speravano

Speravano is the third-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Italian verb sperare, meaning to hope. It is used in narrative and everyday speech to describe a past, ongoing, or repeated act of hoping, often in a context where the hoped-for outcome did not necessarily occur.

Conjugation in the imperfect

The complete imperfect tense for the verb sperare is: io speravo, tu speravi, lui/lei sperava, noi speravamo, voi speravate, loro speravano. This form is used in combination with other verbs or clauses to set a past timeframe and to convey continued or habitual hope.

Usage and examples

Speravano can introduce sentences that indicate what was hoped for in the past, such as speravano di vincere or speravano di arrivare in tempo. It is also common with clauses introduced by che, using the subjunctive mood (for example, speravano che arrivasse in tempo). In narrative text, speravano helps convey attitudes and expectations that color the events being described.

Etymology

The verb sperare derives from Latin sperāre, which in turn relates to the noun spes, meaning hope. The imperfect form speravano reflects the language’s historical development of expressing past actions of hoping.

See also

Sperare, the base verb; Italian verb conjugation; Italian subjunctive mood.