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Questions tagged [tenses]

A set of forms taken by a verb to indicate the time and/or completeness and continuance of the action in relation to the time of the utterance.

A set of forms taken by a verb to indicate the time and/or completeness and continuance of the action in relation to the time of the utterance.

54 questions
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Per poco non + passato prossimo oppure imperfetto?

Voglio dire "I almost cried watching the film La vita è bella" in italiano. Dovrei dire Per poco non ho pianto guardando il film La vita è bella oppure Per poco non piangevo guardando il film La vita è bella ?
George Law
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"Sarà un'eternità e mezza che non ti vedo!": Why use the future tense "sarà" to describe an already completed action?

Today I bumped into a friend of mine, an Italian native speaker, on the street I hadn't seen for quite a while. I'm pretty sure she said: Sarà un'eternità e mezza che non ti vedo! Looking back on it, the tense used here piques my interest: despite…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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1 answer

Il passato progressivo (stare all'imperfetto + il gerundio o l'imperfetto)?

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…
pj2452
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Can "andare" in present tense refer to the future?

Can the verb "andare" conjugated in the present tense be used to refer to the future? Example: Vado a prendere la macchina. (= I go get the car / I'm going to get the car) (present action). Could it also refer to plan of getting the car in the…
Alan Evangelista
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"Sarà un'eternità e mezza che non ti vedo!": Why use the present tense "vedo" to describe an already completed action?

Today I bumped into a friend of mine, an Italian native speaker, on the street I hadn't seen for quite a while. I'm pretty sure she said: Sarà un'eternità e mezza che non ti vedo! Looking back on it, the tense used here piques my interest: despite…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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vote
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Whether to use Present or Past Conditional in a subordinate clause after using Present Perfect in a main clause?

Abbiamo pensato che ti avrebbe fatto piacere sentire di nuovo il sapore di casa. I wonder if you always need to use Past Conditional in a subordinate clause after using Present Perfect in a main clause? Is it wrong to say: Abbiamo pensato che ti…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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Checking past tenses in a sentence

Are the tenses in this sentence correct? Oggi ho visto la mia amica Amanda che non vedevo da molto tempo. Would this version be better? Oggi ho visto la mia amica Amanda che non avevo visto da molto tempo.
Dan
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