I. The Imperfect
The imperfect, or l’imperfetto, is a past tense that is generally used to convey actions that were in progress in the past. It can be thought of in many cases as the descriptive past. The imperfect can have several equivalents in English:| studiavo | --> | I was studying I used to study I studied I did study I would study |
To form the imperfect tense, you add an appropriate ending to the verb stem. In the following table, you can see the conjugations for regular verbs in -are, -ere, and -ire in the imperfect. The endings added to each stem are in bold.
parlare | credere | finire |
| parlavo | credevo | finivo |
| parlavi | credevi | finivi |
| parlava | credeva | finiva |
| parlavamo | credevamo | finivamo |
| parlavate | credevate | finivate |
| parlavano | credevano | finivano |
- The imperfect describes repeated, habitual actions that took place in the past. Expressions which often accompany the use of the imperfect are sempre, di solito, ogni giorno, mese, anno, tutti i giorni, as well as others.
D’estate andavo sempre al mare.
In the summer, I always used to go to the beach.
Mangiavamo di solito alle 20.
We usually ate at 8pm.
Tutti i giorni, faceva una passeggiata da solo.
Everyday, he would take a walk alone.