5775 Tense - Imperfect

     The imperfect tense generally represents continual or repeated
     action.  Where the present tense might indicate "they are
     asking," the imperfect would indicate "they kept on asking."

     In the case of the verb "to be," however, the imperfect tense
     is used as a general past tense and does not carry the
     connotation of continual or repeated action.