Italian verb - conjugation rules

In grammar, the verb is not only one of the parts of speech, but is above all the core of the sentence around which the other elements are organized.

A verb presupposes the existence of a subject (a person or a thing) that is usually the person or thing we are interested in, and which is responsible for the action of the verb. (Cases in which this is debatable are discussed in the Section Impersonal verbs, with verbs like “bisognare”, “occorrere” or “piovere”).

• Marco parte domani. = Marco is leaving tomorrow.
• Sara diventerà infermiera. = Sara will become a nurse.
• Io ho mangiato. = I have eaten.

The main variables of the Italian verb are the person, number, tense, mode, its transitivity (transitive or intransitive), form and voice.

Person	1st sing: io penso = I think 2nd sing: tu pensi = you think 3rd sing: lui pensa = he thinks
Number	1st sing: io mangio = I eat 1st pl: noi mangiamo = we eat
Tense	present: io vado = I go future: io andrò = I will go
Mood	indicative: io vado = I go conditional: io andrei = I would go
Transitivity	transitive: lei mangia la mela = she eats an apple intransitive: lei parte = she leaves
Form	negative: non sento = I don't hear interrogative: hai già telefonato? = Have you called yet? reflexive: io mi lavo = I wash myself pronominal: mi sono accorto dell'errore = I realized the mistake
Voice	active: io scrivo una lettera = I write a letter passive: la casa è stata costruita in tre mesi = The house was built in three months

Verbal forms are made up of a stem that expresses the meaning of the verb (ingrass-are, sottomett-ere, appar-ire) and of an ending that changes according to the person, the number, the tense and the verbal mood:

• am-are (to love) → am-o (“I love”), am-avo (“I loved”), am-erò (“I will love”)
• rid-ere (to laugh) → rid-o (“I laugh”), rid-evo (“I was laughing”), rid-erò (“I will laugh”)

Person and number expressed by the ending are important because the verb has to agree with its subject but in Italian, personal pronouns are often omitted, for example:

• Partiamo? = Are we leaving?/Let’s go?
• È andato via. = He's gone.
• Telefonerò può tardi. = I'll call you later.

If we look at the full conjugation for comprare (to buy) at the indicative present, this would appear clearer:

• (io) compro / (noi) compriamo
• (tu) compri / (voi) comprate
• (lui) compra / (loro) comprano

Because the ending of the verb changes every time and is specific to each person, the subject pronoun is not really necessary. Instead, in English because there's no difference in the verbal form between “I buy”, “you buy” and “we buy” the pronouns are the only indication of who the subject is.

Usually personal pronouns in Italian are used when you want to emphasize the subject of the action or when there is ambiguity.

• Io ci sono andato. = Maybe somebody didn't go, but I did go.
• Io l’ho detto, non tu. = I said it, not you; or It was me who said it, not you.

There are four finite moods (i.e. having person and number): indicative, subjunctive, conditional and imperative. There are three non-finite moods: infinitive (ex. amare), participle (ex.amato) and gerund (ex.amando). Infinitive and gerund forms don't have person nor number. The participle instead has four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural and feminine plural (amato, amata, amati, amate).

Except for the conditional and the imperative, each verbal mood can have multiple tenses, simple and compound forms. For example, the simple tenses of the indicative are presente, imperfetto, futuro semplice, passato remoto while the compound tenses are passato prossimo, trapassato prossimo, trapassato remoto, futuro anteriore. The compound tenses are formed with the past participle of the verb preceded by the auxiliary verb conjugated (there are two auxiliary verbs in Italian: essere and avere). See also the section Auxiliary Verbs.

Presente – Present simple

The indicative present tense is mainly used to talk about real events at the present time. It is formed in the follow way for regular verbs:

1st group	2nd group	3rd group
(-are)	(-ere)	(-ire)
(io) compr-o “I buy”	(io) perd-o “I lose”	(io) part-o “I leave”

If we compare it with English, for example, you can say “I speak”, “I'm speaking” or occasionally “I do speak”. In Italian, instead, you use the same form “parlo” for all of these.

It is also possible to use another form: sto parlando ( see Progressive forms), which is the exact equivalent of “I am speaking”, but this form in Italian is used to stress that something is happening just now:

• Cosa stai facendo? = What are you doing?

In Italian as in English you can also use the present tense to talk about something that is going to happen in the near future.

• Parto domani alle undici. = I'm leaving tomorrow at eleven.
• Arriva la settimana prossima. = She's coming next week.

Imperfetto - Imperfect

The indicative imperfect is used to describe real actions or events in the past especially in descriptions, and to say what used to happen, or was happening. These are generally actions that occurred at the same time as something else, often because they were repeated or lasted for a long time.

The indicative imperfect is one of the most regular tenses in Italian, for almost all verbs it is formed by add the follow endings:

1st group	2nd group	3rd group
(-are)	(-ere)	(-ire)
(io) compr-av-o “I was buying”	(io) perd-ev-o “I was losing”	(io) part-iv-o “I was leaving”

Examples:

• Ieri mi sentivo bene. = I felt fine yesterday.
• Quando ha telefonato dormivo. = I was sleeping when he phoned.
• Ci trovavamo ogni venerdì. = We used to meet every Friday.

Passato Prossimo – Present Perfect

The indicative passato prossimo is mainly used to refer to real actions or events in the recent past. It is a compound tense which is conjugated by combining the auxiliaries “avere” or “essere” with the past participle of the main verb regardless of its conjugation group. Most transitive verbs (most verbs in general) take “avere” as their auxiliary, while most intransitive and all reflexive verbs take “essere”. (see Auxiliary Verbs).

When “essere” is the auxiliary, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the grammatical subject, so for example “Lui è partit-o” (masc. s.) vs. “Lei è partit-a” (fem. s.) vs. “Loro sono partiti” (masc. plur.)

Aux. Avere	Aux. Essere
(io) ho comprato “I bought/have bought”	(io) sono partito(a) “I left/have left”

Examples:

• Si è rotto una gamba. = He's broken his leg.
• Sono partita prima di lui. = I left before him.
• Nadia è uscita. = Nadia has gone out.

Trapassato Prossimo – Past Perfect

By substituting the imperfect forms of “avere” and “essere” for the present forms of these auxiliaries, the passato prossimo becomes the trapassato prossimo or “pluperfect” which indicates a previous moment in the past, what had happened or had been true at a point in the past:

Aux. Avere	Aux. Essere
(io) avevo comprato “I had (already) bought”	(io) ero partito(a) “I had (already) left”

Examples:

• Avevamo già mangiato quando è arrivato. = We’d already eaten when he arrived.
• Non gli avevo mai parlato prima. = I’d never spoken to him before.
• Ovviamente avevo sbagliato. = I’d obviously made a mistake.
• Avevano lavorato molto il giorno prima. = They’d worked hard the day before.

Passato Remoto – Historic Past or Preterite

The indicative passato remoto is a simple tense, like the imperfect and present, which does not take an auxiliary. It is used to refer to actions or events which have no connection with the present and are therefore in a “remote” past. The past historic is equivalent to the English simple past, except that it is mainly used in written Italian.

1st group	2nd group	3rd group
(-are)	(-ere)	(-ire)
(io) compr-ai “I bought”	(io) perd-etti (or perdei)* “I lost”	(io) part-ii “I left”

*The verb “perdere”, like many -ere verbs, also has irregular forms. See Irregular Verbs.

Examples:

• Ci fu un improvviso silenzio quando entrai nella stanza. = There was a sudden silence when I came into the room.
• Non ebbero nessuna speranza. = They had no hope.
• Parlò lentamente. = He spoke slowly.

Trapassato remoto - Preterite Perfect

By substituting the past historic forms of “avere” and “essere” for the imperfect forms of these auxiliaries, the trapassato prossimo becomes the trapassato remoto.

Aux. Avere	Aux. Essere
(io) ebbi comprato “(as soon as) I had bought”	(io) fui partito(a) “(as soon as) I had left”

This tense is rarely used in conversation, just like the passato remoto, and you’ll see it mostly in literature. It is used to express something like: “After Pocahontas had finished talking, John Smith left.”

It is only used after words that talk about time, like:

• Quando = when
• Dopo che = after
• Non appena = as soon as
• Finché = as long as
• Solo dopo che = only after

Important: you only need to use the trapassato remoto when you’re already using the passato remoto (Consecutio temporum): supporting sentence (trapassato remoto) + most important part of your sentence (passato remoto).

Example:

• Non appena ebbe visto l’automobile, decise di comprarla. = As soon as he had seen the car, he decided to buy it.

Futuro semplice – Future simple and Futuro anteriore – Future perfect

The future tense is used to talk about something that will happen or will be true. If in English there are several ways to express the future tense: will, ing form and ing + infinitive, in Italian, you can use the future tense or the present tense.

• Quando saranno pronti i documenti? = When will the documents be ready?
• Se non le dispiace ripasso sabato. = If you don't mind, I'll come back on Saturday.

The future in Italian has two tenses: futuro semplice and anteriore. Let’s see some examples of futuro semplice:

1st group	2nd group	3rd group
(-are)	(-ere)	(-ire)
(io) comprer-ò “I will buy”	(io) perder-ò “I will lose”	(io) partir-ò “I will leave”

• Non credo che farà bel tempo. = I don’t think the weather will be nice.
• Lo sapremo domani. = We’ll know tomorrow.
• Quando finirò, verrò da te. = When I finish, I’ll come to yours.
• Lo comprerò quando avrò abbastanza denaro. = I’ll buy it when I’ve got enough money.

The futuro anteriore is created when you combine a future tense conjugation (like “sarò”) with a past participle (like “riuscito”), which makes it a compound tense. In general, you’ll use this verb tense when you’re talking about an action in the future before something else happens.

You can also use it when you’re not sure about something that’s happening in the future or that happened in the past. In this case, other words that you could use instead of forming the futuro anteriore would be “forse - maybe”, “magari - maybe” or “probabilmente - probably” (in English you would probably use “must”).

Examples:

• Alle sette avremo già mangiato. = By seven we'll already have eaten.
• Noi avremo parlato al padre di Anna. = We will already have spoken to Anna's father.
• Marco non è venuto alla festa, sarà stato molto impegnato. - Marco didn’t come to the party, he must have been very busy.

Condizionale - Conditional

The conditional mood refers to hypothetical events, especially those which depend on a particular condition, for instance, 'I would help you if I could'.

1st group	2nd group	3rd group
(-are)	(-ere)	(-ire)
(io) comprer-ei “I would buy”	(io) perder-ei “I would lose”	(io) partir-ei “I would leave”

It is generally used in the main clause, in connection with a second clause in the subjunctive that expresses the “if” condition necessary for the conditional to take place:

• Comprerei quella macchina, se non fosse così costosa. = I would buy that car if it wasn’t so expensive.

It is also used to express wishes and desires, even for something as basic as, 'I would like a coffee'. It is often used with the verbs: volere (to want), potere (to be able) and dovere (to have to – 'should' in the conditional).

• Vorrei un caffè. = I'd like a coffee.
• Potrebbe venire domani. = He could come tomorrow.
• Luca dovrebbe imparare inglese. = Luca should learn English.

Congiuntivo - Subjunctive

The subjunctive is used in unreal or hypothetical situations, often after certain impersonal expressions and after verbs expressing desire, will, preference, opinions and feelings (when the subject of the desire, wish, etc, is different to the subject of the verb). Usually there will be che ('that') between the expressions and the subjunctive.

1st group	2nd group	3rd group
(-are)	(-ere)	(-ire)
che io compr-i “(a shame) for me to buy/that I should buy”	che io perd-a “(a shame) for me to lose/that I should lose”	che io part-a “(a shame) for me to leave/that I should leave”

The subjunctive mood has two tenses, present and imperfect. Let’s see some examples:

• Penso che siano pronti. = I think that they are ready. => pres. subj
• Bisogna che Fabio parta subito. = Fabio needs to leave now. => pres. subj
• Preferisce che stiamo in casa. = He prefers us to stay at home. => pres. subj
• Se fossi ricco, mi comprerei un appartamento a Parigi. = If I were rich, I would buy an apartment in Paris. => imperfect subj.

Remember: Notice that unlike the English past tense, the indicative imperfect is not used to make hypothetical conjectures (e.g. “If I had a million dollars, I'd quit this lousy job.”), for this the subjunctive is used in Italian (see the example below).

• Se avessi un milione di dollari, lascerei questo lavoro e partirei per l’Australia. = If I had a million dollars, I’d quit this job and go to Australia.
• Se io fossi ricco, viaggerei sempre. = If I was rich, I'd always travel.

This is the expression of the “if” condition in Italian: the conditional mood is generally used in the main clause (the one without “if”), in connection with a second clause in the subjunctive.

Sometimes the Subjunctive Present can be very ambiguous:

• Spero che vinca = I hope she/he wins.

We don’t know who should win. Because the subjunctive is the only mood which doesn't have a specific form for each person in Italian! So, unless the subject of the verb "win" can be inferred from the context, it must be specified Spero che tu vinca or Spero che lei vinca. = I hope you win or I hope she wins.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

The verb is transitive when it can have a direct object complement:

• Paola legge il libro. = Paola reads the book.

It is intransitive when it does not have the direct object.

• Luca viaggerà (in treno). = Luca will travel (by train).

Active and passive voices

The active voice of Italian verbs presents the following structure: Subject + Verb + Object The main function of the active voice is to point out who is acting and which is the direct object of the verb.

Remember! The verbs with the active voice have the auxiliary avere (to have) for the compound tenses.

The passive voice aims to focus on the action conveyed by the verb and it is used when the subject of the verb is the person or thing that is affected by the action.

Usually, the structure of the passive voice follows the same rules: - the subject of the active sentence becomes the agent of the passive one; - the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive one.

The passive voice in Italian is formed essentially in the same way as in English, by adding the past participle to the auxiliary “essere” (although “venire” can also be used):

• (io) sono invitato(a) etc. “I am invited etc.”
• (tu) sei invitato(a) etc. “you (sing.) are invited etc.”
• (lui/lei) è invitato(a) etc. “s/he is invited etc.”
• (noi) siamo invitati(e) etc. “we are invited etc.”
• (voi) siete invitati(e) etc. “you (pl.) are invited etc.”
• (loro/esse) sono invitati(e) etc. “they are invited etc.”

Notice that with “essere” (or “venire”) as the auxiliary, the past participle must always agree with the subject in gender and number.

Transitive verbs (those which take a direct object like “costruire”) can be active or passive. In the active form the subject performs the action, in the passive voice the subject undergoes it.

• La ditta costruisce la casa. (active voice) = The company builds the house.
• La casa è costruita dalla ditta or La casa viene costruita dalla ditta. (passive voice) = The house is built by the company.

Often in passive sentences (as for example in the one above) the person performing the action is expressed by the preposition "da = by" followed by a noun, i.e. by an agent complement. The agent complement, however, is not necessarily present:

• Siamo stati promossi. = We have been promoted.

Attention: intransitive verbs do not have a passive form.

BUT they look like passives in compound forms because they also take “essere” as their auxiliary followed by a past participle:

• Lei è rispettata nel suo lavoro. = passive voice of the verb rispettare
• Lei è rimasta nel suo ufficio. = passato prossimo of the verb rimanere