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 (patterns of conjugation) are distinguished by the endings of the infinitive form of the verb: 1st conjugation: -are (amare "to love", parlare "to talk, to speak"); 2nd conjugation: -ere (crédere "to believe", ricévere "to receive", vedére "to see"); , and are considered part of the 2nd conjugation, as they are derived from Latin but had lost their internal e after the suffix fused to the stem's vowel (a, o and u); 3rd conjugation: -ire (dormìre "to sleep"); 3rd conjugation with infixed (finìre "to end, to finish").Such verbs with the infix correspond to English Romance-origin verbs that end in "-ish", such as "finish", "punish", "accomplish", "extinguish", and so on.
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.Aski, Janice M. 1995. Verbal Suppletion: An Analysis of Italian, French, and Spanish to go. Linguistics 33.403-32.
The suffixes that form the infinitive are always stressed, except for , which is stressed in some verbs (e.g. "to see") and unstressed in others (e.g. "to take"). 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 ("to say") comes from dīcere, bere ("to drink") comes from bibere and porre ("to put") 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 , which exhibit a quite different form and stress pattern.thebigbook-2ed, pp. 113-120
Present 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 isc (Tuscan: vo) (Tuscan: fo) tu isc lui / lei / Lei isc noi voi loro / Loro isc
"I believe" "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. "I believe" "you believe" (2nd pers. sing.) "he/she believes"
The pronoun tu (and corresponding verb forms) is used in the singular towards children, family members and close friends (cf. "thou"), whereas voi is used in the same manner in the plural (cf. "ye"). The pronouns Lei and Loro (though much more commonly just voi) are used towards older people, strangers and very important or respectable people. Note that lei and loro can also mean "she" and "they", respectively.
"you are going" (formal) "you are going" (informal) "you are going" (informal) "you are going" (formal)
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 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.
Past
Present perfect (Il passato prossimo) The present perfect is used for single actions or events ( "I went to school this morning"), or change in state ( "he got angry when I told him that"), contrasting with the imperfect which is used for habits ( "I used to go to school by bike every morning"), or repeated actions, not happening at a specific time ( "he got angry every time someone told him that").
Past participles The past participle is used to form the compound pasts (e.g. ). Regular verbs follow a predictable pattern, but there are many verbs with an irregular past participle. verbs in add to the stem: , ; some verbs in add to the stem: ; verbs in add to the stem: , ; other verbs in are irregular, they mutate the stem and add , , or to the stem: (from ), (from ), (from ); and do exactly the same thing: (from ), (from ). Compounds from the root similarly have ; has and has ; and both have .
Verbs with avere All transitive verbs and most intransitive verbs form the present perfect by combining the auxiliary verb "to have" in the present tense with the past participle of the transitive verb.
Except with an immediately preceding third person pronominal direct object, the participle always ends in . "the boy I saw" "I saw him" "I saw the boy" "the girl I saw" "I saw her" "I saw the girl"
Verbs with essere A small number of intransitive verbs, namely itself and verbs indicating motion ( "to come", "to go", "to arrive", etc.) use the auxiliary verb instead of . The past participle in this agrees with gender and number of the subject.
/ / / / / / When using , the past participle agrees in gender and number with preceding third person direct object clitic pronouns, following the same pattern of nouns and adjectives: masculine singular feminine singular masculine plural feminine plural Reflexive verbs always use , and their past participle agrees with the subject or with third person object pronouns, if these precede the verb. "I washed myself" "we saw each other" "he washed his legs" "he washed them, his legs" "we talked to each other"
Imperfect (L'imperfetto) The Imperfect fuses past tense with imperfective aspect 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; states of being and conditions in the past, including weather, time, age.
The difference between imperfective and perfective aspects can be illustrated clearly with the verb 'to know'. The Italian imperfect expresses being in possession of knowledge in the past, while the perfective expresses the moment of acquiring the knowledge.
Imperfective: . 'I knew the truth.' Perfective: . 'I found out the truth.'
The imperfect is, in most cases, formed by taking the stem along with the thematic vowel and adding + the ending of the '' verbs in the present tense (with instead of ). There are no irregular conjugations in the Imperfect except for , which uses the stem and appears only in 1st and 2nd person plurals. Verbs with contracted infinitive forms use their full stems, e.g. (infinitive ), (infinitive ), (infinitive ), (infinitive ).
"they used to speak"
Absolute past (Il passato remoto)
The absolute past has a function distinct from the present perfect. It is used for events which are distant from the present and no longer directly affect it (e.g., telling a story), whereas the present perfect is used for more recent events which may have a direct impact on the present. The absolute past may at all times be replaced with the present perfect (but not vice versa). In many areas of Southern Italy, it is still used commonly in spoken language, whereas in Northern-Central Italy and Sardinia it is restricted to written language.
Like the past participle, regular verbs are very predictable, but many verbs (mainly of the second conjugation) are irregular. Regular verbs are formed by taking the stem and the stressed thematic vowel and adding , , main stress, , , and . Verbs in have in the third person singular instead of the expected : : , , , , , : , , , , , : , , , , , Irregular verbs, which are almost exclusively of the second conjugation, have irregular stems to which the endings , , and are added to form the first-person singular and third-person singular and plural forms, respectively, and, with the exception of , which takes the normal third conjugation endings, the second conjugation endings , , and are added to the normal stem to form the second-person singular and first- and second-person plural forms, respectively (, , , and use their long stems here, as usual): : , , , , , : , , , , , : , , , , , Some verbs in that follow the regular pattern (, , etc.) have an alternative form in which follows the irregular pattern: : (= ), , (= ), , , (= ) is the only verb that is completely irregular in this tense.
dare fare or or é or or or or
Past perfect (Il trapassato prossimo) Used for activities done prior to another activity (translates to constructions such as "had eaten", "had seen").
The past perfect is formed the same as the present perfect, but with the auxiliary verb in the imperfect.
In literary language, an absolute perfect exists which uses the absolute past of the auxiliaries, and which is used for activities done prior to another activity which is described with the absolutive past. This form is known as .
Future
Simple future (Il futuro semplice) The simple future tense is used for events that will happen in the future. It is formed by adding the forms of to the infinitive (with and contracted to and respectively). Sometimes the infinitive undergoes some changes: it always loses its final ; verbs in end in , not in ; , , however retain , , ; most irregular verbs lose the vowel before the last altogether (e.g. for and for ). Clusters and are simplified to (e.g. for ); contracted infinitives are retained (e.g. for ); has .
To these, the respective suffixes , , , , , are added. Historically speaking, these are derived from the present forms of the verb .
noi
Future perfect (Il futuro anteriore) Used for events that will have happened when or before something else happens in the future.
The future perfect is formed the same as the present perfect, but with the auxiliary verb in the future.
Conditional
Present conditional (Il condizionale presente) Used for: events that are dependent upon another event occurring; politely asking for something (like in English, "Could I please have a glass of water?").
The conditional is formed by taking the root of the future (i.e., an adapted form of the infinitive) and adding the absolutive past forms of (with , avesti, avemmo, aveste contracted to , , , resp.).
amare credere dormire amerei crederei dormirei ameresti crederesti dormiresti amerebbe crederebbe dormirebbe ameremmo crederemmo dormiremmo amereste credereste dormireste amerebbero crederebbero dormirebbero
Past conditional (Il condizionale passato) Used: for events that would, could or should have occurred; as a prospective past tense, e.g. Non sapevo quando sarei arrivato. “I didn’t know when I would arrive.”
The conditional perfect is formed the same as the present perfect, but with the auxiliary verb in the conditional. : avrei amato arrivare: sarei arrivato/-a
Subjunctive
Present subjunctive (Il congiuntivo presente) Used for subordinate clauses of the present (il presente) to express possibility, opinion, desire, or doubt.
The subjunctive is formed: for regular verbs in , by taking the root and adding , -ino for all the singular forms and the third plural respectively; for most other regular and semi-regular verbs, by taking the first person singular of the Present Indicative and replacing the final -o with -a, -ano for all the singular forms and the third plural respectively;