irritavamo

Irritavamo is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb irritare, meaning to irritate, annoy, or provoke. The imperfect expresses a past action that was ongoing or habitual, so irritavamo can be translated as we were irritating or we used to irritate.

Conjugation: irritare is a regular -are verb. In the imperfect indicative the endings are: io irritavo, tu irritavi, lui/lei irritava, noi irritavamo, voi irritavate, loro irritavano. Therefore irritavamo corresponds to noi plus the stem irrit- with the ending -avamo.

Usage: It is used to describe ongoing actions in the past or repeated actions. It often appears with time expressions or adverbs that indicate habit or duration, and it can set a background tone in narratives. For example, irritavamo i vicini con i rumori notturni (we were irritating the neighbors with the nighttime noises) or irritavamo spesso i compagni con scherzi innocenti (we often irritated our classmates with harmless pranks).

Examples:

- Durante la festa irritavamo i genitori con i nostri scherzi.

- Da bambini irritavamo spesso i fratelli maggiori con piccoli trucchi.

Etymology: irritare deriva dal latino irritare, meaning to provoke or excite, a form ultimately linked to the sense of causing annoyance. The form irritavamo is a standard imperfect ending for -are verbs in the noi form.