4

I want to say "I spent the whole day yesterday learning Italian"

ieri sto passai tutto il giorno imparare l'italiano

This is my first attempt in forming a complete sentence, probably fill with silly mistakes. Thanks!

abarisone
  • 20,307
  • 4
  • 30
  • 60
Ophelia
  • 41
  • 1

1 Answers1

5

The correct sentence would be:

Ieri ho passato tutto il giorno a imparare l’italiano.

using the passato prossimo verbal form.

As correctly reported by @egreg, in some varieties of Italian (Sicilian, for instance) the passato remoto would be used, because ieri is a completed span of time.

So the sentence in this case would be:

Ieri passai tutto il giorno a imparare l’italiano.

abarisone
  • 20,307
  • 4
  • 30
  • 60
  • 1
    You can also simply say "a imparare" (see https://italian.stackexchange.com/questions/1270/e-vs-ed-seguito-da-vocale-diversa-da-e), which maybe is easier for a beginner. – Charo Jul 11 '19 at 07:15
  • Yes, “a imparare” is better than “ad imparare”: that “d” is generally only used when there are two equal vowels one after another (“ad andare”). – DaG Jul 11 '19 at 08:38
  • @DaG. You're right. Answer modified. – abarisone Jul 11 '19 at 08:41
  • 2
    In some varieties of Italian (Sicilian, for instance) the passato remoto would be used, because ieri is a completed span of time. – egreg Jul 11 '19 at 09:16