Grammatical construct combining past tense with continuing aspect
For other uses, see Imperfect (disambiguation).
The imperfect (abbreviated IMPERF) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to walk". It contrasts with preterite forms, which refer to a single completed event in the past.
Traditionally, the imperfect of languages such as Latin and French is referred to as one of the tenses, although it actually encodes aspectual information in addition to tense (time reference). It may be more precisely called past imperfective.[1]
English has no general imperfective and expresses it in different ways. The term "imperfect" in English refers to forms much more commonly called past progressive or past continuous (e.g. "was doing" or "were doing"). These are combinations of past tense with specifically continuous or progressive aspect. In German, Imperfekt formerly referred to the simply conjugated past tense (to contrast with the Perfekt or compound past form), but the term Präteritum (preterite) is now preferred, since the form does not carry any implication of imperfective aspect.
"Imperfect" comes from the Latin imperfectus "unfinished",[2] because the imperfect expresses an ongoing, uncompleted action. The equivalent Ancient Greek term was paratatikós "prolonged".[3]
^Bernard Comrie, Tense, 1985, pp. 6–7.
^imperfectus. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project.
^παρατατικός. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
The imperfect (abbreviated IMPERF) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing...
The Imperfects is a Canadian superhero science fiction television series created by Dennis Heaton and Shelley Eriksen that premiered on Netflix on September...
Imperfect Us (Chinese: 不夠善良的我們; pinyin: Búgòu shànliáng de wǒmen) is a 2024 original Taiwanese television series directed by Mag Hsu. The series stars...
Imperfect Remixes is an EP by Armenian-American singer Serj Tankian, released on March 1, 2011, featuring edited remixes from his previous album, Imperfect...
An Imperfect Murder (also known as The Private Life of a Modern Woman) is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by James Toback. It was screened...
In mathematics, in the area of algebra known as group theory, an imperfect group is a group with no nontrivial perfect quotients. Some of their basic...
"Future Imperfect" is the 82nd episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the eighth episode of the...
past imperfect tense in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Past Imperfect may refer to: "Past Imperfect" (CSI: NY), a 2007 episode "Past Imperfect" (Holby...
Imperfectly is the third studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released in 1992 (see 1992 in music). All tracks are written by Ani DiFranco...
Imperfect Harmonies is the second studio album by Armenian-American singer Serj Tankian. The album was released on September 21, 2010 through Reprise...
Perfect consonances: unisons and octaves perfect fourths and perfect fifths Imperfect consonances: major thirds and minor sixths minor thirds and major sixths...
Anthems for the Imperfect is the third studio album by CCM band Everyday Sunday. The album was released in 2004 through the EMI Christian Music Group...
of the UK and Senate of France) and may be regarded as an example of imperfect bicameralism. Some legislatures lie in between these two positions, with...
"Imperfect for You" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande, taken from her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine (2024). It was released on the album...
The fifth season of the Dragon Ball Z anime series contains the Imperfect Cell and Perfect Cell arcs, which comprises Part 2 of the Cell Saga. The episodes...
Imperfect Lady may refer to: The Perfect Gentleman (film), also titled The Imperfect Lady, a 1935 American comedy The Imperfect Lady (1947 film), an American...
loss of heaven, fear of hell, or the heinousness of guilt, is called imperfect contrition, or attrition. Perfect contrition (also called contrition of...
Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel is the twelfth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on September 29, 2009, by Island...
Picture Imperfect is the debut album by Canadian singer and songwriter Shiloh released on Universal Music Canada. It was released on August 18, 2009,...
Imperfect Journey is a 1994 Ethiopian documentary film directed by Haile Gerima. Imperfect Journey is a BBC commissioned film, exploring the political...
The imperfective (abbreviated IPFV or more ambiguously IMPV) is a grammatical aspect used to describe ongoing, habitual, repeated, or similar semantic...
The fungi imperfecti or imperfect fungi are fungi which do not fit into the commonly established taxonomic classifications of fungi that are based on...
The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense...
– such as the cards in poker and bridge – are examples of games with imperfect information. Chess is an example of a game with perfect information, as...
This Album!, Mezmerize, Hypnotize) and five solo albums (Elect the Dead, Imperfect Harmonies, Harakiri, Orca, Jazz-Iz-Christ, and Elasticity), as well as...
reduced for every field extension F/k. (see below) Otherwise, k is called imperfect. In particular, all fields of characteristic zero and all finite fields...
Global Information