Here is a rare piece of good news in Greek grammar: the imperfect of Class Β — the ending-stressed verbs like αγαπώ (love), μιλώ (speak), μπορώ (can), οδηγώ (drive) — is easier than their present tense. The present forces you to pick between two sub-patterns (αγαπάω/αγαπάς versus μπορώ/μπορείς); the imperfect wipes that distinction out. Every Class Β verb, whether B1 or B2, forms the imperfect with -ούσα. One ending set, no exceptions, no augment. If you learn a single row of this page you have the past-continuous of thousands of verbs.
The pattern: -ούσα
Take the present, strip it back to the bare verb, and attach the -ούσα endings:
| Person | Ending | αγαπώ → αγαπούσα | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| εγώ | -ούσα | αγαπούσα | aghapúsa |
| εσύ | -ούσες | αγαπούσες | aghapúses |
| αυτός/-ή/-ό | -ούσε | αγαπούσε | aghapúse |
| εμείς | -ούσαμε | αγαπούσαμε | aghapúsame |
| εσείς | -ούσατε | αγαπούσατε | aghapúsate |
| αυτοί/-ές/-ά | -ούσαν(ε) | αγαπούσαν | aghapúsan |
The stress sits on the -ού- of the ending in every single person — αγαπούσα, αγαπούσαμε — and it never moves. (As with Class Α, the 3rd plural has a longer everyday twin -ούσανε: αγαπούσαν ~ αγαπούσανε, the second one (informal).)
Αγαπούσε τη θάλασσα όσο τίποτα άλλο στον κόσμο.
aghapúse ti thálasa óso típota álo ston kózmo
She loved the sea more than anything else in the world.
Μιλούσα με τη Μαρία όταν κόπηκε ξαφνικά η γραμμή.
milúsa me ti María ótan kópike ksafniká i ghramí
I was talking to Maria when the line suddenly cut off.
Why there is no augment
Class Α needs a stressed prefix (έγραφα) because a short stem cannot host the antepenult accent on its own. Class Β never has that problem: the -ούσ- already adds a long, stressed syllable, so the word is always three syllables or more and the accent has a natural home. α-γα-πού-σα needs no help. That is why you will never see ×εαγαπούσα or an ε- on any Β imperfect — the ending does the work the augment does elsewhere. (Contrast the augment story for the short Α stems on the augment page.)
One pattern swallows the whole class
This is the point worth dwelling on. In the present, Class Β splits into two conjugations — the B1 verbs sound out their endings (αγαπάω, αγαπάς, αγαπάει) while the B2 verbs are shorter (μπορώ, μπορείς, μπορεί), and you have to know which subtype a verb belongs to (that split is mapped on Class Β subtypes). In the imperfect all of that collapses: B1 αγαπώ and B2 μπορώ both go to -ούσα.
| Present type | Verb | Imperfect 1sg | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1 (-άω/-ώ) | μιλώ (speak) | μιλούσα | milúsa |
| B1 | ρωτώ (ask) | ρωτούσα | rotúsa |
| B1 | περπατώ (walk) | περπατούσα | perpatúsa |
| B2 (-ώ/-είς) | μπορώ (can) | μπορούσα | borúsa |
| B2 | οδηγώ (drive) | οδηγούσα | odhighúsa |
| B2 | ζω (live) | ζούσα | zúsa |
Δεν μπορούσα να κοιμηθώ χθες με τόση ζέστη.
dhen borúsa na kimithó chthes me tósi zésti
I couldn't sleep last night with so much heat.
Ο παππούς μου οδηγούσε ακόμα στα ογδόντα του.
o papús mu odhighúse akóma sta oghdhónda tu
My grandpa was still driving in his eighties.
Παλιά περπατούσαμε μία ώρα για να πάμε στο σχολείο.
paliá perpatúsame mía óra ya na páme sto scholío
We used to walk an hour to get to school.
What it means
Exactly what the Class Α imperfect means: an ongoing, repeated, or habitual past — English was ‑ing, used to, or would. Μιλούσα is "I was speaking / I used to speak"; ζούσαμε is "we lived / we used to live." The single-completed-event counterpart is the aorist (μίλησα "I spoke", έζησα "I lived"), and choosing between them is the same decision every Greek verb makes — spelled out on using the imperfect and, against the aorist, on aspect in the past.
Τότε ζούσαμε σε ένα μικρό χωριό στα βουνά.
tóte zúsame se éna mikró chorió sta vuná
Back then we lived in a small village in the mountains.
Μας ρωτούσαν συνέχεια πότε θα παντρευτούμε.
mas rotúsan sinéchia póte tha pandreftúme
They kept asking us when we were going to get married.
The colloquial -αγα variant
You will also hear a second imperfect for the B1 (-άω) verbs, formed with -αγα instead of -ούσα: μίλαγα, ρώταγα, αγάπαγα, περπάταγα. This is completely normal spoken Greek — (informal) — and it is what many native speakers actually say. It runs only on the -άω subtype, though; the B2 verbs (μπορώ, οδηγώ) have no ×-αγα form, only -ούσα. In writing and in careful speech, -ούσα is the safe, universal choice for the whole class, so learn it first and treat -αγα as a variant you recognise.
Μίλαγα με τη γειτόνισσα όταν χτύπησε το κουδούνι.
mílagha me ti yitónisa ótan chtípise to kudhúni
I was chatting with the neighbour when the doorbell rang. (informal, = μιλούσα)
The dominance of -ούσα cuts the other way too: it is such a magnet that in very casual or regional speech you may occasionally hear it stretched onto a verb that officially sits in Class Α. Treat any such form as (informal/regional) — the standard imperfect of an Α verb is the -α set on Class Α.
Common Mistakes
1. Splitting Β verbs by subtype in the past. Learners who have drilled the present's B1/B2 split sometimes try to carry it into the imperfect. There is nothing to carry — every Β verb is -ούσα.
❌ Δεν μπόραγα να έρθω, είχα πυρετό.
Incorrect — μπορώ is B2 and has no -αγα form; the imperfect is μπορούσα.
✅ Δεν μπορούσα να έρθω, είχα πυρετό.
dhen borúsa na értho, ícha piretó
I couldn't come, I had a fever.
2. Adding an augment to a Β verb. The -ούσ- stem is already long; there is never a prefixed ε-.
❌ Εμιλούσα ώρα με το τηλέφωνο και δεν σε άκουσα.
Incorrect — Class Β takes no augment: μιλούσα.
✅ Μιλούσα ώρα με το τηλέφωνο και δεν σε άκουσα.
milúsa óra me to tiléfono ke dhen se ákusa
I was on the phone for ages and didn't hear you.
3. Reaching for the aorist when the past is a habit or a background. μίλησα is "I spoke (once, done)"; a repeated or ongoing past is imperfective.
❌ Κάθε βράδυ της μίλησα στο τηλέφωνο επί μία ώρα.
Incorrect — a nightly habit is imperfective: μιλούσα.
✅ Κάθε βράδυ της μιλούσα στο τηλέφωνο επί μία ώρα.
káthe vrádhi tis milúsa sto tiléfono epí mía óra
Every evening I used to talk to her on the phone for an hour.
4. Dropping the -ού- of the ending. The tense marker is -ούσ-; forms built straight onto the present ending (×αγάπασα, ×μιλάσα) are not the imperfect.
❌ Παλιά αγάπασα πολύ το χωριό, τώρα προτιμώ την πόλη.
Incorrect — the imperfect is αγαπούσα (αγάπησα would be the aorist 'I loved/came to love').
✅ Παλιά αγαπούσα πολύ το χωριό, τώρα προτιμώ την πόλη.
paliá aghapúsa polí to chorió, tóra protimó tin póli
I used to love the village a lot, now I prefer the city.
Key Takeaways
- Every Class Β verb forms the imperfect the same way: verb + -ούσα, -ούσες, -ούσε, -ούσαμε, -ούσατε, -ούσαν — αγαπούσα, μιλούσα, μπορούσα, οδηγούσα.
- The B1/B2 split that matters in the present disappears in the imperfect, which makes this tense easier than the present.
- No augment is ever added, because the stressed -ού- already carries the accent; the stress stays on -ού- throughout.
- The -άω subtype has a colloquial twin in -αγα (μίλαγα, ρώταγα) — (informal), and only for -άω verbs; -ούσα is the universal, written-safe form.
- Meaning is the imperfective past: was ‑ing / used to / would, opposed to the single-event aorist (μιλούσα vs μίλησα).
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- Imperfect: Class ΑA2 — The imperfect (παρατατικός) of the big -ω verb class — έγραφα, έπαιζα, διάβαζα — built from the present stem plus the past endings -α/-ες/-ε/-αμε/-ατε/-αν, with the stress-carrying augment ε- that shows up in the singular and 3rd plural but drops out of the 1st and 2nd plural.
- Using the ImperfectA2 — The four jobs the imperfect (παρατατικός) does — the ongoing background of a past scene, a repeated or habitual past, the description of past states and settings, and a softened, polite request — each set against the single-event aorist and mapped onto English 'was doing / used to do / would do'.
- Present Tense: Class Β1 (αγαπάω/-ώ)A1 — The full present of the everyday Β1 contract verbs — αγαπάω/αγαπώ, μιλάω, ρωτάω, περπατάω, κοιτάω, ξεχνάω, περνάω — with the -άω/-ώ doublet in the 'I' and 'they' forms, the fixed -άς 'you' ending, and the crossover error ×αγαπείς that spells it as if it were Class Α.