Table of Contents
In the last lesson we learned Passato Prossimo, the tense for finished actions: I ate, I went. Now we meet the second Italian past tense, Imperfetto. Its job is different: it describes how things were and what used to happen. Think of it as the “background” past.
When to use Imperfetto
1. Repeated or habitual actions in the past (“used to”):
Da bambino giocavo a calcio ogni giorno – As a child, I used to play soccer every day
2. Descriptions in the past: weather, age, feelings, appearance:
Era una bella giornata e faceva caldo – It was a beautiful day and it was hot
Mia nonna aveva i capelli lunghi – My grandmother had long hair
3. An action in progress when something else happened:
Dormivo quando hai chiamato – I was sleeping when you called
How to build it
Imperfetto is the friendliest tense in Italian: take off the final -RE of the infinitive and add the endings -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano. That’s it, and it works for all three groups:
| Parlare | Prendere | Partire | |
| io | parlavo | prendevo | partivo |
| tu | parlavi | prendevi | partivi |
| lui / lei | parlava | prendeva | partiva |
| noi | parlavamo | prendevamo | partivamo |
| voi | parlavate | prendevate | partivate |
| loro | parlavano | prendevano | partivano |
Irregular verbs
Only a handful of verbs are irregular here. ESSERE has its own forms, while FARE, BERE and DIRE simply use their old, longer stems (fac-, bev-, dic-). Remember these three stems: they will come back several times later in the course.
| Essere | Fare | Bere | Dire | |
| io | ero | facevo | bevevo | dicevo |
| tu | eri | facevi | bevevi | dicevi |
| lui / lei | era | faceva | beveva | diceva |
| noi | eravamo | facevamo | bevevamo | dicevamo |
| voi | eravate | facevate | bevevate | dicevate |
| loro | erano | facevano | bevevano | dicevano |
Examples
Quando ero piccolo, abitavamo in campagna – When I was little, we lived in the countryside
Ogni estate andavamo al mare – Every summer we used to go to the seaside
Mio padre lavorava in una fabbrica – My father worked in a factory
Che tempo faceva? Pioveva – What was the weather like? It was raining
Non capivo niente a scuola – I didn’t understand anything at school
Mentre cucinavo, ascoltavo la radio – While I was cooking, I was listening to the radio
Loro dicevano sempre la stessa cosa – They always said the same thing
Da giovane bevevi troppo caffè – When you were young, you used to drink too much coffee
C’era una volta… – Once upon a time… (this is how all Italian fairy tales start, in Imperfetto)
Vocabulary
| da bambino / da bambina – as a child
da giovane – when (I was) young ogni – every sempre – always mentre – while campagna – countryside |
estate – summer
mare – sea, seaside fabbrica – factory scuola – school capelli – hair nonno / nonna – grandfather / grandmother |
Exercises
Put the verb into Imperfetto
- Da bambino io ______________ a calcio (GIOCARE) – As a child I used to play soccer
- Mia nonna ______________ torte buonissime (FARE) – My grandmother used to make delicious cakes
- Noi ______________ in un piccolo appartamento (ABITARE) – We lived in a small apartment
- Che cosa tu ______________? (DIRE) – What were you saying?
- Loro ______________ molto stanchi (ESSERE) – They were very tired
- Mentre voi ______________, io lavoravo (DORMIRE) – While you were sleeping, I was working
- Ogni domenica ______________ i nonni (noi, VISITARE) – Every Sunday we used to visit our grandparents
- A scuola Marco non ______________ mai (STUDIARE) – At school Marco never studied
- Quando ______________ vent’anni, viaggiavo molto (io, AVERE) – When I was 20, I traveled a lot
- Il sole ______________ e gli uccelli cantavano (SPLENDERE) – The sun was shining and the birds were singing
Answers:
1: giocavo; 2: faceva; 3: abitavamo; 4: dicevi; 5: erano; 6: dormivate; 7: visitavamo; 8: studiava; 9: avevo; 10: splendeva