26.03.24: the imperfect tense [1]

[Ora Maritima: Sonnenschein]: translation in the comments section

Britannia antiqua (excerpts) [1]

The writer’s teacher talks about the inhabitants of Ancient Britain:

Magister noster librōrum historicōrum studiōsus est; dē patriā nostrā antīquā libenter narrat. Proximō annō, dum apud nōs erat, dē vītā Britannōrum antīquōrum saepe narrābat. Patruus meus et amita mea libenter auscultābant; ego quoque nōnnumquam aderam. Sīc narrābat:

Vocabulary

adsum, adesse [irr.]: be present

auscultō, auscultāre [1]: hear; listen

dum: while

proximō annō: last year; can also mean ‘next year’ depending on the tense of the verb

studiōsus, -a, -um: keen; eager; used with the genitive case to translate “keen on…”

Notes:

[1] narrābat: he used to tell (stories) or he told stories (frequently); this is the first glimpse of a Latin past tense. There is more than one past tense. This tense is called the imperfect tense. French (j’allais) and German (ich ging) have specific imperfect tenses, and Russian has an “imperfective aspect". However, the way in which these are used can very from language to language, and English does not have an imperfect tense as such but creates equivalents in different ways.

imperfect < Latin imperfectus: unfinished

In Latin the tense expresses the following ideas:

[i] something that happened more than once: “he used to tell stories”. In English this can also be expressed by “he would tell stories (whenever he visited us)” i.e. something he was in the habit of doing. English, confusingly, could also say “he told stories” but the context in English would suggest it happened more than once, possibly with the addition of an adverb such as “He often told stories.” A “one-off” action e.g. “He killed the king” is not expressed by the imperfect tense.

Patruus meus et amita mea libenter auscultābant.

• My uncle and my aunt used to / would listen willingly, i.e. this was something they did more than once.

Ego quoque nōnnumquam aderam.

• I too was sometimes there.

[ii] something that was happening: “he was sitting in the room and (was) telling stories”; English uses a past continuous (past progressive) form here i.e. it was an ongoing action with no indication of it having been completed.

[iii] Depending on context it can imply “kept on doing something”, a good example of which came up in an earlier post:

Dīcēbant ergō Pīlātō pontificēs Iūdaeōrum... (John 19)

• Therefore, the chief priests of the Jews were saying (i.e. kept on saying) to Pilate …, one translation of this sentence is: “The chief priests protestedto Pilate” i.e. what they were saying to Pilate went on for a long time and was repeated. They didn’t just tell Pilate once.

The imperfect tense is easy to spot and the same endings are used for all the conjugations. Here we'll look at the first conjugation.

labōrō, -āre [1]: work

remove the -re from the infinitive

labōrā¦re > laborā-

Add the following endings, and note again that the accent [ʹ] is only there to show where the verb is stressed

1. labōrā́¦ba¦m [I used to work; I was working]
2. labōrā́¦bā¦s
3. labōrā́bat
4. labōrābā́mus
5. labōrābā́tis
6. labōrā́bant

What to look out for – in all the conjugations – is ba / bā: that’s the marker for the imperfect tense, and all you are doing is adding the personal endings to that. The first person singular /m/ labōrābam is also a personal ending indicating ‘I’

Just remember imperfect sheep: ba, bā!

[2] imperfect tense of sum, esse [irr.]: to be

Proximō annō, dum apud nōs erat…

Last year, while he was at our house …. i.e. the action was not completed; it was ongoing.

Ego quoque nōnnumquam aderam.

I also was sometimes present / there, i.e. The writer was present more than once.

It’s an irregular verb, but as soon as you know the first part, the rest – like a domino effect – falls into place; just add the personal endings.

1. éram: I was [E-ram]
2. érās: you (sg.) were [E-ras]
3. érat: he / she / it was [E-rat]
4. erā́mus: we were [e-RA-mus]
5. erā́tis: you (pl.) were [e-RA-tis]
6. érant: they were [E-rant]

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Translation: Our teacher is fond of historical books; he likes to talk about our ancient country. Last year, while he was with us [at our house], he often talked about the life of the ancient Britons. My uncle and my aunt would listen with pleasure; I, too, was sometimes there. He used to narrate [tell us about it] in this way: