Learn Italian: Avevamo un problema grave a causa della crisi. - We had a serious problem because of the crisis.

Avevamo un problema grave a causa della crisi.

We had a serious problem because of the crisis.

Breakdown of Avevamo un problema grave a causa della crisi.

Questions & Answers about Avevamo un problema grave a causa della crisi.

Why is it della crisi and not del crisi if the word ends in -i?

Crisi is a feminine noun, even though it ends in -i. Many Italian nouns of Greek origin ending in -i (like la crisi, la tesi, l'analisi) are feminine and invariable, meaning they don't change their ending in the plural. Because it's feminine and singular here, we use della (di + la).

Wait, problema ends in -a. Why is it un problema and not una problema?

Just like la crisi is an exception, il problema is another common exception you have likely seen before. Many words of Greek origin ending in -ma (like il problema, il sistema, il programma) are actually masculine. Therefore, it takes the masculine article un.

Why use the imperfect tense avevamo instead of the passato prossimo abbiamo avuto?

The imperfect (avevamo) is used here because it describes an ongoing state or situation in the past. If you said abbiamo avuto un problema, it would sound like a specific, isolated event that started and finished (like a sudden error), whereas avevamo paints the background picture of having a persistent issue.