What is the difference between ero and sono stato ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.

Italian

Io ero = voce del verbo essere tempo imperfetto
Io sono stato = voce del verbo essere tempo passato prossimo
Esempio= io ero una brava persona
Io sono stato in Spagna il mese scorso

Italian

"ero" is in the "imperfetto" tense, it is used for habitual actions in the past or to describe actions that are still ongoing in the past:

"d'estate ero sempre al mare" (in the summer I was always at the beach)
"ero un bravo bambino" (I was a good child)
"ero sul treno quando mi ha chiamato" (I was on the train when she called)

"sono stato" is used for actions that ended in the past:

"l'anno scorso sono stato a Roma" (I've been to Rome last year)
"Quando ero a Roma sono stato al Colosseo" (when I was in Rome I went to the Colosseum)
"Ieri sono stato a casa" (yesterday I stayed home)

Highly-rated answerer

Persian

@naisel

perfect explanation thanks, just one question

-ero sul treno quando mi ha chiamato.

Perché hai usato "ero" sul treno?! You said Imperfetto is only for habitual actions that have happened in the past... ! What did you wanted to say about this sentence? You meant when once upon a time (as a story telling) you were on train... she called you!

explain this a bit more.

we use Imperfetto only for telling the stories about the past that have happened for us once or before or habitual actions? that happened only once or regularly?! Could you please answer this!? Thank you ☺️🙏🏻🌹

Italian

@lilypass sorry if I wasn't clear enough, the main usages of the "imperfetto" tense are:

1) Habitual actions in the past.

2)To describe that something was happening when something else happened.

3) To describe something that happened in the past for a period of time, putting emphasis on the fact that for that period the action was ongoing, and not on its conclusion.

As you can see in all this cases the meaning has a nuance of continuity, for example:

1) Ero abituato ad andare a trovare trovare mia nonna tutte le domeniche (I used to visit my grandma every Sunday)

2) Ero a casa di mia nonna e l'ho aiutata in cucina (I was at my grandma house and I helped her in the kitchen)

2) Alle due ero a casa di mia nonna (At 2 o'clock I was at my grandma house) <-- You can think of this as "when the time was 2 o'clock I was..."

3) Ieri ero a casa di mia nonna (yesterday I was at my grandma house) <--- here I am implying that I was at her house for a good amount of time, at least hours if not all day.

We can switch to "passato prossimo" in the last example:

"Ieri sono stato a casa di mia nonna" (yesterday I've been at my grandma house) <--- now we lost emphasis about the duration, I might have been there all day or just for a couple of minutes, in this case the most important information is just that I have been there.

We use "passato prossimo" also if we express the exact amount of time, for example:

"Ieri sono stato a casa di mia nonna per due ore" (yesterday I've been at my grandma house for two hours).

"Ieri sono stato a casa di mia nonna per due ore, mentre ero lì ha cominciato a nevicare" (yesterday I've been at my grandma house for two hours, while I was there it started snowing)

Highly-rated answerer

Persian

@naisel 1) Habitual actions in the past.

2)To describe that something was happening when something else happened.

3) To describe something that happened in the past for a period of time, putting emphasis on the fact that for that period the action was ongoing, and not on its conclusion.

Can make examples for each again? Some examples about each so I can understand better... 🙏🏻😥🙌🏻🌹💌

Persian

@naisel can I also say
Ero instead of Ero abituato ?!

Ero una piccola bambina di 4 anni quando sono andata della classe si piano forte! (correggimi)

Italian

@lilypass do you want other examples with "essere" or with other verbs too?

"ero" means "I was", "ero abituato" means "I used to", it depends on the context which one you would use.

Your sentence is almost correct: "ero una piccola bambina di 4 anni quando sono andata alla classe di pianoforte" ;-)

Highly-rated answerer

Persian

@naisel posso anche dire~ ero abituata una piccola bambina di 4 anni quando sono andata alla classe di pianoforte?!

And yes I want another different examples relating to those 3 functions of "Imperfetto"

to clarify more ! Please!
1) Habitual actions in the past.

2)To describe that something was happening when something else happened.

3) To describe something that happened in the past for a period of time, putting emphasis on the fact that for that period the action was ongoing, and not on its conclusion.

Italian

@lilypass no you can't, you can't use it with an adjective, the construction is:

ero abituato a + verb

For example:

Da bambino ero dispettoso (I was a naughty child)

Da bambino ero timido (I was a shy child)

Da bambino ero abituato a studiare tutti i giorni (when I was a child I was used to study every day)

Da bambina ero abituata ad andare a letto presto (when I was a child I was used to go to bed early)

Other examples:

1) Facevo colazione tutte le mattine (I had breakfast every morning)

Andavo a lavoro in autobus (I used to go to work by bus)

Mi truccavo sempre prima di uscire (I always went out wearing make-up)

2) Stavamo parlando ma lo hanno chiamato dal lavoro (we were talking but they called him from work)

Eri in spiaggia quando si è messo a piovere? (were you at the beach when it started raining?)

Non ho risposto perché guidavo (I didn't answer because I was driving)

3) A febbraio eravamo in Francia (In February we were in France)

Ieri splendeva il sole (yesterday it was a sunny day)

Stavamo bene quando stavamo insieme (we had a great time when we were a couple)

Highly-rated answerer

Persian

@naisel oh my Gosh, thank you so much, for taking the time to explain n making these examples for me! THANK YOU SO MUCH😍🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️

just if you don't get annoyed one last question:

Non ho risposto perché guidavo.

1-how do we decide to when we must make Imperfetto and not passato prossimo , like in this example why you make the risposare with passato prossimo and not the another verb guidare?! or why you didn't make guidavo and not riposavo. (Did you get what I wanted to ask?!) or it doesn't matter how I can say such things in Italian!?

and is it important to put the Imperfetto first and then passato prossimo or vice versa ? When 2 tenses happen one before or after the other?!

(Sorry for my questions... Thank you in advance <3🙌🏻😁❤️)

Italian

@lilypass you're welcome :-)

You use "imperfetto" to describe what you were doing and "passato prossimo" to describe what interrupts it:

Mentre camminavo sono caduta (I fell while I was walking)

The order doesn't matter, you can also say:

"Sono caduta mentre camminavo"

Highly-rated answerer

Persian

@naisel intendi che imperfetto funziona come gerundio ?!

andavo/stavo andando ?! Sono uguali?! Hanno funzione uguale ?!