A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 7

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7.3

Past imperfect


The past imperfect tense is used for actions that are performed regularly or often in the past, or for statements about a condition that existed in the past. It is also sometimes called the past habitual tense.

Note that the Past Imperfect tense is identical to the present habitiual tense (Lesson 2) except for the use of था / थे / थी .

Examples: I used to go to school. They used to eat vegetables. She wanted to buy a necklace.

Formula:

Subject

root verb +

verb ending

ता / ते / ती

auxiliary verb

था / थे / थी

(past tense of होना)

Examples: with the verb जाना ("to go")

a. A guy says:

मैं

जाता

था ।

"I used to go."

subject

(masculine)

root verb + masculine singular ending

masc. singular past auxiliary verb

b. A girl says:

मैं

जाती

थी ।

"I used to go."

subject

(feminine)

root verb + feminine ending

fem. singular past auxiliary verb

c. About a girl someone says:

वह

जाती

थी ।

"She used to go."

subject

(feminine)

root verb + feminine ending

fem. singular past auxiliary verb

d. A male group says:

हम

जाते

थे ।

"We used to go."

subject

(masculine plural)

root verb + masculine plural ending

masc. plural past auxiliary verb

e. A female group says:

हम

जाती

थीं ।

"We used to go."

subject

(feminine plural)

root verb + fem. ending

fem. plural past auxiliary verb

f. You say to your friend(s) (masc. familiar):

तुम

जाते

थे ।

"You used to go."

subject

(masculine)

root verb + masculine plural ending

masc. plural past auxiliary verb

g. You say to your friend(s) (fem. polite):

आप

जाती

थीं ।

"You used to go."

subject

(feminine)

root verb + feminine ending

fem. plural past auxiliary verb


See Snell's Teach Yourself Hindi (2000)
Section 7.1 page 87