esageravamo

Esageravamo is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb esagerare, meaning to exaggerate or to overstate. In narration, esageravamo denotes a past, ongoing, or habitual action, often translated as “we were exaggerating” or “we used to exaggerate,” depending on context.

Etymology and language notes: Esagerare derives from the Italian Romance verb family and ultimately traces back to Latin exaggerare. The form esageravamo is formed by adding the typical imperfect ending -avamo to the stem esager- and is part of regular verb conjugation in the first group of -are verbs.

Usage: The word is used in everyday Italian to describe past behavior characterized by exaggeration. It can introduce anecdotes, memories, or reflections about how stories, events, or achievements were presented in the past. It commonly appears with adverbs like sempre, spesso, o durante l’infanzia to emphasize frequency or duration.

Examples:

- Da ragazzi esageravamo sempre le nostre imprese nelle storie che raccontavamo. (As kids, we always exaggerated our exploits in the stories we told.)

- Quando raccontavamo quell’esperienza, esageravamo parecchio per renderla più interessante. (When we told that experience, we exaggerated quite a bit to make it more interesting.)

In cultural usage, esageravamo is frequently encountered in reminiscences, diaries, and narrative passages where speakers recall how past events were portrayed or remembered. It reflects a common Italian verb pattern for expressing habitual or recurring past actions.