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The passato remoto is used ... |
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io vendetti ... |
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to describe a finished action in a finished period of time in the past.
Exactly like that. The action must be finished and must had happened in a finished period of the past, in other words in a period before the actual period of the speaker. A finished action is for instance a punctual action, an action with no duration. With verbs like to crash, to explode, to stumble, to crack, etc. normally the passato remoto is use. It is hard to imagine that one of these verbs can be used in a context where we use the imperfect, like parallel actions (~ While the car crashed against the wall, he read the newspaper ~), or inserted actions (~ The bomb exploded, when he suddenly showed up at the door~). Punctual actions, which have no duration, can only be in imperfetto if the action has been repeated regularly (Every time a car crashed against the wall, he took a photo). Another central argument for the imperfetto is the unknown or irrelevant ending or beginning. If the ending of an action or event is irrelevant or unknown, it is not finished. Finished means as well that the event or action doesn't have any consequences for the present of the speaker because if ther is a consequence, we use the passato prossimo. Therefore, the passato remoto is used for finished actions in a finished period of the past.
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regular repetion :
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Ogni volta che qualcuno buttava la sua sigaretta nel bosco, scoppiava un incendio. |
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Every time some threw his cigarette in the forest, the fire broke out. |
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singular action : |
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Buttò la sua sigaretta nel bidone di benzina e l' incendio scoppiò. |
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He threw his cigarette in the forest and the fire broke out. |
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Imperfetto, Passato prossimo and passato remoto |
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Together with verbs who describe a punctual action you should really think about it before using them with the imperfetto. That can only happen if this action has been repeated regularly in the past. Finished action in finished period of time means that the action happened before the actual present of the speaker. You find in grammar books always the hint that there are trigger words like ieri (yesterday), allora (in those days), l'anno scorso (last year) etc. which indicates that the passato remoto is to be used. That may work as a rule of thumb, but not always. If there is a strong relationship to the present of the speaker the passato prossimo is to be used even in the case that there is a trigger word.
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- chain of actions / events in the past |
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Supposed that you want to speak like Alessandro Manzoni, in other words following the rules of classic Italian, you use the passato remoto to describe chains of actions / events. But if you think about what has been said already, that's quite logical. If one action follows another, the first one have to be finished otherwise the second can't start. In a chain of action or events there is no fray out at the end. Therefore, the imperfetto can never be used to describe following actions. |
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Arrivai a casa senza rendermene conto, misi la macchina in garage, salii la scala che porta al vialetto e giunto alla mia porta entrai. |
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I arrived home without realizing it, parked my car in the garage, got up the stairs which leads to the garden-path and entered when I arrived at the door I entered. |
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Das trapassato prossimo wird verwendet ... |
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io avevo venduto... |
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The trapassato prossimo is used the same way as the English past perfect, it is the only tense which corresponds completely to his English correspondent. The only thing one should know is that the fact alone, that one action / event in the past had happened before another action in the past doesn't justify the use the simple past. Compulsory is the past perfect / trapassato remoto only in the following situations. |
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1) The past perfect is to be used it the actions / events are not reported in the right chronological order. |
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Non potevamo pagare, avevamo perduto il nostro portamonete.
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We couldn' t pay, we had lost our purse. |
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2) The past tense must be used if one action in the past is the consequence of another action in the past |
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Si era fratturato la gamba e perciò non poteva andare in vacanza.
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He had broken his leg and so he couldn' go on holidays. |
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3) The past tense is to be used if an action / event in the past is not finished and the fact that it is unfinished is the main statement of the sentence |
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Non si era preparato bene a questo esame e pertanto era incapace di rispondere alle domande. |
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He hadn' t prepared himself well for the exam and so he was not able to answer the questions. |
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4) The past perfect is to be used when the main statement of the sentence is the fact that an action in the past have been concluded before another one starts is the main statement of the sentence. |
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Avevano letto la lettera e pertanto sapevano tutto. |
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The had read the letter and so the knew everything. |
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