Editing Imperfective aspect (section)

==English==

English is an example of a language with no general imperfective. The [[Present progressive#Present progressive|English progressive]] is used to describe ongoing events, but can still be used in past tense, such as "The rain was beating down". Habitual situations do not have their own verb form (in most dialects), but the construction "used to" conveys past habitual action, as in ''I used to ski''. Unlike in languages with a general imperfective, in English the [[simple past]] tense can be used for situations presented as ongoing, such as ''The rain beat down continuously through the night''.

A contrast between the progressive and imperfective is seen with [[stative verb]]s. In English, stative verbs, such as ''know'', do not use the progressive (''*I was knowing French'' is ungrammatical), while in languages with an imperfective (for instance, French), stative verbs frequently appear in the imperfective.