The imperfect: irregular verbs

What is happening in this chapter?

• Imperfect tense of fare, essere, dire.
• All forms are in the past, but they describe:
  • background situations
  • habits
  • actions in progress in the past
• You already know the meaning of these verbs. Here you focus on their forms and typical errors.

1. When do Italians use this imperfect?

• Habits in the past
  Da bambino facevo sport ogni giorno.
  → As a child I used to do sport every day.
• Background / description
  Era tardi e il capo era nervoso.
  → It was late and the boss was nervous.
• Action in progress in the past
  Stavo in ufficio e facevo una telefonata quando è arrivata la mail.
  → I was in the office and was making a call when the email arrived.

Signal words that often call for the imperfect:

• di solito (usually)
• ogni giorno / ogni sera (every day / every evening)
• da bambino / da giovane (as a child / as a young person)
• quando... (when...)

2. The basic pattern of the imperfect

For most verbs (regular and many irregular), the imperfect uses the same set of endings:

Key idea:

• The endings are very stable: vo, vi, va, vamo, vate, vano.
• Many irregular verbs only change the stem, but keep these same endings.

3. Fare & dire: irregular stem, regular endings

In the table from the book you see:

So you conjugate them like this:

Visual tip

• Underline the stem and the ending:
  facevo, facevi, diceva…
• When in doubt, first choose the person ending, then add the correct stem.

4. Essere: completely irregular

Essere changes both stem and endings. You need to learn this table by heart.

Typical errors to avoid:

• io erovo → double imperfect, incorrect.
• loro eravano → created with regular endings, but wrong.
• Remember: ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano.

5. Typical confusion: present vs imperfect

Because the English translation is often the same (“I was doing / I used to do”), it is easy to mix present and imperfect.

• Present = now, routine today
  Oggi faccio una presentazione.
  → Today I am giving a presentation.
• Imperfect = habit or situation in the past
  Prima facevo una presentazione ogni lunedì.
  → Before, I used to give a presentation every Monday.

Quick self-check question:

• “Is this still true now?”
  • If yes → probably present.
  • If no, only in that period → probably imperfect.

6. Common learner mistakes (and how to avoid them)

• 1. Using third person instead of first person
  Ieri sera guardava un film.
  → Means “He/She was watching a film”.
  Correct for “I”:
  Ieri sera guardavo un film.
• 2. Mixing present and imperfect in the same time reference
  Quando ero studente, non ho molti soldi.
  ero = past, ho = present → conflict.
  Correct:
  Quando ero studente, non avevo molti soldi.
• 3. Creating a “regular” essere
  noi essavamo, loro eravano → do not exist.
  Correct: eravamo, erano.
• 4. Forgetting to change the stem of fare / dire
  io farvo, io dirvo → using infinitive + ending.
  Correct: facevo, dicevo.

7. Mini step‑by‑step: how to build the form

1. Decide the person (io, tu, lui/lei, noi, voi, loro).
2. Choose the right verb type:
   • essere → use the special table.
   • fare, dire → use stems face‑, dice‑ + endings.
   • other verbs → normally stem + vo, vi, va, vamo, vate, vano.
3. Build the form:
   • io + fare → face + vo → facevo
   • noi + dire → dice + vamo → dicevamo
   • loro + essere → look in the table → erano

8. Quick self-check: can you do this?

Cover the tables and check if you can say:

• 1. All six forms of fare in the imperfect (io → loro).
• 2. All six forms of dire in the imperfect.
• 3. All six forms of essere in the imperfect.
• 4. One personal example with each verb:
  • Da bambino facevo...
  • Quando ero all’università, ero...
  • Al lavoro dicevo spesso ai colleghi che...

If you can do this without looking, you are ready to focus on speaking practice in class.