How to Say "It Was" in Italian

era

/ˈɛ.ra/

In Italian, the phrase "it was" is translated as era.

era is used to describe a state, a characteristic or a background setting in the past.

How do you pronounce it?

era is pronounced /ˈɛ.ra/. The stress is on the first of the two syllables.

Use era to describe what something was like in the past.

The word era is a homonym in Italian. While it can mean 'it was', it also means 'era' or 'epoch' when used as a feminine noun.
While era describes a continuous state in the past, Italian uses a different verb, fu, for a single, completed action that happened once.
The Italian word era comes from the Latin word erat.

So che era lui.
I know it was him.
This sentence is useful for identifying the person in the sentence with era.
Tatoeba #5955552 by Guybrush88, translation #3904362 by CH
So che era lei.
I know it was her.
Tatoeba #5955553 by Guybrush88, translation #3904363 by CH
Era la tua idea.
It was your idea.
This sentence is useful for attributing an idea to someone using era.
Tatoeba #3898173 by Guybrush88, translation #2216869 by Hybrid
La conferenza è stata un successo.
The conference was a success.
Il film è stato molto bello.
The movie was very nice.
La cena è stata deliziosa.
The dinner was delicious.
La riunione è stata produttiva.
The meeting was productive.
Le vacanze sono state fantastiche.
The holidays were fantastic.
Quando ero giovane, Roma era meravigliosa.
When I was young, Rome was wonderful.
La casa era molto accogliente.
The house was very cozy.
Quella presentazione è stata molto interessante.
That presentation was very interesting.
La cena di ieri sera è stata indimenticabile.
Last night's dinner was unforgettable.
L'articolo che hai scritto è stato fantastico!
The article you wrote was fantastic!
L'estate scorsa è stata piena di avventure.
Last summer was full of adventures.
1526 more sentences on Tatoeba

Matteo and Giulia are talking about a movie they saw recently.

Sources

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