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Ciao!

I was curious how the English "Past Continuous" tense is translated in Italian.

In many cases online I have seen it written as either of the two options:

1) Stare (l'imperfetto) + verbo (il gerundio)

2) Verbo (l'imperfetto)

Example: I was going home.

1) Io stavo andando a casa.

2) Io andavo a casa.

Are these both acceptable forms to convey the same message? Is one more common than the other? Does this also hold for verbs other than andare?

pj2452
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    Without touching on the question itself, notice that you wouldn't say * guidare a casa for “to drive home”. You'd just say something like andare a casa, adding in macchina if necessary. – DaG Aug 02 '16 at 07:17
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    And, most of the times, you'd omit the subject, unless intending to stress it for some reason. That is, stavo andando a casa but io stavo andando a casa, mentre Luigi andava nella direzione opposta. – DaG Aug 02 '16 at 07:19
  • Thanks, I understand the subject is normally omitted. I just left it in for completeness. – pj2452 Aug 02 '16 at 09:46

1 Answers1

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I answered to your analogous question for the present continuous, now I do the same for the past :).

First of all, as DaG already told you, Italians don't usually say:

Io stavo andando a casa

but only:

Stavo andando a casa

unless you want to emphasize the subject, for example (here io and tu are stressed):

Oggi io ho cucinato, io ho lavato i piatti e tu hai solo mangiato, domani o cucini tu o mi porti al ristorante!

Regarding the imperfetto di stare + gerundio, it is more or less like the past continuous in English, it is used to describe an action that was occurring in the past when some other action happened, for example:

Stavo andando tranquillamente a casa in macchina quando, all'improvviso, davanti a me è sbucata (not completely grammatically correct but used) una volpe

or

Stavo andando tranquillamente a casa in macchina quando, all'improvviso, davanti a me sbucò (correct but used only in formal Italian) una volpe

The imperfetto is used for habitual actions:

Quando abitavo a Milano, andavo al lavoro in tram tutti i giorni

As suggested by DaG and Denis Nardin, in some cases the imperfetto is used to interpret the English past continuous.

First example (a cultured Manzoni's quotation proposed by egreg):

Per una di queste stradicciole, tornava bel bello dalla passeggiata verso casa, sulla sera del giorno 7 novembre dell'anno 1628, don Abbondio, curato d'una delle terre accennate di sopra […]

I don't dare to translate it in English but don Abbondio was coming back...

Second example:

When WWII happened I was working as a beautician

Quando la seconda guerra mondiale scoppiò, lavoravo come estetista

here if you say:

Quando la seconda guerra mondiale scoppiò, stavo lavorando

it seems that, when WWII was declared, you were at work :)

Charo
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CarLaTeX
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    Ceterum censeo che “guidare” usato nel senso di “andare in macchina” è un anglismo. Controprova empirica, per il poco che vale: cercando la stringa "stavo guidando verso casa" si ottengono in stragrande maggioranza brani di libri tradotti dall'inglese... – DaG Aug 02 '16 at 16:29
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    @DaG, hai ragione, volevo cercare di utilizzare l'esempio originale ma non suona bene, correggo – CarLaTeX Aug 02 '16 at 18:12
  • Thank you. So, l'imperfetto is never used to interpret the English past continuous? – pj2452 Aug 02 '16 at 22:17
  • @pj2452 "Never say never" but I can't think of an example where the imperfetto is used as the past continuous in English. – CarLaTeX Aug 03 '16 at 04:38
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    You sure, @CarLaTeX? A sentence such as “Me ne andavo bel bello per la mia strada, quando...” sounds perfectly ordinary to me. – DaG Aug 03 '16 at 07:24
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    @CarLaTeX What about When WWIII happened I was working as an owl beautician, which I'd translate Quando la terza guerra mondiale scoppiò lavoravo come estetista per gufi (più idiomatica forse facevo l'estetista di gufi) – Denis Nardin Aug 03 '16 at 07:33
  • @DaG yes, it's OK – CarLaTeX Aug 03 '16 at 08:34
  • @DenisNardin you both are cleverer than me, your example is perfect! – CarLaTeX Aug 03 '16 at 08:35
  • @pj2452 As you can see DaG and DenisNardin have already found some examples! – CarLaTeX Aug 03 '16 at 08:48
  • Nobody is cleverer than anybody, @CarLaTeX, it's just that Denis and me happened to think up those examples! Do you want to include them in your answer? – DaG Aug 03 '16 at 13:23
  • @DaG I've tried to include your examples, fell free to edit my answer if I made some mistakes, thank you! – CarLaTeX Aug 03 '16 at 14:35
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    A well known example of imperfetto used where in English the progressive form would be preferred: “Per una di queste stradicciole, tornava bel bello dalla passeggiata verso casa, sulla sera del giorno 7 novembre dell'anno 1628, don Abbondio, curato d'una delle terre accennate di sopra […].” – egreg Aug 04 '16 at 09:24
  • @egreg I bow to your culture and edit my answer :)! – CarLaTeX Aug 04 '16 at 12:40
  • Could someone explain what criteria was used to infer if one tense or another should be used when referring to single past events? Why couldn't one say "Per una di queste stradicciole, stava tornando..." or "Quando la seconda guerra mondiale scoppiò, stavo lavorando come estetista" (different from the presented sentence without "come estetista") ? – Alan Evangelista Sep 03 '19 at 06:37
  • @AlanEvangelista For the rule, I think you should ask another question (I'm not a linguist, I'm only Italian mother tongue), sorry. – CarLaTeX Sep 03 '19 at 07:02