If you want to say that you used to live in Rome or your taxi had a flat tire, you’ll need to know how to use imperfetto, the imperfect tense in Italian. It’s one of the most commonly used verb tenses to talk about the past, and it’s one of the easiest Italian verb tenses to learn, thanks to its fairly regular conjugation pattern. The real challenge is understanding when to use it.
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What is the imperfect tense in Italian (imperfetto) used for?
The imperfect tense in Italian, called imperfetto, is a past tense that describes an action without marking its beginning, its end, or the specific time it happened and is the only Italian tense that lets you talk about something in the past as ongoing, repeated, or open-ended, rather than as a single completed event. It’s one of the eight verb tenses in the modo indicativo (indicative), the verb mood used to express facts and real events.
- Lavoravo in un ospedale. Ora lavoro all’università. = I used to work at a hospital. Now I work at a university.
- Mentre ero in ufficio, pioveva. = When I was in the office, it was raining.
- Quando ero bambina, giocavo a tennis. = When I was a girl, I played tennis.
Tip: The name itself is a helpful memory aid. Imperfetto comes from the Latin “imperfectus,” meaning “unfinished” or “incomplete.”
When to use the imperfect tense in Italian
The imperfetto is the tense of c’era una volta (once upon a time), so it covers a wide range of past situations where you don’t need to specify an exact moment in time. Since it doesn’t have a direct English counterpart, English speakers translate it with “used to,” the past continuous tense, or the simple past tense, depending on the context.
The Italian imperfetto can describe:
- Regular or habitual actions in the past, usually translated with “used to.”
- La mia famiglia viveva in un’azienda agricola come questa molti anni fa. = My family used to live on a farm like this one many years ago.
- Da bambino andavo sempre al mare d’estate. = When I was a child, I used to go to the beach every summer.
- Actions in progress in the past, whether interrupted by another action or happening at the same time as something else, usually translated with the past continuous.
- Dormivo quando hai telefonato. = I was asleep when you called.
- Mentre preparavo la cena, i bambini giocavano in cortile. = While I was making dinner, the kids were playing in the yard.
- Descriptions of people, places, situations, weather, emotions, mental and physical states, or time in the past, usually translated with the simple past.
- Mio nonno aveva gli occhi azzurri. = My grandfather had blue eyes.
- Mi dispiace, sono in ritardo. La mia macchina aveva una gomma a terra! = I am sorry that I am late. My car had a flat tire!
- Erano le tre quando è arrivato il treno. = It was three o’clock when the train arrived.
Colloquial uses of the imperfetto
Beyond the standard uses, the imperfect tense covers three additional uses in Italian that you’ll mostly hear in informal spoken conversations.
- Replacing the simple present tense with the imperfetto to show politeness—a very common pattern used with verbs such as volere (to want), cercare (to search for), dire (to say), or pensare (to think).
- Volevo un caffè, per favore. = I would like a coffee, please.
- Cercavo il signor Rossi. = I was looking for Mr. Rossi.
- Replacing the conditional in hypothetical scenarios.
- Se avessi saputo, sarei venuto prima. → Se lo sapevo, venivo prima. (grammatically incorrect, but common in speech) = If I had known, I would have come earlier.
- Setting up a pretend scenario in children’s games.
- Facciamo che eravamo due pirati e quella era la nostra nave. = Let’s pretend we were pirates, and that was our ship.
How to conjugate regular verbs in the imperfect tense
Italian verbs fall into three groups (conjugations) based on their infinitive ending (-are, -ere, or -ire), and this ending determines the conjugation pattern for every regular tense. In the imperfect tense, though, those patterns are nearly identical across all three groups:
- -ARE verbs: Verb stem + vowel “a” + -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano
- -ERE verbs: Verb stem + vowel “e” + -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano
- -IRE verbs: Verb stem + vowel “i” + -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano
This works in your favor: To conjugate any regular Italian verb in the imperfect tense, you just need to memorize the shared ending pattern and then swap in the vowel that changes according to the conjugation group.
Italian imperfect tense – regular verbs
| Pronoun | Amare (to love) | Leggere (to read) | Partire (to leave) |
| io (I) | amavo | leggevo | partivo |
| tu (you) | amavi | leggevi | partivi |
| lui/lei (he/she) | amava | leggeva | partiva |
| noi (we) | amavamo | leggevamo | partivamo |
| voi (you) | amavate | leggevate | partivate |
| loro (them) | amavano | leggevano | partivano |
How to conjugate irregular verbs in the imperfect tense
Italian irregular verbs typically change their stem and endings across different tenses. However, the imperfetto is one of the few tenses that remain largely regular, even for verbs that are irregular elsewhere. Only four Italian verbs have irregular imperfect forms: essere (to be), fare (to do), bere (to drink) and dire (to say).
Conjugating essere (to be) in the imperfect tense
Of Italian’s two most essential irregular verbs, essere (to be) and avere (to have), only essere is irregular in the imperfect tense. Avere follows the regular pattern you’d expect from the -ere verbs.
As a native Italian speaker, though, I suggest studying them together as they are among the most frequently used verbs when making descriptions or telling a story about the past.
| Pronoun | Essere (to be) | Avere (to have) |
| io (I) | ero | avevo |
| tu (you) | eri | avevi |
| lui/lei (he/she) | era | aveva |
| noi (we) | eravamo | avevamo |
| voi (you) | eravate | avevate |
| loro (them) | erano | avevano |
These examples show the imperfect tense in action:
- Ero in aeroporto quando hanno annunciato il ritardo del volo. = I was at the airport when they announced the flight delay.
- Il mio primo capo era molto severo. = My first boss was very strict.
- Da giovane, avevo sempre la valigia pronta per partire. = When I was young, I used to keep my suitcase packed and ready to go.
- In quel periodo, aveva molte riunioni. = Back then, he/she had a lot of meetings.
Fare (to do), bere (to drink), and dire (to say) in the imperfetto
There’s no universal rule for learning Italian irregular verbs, so you have to memorize how the stem and ending change. And focusing on the differences and similarities among these irregular verbs in the imperfect tense will help you memorize them faster.
| Pronoun | Fare (to do) | Bere (to drink) | Dire (to say) |
| io (I) | facevo | bevevo | dicevo |
| tu (you) | facevi | bevevi | dicevi |
| lui/lei (he/she) | faceva | beveva | diceva |
| noi (we) | facevamo | bevevamo | dicevamo |
| voi (you) | facevate | bevevate | dicevate |
| loro (them) | facevano | bevevano | dicevano |
Notice how all three verbs change their stems. Fare and dire, which belong respectively to the -are and -ire group, also swap the ending vowels “a” and “i” for an “e,” so their imperfect forms follow the -ere pattern instead.
Italian imperfect tense vs. passato prossimo
Imperfetto and passato prossimo are the two most commonly used tenses for talking about the past in Italian, so it’s essential to know when to use each one.
Imperfetto and passato prossimo answer different questions
A way to tell them apart is to ask yourself which question the verb is actually answering.
Imperfetto sets the scene by describing what was going on, what the past was like, or what used to happen regularly. That’s why it’s so common in conversations about childhood, family memories, or past experiences, as well as in narrative writing. It answers questions like:
- What was happening?
- What used to happen?
- What was it like?
Passato Prossimo reports a specific action that started and finished, something that happened once, whether recently or a long time ago. It answers questions like:
- What happened?
- What did you do?
The two tenses have different structures
The two tenses also differ in how they are formed.
- Imperfetto is a simple tense, made of just one word.
- Da bambino, mangiavo la pizza ogni venerdì. = As a child, I used to eat pizza every Friday.
- Passato prossimo is a compound tense, built with essere or avere + participio passato (past participle).
- Ieri ho mangiato una pizza. = Yesterday I ate pizza.
When to choose the imperfetto vs. passato prossimo
When deciding whether to use the imperfetto or the passato prossimo in Italian, a few rules can help you get it right every time.
- An ongoing action interrupted by a one-time action always takes the imperfetto for what was going on, and the passato prossimo for what interrupted it, even within the same sentence.
- Giocava in cortile quando ha iniziato a piovere. = He/she was playing in the yard when it started raining.
- Two simultaneous actions in the past both take the imperfetto.
- Io cucinavo e lui apparecchiava la tavola. = I was cooking, and he was setting the table.
- Some Italian conjunctions, like mentre (while), typically call for the imperfetto.
- Carlo mi ha telefonato mentre tornavo a casa. = Carlo called me while I was coming back home.
- Using reflexive verbs describing past routines is very common in the imperfetto. You can recognize them by the Italian pronoun preceding the verb, and they follow the same conjugation rules as any other verb.
- Si vestiva sempre elegante per andare in ufficio. = He always dressed elegantly for work.
Verbs that change meaning in different past tenses
For some common Italian verbs, including the modal verbs dovere, volere, and potere, as well as sapere and conoscere, the choice between the imperfetto and the passato prossimo changes not only when the action happened, but also what the verb means.
Dovere (to have to)
- Imperfetto: You needed to do something, but it may or may not have happened.
- Dovevo studiare ieri sera. = I was supposed to study last night.
- Passato prossimo: You needed to do something, and it did happen.
- Ho dovuto studiare ieri sera. = I had to study last night.
Volere (to want to)
- Imperfetto: You wanted to do something, but it may have remained just a wish.
- Volevo andare in Italia, ma… = I wanted to go to Italy, but…
- Passato prossimo: You wanted to do something, and you acted on it.
- Ho voluto parlare con il direttore. = I insisted on speaking to the manager.
Potere (to be able to)
- Imperfetto: You had the chance or ability to do something, but you may not have done it.
- Potevi venire alla festa. = You could have come to the party.
- Passato prossimo: You were able to do it.
- Ho potuto finire il lavoro. = I managed to finish the job.
Sapere (to know)
- Imperfetto: You already knew a fact.
- Sapevo che si erano sposati. = I already knew they had gotten married.
- Passato prossimo: You found something out.
- Ho saputo che si sono sposati. = I found out they had gotten married.
Conoscere (to know/meet)
- Imperfetto: You already knew the other person.
- Conoscevo Mark fin dall’università. = I had known Mark since university.
- Passato prossimo: You met the person for the first time.
- Ho conosciuto Mark all’università. = I met Mark at university.
Practice using the imperfetto in conversations or writing
If you’re ready to start using the imperfect tense in Italian, there’s nothing better than building your Italian conversation practice around it. With a conversation partner, take turns talking about your childhood, a previous job, or a time you lived in a particular city.
Writing can be just as helpful. Try short personal memories in your diary or invent fairy tales and short stories—all types of writing that naturally make extensive use of the imperfetto.
Use these conversation prompts as inspiration.
- Com’era la tua casa da bambino/bambina? = What was your house like when you were a child?
- Cosa ti piaceva di più dell’Italia?= What did you like the most about Italy?
Key takeaways about the imperfect tense in Italian
The Italian imperfetto is one of the most approachable verb tenses, but because its use cases differ so much from English, it can still be challenging.
- The imperfect tense describes past actions without a clear beginning, end, or duration.
- It can be translated in English with “used to” (habitual actions), the past continuous (actions in progress, interrupted by another action, or happening simultaneously), or the simple past (descriptions of people, weather, state, and more).
- Most Italian irregular verbs follow the regular pattern in the imperfect tense.
- Verbs like sapere and conoscere (to know), as well as Italian modal verbs, change meaning depending on whether you use the imperfetto or the passato prossimo.
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