Gli usi dell’Imperfetto

The uses of Imperfetto
The Imperfetto is mainly used to express

• Ongoing past actions: In this case, the Italian Imperfetto corresponds to the English phrase ‘was/were + -ing’ and describes a series of events that happened at the same time and continued for a certain amount of time (Mentre io studiavo, tu guardavi la televisione ‘While I was studying, you were watching TV’), or something that was going on when something else expressed by the Passato Prossimo occurs (Mangiavamo quando siete arrivati ‘We were eating when you arrived’)³See below: Imperfetto and Passato Prossimo combined..
• Habitual actions in the past: In this case, the Italian Imperfetto corresponds to the English phrase ‘used to + base form of the verb’ and describes recurring activities in the past: Io studiavo in biblioteca, mai a casa I used to study in the library, never at home, La domenica dormivo fino a mezzogiorno (I used to sleep until noon on Sundays).  Time expressions such as spesso (often), sempre (always), tutti i giorni (every day) di solito (usually) etc. indicate the recurrence of a past action and they always go with the Imperfetto (Mangiavo pasta tutti i giorni ‘I used to eat pasta every day‘, even if in English the same meaning could be expressed sometimes with the Simple past (Di solito non guardavo la televisione ‘I didn’t usually watch television‘).

• people, animals, objects, places in the past: Since in the majority of these cases, both English and Italian use the same verb essere ‘to be’), it is going to be easy for you to remember to choose the Imperfetto. When in English a person, an animal, an object, a place or a situation is described with was or were in Italian the form ero, eri, era, etc. (see Unità 16.2) must be used: She was blond > Lei era bionda; At that time my dog was small > A quel tempo il mio cane era piccolo; Their house was very big > La loro casa era molto grande; Ours was a poor island > La nostra era un’isola povera. Of course, other verbs can occur while describing, especially avere (to have) that like essere must be always put in the Imperfetto: Lei era bellissima: aveva i capelli molto lunghi (She was beautiful and had very long hair).
• situations and factual conditions in the past: It is the case of the narrative tense that usually provides background information needed to prepare the hearer/reader for what took place⁴See below: Imperfetto and Passato Prossimo combined.: Era una bella giornata e tutti erano al mare (It was a beautiful day and everyone was at the sea), Era nuvoloso e pioveva (It was cloudy and it was raining).
  

The Imperfetto is also used to talk about:

• physical, physiological and mental states in the past: Ieri stavo male (I was sick yesterday), Avevo  freddo (I was cold), Non avevo voglia di studiare (I did not feel like studying).
• time and age in the past: Erano le cinque (It was five o’clock), Nel 2000 avevo dieci anni (I was ten in 2000).

Da with the Imperfetto
The preposition da has several meanings as you have learned (see Unità 6.3). When the preposition da is used in front of nouns or adjectives in combination with the Imperfetto, the preposition da describes stages: Da bambino ero molto bravo (When I was a kid, I was very good), Da giovani giocavamo molto (When we were young, we used to play a lot). The phrase da + nouns / adjectives is equivalent of quando + Imperfect of essere: Da bambino ero molto bravo = Quando ero un bambino, ero molto bravo; Da giovani giocavamo molto = Quando eravamo giovani giocavamo molto.

Imperfetto and Passato Prossimo combined
Because of their differences in nature, the Imperfetto and the Passato Prossimo can be found together in the same sentence (mentre and quando are often used in this construction):

• The Imperfetto describes an ongoing past action when something else expressed by the Passato Prossimo occurred: Mentre camminavo nel parco, ho visto Marco (While I was walking in the park, I saw Marco), Mangiavamo quando siete arrivati (We were eating when you arrived)
• The Imperfect provides background information when the action expressed by the Passato Prossimo occurred: Era già buio quando lui è arrivato a Roma (It was already dark when he arrived in Rome), Faceva molto caldo quando mi sono svegliato (It was really hot when I woke up)

The words mentre (while) and quando (when) are often used in these constructions. Keep in mind that  mentre always goes with Imperfect while quando can combine with both tenses:

Mentre io camminavo nel parco, ho visto Marco. While I was walking in the park, I saw Marco
Quando io camminavo nel parco, ho visto Marco. When I was walking in the park, I saw Marco
Camminavo camminavo nel parco, quando ho visto Marco. I was walking in the park when I saw Marco

• Look at the images above. Pretend you are the subject of the situations presented. Create sentences, both orally and in writing, using the Imperfetto. You can check if there are mistakes in your spoken Italian using Speech to Text and in your text using Spell and Grammar Checker.
• Work with another student. Orally create 5 situations where you were doing something while he/she was doing something else. You can use Speech to Text to check if the computer recognizes your pronunciation.
• Write 5 sentences combining Imperfetto and Passato Prossimo. Then use Spell and Grammar Checker to check if there are mistakes in your text.