When do you use the imperfetto in Italian?
The imperfetto in Italian is the second most common past tense in the everyday language (the first would be passato prossimo).
Ero in camera mia.
I was in my room.
The imperfetto is generally used in the spoken and written language to talk mainly about past events that lasted for an indefinite period of time or occured more than once.
It can translate both the English present perfect, past simple and past progressive, so there’s really no equivalent in this language, and you should pay special attention to the context the imperfetto is used to learn how to use it correctly.
The imperfetto in Italian puts emphasis on the action itself, rather than telling you when the action happened. The imperfetto tells you that the action was once valid.
Mia zia aveva i capelli bianchi.
My aunt had white hair.
The imperfetto can also translate sentences starting with I used to….
Andavo spesso a pescare da piccolo.
I used to go fishing a lot when I was a child.
Usage of the imperfetto in Italian
The imperfetto in Italian is used for…
Describing someone’s or something’s state of being in the past…
La stanza aveva una forma rettangolare.
The room had a rectangular shape.
Il tempo era molto brutto ieri. Pioveva e tirava vento.
The weather was very bad yesterday. It was raining and windy.
I miei nonni vivevano in una baita in montagna.
My grandparents lived in a hut in the mountains.
Conoscevo una delle vittime dell’incidente.
I used to know one of the victims of the accident.
L’altro giorno avevo un tremendo mal di stomaco.
The other day I had a terrible stomachache.
Past actions happening simultaneously (this is translated into English with the past progressive tense)…
Mentre io leggevo, mio fratello giocava alla PlayStation.
While I was reading, my brother was playing PlayStation.
La mamma riposava mentre il papà cucinava.
Mom was resting while Dad was cooking.
Translating the English expression I used to…
Quando ero bambino, andavo spesso a casa dei miei amici.
When I was a child, I used to go to my friends’ houses a lot.
Da ragazza, mia mamma era solita andare in vacanza in Sardegna.
When she was a girl, my mom used to go on vacation to Sardinia.
Translating the English expression I knew that… / I didn’t know that…
Sapevo cosa dire, ma non riuscivo a dirlo.
I knew what to say, but I couldn’t say it.
Non sapevo che Elisa e Lorenzo si fossero sposati.
I didn’t know that Elisa and Lorenzo got married.
Translating the English expression I wanted to… / I didn’t want to…
Non volevo disturbarti.
I didn’t want to bother you.
Volevo chiederti una cosa. Hai un minuto?
I wanted to ask you something. Do you have a minute?
Finally, the imperfetto in Italian is also used for storytelling and romance books along with the passato remoto tense.
Tutte le estati facevamo escusioni in montagna. Una volta, mi imbattei in uno scoiattolo sul sentiero e…
Every summer we used to go hiking in the mountains. Once, I came across a squirrel on the path and…
How do you form the imperfetto in Italian?
The good news is that the imperfetto in Italian is very easy to conjugate.
You just have to take the stem of the verb you want to conjugate and add these endings (there are very few exceptions, as we’ll see in a moment):
- -avo/-evo/-ivo
- -avi/-evi/-ivi
- -ava/-eva/-iva
- -avamo/-evamo/-ivamo
- -avate/-evate/-ivate
- -avano/-evano/-ivano
pronoun | mangiARE | rompERE | dormIRE |
io | mangiavo | rompevo | dormivo |
tu | mangiavi | rompevi | dormivi |
lui/lei | mangiava | rompeva | dormiva |
noi | mangiavamo | rompevamo | dormivamo |
voi | mangiavate | rompevate | dormivate |
loro | mangiavano | rompevano | dormivano |
What’s the stem of a verb?
Italian infinitive verbs end in -ARE, -ERE and -IRE.
Cut off this part and you are left with the root verb.
Examples:
tremare ➡️ trem-
piovere ➡️ piov-
cucire ➡️ cuc-
Italian verb endings for each tense are added to these root forms of the verb.
For example, you can say…
Camminavamo sulla spiaggia e ascoltavamo musica.
We walked on the beach and listened to music.
Quando era bambina, mia mamma voleva diventare veterinaria.
When she was a child, my mom wanted to be a veterinarian.
Mia sorella leggeva sulla poltrona.
My sister was reading in the armchair.
Il gatto dormiva davanti al camino.
The cat was sleeping in front of the fireplace.
I told you that there are very few exceptions to the conjugations of the imperfetto in Italian. There are very few irregular verbs that have an irregular stem:
- essere (to be, all irregular)
- fare (to do, fac- stem)
- dire (to say, dic- stem)
- bere (to drink bev- stem)
- produrre (to produce, produc- stem)
- tradurre (to translate, traduc- stem)
- all other verbs in –urre
For ease of use, I’ve listed the imperfetto conjugations for some of these verbs in the table below.
pronoun | essere | fare | bere |
io | ero | facevo | bevevo |
tu | eri | facevi | bevevi |
lui/lei | era | faceva | beveva |
noi | eravamo | facevamo | bevevamo |
voi | eravate | facevate | bevevate |
loro | erano | facevano | bevevano |
For example, you can say…
I clienti bevevano birra da grandi boccali.
The customers drank beer from big mugs.
I latrati dei cani facevano molto rumore.
The barks of the dogs made a lot of noise.
Io e Paolo eravamo amici per la pelle.
Paolo and I were best friends.
Imperfetto or passato prossimo?
Passato prossimo is used for actions that happened at a certain point in time. That’s why it is often used with adverbs of time like already, just and yet like the English present perfect tense, and yesterday, last night and last year like the English past simple tense.
Ho appena fatto il letto.
I’ve just made the bed.
Ieri non ho fatto colazione.
I didn’t have any breakfast yesterday.
The imperfetto in Italian is also used for actions that happened in the past, but we don’t know exactly when. It doesn’t have a definite beginning and end. The action itself is ongoing, and this tense is also used for repeated actions. That’s why you’ll often see it with adverbs of frequency.
Ero solito tornare a casa all’una del pomeriggio.
I used to come home at one o’clock in the afternoon.
Quando andavo all’asilo, mi piaceva colorare con i pastelli a cera.
When I was in kindergarten, I liked to color with wax crayons.
The imperfetto in Italian is also used to introduce an ongoing action that is interrupted by another, sudden action (which is conjugated in the passato prossimo tense).
Mentre pulivo il pavimento, qualcuno ha bussato alla porta.
While I was cleaning the floor, someone knocked on the door.
More free Italian resources
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