The imperfect indicative

The imperfect indicative is another way of narrating factual events in the past. As we have seen, the aorist views an action as a single action completed in the past. The imperfect, by contrast, expresses an action that is incomplete, repeated, continuous or ongoing, habitual, or in some other way not viewed as single and complete. To express similar ideas, English uses additional “helping” verbs: “she was going,” “he started to go,” “they used to go.”

Forming the imperfect indicative of -ω or thematic verbs

You form all three voices of the imperfect tense from the first principal part. As with the aorist, you will drop the first-person ending, remove accents, and add the appropriate ending for the person and number you want.

Past tenses in the indicative mood are indicated by two features: their set of personal endings, and a a prefix called the augment added to the front of the verb stem. Both the imperfect and the aorist are past tenses that will have augment.

Compare the first and third parts of verbs you already know. Since the third principal part is an aorist indicative form, it already shows you an augmented form. The third principal part (used for the aorist active and middle) shows the addition of an epsilon to the first prinicipal part’s stem. If the stem begins with a consonant, you will see the epsilon in front of it. If the stem begins with a vowel, you will see that vowel lengthened. Either of these changes is called an augment.

The imperfect tense shows the same pattern, but uses the first principal part. Since the first principal part is a present tense form, you will need to add the augment to it in forming the imperfect. Often, you can look to the third principal part to see what it should be.

The complete process to form the imperfect tense then is:

(1) start by removing the first person singular ending (-ω or -ομαι) and accent from the first principal part, and add the augment

κελεύω -> ἐκελευ-

(2) Add the appropriate ending. For this module, you should memorize the third person* endings for singular and plural. Note that in all person-number combinations of the imperfect indicative, the middle and passive have identical endings.

Person and Number	Active ending	Middle ending	Passive ending
third singular	-ε or -εν	-ετο	-ετο
third plural	-ον	-οντο	-οντο

(3) Apply recessive accent.

Example of κελεύω “command”

Person and Number	Active	Middle	Passive
third singular	ἐκέλευε or ἐκέλευεν	ἐκελεύετο	ἐκελεύετο
third plural	ἐκέλευον	ἐκελεύοντο	ἐκελεύοντο

Depending on the context, these third person imperfect indicative active verb forms could mean “she/he/it was commanding” or “he/she/it used to command” (third singular) or “they were commanding” (third plural), etc.

The imperfect indicative middle would add to the active sense that the subject was giving these commands for their own benefit or interests or to themselves.

The imperfect indicative passive means that the subject is now the one receiving the orders: “he/she/it was being commanded” or “they were being commanded,” etc.

Forming the imperfect indicative of -μι or athematic verbs like δείκνυμι

When we learned aorist forms, the third principal part of the verb δείκνυμι (“to show, demonstrate”), ἔδειξα, indicated that its forms were like that of any other first aorist. Since the imperfect is formed from the first principal part, we will notice that δείκνυμι belongs to the group of -μι verbs (or athematic verbs), rather than the -ω or thematic verbs. The meaning, usage, and formation of the imperfect indicative remains the same; the only difference is that -μι verbs use a slightly different set of endings.

As with -ω/thematic verbs, for the imperfect indicative of -μι/athematic verbs, all three voices use the first principal part, with the addition of an augment; like -ω/thematic verbs, the middle and passive voices of -μι/athematic verbs have identical forms in the imperfect.

(1) start by removing the first person singular ending (-μι or -μαι) and accent from the first principal part, and add the augment

δείκνυμι -> ἐδεικνυ-

(2) Add appropriate ending. In this module, you should memorize the third person endings for singular and plural. The key difference between the endings of thematic and athematic verbs is that the thematic or -μι verbs do not include the combining vowel.

Person and Number	Active ending	Middle ending	Passive ending
third singular	—	-το	-το
third plural	-σαν	-ντο	-ντο

(3) Apply recessive accent.

Example of δείκνυμι “show, demonstrate” (note that the upsilon is a long upsilon)

Person and Number	Imperfect Active	Imperfect Middle	Imperfect Passive
third singular	ἐδείκνυ	ἐδείκνυτο	ἐδείκνυτο
third plural	ἐδείκνυσαν	ἐδείκνυντο	ἐδείκνυντο

To repeat, the meaning and usage of these forms is the same. The range of meaning for the active forms could include “she/he/it was showing” or “he/she/it used to show” (3rd singular) or “they were showing” (3rd plural), etc.

The imperfect indicative middle would add to the active sense that the subject was showing for their own benefit or interests.

The imperfect indicative passive means that the subject is now the one receiving the action: “he/she it was being shown” or “they were being shown.”

Forming the imperfect of compound verbs

Review the third principal part of the the compound verbs ἐπɩδείκνυμɩ: ἐπέδεɩξɑ. Notice that the augment is placed on the basic verb stem, and the prefix then added to it. You’ll follow the same process with the imperfect tense when you add a compound to the first principal part.

For the basic verb δείκνυμι, we dropped the ending and added the augment like this

δείκνυμι -> ἐδεικνυ-

For its compound ἐπɩ+δείκνυμɩ, we will follow the same process. Note that we have to drop the final vowel of ἐπɩ before the epsilon of the augment.

ἐπɩ+δείκνυμɩ -> ἐπ+εδεικνυ-

Imperfect of δίδωμι

As in the aorist active and middle, δίδωμι has some irregular verbs in the imperfect. First, refresh your memory of its principal parts:

δίδωμι, δώσω, ἔδωκα, δέδωκα, δέδομαι, ἐδόθην, “to give”

Notice that the only the first principle part begins with the stem διδ-. All the imperfect forms show this stem, with a normal-looking augment. This can help you recognize them even thought the endings are irregular:

Person and Number	Imperfect Active	Imperfect Middle	Imperfect Passive
third singular	* ἐδίδου	ἐδίδοτο	ἐδίδοτο
third plural	ἐδίδοσαν	ἐδίδοντο	ἐδίδοντο

Notice that as in all verbs in the imperfect, middle and passive voice forms are identical. Notice, too, that while the stem is not what you might have expected, once you recognize that the endings are being added to an augment + stem of ἐ + διδ-, most of the endings are regular. Only the second singular active ending (highlighted here with the asterisk) looks irregular.

Compounds of δίδωμι will show exactly the same irregularities. Here are the imperfect forms of παραδίδωμι.

Person and Number	Imperfect Active	Imperfect Middle	Imperfect Passive
third singular	※ παρεδίδου	παρεδίδοτο	παρεδίδοτο
third plural	παρεδίδοσαν	παρεδίδοντο	παρεδίδοντο