v except for irregular verbs, you will find this characteristic consonant in all imperfect verb...

V•Except for IRREGULAR verbs, you will find this characteristic consonant in all imperfect verb endings!

• PerfectPerfect = “completed”, “finishedfinished” – the passato prossimo (a newspaper headline). It is historyhistory….it’s all done and over with. It will NOT happen again. Nor was it repeated.

• ImperfectImperfect then means “incompleteincomplete” or “not finishednot finished” – l’imperfetto (telling a story, a fairy tale, describing people, weather, places, things)

• The imperfect is used to express an action that took place in the past but whose duration cannot be specifiedwhose duration cannot be specified.

This means that neither the beginning nor ending is specified.

HABITS• Tells what USED TO HAPPEN or what

was happening in the past.

Giocavo al calcio da ragazzino.

DescriptionDescriptionDescription in the past:

people, places, things, time, weather

La ragazza si vestiva di rosso.

La nonna vivevaviveva nella foresta.

La macchina eraera gialla.

FacevaFaceva bel tempo!C’eraC’era sole!

EraEra mezzanotte meno venti.

Extremely easy to conjugate!Extremely easy to conjugate!

•Remember the

characteristic –V–V in the ending!!!

Formation• ALL verbs form the imperfect in the same waythe same way!

The endings are identical identical for all 3 conjugations (-are, -ere,-ire)

Formation: Endings

• Io vo• Tu vi• Lui, lei, Lei va

• Noi vamo• Voi vate• Loro vano

But each conjugation keeps its characteristic vowel (-a,-e, or -i)

•-are verbs

parlAvoparlAviparlAvaparlAvamoparlAvateparlAvano

-ere verbs

•vendEvo•vendEvi•vendEva•vendEvamo•vendEvate•vendEvano

-ire verbs

•partIvo•partIvi•partIva•partIvamo•partIvate•partIvano

•ero•eri•era•eravamo•eravate•erano

•facevo•facevi•faceva•facevamo•facevate•facevano

•volevo•volevi•voleva•volevamo•volevate•volevano

•bevevo•bevevi•beveva•bevevamo•bevevate•bevevano

•dicevo•dicevi•diceva•dicevamo•dicevate•dicevano

Expressions of time indicating the imperfetto

• Da bambinoDa bambino …as a child • da ragazzoda ragazzo … as a young boy• Da giovaneDa giovane … as a teen

• Di solitoDi solito ….usually• FrequentementeFrequentemente …. Frequently• GeneralmenteGeneralmente ….generally

More expressions of time indicating the imperfetto

•il lunedì, etc … on Monday’son Monday’s•mentre… whilewhile•ogni giorno/

settimana/mese/anno …. every day, week, month, yearevery day, week, month, year

•regolarmente … regularlyregularly

More expressions of time indicating the imperfetto

•spesso … oftenoften•tutti i giorni/ i mesi …

every day, monthevery day, month•sempre .. alwaysalways•C’era una volta… once once

upon a timeupon a time