up:: [[Greek Verb Aspects]] # The Past Imperfect or Continuous Past Tense (ο Παρατατικός) ## Meaning A habitual or continuous action that happened in the past with no fixed temporal boundary. ### Example I was reading the book -> Διάβαζα το βιβλίο ## Conjugation Past imperfect (continuous past) is the same as the present tense but has the ending of the aorist (simple past) as well as the accent shift: Present | Continuous past (παρατατικός) | Aorist (αόριστος) --------|-----------------|--------- νοικιάζω | νοίκιαζα | νοίκιασα (aorist) διαβάζω | διάβαζα | διάβασα νιώθω | ένιωθα | ένιωσα πθγαίνω | πήγαινα | πήγα ([[The Past Imperfect (Continuous Past) Tense#^4giphr\|*]]) θέλω | ήθελα | ήθελα ([[The Past Imperfect (Continuous Past) Tense#^8gx983\|*]]) μένω | έμενα | έμεινα ([[The Past Imperfect (Continuous Past) Tense#^8gx983\|*]]) ### Group A (-ω) Endings -α -εσ -ε -αμε -ατε -αν ### Group B1/B2 Endings (-ώ/-άω, άς; -ώ/άω, είς) Same as [[The Past Imperfect (Continuous Past) Tense#Group A -ω Endings|group A endings]], but with -ούς before the ending (-ούσα, -ούσες, κλπ.) ### -όμαι Endings -όμουν -όσουν -όταν -όμασταν -όσασταν -όνταν ## Synonyms - Imperfective - Past imperfect (imperfect aspect of the past) - ο Παρατατικός ## Usages - Μακάρι να past continuous - I wish that I would... (a wish that is difficult to become true) - Μακάρι να κέρδιζα ένα εκατομμύριο - If using μικρός or μικρή (especially at the beginning of a sentence), it's short for όταν ήμουν μικρός/ή. - with θα when speaking/asking for something in a nice way - θα ήθελα έναν καφέ χωρίς γάλα (I would want/like) - with θα and αν, in conditional sentences where action/matter in question either a) is difficult to come true or b) did not happen even though you wanted it to - Θα πήγαινα μαζί τους, αν είχα χρόνο - I would go with them, if I had time. ## Additional Notes - Irregular verbs in aorist are regular in continuous past ^4giphr - θέλω, κάνω, ξέρω, περιμένω, είμαι do not have different simple and continuous past ^8gx983 - This is different for Group B (-ώ/-άω) verbs - κολυμπώ -> κολυμπούσα -> κολύμπησα - Notice accent stays on same syllable as present - αργώ -> αργούσα -> άργησα - μπορώ -> μπορούσα -> μπόρεσα - past continuous has an ending in - ούσα   which in the simple past changes to -ησα