affrontavamo

Affrontavamo is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb affrontare. In the imperfect, it conveys ongoing or repeated action in the past, and can be translated as “we were facing” or “we faced,” depending on context.

Affrontare means primarily to face, confront, or tackle something—such as a problem, a danger, a challenge, or an opponent. It is used with a direct object or with prepositional phrases (affrontare un ostacolo, affrontare una difficoltà, affrontare un avversario). The sense of delivering an insult or offense is usually expressed with other words in Italian (for example, offendere or fare un affronto), while affrontare focuses on dealing with a situation or person rather than directly insulting them. The noun affronto exists to denote an affront or insult.

Etymology and register: affrontare comes from a prefixal formation around a root related to front/face, reflecting the sense of presenting oneself to or opposing at the front. The word has a general, neutral to formal register and is common in both spoken and written Italian when describing strategies, negotiations, encounters, or confrontations.

Examples of usage:

- Noi affrontavamo l’ostacolo con perseveranza, giorno dopo giorno. (We were facing the obstacle with perseverance, day after day.)

- Durante la trattativa, affrontavamo diverse alternative per giungere a un accordo. (During the negotiation, we confronted several alternatives to reach an agreement.)

In sum, affrontavamo is a grammatical form used to describe ongoing past action of facing or confronting something, rooted in the broader verb affrontare.