Verbi
Verbs
Italian verbs are divided in 3 patterns -are, -ere, -ire, distinguished by the endings of the infinitive form. In its infinitive form, a verb has no subject and isn't conjugated. In English, an infinitive is always preceded by "to" (to be, to do, and to read).
Examples:
Examples:
Indicativo
Presente
-ARE verbs
To conjugate or use an -are verb, first you remove the letters -are from the infinitive, which leaves you with the stem:
infinitive: parlare (to talk)
stem: parl-
To the stem, add the ending -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, or -ano according to the subject.
English also has a different verb ending depending on the subject ("I eat", "you eat", "he / she / it eats"...) but you must state the subject. In Italian, the subject pronouns are redundant, so they often are omitted.
Example:
infinitive: parlare (to talk)
stem: parl-
To the stem, add the ending -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, or -ano according to the subject.
English also has a different verb ending depending on the subject ("I eat", "you eat", "he / she / it eats"...) but you must state the subject. In Italian, the subject pronouns are redundant, so they often are omitted.
Example:
The presente is used for:
Examples:
- events happening in the present
- habitual actions
- current states of being and conditions
- actions planned to occur in the future
Examples:
-ERE verbs
To the stem, add the ending -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ete, or -ono according to the subject.
Example:
Example:
-IRE verbs
-IRE verbs come in two types:
Example:
- the first is a regular, normal Italian verb, such as dormire (to sleep): to the stem, add the ending -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ite, or -ono according to the subject
- the second is known as an -isc- verb, such as capire (to understand), because all the conjugated forms, except for "noi" and "voi", insert the letters isc between the stem and the endings: -isco, -isci, -isce, -iamo, -ite, or -iscono
Example:
In the table below you can see the three regular conjugation patterns:
Test what you have learned
Indicativo presente
Choose the correct option
| Start |
I eat an apple
| Next |
You watch tv
| Next |
They sleep on the couch
| Next |
She reads a book
| Next |
We speak Italian
| Next |
Matteo plays the guitar
| Next |
Grace works at the university
| Next |
You (plural) write a letter
| Next |
They take the bus
| Next |
Studia!
You better study again
| Ricomincia |
Devi ripassare questo argomento
You should go over this topic
| Ricomincia |
Ottimo lavoro!
Excellent job!
| Ricomincia |
The present progressive in Italian is formed this way:
Esempio:
Esempio:
Passato prossimo
The passato prossimo is one of the two most used past tenses in Italian (the other one is the imperfetto).
Sometimes it can be translated with the English past simple, other times it is similar to the present perfect.
Examples:
Sometimes it can be translated with the English past simple, other times it is similar to the present perfect.
Examples:
The passato prossimo is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb followed by the participio passato (past participle) of the verb.
To get the past participle of regular verbs change the ending of the infinitive as follows:
To get the past participle of regular verbs change the ending of the infinitive as follows:
Unlike English, Italian has two auxiliars, 'avere' and 'essere'.
As a fast rule: transitive verbs (verbs which can have a direct object) use avere, reflexive verbs use essere.
When essere is used, the past participle behaves like an adjective and it must agree in gender and number with the subject.
As a fast rule: transitive verbs (verbs which can have a direct object) use avere, reflexive verbs use essere.
When essere is used, the past participle behaves like an adjective and it must agree in gender and number with the subject.
Let's conjugate three verbs with different endings: 'amare' (to love, transitive), 'cadere' (to fall, intransivive), 'finire' (to finish, transitive):
Imperfetto
The imperfetto is, together with the passato prossimo, one of the two most used past tenses.
The Italian imperfetto corresponds to several different English forms and is used for:
Examples:
The Italian imperfetto corresponds to several different English forms and is used for:
- repeated or habitual actions in the past
- ongoing actions in the past and ongoing actions in the past that are eventually interrupted
- weather, time and age in the past
- states of being and conditions in the past.
Examples:
The forms of the imperfect are very regular:
Futuro semplice
- to refer to events which will happen in the future
- to express probability, or a guess
- as the English present progressive ('I'm going to ', etc.)
Examples:
The forms of the futuro semplice are:
It is also possible to use the presente when we are almost sure that something is going to happen:
Futuro anteriore
The futuro anteriore is used for events that will have happened when or before something else happens in the future.
Examples:
Examples:
It is formed the same as the passato prossimo, but with the auxiliary verb in the futuro semplice form.
Condizionale
Condizionale presente
Viene utilizzato il condizionale presente:
The condizionale presente is used:
Esempi:
- per parlare di cose che accadrebbero o che sarebbero vere a certe condizioni
- in richieste e offerte
The condizionale presente is used:
- to talk about things that would happen or would be true under certain conditions
- in requests and offers
Esempi:
Per formare il condizionale presente prendi la radice del futuro semplice e aggiungi le opportuni desinenze:
To form the simple conditional take the root of the futuro semplice and add the appropriate endings:
To form the simple conditional take the root of the futuro semplice and add the appropriate endings:
Condizionale passato
The condizionale passato is used:
Examples:
- for events that would, could or should have occurred
- to express the future in the past
- to express a regret
- to express disbelief, incredulity
- to report not verified news, or information that we have doubts about.
Examples:
The condizionale passato is formed as the passato prossimo, but with the auxiliary verb in the condizionale presente.
In Italian, unlike in English, the condizionale passato is used to report what somebody said in the past:
Congiuntivo
The congiuntivo mood is used to express doubt, possibility, feelings, desire, or suggestions.
It is almost always preceded by the conjunctive word 'che' or its compounds, such as 'perché', 'affinché', etc.
Typical phrases that call for the subjunctive tense include:
It is almost always preceded by the conjunctive word 'che' or its compounds, such as 'perché', 'affinché', etc.
Typical phrases that call for the subjunctive tense include:
Congiuntivo presente
The congiuntivo presente is used to express opinion, possibility, feelings, desire, or doubt.
Examples:
Examples:
The forms of the congiuntivo presente are very regular:
Congiuntivo imperfetto
The congiuntivo imperfetto is used:
Example:
- to talk about what you wanted someone to do in the past, or about how you wanted things to be
- to talk about what you would do in an imagined situation.
Example:
To form the congiuntivo imperfetto add this endings to the verb stem:
Congiuntivo passato
The congiuntivo passato is used in sentences expressing an emotion, a thought or an opinion about something in the past.
Examples:
Examples:
The congiuntivo passato is formed the same as the passato prossimo, but with the auxiliary verb in the congiuntivo presente.
Gerundio
The gerundio is used to express contemporaneity, causation, conditionality and hypothesis.
Examples:
Examples:
Gerundio presente
Gerundio passato
The gerundio passato is formed as follows:
gerundio presente of essere / avere + participio passato of the main verb
Esempio:
Imperativo
The imperativo mood is used for giving orders and offering advice or suggestions.
In Italian, we use a different form of the imperative depending onwhether you are:
In Italian, we use a different form of the imperative depending onwhether you are:
- telling someone to do something
- telling someone not to do something
- speaking to one person or more than one person
- speaking informally
- speaking formally
Examples:
Some of the commonest verbs in Italian have irregular imperative forms:
In the tu and voi forms pronouns come after the imperative and they join with the verb to make one word:
If there are more than a pronoun, always put the indirect object pronoun first.
When the pronouns mi, ti, ci, vi are followed by another pronoun they become me-, te-, ce-, ve-, and gli and le become glie-:
When the pronouns mi, ti, ci, vi are followed by another pronoun they become me-, te-, ce-, ve-, and gli and le become glie-:
Pronouns come before the lei formal and the loro imperative, and do not join onto it:
In the negative imperative:
- in the tu form, pronouns join the infinitive or go before it
- in the noi and voi forms, pronouns join the verb
- in the lei and loro forms, pronouns come before the verb
- in the tu form, pronouns join the infinitive or go before it
- in the noi and voi forms, pronouns join the verb
- in the lei and loro forms, pronouns come before the verb