Editing Imperfective aspect

{{Short description|Grammatical aspect of continuity or repetition}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2010}}

The '''imperfective''' ([[list of glossing abbreviations|abbreviated]] '''{{Sc|NPFV}}''', {{sc|'''ipfv'''}}, or more ambiguously {{sc|'''impv'''}}) is a [[grammatical aspect]] used to describe ongoing, habitual, repeated, or similar [[semantics|semantic]] roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. Although many languages have a general imperfective, others have distinct aspects for one or more of its various roles, such as [[progressive aspect|progressive]], [[habitual aspect|habitual]], and [[iterative aspect]]s. The imperfective contrasts with the [[perfective aspect]], which is used to describe actions viewed as a complete whole.

==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.

== Indo-Aryan languages ==
Verbs in [[Hindi]]-[[Urdu]] ([[Hindustani grammar|Hindustani]]) have their [[grammatical aspect]]s overtly marked. [[Periphrasis|Periphrastic]] Hindi-Urdu verb forms (participle verb forms) consist of two elements, the first of these two elements is the aspect marker and the second element (the copula) is the common tense-mood marker.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=VAN OLPHEN|first=HERMAN|title=Aspect, Tense, and Mood in the Hindi Verb |date=1975|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24651488|journal=Indo-Iranian Journal|volume=16|issue=4|pages=284–301|doi=10.1163/000000075791615397 |jstor=24651488 |s2cid=161530848 |issn=0019-7246|url-access=subscription}}</ref> There are two independent imperfective aspects in Hindi-Urdu: ''[[Habitual aspect|Habitual Aspect]]'', and ''[[Continuous and progressive aspects|Progressive Aspect]].'' These two aspects are formed from their participle forms being used with the copula verb of Hindi which is होना '''''honā''''' (to be). However, the aspectual participles can also have the verbs रहना '''''rêhnā''''' (to stay/remain), आना '''''ānā''''' (to come) & जाना '''''jānā''''' (to go) as their copula.<ref name=":222">{{Cite book|last=Shapiro|first=Michael C.|title=A Primer of Modern Standard Hindi|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1989|isbn=81-208-0475-9|location=New Delhi|pages=216–246}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Campbell|first=George L.|title=Compendium of the World's Languages|publisher=Routledge|year=1995|isbn=0-415-11392-X|location=Great Britain|pages=225–229}}</ref> The table below shows three verbs होना '''''honā''''' (to be), करना '''''karnā''''' (to do), and मरना '''''marnā''''' (to die) in their aspectual infintive forms using different copulas.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Mahajan|first=Anoop|date=2012-02-01|title=Ergatives, antipassives and the overt light v in Hindi|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384111002282|journal=Lingua|series=Accounting for Ergativity|language=en|volume=122|issue=3|pages=204–214|doi=10.1016/j.lingua.2011.10.011|issn=0024-3841|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |''Simple''
''Aspect''
! colspan="6" |''Imperfective Aspect''
|-
! colspan="4" |''Habitual''
''Aspect''
! colspan="2" |''Progressive''
''Aspect''
|-
|होना
''honā''

''<small>to be</small>''
|होता होना
''hotā honā''

''<small>to happen</small>''
|होता रहना
''hotā rêhnā''

''<small>to keep happening</small>''
|होता जाना
''hotā jānā''

''<small>to keep on happening</small>''
|होता आना
''hotā ānā''

''<small>to have been happening</small>''
|हो रहा होना 
''ho rahā honā''

''<small>to be happening</small>''
|हो रहा रहना
''ho rahā rêhnā''

''<small>to stay happening</small>''
|-
|करना
''karnā''

''<small>to do</small>''
|करता होना 
''kartā honā''

''<small>to be doing</small>''
|करता रहना
''kartā rêhnā''

''<small>to stay doing</small>''
|करता जाना
''kartā jānā''

''<small>to keep doing</small>''
|करता आना 
''kartā ānā''

''<small>to have been doing</small>''
|कर रहा होना 
''kar rahā honā''

''<small>to be doing</small>''
|कर रहा रहना
''kar rahā rêhnā''

''<small>to stay doing</small>''
|-
|मरना 
''marnā''

<small>''to die''</small>
|मरता होना 
''martā honā''

''<small>to be dying</small>''
|मरता रहना 
''martā rêhnā''

''<small>to stay dying</small>''
|मरता जाना
''martā jānā''

''<small>to keep dying</small>''
|मरता आना
''martā ānā''

''<small>to have been dying</small>''
|मरा रहा होना 
''mar rahā honā''

<small>''to be dying''</small>
|मर रहा रहना
''mar rahā rêhnā''

''<small>to stay dying</small>''
|}
''<small>Some translations are approximate, and the nuance cannot be expressed exactly in English. Some aspectual forms also have the same translations in English but are not interchangeable in Hindi-Urdu.</small>''

Now, these copula verbs (besides होना '''''honā''''') can themselves be converted into their participle forms and put into one of the three different aspects of Hindi-Urdu, which are ''[[Habitual aspect|habitual]]'', ''[[Progressive aspect|progressive]]'', and ''[[Perfective aspect|perfective]]'' aspects, hence generating sub-aspectual infinitive forms.<ref name=":222"/> This way a verb form combining two grammatical aspects is constructed. The table below shows the combined aspectual forms:
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="7" |''Imperfective Aspect''
|-
! colspan="6" |''Habitual''
''Aspect''
!''Progressive''
''Aspect''
|-
! colspan="3" |''रहना  (rêhnā)''
! colspan="2" |''जाना (jānā)''
!''आना  (ānā)''
!''रहना (rêhnā)''
|-
!''Habitual''
''subaspect''
!''Perfective''
''subaspect''
!''Progressive''
''subaspect''
!''Habitual''
''subaspect''
!''Progressive''
''subaspect''
!''Progressive''
''subaspect''
!''Habitual''
''subaspect''
|-
|होता रहता होना 
''hotā rêhtā honā''

''<small>to regularly keep happening</small>''
|होता रहा होना 
''hotā rahā honā''

<small>''to have been regularly happening''</small>
|होता रह रहा होना 
''hotā rêh rahā honā''

''<small>to stay being happening</small>''
|होता जाता होना 
''hotā jātā honā''

<small>''to continuously keep happening''</small>
|होता जा रहा होना 
''hotā jā rahā honā''

<small>''to continuously keep happening''</small>
|होता आ रहा होना 
''hotā ā rahā honā''

<small>''to have been continuously kept happening''</small>
|हो रहा रहता होना 
''ho rahā rêhtā honā''

''<small>to continuously stay happening progressively</small>''
|-
|करता रहता होना 
''kartā rêhtā honā''

''<small>to regularly keep doing</small>''
|करता रहा होना 
''kartā rahā honā''

<small>''to have been regularly doing''</small>
|करता रह रहा होना 
''kartā rêh rahā honā''

''<small>to stay being doing</small>''
|करता जाता होना 
''kartā jātā honā''

<small>''to continuously keep doing''</small>
|करता जा रहा होना
''kartā jā rahā honā''

<small>''to continuously keep doing''</small>
|करता आ रहा होना
''kartā ā rahā honā''

<small>''to have been continuously kept doing''</small>
|कर रहा रहता होना 
''kar rahā rêhtā honā''

''<small>to continuously stay doing progressively</small>''
|-
|मरता रहता होना
''martā rêhtā honā''

''<small>to regularly keep dying</small>''
|मरता रहा होना
''martā rahā honā''

<small>''to have been regularly dying''</small>
|मरता रह रहा होना 
''martā rêh rahā honā''

''<small>to stay being dying</small>''
|मरता जाता होना
''martā jātā honā''

<small>''to continuously keep dying''</small>
|मरता जा रहा होना 
''martā jā rahā honā''

<small>''to continuously keep dying''</small>
|मरता आ रहा होना 
''martā ā rahā honā''

<small>''to have been continuously kept dying''</small>
|मर रहा रहता होना 
''mar rahā rêhtā honā''

''<small>to continuously stay dying progressively</small>''
|}
''<small>The perfective subaspect of the habitual main aspect (habitual) also is imperfective (habitual). Also, these sub-aspects are even more nuanced that it is not possible to translate each of them into English in a unique way. Some translations don't even make sense in English.</small>''

==Slavic languages==
Verbs in [[Slavic languages]] have a perfective and/or an imperfective form. Generally, any of various [[prefix]]es can turn imperfectives into perfectives;<ref>
{{cite book
| last1 = Bybee
| first1 = Joan
| author-link1 = Joan Bybee
| last2 = Perkins
| first2 = Revere
| last3 = Pagliuca
| first3 = William
| chapter = 1: Theoretical Background
| title = The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World
| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aOvU6m-f1IwC
| location = Chicago
| publisher = University of Chicago Press
| date = 1994
| page = 17
| isbn = 9780226086651
| access-date = 2016-08-04
| quote = The Slavic perfective prefixes originally signaled locative notions which made the verb [[telicity|telic]] (just as ''go out'', ''go through'', and ''eat up'' are telic in English).
}}
</ref>
[[suffix]]es can turn perfectives into imperfectives.<ref>
{{cite book
| last1 = Josephson
| first1 = Folke
| chapter = Actionality and aspect in Hittite
| editor1-last = Josephson
| editor1-first = Folke
| editor2-last = Söhrman
| editor2-first = Ingmar
| title = Interdependence of Diachronic and Synchronic Analyses
| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZuTTIhLadgC
| series = Studies in language companion series
| volume = 103
| location = Amsterdam
| publisher = John Benjamins Publishing
| date = 2008
| page = 143 
| isbn = 9789027205704
| access-date = 2016-08-04
| quote = The imperfective suffix in Slavic languages corresponds to the English progressive (cf. Borer 2005). [...] According to Arsenijevic the meaning of the Slavic imperfective suffix is slightly more general than that of the progressive.
}}
</ref>
The non-past imperfective form is used for the present, while its perfective counterpart is used for the future. There is also a [[periphrastic]] imperfective future construction.<ref name=Dahl>[[Östen Dahl]], 1985. ''Tense and Aspect Systems''. Blackwell.</ref>{{rp|84}}

== Other languages ==
The imperfective aspect may be fused with the past tense, for a form traditionally called the [[imperfect]]. In some cases, such as [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], this is because the imperfective aspect occurs only in the past tense; others, such as [[Georgian language|Georgian]] and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], have both general imperfectives and imperfects. Other languages with distinct past imperfectives include [[Latin language|Latin]] and [[Persian language|Persian]].

==Perfective==
{{Main|Perfective aspect}}
The opposite aspect is the ''[[perfective aspect|perfective]]'' (in [[Ancient Greek]], generally called the ''[[aorist]]''), which views a situation as a simple whole, ''without'' interior composition. (This is not the same as the ''[[perfect (grammar)|perfect]]''.) Unlike most other [[tense–aspect]] category oppositions, it is typical for a language not to choose either perfective or imperfective as being generally marked and the other as being generally unmarked.<ref name=Dahl/>{{rp|69,72}}

In narrative, one of the uses of the imperfective is to set the background scene ("It was midnight.  The room was dark.  The rain was beating down.  Water was streaming in through a broken window.  A gun lay on the table."), with the perfective describing foregrounded actions within that scene ("Suddenly, a man burst into the room, ran over to the table, and grabbed the gun.").

English does not have these aspects. However, the background-action contrast provides a decent approximation in English:
:"John was reading when I entered."
Here 'entered' presents "the totality of the situation referred to [...]: the whole of the situation is presented as a single unanalysable whole, with beginning, middle, and end all rolled into one; no attempt is made to divide this situation up into the various individual phases that make up the action of entry."<ref name=Comrie>Bernard Comrie, 1976. ''Aspect.'' Cambridge University Press</ref> This is the essence of the perfective aspect: an event presented as an unanalyzed whole.

'Was reading', however, is different. Besides being the background to 'entered', the form 'reading' presents "an internal portion of John's reading, [with] no explicit reference to the beginning or to the end of his reading."<ref name=Comrie/> This is the essence of the imperfective aspect. Or, to continue the quotation, "the perfective looks at the situation from the outside, without necessarily distinguishing any of the internal structure of the situation, whereas the imperfective looks at the situation from inside, and as such is crucially concerned with the internal structure of the situation, since it can both look backwards towards the start of the situation, and look forwards to the end of the situation, and indeed it is equally appropriate if the situation is one that lasts through all time, without any beginning and without any end."

This is why, within the past tense, perfective verbs are typically translated into English as simple past, like 'entered', whereas imperfective verbs are typically translated as 'was reading', 'used to read', and the like. (In English, it is easiest to illustrate aspect in the past tense. However, any tense is possible: Present "John is reading as I enter", future "John will be reading when I enter", etc.: In each tense, the aspectual distinction is the same.)

This aspectual distinction is not inherent to the events themselves, but is decided by how the speaker views them or wishes to present them. The very same event may be described as perfective in one clause, and then imperfective in the next. For example,
:"John read that book yesterday; while he was reading it, the postman came,"
where the two forms of 'to read' refer to the same thing. In 'John read that book yesterday', however, ''John's reading is presented as a complete event, without further subdivision into successive temporal phases;'' while in 'while he was reading it', ''this event is opened up, so that the speaker is now in the middle of the situation of John's reading,'' as it is in the middle of this reading that the postman arrives.<ref name=Comrie/>

The perfective and imperfective need not occur together in the same utterance; indeed they more often do not. However, it is difficult to describe them in English without an explicit contrast like "John was reading when I entered."

===Combination{{Anchor|Combination of imperfective and perfective}}===

The two aspects may be combined on the same verb in a few languages, for perfective imperfectives and imperfective perfectives. [[Georgian language|Georgian]] and [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], for example, have parallel perfective-imperfective and [[aorist]]-[[imperfect]] forms, the latter restricted to the past tense. In Bulgarian, there are parallel perfective and imperfective stems; aorist and imperfect suffixes are typically added to the perfective and imperfective stems, respectively, but the opposite can occur. For example, an imperfect perfective is used in Bulgarian for a simple action that is repeated or habitual:<ref>"Bulgarian", ''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics'', ed. 2</ref>
{{interlinear
|vecher sedn-eshe na chardak-a
|evening sit.PFV-PST.IPFV on veranda-DEF
|In the evening, he would sit down on the veranda.
}}

Here each sitting is an unanalyzed whole, a simple event, so the perfective root of the verb {{Transliteration|bg|sedn}} 'sat' is used. However, the clause as a whole describes an ongoing event conceived of as having internal structure, so the imperfective suffix ''-eshe'' is added. Without the suffix, the clause would read simply as ''In the evening he sat on the veranda.''

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{Grammatical aspects}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imperfective Aspect}}
[[Category:Grammatical aspects]]