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croll Saturday 27th of August 2005 10:36:59 PM
begginer - Hi,

I'm a new member.
And I have a question.

What's the difference of usage between "Io avevo" and "Io ebbi"? - since they have same meaning "I had"

thanks

Carla Thursday 01st of September 2005 05:22:28 AM
past tenses in italian - Hi Croll,
Welcome to Phrasebase :)

"Io avevo" = imperfetto tense
"io ebbi" = passato remoto tense
There is another past tense commonly used in Italian, the passato prossimo ("io ho avuto").

Please see my post in the topic
[url]http://www.phrasebase.com/forum/read.php?TID=5829[/url]
to read an explanation about the use of past tenses in Italian
;)
Carla

croll Thursday 01st of September 2005 06:25:46 PM
are the games still valid? - hi carla,

thanks for the answer. Yes, i'v seen your explanation.
Are the games still valid? can I join it?

thanks a lot

Carla Friday 02nd of September 2005 06:59:16 AM
- Yes of course, you can take part to the games, start other games, ask questions... :)

Carla

aesteria Sunday 04th of September 2005 07:17:33 PM
- I'd like to add something more about the topic " io avevo"/"io ebbi". The Italian language is a bit different if spoken in the North part of the country or in the South. Southern Italians tend to use commonly passato remoto tense when speaking about past events or actions,while Northern Italians never use it and prefer talking about the part ( recent or far one) with imperfetto tense.Taking me as an example,being a northern Italian,I never use passato remoto tense,except for some rare cases( like when writing an Italian essay at school.If I start using passato remoto while speaking with my friends they would asking me why I'm talking so weird,can you believe it?). I heard that you can basically find the "standard Italian" by listening to the national TV,where people used to take classes of "proper Italian pronounciation" ,and even if you do it,you will notice that few people use passato remoto.My suggestion is to focus more on imperfetto tense,because is more used ( That doesn't mean that you have to forget about passato remoto,but I already explained to you why I would choose to focus on Imperfetto)
Do you agree with me Carla?
Anyway hello to everyone,I'm new in here and that's my first post!

croll Monday 05th of September 2005 12:28:34 PM
- hi aesteria,
thanks for the explanation, it was a great help. No wonder why, when i practiced with my Italian friends with same structure, one said my writing was correct and the other made a correction on it.

grazie

leobloom Tuesday 06th of September 2005 09:37:38 PM
ehm...just a little mistake... - Hi, I'm Vito... this is one of my first posts in this site. I noticed a mistake. In Carla's 2nd post she gave exemples of past tenses in >Italian. The passato prossimo tense isn't IO AVEVO, it's IO ho avuto and in English it's mostly translated as a Simple Past (in very few cases it's a present perfect)...
Saluti

Carla Wednesday 07th of September 2005 05:35:26 PM
- Hi Vito
Welcome to Phrasebase :)
Thanks for pointing out the mistake, I just corrected it.

Just to summarize what I said about passato prossimo and imperfetto:
[b]PASSATO PROSSIMO[/b]
Passato prossimo is used to report a [u]specific event[/u] happened at a [u]specific time[/u].
Some examples:
Sabato scorso [color=blue]sono andato [/color] al ristorante e [color=blue]ho mangiato [/color] una pizza - Last Saturday I went to the restaurant and I had a pizza

[b]IMPERFETTO [/b]
Imperfetto is used in the following cases:

1. for [u]usual actions[/u] (like the english “used to be”, “used to do”)
Quando [color=green]ero[/color] piccola [color=green]leggevo[/color] le favole – When I was a child I used to read fairy tales

2. for [u]actions in progress[/u], when something else happened or was happening
Mentre leggevo (action in progress – imperfetto) lui guardava (action in progress – imperfetto) la televisione - While I was reading he was watching TV,
Mentre andavo (action in progress – imperfetto) a casa ho incontrato (specific event – passato prossimo) un mio amico – While I was going home I met a friend of mine

3. for [u]descriptions[/u], when reporting [u]past situations[/u]
Ieri c’[color=green]era[/color] il sole e [color=green]faceva[/color] caldo – Yesterday the weather was sunny and warm
;)
Carla

leobloom Wednesday 07th of September 2005 05:47:43 PM
Di niente! - I really hope I can give a hand to all those who want to learn Italian. Just post questions and i'll try to answer as well as I can.
ps: This site rocks!!!!

Phrasebase Archive
	croll	Saturday 27th of August 2005 10:36:59 PM
	begginer - Hi, I'm a new member. And I have a question. What's the difference of usage between "Io avevo" and "Io ebbi"? - since they have same meaning "I had" thanks
	Carla	Thursday 01st of September 2005 05:22:28 AM
	past tenses in italian - Hi Croll, Welcome to Phrasebase :) "Io avevo" = imperfetto tense "io ebbi" = passato remoto tense There is another past tense commonly used in Italian, the passato prossimo ("io ho avuto"). Please see my post in the topic [url]http://www.phrasebase.com/forum/read.php?TID=5829[/url] to read an explanation about the use of past tenses in Italian ;) Carla
	croll	Thursday 01st of September 2005 06:25:46 PM
	are the games still valid? - hi carla, thanks for the answer. Yes, i'v seen your explanation. Are the games still valid? can I join it? thanks a lot
	Carla	Friday 02nd of September 2005 06:59:16 AM
	- Yes of course, you can take part to the games, start other games, ask questions... :) Carla
	aesteria	Sunday 04th of September 2005 07:17:33 PM
	- I'd like to add something more about the topic " io avevo"/"io ebbi". The Italian language is a bit different if spoken in the North part of the country or in the South. Southern Italians tend to use commonly passato remoto tense when speaking about past events or actions,while Northern Italians never use it and prefer talking about the part ( recent or far one) with imperfetto tense.Taking me as an example,being a northern Italian,I never use passato remoto tense,except for some rare cases( like when writing an Italian essay at school.If I start using passato remoto while speaking with my friends they would asking me why I'm talking so weird,can you believe it?). I heard that you can basically find the "standard Italian" by listening to the national TV,where people used to take classes of "proper Italian pronounciation" ,and even if you do it,you will notice that few people use passato remoto.My suggestion is to focus more on imperfetto tense,because is more used ( That doesn't mean that you have to forget about passato remoto,but I already explained to you why I would choose to focus on Imperfetto) Do you agree with me Carla? Anyway hello to everyone,I'm new in here and that's my first post!
	croll	Monday 05th of September 2005 12:28:34 PM
	- hi aesteria, thanks for the explanation, it was a great help. No wonder why, when i practiced with my Italian friends with same structure, one said my writing was correct and the other made a correction on it. grazie
	leobloom	Tuesday 06th of September 2005 09:37:38 PM
	ehm...just a little mistake... - Hi, I'm Vito... this is one of my first posts in this site. I noticed a mistake. In Carla's 2nd post she gave exemples of past tenses in >Italian. The passato prossimo tense isn't IO AVEVO, it's IO ho avuto and in English it's mostly translated as a Simple Past (in very few cases it's a present perfect)... Saluti
	Carla	Wednesday 07th of September 2005 05:35:26 PM
	- Hi Vito Welcome to Phrasebase :) Thanks for pointing out the mistake, I just corrected it. Just to summarize what I said about passato prossimo and imperfetto: [b]PASSATO PROSSIMO[/b] Passato prossimo is used to report a [u]specific event[/u] happened at a [u]specific time[/u]. Some examples: Sabato scorso [color=blue]sono andato [/color] al ristorante e [color=blue]ho mangiato [/color] una pizza - Last Saturday I went to the restaurant and I had a pizza [b]IMPERFETTO [/b] Imperfetto is used in the following cases: 1. for [u]usual actions[/u] (like the english “used to be”, “used to do”) Quando [color=green]ero[/color] piccola [color=green]leggevo[/color] le favole – When I was a child I used to read fairy tales 2. for [u]actions in progress[/u], when something else happened or was happening Mentre leggevo (action in progress – imperfetto) lui guardava (action in progress – imperfetto) la televisione - While I was reading he was watching TV, Mentre andavo (action in progress – imperfetto) a casa ho incontrato (specific event – passato prossimo) un mio amico – While I was going home I met a friend of mine 3. for [u]descriptions[/u], when reporting [u]past situations[/u] Ieri c’[color=green]era[/color] il sole e [color=green]faceva[/color] caldo – Yesterday the weather was sunny and warm ;) Carla
	leobloom	Wednesday 07th of September 2005 05:47:43 PM
	Di niente! - I really hope I can give a hand to all those who want to learn Italian. Just post questions and i'll try to answer as well as I can. ps: This site rocks!!!!