pastimperfect

The past imperfect, or imperfect, is a grammatical tense or aspect used in many languages to describe past actions or states that were ongoing, habitual, or setting the scene rather than finished. In languages with a distinct imperfect, it marks imperfective aspect in the past and contrasts with the simple past or perfect.

In Romance languages, the imperfect is a dedicated past tense. Spanish uses endings such as -aba for -ar verbs and -ía for -er/-ir verbs (yo hablaba, comía). French forms include -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient (je parlais). Italian uses endings like -avo, -evo, -ivo (parlavo, leggevo). Portuguese has -ava endings (falava). English lacks a single imperfect tense; instead it uses past progressive (was/were + -ing) for ongoing past actions and used to for habitual past.

Usage notes: the imperfect describes actions in progress at a past time, habitual actions, age or background description, or simultaneous actions within a past scene. Examples: Spanish: Cuando era niño, jugaba en el parque. French: Quand il était jeune, il lisait beaucoup. Italian: Mentre studiavo, ascoltavo la musica. Portuguese: Ela falava enquanto ele chegava. English: I was reading when the phone rang.

Historical notes: the imperfect derives from Latin imperfectum and survives in Romance languages as their standard imperfect forms. It is often contrasted with the perfective past in narratives, where the imperfect provides setting while the other verb tenses express completed actions.