In English , the tense is manifested in the verb phrases:
In French , the is a past tense. Its uses include representing:
- An action that was happening, used to happen, or happened regularly in the past and is now completed
- People, things, or conditions of the past
- A physical or mental state or condition in progress in the past. Often used with verbs of being, emotion, capability, or conscience. The following verbs are often utilized in such a manner:
- --- aimer - to love
- --- desirer - to desire
- --- vouloir - to want
- --- préférer - to prefer
- --- éspérer - to hope
- --- sentir - to feel
- --- regretter - to regret
- --- être - to be
- --- pouvoir - to be able / can
- --- connaître - to know person
- --- savoir - to know a thing
- --- croire - to believe
- --- penser - to think
- --- imaginer - to imagine
- A time in the past
- A situation that was in progress in the past when another isolated and important event occurred
Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:
Notes:
- There is only one irregular verb in the imperfect tense: ''être''.
- Verbs that terminate in a stem of -cer and -ger undergo minor orthographic changes to preserve the phonetic sound or allophone. Verbs, whose root terminates in the letter "i", maintain the letter despite the consecutiveness in the "nous" and "vous" forms.
In Spanish , the is a past tense. Its uses include representing:
- An action that was happening, used to happen, or happened regularly in the past and is now completed
- People, things, or conditions of the past
- A physical or mental state or condition in progress in the past when used with verbs of being, emotion, capability, or conscience; the following verbs are often utilized in such a manner:
- --- amar - to love
- --- desear - to desire
- --- querer - to want
- --- preferir - to prefer
- --- esperar - to hope
- --- sentir - to feel
- --- lamentar - to lament
- --- ser - to be
- --- estar - to be
- --- poder - to be able / can
- --- conocer - to know person
- --- saber - to know a thing
- --- creer - to believe
- --- pensar - to think
- --- imaginar - to imagine
- A time, date, or age in the past
- A situation that was in progress in the past when another isolated and important event occurred
Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:
Notes:
- There are only three irregular verbs in the imperfect tense: ''ir'', ''ser'', and ''ver''.
- The ''yo'' and ''el/ella/usted'' forms are the same for verbs ending in ''ar'', ''er'', and ''ir''; thus, in the cases of subjective ambiguity where context be insufficient, a pronoun or subjective noun is included for the sake of clarification.
- Humorously, the verb for ''work'', , in the personal imperfect becomes "trabajaba". The effect is amplified in the first-person plural: "we were working" becomes "trabajábamos".
In Italian , the is a past tense. Its uses include representing:
- An action that was happening, used to happen, or happened regularly in the past and is now completed
- People, things, or conditions of the past
- A physical or mental state or condition in progress in the past when used with verbs of being, emotion, capability, or conscience. The following verbs are often utilized in such a manner:
- --- amare - to love
- --- desiderare - to desire
- --- volere - to want
- --- preferire - to prefer
- --- sperare - to hope
- --- sentire - to feel
- --- essere - to be
- --- potere - to be able / can
- --- conoscere - to know person
- --- sapere - to know a thing
- --- stare - to stay / stand
- --- credere - to believe
- --- pensare - to think
- --- immaginare - to imagine
- A time in the past
- A situation that was in progress in the past when another isolated and important event occurred
Conjugation of the imperfect indicative:
Notes:
- Verbs are formed by dropping the -re suffix and adding -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, and -vano.
- There is only one irregular verb in the imperfect tense: ''essere''.
- Although ''dire'' and ''opporre'' may seem irregular, they are a part of a verb family that has stronger roots to Latin equivalents. Other verbs include ''fare'', ''bere'', and ''ridurre''.
Biblical Hebrew had only two aspects (not tenses). The Perfect Aspect was used for completed actions, and generally implies past time. The imperfect aspect was used for uncompleted actions, and thus could imply present or future time. Modern Hebrew uses the participle for the present time and reserves the imperfect for future time. The Hebrew imperfect is noteworthy for having not only suffixes but also a syllable added at the ''beginning'' of the Stem , and thus is often called the ''prefix conjugation''.
In Malayalam (all verbs are impersonal, with the Grammatical Person only being indicated by a pronoun), there are two imperfect tenses, corresponding exactly with English:
:1 -ഉകയായിരുന്നു (ukayāyirunnu) endings (''... was...''), for example:
::ഓടുകയായിരുന്നു (ōṭukayāyirunnu) ''... was running''
:
:2 -ഉമായിരുന്നു (umāyirunnu) endings (''... used to ...''), for example:
::ഓടുമായിരുന്നു (ōṭumāyirunnu) ''... used to run''
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