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If you want to speak Italian properly, you need to know the following grammar rules. In particular you need to know how to conjugate Italian verbs. I’m here to help you in a quick and funny way.

Auxiliary Verbs: Essere and Avere

The Italian language has two auxiliary verbs: the verb “essere”, that means to be, and the verb “avere”, that means to have. These verbs are called auxiliary because they literally help all of the other verbs to build tenses such as the present perfect one.

In Italian the most used tenses are the Presente, the Passato Prossimo (Present Perfect Tense) and the Futuro Semplice (Future Tense). You can now read how auxiliary verbs conjugate in those tenses:

Presente Passato Prossimo Futuro Semplice
ESSERE AVERE ESSERE AVERE ESSERE AVERE
Io sono ho sono stato ho avuto sarò avrò
Tu sei hai sei stato hai avuto sarai avrai
Lui/Lei è ha è stato ha avuto sarà avrà
Noi siamo abbiamo siamo stati abbiamo avuto saremo avremo
Voi siete avete siete stati avete avuto sarete avrete
Loro sono hanno sono stati hanno avuto saranno avranno

Verbs Conjugations: -are, -ere, -ire

It’s important to know that in Italian there are three main different conjugations, depending on their endings in the infinitive: -are, -ere or -ire. For example these three verbs have different conjugations:

-are parlare = to speak
-ere credere = to believe
-ire partire = to leave

It’s important to know each conjugation and its structure in order to conjugate every other regular verb, as the rules are pretty the same for verbs within the same group (-are, -ere o -ire). In fact try to take these infinitive endings off, and add the appropriate subject endings according to the tense, and the pattern becomes clear.

Presente

1a Conjugation -are 2a Conjugation -ere 3a Conjugation -ire
PARLARE AMARE LEGGERE VIVERE PARTIRE SENTIRE CAPIRE
Io parlo amo leggo vivo parto sento capisco
Tu parli ami leggi vivi parti senti capisci
Lui/Lei parla ama legge vive parte sente capisce
Noi parliamo amiamo leggiamo viviamo partiamo sentiamo capiamo
Voi parlate amate leggete vivete partite sentite capite
Loro parlano amano leggono vivono partono sentono capiscono

This last verb (capire) is an irregular verb, we will speak later about this kind of verbs.

Passato Prossimo

1a Conjugation -are 2a Conjugation -ere 3a Conjugation -ire
PARLARE LEGGERE PARTIRE CAPIRE
Io ho parlato ho letto sono partito ho capito
Tu hai parlato hai letto sei partito hai capito
Lui/Lei ha parlato ha letto è partito ha capito
Noi abbiamo parlato abbiamo letto siamo partiti abbiamo capito
Voi avete parlato avete letto siete partiti avete capito
Loro hanno parlato hanno letto sono partiti hanno capito

When to use essere or avere ?

As you surely understood, in same cases we use the auxiliary verb essere (sono partito), while in the majority of cases we use the auxiliary verb avere (ho letto). How do you know if you have to use one or the other ?

While there are not fixed rules, we can say that:

  • You should use the auxiliary verb essere with the majority of intransitive verbs and in passive/reflexive phrases.
  • You should use the auxiliary verb avere in active phrases when the verb is transitive and with many intransitive verbs.

Instransitive Verbs

In Italian intransitive verbs are for example: “piovere”, “nuotare”, “dormire”, “morire”, “andare”, etc.. and are those verbs which don’t express an action but rather a state or a condition, such as essere (to be), stare (to stay), divenire (to become), etc. Also verbs which express movement: andare (to go), venire (to come), arrivare (to arrive), etc. After these types of verbs we can add information about ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’, ‘how long for’, etc. e.g. sto in ufficio tutto il giorno (I’m in the office all day long); Marco va al lavoro in treno (Marco goes to work by train). We can’t however express a direct object. In fact those verbs are meaningful without the need of being followed by a direct object.

Transitive Verbs

Transitive Verbs instead are those verbs who need a direct object in order to better define their meaning (which otherwise would be too wide) . Transitive means ‘to pass’, ‘to cross’, therefore it describes actions that move from the subject directly to an object, without having to use a preposition such as ‘to’, ‘at’, etc. The classic example we learn at school is: io mangio la mela (I eat the apple); in this sentence io is the subject of the verb, mangio is the transitive verb, and la mela is the direct object or accusative. Of course we don’t always express the direct object, for example: la sera mangio presto (in the evening I eat early), the idea of ‘dinner’, ‘meal’, ‘food’ is implicit but not expressed. Similarly, we can say Giovanni guida la macchina per andare a lavorare (Giovanni drives the car to go to work), in which guidare is a transitive verb because it is followed by a direct object, la macchina. However I can omit ‘la macchina’ and simply say Giovanni guida per andare a lavorare, the idea of the car being implicit. For example: comprare, leggere, mangiare, sentire, capire, amare, odiare, vendere, comprare, possedere, vincere… are transitive verbs.

Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs are considered intransitives because the action takes place on the subject itself, therefore the reflexive verb lavarsi (to wash oneself) as in mi lavo le mani (‘I wash my hands’ or more literally ‘I wash myself the hands’) is intransitive, but lavare (to wash) as in io lavo il piatto (I’m washing the plate) is transitive!

Unfortunately dued to the large quantity of verbs and exceptions, I suggest you to learn/memorize each verb and you’ll be sure if you need to use essere or avere.

Futuro Semplice

1a Conjugation -are 2a Conjugation -ere 3a Conjugation -ire
PARLARE LEGGERE PARTIRE CAPIRE
Io parlerò leggerò partirò capirò
Tu parlerai leggerai partirai capirai
Lui/Lei parlerà leggerà partirà capirà
Noi parleremo leggeremo partiremo capiremo
Voi parlerete leggerete partirete capirete
Loro parleranno leggeranno partiranno capiranno

Regular and Irregular Verbs

In Italian you’ll find regulars and irregular verbs. Regular verbs are easier to learn because when conjugating they follow a regular pattern that can be generalized to all the others regular verbs. Until now, in fact, we have seen only regular verbs (expept for “capire” which is an irregular verb). How do we know if a particular verbs conjugates as a regular or an irregular verb ? Unfortunately there are not fixed rules you can learn on irregulars, you can only learn and memorize those you want to use.

REGULAR VERBS

As said before, the main characteristic of Regular Verbs is that they follow a regular pattern. In fact regular verbs maintain their infinitive root (for example PARL- or CRED-) and they add the appropriate subject endings according to the tense.

1a Conjugation -are 2a Conjugation -ere 3a Conjugation -ire
PARL-ARE CRED-ERE PART-IRE
Io parl-o cred-o part-o
Tu parl-i cred-i part-i
Lui/Lei parl-a cred-e part-e
Noi parl-iamo cred-iamo part-iamo
Voi parl-ate cred-ete part-ite
Loro parl-ano cred-ono part-ono

IRREGULAR VERBS

Irregular verbs don’t follow a regular pattern and each verb may present unique irregularities. Some verbs may completely change even their infinitive root when conjugating in other tenses.

Let’s see how some of the most used irregular verbs conjugate:

ANDARE STARE FARE POTERE VOLERE DOVERE
Io vado sto faccio posso voglio devo
Tu vai stai fai puoi vuoi devi
Lui/Lei va sta fa può vuole deve
Noi andiamo stiamo facciamo possiamo vogliamo dobbiamo
Voi andate state fate potete volete dovete
Loro vanno stanno fanno possono vogliono devono

I hope you’ve liked this lesson. Please use the comment section below in order to let me know your ideas, your suggestions and invite all of your friends to visit this page and my website.
Un abbraccio, Marco.

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