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Italian language question

Hello,
This is a bit off travel chat, but here goes:
Re: Italian usage, past tense
I have studied Italian off and on for many years, and I'm confused about something:
Do Italians usually say "io parlato" for the past tense, or "io parlavo". My text (that is 50 years old) says parlato, and that's what I've been using, but in conversation, I hear "parlavo". I think it depends on what is begin said AFTER the verb. I want to speak it correctly.

Perhaps Dario or Roberto da Firenze can clarify?

Thank you
J.A.

Posted by
1725 posts

Io parlai = I spoke, distant past (relatively rare in everyday speech as it sound so definite; more common in South Italy, especially Sicily, but in any case absolutely standard Italian)
Io ho parlato = I had spoken, I spoke, but it is a close past (more common)
Io parlavo = I was speaking, I spoke, but in the meaning that the action of speaking was continued

So:
- to tell that I spoke once in a distant past - Io parlai al pubblico
- to tell that I spoke, but it was yesterday, or last week - Io ho parlato al pubblico
- to tell that I was speaking a long time, in the meantime something happened - Io parlavo al pubblico quando iniziò a piovere

Posted by
111 posts

Thank you! That is what I wanted to confirm. I will have to start using the "parlavo" endings more. Thanks again.

Posted by
250 posts

J.A. I understand your confusion. I certainly don't have the knowledge of Dario or Roberto but I will try to explain. In Italian there are two past tenses (actually a few more but these are the relevant ones). The immediate past -"passato prossimo" (I spoke to him today.) and the imperfect" (When I was young I spoke Italian. Or I often spoke Italian.) The immediate past is used when event has just occurred once and the verb is conjugated with an auxiliary verb (avere or essere). I spoke = Ho parlato. The imperfect past does not use the auxiliary and is used when an event occurred long ago or was an event of on-going or unknown duration. When I was young I spoke Italian = Quando ero giovani parlavo italiano. In English we do not have this distinction, so it can be quite confusing.

I highly recommend a book by Paola Nanni-Tate, "Italian Verb Drills". I have found it to be very helpful in my long, long, long quest to learn to speak Italian.

Posted by
44 posts

In addition to what has been said, the Imperfetto tense, (io parlavo) can be translated with the expression "I used to ...":
"Parlavo di te con i miei colleghi" --> " I used to talk about you with my colleagues"
In any case, the Imperfetto tense indicates a continuous or a routine action in the past, while the passato prossimo tense (auxiliary verb + past participle: io ho parlato) indicates an action started and ended in the past.
The passato remoto tense (io parlai) is practically used only in written texts (articles, novels etc.) and in formal speeches; only in southern italy it's still used (not everywhere ) in spoken italian.

Posted by
111 posts

Thanks so much for all the responses. I will definitely do some "verb drilling", so that I can use the correct past tense, without having to think about it in my mind. I did know about the passato remoto, and frankly, never learned that one very well.
Grazie tutti.

Posted by
3812 posts

I understand your confusion. I certainly don't have the knowledge of Dario or Roberto

I swear I have no idea what you are all parlando about.

Posted by
171 posts

Kind of related topic....we have found that italians tend to not use the "io" part, from what I understand it's too formal, others may have had different experiences speaking with iIalians.

Posted by
111 posts

Grazie tutti per le vostre risposte. Anche Roberto per la lessione.
It is clearer to me now, when to use the tense endings, I just need to learn them without having to think.
Thank you Charylm for the book suggestion, I will look for it.

We will back in Italy in 3 weeks, after several years, can't wait!
J.A.

Posted by
557 posts

we have found that italians tend to not use the "io" part

You means the pronoun? Yes, true. It depends by the fact that the conjugation of the verb is different for every pronoun.
An example. If I say "Io mangio" (I eat) or "mangio" I am sure is related to me.
The conjugation for "mangiare" (to eat) is:
Io mangio (I eat)
Tu mangi (you eat)
Egli mangia (he/she/it eats)
Noi mangiamo (we eat)
Voi mangiate (you eat)
Essi mangiano (they eat)

So in Italian say "mangio" is clear who is the subject: me. In English is important make it clear adding "I eat", because only "eat" means almost nothing: too unclear.

In any case isn't really considered too formal. Mainly if you have and English or American accent nobody takes care for it.
To say something formal we have other forms.

Posted by
44 posts

Italian is a so called pronoun-dropping (pro-drop) language: personal pronouns are usually omitted since the subject can be deduced from the verb conjugation.
In some situations the personal pronoun can be explicitly introduced to emphasize that the action is exclusively performed by the subject and not by other people, let's make an example:
Person A: "Cosa volete fare?" = "what do you (plural) want to do?"
Person B: "Io vado a casa" = "(for what concerns me), I'm going home"
Using "Io" in this case emphasizes the fact that the decision of going home is mine, concerns me and maybe not all the other people in the group; it's different from saying only "vado a casa".
A similar situation is when the waiter asks: "cosa volete ordinare?" (What would you like to order?) The typical answer is: "Io prendo una pizza" (for me, I'll have a pizza)

Posted by
111 posts

Thanks again, to all.
When ordering in a restaurant, or bar, I always say vorrei, just to be extra polite, though I do know that I can say io prendo, or mi prendi.

Roberto...I worked on the worksheets you sent, thanks so much!

Just in case others may be interested...is anyone watching Imma Tartaranni? I'm hooked. And I do find watching Italian shows and movies very helpful, if they are not speaking too quickly. And I've been watching again some YouTubes on the imperfetto. Every bit helps.

Posted by
16135 posts

Io prendo…=I take…
That is correct and would work.

Mi prendi=Take me
I’m not sure what the waiter would do with that one. Maybe kidnap you? Marry you?
Maybe you meant “Mi porti…”=Bring me….

Posted by
111 posts

Ha Roberto! Of course, I meant "mi porti". Thank you for a morning, chuckle. The news here in the U.S. is so depressing.
Buon giornata, tutti.