Avere(to have) is regular in the imperfect: avevo, avevi, aveva, avevamo, avevate, avevano.
Italian Articles
How to use the imperfect in Italian?
By: Silvia Giorgini Althoen Thu May 16 2024
The imperfect in Italian is mainly used to:
make descriptions of the past
talk about habitual actions in the past
set the scene in the past
In English, it has many equivalents. For example, giocavo would usually be translated as “I used to play” or “I was playing,” but it could even be translated as “I played.”
Unlike the other past tensesNo definition set for tensesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., like passato prossimo (e.g. ho giocato(I've played)), or passato remoto (e.g. geocai(I played)), an action in the imperfect doesn’t have a definite beginning or end. The imperfect is a very useful tense and is super simple to form; all the verbs have the same endings, and it has very few irregular verbs.
Let’s start our “story” as all Italian fairy tales begin: C’era una volta…(Once upon a time there was…) and let's meet the imperfetto! Ready?
Table of Contents
How to form the ‘imperfetto’ in Italian?
The imperfect tense is one of the easiest to conjugate. Most of the verbs are regularNo definition set for regularLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., but there are still a few irregularNo definition set for irregularLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. ones to learn. Let’s start with the regular verbs.
Regular verbs
To form the imperfetto of regular verbs, just start with the infinitiveNo definition set for infinitiveLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. form, drop the infinitive ending (-are / -ere / -ire), and add the imperfect endings in the table below.
Subject Pronoun | -are | -ere | -ire |
|---|---|---|---|
compr-are(to buy) | cred-ere(to believe) | dorm-ire(to sleep) | |
io | compravo | credevo | dormivo |
tu | compravi | credevi | dormivi |
lui/lei/Lei | comprava | credeva | dormiva |
noi | compravamo | credevamo | dormivamo |
voi | compravate | credevate | dormivate |
loro | compravano | credevano | dormivano |
However, here’s a cool trick I learned from my grade school teacher:
Only drop the -re from the infinitive ending, leave the first vowel (a, e, i).
Add -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano across the three conjugations and… Ecco fatto!(Here you are!) you have it! The endings are all the same!
Here are a few examples of the three verbs we saw above in sentences:
Marta comprava solo verdure di stagione.
Marta used to buy only seasonal produce.
Da giovane credevi agli UFO?
Did you believe in UFOs when you were young?
Tutte le domeniche dormivano fino a mezzogiorno.
Every Sunday they used to sleep until noon.
Irregular verbs
Guess what? Our friendly imperfetto has only a few irregular verbs! The “usual suspect”: essere(to be) is the "real" irregular one!
Pronoun | essere | Translation |
|---|---|---|
io | ero | I was / used to be |
tu | eri | You were / used to be |
lui/lei/Lei | era | He/she was / used to be |
noi | eravamo | We were / used to be |
eravate | ero | You were / used to be |
loro | erano | They were / used to be |
Important
Now, look at these three commonly-used verbs that “remember” their Latin origin in the imperfect! Rather than using their usual Italian infinitive as their base, they seem to be using the Latin infinitive instead!
Italian infinitive | Latin infinitive | Imperfetto |
|---|---|---|
dire to say, to tell | dicere |
|
fare to do, to make | facere |
|
bere to drink | bevere |
|
Notice that, apart from this change to the stem, they just follow the -ere regular form. Pretty cool, huh? For more verbs with irregular stems in the imperfect check out our tables!
When to use the imperfect in Italian?
We use l’imperfetto(the imperfect) when we are talking about the past, but this tense in Italian does not correspond to just one English past tense. Indeed, io facevo might be translated as “I did,” “I was doing,” “I used to do,” or “I would do.” Let's see when to use it!
To describe what things were like in the past
Making descriptions of the past is one of the most common uses of the imperfect.
Let's say you want to talk about your childhood: how your friends were, how nice (or not 😉) they were, what you were wearing, what you were doing everyday, what the school was like, or what the teachers were like. In this situation, you need to use the imperfect:
La scuola era piccola. I miei compagni erano simpatici e portavamo tutti il grembiule. Le classi iniziavano alle 8:30 e facevamo merenda alle 10:30 durante l’intervallo. La mia maestra era brava e aveva una voce dolce.
The school was small. My classmates were nice, and we all wore uniforms. Classes started at 8:30 and, at 10:30, we would have a snack during recess. My teacher was good and she had a sweet voice.
Tip
It is also used to say what age someone was:
Quando avevo 14 anni andavo a scuola con l’autobus.
When I was 14, I used to take the bus to go to school.
Important
If you are describing the weather as a generic statement, use the imperfect, because you’re describing the way things were in the past:
Anche se ieri faceva freddo, siamo andati a fare una passeggiata.
Even though yesterday was cold, we still went for a walk.
→ Generic Statement: Here we just describe the weather in its duration.
If you are describing a specific weather event, or as the main info as opposed to the background, use the passato prossimo .
Ieri ha piovuto.
Yesterday it rained.
→ Specific Info: Here we want to indicate that fact about the weather.
When the duration is the focus
Use the imperfect when the action that you are describing has no specific beginning or end but you are considering its duration, how it lasts in time.
Prima delle Frecce per andare da Roma a Firenze ci volevano 4 ore.🚂
Before the high-speed train, the trip from Rome to Florence would take four hours.
For past habits
We use the imperfect when talking about actions that occurred habitually.
Tutte le domeniche pranzavamo dai nonni.
Every Sunday, we used to have lunch at our grandparents house.
Tip
Expressions like tutti i giorni(every day), or ogni giorno(every day) indicate repetition. To see other time expressions that require the imperfetto check the link!
Important
Often, an English statement about repeated past actions (i.e. things you used to do), use the word “would” in English. But be careful, verbs accompanied by “would” are not always translated using the imperfect in Italian, they can also use the Italian conditional.
How do you know which to use? If you can replace “would” with “used to,” in English, then you know you can use the imperfect. For example:
“Every month, they would go to visit their relatives,” means the same thing as “Every month, they used to go to visit their relatives,” so we can use the imperfect:
✅ Andavano a trovare i loro parenti tutti i mesi.
For an action that was ongoing at a particular past moment
We often use the imperfect for two or more actions happening simultaneously in the past, or for an ongoing action during a particular time, you would also use the imperfect. Let’s see some examples:
Mentre Matteo cucinava, ascoltava la musica.
While Matteo was making dinner, he was listening to music.
→ The two actions are happening at the same time in the past.
Tip
As you can see, this use of the imperfect is equivalent to the English past progressive (“was verb-ing”). To put emphasis on the ongoing duration, you can also use the Italian imperfect progressive structure:
stare(was / were)
(in the imperfect)
gerund
(verb-ing)
Stava ascoltando la musica.
S/he was listening to music.
For interrupted ongoing actions
When an ongoing actions is interrupted by another action or moment, we use the imperfect for the ongoing action and one of the perfect tenses (passato prossimo or passato remoto) for the interrupting event:
The imperfect tense is used to set the scene (you are making a description of “how things were” in the past).
The perfect tense is used for a sudden & single action.
Here’s an example:
imperfectperfect
Mentre guidavo all’improvviso un cervo ha attraversato/attraversò la strada.
While I was driving, suddenly a deer crossed the road.
→ Notice that all’improvviso(suddenly) sets up the interruption!
To describe past emotions or thoughts
When describing people's past emotions/thoughts with verbs such as sembrare(to seem), credere(to believe), sperare(to hope), pensare(to think), we use the imperfect:
Sembravano felici e contenti.
They seemed happy and content.
Recentemente pensavo spesso a loro.
Recently, I have been thinking often about them.
To make a polite request
To make a polite request, you can use the imperfect as an alternative to the present conditional:
imperfect
Volevo chiederti se potevi tenermi il cane la prossima settimana.
I wanted to ask you if you could take my dog next week.
To sum up
Here are some things to take away from this article:
To form the imperfect, remember two steps:
Drop -re but leave the "root-vowel" (a, e, i) in the infinitive.
Add -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano across the three conjugations -are/-ere/-ire.
The verb essere is irregular (ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano).
The verbs dire, fare, bere are also irregular, but only in the form of the stem, not the endings (dicevo, facevi, beveva, etc.)
Use the imperfect when:
you are describing things that routinely happened, or emotions in the past;
you want to set the scene in the past;
you are describing something that was happening over a period of time with no definite beginning or end;
you want to mention two things happening simultaneously;
you want to talk about an ongoing interrupted action.
Remember, the imperfect is different from the passato prossimo/passato remoto as these tenses are for actions that happened at a definite moment in the past.
Ready to practice the imperfetto? Check out our activities!
Downloadable Resources
Elevate your language-learning journey to new heights with the following downloadable resources.
How to use the imperfect in Italian~Verbs with irregular stemsHow to use the imperfect in Italian~Activities
