L'imperfetto

ero piccolo, giocavo, abitavamo — habits, scenery, ongoing past.

Italian has two everyday past tenses. Lessons 16 and 17 covered the passato prossimo for finished, point-in-time events: ho mangiato = I ate (then). The imperfetto is the OTHER past — the one for backdrop, scenery, habits, and ongoing states. Da bambino giocavo a calcio = as a kid I used to play soccer. Era una bella giornata = it was a beautiful day. The imperfetto is built by chopping the -re off the infinitive and adding endings to the stem: -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano.

The endings — same shape for all three groups

Take the infinitive, drop the final -re, and add the imperfetto endings. The vowel before the -vo / -vi / -va… comes from the infinitive: -are keeps a, -ere keeps e, -ire keeps i. parlare: parlavo, parlavi, parlava, parlavamo, parlavate, parlavano. leggere: leggevo, leggevi, leggeva, leggevamo, leggevate, leggevano. dormire: dormivo, dormivi, dormiva, dormivamo, dormivate, dormivano. The endings (-vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano) never change — only the linking vowel does. There's no agreement with the subject, unlike the participles in lesson 17.

Three irregulars — and they're the only ones

Almost every Italian verb is regular in the imperfetto. The exceptions: essere → ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano (no -v-). fare → facevo, facevi, faceva, facevamo, facevate, facevano (uses the old stem face-). dire → dicevo, dicevi, diceva, dicevamo, dicevate, dicevano (old stem dice-). bere also uses the old stem: bevevo, bevevi, beveva…. After these, you've seen them all.

When to use it — habits, backdrops, ongoing states

Three big jobs. (1) Habits in the past: Da piccolo giocavo a calcio ogni giorno = as a kid I used to play soccer every day. English clue: 'used to' or 'would' (habitual). (2) Setting the scene / backdrop: Era tardi. Pioveva. Marco dormiva = it was late. It was raining. Marco was sleeping. English clue: 'was/were ___ing' for ongoing actions. (3) States and feelings in the past: Ero stanco = I was tired. Avevo dieci anni = I was ten. Faceva freddo = it was cold. Time-of-day, weather, age, mood — all imperfetto.

Imperfetto vs passato prossimo — the contrast

These two pasts split the work. Passato prossimo = a single completed event. Imperfetto = an ongoing state or repeated habit. Often you'll use BOTH in the same sentence: Mentre dormivo, è arrivato Marco = while I was sleeping, Marco arrived. The imperfetto dormivo is the backdrop; the passato prossimo è arrivato is the event that punched through it. Another classic: Quando ero piccolo, sono andato a Roma una volta = when I was little, I went to Rome once. ero piccolo is the lasting state; sono andato is the one-time event. If you can paraphrase with 'used to' or 'was -ing', it's imperfetto.

C'era, c'erano — there was, there were

The imperfetto of c'è / ci sono (lesson 9) is c'era / c'erano. C'era una volta = once upon a time (literally 'there was a time'). C'erano molti bambini al parco = there were many children at the park. Use these for describing past scenes. Same logic: ongoing existence, not a single event.

Examples

Quando ero piccolo, giocavo a calcio.

When I was little, I used to play soccer.

ero (state — was little) + giocavo (habit — used to play). Two imperfetti.

Da bambino abitavo a Napoli.

As a kid I lived in Naples.

abitare → abitavo. Long-term past state — imperfetto.

Mentre leggevo, è arrivato Marco.

While I was reading, Marco arrived.

leggevo = ongoing backdrop; è arrivato = the event that interrupts.

Era tardi e faceva freddo.

It was late and it was cold.

Two scene-setters: essere → era, fare → faceva.

I miei nonni dicevano sempre la verità.

My grandparents always told the truth.

dire → dicevano. Habitual past.

Avevo dieci anni nel 2010.

I was ten in 2010.

Age in the past = imperfetto. avevo from avere.

C'era una volta una bambina.

Once upon a time there was a little girl.

c'era = imperfetto of c'è. The fairy-tale opener.

Da piccola Anna non mangiava la pasta.

As a child Anna didn't eat pasta.

Past habit (negative) — imperfetto, not passato prossimo.

Ieri sono andato al bar e ho preso un caffè.

Yesterday I went to the café and had a coffee.

Two completed events — passato prossimo, NOT imperfetto. Compare with the others.

Pioveva e non c'erano persone in strada.

It was raining and there weren't any people on the street.

Two backdrops: pioveva + c'erano. Pure description.