Imperfect Tense

• The imperfect tense is a tense used to describe habitual, recurring, and ongoing actions that took place in the past.
• the beginning and end times are not defined
• Quando ero bambina, ogni anno, i miei zii venivano a Firenze per passare le vacanze natalizie con noi.


  When I was a child, my aunt and uncle used to come to Florence every year to spend the Christmas holidays with us.
• Imperfetto Regolari - giocare (are verbs)


  io giocavo, tu giocavi, lui/lei giocava, noi giovacamo, voi giocavate, loro giocavano
• Imperfetto Regolari - vivere (ere verbs)


  io vivevo, tu vivevi, lui/lei viveva, noi vivevamo, voi vivevate, loro vivevano
• Imperfetto Regolari - uscire (ire verbs)

  io uscivo, tu uscivi, lui/lei uscive, noi uscivamo, voi uscivate, loro uscivano
• Generally used to express descriptions in the past of places, people (age, characteristics), physical and emotional states, likes and dislikes, weather conditions, and time of day
• Words that indicate the imperfect


  • da bambino = when I was a child
  • da giovare = when I was young
  • ogni = every
  • tutti gli anni / tutti i mesi = every year/month
  • sempre = always
  • di solito = usually
  • spesso = often
• Two verbs happening at the same time in past tense use MENTRE
• Irregular:

  Essere = er+___ ; Bere = beve+___ ; Dire = dire+___ ; Fare = face+___
• Imperfetto v. Passato prossimo


  • Imperfetto is descriptions of people, places, weather, emotion; habitual or ongoing actions in the past when the beginning and end times are not specified
  • Passato prossimo is completed actions that happened at a specific point in time, a sequence of events completed in the past