Imperfect

Table of contents

1. Imperfect Tense
2. Forming the Imperfect
   1. Augment
   2. Endings
      1. Imperfect Endings (-ω / Thematic)
      2. Imperfect Endings (-μι / Athematic)
   3. Practice Opportunity 1
3. Imperfect Versus Aorist
   1. Practice Opportunity 2

---

Imperfect Tense

The third (and, for this semester, final) tense that we will consider is the imperfect tense, which indicates an action that occurred in the past over a period of time. Compare this against the aorist, which indicates an instant or completed action in the past. Here are some examples in English:

• They were showing the evidence.
• He was being ordered to speak.
• She was leading the dog on a walk.

Because the imperfect tense indicates an action in progress, we use a past tense form of the verb “to be” (i.e., “was” or “were” depending on the person and number of the subject) and the -ing form of the verb in question to emphasize its progressive nature. Compare these examples against their aorist equivalents:

• They showed the evidence.
• He was ordered to speak.
• She led the dog on a walk.

In each of these, the action is happening at a moment in time, whereas in the imperfect examples, the action is in progress.

---

Forming the Imperfect

In order to conjugate verbs in the imperfect tense, we will need to draw on many of the tactics and skills we’ve discussed over the course of this module on verbs.

Like all other finite verb tenses that we’ve learned so far, the imperfect is a combination of a verb stem and a personal ending.

For our imperfect stem, we will use the first principal part, as we did with the present tense.

However, we will combine that first principal part stem with elements of the aorist tense, namely the augment and second aorist endings.

Augment

Recall from the unit on the first aorist that the augment is a marker that indicates that a finite verb is in a past tense and in the indicative mood. It is either syllabic (meaning that you add an ἐ- to the beginning of a verb that begins with a consonant) or temporal (meaning that you lengthen the initial vowel of a verb that begins with a vowel). Because the imperfect tense is a past tense, it follows logically that forms of the imperfect will exhibit an augment.

Remember, though, from our discussion of principal parts that the first principal part, on which we’ll build the imperfect, is the 1st sg. present active indicative of a verb (hence, κελεύω > κελεύει, “he orders” or δείκνυμι > δείκνυνται, “they order [for themselves]”); hence, the first principal part does not have an augment built in, unlike the third and sixth principal parts (e.g., syllabic augments on verbs like ἐκέλευσα and ἐδείχθην or temporal augments on verbs like ἤγαγον or ἦλθον). Thus, we have to add an augment to the stem of the first principal part in order to form the imperfect stem.

For first principal parts that begin with a consonant, this is easy enough: simply add the syllabic ἐ- to the beginning of the form. Thus:

• κελεύω > ἐ- + κελευ- = ἐκελευ-
• δείκνυμι > ἐ- + δείκνυ- = ἐδεικνυ-

For first principal parts that begin with a vowel, however, we need a temporal augment, and the lengthening of a vowel is not always intuitive. For example, some verbs that begin with ε- will lengthen that epsilon to η-, while others will lengthen it to ει- (for fascinating linguistic reasons that we do not have time to get into right now but you can feel free to ask Prof. Libatique to nerd out about in class).

The best resource to learn a verb’s temporal augment will be our master verb principal part list (this link takes you to the “Verb Principal Parts” page of the Reference section of our textbook). Next to a first principal part that begins with a vowel, you will note in parentheses the term “impf.” and a verb stem; this stem is the imperfect stem, including the augment, that you should use in forming the imperfect. For example:

• ἄγω > impf. ἠγ- (η is a lengthening of α)
• ἔρχομαι > impf. ἠρχ- (η is a lengthening of ε)
• ἔχω > impf. εἰχ- (ει is a lengthening of ε)

Endings

Once you have your imperfect stem, the next step is to affix the appropriate personal endings for the person, number, and voice of the imperfect that you want. Like the present tense, the imperfect tense has only two forms: one for the active voice and one for the middle and passive voice.

As with the present tense, you must also take into consideration whether the verb in question is -ω or -μι, as the conjugation to which the verb belongs will dictate what sets of endings you can use.

Imperfect Endings (-ω / Thematic)

Note that these endings are exactly equivalent to the endings for the second aorist.

Imperfect Endings (-μι / Athematic)

* This dash means that there is no ending for the 3rd singular active.

Note that as with present thematic versus athematic endings, the difference between thematic and athematic imperfect verb endings is easy to see when we compare across the paradigm charts. The thematic vowel are for the most part the athematic endings with the theme vowel -ε- or -ο- prefixed to them (with the exception of the 3rd plural active). For the comparison of the 2nd sg. middle/passive, see the link above re: intervocalic sigma.

Application

Here is the list of steps to follow to conjugate a verb in the imperfect tense:

1. Get the verb’s stem from the first principal part by removing the -ω (or -ομαι for deponents) or -μι (or -μαι for deponents).
2. Add an augment to the stem, either a syllabic augment or a temporal augment.
3. Add the appropriate ending to indicate person, number, and voice.
4. Apply a recessive accent.

You’ll notice that these steps are largely the same process that you would take to conjugate in the aorist or present tenses; the only extra step is the addition of an augment to the stem.

Let’s use ἔχω and δείκνυμι as our examples for -ω and -μι verbs respectively.

1. The pure stem from each verb’s first principal part is, respectively, ἐχ- and δείκνυ-.
2. Each of these verbs will use a different kind of augment.
   • Because ἐχ- begins with a vowel, it requires a temporal augment, and the resulting imperfect stem is εἰχ-.
   • δεικνυ-, on the other hand, begins with a consonant, so we can simply use a syllabic augment to form the imperfect stem ἐδεικνυ-.
3. The personal ending that you apply to the verb depends on its conjugation, what person and number the subject of the verb is, and what voice you want the verb to be.
   • For -ω verbs, the imperfect active endings are -ε(ν) and -ον for 3rd singular and plural respectively; the imperfect middle/passive endings are -ετο and -οντο.
   • For -μι verbs, the imperfect active endings are – and -σαν for 3rd singular and plural respectively; the imperfect middle/passive endings are -το and -ντο.
4. Most forms will be accented on the antepenult (or penult for two-syllable forms) since none of the ultimas in the imperfect endings is long, with the exception of the 3rd sg. imperfect active of δείκνυμι (the υ is naturally long).

ἔχω

δείκνυμι

Translation

Remember that the imperfect indicates an action in progress in the past, so our translations of the imperfect will often involve a progressive form of a past tense verb in English, meaning “was/were [verb]ing”. There are also other ways to indicate continuous action in the past. For example, if an action was a habit that occurred over and over again, we might phrase it in the following way: “used to [verb]”.

Here are some sample translations of the verb forms above:

• εἶχεν: “she was holding”
• εἴχετο (passive): “it was being held”
• εἴχοντο (middle): “they were holding (for themselves)”
• ἐδείκνυσαν: “they were showing”
• ἐδείκνυτο (passive): “it was being shown”

The main difference between the imperfect and the aorist is the aspect of the verbal action. Aspect refers to a quality of the verb’s action, primarily whether it is in progress or completed/instant. The former is called present aspect, while the latter is called aorist(ic) aspect, and we can determine which aspect a verb possesses based on which principal part the verb is built from. If the verb is based on the first principal part, it has present aspect; if the verb is based on the 3rd or 6th principal parts, it has aoristic aspect. Compare the following two forms:

• ἐδείκνυτο (passive): “it was being shown”
• ἐδείχθη: “it was shown”

The addition of “being” to the translation of the imperfect gets across the verb’s aspect: it’s in the process of happening, rather than being a one-and-done event as in the aorist.

(The present tense, which is also built on the first principal part, nevertheless can be translated with either aspect: for example, δείχνυσιν can either be “he shows” or “he is showing”.)

Practice Opportunity 1

Each of the following forms is a verb’s first principal part that you have not yet encountered. Conjugate each into the imperfect tense in the indicated person, number, and voice.

1. σκέπτομαι - 3rd singular middle/passive
2. βαδίζω - 3rd plural active
3. μίγνυμι - 3rd singular active
4. μοιχεύω - 3rd plural middle/passive
5. σκεδάννυμι - 3rd plural active

---

Imperfect Versus Aorist

The imperfect and the aorist share two major similarities: the augment and the personal endings. So, when we are trying to parse a verb and tell what tense it is, how can we tell the imperfect and the aorist apart? The answer lies in the verb stem and, more specifically, from which principal part the verb stem derives. Recall that the aorist is built on the third and sixth principal parts, while the imperfect is built on the first.

As a result, it is imperative to have memorized or to be able to reference a verb’s principal parts and the stems that derive from them; without that knowledge, you cannot determine a verb’s tense, let alone the difference between its imperfect and aorist forms.

Let’s take three examples, κελεύω, ἄγω, and δείκνυμι, and list their imperfect and aorist stems across the 1st, 3rd, and 6th principal parts (I’ll list the first principal part stem with the augment that you would need in the imperfect tense):

As you can see, sometimes a single letter can make all the difference between tenses. For example, let’s conjugate κελεύω in the 3rd sg.:

Since κελεύω has a first (sigmatic) aorist, the σ in the aorist active and middle stem helps differentiate those forms from the imperfect (e.g., ἐκέλευσεν versus ἐκέλευσεν).

The stems for ἄγω and δείκνυμι are a bit easier to tell apart than those of κελεύω; note, for example, the multiple syllables in ἠγαγ- versus the single syllable of ἠγ-, the sigmatic stem of ἐδειξ-, and the characteristic θ in the aorist passive stems. For ἄγω in particular, its second aorist uses the same endings as the imperfect, so only the stem can help you differentiate the forms:

In any case, the bottom line is: know your principal parts! Only they can help you differentiate between different tenses and voices of the same verb.

Practice Opportunity 2

Each of the following pairs contains an imperfect tense form and an aorist tense form of the same verb. Indicate which is which and what clues you used to figure it out.

1. εἴχεν - ἔσχεν
2. ἐδείξατο - ἐδείκνυτο
3. ἤρχοντο - ἦλθον
4. ἐγίγνετο - ἐγένετο

---