invitai

Invitai is the first-person singular form of the Italian verb invitare in the passato remoto, the simple past tense used mainly in literary or historical writing. The form translates to “I invited” in English. In everyday spoken Italian, speakers typically use the passato prossimo, as in “ho invitato,” rather than the passato remoto.

Etymology and grammar: invitare comes from Latin invitare, meaning to invite or summon. As a regular -are verb, invitare forms its passato remoto as follows: io invitai, tu invitasti, lui invitò, noi invitammo, voi invitaste, loro invitarono. The third-person plural form is invitarono. The verb is used with direct objects, e.g., Io invitai Maria alla festa; or Io invitai loro a cena.

Usage: Inviti such as invitai are most common in formal, narrative, or historical contexts, including novels, chronicles, or scholarly writing. In contemporary Italian, speakers generally prefer the compound passato prossimo for past events, reserving passato remoto for stylistic or regional preferences. The form remains a standard part of the language’s verb inflection and is taught to illustrate regular -are conjugation in historical tense.

Notes: While invitate as a form, invitarono is the past remote for “they invited,” and the stem invitar- is consistent across all persons in the passato remoto. The distinction between passato remoto and passato prossimo is especially notable in written Italian and can reflect regional or stylistic choices rather than differences in meaning.

See also: invitare, passato remoto, Italian verb conjugation.