peggioravamo

Peggioravamo is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb peggiorare, meaning to get worse or deteriorate. It is used to describe a ongoing or habitual deterioration in the past, either as a background process or as the speaker’s own action that made a situation worse.

Grammatical notes:

- Peggiorare is a regular -are verb; the imperfect forms are formed with the ending -avamo for noi: peggioravamo.

- The verb can be intransitive, as when the subject’s condition or situation worsened (la situazione peggiorava), or transitive, as when the subject contributed to worsening something (noi peggioravamo la situazione).

Etymology:

- Peggiorare derives from the stem peggior-, related to the comparative adjective peggio (worse) and the Latin evolution from peior/peius, with the suffix -are to form the verb.

Usage:

- Common in narrative and descriptive writing to set a past scene or describe evolving circumstances.

- Typical constructions include subject + peggiorava/peggioravamo + circumstance or object, illustrating gradual change over time.

Examples:

- Durante la crisi la situazione peggiorava di giorno in giorno.

- Noi peggioravamo la situazione con le nostre decisioni impulsive.

See also:

- peggiorare

- peggio

- peggioramento

Peggioravamo thus functions as a standard imperfect form conveying ongoing past deterioration, adaptable to both intransitive and transitive senses depending on context.