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In Italian we use different tenses to talk about
past events; we have already studied “passato prossimo” (read the
article at this link) that is one of the most common tense we use for
the past. Today we learn another useful tense called “imperfetto”.
- to describe events or activities that used to happen in the past or to talk about habitual actions
- Da piccolo mangiavo la pasta fatta in casa che mia nonna preparava per me. = When I was a child I used to eat the homemade pasta that my grandmother used to prepare for me
- Prima di trasferirsi a Milano, Marco abitava a Palermo. = Before moving to Milan, Marco lived in Palermo
- Che lavoro facevano i tuoi genitori prima della pensione? = What did your parents do before retirement?
- to describe people, objects, places, situations, state of minds or health in the past
- Laura era molto bella da giovane. = Laura was very beautiful when she was young
- In Norvegia faceva molto freddo e pioveva. = In Norway it was very cold and rainy
- I tavoli al ristorante erano tutti prenotati. = The tables in the restaurant were all reserved
- Roberto si sentiva solo e triste. = Roberto felt lonely and sad
- Ieri avevo un terribile mal di testa. = Yesterday I had a terrible headache
- to express possibility in the past (something you could do but you didn't)
- Potevi venire alla festa! = You could have come to the party!
- to talk about actions that were taking place at the same moment
- Mentre Sabrina cucinava, suo marito guardava la televisione. = While Sabrina cooked, her husband watched television
- Ascoltavamo la musica, mentre studiavamo. = We listened to music while we were studying
Here is the "imperfetto" of the verb “essere” and “avere".
Most
Italian verbs have a regular form for “imperfetto”. To form this tense you can replace the final endings of the verbs (-ARE, -ERE, -IRE) with the following final endings:
Some verbs have an irregular “imperfetto”:
bere → bevevo
dare → davo
dire → dicevo
fare → facevo
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