Duratieve

Duratieve is a term used in linguistics to denote the durative or imperfective aspect of a verb, which marks an event as ongoing, extended, or repeated over time rather than completed at a single endpoint. It focuses on duration rather than termination, and its interpretation often depends on context, event type, and cross-linguistic conventions. Durativity is related to, but distinct from, habituality and telicity; an event can be durative without being habitual, and not all long-lasting events are described as durative.

How it is realized varies by language. In English, durativity is commonly expressed by progressive forms, as in “She is reading,” “They were walking,” where the action is in progress at the reference time. In other languages, durative or imperfective meanings may be encoded with specific verb affixes, auxiliary constructions, or dedicated verb forms, and some languages maintain aspectual contrasts through separate systems of imperfective versus perfective marking. Some languages also encode durativity with auxiliary phrases that emphasize ongoing activity or habitual repetition, rather than with a single verb form.

Durative interpretation interacts with telicity and aspect. Punctual or telic events are often viewed as bounded and non-durative, while atelic or non-terminal activities are commonly described as durative. However, context, adverbials, and habitual readings can extend or modify the durative interpretation of a sentence.

See also: aspect, imperfective, progressive, telicity.