Learn Italian: Leggere i fumetti era un ottimo passatempo. - Reading comics was an excellent pastime.

Leggere i fumetti era un ottimo passatempo.

Reading comics was an excellent pastime.

Breakdown of Leggere i fumetti era un ottimo passatempo.

Questions & Answers about Leggere i fumetti era un ottimo passatempo.

Why does the sentence start with Leggere (to read) instead of an -ing word like in English?

In Italian, when an action is the subject of a sentence, you use the infinitive form of the verb (here, leggere). English usually uses the -ing form (Reading) for this, but Italian never uses its -ing equivalent as a subject noun.

Why is era used here, and is it a regular imperfetto verb?

Era means was and is the he/she/it form of essere (to be) in the imperfetto tense. Unlike the regular -are, -ere, and -ire verbs in this lesson, essere is irregular in the imperfetto. It is used here because the sentence describes a continuing state or ongoing situation in the past.

Is ottimo related to buono?

Yes! Ottimo is a special strong form of buono (good). It means excellent or extremely good. Instead of saying molto buono (very good), you can use ottimo to sound more expressive and natural.

I see the word tempo hidden in passatempo. How is this word formed?

Passatempo is a compound noun made from the verb passare (to pass) and the noun il tempo (the time). It literally translates to pass-time, which is exactly how the English word pastime was created!