avemmo

Avemmo is the first-person plural form of the Italian verb avere in the passato remoto, meaning “we had.” The passato remoto is a past tense used mainly in formal writing and in some regional dialects, particularly for narrative or historical accounts. In standard spoken Italian, the passato prossimo (abbiamo avuto) is far more common.

Conjugation and form: avere in the passato remoto has irregular forms. The full set for the singular and plural persons is: io ebbi, tu avesti, lui/lei ebbe, noi avemmo, voi aveste, loro ebbero. The form avemmo is thus used specifically for “we had.” This tense often appears in literature and historical chronicles to place events in a distant past.

Usage: Avemmo signals a completed action at a definite point in the past and is typically found in written narration, especially classical or formal prose. It can convey a sense of distance or antiquity in the narrative voice. In contemporary everyday Italian, speakers generally prefer the passato prossimo or other imperfect tenses, reserving the passato remoto for stylistic or regional reasons.

Etymology and related forms: Avemmo derives from the verb avere, which itself comes from Latin habere. The passato remoto forms show historic irregularities in the stem (ebbi/ebbe) that have persisted in modern Italian. Avemmo is the conventional first-person plural form, while the corresponding forms for other persons follow the irregular patterns of the same tense.

Example: Nel 1492 avemmo una grande vittoria. This illustrates how the tense situates a past event within a historical narrative.