Italian Grammar Bank
ITALIAN IMPERFECT TENSE
The imperfect indicative tense in Italian (“indicativo imperfetto“), is a verbal tense used to emphasize the unfolding, repetition, or continuation of the action or event expressed by the verb.
We teach you how to form and use it with our guide and our real-life examples.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
The imperfect indicative tense is rather simple to form and recognise:
You simply have to remove the ending -re from the infinite form and add the corresponding ending.
| 1st CONJUGATION Cantare (to sing) | 2nd CONJUGATION Leggere (to read) | 3rd CONJUGATION Dormire (to sleep) |
|---|---|---|
|
io cantavo
I used to love/I was loving |
io leggevo
I used to read/I was reading |
io dormivo
I used to sleep/I was sleeping |
| tu cantavi | tu leggevi | tu dormivi |
| lui cantava | lui leggeva | lui dormiva |
| noi cantavamo | noi leggevamo | noi dormivamo |
| voi cantavate | voi leggevate | voi dormivate |
| loro cantavano | loro leggevano | loro dormivano |
You’ll be relieved to notice that the endings are the same for all the three conjugations!
Notice that, in the third person plural (Loro) the stressed syllable is the third-to-last, instead of the second-to-last as in the first person plural (Noi), so it’s read as:
Loro mangiavano
They used to eatNoi mangiavamo
We used to eatIRREGULARITIES
The Italian imperfect tense only has a few irregularities:
- The verb “essere” (to be):
| Essere |
| Io ero |
| Tu eri |
| Lui era |
| Noi eravamo |
| Voi eravate |
| Loro erano |
- The verbs fare (to do), bere (to drink), dire (to say) and tradurre (to translate), which form the imperfetto with the following verbal roots: face-, beve-, dice- and traduce-:
| Fare (to do) | Bere (to drink) | Dire (to say) | Tradurre (to translate) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
io facevo
I used to do/I was doing |
io bevevo
I used to drink/I was drinking |
io dicevo
I used to say/I was saying |
io traducevo
I used to translate/I was translating |
| tu facevi | tu bevevi | tu dicevi | tu traducevi |
| lui faceva | lui beveva | lui diceva | lui traduceva |
| noi facevamo | noi bevevamo | noi dicevamo | noi traducevamo |
| voi facevate | voi bevevate | voi dicevate | voi traducevate |
| loro facevano | loro bevevano | loro dicevano | loro traducevano |
WHEN TO USE IT + EXAMPLES
In more concrete terms, how is the imperfect indicative used in Italian?
The imperfect indicative is used to:
- Talk about an action that was taking place:
| Mentre dormivo, Marco è uscito di casa. | While I was sleeping, Marco went out. |
| Scusa se non ti ho risposto, ero al lavoro. | Sorry if I didn’t pick up, I was at work. |
| Mentre la mamma riposava, papà stirava. | While mum was sleeping, dad was ironing. |
- Describe a past state:
| Da giovane, vivevo a Bologna. | When I was young, I used to live in Bologna. |
| L’ultima volta che l’ho vista, aveva i capelli blu. | The last time I saw her, she had blue hair. |
| Quando vivevo a Pechino, parlavo cinese tutti i giorni. | When I lived in Beijing, I used to speak Chinese everyday. |
- Make descriptions and/or tell stories:
| Allora? Com’era la Sicilia? | So? How was Sicily? |
| Bellissima, ma faceva davvero caldo, e in spiaggia c’era un sacco di gente. | Beautiful, but it was really hot and the beach was full of people. |
- Talk about dreams:
Ho sognato che prendevo l’aereo.
I dreamt I was taking a plane.- Talk about pretend play:
Facciamo che io ero la mamma e te eri la figlia.
Let’s say I was the mom and you were the daughter.- Ask something in a polite way:
| Volevo un etto di crudo, grazie. | I would like 100g of prosciutto crudo, thanks. |
| Volevo chiederti scusa. | I wanted to say sorry. |
- Talk about events still in the planning stage:
Pensavamo di andare in vacanza in Sardegna.
We were thinking about going to Sardinia on holiday.Il prossimo weekend volevamo andare al cinema, voi ci siete?
We wanted to go to the cinema next weekend, are you free?
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FAQs
What is the indicative imperfect tense used for?
The indicative imperfect tense is used to describe actions that were ongoing or habitual in the past or past states, to make descriptions or tell stories, to talk about dreams, pretend play, to ask polite questions and discuss events still in the planning stage.
Are there irregular verbs in Italian?
Yes, the verbs “essere” (to be), “dire” (to say), “tradurre” (to translate), “fare” (to do) and “bere” (to drink) are some irregular verbs in Italian.
Are the endings for the indicative imperfect tense the same for all conjugations?
Yes, the endings are the same for all three conjugations.
How can I choose between passato prossimo and imperfetto?
The imperfetto is most commonly used for events that occurred regularly or continuously in the past, similar to the use of “used to” in English, while passato prossimo describes the more recent past, or actions that happened only once in the past.
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Where to learn other Italian tenses?
You can learn more about other Italian tenses in our Italian Grammar Bank.
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