Altri usi del tempo imperfetto
More uses of the imperfect tense
Listen and repeat.
The imperfetto tense refers to a not perfectly defined period of time of the past. We can’t establish exactly when something happened or when this period of time started and ended. So we can use the imperfect tense to describe conditions and situations as they were in the past:
- Quando ero piccolo, avevo i capelli ricci = When I was little, I had curly hair
We use it to talk about habits in the past (used to/would):
- Durante le vacanze, andavo al mare tutti i giorni = On vacation, I used to go to the beach every day
and to talk about two actions happening at the same time in the past:
- Mentre studiavo, la mamma cucinava = While I studied, my mom cooked.
After mentre (while), we always use the imperfetto tense when we talk about something that happened in the past.
Coniugazione dei verbi regolari in -are al tempo imperfetto
Conjugation of regular -are verbs in the imperfect tense
Listen and repeat.
To conjugate a verb of the first group (-are verbs) in the imperfetto tense, all we have to do is to drop the ending of its infinitive (-are), add -av- to the verb and then we can add the same endings that we use for the present tense (except for noi where the ending changes from -iamo to -amo):
parlare → parl- + av + present tense endings
Let’s see the imperfect tense of two regular are verbs:
| LAVORARE | PARLARE |
| (to work) | (to talk) |
| io lavoravo | io parlavo |
| tu lavoravi | tu parlavi |
| Lei lavorava | Lei parlava |
| lui lavorava | lui parlava |
| lei lavorava | lei parlava |
| noi lavoravamo | noi parlavamo |
| voi lavoravate | voi parlavate |
| loro lavoravano | loro parlavano |
Completa queste frasi con l’imperfetto dei verbi dati.
Complete these sentences with the given verb in the imperfect tense.
Riscrivi le frasi usando l’imperfetto dei verbi al posto del tempo presente.
Rewrite these sentences using the imperfetto tense instead of the present tense.
If you have any questions or doubts, leave a comment below.