Verbs: Past Imperfect
I was imperfect
We've already seen one way to talk about the past in Italian, the passato prossimo.
Io ho parlato con lei per un'ora.
I talked with her for an hour.
But if you want to say what you were doing or what you used to do in the past, you'll need to use verbs in a different form called imperfect.
Lui mi parlava ogni giorno.
He used to talk to me every day.
La gente entrava quando voleva.
People were entering whenever they wanted.
To talk in the imperfect, just drop ‑re from the infinitive of a verb and add these endings.
| subject | verb (arrivare) |
| io I | arrivavo used to arrive |
| tu you | arrivavi used to arrive |
| lui / lei he / she | arrivava used to arrive |
| noi we | arrivavamo used to arrive |
| voi you all | arrivavate used to arrive |
| loro they | arrivavano used to arrive |
Keep in mind that verbs related to feelings and emotions, like volere, are often used in the imperfect rather than in the passato prossimo.
Lei voleva mangiare pesce.
She wanted to eat fish.
Mi sentivo molto solo.
I was feeling very lonely.
Era tutto buono
It's probably not too surprising to find out that essere doesn't follow normal word endings in the imperfect!
| subject | verb (essere) |
| io I | ero used to be |
| tu you | eri used to be |
| lui / lei he / she | era used to be |
| noi we | eravamo used to be |
| voi you all | eravate used to be |
| loro they | erano used to be |
L'albergo era bello.
The hotel used to be pretty.
Io ero in ritardo a scuola.
I used to be late to school.
C'era tanta gente
You've already seen how to use c'è and ci sono to say there is and there are. In the same way, you can use c'era and c'erano to say there was and there were.
C'era una grande folla là.
There was a large crowd there.
C'erano oltre cinquanta ragazze alla festa.
There were more than fifty girls at the party.