Remember that there are three types of verbs based on their last vowel in the dictionary form: a-verbs, e-verbs, and и-verbs, i.e. those ending in a, e, and и, respectively, in the form found in the dictionary. Remember also that based on their aspect, there are two types of verbs: imperfective and perfective. In forming the past tenses, three questions need to be kept in mind:
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- what is the aspect of the verb,
- whether the last vowel of the dictionary form changes (and if so, to what), and
- what the endings are.
The imperfect (минато определено несвршено време - МОН) is the first past tense you will learn about. It is made from imperfective verbs (although the endings below can also be added to perfective verbs in certain other contexts). To make the imperfective, the following endings are added
- јас -в
- ти, тој, таа, тоа -ше
- ние -вме
- вие -вте
- тие -а
where the - represents the dictionary form.
With e-verbs that have a vowel preceding the e, such as пее "sing", мие "wash", and many others, after the third person plural -a ending is added, three vowels are found in succession ("eea" or "иеа"). Therefore, the spelling rule which dictates that the final two vowels are separated by a "j" is enforced. For example: пеев, пееше, пеевме, пеевте, but пееја; миев, миеше, миевме, миевте, but миеја.