Breakdown of L'estate scorsa avevo una bicicletta e mio cugino aveva una tartaruga.
una
a / an (feminine)
e
and
il cugino
cousin
avere
to have
mio
my
scorso
last / previous
l'estate
summer
la bicicletta
bicycle
la tartaruga
turtle
Questions & Answers about L'estate scorsa avevo una bicicletta e mio cugino aveva una tartaruga.
Why do we use the imperfetto (avevo, aveva) here instead of the passato prossimo?
The imperfetto is used to describe ongoing states, habits, or situations in the past. Owning a bicycle or a turtle is a continuous state of having something over a period of time, rather than a single completed action, so we use the imperfetto.
Is avere irregular in the imperfetto tense?
No, it follows the regular pattern! You take the stem ave- and add the standard imperfetto endings. This gives us avevo for I had, and aveva for he had.
Why is there no article before mio cugino? I thought we normally say things like il mio libro.
You usually need a definite article with possessives, but there is an important exception for singular family members. Because cugino (cousin) is a singular relative, we say mio cugino instead of il mio cugino.
Why does scorso end in -a in L'estate scorsa?
The word estate (summer) is a feminine noun, even though it ends in -e. The adjective scorso (last) must match the noun's gender and number, so it changes to the feminine singular form scorsa.
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