Imperfetto Irregular Verbs

The imperfetto is the most regular tense in Italian. Out of thousands of verbs, only a handful are irregular — and even these follow recognisable patterns. In this lesson, we will learn the five most important irregular verbs in the imperfetto: essere, fare, dire, bere, and tradurre (along with its compounds).

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Why Are These Verbs Irregular?

These verbs have contracted or archaic infinitive forms. Their imperfetto conjugations are based on older Latin stems rather than the modern infinitive:

Modern infinitive	Original/Latin stem	Imperfetto stem
fare	facere	fac- → facevo
dire	dicere	dic- → dicevo
bere	bevere	bev- → bevevo
tradurre	traducere	traduc- → traducevo
essere	— (unique)	ero (completely irregular)

Key insight: For fare, dire, bere, and tradurre, the imperfetto is formed using the old Latin stem + the regular -ere imperfetto endings (-evo, -evi, -eva, -evamo, -evate, -evano). Only essere is truly unique.

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Essere (to be)

Essere is the only verb in the imperfetto that is completely irregular:

Person	Conjugation	Translation
io	ero	I was / I used to be
tu	eri	you were
lui / lei / Lei	era	he/she was
noi	eravamo	we were
voi	eravate	you all were
loro	erano	they were

Common Uses of Essere in the Imperfetto

• Descriptions: La casa era grande. — The house was big.
• Nationality/origin: Ero americano, ma vivevo in Italia. — I was American, but I lived in Italy.
• Identity: Era un uomo gentile. — He was a kind man.
• Location: Eravamo a Roma. — We were in Rome.
• Time: Erano le otto di sera. — It was eight in the evening.
• Weather: Era una giornata bellissima. — It was a beautiful day.

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Fare (to do / to make)

Based on the old stem fac-:

Person	Conjugation	Translation
io	facevo	I was doing / I used to do
tu	facevi	you were doing
lui / lei / Lei	faceva	he/she was doing
noi	facevamo	we were doing
voi	facevate	you all were doing
loro	facevano	they were doing

Common Uses

• Weather: Faceva caldo. — It was hot. / Faceva freddo. — It was cold.
• Activities: Facevo sport ogni giorno. — I used to do sport every day.
• Jobs: Faceva l'insegnante. — He/She was a teacher (used to work as a teacher).

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Dire (to say / to tell)

Based on the old stem dic-:

Person	Conjugation	Translation
io	dicevo	I was saying / I used to say
tu	dicevi	you were saying
lui / lei / Lei	diceva	he/she was saying
noi	dicevamo	we were saying
voi	dicevate	you all were saying
loro	dicevano	they were saying

Common Uses

• Habitual speech: Mia madre diceva sempre: "Studia!" — My mother always used to say: "Study!"
• Ongoing speech: Che dicevi? — What were you saying?
• Reported thoughts: Dicevano che era un bravo ragazzo. — They used to say he was a good boy.

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Bere (to drink)

Based on the old stem bev-: