L'imperfetto is a one-word conjugation, formed by taking the stem of the infinitive and adding these endings:

-vo_____-vamo

-vi______-vate

-va_____-vano

parlare (l'imperfetto):

parlavo____parlavamo

parlavi____parlavate

parlava____parlavano

_

leggere:

leggevo_____leggevamo

leggevi_____leggevate

leggeva_____leggevano

_

dormire:

dormivo_____dormivamo

dormivi_____dormivate

dormiva_____dormivano

Some irregular verbs:

essere:

ero_____eravamo

eri_____eravate

era_____erano

fare:

facevo_____facevamo

facevi_____facevate

faceva_____facevano


- Pass the Past! Conjugating l'imperfetto:

ANDARE andavo andavi andava

andavamo andavate andavano

SCRIVERE scrivevo scrivevi scriveva

scrivevamo scrivevate scrivevano

DORMIRE dormivo dormivi dormiva

dormivamo dormivate dormivano

Notice how the emphasis moves for the noi and voi forms.
There are only a few irregular verbs in the imperfetto:

essere:

ero eri era

eravamo eravate erano

fare:

facevo facevi faceva

facevamo facevate facevano

bere:

bevevo bevevi beveva

bevevamo bevevate bevevano

dire:

dicevo dicevi diceva

dicevamo dicevate dicevano

l'imperfetto: Italians use the l'imperfetto when the action in the past is:

1. a repeated action in the past

2. an action in progress in the past (i.e. You can't really tell when the action ended).

3. one of these special categories: Weather, Emotion, Time, Mental state, Age, Physical condition. (and notice that all of these special categories carry a feeling of "description" rather than "action".) (mental state: hoped, believed, thought...) (age: "When I was three years old...) (physical condition: was tired, was hurt, was feeling sick, was warm, was cozy, was nice...)


Here's the list of examples we used last week. The first 3 are examples of a repeated action in the past.

I went to the store every day in Spain. I used to buy candy once a week when I was little. Every day I would go to their house.

Andavo al negozio ogni giorno in Spagna. Compravo caramelle una volta alla settimana quando ero piccolo/a. Ogni giorno andavo a casa loro .

ALL of the other examples (in English) include the past tense of "to be": "was" or "were".

Yesterday at 3pm I was sleeping. It was raining. It was snowing. I was happy. It was 5 o'clock. It was one o'clock. It was midnight. It was noon. I was thinking of you. He was fifteen years old. I was tired. We were tired.

Ieri alle tre dormivo. Pioveva. Nevicava. Ero felice. Erano le cinque. Era l'una. Era mezzanotte. Era mezzogiorno. Pensavo a te. Aveva quindici anni. Ero stanca/o. Eravamo stanchi.

In contrast, where the imperfetto translates "was", the passato prossimo translates "did", or an action verb which could be restated with "did".

I went to the store. - I did go to the store.
I went to their house a week ago. - I did go to their house a week ago.
I slept from 10 pm to 6 am. - I did sleep from 10 pm to 6 am.
It started raining. - It did start raining.
I thought about you. - I did think about you.