amo Italian gets you. amo Italian teaches you.
The Italian imperfetto
The imperfetto is the past tense of description, habit, and background. Different job from passato prossimo: learn both.
Half of the A1 course is free, no sign-up
Start with A1 ↗︎★★★★★(22)by Alessio, teacher since 2018
Search for amo Italian
Subscription from €5,83 a month, yearly plan
How to form it
Almost 100% regular: a rare gift in Italian grammar.
- -are verbs: parl-avo, parl-avi, parl-ava, parl-avamo, parl-avate, parl-avano
- -ere verbs: cred-evo, cred-evi, cred-eva, cred-evamo, cred-evate, cred-evano
- -ire verbs: dorm-ivo, dorm-ivi, dorm-iva, dorm-ivamo, dorm-ivate, dorm-ivano
Only 4 real irregulars: essere (ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano), fare (facevo…), dire (dicevo…), bere (bevevo…).
When to use it (vs passato prossimo)
Three main uses:
- Description in the past: Era una giornata fredda. (It was a cold day.)
- Habitual actions: Da bambino andavo al mare ogni estate. (As a child I used to go to the sea every summer.)
- Background of a story: Mentre camminavo, ho visto Maria. (While I was walking, I saw Maria.)
Rule of thumb: passato prossimo = "what happened", imperfetto = "what was happening" or "how things were".
Practice this with amo Italian
The iOS app that walks you through Italian from A1 to C2. Free to start.
Half of the A1 course is free, no sign-up
Start with A1 ↗︎Subscription from €5,83 a month, yearly plan
amo Italian · iOS app
See amo Italian in action
The CEFR course, exercises, library and graded Italian classics, from A1 to C2, in 17 languages.
More from Thuis Italiaans
Graded readers by level · Italian lessons online · 700+ free exercises · Free guides to learning Italian