Phrase guide

past imperfect tense

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A grammatical tense which expresses the past as an action which was still going on at the point in time described, say someone "was ...ing" something, as opposed to the already accomplished counterpart past perfect tense (where the action took place even further in the past)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: onvoltooid verleden tijd (O.V.T.) — grammatical tense
  • Finnish: imperfekti — grammatical tense
  • French: l'imparfait — grammatical tense
  • Portuguese: pretérito imperfeito — grammatical tense
  • Punjabi: ਅਪੂਰਨ ਭੂਤਕਾਲ (apūran bhūtkāl) — grammatical tense
  • Vietnamese: thì quá khứ chưa hoàn thành — grammatical tense