Italian Grammar for Foreigners helps students acquire the most important notions and rules that form the foundation of studying Italian. Those who wish to learn to speak Italian must first understand these grammatical rules to use them correctly and fluently in both written and verbal forms. At the Clidante School in Rome, teachers are particularly adept at clearly and effectively conveying the use of Italian verbs and their correct conjugations. For example, the use of the imperfect tense, which is often confused with the indicative mood. In Italian Grammar for Foreigners, the imperfect is explained simply. Let’s see, thanks to the teachings of Clidante School instructors, when the imperfect should be used to compose sentences in Italian, and how it’s formed.
Italian Grammar for Foreigners: The Imperfect
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When is the imperfect verb used in Italian grammar? The imperfect is used to describe a place, person, situation, or event: “The sea was calm and cool.” Or, the imperfect can be used to describe emotions, feelings, or psychological situations: “He didn’t come to the beach because he was sad.” This verbal form can also be used to describe actions that are not concluded and not limited in time: “My baby was in the crib and was sleeping deeply.”
So far, we’ve seen how the imperfect can be used in Italian grammar for foreigners taught at the Clidante School. But if you want to speak Italian like Italians do, then you also need to know the additional common uses of the imperfect. We Italians sometimes use the imperfect in place of the present indicative in certain situations. For example, if we were to call a hotel to reserve a room, we would say: “I wanted to book a room for one night.”
Naturally, when approaching the study of Italian grammar, everything might appear much more difficult and complicated than it is. In reality, the difference is made by the teaching method and the type of Italian school you choose. The Clidante School in Rome is considered number one in teaching Italian to foreigners precisely because it offers – thanks to prepared and patient teachers – a simple, complete, effective, and above all, fun approach to Italian. And even learning to use the imperfect correctly will become child’s play!
Very often in Italian, we use the imperfect instead of other verbs considered correct in more formal Italian. Let’s look at some examples:
We use the imperfect instead of the present indicative or conditional to make a request less strong:
I wanted to book a room for two nights
I was looking for you to ask you a favor
We choose the imperfect indicative instead of the past perfect subjunctive and the past conditional to express an unrealizable hypothesis:
If you called me, I would wait for you to eat (correct phrase: if you had called me, I would have waited for you to eat)”