grammatica IMPERFETTO 1

infinito	FARE from Latin FAC- ERE	BERE from Latin BEV- ERE	DIRE from Latin DIC- ERE
presente irregolare	faccio	bevo	dico
imperfetto regolare	io fac-evo tu fac-evi lui fac-eva noi fac-evamo voi fac-evate loro fac-evano	io bev-evo tu bev-evi lui bev-eva noi bev-evamo voi bev-evate loro bev-evano	io dic-evo tu dic-evi lui dic-eva noi dic-evamo voi dic-evate loro dic-evano

USES OF THE IMPERFETTO

REGOLA 1

The "imperfetto" translates the English expression "I used to": it describes habitual actions in the past, things that used to happen regularly.

-- Noi andavamo spesso al parco (We used to go often to the park)

-- Loro raccontavano sempre le bugie (They always used to tell lies)

In English: I WOULD TAKE THE BUS TO GO TO SCHOOL; I USED TO TAKE .....

REGOLA 2

The imperfetto is used to convey the notion of a "state" rather than an "action".

Verbs like AVERE and ESSERE, that normally describe a state "state", are conjugated almost always with the IMPERFETTO.

REGOLA 3

Combine REGOLA 1 (habitual action in the past) and REGOLA 2 (a description of STATE)

ex. Quando io ero bambino andavo a scuola a piedi

ex. Quando avevo dieci anni andavo in bicicletta tutto il giorno

The verb (essere/avere) describe the state in which you were (you were a kid, you were 10 years old, you were tired etc), the second verb describes a habitual action in past.

REGOLA 4

IMPERFETTO is normally required for expressions of TIME, AGE, WEATHER in the past (because they describe a state):

Ex. erano le otto di mattina....
Ex. quando era bambino, Giovanna giocava con le bambole
Ex. ieri sera pioveva/nevicava/
Ex. ieri c'era il sole ma faceva freddo

All these expressions describe a state.

And now the difficult part

Imperfetto renders the English "past progressive form": ex "I was eating".

If you think about it, "I was eating" describes a STATE not an ACTION.

"I ATE" describes an action that began, took place and ended (completed action).

"I WAS EATING" illustrates what was taking place, without telling that the action was actually completed. Thus, it describes the STATE of you eating.

For this reason, because "I was eating" describes a STATE, in Italian it is rendered with the IMPERFETTO: "mangiavo".

The tense that indicates an action that was completed in the past is the passato prossimo.

Ex: "I was eating when the telephone rang"

"I was eating" = state = mangiavo
"the telephone rang" = action = il telefono ha suoanato

While I was in the state of eating, an action began, took place, and was completed.

infinito	AVERE	ESSERE
	imperfetto regolare io av-evo tu av-evi lui av-eva noi av-evamo voi av-evate loro av-evano	imperfetto irregolare io ero tu eri lui era noi er-avamo voi er-avate loro er-ano