{"id":877,"date":"2011-08-08T16:04:07","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T16:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=877"},"modified":"2015-04-14T12:40:07","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T10:40:07","slug":"imperfetto-e-passato-prossimo-quale-devo-usare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/imperfetto-e-passato-prossimo-quale-devo-usare\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperfetto e Passato Prossimo – Quale Devo Usare?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Occasionally students of Italian tell me that they are confused about whether to use the passato prossimo <\/strong>(present perfect) or the imperfetto <\/strong>(imperfect tense), and don\u2019t really understand the difference between the two. A while ago I wrote a blog on the subject which you can find here: passato prossimo e imperfetto<\/span><\/a>, but I think that it would be useful to revisit the topic in a more practical way by giving you a number of examples in which I\u2019ll demonstrate how the two forms differ. To clarify things, I have highlighted the imperfetto<\/span><\/strong> in red, and the passato prossimo<\/span><\/strong> in green.<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong>Imperfetto<\/span> <\/strong>or\u00a0Passato Prossimo<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We use the imperfetto <\/strong>when talking about something that used to happen regularly, something that happened repeatedly, or something that happened over a long but indefinite\u00a0 period of time. The passato prossimo<\/strong>, on the other hand, is more precise, because it describes something that happened only once, at a very specific time, or for a limited period of time:<\/p>\n

Imperfetto<\/span>: da bambina andavo<\/span> tutte le estati al mare <\/strong>(when I was a child I used to go to the beach every summer)<\/p>\n

Passato Prossimo<\/span>:<\/strong> l\u2019estate scorsa sono andata<\/span> al mare <\/strong>(last summer I went to the beach)<\/p>\n

Imperfetto: <\/strong>quando ero<\/span> in Inghilterra abitavo <\/span>a Nottingham <\/strong>(when I was in England I used to live in Nottingham)<\/p>\n

Passato Prossimo:<\/strong> ho abitato<\/span> a Nottingham per tredici anni <\/strong>(I lived in Nottingham for thirteen years)<\/p>\n

Imperfetto: <\/strong>da bambino a Giovanni piaceva<\/span> il gelato al pistacchio <\/strong>(when Giovanni was a child he used to like pistachio ice cream)<\/p>\n

Passato Prossimo:<\/strong> a Giovanni \u00e8 piaciuto<\/span> il gelato al pistacchio non appena l\u2019ha assaggiato <\/strong>(Giovanni liked pistachio ice cream as soon as he tasted it)<\/p>\n

Imperfetto: <\/strong>quand\u2019eravamo in Inghilterra spesso andavamo<\/span> a camminare nel Derbyshire <\/strong>(when we were in England we often went walking in Derbyshire)<\/p>\n

Passato Prossimo: <\/strong>quand\u2019eravamo in Inghilterra siamo andati<\/span> a camminare nel Derbyshire un paio di volte <\/strong>(when we were in England we went walking in Derbyshire a couple of times)<\/p>\n

Imperfetto: <\/strong>quand\u2019ero all\u2019universit\u00e0 studiavo<\/span> archeologia <\/strong>(when I was at university I studied archaeology)<\/p>\n

Passato Prossimo: <\/strong>quand\u2019ero all\u2019universit\u00e0 ho studiato<\/span> archeologia per quattro anni <\/strong>(when I was at university I studied archaeology for four years)<\/p>\n

2. Imperfetto<\/span> <\/span><\/strong>and<\/span> Passato Prossimo<\/span><\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we want to talk about a specific event we often use both the imperfetto <\/strong>and the\u00a0 passato prossimo <\/strong>in the same sentence. In this case we use the imperfetto <\/strong>to set the scene, to say what was going on, or to clarify when something happened, and the passato prossimo<\/strong> to recount the specific event:<\/p>\n

mentre facevo<\/span> la spesa dal fruttivendolo \u00e8 entrata<\/span> Maria con il suo nuovo ragazzo <\/strong>(while I was shopping at the greengrocer Maria came in with her new boyfriend)<\/p>\n

mentre scrivevo<\/span> il blog ha telefonato<\/span> Marco <\/strong>(Marco phoned while I was writing the blog)<\/p>\n

quando abitavo<\/span> in Inghilterra un\u2019estate ho visitato<\/span> la Scozia <\/strong>(when I lived in England I visited Scotland one summer)<\/p>\n

Giorgio si \u00e8 rotto<\/span> la gamba mentre giocava<\/span> a calcio <\/strong>(Giorgio broke his leg whilst playing football)<\/p>\n

quand\u2019ero <\/span>all\u2019universit\u00e0 ho partecipato<\/span> a due scavi archeologici <\/strong>(when I was at university I took part in two archaeological excavations)<\/p>\n

Spero di essere stata chiara <\/strong>(I hope I\u2019ve been clear)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occasionally students of Italian tell me that they are confused about whether to use the passato prossimo (present perfect) or the imperfetto (imperfect tense), and don\u2019t really understand the difference between the two. A while ago I wrote a blog on the subject which you can find here: passato prossimo e imperfetto, but I think…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[720,58909,741,58910,839],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-imperfetto","tag-italian-imperfect-tense","tag-italian-past-tenses","tag-italian-present-perfect","tag-passato-prossimo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t