imperfect tense
THE IMPERFECT TENSE — L'IMPERFETTO
In Italian the imperfect tense is a simple (i.e. a single word)
past tense for describing repeated actions in the past or conditions that last
for an indefinite time or for descriptions in the past.
In English, the equivalent tense is the continuous past or the structure
used to.... Here are some examples of the tense in English:
- I was listening to some music.
- My parents were watching television.
- I used to play football when I was younger.
- The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, the
birds were singing.
- Every Saturday they worked in a supermarket
- Every morning she would wait for the postman to arrive.
N.B. In sentence 5, the English verb is worked —
i.e. the 'simple past' but in Italian you must use the imperfect because the
phrase "every Saturday" shows that the action was repeated in the
past.
In sentence 6, the English verb is would
wait which sounds like the 'conditional' but this is yet another way
the English language has of showing repeated actions in the past. Translated
into Italian, the verb would be in the imperfect tense.
This is an easy tense to make in Italian; it has very few exceptions: each
verb group adds a set of endings to the stem. In the table below you will see
the full scheme. Look for the similarities not the differences!
|
parlare
|
scrivere
|
dormire
|
| parlavo (I was speaking) |
scrivevo (I was writing) |
dormivo (I was sleeping) |
| parlavi |
scrivevi |
dormivi |
| parlava |
scriveva |
dormiva |
| parlavamo |
scrivevamo |
dormivamo |
| parlavate |
scrivevate |
dormivate |
| parlavano |
scrivevano |
dormivano |
You'll see that each verb uses the endings -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate,
-vano. The original vowel of the infinitive is kept. See the following:
Imperfetto
parlavo
parlavi
parlava
parlavamo
parlavate
parlavano |
vendevo
vendevi
vendeva
vendevamo
vendevate
vendevano |
dormivo
dormivi
dormiva
dormivamo
dormivate
dormivano |
finivo
finivi
finiva
finivamo
finivate
finivano |
|
In front of these endings you will find the same vowel as the verb has in its
infinitive.
The exceptions: You need to learn the following verbs which do not follow
the above rule.
|
ESSERE
|
| ero (I was) |
| eri |
| era |
| eravamo |
| eravate |
| erano |
There are another five verbs which have a contracted infinitive but they make
this tense from their original uncontracted infinitive:
| fare [facere] |
dire [dicere] |
bere [bevere] |
porre [ponere] |
-durre [ducere] |
| facevo |
dicevo |
bevevo |
ponevo |
-ducevo |
| facevi |
dicevi |
bevevi |
ponevi |
-ducevi |
| faceva |
diceva |
beveva |
poneva |
-duceva |
| facevamo |
dicevamo |
bevevamo |
ponevamo |
-ducevamo |
| facevate |
dicevate |
bevevate |
ponevate |
-ducevate |
| facevano |
dicevano |
bevevano |
ponevano |
-ducevano |
N.B. The verb -durre does not exist in this simple form; it always
has a prefix like produrre (to produce), ridurre (to reduce) etc.
The other verbs have the following meanings:
- fare = to do; to make
- dire = to say ; to tell
- bere = to drink
- porre = to put ; to place
NN.B There is one odd place where this tense is used when you would
not expect it: if you look at the following piece of English translated into
Italian, you'll see it:
"The policeman asked me where Stefano lived, but I didn't know
= Il poliziotto mi ha chiesto dove abitava Stefano, ma non lo sapevo.
Usually if you want to say "I didn't know", you say "non ho
saputo". (past tense).
|
