Italian imperfetto: the easiest tense to form, the hardest to place
- Mood: Indicativo
- Level: A2
The imperfetto is the most regular tense in Italian: one set of endings, four irregular verbs in the whole language. The difficulty is never the conjugation. It's knowing when to reach for it instead of the passato prossimo.
Imperfetto conjugation
Note that finire is fully regular here. The -isc- insert only ever appears in the presente, congiuntivo presente and imperativo.
parlare
to talk, to speak · -are (first conjugation)
| io | parlavo |
| tu | parlavi |
| lui/lei | parlava |
| noi | parlavamo |
| voi | parlavate |
| loro | parlavano |
credere
to believe · -ere (second conjugation)
| io | credevo |
| tu | credevi |
| lui/lei | credeva |
| noi | credevamo |
| voi | credevate |
| loro | credevano |
dormire
to sleep · -ire (third conjugation)
| io | dormivo |
| tu | dormivi |
| lui/lei | dormiva |
| noi | dormivamo |
| voi | dormivate |
| loro | dormivano |
finire
to finish · -ire (third conjugation) · -isc-
| io | finivo |
| tu | finivi |
| lui/lei | finiva |
| noi | finivamo |
| voi | finivate |
| loro | finivano |
When to use the imperfetto
-
Habits and repeated actions in the past
The equivalent of English "used to" or "would": what regularly happened, with no interest in when it started or stopped.
Da bambino giocavo a calcio ogni giorno.
As a child I played football every day. -
Description and background
Weather, age, time, appearance, feelings, and the setting a story happens in.
Era tardi e pioveva.
It was late and it was raining. -
An action in progress when something else happened
The interrupted action goes in the imperfetto; the interruption goes in the passato prossimo.
Dormivo quando è suonato il telefono.
I was sleeping when the phone rang. -
Two things going on at once
Both verbs stay in the imperfetto, usually linked by mentre.
Mentre lui cucinava, io leggevo.
While he was cooking, I was reading.
How the imperfetto is formed
Drop the -re from the infinitive and add -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano. That single rule handles every regular verb in all three conjugations: parlare → parlavo, credere → credevo, dormire → dormivo.
Only four verbs are genuinely irregular, and three of them are irregular in the same way: fare, dire and bere fall back to their older Latin stems (fac-, dic-, bev-) and then take the regular endings, giving facevo, dicevo, bevevo. Essere is the only true one-off: ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano.
Irregular verbs in the imperfetto
That's the complete list. Every other Italian verb takes the regular endings.
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 |
dire
to say, to tell
| 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 |
Common mistakes
"I was" isn't automatically the imperfetto
Ero stanco (I was tired, a state) but Sono stato in Italia due volte (I've been to Italy twice, a countable, completed event). The English past tense maps onto both.
A duration that's stated makes it an event
Ieri ho studiato per tre ore: the three hours are a finished block, so passato prossimo. Studiavo ogni sera: a habit, so imperfetto.
Sapere and conoscere change meaning
Sapevo = I knew (state); ho saputo = I found out (moment). Conoscevo = I knew (a person, over time); ho conosciuto = I met.
Related tenses
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