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The imperfect tense The only verbs to behave irregularly in the imperfect are fâ (to do, to make) and dî (to say, to tell) which form the imperfect on the extended stems fas- and dis- (fasevi, disevi etc) and act as if they belonged to the 2nd conjugation (fasevi, disevi etc).
The imperfect is used: 1 to describe habitual actions in the past, in the same way as the English 'used to' form as a child I used to go the seaside in July 2 to describe incomplete actions in the past, similarly to the English past continuous at ten o'clock I was still waiting for the bus 3 to describe past states and situations it was raining and the road was wet al someave strac he looked tired The perfect tense It is formed by adding the past participle of the verb to the present of the auxiliary verbs jessi/sei or vê. If the verb is transitive, the participle agrees in gender and number with the object; if the verb is intransitive, the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject. Examples: Jo lis ai scoltadis. Il disegn ur à plasût. Differently from Italian, vê may be used to form the perfect tense of intransitive verbs and impersonal verbs, as well as with the verb jessi/sei. Examples: Il disegn ur à plasût. Al à plot. Al à neveât. The perfect is used to describe complete actions in the past, and translates the English perfect and past tenses. yesterday we danced all night astu comprât il pan? have you bought the bread? |