Italian grammar


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Italian grammar is the study of grammar of the Italian language.

Contents

Morphology

Italian words can be divided into nine grammatical categories, the parts of speech: five variable (article, noun, adjective, pronoun and verb) and four invariable (adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection).

Articles

See also: italian language#Sounds
Definite article
Gender Grammatical number Morpheme Usage
Masculine Singular il/lo lo before an impure consonant sound or before an impure consonant sound (s+consonant, z...), l' before a vowel). Note that it is lo iodio, "the iodine" and lo Ionio, "the Ionian Sea", because in this case the i is a semiconsonant, not a real vowel; on the other hand it is usual to truncate the article (that is, to use l' ) before semiconsonantic u (sounding as an English w): l'uomo "the man", l'uovo "the egg", but they are more "mobile diphthongs" than "false diphthongs". However, English words beginning with w and used in Italian, like West - meaning "wild West" - and whisky, are perceived as beginning with a v sound, and the il article is used: il West, il whisky, and Giacomo Puccini's opera is La fanciulla del West.
Plural i/gli gli before a vowel or impure consonant sound
Feminine Singular la l' before a vowel: but "la iarda", "the yard" - meaning the length measure - for the same reason as before
Plural le Impure consonant sounds are z, gn, pn, ps, x or s+consonant (sp, st, etc).
Indefinite article
Morpheme Gender Usage
Masculine un uno before an impure consonant sound (s+consonant, z...)
Feminine una un' before a vowel

Irregular article

The plural of "il dio" (the god) is "gli dei" instead of "i dei".

Nouns

 This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (October 2008)

Nouns in Italian have gender (masculine or feminine, but no neuter), and number (singular or plural). The gender and number is always shown by the leading article (definite or indefinite), and usually by the final vowel. Most nouns derive from Latin, from Greek or from a Latinization of foreign words, so:

  • Feminine singular in -a, plural in -e (first declension in Latin, -a, -æ)
    • la rosa / le rose (the rose / the roses)
  • Masculine singular in -a, plural in -i (first declension in Latin, -a, -æ)
    • il poeta / i poeti (the poet / the poets)
  • Masculine singular in -o, plural in -i (second declension in Latin, -us, -i)
    • il magistrato / i magistrati (the magistrate / the magistrates)
    • lo schiavo / gli schiavi (the slave / the slaves)
  • Masculine singular in -e, plural in -i (third declension in Latin, pl. -es)
    • il cane / i cani (the dog / the dogs)
  • Feminine singular in -e, plural in -i (third declension in Latin, pl. -es)
    • la parete / le pareti (the wall / the walls)
  • Feminine singular in -o, plural in -i (fourth declension in Latin, -us, -us)
    • la mano / le mani (the hand / the hands)
  • Feminine singular in -ie, plural in -ie (fifth declension in Latin, -ies, -ies)
    • la specie / le specie (the species / the species), but usually la superficie / le superfici (the surface / the surfaces)

Many scientific words, from Greek:

  • Masculine singular in -a, plural in -i
    • il problema / i problemi (the problem / the problems)
  • Feminine singular in -i, plural also in -i
    • la crisi / le crisi (the crisis / the crises)

Any other noun, both those from Latin with an unusual ending and those derived from other languages than Latin or Greek, and not Latinized (cifra - meaning "digit" - and ragazzo/ragazza - meaning "boy/girl" - are from Arab, but they are Latinized), and usually every name (also from Latin) that ends with an stressed vowel, is not declinable, so:

  • la città / le città (the town(s): civitas / civitates)
  • il re / i re (the king(s): rex / reges)
  • il caffè / i caffè (the coffee(s))
  • il film / i film (the film(s))

There are certain words (neuter in Latin) that are masculine in the singular and feminine or masculine in the plural:

  • il braccio / le braccia or i bracci (the arm / the arms) Note that "bracci" and "braccia" are different in meaning.
  • il ginocchio / le ginocchia or i ginocchi (the knee / the knees)
  • il sopracciglio / le sopracciglia (but i sopraccigli is admitted, too) (the eyebrow / the eyebrows)
  • il ciglio / le ciglia (the eyelash / the eyelashes) (i cigli is poetical, unless it means the edge of a road)
  • l'uovo / le uova (the egg / the eggs)

These nouns' endings derive regularly from the Latin neuter endings of the second declension, but there are some from third declension: e.g. il gregge / le greggi (flock(s), but i greggi works, too); the tradition of calling them "irregular" or "mobile gender" (genere mobile) would come from the paradigm that there are so few nouns of this kind that the existence of neuter can be considered vestigial. The use of one or other of plurals is sometimes left to the user, while in some case there are differences of meaning:

  • sometimes, for body parts, the neuter/feminine plural denotes the literal meaning while the masculine one denotes a figurative meaning: il braccio (m) / le braccia (f) / i bracci (m) (the arm / the arms / the isthmuses/inlets/figurative uses of "arm"); il corno (m) / le corna (f) (the horn /the real animal horns) / i corni (m) (the horn / the horns [as musical instruments, of a dilemma, etc.]);
  • sometimes, especially in poetic and old-fashioned Italian, the masculine plural denotes several distinct items, while the neuter/feminine ones denotes an undifferentiated set: il cervello (m) / i cervelli (m) / le cervella (f) (the brain / [more than one single] brains / cerebral matter); l'anello (m) / gli anelli (m) / le anella (f) (the ring / the rings [jewels] / ringlets). The same is true for il dito (m) / le dita (f) / i diti (m) (the finger / the fingers / the fingers [of a specific type; "diti" is never used except when more fingers of the same type (thumbs, index fingers, etc.) are referred to: "i diti pollici" is correct, "le dita pollici" is wrong]).

The soft/hard nature of Italian c and g leads to a few spelling/pronunciation rules (and lacking of them) in certain cases:

  • Words in -cio and -gio form plurals in -ci and -gi.
  • Words in -co and -go:
    • The situation is quite irregular: "the grammarians are sceptical about any attempt at giving a ruling about this area"[1]. There are only partial, empirical rules of the thumb: usually plurals end in -ci and -gi if the final letter before the suffix is a vowel: il medico, i medici (physician(s)), il comico, i comici (comedian(s)), against il fungo, i funghi (mushroom), and lo stecco, gli stecchi (stick), but the plural of baco (silkworm) is bachi, not baci, which is the plural of bacio (kiss). As well, the plural of mago (magician) is maghi, not magi, unless we are referring to Three Kings in Gospel. The plural of fuoco (fire) is fuochi, the plural of gioco (game, play) is giochi. Another (more strict, though breakable) rule is this: if the stress is on penultimate syllable, the plural is -chi or -ghi (antico, antichi (ancient)), when not, it is -ci or -gi. The main exceptions are amico-amici (friend), greco-greci (Greek), valico-valichi (mountain pass) and carico-carichi (cargo, loadful).
    • In words ending with -logo suffix, the plural is usually[1] in -gi when -logo means "expert" or "student", corresponding to English -logist (e.g. archeologo/archeologi "archaeologist"), while it is in -ghi when it means "speech", "reasoning", corresponding often to English -logue/-log (e.g. catalogo/cataloghi "catalogue").
    • In any other case, when in doubt, a dictionary will give the correct answer.
  • Words in -cia and -gia:
    • Form plurals in -cie and -gie if the final letter before the suffix is a vowel: la camicia, le camicie (shirt(s)); la ciliegia, le ciliegie (cherry/cherries).
    • Form plurals in -ce and -ge if the final letter before the suffix is a consonant: la frangia, le frange (fringe(s)); la faccia, le facce (face(s)).
    • When the "i" is stressed, it always remains in plural: la farmacia, le farmacie (chemist's shop), la nevralgia, le nevralgie (neuralgia).

Irregular plurals

There are several irregular plurals in Italian. Some of these are:

  • l'uomo / gli uomini (man/men; lat. homo / homines )
  • il dio / gli dei (god/gods; note also the irregularity in the article: gli instead of i)
  • il bue / i buoi (ox/oxen)
  • il tempio / i templi (temple/temples)
  • l'ala / le ali (wing/wings) (but "l'ale" is poetically admitted)

Alteration

In Italian, altered nouns are nouns with particular shades of meaning. They are divided into diminutives, "vezzeggiativi" (diminutives with kindness and sympathy nuance), augmentatives and pejorative altered nouns.

nouns altered suffix examples
noun altered noun
diminutivi -ino tavolo (table) tavol-ino (a small table)
-etto libro (book) libr-etto
-ello bambino (child) bambin-ello (a little child)
-icello monte (mountain) mont-icello
-icciolo porto (port) port-icciolo
vezzeggiativi -uccio cavallo (horse) cavall-uccio
-acchiotto orso (bear) ors-acchiotto
-iciattolo fiume (river) fium-iciattolo
-olo figlio (son) figli-olo (also figliuolo)
-otto cucciolo (puppy) cucciol-otto
accrescitivi -one libro (book) libr-one (a big book)
-accione uomo (man) om-accione
dispregiativi -accio libro (book) libr-accio (a bad book)
-astro medico (medic) medic-astro (a bad medic)
-ucolo poeta (poet) poet-ucolo
-onzolo medico (medic) medic-onzolo
-uncolo uomo (man) om-uncolo (an insignificant man)

Pronouns

Declension

First Person Second Person Third Person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Masculine Feminine
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative io noi tu voi lui (egli, esso) loro (essi) lei (ella, essa) loro (esse)
Accusative mi ci ti vi lo li la le
Dative mi ci ti vi gli loro le loro
Prepositional me noi te voi lui loro lei loro

Notes:

  • In Italian, personal subject pronouns in the nominative case are generally not used because the conjugation is usually enough to determine who is the subject of the verb. They are used when some emphasis is needed: Sono italiano (I am Italian), Io sono italiano (I -- and not you or anybody else here -- am Italian).
  • egli/ella are fading in speech, esso/essa/essi/esse are rare neuter forms used for inanimate objects.
  • 2nd person nominative pronoun is tu for informal. For formal use, the 3rd person form Lei has been used since the Renaissance[1]: it's used like "Sie" in German, "usted" in Spanish and "você" in Portuguese. Previously, and in some Italian regions today (e.g., Campania), voi is used as a formal singular, as in the French "vous". lei (third person singular) and Lei (second person singular formal) are pronounced the same but written as shown. Formal Lei/Loro take third-person conjugations. The formal plural person is rarely in use in Italian: the informal form is widely used, instead (e.g. "Gino, Lei è un bravo ingegnere. Marco, Lei è un bravo architetto. Insieme, voi sarete una gran bella squadra" "Gino, you are a good engineer. Marco, you are a good architect. Together, you will be a great good team").
  • Accusative mi, ti, lo, la, ci, and vi become me, te, lui, lei, noi, and voi when emphasized ("uccidimi" (kill me) against "uccidi me, non lui" (kill me, not him)).
  • Accusative lo and la elides to l before a vowel or h ("l'avevo detto" (I had told it), "l'ho detto" (I have told it). When accusative pronouns are used in a compound tense, the final vowel of the past participle must agree in gender and number with the accusative pronoun. For example: "L'ho svegliato" (I woke him up), versus "L'ho svegliata" (I woke her up). This also applies for li and le even though they do not elide. For example: "Hai comprato i cocomeri e le mele?" "Li (i cocomeri) ho comprati ma non le (le mele) ho comprate." ("Did you buy the watermelons and the apples?" "I bought them (the watermelons) but I did not buy them (the apples)." (NB: In English them cannot be used in this way). This applies to all compound tenses.
  • Dative mi, ti, ci, and vi become me, te, ce, and ve when preceding an accusative pronoun ("dammelo" (give it to me)) or developed as a me, a te, a noi and a voi when emphasized ("dallo a me" (give it TO ME)).
  • Dative gli combines with accusative lo, la, li, le and ne (partitive, meaning "of it" or "of them") to form glielo, gliela, glieli, gliele and gliene. These combinations are used for feminine and plural too ("Maria lo sa? Gliel'hai detto?" (Does Maria know it? Have you said it to her?)).
  • Dative gli, le, loro (commonly gli) can be developed into a lui, a lei, a loro, when emphasized ("lo sai solo tu: a loro non l'ho detto" (only you know it: I have not told them))
  • Lui and lei are accusative cases in formal and written Italian, while in the spoken language and modern written language practically always replaces egli and ella in the subject pronoun role. The same thing happens with loro/essi.
  • In modern Italian, dative gli (to him) is used commonly even as plural (to them) instead of classical loro. So: "Conosci Luca: gli ho sempre detto di stare lontano dalle cattive compagnie" (You know Luca: I have always told him to stay away from bad companies"). And: "Conosci Luca e Gino: gli ho sempre detto..." (...I have always told them...) instead of "... ho sempre detto loro di stare...".

Adjectives

Adjectives, like nouns, have two genders and two numbers.

In general, for adjectives:

Gender Grammatical number Case 1 Case 2
Masculine Singular -o -e
Plural -i -i
Feminine Singular -a -e
Plural -e -i

Relative Superlative and Comparative

Actually, the rule is simpler than English: Italian use "il più" and "più" ("the most" and "more") almost everywhere: "scemo" (dumb), "sono il più scemo fra gli uomini" (I am the dumbest of men), "sono più scemo di te" (I am dumber than you are). There are some irregulars, like "migliore" (better or best), "peggiore" (worse or worst) etc. but regular forms also exist: "più buono", "il più buono", "più cattivo", "il più cattivo"...

Absolute superlative

The absolute superlative, derived from the Latin synthetic superlative in -issimus, is formed by adding -issimo to an adjective: "very clever", "intelligentissimo"; "very dirty", "sporchissimo". If the two letters before the last vowel are "pr" or "br" ("aspro", Latin "asper", "celebre", Latin "celeber"), the suffix becomes -errimo ("asperrimo", "celeberrimo"). Some exceptions are "ottimo" ("best", "very good"), "pessimo" ("worst", "very bad"), etc., but they could be spelled as "buonissimo" and "cattivissimo".

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives, like articles, must agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify. Hence, mio zio (my uncle), but mia zia (my aunt). So depending on what is being modified, the possessive adjectives are:

Gender Grammatical number Possessive adjectives
Masculine Singular mio
tuo
suo
nostro
vostro
loro
Plural miei
tuoi
suoi
nostri
vostri
loro
Feminine Singular mia
tua
sua
nostra
vostra
loro
Plural mie
tue
sue
nostre
vostre
loro

In most cases the possessive adjective is used with an article, usually the definite article:

Italian English
Ho perso la mia penna. I have lost my pen.
Mi piace il mio lavoro. I like my job.
Hanno rubato la mia automobile! They have stolen my car!

And with the indefinite article:

Italian English
Un mio amico mi ha detto che... A friend of mine told me that...
Ho visto una sua' foto. I have seen a photograph of him/her.
Luca è un mio amico. Luca is a friend of mine.

The only exception is when the possessive refers to an individual family member:

Italian English
Sara è mia sorella Sarah is my sister.
Questa penna è di mia zia. This pen is my aunt's.

But mamma and papà (or babbo, in Central Italy) (mother and father) get usually the article.

For emphasis, however, possessive adjectives are sometimes placed after a noun. This is usually after words like 'colpa' (fault, sin); 'casa' (house, home); 'merito' (merit); 'piacere' (pleasure); or with blasphemy.

Italian English
È colpa sua It is his/her fault
Oh dio mio! Oh, my god!
Vorresti andare a casa mia? Would you like to come over to my house?

Verbs

Italian verb infinitives have one of three endings, either -are, -ere, or -ire. Exceptions are porre "to place" (from Latin ponere), and a few verbs ending in -urre or -arre, most notably tradurre (Latin traducere) "to translate".

Tenses

  • Simple tenses (examples in first person)
Tense Italian name Translation(s) First person translation
Present presente do
am doing1		 faccio
I do
I am doing
Imperfect imperfetto was
used to		 facevo
I was doing
I used to do
Future futuro will/shall farò
I shall do
Preterite passato remoto did2 feci
I did
Conditional condizionale would farei
I would do
Subjunctive congiuntivo (that) I were (che) io sia
that I were
  • Compound tenses
Present Progressive Presente Progressivo am doing sto facendo
Past Progressive Passato Progressivo was doing3 stavo facendo
Recent Past Passato Prossimo have done, did2 ho fatto
Recent Pluperfect Trapassato Prossimo had done4 avevo fatto
Remote Pluperfect Trapassato Remoto had done ebbi fatto
Future Perfect Futuro Anteriore will have done avrò fatto
  • Special forms (Modi indefiniti, Indefinite tenses)
Infinitive Infinito to do fare
Past Participle Participio Passato done fatto
Present participle/Gerund Participio Presente/Gerundio doing facente/facendo
Imperative Imperativo do! fai! / fa'!

Notes
 This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (October 2008)

1Present continuous in Italian is similar to that in English but not as frequently used. Italian usually uses the simple present instead, except when emphasizing the ongoing nature of the action.

2The preterite is becoming obsolete in spoken Italian (as in French and High German); instead, the present perfect (ho fatto) is used. It is still used in Southern Italy but becoming less common there, too. It is, however, very common in literature, even modern literature.

3 As above, the past continuous in Italian is not often used, and its use is considered interchangeable in most situations with the imperfetto (imperfect).

4The Trapassato Prossimo (Recent Pluperfect) and the extremely rare Trapassato Remoto (Remote Pluperfect) are separate tenses in Italian though not in English.

Compound tense auxiliary verbs

In Italian, compound tenses are formed with an auxiliary verb (either essere "to be" or avere "to have"). Most verbs use avere as their auxiliary verb. The exceptions are reflexive verbs, verbs in the passive voice, and unaccusative verbs (typically non-agentive verbs of motion and change of state, i.e. involuntary actions like cadere (to fall) or morire (to die)).

The distinction between the two auxiliary verbs is important for the correct formation of the compound tenses and is essential to the agreement of the past participle. Some verbs use both, though, like vivere (to live): in recent past tense you can say io ho vissuto or io sono vissuto (I have lived).

Past participle

The past participle is used in Italian as both an adjective and to form many of the compound tenses of the language. The past participle conjugated with essere (for unaccusative verbs et al) follows the usual adjective agreement rules.

For the intransitive essere verbs, the past participle always agrees with the subject: lui è partito; lei è partita. This is also true for reflexive verbs, the impersonal si construction, and the passive voice, which also use essere (Si è sparato - He shot himself, against Lui ha sparato - He shot).

The past participle when conjugated with avere never changes to agree with the subject. It agrees with the object though, in sentences where a pronoun replacing the object is proceeding (e.g. Hai mangiato la mela? - Sì, l'ho mangiata (Have you eaten the apple? - Yes, I have eaten it)).

When the pronoun is first or second person, there is optional agreement: Maria! Giovanni ti ha chiamato / chiamata? - No, non mi ha chiamato / chiamata (Maria! Has Giovanni called you? - No, he has not). In relative clauses, the agreement is obsolete: La storia che avete raccontata (obsolete) / raccontato non mi convince (The story you told does not convince me).

Regular conjugations

The infinitive of first conjugation verbs end in -are, that of second conjugation verbs in -ere, and that of third conjugation verbs in -ire. In the following examples for different moods, the first conjugation verb is parlare (meaning to talk/speak), the second conjugation verb is temere (to fear) and the third conjugation verb is partire (to leave/depart.)

Indicative mood
Present Preterite Imperfect Simple Future
First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj.
io parlo temo parto parlai temetti partii parlavo temevo partivo parlerò temerò partirò
tu parli temi parti parlasti temesti partisti parlavi temevi partivi parlerai temerai partirai
lui parla teme parte parlò temette partì parlava temeva partiva parlerà temerà partirà
noi parliamo temiamo partiamo parlammo tememmo partimmo parlavamo temevamo partivamo parleremo temeremo partiremo
voi parlate temete partite parlaste temeste partiste parlavate temevate partivate parlerete temerete partirete
loro parlano temono partono parlarono temettero partirono parlavano temevano partivano parleranno temeranno partiranno
Recent Past Recent Pluperfect Remote Pluperfect Future Perfect
First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj.
io ho parlato ho temuto sono partito avevo parlato avevo temuto ero partito ebbi parlato ebbi temuto fui partito avrò parlato avrò temuto sarò partito
tu hai parlato hai temuto sei partito avevi parlato avevi temuto eri partito avesti parlato avesti temuto fosti partito avrai parlato avrai temuto sarai partito
lui/egli ha parlato ha temuto è partito aveva parlato aveva temuto era partito ebbe parlato ebbe temuto fu partito avrà parlato avrà temuto sarà partito
noi abbiamo parlato abbiamo temuto siamo partiti avevamo parlato avevamo temuto eravamo partiti avemmo parlato avemmo temuto fummo partiti avremo parlato avremo temuto saremo partiti
voi avete parlato avete temuto siete partiti avevate parlato avevate temuto eravate partiti aveste parlato aveste temuto foste partiti avrete parlato avrete temuto sarete partiti
loro/essi hanno parlato hanno temuto sono partiti avevano parlato avevano temuto erano partiti ebbero parlato ebbero temuto furono partiti avranno parlato avranno temuto saranno partiti

Some third conjugation verbs such as capire insert -isc- between the stem and the endings in the present, e. g. capisco, capisci, capisce, etc. It is impossible to tell from the infinitive form which verbs exhibit this phenomenon, which often originated in Latin verbs denoting the "inchoative" aspect of an action, that is, verbs describing the beginning of an action.[1] There are some 500 verbs like this, the first ones in alphabetic order being abbellire, abolire, agire, alleggerire, ammattire and so forth.[2] In some grammatical systems, "isco" verbs are considered a fourth conjugation, often labelled 3b. There are also certain verbs that end in -rre, namely trarre, porre, (con)durre and derived verbs with different prefixes (such as attrarre, comporre, dedurre, and so forth). They are derived from earlier trahere, ponere, ducere and are conjugated as such.

Subjunctive mood
Present Past Imperfect Past Perfect
1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj. 1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj. 1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj. 1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj.
che io parli tema parta abbia parlato abbia temuto sia partito parlassi temessi partissi avessi parlato avessi temuto fossi partito
che tu parli tema parta abbia parlato abbia temuto sia partito parlassi temessi partissi avessi parlato avessi temuto fossi partito
che lui parli tema parta abbia parlato abbia temuto sia partito parlasse temesse partisse avesse parlato avesse temuto fosse partito
che noi parliamo temiamo partiamo abbiamo parlato abbiamo temuto siamo partiti parlassimo temessimo partissimo avessimo parlato avessimo temuto fossimo partiti
che voi parliate temiate partiate abbiate parlato abbiate temuto siate partiti parlaste temeste partiste aveste parlato aveste temuto foste partiti
che loro parlino temano partano abbiano parlato abbiano temuto siano partiti parlassero temessero partissero avessero parlato avessero temuto fossero partiti
  • Third conjugation verbs like capire mentioned above insert -isc- in the first, second, and third persons singular and third person plural of the present.
  • Compound forms (past and past perfect) are made by adding the past participle (e.g. parlato) to the corresponding auxiliary form (as "abbia") in the present and imperfect tenses.

Conditional mood
Present Past
1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj. 1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj.
io parlerei temerei partirei avrei parlato avrei temuto sarei partito
tu parleresti temeresti partiresti avresti parlato avresti temuto saresti partito
lui parlerebbe temerebbe partirebbe avrebbe parlato avrebbe temuto sarebbe partito
noi parleremmo temeremmo partiremmo avremmo parlato avremmo temuto saremmo partiti
voi parlereste temereste partireste avreste parlato avreste temuto sareste partiti
loro parlerebbero temerebbero partirebbero avrebbero parlato avrebbero temuto sarebbero partiti

From the table we can see that the verbs each take their own root, from their class of verb, -are becomes -er-, -ere becomes -er-, and -ire becomes -ir-, the same roots as used in the future indicative tense. Onto this root, all verbs add on the same ending, depending on the conjugation.

Some verbs do not follow this pattern, but take irregular roots, these include: Andare (to go) ~ Andr-, Avere (to have) ~ Avr-, Bere (to drink) ~ Berr-, Dare (to give) ~ Dar-, Dovere (to have to) ~ Dovr-, Essere (to be) ~ Sar-, Fare (to make/do) ~ Far-, Godere (to enjoy) ~ Godr-, Potere (to be able to) ~ Potr-, Rimanere (to remain) ~ Rimarr-, Sapere (to know) ~ Sapr-, Sedere (to sit) ~ Sedr-, Stare (to be/feel) ~ Star-, Tenere (to hold) ~ Terr-, Vedere (to see) ~ Vedr-, Venire (to come) ~ Verr-, Vivere (to live) ~ Vivr-, Volere (to want) ~ Vorr- etc.

The Italian conditional mood is a mood that refers to an action that is possible or likely, but is dependent upon a condition.

E.g. Io andrei in spiaggia, ma fa troppo freddo.
I would go to the beach, but it is too cold.

It can be used in two tenses, the present, by conjugation of the appropriate noun, or the past, using the auxiliary conjugated in the conditional, with the past participle of the appropriate noun.

E.g. Mangerei un sacco adesso, se non stessi cercando di fare colpo su queste ragazze.
I would eat a lot now, if I were not trying to impress these girls.
Sarei andato in città, se avessi saputo che ci andavano loro.
I would have gone to the city, if I had known that they were going.

Many Italian speakers often use imperfect instead of conditional and subjunctive. While incorrect, this is somewhat tolerated in spoken Italian (rarely in written Italian, even if it used to be a correct form in past times).[3]

E.g. Se lo sapevo, andavo al mare.
If I had known it, I would have gone to the beach.
E.g. Se Lucia non faceva quel segno, la risposta sarebbe probabilmente stata diversa. (Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi, chapter 3)
If Lucia had not made that sign, the answer would probably have been different.

The conditional can also be used in Italian to express "could", with the conjugated forms of potere (to be able to), or "should", with the conjugated forms of dovere (to have to)

E.g. (Lui) potrebbe leggere un libro.
He could read a book.
(Lei) dovrebbe andare a letto.
He / she should go to bed.(informal)/You should go to bed.(formal)

Imperative mood
First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj.
(tu) parla! temi! parti!
(Lei) parli! tema! parta!
(noi) parliamo! temiamo! partiamo!
(voi) parlate! temete! partite!
(Loro) parlino! temano! partano!

Verbs like capire insert -isc- in all except the noi and voi forms.

Non-finite forms
  • Infinitive: present: -are, -ere, -ire; past: avere/essere + past participle
  • Gerund: present: -ando, -endo, -endo; past: avendo/essendo + past participle
  • Participle: present: -ante -ente -ente; past: -ato, -uto (though verbs of second conjugation almost always have a contracted desinence, e.g. "cuocere" (to cook) "cotto" (cooked)), -ito

Irregular verbs

While the majority of Italian verbs are regular, many of the most commonly used ones are irregular. In particular, the auxiliary verbs essere and avere, and the common modal verbs potere (ability, to be able to), dovere (duty, to have to), sapere (knowledge, to know how to) and volere (will, to want to) are all irregular. Many of the irregularities are accounted for by the substance of Latin grammar; in Latin the verb had four principal parts, of which the third and fourth (perfect stem and perfect passive participle) were formed regularly from the present stem only in the first and second conjugations, whereas in the third and fourth (in -ere with short e and in -ire) the presence of the i on the stem caused a mutation of the following consonants and made irregularities at a very early stage of the language.

The first conjugation has the big majority of regular verbs (except "andare" (to go), "fare" (to do, to make... it's from third Latin conjugation) and "dare" (to give), which are strongly irregular). Almost every new verb (as neologism) enters in first conjugation (e.g. formattare (to format) is of first conjugation and perfectly regular).

The second conjugation is usually irregular. They are from Latin, where they were irregular too. The few regulars are from Latin second conjugation: like "temere" (to fear), "godere" (to enjoy)... The majority is from Latin third conjugation, which is practically all irregular.

The third conjugation (deriving from Latin fourth conjugation) has two different ways: Greek one with insertion of -sc-, "capire" (to understand), "io capisco" (I understand), and Latin one with no insertion, "sentire" (to feel), "io sento" (I feel). There are some irregulars, but not too many: example, "morire" (to die), "io muoio" (I die). The verb "dire" (to say, to tell) derives from Latin third conjugation, and is strongly irregular.

Most verbs of the second conjugation are irregular in the passato remoto (preterite) tense, which resembles the Latin Perfect tense: they are almost all of second conjugation.

essere (to be, an auxiliary)

Indicative Subjunctive Conditional
Present Preterite Imperfect Future, Present Imperfect
io sono fui ero sarò sia fossi sarei
tu sei fosti eri sarai sia fossi saresti
lui è fu era sarà sia fosse sarebbe
noi siamo fummo eravamo saremo siamo fossimo saremmo
voi siete foste eravate sarete siate foste sareste
loro sono furono erano saranno siano fossero sarebbero

avere (to have, an auxiliary)

Indicative Subjunctive Conditional
Present Preterite Imperfect Future Present Imperfect
io ho ebbi avevo avrò abbia avessi avrei
tu hai avesti avevi avrai abbia avessi avresti
lui ha ebbe aveva avrà abbia avesse avrebbe
noi abbiamo avemmo avevamo avremo abbiamo avessimo avremmo
voi avete aveste avevate avrete abbiate aveste avreste
loro hanno ebbero avevano avranno abbiano avessero avrebbero

potere (to be able to, can, could (conditional); a modal)

Indicative Subjunctive Conditional
Present Preterite Imperfect Future Present Imperfect
io posso potei potevo potrò possa potessi potrei
tu puoi potesti potevi potrai possa potessi potresti
lui può poté poteva potrà possa potesse potrebbe
noi possiamo potemmo potevamo potremo possiamo potessimo potremmo
voi potete poteste potevate potrete possiate poteste potreste
loro possono poterono potevano potranno possano potessero potrebbero

dovere (to have to, must, should (conditional); a modal)

Indicative Subjunctive Conditional
Present Preterite Imperfect Future Present Imperfect
io devo dovetti dovevo dovrò debba dovessi dovrei
tu devi dovesti dovevi dovrai debba dovessi dovresti
lui deve dovette doveva dovrà debba dovesse dovrebbe
noi dobbiamo dovemmo dovevamo dovremo dobbiamo dovessimo dovremmo
voi dovete doveste dovevate dovrete dobbiate doveste dovreste
loro devono dovettero dovevano dovranno debbano dovessero dovrebbero

volere (to want, would (conditional); a modal)

Indicative Subjunctive Conditional
Present Preterite Imperfect Future Present Imperfect
io voglio volli volevo vorrò voglia volessi vorrei
tu vuoi volesti volevi vorrai voglia volessi vorresti
lui vuole volle voleva vorrà voglia volesse vorrebbe
noi vogliamo volemmo volevamo vorremo vogliamo volessimo vorremmo
voi volete voleste volevate vorrete vogliate voleste vorreste
loro vogliono vollero volevano vorranno vogliano volessero vorrebbero

Adverbs

An adjective can be made into a modal adverb by adding -mente (from Latin "mindly", ablative of "mens" (mind), feminine noun) to the ending of the feminine singular form of the adjective. E.g. lenta "slow (feminine)" becomes lentamente "slowly". Adjectives ending in "-re" or "-le" lose their "e" before adding -mente (facile "easy" becomes facilmente "easily", particolare "particular" becomes particolarmente "particularly"). There is also a plethora of temporal, local, modal and interrogative adverbs, mostly derived from Latin (e.g: quando, dove, come, perché..." [when, where, how, why/because...]).

Prepositions

The prepositions in Italian are classically nine (see table below). Classically because many adverbs can be used as prepositions, alone or in conjunction with a real preposition (e.g: sopra il tavolo [upon the table], prima di adesso [before now]). In modern Italian there's no more difference between tra and fra (the former meaning "between" and the latter meaning "among"): they are interchangeable: the only rule is euphony: tra fratelli (among brothers) vs. fra i tralicci (between the power pylons).

Italian English
di of, from, by
a to, at
da from
in in
con with
su on, about
per for, through
tra between, among
fra between, among

Sentences and word order

Italian is an SVO language, where Subject, Verb, and Object normally come in that order, except for certain situations (such as the introduction of an accusative or dative pronoun. see below) or unless some change of order is to be, for some stylistical matter. The subject, if a pronoun, is usually omitted -- distinctive verb conjugations make it redundant. Subject pronouns are considered emphatic when used at all. Questions are formed by a rising intonation at the end of the sentence (in written form, a question mark). The question word (how, who, what, etc.) simply replaces the missing subject or object. Subject-verb inversion does not mark a question as in many European languages, as it usually just emphasizes the subject. In general, the intonation and context are important to recognize questions from affirmative statements.

Note how in the following examples the Italian word order remains relatively fixed while the English varies somewhat:

E.g.

Davide è arrivato in ufficio. (David has arrived at the office.)
Davide è arrivato in ufficio? (Has David arrived at the office?)
Perché Davide è arrivato in ufficio? (Why has David arrived at the office?)
Perché Davide è arrivato in ufficio. (Because David has arrived at the office.)
È arrivato Davide in ufficio. ("It was David who arrived at the office" or "David arrived at the office" - depending on the intonation)
È arrivato Davide in ufficio? (Has David, in particular, arrived at the office?)
È arrivato in ufficio. (He has arrived at the office.)
Lui è arrivato in ufficio. (He has arrived at the office.)
Chi è arrivato in ufficio? (Who has arrived at the office?)

In general, adjectives come after the noun they modify, adverbs after the verb. But: as with French, adjectives coming before the noun indicate essential quality of the noun. Demonstratives (e.g. questo this, quello that) come before the noun, and a few particular adjectives (e.g. bello) may be inflected like demonstratives and placed before the noun.

Object pronouns

Though objects come after the verb as a rule, the rule changes when the object is a pronoun.

Dative and accusative pronouns come before the verb. If an auxiliary verb is used, the pronouns come before the auxiliary. If both dative and accusative pronouns are used, the dative comes first. Pronominal particles ce/ci (to it) and ne (of it) are treated like accusative pronouns for word-order purposes. (Note that ci, the first person plural accusative, is easy to confuse with ci, the accusative particle, but they are not the same. See examples.)

Examples:

Davide lascia la sua penna in ufficio. (David leaves his pen at the office.)
Davide la lascia in ufficio. (David leaves it at the office.)
Davide ce la lascia. (David leaves it to us. (but also : David leaves it there.))
Davide ce ne lascia una. (David leaves us one of them. (but also [rare]: David leaves one [of them] there.))
Davide potrebbe lasciarcene una. (David might leave us one of them (but also [rare]: David might leave one [of them] there.)
or Davide ce ne potrebbe lasciare una. (exactly the same as above)

(Compare with the similar use of objective pronouns, and "y" and "en" in French.)

Finally, in the imperative and infinitive cases, the objective pronouns come once again after the verb, but this time as a suffix:

Davide lascia la sua penna in ufficio. (David leaves his pen at the office.)
"Lasciala in ufficio!" ("Leave it at the office!")
"Lasciacela!" ("Leave it to us!" also [less common] "Leave it there!")
Davide potrebbe lasciarla in ufficio. (David might leave it at the office.)
"Non lasciarcela!" ("Do not leave it to us!" also [less common] "Do not leave it there!")
Davide dovrebbe lasciarcela. ("David should leave it to us." also [less common] "David should leave it there")

Tense relationship in subordinate sentences

Italian inherits consecutio temporum, a grammar rule from Latin that disciplines the relationship between the tenses in subordinate sentences. Consecutio temporum has very rigid rules, though they are fading from spoken Italian. These rules order the subjunctive tense in order to express contemporaneity, posteriority and anteriority in relation with the principal sentence. In spoken Italian, though, the subjunctive is often replaced by correspondent indicative form (this is called crisi del congiuntivo, "subjunctive crisis", and should be avoided in a good Italian speaking and in formal language; however, in common spoken language, particularly in phrases with se, "if", it is sometimes used).

  • to express contemporaneity when the principal clause is in a simple tense (future, present, or simple past,) the subordinate clause uses the present subjunctive, to express contemporaneity in the present.
    • Penso che Davide sia intelligente. I think (that) David is smart.
  • when the principal clause has a past imperfect or perfect tense, the subordinate clause uses the imperfect subjunctive, expressing contemporaneity in the past.
    • Pensavo che Davide fosse intelligente. I thought David was smart.
  • to express anteriority when the principal clause is in a simple tense (Future, or present or passato prossimo) the subordinate clause uses the past subjunctive.
    • Penso che Davide sia stato intelligente. I think David has been smart.
  • to express anteriority when the principal clause has a past imperfect or perfect tense, the subjunctive has to be pluperfect.
    • Pensavo che Davide fosse stato intelligente. I thought David had been smart.
  • to express posteriority the subordinate clause uses not subjunctive but indicative mood , because the subjunctive has no future tense.
    • Penso che Davide sarà intelligente. I think David will be smart.
  • to express posteriority with respect to a past event, the subordinate clause uses the past conditional, whereas in other European languages (such as French, English, and Spanish) the present conditional is used.
    • Pensavo che Davide sarebbe stato intelligente. I thought that David would be smart.

Some common grammar mistakes in Italian language

Among the deprecated Italian grammar uses are:

  • in spoken informal or dialectal language, the usage of an indicative form where a subjunctive one is required (see also above). For Instance: credo che Giorgio ieri fosse a casa ("I believe that yesterday George was at home") is right, credo che Giorgio ieri era a casa is deprecated; se Maria fosse stata a casa, le avrei telefonato ("if Mary had been at home, I would have phoned her") is right, se Maria era a casa le telefonavo is deprecated, even if it is an old usage, found in classic Italian writers;
  • the feminine pronoun le ("(to) her") sometimes in spoken language is replaced with gli ("(to) him"), in example: ho incontrato Giulia e le ho detto che Franco è ammalato ("I met Julia and I told her that Frank is sick") is right, ho incontrato Giulia e gli ho detto che Franco è ammalato is wrong.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Serianni, Luca (1997). Italiano. Garzanti. ISBN 88-11-50470-8. 
  2. ^ Moretti, G. Battista; Orvieto, Giorgio R. (1983). Grammatica Italiana, vol. III. Benucci, 70-71. 
  3. ^ Fornaciari, Raffaello (1881). Sintassi italiana.  See an excerpt at "Grammatica italiana - L'imperfetto nelle frasi condizionali". Retrieved on 2007-10-08.

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