promettevamo

Promettevamo is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb promettere, meaning to promise. It is used to describe a past action, state, or repeated promises, and often signals that the act of promising was ongoing or habitual in the past. In the imperfect tense, the form follows the regular endings for -ere verbs: io promettevo, tu promettevi, lui prometteva, noi promettevamo, voi promettevate, loro promettevano. The usage of promettevamo corresponds to translations such as “we promised” or “we were promising,” depending on context.

In sentence construction, promessevamo is commonly followed by a subordinate clause introduced by di + infinitive, to express the content of the promise: prommettere di fare qualcosa. An example is: “Promettevamo di tornare prima dell’alba.” This construction is frequent in narrative and dialogue to recount past intentions or commitments that occurred over a period or as part of ongoing conversation.

Etymology and related forms: promettere derives from Latin promittere, formed from pro- “forward” and mittere “to send,” with the sense of delivering a pledge. The imperfect form promettevamo preserves the Latin-derived stem promitt- and the standard Italian imperfect endings. The related past participe promesso is used with avere to form the passato prossimo (abbiamo promesso).

Usage note: The imperfect form promettevamo is encountered in literary, journalistic, and everyday Italian to convey past promises in a nuanced way, distinguishing it from a single completed promise or a later retraction.