The imperfect tense is one of the most frequently used past tenses in Italian, both in oral and written language. We use the imperfect form:
– to describe people, animals, places and situations in the past;
– to talk about habits in the past;
– to describe physical or psychological states in the past;
– when talking about actions which were taking place at the same moment;
The conjugation of a verb in the imperfect is not normally a difficulty, but you may initially hesitate as to whether to use the imperfect or another past tense.
But first, the conjugations! Here are some examples of verbs conjugated in the imperfect:
First group ‘-are’: mangiare [to eat]
io mangiavo
tu mangiavi
lui/lei mangiava
noi mangiavamo
voi magiavate
loro mangiavano
Second group ‘-ere’: leggere [to read]
io leggevo
tu leggevi
lui/lei leggeva
noi leggevamo
voi leggevate
loro leggevano
Third group ‘-ire’: partire [to leave]
io partivo
tu partivi
lui/lei partiva
noi partivamo
voi partivate
loro partivano
Almost all verbs are regular in the imperfect, but there are some very common exceptions:
essere [to be]
io ero
tu eri
lui/lei era
noi eravamo
voi eravate
loro erano
fare [to do]
io facevo
tu facevi
lui/lei faceva
noi facevamo
voi facevate
loro facevano
dare [to give]
io davo
tu davi
lui/lei dava
noi davamo
voi davate
loro davano
dire [to say]
io dicevo
tu dicevi
lui/lei diceva
noi dicevamo
voi dicevate
loro dicevano
bere [to drink]
io bevevo
tu bevevi
lui/lei beveva
noi bevevamo
voi bevevate
loro bevevano
Below are some sentences showing how the imperfect tense is used, along with English translations.
As you will see from studying them, different English tenses can be used to translate the Italian imperfect form, but the core meaning is always of the ‘past habit’, ‘past state’ or ‘past action in progress’ type.
Da piccolo vivevo in campagna in una grande fattoria. [When I was a child I lived on a big farm.]
Io avevo tanti animali. [I had lots of pets.]
Quando abitavo a Bologna con i miei genitori, non usavamo mai la macchina perché preferivamo la bicicletta. [When I lived in Bologna with my parents, we never used the car because we preferred cycling.]
Non avevo animali in città perché non avevamo spazio in casa. [We didn’t have animals in the city because we didn’t have enough space at home.]
Mentre facevo le fotocopie, Silvia scriveva gli indirizzi sulle buste. [While I was doing the photocopies, Silvia was writing the addresses on the envelopes.]
Da piccolo avevo un cane. Si chiamava Ruben. [When I was young I had a dog. It was called Ruben.]
Alla fine della giornata eravamo stanchi ma felici. [At the end of the day we were tired but happy. ]
Quando vivevo con mia madre, mi preparava il pranzo quando tornavo da scuola. [When I lived with my mother, she used to / would prepare lunch for me when I got back from school.]
Back to Italian lesson on: The Imperfect
