guardò

Guardò is the third-person singular form of the Italian verb guardare in the passato remoto, the simple past tense commonly used in formal writing and narrative. It translates as “he watched” or “she watched,” and, when used with the formal pronoun Lei, can convey “you watched.”

Conjugation and usage: In the passato remoto, -are verbs such as guardare follow a regular pattern: io guardai, tu guardasti, egli guardò, noi guardammo, voi guardaste, essi guardarono. The accent on the final o in guardò marks the stress and distinguishes this form from other tenses. Guardò is primarily found in written literature, historical accounts, and certain regional or historical registers; in everyday speech Italian speakers typically use the compound passato prossimo, ha guardato, to express past actions.

Pronunciation and orthography: Guardò is written with a grave accent on the final vowel to indicate the stressed syllable. Without the accent, the form would be read differently and could blur the intended tense. The base verb is guardare, meaning “to watch” or “to look at.”

Examples and nuance: In a novel, one might encounter: Egli guardò il mare e sorrise. In modern conversation, one would normally say: Lui ha guardato il mare. Guardò, though correct, signals a distant narrative past rather than a spoken recollection.

See also: Guardare, Passato remoto, Italian verb tenses.