Let’s learn the imperfetto in Italian! The imperfetto is a past tense. But how and when is it used?
The imperfetto in Italian
The formation
To form the imperfetto you simply have to cut off the ending -re and add the corresponding imperfetto ending.
| AMARE | SCRIVERE | DORMIRE | |
| io | amavo | scrivevo | dormivo |
| tu | amavi | scrivevi | dormivi |
| lui, lei | amava | scriveva | dormiva |
| noi | amavamo | scrivevamo | dormivamo |
| voi | amavate | scrivevate | dormivate |
| loro | amavano | scrivevano | dormivano |
As for LORO, the stress is strangely on the third-to-last – instead of the second-to-last – syllable.
Irregular verbs in imperfetto
The imperfetto has almost no irregular verb! Irregular are only essere and verbs like fare, bere, dire and tradurre, which form the imperfetto with the old verb stems fac-, bev-, dic- and traduc-.
| essere | to be | ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano |
| fare | to do, make | facevo, facevi, faceva, facevamo, facevate, facevano |
| bere | to drink | bevevo, bevevi, beveva, bevevamo, bevevate, bevevano |
| dire | to say | dicevo, dicevi, diceva, dicevamo, dicevate, dicevano |
| tradurre | to traslate | traducevo, traducevi, traduceva, traducevamo, traducevate, traducevano |
Usage
The imperfetto is used to describe past states (1), habits (2), or just ongoing events (with mentre while) (3). It is the classic narrative tense for descriptions (4).
| (1) Mia nonna era bassa e aveva i capelli grigi. | My granny was short and had gray hair. |
| (2) Quando abitavo a Milano, uscivo tutti i fine settimana. | When I lived in Milan, I went out every weekend. |
| (3) Mentre la mamma cucinava, la figlia studiava. | While the mom was cooking, the daughter was studying. |
| (4) Ieri c’era il sole, così ho fatto una passeggiata. | It was sunny yesterday, so I took a walk. |
The imperfetto is used together with the passato prossimo or in some cases (e.g. in novels) with the passato remoto to talk about the past, as can also be seen in example (4).
The imperfetto is also used to ask for something politely instead of the conditional.
| Volevo chiederti scusa. | I wanted to say sorry. |
Esercizio
Trainer Verbi
> Go to the Trainer Verbi Imperfetto
Problems with the Imperfetto?
Passato prossimo e imperfetto von ALMA EDIZIONI
How do you form the passato prossimo and the imperfetto in Italian? When do you use which tense and when do you combine them? These questions are addressed in the exercise book Passato prossimo e imperfetto with the help of clear explanations of the grammatical rules as well as numerous examples and exercises with solutions.
