Other Languages
Slavic languages are examples of languages with verbs that have perfective and/or an imperfective form. Imperfectives can be turned into perfectives with any of various prefixes. Perfectives can be turned into imperfectives with a suffix. 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.
The imperfective aspect may be fused with the past tense, for a form traditionally called the imperfect. In some cases, such as Spanish, Portuguese and Modern Greek, this is because the imperfective aspect only occurs in the past tense; others, such as Georgian and Bulgarian, have both general imperfectives and imperfects. Other languages with distinct past imperfectives include Latin and Persian.
Read more about this topic: Imperfective Aspect
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“No doubt, to a man of sense, travel offers advantages. As many languages as he has, as many friends, as many arts and trades, so many times is he a man. A foreign country is a point of comparison, wherefrom to judge his own.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is time for dead languages to be quiet.”
—Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972)