Risposte alle vostre domande!
- Why wouldn't you use
- How do you know when to use Imperfetto or Passato Prossimo?
- Imperfetto - When do you add an
- How do you use Imperfetto when you have an -ere or -ire verb?
- If someone completes an event multiple times I use passato prossimo and imperfetto for which one?
- When we use imperfetto, do we only have the 4 irregulars that are in the packet?
- I'm confused when to use
- Are there more important irregular verbs in the imperfect tense?
- How do we know when to add an
- Whey are imperfect and passato prossimo similar?
- Why can't we use imperfetto for immgrating?
- What amount of time constitutes using imperfect over past tense? How long does the activity have to take place?
- When you describe a person who is dead, do you use imperfect to describe their physcial appearance?
- How do you distinguish the differences to make the verbs imperfect if there are no hints like
- I'm confused when it's "noi" or "voi."
- Is there a way to remember which words are irregular?
- How to do you know which word has to be conjugated before putting the irregular ending?
- I understand when to use imperfect tense in context, but what are the specific instances/cases in which we use imperfect tense?
- I'm confused about when to use "noi," "voi," and "loro."
- How does an emotion fit into imperfect?
- How do you tell if an OBJECT or a PLACE is "loro, noi, voi, io, tu, lui/lei" especialy if no person is mentioned in the sentence?
- I don't know how to determine whether to use lui/lei or noi, etc, when to use it and the endings for it.
- I need more help on knowing when to conjugate.
- Do we have to take away the "i" in words like "mangiare" when we conjugate in imperfetto? Or how about adding an "h" for a hard "c" like in "giocare?"
Why wouldn't you use
The verb "piacere" is conjugated based on the thing which someone likes....or more literally the
thing, things, or people that are pleasing. If you were to use "piaccio," you would be saying that
"I are pleasing to someone." Therefore, in order to tell someone you like something, you must
say, "Mi piace/piacciono." The choice between "piace" or "piacciono" depends on the amount of
things that are pleasing or that you like.
For the time being, I want you guys to focus on the 3rd person singular and plural forms of
"piacere" which are "PIACE" and "PIACCIONO."
If the item/person that someone likes is singular, then we use "PIACE." For example, if I wanted
to say "I like the movie," you would say "Mi PIACE il film" because the thing that is pleasing (the
film) is singular.
If the item/person that someone likes is plural, then we use "PIACCIONO." For example, if I
wanted to say "I like dogs," I would say "Mi piacciono i cani" because the things (dogs) that are
pleasing are plural.
Do not worry about the other conjugations of PIACERE on the handout...I simply put them there to
show you that, just as with any other verb, it can be conjugated 6 ways. But, for our present
purposes, the only forms you need to know are "PIACE" and "PIACCIONO."
-Signorina Maglia (9/15/09)
How do you know when to use Imperfetto or Passato Prossimo?
Imperfect describes the following types of actions:
1. An on-going action in the past that is interrupted by another event
Example: Mentre finivo il libro, รจ arrivata la mia amica. (While I was finishing the book, my friend arrived)
2. A repeated action in the past
Example: Quando ero piccolo, andavo spesso al mare. (When I was young, I went to the sea often)
3. Two or more events that happened simultaneously in the past
Example: Mentre lavoravo, Matteo dormiva. (While I was working, Matthew was sleeping)
We use Imperfetto for the following types of actions:
- habitual past actions (things someone does repeatedly over a period of time in the past i.e. Every day I used to get a cup of coffee at Starbucks)
- past actions that do not have a definite ending (I used to go to the gym.)
- Age i.e. When I was 5 I was really cute.
- Weather i.e. Yesterday it was raining.
- Descriptions i.e. I had blond hair.
- Emotions i.e. I was really sad
- When I say actions that happened over a period of time, this means that the action lasted for an undetermined about of time or an extended amount of time.
For other actions that we know only happened one time or have a definite ending we use passato prossimo.
i.e. Yesterday I went to the mall.
Imperfetto - When do you add an
We add "-o" for verbs that are conjugated for "io"
We add "-a" for verbs that are conjugated for "lui/lei"
How do you use Imperfetto when you have an -ere or -ire verb?
We still change the verb the exact same way as we do for verbs that end in "-are." We only remove the final 2 letters of each verb so that third to last letter is not affected. Here are some examples:
Scrivere - Scrive-
io - scrivevo noi - scrivevamo
tu - scrivevi voi - scrivevete
lui/lei - scriveva loro - scrivevano
pulire - puli-
io - pulivo noi - pulivamo
tu - pulivi voi - pulivate
lui/lei - puliva loro - pulivano
If someone completes an event multiple times I use passato prossimo and imperfetto for which one?
No - we use Imperfetto for actions that happened repeatedly. If it happened only once - passato prossimo.
Example -
Imperfetto -> When I was young, I ate spaghetti every day.
Quando ero giovano, mangiavo gli spaghetti ogni giorno.
Passato prossimo -> I went to the mall.
Sono andata al centro commerciale.
When we use imperfetto, do we only have the 4 irregulars that are in the packet?
No - there are more. However, for Wednesday's quiz you will only be required to know those 4.
In case you're curious, here are some others that are always irregular:
Porre (to put, to place)
(io) ponevo
(tu) ponevi
(lui, lei) poneva
(noi) ponevamo
(voi) ponevate
(loro) ponevano
Tradurre (to translate)
(io) traducevo
(tu) traducevi
(lui, lei) tranduceva
(noi) tranducevamo
(voi) tranducevate
(loro) tranducevano
Trarre (to pull, to draw)
(io) traevo
(tu) traevi
(lui, lei) traeva
(noi) traevamo
(voi) traevate
(loro) traevano
I'm confused when to use
Loro - THEM (3rd person plural)
Voi - YOU ALL (2nd person plural)
Example:
Loro -> Maria and Giorgio were happy. (Maria and Giorgio - them -> loro)
Maria e Giorgio erano (essere, loro, imperfetto) felici.
Voi -> You and Marco ate lunch together everyday. (You and Marco - you all/both -> voi)
Tu e Marco eravate (essere, voi, imperfetto) insieme ogni giorno.
Are there more important irregular verbs in the imperfect tense?
Yes but you will only need to know the 4 for Wednesday.
How do we know when to add an
We add "-va" for lui/lei
We add "-vano" for loro
Example:
Lui/lei - She lived in Brooklyn when she was little.
Lei abitava a Brooklyn quando era giovane.
Loro - They lived in Brooklyn when they were little.
Loro abitavano a Brooklyn quando erano giovani.
Whey are imperfect and passato prossimo similar?
They are similar in the fact that they both describe past actions.
They are very different, however, in the TYPES of past actions that they describe. See the above answer about when to use Passato Prossimo versus Imperfetto.
Why can't we use imperfetto for immgrating?
We cannot use imperfetto to describe immigrating in the past tense because this action has a definite ending. Immigrating to another country may occur of the course of a few days but the action of immigrating itself does end. Immigrating implies that we are describing a process (that we learned in class) and this process has a definite ending. The subject does not move back and forth between countries but moves once - if we want to say that it happens again, we have to begin a new thought.
Example:
We would not say "Salvatore immigrated for 4 days." We would say "He immigrated to America and it took him 4 days."
What amount of time constitutes using imperfect over past tense? How long does the activity have to take place?
This is the hard part about understanding imperfect tense. There is no exact time that we can say constitutes using imperfect tense. The best advice I can give is that you must think about the action in the following ways:
-Was it something that happened repeatedly over a period of time? - Imperfetto
-Does it describe someone's state of being, emotions, or physical being? - Imperfetto
-Was this action habitual? - Imperfetto
-Did it happen only once? - Passato Prossimo
When you describe a person who is dead, do you use imperfect to describe their physcial appearance?
Yes.
How do you distinguish the differences to make the verbs imperfect if there are no hints like
In that kind of situation, you have to consider the context of the sentence and the message it's trying to convey. Ask yourself if it's happening habitually, over a long period of time, is it describing something or someone, is it describing an emotion, is it talking about age, or does it describe weather.
Most importantly, don't try to over - analyze the situation. Take the situation for what it is and do the best you can to categorize it according to the usage rules we discussed for "Imperfetto" and "Passato Prossimo."
I'm confused when it's "noi" or "voi."
Noi - US (including you/the speaker)
Voi - YOU ALL (YOU PLURAL)(excluding yourself)
Example:
Noi -> We were really happy. (We - NOI)
Noi eravamo molto contenti.
Voi -> You guys were really happy. (You guys - VOI)
Voi eravate molto contenti.
Is there a way to remember which words are irregular?
Unfortunately no. This is one of those things that you just have to memorize.
How to do you know which word has to be conjugated before putting the irregular ending?
I think I understand this but if not clarify for me on Monday...
In order to figure out which word to conjugate, you must identify the verb in each sentence. Verbs are most readily identifiable by their endings (-are, -ere, -ire)
We then add the imperfect endings like so:
We cut off the last 2 letters (-re of each verb - doesn't matter if its -are, -ere, or -ire)
and then add the following endings:
io: -vo noi: -vamo
tu: -vi voi: -vate
lui/lei: -va loro: -vano
I understand when to use imperfect tense in context, but what are the specific instances/cases in which we use imperfect tense?
We use imperfetto to describe these situations:
- Describing people, places, and things in the past
- Age
- Weather
- Habitual Past actions
- Repeated past actions
I'm confused about when to use "noi," "voi," and "loro."
Noi = WE (including yourself - first person)
Voi = YOU ALL (You plural - not including yourself, second person)
Loro =THEY/THEM (not including anyone in the conversation, 3rd person)
Example:
Noi -> We were really happy. (We - NOI)
Noi eravamo molto contento.
Voi -> You and Alfredo were really happy. (You and Alfredo=You all=VOI)
Voi eravate molto contenti.
Loro -> Christina and Maria were really happy. (Christina and Maria = They = LORO)
Loro eravamo molto contenti.
How does an emotion fit into imperfect?
Emotion falls under the Imperfect umbrella in the past tense because it describes how someone was in the past. An emotion usually lasts for an extended, undetermined period of time. We often can't recall an exact time frame that we felt a certain way so the grammar gurus classify this kind of description as IMPERFECT in the past tense.
How do you tell if an OBJECT or a PLACE is "loro, noi, voi, io, tu, lui/lei" especialy if no person is mentioned in the sentence?
Great question - I see errors with this all the time.
When talking about an object or place we are automatically limited to the 3rd person voice. In Italian, this means that we can only use either the "lui/lei" or "loro" forms. Forget about "io, tu, noi," and "voi" when talking about objects or places.
LUI/LEI can also mean "IT" (object or a place - but only 1!)
We use lui/lei to talk about only one object or place - it is Singular!)
Example:
The neighborhood was very small. (neighborhood which is singular - IT - LUI/LEI)
Il quartiere era molto piccolo.
LORO means "THEM" even when we're not talking about people. (object or place - more than 1!)
We use loro to talk about more than one object or place. - this is PLURAL!
Example:
The ferries were really crowded. (Ferries which is more than 1 = THEM = LORO)
I traghetti erano molto affolati.
I don't know how to determine whether to use lui/lei or noi, etc, when to use it and the endings for it.
Understanding this is crucial for using ANY kind of verb in Italian.
"io, tu, lui, lei, noi, voi, and loro" are what we call subject pronouns. This is what they mean in English:
Singular (1 person) Plural (more than 1 person)
1st person --> IO - I NOI - WE
2nd person --> TU - YOU VOI - YOU ALL
3rd person --> LUI/LEI - HE, SHE, IT LORO - THEY, THEM
Lui/Lei can appear as a name i.e. Maria, Marco
Noi can appear as follows "me and Marco" or "Io e Marco"
Voi can appear as follows "you and Marco" or "Voi e Marco"
Loro can appear as follows "Marco and Maria" or "Marco e Maria"
I need more help on knowing when to conjugate.
If I didn't answer this like you wanted clarify for me on Monday.
Conjugating depends on the message you are trying to convey. Are you talking about an action that's currently happening? Then use Present tense. Are you talking about a past action that happened once and is over with? Then passato prossimo. Are you talking about an action that happened in the past for an unspecified amount of time or was a habitual past action? Then imperfetto.
Do we have to take away the "i" in words like "mangiare" when we conjugate in imperfetto? Or how about adding an "h" for a hard "c" like in "giocare?"
In the imperfect tense, you do not have to change any of these things. All you are dropping is the final 2 letters (-re) therefore those sounds remain unaffected by the conjugation.