Latin for Learners: 16.12.24: Level 1; Maxey [19] (3); the imperfect tense; a brief review

From the two previous posts:

[i]

Tum fīlium exspectābat │ at that time he was waiting for his son

prō patriā pugnābat │ he was fighting / used to fight for the country

Dux mīlitēs monēbat │ the commander was advising the soldiers

fortiter pugnābant │ they were fighting / kept on fighting bravely

Tum tēlum veniēbat │ then a missile / javelin was coming

[ii]

Eram paene tūtus. │ I was almost safe.

Prō patriā parātus erat morīrī sī necesse erat. │ He was ready to die for the country if it was necessary.

Herī ille caecus vir aderat. │ Yesterday that blind man was present (was here / there)

Cōpiae hostium erant magnae │ the enemy’s troops / forces were large

[iii]

multī vulnerābantur │ many were (being) injured

multī necābantur │ many were (being) killed

The term imperfect suggests in Modern English that something is wrong e.g. an imperfect piece of work. However, the original terms [i] perfect and [ii] imperfect mean that something is [i] finished and [ii] unfinished

Latin uses the imperfect tense – keep in mind the idea of ‘unfinished’ – to convey the following:

[i] an action that was ongoing with no sense of beginning or end, an action that took place over a period of time

fīlium exspectābat │ he was waiting for (his) son
dux mīlitēs monēbat │ the commander was advising the soldiers
fortiter pugnābant │they fought [= were fighting] bravely

[ii] how a situation generally was

cōpiae hostium erant magnae │ the enemy’s troops / forces were large
putābam mē tūtum │ I thought I was safe
prō patriā parātus erat morīrī sī necesse erat │ He was ready to die for the country if it was necessary.

[iii] an action that used to happen i.e. it happened more than once – in grammar this is known as frequentative:

prō patriā pugnābat │ he used to fight for his country

[iv] an action that kept (on) happening

fortiter pugnābant could also mean ‘they kept (on) fighting bravely’

[v] a sense of ‘randomness’ again with no explicit beginning or end; and, again, -ur can be added to describe what was happening to them:

multī vulnerābantur │ many were (being) injured
multī necābantur │ many were killed

i.e. the injuries and deaths did not happen all at the same time; even though death is pretty much a completed action, the imperfect is used: yes, the soldiers were killed but they were killed at different times over an undisclosed or vague period of time with no indication as to when all of that started or finished

[vi] the start (but not the finish) an action