Here you are again! What do you need today? the difference between Passato Prossimo (Perfect Tense) and Imperfetto (Imperfect tense)?
Italian grammar is very broad so we always try to be very specific when we propose new topics that will also enrich your Italian vocabulary, never forgetting to remind you to practice also your Italian pronounciation!
Especially If you’re looking for the difference between Passato Prossimo (Perfect Tense) and Imperfetto(Imperfect tense), you’ve started going crazy with Italian grammar!
Italian verb tenses are numerous and varied and often this difference, especially with the English language, creates many difficulties for those who try their hand at studying the Italian verb.
IN THE HOW TO USE SECTION YOU CAN FIND MANY OTHER TOPICS OF ITALIAN VERBS.
https://italianlesson.it/how-to/italian-verbs/
But now, no more complaints and let’s get on with it!
Difference between ITALIAN PAST TENSES
First of all, let’s look at these two types of the Italian past tense: Perfect Tense (Passato Prossimo) and Imperfect Tense (Imperfetto).
They are used in different ways to express actions that took place in a specific time in the past.
As regards the Italian verb conjugations of these two tenses, like any conjugation, they also have to be learned by heart because they are quite different.
Yeah, I know, Italian conjugation is quite boring but it’s fundamental if you want to make the best use of the language!
Let’s look now at these two different conjugations:
| ITALIAN PERFECT TENSE (PASSATO PROSSIMO) | ITALIAN IMPERFECT TENSE (IMPERFETTO) | |
| VERB TO BE | IO SONO STATO TU SEI STATO EGLI / ELLA – LUI / LEI È STATO/A NOI SIAMO STATI VOI SIETE STATI ESSI / ESSE – LORO SONO STATI | IO ERO TU ERI EGLI / ELLA – LUI / LEI ERA NOI ERAVAMO VOI ERAVATE ESSI / ESSE – LORO ERANO |
| ITALIAN PERFECT TENSE (PASSATO PROSSIMO) | ITALIAN IMPERFECT TENSE (IMPERFETTO) | |
| VERB TO HAVE | IO HO AVUTO TU HAI AVUTO EGLI / ELLA – LUI / LEI HA AVUTO NOI ABBIAMO AVUTO VOI AVETE AVUTO ESSI / ESSE – LORO HANNO AVUTO | IO AVEVO TU AVEVI EGLI / ELLA – LUI / LEI AVEVA NOI AVEVAMO VOI AVEVATE ESSI / ESSE – LORO AVEVANO |
But as we said before, Italian grammar loves to be complicated!
Let’s see the difference between these two tenses:
- Italian Perfect Tense (Passato Prossimo) expresses an action that ended at a specific time in the past, followed by another action;
- on the contrary, Italian Imperfect Tense (Imperfetto) is used to express an habitual or continuous action in the past.
Italian perfect tense:
Siamo stati in fila per un’ora / We stood in line for an hour
Non ho mai avuto il mal di testa per tre giorni / I haven’t had a headache for three days
Italian imperfect tense:
Ieri ero molto stanco / Yesterday I was very tired
Lei non aveva affatto voglia di ballare / She didn’t feel like dancing at all
The Italian perfect tense and the imperfect can be used together to express:
- an action in progress interrupted by another
Mentre mangiavo la mela, ha suonato il postino / While I was eating the apple, the postman rang
So, what have we learned today? We’ve learned that there are two Italian verb tenses playing different roles in the past tense: one of them indicates, “accurately”, the end of an action (Perfect Tense / Passato Prossimo), the other not (Imperfect / Imperfetto).
HERE IS ANOTHER INSIGHT INTO THIS TOPIC
https://it.wikibooks.org/wiki/Italiano/Differenza_tra_imperfetto,_passato_prossimo_e_passato_remoto
See you in the next article!