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      • Imperfetto: The Italian Imperfect Tense

      Imperfetto: The Italian Imperfect Tense

      • Date May 17, 2016
      Teenage students studying foreign language

      hello-world-in-several-languages-md

      The Italian imperfetto (imperfect) tense can express actions that lasted an indefinite amount of time in the past, habitual actions in the past, or expressions of age, time, and weather in the past. Because of its wide range of uses, the imperfetto appears much more frequently in Italian than the imperfect does in English.

       

      Conjugating the Imperfetto

      The infinitives of regular Italian verbs end in either –ARE, –ERE, or –IRE. These are referred to as first, second, and third conjugation verbs, respectively. Similar to the present tense, you conjugate the imperfetto by removing the infinitive ending and replacing it with the appropriate subject pronoun ending.

       

      First Conjugation: –ARE Verbs

      Subject Pronoun Ending

       

      Lavorare

      to work

      Translation
      io -avo lavoravo I was working

       

      tu -avi lavoravi you were working

       

      lui/lei -ava lavorava he/she/it was working

       

      noi -avamo lavoravamo we were working

       

      voi -avate lavoravate of you were working

       

      loro -avano lavoravano they were working

       

       

       

      Second Conjugation: –ERE Verbs

      Subject Pronoun Ending

       

      Credere

      to believe

      Translation
      io -evo credevo

       

      I believed
      tu -evi credevi

       

      you believed
      lui/lei -eva credeva

       

      he/she/it believed
      noi -evamo credevamo

       

      we believed
      voi -evate credevate

       

      all of you believed
      loro -evano credevano

       

      they believed

       

       

      Third Conjugation: –IRE Verb Conjugations

      Subject Pronoun Ending

       

      Partire

      to leave

      Translation
      io -ivo partivo I was leaving

       

      tu -ivi partivi you were leaving

       

      lui/lei -iva partiva he/she/it was leaving

       

      noi -ivamo partivamo we were leaving

       

      voi -ivate partivate all of you were leaving

       

      loro -ivano partivano they were leaving

       

       

      The Imperfetto of Avere and Essere

      The auxiliary verbs avere (to have, to own, or to wear) and essere (to be) are used in many grammatical constructions, including compound tenses. The trapassato prossimo (past perfect), for example, is formed by combining the imperfetto of avere or essere with the past participle of the main verb. As with all tenses, avere and essere are irregular in the imperfetto.

       

      Subject Pronoun Avere

      to have

      Essere

      to be

      io avevo ero

       

      tu avevi eri

       

      lui/lei aveva era

       

      noi avevamo eravamo

       

      voi avevate eravate

       

      loro avevano erano

       

       

      Tag:atlanta, ga, georgia, island, italian imperfect tense, italian language, language, language island, learn italian, learn to speak italian at language island

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      Passato Prossimo: The Italian Present Perfect
      May 17, 2016

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      Trapassato Prossimo: The Italian Past Perfect Tense
      May 23, 2016

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