Ch 3 · Lesson 18Latin · Chapter 3 · Lesson 18 · Grammar primer
Was doing: the imperfect endings
, , : -ba- plus endings you know, and has its own (, ). What the tense means is the next lesson.
The short version
The imperfect is -ba- plus endings you know
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Why?Hide
Add -ba- to the present stem, then -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt: , , . First conjugation has -aba- (), second and third -eba- (), fourth and third-conjugation -io verbs -ieba- (, ).
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Why?Hide
The imperfect of is built on er- with the usual endings: , , , , , . puts pot- in front: , I was able. You will meet on nearly every page of a Latin story, so learn it until it is automatic.
. It was night. Two words, and the scene is set. is the imperfect: the Latin tense for what was going on, what used to happen and how things were. It is also the easiest past tense to build: present stem, then -ba-, then endings you already know.
The imperfect on one screen
| Person | Ending | video | dico |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | -bam | | |
| you (sg) | -bas | | |
| he, she, it | -bat | | |
| we | -bamus | | |
| you (pl) | -batis | | |
| they | -bant | | |
The endings after -ba- are the verb endings of the present with one change: I is -m, not -o, the -m you know from .
.- Father was writing..- The soldiers could see the city.
The vowel before -ba-
The only thing that changes from verb to verb is the vowel in front of -ba-, and it follows the conjugation:
| Family | Verb | I was ... |
|---|---|---|
| First | | |
| First | | |
| Second | | |
| Third | | |
Third -io | | |
| Fourth | | |
| Fourth | | |
A shortcut for verbs whose headword ends in -io:
,,,: the infinitive is not in -are, so -ieba-.nuntio,nuntiare, I announce: first conjugation, so -aba-,nuntiabam.,: these end in -eo, not -io, so a plain -eba-.
, I go, is the odd one out, with bare -ba- on its stem i-: , he/she was going.
sum and possum: eram, poteram
has no -ba-. Its imperfect is built on er-, with the same six endings:
| Person | sum | possum |
|---|---|---|
| I | | |
| you (sg) | | |
| he, she, it | | |
| we | | |
| you (pl) | | |
| they | | |
is pot- welded onto , so its imperfect is pot- welded onto :
.- The king was in the city..- I was not able to come.
Going further: What the imperfect means and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
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