potere imperfect tense conjugation
Potere (to be able to/can) in the imperfect tense: potevo, potevi, poteva, potevamo, potevate, potevano.
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).
Potere is regular here, so it is a good model for other verbs of the same class.
Potere in a sentence
- Posso aiutarti?Can I help you?
- Non ho potuto venire ieri.I couldn't come yesterday.
Modal verb, irregular; in compound tenses takes the auxiliary of the following infinitive.
FAQ
What is the imperfect tense of potere?
Potere in the Italian imperfect tense: io potevo, tu potevi, lui/lei poteva, noi potevamo, voi potevate, loro potevano.
Is potere irregular in the imperfect tense?
No. In the imperfect tense potere takes the regular endings for its verb class, so potevo 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 potere conjugation, all tenses →
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