A2.10 - Did you hear the news?

The imperfect: irregular verbs

L'imperfetto: i verbi irregolari

Alcuni verbi all'imperfetto sono irregolari e cambiano nella radice o coniugazione.

(Some verbs in the imperfect are irregular and change in their stem or conjugation.)

What the imperfetto is doing here (and why)

In this chapter you practise the imperfetto of three high‑frequency verbs: fare, essere, dire.

  • Use the imperfetto for background in the past: what was going on / the situation at that time.
  • Use it for habitual past: what you used to do regularly.
  • Use it for states in the past: how someone/something was (age, mood, situation, role, context).
Typical signal Meaning Italian pattern
“when I was young…” past habit / state Da giovane, ero… / facevo…
“while / at that moment” background action Mentre guardavo…, dicevano…
“always / often / usually” repeated action sempre / spesso / di solito + imperfetto

The key idea: irregular stem, regular endings (fare, dire)

Many “irregular” verbs are only irregular in the stem (the left part). The endings stay the normal imperfetto endings.

  • fare → stem face- + endings
  • dire → stem dice- + endings
Endings to recognize Example with fare Example with dire
-vo (I) facevo dicevo
-vi (you) facevi dicevi
-va (he/she) faceva diceva
-vamo (we) facevamo dicevamo
-vate (you all) facevate dicevate
-vano (they) facevano dicevano

What to pay attention to: learners often try to “regularize” the stem: facievo, dicavo. In the imperfetto it is face- and dice-.

Essere is the exception: fully irregular

Essere changes both stem and pattern. You simply need to memorize it.

Person Essere (imperfetto) Quick English meaning
io ero I was
tu eri you were
lui/lei era he/she was
noi eravamo we were
voi eravate you (pl.) were
loro erano they were

Typical traps: eravo, evo, eramo. Use the real forms above.

Choosing between imperfetto and passato prossimo (practical)

In real conversations, the question is often: Is this the background, or a completed event?

  • Imperfetto = background / “used to” / ongoing: Ieri sera guardavo il telegiornale.
  • Passato prossimo = finished action / key event: A un certo punto ho detto “Basta”.
Background (imperfetto) Main event (passato prossimo)
Mentre ero in ufficio, facevo una call… …poi ho detto al team la decisione.
Da bambino dicevo sempre la verità… …ma ieri ho detto solo l’essenziale.

Mini self-check: can you build the form fast?

  1. Decide the verb: fare, dire, or essere.
  2. If it’s fare/dire: choose the stem face- / dice-.
  3. Add the ending that matches the subject: -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano.
  4. If it’s essere: pick directly from the memorized set: ero, eri, era, eravamo, eravate, erano.

Quick test:

  • “we were” → eravamo
  • “they used to say” → dicevano
  • “you (sg.) were doing/making” → facevi

What you should sound for in conversation

  • -v- is your imperfetto clue for many verbs: facevo, dicevamo.
  • essere has no -v- in the singular: ero, eri, era.
  • When describing a past context at work (where you were, what you were doing), imperfetto is usually the natural choice.
  1. Most irregular verbs, such as "fare", "dire", are partially irregular: they change the stem, but the conjugation remains regular.
  2. The verb "essere" is completely irregular: it changes both the stem and the conjugation.
1a coniugazione: verbo fare (1st conjugation: verb fare)2a coniugazione: verbo essere3a coniugazione: verbo dire (3rd conjugation: verb dire)
Io facevoIo eroIo dicevo
Tu faceviTu eriTu dicevi
Lui / lei facevaLui / lei eraLui / lei diceva
Noi facevamoNoi eravamoNoi dicevamo
Voi facevateVoi eravateVoi dicevate
Loro facevanoLoro eranoLoro dicevano

Exercise 1: Multiple choice

Instruction: Choose the correct answer

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1. Ieri sera guardavo il telegiornale e ____ a mia moglie che la situazione era preoccupante.

Last night I was watching the news and ____ my wife that the situation was worrying.

2. Da piccolo ____ sempre una chiamata a mia nonna dopo il programma in TV.

As a child I ____ always made a call to my grandmother after the TV show.

3. Quando ____ in ufficio, navigavamo su Internet per leggere le notizie.

When we ____ in the office, we were surfing the Internet to read the news.

4. Da giovane ____ molto attento ai titoli del giornale, ma i miei amici non lo erano.

As a young man I ____ very attentive to the newspaper headlines, but my friends were not.

Exercise 2: Rewrite the phrases

Instruction: Rewrite the sentences in the imperfect tense: change only the verb in parentheses (fare, essere, dire) into the correct form.

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  1. Da bambino io (essere) molto timido a scuola.
    ⇒ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Da bambino io ero molto timido a scuola.
    (As a child, I was very shy at school.)
  2. Quando tu (fare) il tirocinio, (fare) spesso tardi in ufficio.
    ⇒ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Quando tu facevi il tirocinio, facevi spesso tardi in ufficio.
    (When you were doing your internship, you often stayed late at the office.)
  3. Nel 2020 lui (essere) ancora in Italia per lavoro.
    ⇒ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Nel 2020 lui era ancora in Italia per lavoro.
    (In 2020, he was still in Italy for work.)
  4. Prima noi (dire) sempre la verità ai clienti.
    ⇒ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Prima noi dicevamo sempre la verità ai clienti.
    (Before, we always told customers the truth.)

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Fabio Pirioni

Bachelor in Humanities

University of Udine

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Last Updated:

Wednesday, 15/04/2026 16:22