ambulabamus |
we
were walking, used to walk, kept walking |
| ambulabatis |
you
were walking, used to walk, kept walking |
| ambulabant |
they
were walking, used to walk, kept walking |
This table shows that
1 There is only 1
form of IMPERFECT in Latin
2 There are 3
common English meanings
3 The beginning of
the Latin word does not change.
4. The ending of the
Latin word changes to show Tense and "Person"
after the "Action".
Below is the table
which shows the IMPERFECT endings
IMPERFECT ENDINGS
| bam
|
=
I was |
| bas |
=
you were |
| bat
|
=
he/she/it was |
| bamus |
=
we were |
| batis |
=
you were |
| bant
|
=
they were |
* There is a summary
of this information in Ecce Romani 1, ch 14, p64
* It is essential
to learn the person endings shown above.
Ch 4.3a
THE IMPERFECT TENSE
Below is the
table showing the Imperfect Tense for all 4 groups of Latin
Verbs.
| INFINITIVE |
| GROUP 1 |
GROUP 2 |
GROUP 3 |
GROUP 4 |
| ambulare |
sedere |
trahere |
audire |
| IMPERFECT
TENSE |
| GROUP 1 |
GROUP 2 |
GROUP 3 |
GROUP 4 |
| ambulabam |
sedebam |
trahebam |
audiebam |
| ambulabas |
sedebas |
trahebas |
audiebas |
| ambulabat |
sedebat |
trahebat |
audiebat |
| ambulabamus |
sedebamus |
trahebamus |
audiebamus |
| ambulabatis |
sedebatis |
trahebatis |
audiebatis |
| ambulabant |
sedebant |
trahebant |
audiebant |
* Note:The PRESENT
TENSE 1st person ends in "o"
e.g. ambulo = I walk
The IMPERFECT TENSE
1st person ends in "m"
e.g. ambulabam = I was walking.
Otherwise the person
endings are the same.
* NB
The verbs shown below are irregular but are in frequent use.
Learn them carefully.
| PRESENT |
IMPERFECT |
| Latin |
English |
Latin |
English |
| est |
he, she, it there
is |
erat |
he. she, it was,
used to be |
| sunt |
they are, there
are |
erant |
they, there were,
used to be |
| potest
|
he, she, it is
able, can |
poterat |
he, she, it
was able, could |
| possunt |
they are able,
can |
poterant |
they were able,
could |
CH 4.4 IMPERFECT
TENSE
HINTS FOR TRANSLATION
Study the
examples below before starting the verb exercises.
| LATIN |
ENGLISH |
| STATEMENT |
sedebant |
they were sitting,
they used to sit,they kept sitting (NOT they sat) |
| QUESTION |
ubi
sedebant? |
where were they
sitting? where where did they keep sitting? where did they used to
sit? (NOT where did they sit?) |
| NEGATIVE STATEMENT |
non
sedebant |
they were not
sitting, they did not used to sit, they did not keep sitting (NOT
they did not sit) |
|
NEGATIVE QUESTION
|
cur
non sedebant? |
why were they
not sitting? why did they not used to sit? why did they not keep sitting?
(NOT why did they not sit?) |
|
