by Carolyn Henry

Created on: October 18, 2009   Last Updated: October 19, 2009

The imperfect verb tense in Italian, most commonly known as the imperfetto, is used to describe people, places, objects and various situations in the past. Together with the passato prossimo and the passato remoto, the imperfetto is one of three common verb tenses used to express the past tense in Italian.

Formation of the Imperfect Tense

The formation of the imperfect is quite simple. In fact, it is probably the simplest to form of all Italian verb tenses. For nearly all Italian verbs, the steps are as follows:

1. The first step is to remove the -re from the end of -are, and -ere and -ire verbs.

2. Add the following six conjugational endings: -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano.

For example, the -are verb parlare (to speak) becomes in the imperfect: io parlavo, tu parlavi, lui/lei parlava, noi parlavamo, voi parlavate, loro parlavano.

In a similar manner, the -ire verb dormire (to sleep) becomes in the imperfect: io dormivo, tu dormivi, lui/lei dormiva, noi dormivamo, voi dormivate, loro dormivano.

And the -ere verb scrivere (to write) becomes in the imperfect: io scrivevo, tu scrivevi, lui/lei scriveva, noi scrivevamo, voi scrivevate, loro scrivevano.

Irregular Verbs

Nearly all Italian verbs follow the pattern outlined above. However, four verbs are irregular in this tense. They are as follows:

Essere (to be) becomes in the imperfect io ero (I was), tu eri (you, sing. were), lui/lei era (he/she was), noi eravamo (we were), voi eravate (you, pl. were), loro eravano (they were).

And three others, which are irregular only in the stem, but which have the normal imperfect endings:

Bere (to drink) becomes in the imperfect io bevevo, tu bevevi, lui/lei beveva, noi bevevamo, voi bevevate, loro bevevano.

Dire (to say or tell) is congujated in the imperfect as io dicevo, tu dicevi, lui/lei diceva, noi dicevamo, voi dicevate, loro dicevano.

And lastly, fare (to do or make), becomes io facevo, tu facevi, lui/lei faceva, noi facevamo, voi facevate, loro facevano.

And that's it for the verbs which are irregular in the imperfect! Only four! That is certainly different from other tenses, which often have dozens of irregularities.

Uses of the Imperfect

The imperfect is normally contrasted with the passato prossimo. While the passato prossimo is normally used to express single, complete events in the past, the imperfect is used to express ongoing, repeated or habitual events in the past.

For example, you would use the passato prossimo to say, Siamo arrivati alle otto stamattina. ( We arrived at eight this morning.) But you would use the imperfect to say, Arivavamo alle otto ogni mattina. (We used to arrive at eight every morning.)

Here is another example of the difference between the two tenses. You would use the passato prossimo to express the complete action, Ho letto il libro ieri. (I read the book yesterday.) But you would use the imperfect to express the incomplete action, Leggevo il libro ieri. (I was reading the book yesterday.)

In addition, the imperfect, rather than the passato prossimo, is normally used in all descriptions of people and objects in the past, and it is also used when describing location, setting, time, weather, age, and mental and emotional states in the past.

Learn more about this author, Carolyn Henry.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.