Italian All-in-One For Dummies (170 page)

The other two verbs that are irregular in the imperfect are
dire
(
to tell; to say
) and
fare
(
to make; to do
). Their Latin roots show; their stems, respectively, are
dice
and
face
(from the Latin verbs
dicere
and
facere
). See the following tables for these verb conjugations.

Perfecting the use of the imperfect

Certain clues tell you to use the imperfect tense. For example: Adverbial expressions (saying when or how often something happened) include the following:

a volte
(
sometimes
)

di quando in quando
(
sometimes; from time to time
)

ogni giorno
(
every day
)

ogni
(
every
)

mentre
(
while
)

senza sosta
(
without stopping
)

spesso
(
often
)

di solito
(
usually
)

Here are a few sample sentences:

Lui lavorava senza sosta.
(
He worked without stopping.
)

Ogni giorno leggevo un po'.
(
Every day I read a little bit.
)

Mentre mangiavamo, ascoltavamo l'opera.
(
While we were eating, we were listening to the opera.
)

Certain verbs, if you think about their meaning (Did you feel a certain way? What were you thinking, fearing, loving?), also predominantly use the imperfect in the past. They all indicate an ongoing state of mind. A few of these follow:

amare
(
to love
)

credere
(
to believe; to think
)

desiderare
(
to want
)