Italian conjugation


Italian verbs have a high degree of inflection, the majority of which follows one of three common patterns of conjugation. Italian conjugation is affected by mood, person, tense, number, aspect and occasionally gender.
The three classes of verbs are distinguished by the endings of the infinitive form of the verb:
  • 1st conjugation: -are ;
  • 2nd conjugation: -ere ;
  • * -arre, -orre and -urre are considered part of the 2nd conjugation, as they are derived from Latin -ere but had lost their internal e after the suffix fused to the stem's vowel ;
  • 3rd conjugation: -ire ;
  • * 3rd conjugation -ire with infixed -isc-.
Additionally, Italian has a number of verbs that do not follow predictable patterns in all conjugation classes, most markedly the present and the absolute past. Often classified together as irregular verbs, their irregularities occur to different degrees, with forms of èssere "to be", and somewhat less extremely, avére "to have", the least predictable. Others, such as andàre "to go", stare "to stay, to stand", dare "to give", fare "to do, to make", and [|numerous others], follow various degrees of regularity within paradigms, largely due to suppletion, historical sound change or analogical developments.
The suffixes that form the infinitive are always stressed, except for -ere, which is stressed in some verbs and unstressed in others. A few verbs have a contracted infinitive, but use their uncontracted stem in most conjugations. Fare comes from Latin facere, which can be seen in many of its forms. Similarly, dire comes from dīcere, bere comes from bibere and porre comes from pōnere.
Together with the traditional patterns of conjugation, new classes and patterns have been suggested, in order to include common verbs such as avviare, which exhibit a quite different form and stress pattern.

The present

Present (''Il presente'')

The present is used for:
  • events happening in the present
  • habitual actions
  • current states of being and conditions
  • actions planned to occur in the future
amare
credere
vedere
dormire
finire
essere
avere
andare
stare
dare
fare
io
amo
credo
vedo
dormo
finisco
sono
ho
vado
sto
do
faccio
tu
ami
credi
vedi
dormi
finisci
sei
hai
vai
stai
dai
fai
lui / lei / Lei
ama
crede
vede
dorme
finisce
è
ha
va
sta
dà
fa
noi
amiamo
crediamo
vediamo
dormiamo
finiamo
siamo
abbiamo
andiamo
stiamo
diamo
facciamo
voi
amate
credete
vedete
dormite
finite
siete
avete
andate
state
date
fate
loro / Loro
amano
credono
vedono
dormono
finiscono
sono
hanno
vanno
stanno
danno
fanno

  • io credo "I believe"
  • lei dorme "she sleeps"
Subject pronouns are not obligatory in Italian, and they are normally only used when they are stressed. The conjugation of the verb is normally used to show the subject.
  • credo "I believe"
  • credi "you believe"
  • crede "he/she believes"
The pronoun tu is used in the singular towards children, family members and close friends, whereas voi is used in the same manner in the plural. The pronouns Lei and Loro are used towards older people, strangers and very important or respectable people. Note that lei and loro can also mean "she" and "they", respectively.
  • Lei va "you are going"
  • tu vai "you are going"
  • vai "you are going"
  • va "you are going"
The irregular verb essere has the same form in the first person singular and third person plural.
  • sono "I am"/"they are"
The forms vado and faccio are the standard Italian first person singular forms of the verbs andare and fare, but vo and fo are used in the Tuscan dialect.
The infix -isc- varies in pronunciation between and, depending on the following vowel. Similar alternations are found in other verbs:
  • leggo "I read" vs. leggi "you read"
  • dico "I say" vs. dici "you say"
  • etc.

    The past

Present perfect (''Il passato prossimo'')

The present perfect is used for single actions or events, or change in state, contrasting with the imperfect which is used for habits, or repeated actions, not happening at a specific time.

The past participle

The past participle is used to form the compound pasts. Regular verbs follow a predictable pattern, but there are many verbs with an irregular past participle.
  • verbs in -are add -ato to the stem: parlato, amato;
  • some verbs in -ere add -uto to the stem: creduto;
  • verbs in -ire add -ito to the stem: partito, finito;
  • other verbs in -ere are irregular, they mutate the stem and add -o, -so, -sto or -tto to the stem: preso , letto , rimasto ;
  • fare and dire do exactly the same thing: fatto, detto . Compounds from the root -durre similarly have -dotto ;
  • venire has venuto and bere has bevuto;
  • stare and essere both have stato.

    Verbs with ''avere''

All transitive verbs and most intransitive verbs form the present perfect by combining the auxiliary verb avere "to have" in the present tense with the past participle of the transitive verb.
amare
ioho amato
tuhai amato
lui / lei / Leiha amato
noiabbiamo amato
voiavete amato
loro / Lorohanno amato

Except with an immediately preceding third person pronominal direct object, the participle always ends in -o.
  • il ragazzo che ho visto "the boy I saw"
  • l’ho visto "I saw him"
  • ho visto il ragazzo "I saw the boy"
  • la ragazza che ho visto "the girl I saw"
  • l’ho vista "I saw her"
  • ho visto la ragazza "I saw the girl"

    Verbs with ''essere''

A small number of intransitive verbs, namely essere itself and verbs indicating motion use the auxiliary verb essere instead of avere. The past participle in this agrees with gender and number of the subject.
arrivare
iosono arrivato/'-a
tusei arrivato/-a
lui / lei / Leiè' arrivato/'-a
noisiamo arrivati/-e
voisiete arrivati/-e
loro / Lorosono arrivati/-e

When using essere, the past participle agrees in gender and number with preceding third person direct object clitic pronouns, following the same pattern of nouns and adjectives:
  • -o masculine singular
  • -a feminine singular
  • -i masculine plural
  • -e' feminine plural
Reflexive verbs always use essere, and their past participle agrees with the subject or with third person object pronouns, if these precede the verb.
  • mi sono lavato/-a "I washed myself"
  • ci siamo visti/-e "we saw each other"
  • si è lavato le gambe "he washed his legs"
  • se le è lavate, le gambe "he washed them, his legs"
  • ci siamo parlati "we talked to each other"