L'imperfetto Flashcards
Imperfetto is a simple tense.
No auxiliary verb required.
Conjugation is similar for all three verb classes.
Drop the “re” to form the stem and add the endings. The endings are “vo”, “vi”, “va”, “vamo”, “vate”, “vano”.
Essere is irregular
Ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano
Verbs with irregular stems, “bere”
“Beve” and add the endings, “bevevo”, “bevevi”, beveva”, “bevevamo”, “bevevate”, “bevevano”
Verbs with irregular stems, “dire”
“Dice” and add the endings, “dicevo”, dicevi”, diceva”, dicevamo”, “dicevate”, “dicevano”
Verbs with irregular endings, “fare”
“Face” and add the endings, “facevo”, facevi”, faceva”, “facevamo”, facevate”, facevano”
Use the imperfetto…
To talk about actions that took place REPEATEDLY or HABITUALLY during an unspecified period of time. Note that, in English, we often use the phrase “used to” or”would” to indicate HABITUAL or REPEATED actions.
Examples in English
Alberto used to exercise every day. Alberto faceva esercizio fisico ogni giorno. As children, we used to sleep a lot. Da bambini, dormivamo molto.
Imperfetto is a descriptive tense.
Use it to describe physical and mental states in the past including age. Rachel was happy while John was not. Bill was nine years old when he saw Bob. (combination of imperfetto and passato promissimo.
Imperfetto is used to describe weather and time in the past.
Pioveva stamattina. Erano le sei e faceva bel tempo.
Imperfetto is used to describe an action or actions in progress in the past. Look for “mentre” (while) which often signals two ongoing actions occurring over the same period of time
Mentre guardava quel film, Carlo piangeva. While he was watching the film, Carlo was crying.
Used to describe an ongoing action in the imperfetto that is interrupted by another action expressed with passato prossimo. Look for “quando” (when) to introduce the interrupting action.
Quando il medico è entrato, l’infermiere parlava. When the doctor came in (passato prossimo), the nurse was speaking (imperfetto).
Note, the ongoing action is in the imperfetto and the interrupting action is in the passato prossimo. Changes the sentence around to determine what action is interrupting and what action is ongoing.
Another key signal is
The use of Da” (Da bambino, io avevo un cane). As a child I used to have a dog.
Conjugation of “avere”
Avevo, avevi, aveva, avevamo, avevate, avevano.
Conjugation of “giocare”
Giocavo, giocavi, giocava, giocavamo, giocavate, giocavano.
