8.2 - Form of the past imperfective
In Ukrainian this tense is very easy to form, and there are very few exceptions. Here are a few examples of Ukrainian sentences in the past imperfective:
| Що ви робили на початку 90-их? | What were you doing in the early 90s? |
| Київська адміністрація мала проблеми з оплатою за газ. | The Kyiv local adminstration had problems with gas payments. |
| Василь ніколи нікого не слухав. | Vasyl never listened to what anyone said. |
| Місто Лева завжди займало важливе місце в історії України. | Lev's city (Lviv) has always occupied an important position in Ukrainian history. |
From the above it can be seen that the endings for past imperfective are:
- -в for masculine singular (agreeing with the subject Василь)
- -ла for feminine singular (agreeing with the subject адміністрація)
- -ло for neuter singular (agreeing with the subject місто)
- -ли for plural (agreeing with the subject ви).
This tense is formed on the basis of the infinitive (the dictionary form of the verb): e.g. думати – to think. The infinitive ending -ти is removed, and the above endings are added to the stem дума- :
| я (masc.), ти (masc.), він ... | думав |
| я (fem.), ти (fem.), вона ... | думала |
| воно ... | думало |
| ми, ви, вони ... | думали |
There are a small number of exceptions, which are given on the next page and on page 13.3.