The imperfect: punoja, isha, kisha
The imperfect is the past "in progress": what was going on, what things were like, what used to happen. Kur isha fëmijë, luaja çdo ditë — "When I was a child, I played every day". Isha "I was" and kisha "I had" are imperfects too.
Forms
The endings are -ja, -je, -te, -nim, -nit, -nin. After a vowel the "he" form ends in -nte: punonte, pinte; after a consonant, in -te: hapte.
| person | punoj | hap | pi |
|---|---|---|---|
| unë | punoja | hapja | pija |
| ti | punoje | hapje | pije |
| ai, ajo | punonte | hapte | pinte |
| ne | punonim | hapnim | pinim |
| ju | punonit | hapnit | pinit |
| ata, ato | punonin | hapnin | pinin |
The stem is the "you" (pl.) stem
If the present stem changes, the imperfect takes the stem of the "you" (pl.) form: flisni → flisja, merrni → merrja, dilni → dilja, shihni → shihja, jepni → jepja, doni → doja, vini → vija.
Isha, kisha, thosha
There are only three irregular ones: jam — isha, kam — kisha, them — thosha (thoshte "he used to say"). Kishte also means "there was, there were": Kishte shumë njerëz — "There were a lot of people".
| person | jam | kam |
|---|---|---|
| unë | isha | kisha |
| ti | ishe | kishe |
| ai, ajo | ishte | kishte |
| ne | ishim | kishim |
| ju | ishit | kishit |
| ata, ato | ishin | kishin |
When to use it
A process: Po lexoja kur ra telefoni — "I was reading when the phone rang" (po — "right at that moment"). A habit: Çdo verë shkonim në det — "Every summer we went to the seaside". A description: Ishte ftohtë dhe binte shi — "It was cold and it was raining". And after të when the main verb is in the past: Doja të lexoja — "I wanted to read".