Ricevevi

Ricevevi is the second-person singular imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb ricevere, meaning to receive. In Italian, the imperfect is used to describe ongoing actions in the past or habitual states, so ricevevi translates roughly as “you were receiving” or “you used to receive.” The form is part of the regular -ere verb conjugation in the imperfect, with the stem ricev- and the standard endings: -vo, -vi, -va, -vamo, -vate, -vano. Therefore the full imperfect paradigm is io ricevevo, tu ricevevi, lui/lei riceveva, noi ricevevamo, voi ricevevate, loro ricevevano. The form ricevevi commonly appears with an explicit subject tu, though Italian often drops the subject pronoun.

Examples:

- Da ragazzo, tu ricevevi spesso pacchi dal nonno.

- Durante quegli anni, tu ricevevi notizie frequenti dal lavoro.

Etymology:

Ricevere derives from Latin recipere, via Vulgar Latin, sharing the root with other Romance languages. The imperfect tense preserves a regular -ere verb pattern in Italian.

See also:

ricevere, imperfect indicative, Italian conjugation.