Tempus Imperfectum

Imperfect, in Latin, means . . .

• less than awesome

• incomplete

• not Jesus

• having allowed a hit, given up a walk, hit a batter, suffered an error

The imperfect tense is used for actions happening . . .

• right now

• before now

• after now

• in another dimension

• all the time

Which of the following are ways to translate the imperfect tense?

• was / were verbing

• used to verb

• began to verb

• would verb

• have verbed

Match the different translations of the imperfect tense to their fancy technical names.

• simple past

• was verbing, were verbing

• inchoative

• used to verb / would verb

• habitual

• verbed

• emphatic past

• began to verb

• progressive / "true" imperfect

• did verb

Now, on to formation.

Which principal part of a verb do we use to form the imperfect tense?

• first (labōrō, rīdeō, legō, dormiō)

• second (labōrāre, rīdēre, legere, dormīre)

• third (labōrāvī, rīsī, lēgī, dormīvī)

• fourth (labōrātus, rīsus, lēctus, dormītus)
  
  (frā, we haven't even seen this one yet)

This principal part that we use to form the imperfect tense is also called the . . .

• imperfect

• infinitive

• imperative

• inchoative

• insensitive

From this principal part, to form the imperfect tense, we need to turn it into the . . .

• present stem

• perfect stem

• future stem

• imperfect stem

• pluperfect stem

To turn the principal part into the present stem,

in order to then form the imperfect tense,

how much do we need to snip off?

Use labōrāre as an example.

• -e

• -re

• -āre

• -rāre

• -ōrāre

So, for example, if the principal part is lābōrāre, the present stem would be . . .

• lābōrāre

• lābōrār-

• lābōrā-

• lābōr-

So, for example, if the principal part is rīdēre, the present stem would be . . .

• rīdēre

• rīdēr-

• rīdē-

• rīd-