Aumentavamo

Aumentavamo is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb aumentare, meaning to increase or raise. The form corresponds to English “we were increasing” or “we used to increase.” It is a regular conjugation for the -are verb class, formed from the stem aument- plus the imperfect ending -avamo.

Morphology and usage

In Italian, the imperfect indicative describes past actions that were ongoing, repeated, or set as a background in relation to another past event. Aumentavamo can express a continuous process in the past or a habitual increase over a period of time. It is commonly used in narrative or descriptive contexts to indicate gradual or repeated growth, rather than a single completed action.

Nuance and alternatives

Aumentavamo is often interchangeable with constructions that emphasize duration, such as stavamo aumentando (we were increasing) in more explicit progressive sense. However, the imperfect form without an auxiliary can sound more general or habitual, whereas the present progressive form stresses the ongoing nature at a particular moment in the past.

Origin

The verb aumentare derives from Latin augmentare, meaning to increase, from augmentum “an increase.” The specific form aumentavamo reflects the regular -are verb conjugation pattern in the Italian imperfect tense.

Examples

- Noi aumentavamo la produzione ogni settimana. (We were increasing production every week.)

- Quando la domanda cresceva, aumentavamo i prezzi. (When demand was growing, we increased the prices.)

- Aumentavamo gradualmente la capacità operativa nel corso dell’anno. (We were gradually increasing the operating capacity over the year.)

See also

Conjugation patterns of aumentare; other past tenses in Italian; related verbs indicating growth or rise.