cercare imperfect tense conjugation
Cercare (to look for) in the imperfect tense: cercavo, cercavi, cercava, cercavamo, cercavate, cercavano.
Imperfetto Imperfect
| io | |
|---|---|
| tu | |
| lui/lei | |
| noi | |
| voi | |
| loro |
ending regular · irr breaks the pattern · tap a form to hear it
When to use the imperfect tense
The imperfetto describes the past as background: habits (“used to”), ongoing actions and descriptions: “Da bambino giocavo a calcio.”
How it is formed
Regular endings: -are → avo, avi, ava, avamo, avate, avano; -ere → evo…; -ire → ivo…. Essere is irregular (ero, eri, era…); fare, dire and bere use their old stems (facevo, dicevo, bevevo).
Cercare is regular here, so it is a good model for other verbs of the same class.
Cercare in a sentence
- Cerco le chiavi da stamattina.I've been looking for my keys since this morning.
- Ho cercato lavoro per mesi.I looked for a job for months.
Add 'h' before -i/-e endings (cerchi, cerchiamo); use 'cercare di' + infinitive.
FAQ
What is the imperfect tense of cercare?
Cercare in the Italian imperfect tense: io cercavo, tu cercavi, lui/lei cercava, noi cercavamo, voi cercavate, loro cercavano.
Is cercare irregular in the imperfect tense?
No. In the imperfect tense cercare takes the regular endings for its verb class, so cercavo follows the same pattern as any regular verb.
When do you use the Italian imperfect tense?
The imperfetto describes the past as background: habits (“used to”), ongoing actions and descriptions: “Da bambino giocavo a calcio.”
How is the imperfect tense formed?
Regular endings: -are → avo, avi, ava, avamo, avate, avano; -ere → evo…; -ire → ivo…. Essere is irregular (ero, eri, era…); fare, dire and bere use their old stems (facevo, dicevo, bevevo).
Full cercare conjugation, all tenses →
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