imparava

Imparava is an Italian verb form: the imperfect indicative (imperfetto) third-person singular of the regular verb imparare ("to learn"). It also serves for the formal second-person singular (Lei). As an imperfect form, imparava denotes past habitual actions, ongoing or incomplete actions in the past, and background descriptions.

The imperfect is formed from the stem imparav- plus the ending -a. The full imperfect conjugation of imparare is: io imparavo, tu imparavi, lui/lei/Lei imparava, noi imparavamo, voi imparavate, loro imparavano. Related non-finite forms include the gerund imparando and the past participle imparato.

Typical uses of imparava include reporting what someone used to do or was doing at a past time: for example, "Quando era bambino, imparava a suonare il pianoforte" (When he was a child, he learned/was learning to play the piano) or "Ogni estate, imparava nuove ricette dalla nonna" (Each summer, she learned new recipes from her grandmother). In narratives, the imparfetto often sets the scene or indicates ongoing background actions that contrast with specific events expressed by the passato prossimo or passato remoto.

Imparare is a standard first-conjugation (-are) verb, and imparava follows regular conjugation patterns common to many Italian verbs.