Unit 101 Guidebook: talk about the distant past

KEY PHRASES

Talk about the distant past

Era arrivata con la figlia e il marito.
She had arrived with her daughter and her husband.
Era andata a scuola con i genitori e le due sorelle.
She had gone to school with her parents and two sisters.
I genitori non avevano capito nulla.
The parents had not understood anything.
Aveva chiamato il suo amico.
She had called her friend.
Eravamo diventate migliori amiche quell'anno.
We had become best friends that year.
TIP

Quando avevate parlato?

In English, we can say I had used or I had worked when we're talking about something we don't do anymore. You can do basically the same thing in Italian!

First, use the past form of avere that matches who you're talking about.

subject verb (avere)
io
I		 avevo
had
tu
you		 avevi
had
lui / lei
he / she		 aveva
had
noi
we		 avevamo
had
voi
you all		 avevate
had
loro
they		 avevano
had

Then you'll change the next verb ending to ‑ato, ‑uto, or ‑ito.

Pochi avevano creduto.
Few had believed.
Il lupo ci aveva seguito tutta la notte.
The wolf had followed us the whole night.
Noi avevamo aspettato quell'autobus.
We had waited for that bus.
TIP

To have or to be?

The past of avere plus a verb is used to say things like io avevo parlato, which means I had spoken.

But some verbs that talk about motion (like venire and andare) use essere instead of avere.

Eri venuto dalla città.
You had come from the city.
Come pensavamo, lui era andato all'estero.
As we thought, he had gone abroad.

Verbs that include extra little words, like mi ero ricordato, also use essere in these cases.

Lui si era ricordato del mio compleanno.
He had remembered my birthday.
I dolci mi erano piaciuti molto.
I had liked the desserts a lot.
TIP

Non era stato un problema

Remember that verbs that use the past of essere have different endings depending on who is doing what. The endings change depending on gender...

Lui era passato sotto il ponte.
He had passed under the bridge.
Lei era andata a scuola con i genitori.
She had gone to school with her parents.

... and they also change depending on whether you're talking about one person or multiple people.

I ragazzi erano entrati senza biglietti.
The boys had entered without tickets.
Quasi tutte le mucche erano arrivate.
Almost all the cows had arrived.
Lei era andata al supermercato.​
She had gone to the supermarket.