Form of the Imperfect Tense

Now you are going to learn the second form of past tense in Italian, the imperfetto or the imperfect tense. In this chapter you will focus on its forms, in the next one you will learn when and how to use this tense.

The imperfect in Italian has the same ending for all three regular verb groups.  It is formed by dropping the -re of the infinitive and adding the following endings:

If you have a regular verb that ends in –are, -ere, and -ire such as parlare, leggere, dormire, take away the -re at the end of the verbs (parlare > parla, leggere > legge, dormire > dormi) and add the appropriate ending according to the subject:

Avere is regular in the imperfect, but essere is irregular:

The verbs bere, dire and fare are slightly irregular since their stems are irregular (beve-, dice-, face-) but they take the regular endings of the imperfect

As you know the verb piacere (to like) i is mostly used in the 3rd person singular or plural. So the imperfect of the verb piacere is piaceva if whatever one likes is singular and it is piacevano if whatever one likes is plural.

For example: you want to say in Italian “I used to like ice-cream“. Now, “ice-cream” is what “I used to like” and it is singular, so you will choose “mi piaceva”: Mi piaceva il gelato. If instead you want to say “I used to like books“, you will pick “mi piacciono” because “books” is plural: Mi piacevano i libri.

If you want to say that “One used to like to do” a particular activity (to sing, to play, etc.) , an infinitive verb must follow the verb piacere. In this case you always use the singular form piaceva: Ci piaceva nuotare = We used to like to swim; Ti piaceva mangiare gli spaghetti = You like to eat spaghetti.

Complete the following sentences using the imperfetto of the verbs in parentheses
Da quanto tempo tu in camera? (essere)
Io non in albergo da dieci anni. (dormire)
Mia sorella quando a New York come receptionist. (essere / lavorare)
Abbiamo passato una vacanza fantastica. In hotel noi anche la sauna. (avere)
Da piccolo io non mai la verità. (dire)
Qualche tempo fa tutti gli italiani in vacanza al mare.
(andare)
Pietro sempre l’esame prima degli altri studenti. (finire)

Listen to this beautiful song (L’ imperfetto, by Francesco De Gregori)  and write down at least 10 imperfect forms you recognize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LJQn1BQC-8

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