avevamo

Avevamo is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb avere, meaning "we had" or, in certain contexts, "we used to have." It is used to describe ongoing past states, habitual past actions, or to introduce actions in the past when combined with another verb in the past participle.

Etymology and forms

Avere derives from Latin habēre, and the Italian imperfect forms come from the Latin imperfect tense. The form avevamo appears in the standard conjugation of the imperfect with the verb stem ave- plus the imperfect ending -vamo. The full imperfect conjugation in this person is: io avevo, tu avevi, lui/lei aveva, noi avevamo, voi avevate, loro avevano. The imperfect is often contrasted with the present tense of avere (ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete, hanno) and with other past tenses such as the passato prossimo (ho avuto, hai avuto, ha avuto, abbiamo avuto, avete avuto, hanno avuto) and the trapassato prossimo (avevo avuto, avevi avuto, aveva avuto, avevamo avuto, avevate avuto, avevano avuto).

Usage notes

Avevamo is used to set scenes in the past, describe states that persisted over a period, or narrate habitual past actions. It often appears with another verb in the past participle to form compound tenses, as in avevamo finito (we had finished) or avevamo deciso (we had decided). The context clarifies whether the action is simply in the past or part of a longer past timeline.

See also

Avere, Italian verbs conjugation, Imperfect tense, Trapassato prossimo.