Kilo Lingo

Ch 3 · Lesson 19

Setting the scene: imperfect or perfect?

, : the imperfect paints the scene and the habits, the perfect moves the story on. What the imperfect means, and how to choose.

The short version

Imperfect sets the scene, perfect tells the story

. .

It was night. Then a boy came.
Why?

The imperfect is for what was going on, what used to happen and how things were. The perfect reports the event. So is usually in the scenery, while the perfect reports what happened: , it was night; , then he came.

What the imperfect means

English needs several phrasings for what Latin does with one tense:

the vowel before -ba--ba-, the imperfect signpersonal endingWhat do the colours mean?
UseLatinEnglish
in progress .Father was writing.
habit .The boy often used to come.
description .The king was in the city.
repeated .He always told the truth.

The last one: English says told, a simple past, but the telling was a habit, so Latin usually reaches for the imperfect. Translate by meaning, not by matching English forms.

Six panels following the same woman with long hair and a bow through her day: the alarm clock rings beside her bed while she is still asleep; she stretches as she gets up, the sun at the window; she has breakfast at a table with a bowl, toast and a cup; she talks on the phone; she shops, holding a full bag in front of the shelves; she comes home to her house in the evening.
  1. .
  2. .

Her old routine: dormiebat, she was still asleep when the alarm rang (in progress); domum veniebat, she used to come home in the evening (a habit). Both are imperfect.

Imperfect or perfect?

Both are past tenses. The perfect reports an event as a finished whole; the imperfect shows it as ongoing, repeated or as the setting:

ImperfectPerfectThe difference
he was saying / he said
he used to make / he made
he was able / he managed

In a story the split is clean: the imperfect paints the set, the perfect moves the plot.

  • . . - It was night and father was writing. Then a boy came and said a word.

  • nox erat (it was night: the scene)

  • pater scribebat (father was writing)

  • puer venit (a boy came: one event)

  • verbum dixit (he said a word)

Timeline from past to now, with now marked.

Going further: The imperfect on one screen and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.

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Lesson 19 of 35 in this chapter

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