Esatto, eravamo vicino alla finestra.

Exactly, we were near the window.

Breakdown of Esatto, eravamo vicino alla finestra.

• essere: to be
• la finestra: the window
• vicino a: near
• esatto: exact; correct

Questions & Answers about Esatto, eravamo vicino alla finestra.

What does Esatto mean at the beginning of the sentence?

Here Esatto is a conversational confirmation. It means Exactly, That's right, or Correct. It is not grammatically tied to the rest of the sentence; it is just responding to something said before.

What tense is eravamo?

Eravamo is the imperfetto of essere. It means we were.

The imperfect forms of essere are:

• ero = I was
• eri = you were
• era = he/she/it was
• eravamo = we were
• eravate = you were
• erano = they were

Why is eravamo used instead of siamo stati?

Eravamo gives a background description or an ongoing state in the past: we were near the window.

Italian often uses the imperfect for:

• descriptions
• situations in progress
• scene-setting in past narration

Siamo stati would sound more like a completed past fact, with more emphasis on the whole event rather than the background situation.

So if someone is recalling where people were in a scene, eravamo is very natural.