I was learning the imperfect tense…

Draw a sheep on your paper. Make sure you can see all four legs.

The word IMPERFECT comes from two Latin words: IN meaning NOT PERFACIO meaning complete

An imperfect action takes place in the past, but it may also shows a past action that is repeated and not necessarily done/completed. Stop freaking out! All that means is that the IMPERFECT tense may be translated in the following ways: I was walking (this is the most common translation) I used to walk I kept on walking I was accustomed to walking

Now you need to form the imperfect! Go back to your sheep, and… ERASE ONE OF HIS LEGS! Now you have an IMPERFECT sheep. Get the joke? Well, your sheep’s name is Tripod, and he is going to help you learn how to form the IMPERFECT tense. Just remember that an IMPERFECT sheep says, “BĀ”

To form the IMPERFECT tense of a first conjugation verb: ambulō ambulāre Take the ‘stem’ of the word by dropping the –re AMBULĀ now get some help from Tripod and add –BĀ AMBULĀBĀ (Do you remember the personal endings? mostmustisnt? Because now we are going to use them!)

Let’s put it together… SingularPlural 1 st ambulābamambulābāmus 2 nd ambulābāsambulābātis 3 rd ambulābatambulābant SingularPlural 1 st I was walkingWe were walking 2 nd You were walkingYou (pl) were walking 3 rd He was walkingThey were walking

Let’s put it together… SingularPlural 1 st ambulābāmambulābāmus 2 nd ambulābāsambulābātis 3 rd ambulābatambulābant SingularPlural 1 st I was walkingWe were walking 2 nd You were walkingYou (pl) were walking 3 rd He was walkingThey were walking

Now you try with the verb am ō amāre (love)

SingularPlural 1 st amābamamābāmus 2 nd amābāsamābātis 3 rd amābatamābant SingularPlural 1 st I was lovingWe were loving 2 nd You were lovingYou (pl) were loving 3 rd He was lovingThey were loving

To form the IMPERFECT tense of a second conjugation verb: sedeō sed ē re Take the ‘stem’ of the word by dropping the –re sed ē now get some help from Tripod and add –BĀ SED Ē BĀ (Do you remember the personal endings? mostmustisnt? Because now we are going to use them!)

Let’s put it together… SingularPlural 1 st sed ē bamsed ē bāmus 2 nd sed ē bāssed ē bātis 3 rd sed ē batsed ē bant SingularPlural 1 st I was sittingWe were sitting 2 nd You were sittingYou (pl) were sitting 3 rd He was sittingThey were sitting

See if you can figure out the tune for this song: ba, ba imperfect action going on, used to, kept on, were, was – but never done!

We will practice the imperfect next class. Right now, conjugate these verbs in the present and imperfect tenses. puls ō, puls ā re – hit super ō, super ā re – overpower ride ō, rid ē re – laugh vide ō, vid ē re - see