ELONIO
Log inSign up

Ho giocato per tutta la mia infanzia.

Ho giocato per tutta la mia infanzia.
I played for my whole childhood.
From Lesson 99:Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Ho giocato per tutta la mia infanzia.

Why use per here instead of da?
We use per because it shows a completed duration of time. The speaker's childhood is over, so the action is finished. If you used da, it would imply the action started in the past and is still happening right now!
Why use ho giocato (passato prossimo) instead of giocavo (imperfetto) for something done in childhood?
Normally, to say "I used to play" or "I played" as a habit in childhood, you would use the imperfect tense (giocavo). However, because we explicitly added per tutta la mia infanzia, we are framing the entire childhood as one single, measured block of completed time. For a closed, completed duration with per, Italian prefers the passato prossimo.
Why is it tutta instead of tutto?
The word for "all" or "whole" must match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Because infanzia (childhood) is feminine and singular, the word becomes tutta.
Why do we need the word la before mia infanzia? In English, we just say "my childhood."
In Italian, you almost always need a definite article (like il or la) before a possessive word (like mio or mia). The main exception is when you are talking about singular family members (like mio padre). Since infanzia isn't a family member, it requires the la.

Learn Ho giocato per tutta la mia infanzia and more in Italian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Italian →