I was just reading a text, in Italian, something like
quei coragiosi uomini salivano…
It can be translated as “those brave men were climbing…”. The context was clearly set in a montain landscape, but for some reason — I think I need to rest and sleep — I've interpreted it in another way: those brave men salivate.
I've read “salivano” as the third person plural, present tense of the verb “salivare” (namely to salivate in English), instead of as the third person plural, imperfect tense of the verb “salire” (to climb, in this case, should be fine). The Italian “imperfect tense” in this case can be translated with the English progressive tense (“salivo” → “I was climbing”).
But, if you are tired, even if you are mother tongue, you can slip over such thing :-)
| to salivate, present tense | to climb, imperfect tense |
|---|---|
| io salivo (I salivate) | io salivo (I was climbing) |
| tu salivi (you salivate) | tu salivi (you were climbing) |
| egli saliva (he salivates) | egli saliva (he was climbing) |
| noi saliviamo (we salivate) | noi salivamo (we were climbing) |
| voi salivate (you salivate) | voi salivate (you were climbing) |
| essi salivano (they salivate) | essi salivano (they were climbing) |
Ok, maybe it's time to meet Morpheus.