Italian verbs: Conjugation
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Introduction
Italian verbs are complex to English speakers, only because of the number of distinct forms each verb can have. The complexity comes with the number of tenses and persons.
Person, Gender, Number
The good news is that there is no gender distinction in Italian verbs (unlike nouns, which have two genders). However, there are six personal forms per tense (three persons: first, second, third; and two numbers: singular, plural).
Tense/Mood
There are seven simple "tenses", and seven compound "tenses". I use the word tense in parentheses because they involve tense/mood categories not considered distinctive in Italian.
Here are the names (in Italian and English) of the simple tenses/moods. A note in brackets indicates a specific mood, if not mentioned in the name:
- 1 presente dell'indicativo (Present Indicative)
- 2 imperfetto dell'indicativo (Imperfect)
- 3 passato remoto (Preterite, Past Remote, Simple Past) [indicative]
- 4 futuro dell'indicativo (Future)
- 5 condizionale (Conditional) [NB: a mood]
- 6 presente del congiuntivo (Present Subjunctive)
- 7 imperfetto del congiuntivo (Imperfect Subjunctive)
Here are the names (in Italian and English) of the compound tenses/moods. A note in brackets indicates a specific mood, if not mentioned in the name:
- 1 passato prossimo (Past, Perfect) [indicative]
- 2 trapassato prossimo (Pluperfect) [indicative]
- 3 trapassato remoto (Past Anterior) [indicative]
- 4 futuro anteriore (Future Perfect) [indicative]
- 5 passato del condizionale (Past Conditional) [NB: a mood]
- 6 passato del congiuntivo (Past Subjunctive)
- 7 trapassato del congiuntivo (Pluperfect Subjunctive)
In addition there is the imperativo (Imperative) mood.
For more on moods and tenses, click here.
Conjugations: Present Indicative
There are generally three classes of verbs, based on the infinitive ending:
-are verbs (from Latin first conjugation)
-ere verbs (from Latin second and third conjugations)
-ire verbs (from Latin fourth conjugation)
Each conjugation has its own quirks.
First Conjugation: -ARE
This is the most common class of verbs in Italian.
Here is a table of four verbs that illustrate the kinds of first-conjugation verbs found. The regular endings are in bold:
| "to sing" | "to begin" | "to play" | "to ski" | |
| 1sg io
| canto
| comincio
| gioco
| scio
|
*The pronouns lui and loro are the colloquial forms of the third person masculine singular and third person plural forms (lei is the colloquial feminine singular form). The formal pronouns are egli (masculine singular), ella (feminine singular), essi (plural) [esse is not much used].
Of the four verbs, cantare represents the unaltered, regular -are form.
The verbs cominciare, giocare and sciare represent different results of conjugation. Cominciare represents a verb in soft c or soft g [/tS/ and /dZ/], where the i is part of the stem only to represent a soft sound. The second person singular, therefore, only has one -i: co-min-ci. Sciare, however, has a distinct i as part of the stem; therefore, it take the regular ending -i: sci-i.
Giocare represents the opposite of cominciare: a hard c or g [/k/ and /g/] sound. Because the second person singular and first person plural affixes begin with i, the hard sound is preserved with a change of c to ch (and g to gh): gio-chi, gio-chia-mo.
Stress
An important element of verbs is stress. The stress in the singular forms, and the third person plural, is on the stem of the verb, while the stress of the first and second person plural is on the theme vowel (in this case, a), just as it is in the infinitive.
| can-TA-re | co-min-CIA-re | gio-CA-re | sci-A-re |
| CAN-to
| co-MIN-cio
| GIO-co
| SCI-o
|
The stress of the third person plural presents the oddest circumstance for Italian learners, in that the /no/ syllable carries no stress. The rules of stress for a verb are so strict in this regard that some verbs have unusually outcomes not found in "normal" Italian: di-MEN-ti-ca-no (they forget), de-SI-de-ra-no (they wish), etc.
Second Conjugation: -ERE
This is a very common class of verbs in Italian. This class represents two subtypes, distinct solely in the infinitive:
one, derived from the Latin second conjugation, has a stressed -Ere:
- sa-PE-re (to know), ve-DE-re (to see)
the other, derived from the Latin third conjugation, has an unstressed -ere:
- PER-de-re (to lose), MET-te-re (to put)
In reality, they all conjugate the same way.
| "to see" | "to put" | "to win" | |
| 1sg io
| vedo
| metto
| vinco
|
Note that vincere does not alter its stem, which means that the first person singular and third person plural have hard c, while all other forms have soft c: vinco /'vin ko/ vs. vince /'vin tSe/.
Stress
The rules of stress are the same for the second conjugation as they are for the first, with the notable exception of the infinitive, which has two different stress patterns owing to its historical origins.
| ve-DE-re | MET-te-re | VIN-ce-re |
| VE-do
| MET-to
| VIN-co
|
Third Conjugation: -IRE
This is also a common class of verbs. This class represents two subtypes, based on the singular (and third person plural) conjugation:
one has an infix, -isc as part of the conjugation:
- diminuire (to shrink), finire (to finish), capire (to understand)
the other has no affix:
- dormire (to sleep), salire (to jump)
| "to finish" | "to understand" | "to sleep" | |
| 1sg io
| finisco
| capisco
| dormo
|
Note that verbs with the isc act like vincere above in that the first person singular and third person plural have hard c, while all other forms have soft c (which as sc is a /S/ sound): finisco /fi 'ni sko/ vs. finisce /fi 'ni Se/.
Stress
The rules of stress are the same for the third conjugation as they are for the first and second, except that verbs with the isc affix have stress on that syllable.
| fi-NI-re | ca-PI-re | dor-MI-re |
| fi-NI-sco
| ca-PI-sco
| DOR-mo
|
Irregular verbs
andare (to go): vado, vai, va, andiamo, andate, vanno
avere (to have, to own): ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete, hanno
cuocere (to cook, technical term): ?
dovere (to have to do?, in French: devoir): devo, devi, deve, dobbiamo, dovete, devono
essere (to be): sono, sei, è, siamo, siete, sono
fare (to make, to do): faccio, fai, fà, facciamo, fate, fanno
muovere (to move): muovo, muovi, muove, moviamo, movete, muovono
potere (to can: because you don't do anything else at this moment): posso, puoi, può, possiamo, potete, possono
sapere (to know, to can: because you've learned it): so, sai, sa, sappiamo, sapete, sanno
scegliere (to choose): scelgo, scegli, sceglie, scegliamo, scegliete, scelgono
stare (to stay, to feel): sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno
uscire (to go out): esco, esci, esce, usiamo, uscite, escono
venire (to come): vengo, vieni, viene, veniamo, venite, vengono
volere (to will): voglio, vuoi, vuole, vogliamo, vogliete, vogliono
...
Conjugations: Other Tenses
The above was an explanation of the present indicative forms. Because of the complexities, the other forms are continued on this page.
