Thomas Aquinas

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Latin Grammar: the imperfect indicative active

Ad tertium dicendum quod septem liberales artes non sufficienter dividunt philosophiam theoricam, sed ideo, ut dicit Hugo de sancto Victore in III sui didascalicon, praetermissis quibusdam aliis septem connumerantur, quia his primum erudiebantur, qui philosophiam discere volebant, et ideo distinguuntur in trivium et quadrivium, eo quod his quasi quibusdam viis vivax animus ad secreta philosophiae introeat. Et hoc etiam consonat verbis philosophi qui dicit in II metaphysicae quod modus scientiae debet quaeri ante scientias.

The imperfect tense, as opposed to the perfect tense, denotes an ongoing or repeated action in the past. To form the imperfect indicative active, add -ba- to the stem (the present active infinitve without the final -re), followed by the normal person markers. The first person, singular ends in -m. In the imperfect, the stem vowel becomes long: -a- for first conjugation, -e- for second conjugation, -e- or -ie- for third conjugation, and -ie- for fourth conjugation. Practice forming the imperfect indicative active by conjugating the following verbs.

1. laudare- first person, plural 

2. monere- third person, singular 

3. agere- second person, singular 

4. capere- second person, plural 

5. audire- first person, singular 

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