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Like the present tense, the imperfect tense displays an internal aspect. That is, it portrays the action from within the event, without regard for beginning or end. This contrasts with the aorist, which portrays the action in summary fasion. For the most part, the aorist takes a snapshot of the action while the imperfect (like the present) takes a motion picture, portraying the action as it unfolds. As such, the imperfect is often incomplete and focusses on the process of the action. A. Narrow-Band Imperfects The action is portrayed as being in progress, or as occurring in the past time (since all imperfects are in the indicative). 1. Progressive (Descriptive) Imperfect [ continually ] The imperfect is often used to describe an action or state that is in progress in past time from the viewpoint of the speaker. Mark 9:31 He was teaching his disciples and was saying to them 2. Ingressive (Inchoative, Inceptive) Imperfect [ began doing ] The imperfect may be used to stress the beginning of an action. Matt 5:2 And when he opened his mouth, he began teaching them. B. Broad-Band Imperfects Like the present tense, several imperfects involve a time-frame that is fairly broadly conceived. 3. Iterative Imperfect [ kept on ] The imperfect is sometimes used for repeated action in past time. It is similar to the customary imperfect, but it is not something that regularly recurs. John 19:3 They kept on saying, "Hail!" 4. Lifestyle (Customary, General) Imperfect [ used to, as a lifestyle ] The imperfect is used to indicate a regularly recurring activity in past time (habitual), or a state that continues for some time (general). Luke 2:41 And his parents use to go [or customarily went ] into Jerusalem each year. Col 3:7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived [as a lifestyle] C. Special Uses of the Imperfect 5. Conative (Voluntative, Tendential) Imperfect [ wanted to, could almost ] This use of the imperfect tense occasionally portrays the action as something that was desired (voluntative), attempted (conative), or at the point of almost doing something (tendential). Matt 3:14 but John was trying to prevent him 6. Imperfect Retained in Indirect Discourse Like the present, the imperfect can be retained from the direct discourse in the indirect. John 2:22 His disciples remembered that he had said this.