Italian grammar

Italian grammar is the body of rules describing the properties of the Italian language. Italian words can be divided into these lexical categories: article, noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

Articles

Italian articles vary according to definiteness (definite, indefinite, and partitive), number, gender, and the initial sound of the subsequent word. Partitive articles compound the preposition "di" with the corresponding definite article, to express uncertain quantity. In the plural, they typically translate into English as "few". In the singular, typically as "some".

Definite article

Gender	Number	Article	Usage
Masculine	Singular	il	The standard definite article for masculine singular Italian nouns is il, used in every case other than those detailed below. Foreign words beginning with ⟨w⟩, pronounced /w/ or /v/, take il and not lo: il West /'wɛst/ (referring to the American Old West), il whisky /'wiski/, il Watt /'vat/, etc.
		lo	The alternate form lo is used before words with certain initial sounds: before ⟨s⟩ pronounced as /s/, /z/, or /ʃ/ followed by another consonant ("impure s", Italian: S (esse) complicata, S impura, or S preconsonantica) before self-geminating consonants: ⟨z⟩, pronounced as /ts/ or /dz/; ⟨gn⟩; ⟨gli⟩; ⟨sci⟩ (or ⟨sh⟩ or ⟨ch⟩ in loan words, e.g. lo chef) pronounced as /ʃ/ before complex consonant clusters ⟨ps⟩, pronounced as /ps/ or /ss/; ⟨pn⟩ as /pn/ or /nn/; ⟨x⟩ as /ks/ or /ss/, ⟨mn⟩ as /mn/ or /nn/, etc., mostly foreign words before ⟨y⟩ or ⟨i⟩ pronounced as semivowel /j/, (e.g. foreign words like lo yoghurt, and local words and scientific or geographical names like lo iodio)
		l'	The apocopic/contracted form l' is used before words with an initial vowel (l'amico) and before ⟨uo⟩ /wɔ/ (l'uomo).
	Plural	i	The form i is used for plurals that take il in the singular. i cani (plural of il cane)
		gli	The plural definite article gli corresponds to lo and l' in the singular, i.e. before the consonants listed above for lo and before vowels. gli zii (plural of lo zio), gli amici (plural of l'amico) Il dio ("the god") has the irregular plural gli dèi /[ʎ]ʎi 'dɛi/ ("the gods").
Feminine	Singular	la	Standard form of the feminine singular definite article, used before consonants and before ⟨i⟩ when pronounced as semivowel /j/, e.g. la iarda.
		l'	The articles lo and la elide to ⟨l'⟩ before any vowel, not including ⟨i⟩ when pronounced as semivowel /j/.
	Plural	le	The feminine plural definite article le is normally used in full form, never elided.

Indefinite article

Gender	Article	Usage
Masculine	un	The standard form un is used before vowels and simple consonants.
	uno	The form uno is used instead of un before "impure s", self-geminating consonants, and complex consonant clusters following the same rules as lo vs. il above, for example: uno studente
Feminine	una	The standard form of the feminine singular indefinite article is una.
	un'	The article una elides to un' before any vowel, not including ⟨i⟩ when used as semivowel /j/.

Partitive article

Gender	Number	Article	Usage
Masculine	Singular	del	The standard form of the masculine singular partitive particle is del, a contraction of di and il, often translated into English as "Some".
		dell'	The masculine singular partitive article contracts to dell' before any vowel.
		dello	The form dello is used before "impure s", self-geminating consonants, and complex consonant clusters following the same rules as lo.
	Plural	dei	The standard masculine plural partitive article is dei, e.g.: Ci sono dei libri sul tavolo. ("There are some books on the table.")
		degli	The masculine plural partitive article is degli before vowels, self-geminating consonants, and complex consonant clusters.
Feminine	Singular	della	The standard form of the partitive feminine singular article is della, a contraction of di and la.
		dell'	The singular feminine partitive article contracts to dell' before any vowel.
	Plural	delle	The plural feminine partitive article is invariantly delle.

Inflection of nouns and adjectives

Nouns and adjectives generally inflect by gender (masculine and feminine, with only some instances of vestigial neuter) and number (singular and plural). Inflection patterns are similar for the two categories:

General noun and adjectival endings for number and gender

Gender	Singular	Plural	Example
Masculine	-o	-i	il capello nero, i capelli neri ("the black hair")
Feminine	-a	-e	la bella macchina, le belle macchine ("the beautiful car(s)")
Masculine and feminine	-e	-i	il/la comandante intelligente, i/le comandanti intelligenti ("the smart commander(s)")
Former neuter (singular masculine, plural feminine)	-o	-a	il lenzuolo leggero, le lenzuola leggere ("the light bed sheet(s)")
Masculine	-a	-i	l'atleta entusiasta , gli atleti entusiasti ("the enthusiastic athlete(s)")
Feminine	-ie	-ie	la specie estinta, le specie estinte ("the extinct species")
All nouns ending with a stressed vowel	singular = plural		la città, le città ("the city(ies)")
Non-integrated loanwords			il/la manager trendy, i/le manager trendy ("the trendy manager(s)")

In the last two examples, only the article carries information about gender and number.

The Italian hard and soft C and G phenomenon leads to a few spelling/pronunciation peculiarities in certain cases:

• Words in -cio and -gio form plurals in -ci and -gi, e.g. bacio / baci ("kiss(es)")
• Words in -cia and -gia have been a point of contention; according to a commonly employed rule, they:
  • form plurals in -cie and -gie if the final letter before the suffix is a vowel: camicia, camicie ("shirt(s)"); ciliegia, ciliegie ("cherry"/"cherries").
  • form plurals in -ce and -ge if the final letter before the suffix is a consonant: frangia, frange ("fringe(s)"); faccia, facce ("face(s)").
  • when the i is stressed, it always remains in plural: farmacia / farmacie ("chemist's shop(s)"), nevralgia / nevralgie ("neuralgia(s)").
• Words in -co and -go behave quite irregularly: "the grammarians are skeptical of any attempt at giving a ruling about this area". There are only partial, empirical rules of thumb:
  • plurals are formed with -chi and -ghi if the last letter before the suffix is a consonant or a stressed vowel: fungo / funghi ("mushroom(s)"), stecco / stecchi ("stick(s)"), mago / maghi ("magician(s)"), fuoco / fuochi ("fire(s)")
  • plurals are formed with -ci and -gi if the last letter before the suffix is an unstressed vowel: comico / comici ("comedian(s)"), medico / medici ("physician(s)")
  • in words ending with -logo suffix, the plural is usually in -gi when -logo means "expert" or "student", corresponding to English -logist (e.g. archeologo / archeologi, "archaeologist(s)"), while it is in -ghi when it means "speech" or "reasoning", corresponding often to English -logue/-log (e.g. catalogo / cataloghi, "catalogue(s)").
  • there are exceptions such as amico / amici ("friend(s)"), greco / greci ("Greek(s)"), valico / valichi ("mountain pass(es)"), carico / carichi ("cargo(s)").

Nouns

Most nouns derive from Latin, from Greek or from a Latinization of foreign words:

Derivation of noun inflections

Latin declension	Masculine	Feminine
1st (-a / -ae)	poeta / poeti "poet(s)"	rosa / rose "rose(s)"
2nd (-us / -i)	carro / carri "truck(s)"
3rd (-Ø,-is / -is)	cane / cani "dog(s)"	parete / pareti "wall(s)"
3rd (-as / -atis)		città / città "town(s)"
4th (-us / -us)	passo / passi "step(s)"	mano / mani "hand(s)"
5th (-ies / -iei)		specie / specie "species"
Greek words	problema / problemi "problem(s)"	crisi / crisi "crisis", "crises"

Any other noun, both those from Latin with an unusual ending and those derived from languages other than Latin or Greek, and not Latinized (cifra - meaning "digit" - and ragazzo/ragazza - meaning "boy/girl" - are from Hebrew and Arabic respectively, but they are Latinized), and nouns ending with a stressed vowel are not inflected, thus:

• 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(s)")
• l'uovo / le uova ("the egg(s)")
• il ginocchio / le ginocchia or i ginocchi ("the knee(s)")
• il sopracciglio / le sopracciglia or i sopraccigli ("the eyebrow(s)")

These nouns' endings derive regularly from the Latin neuter endings of the second declension (sg. -um / pl. -a), but there are some from the 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 choice of plural is sometimes left to the user, while in some cases there are differences of meaning:

• sometimes, for body parts, the feminine/neuter plural denotes the literal meaning while the masculine one denotes a figurative meaning: il braccio ("the arm") / le braccia ("the arms") / i bracci ("the isthmuses", "the inlets"); il corno ("the horn") / le corna ("the horns" of an animal) / i corni ("the horns" as musical instruments)
• sometimes, especially in poetic and old-fashioned Italian, the masculine plural acts as a count noun, while the neuter/feminine plural acts as a mass noun: il cervello ("the brain") / due cervelli ("two brains") / le cervella ("the cerebral matter"); l'anello ("the ring") / due anelli ("two rings") / le anella ("ringlets"); furthermore, il dito ("the finger") / le dita ("the fingers") and also due dita ("two fingers") / but i diti indici ("the index fingers")

Irregular plurals

There are very few true irregular plurals in Italian (plurali irregolari). Some of these are:

• l'uomo / gli uomini (man/men; Latin 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; Latin bos / boves)
• il tempio / i templi (temple/temples)
• il carcere / le carceri (prison (masculine) / prisons (feminine))
• l'ala / le ali (wing/wings) (but "l'ale" is poetically admitted)
• l'arma / le armi (weapon/weapons) (but "l'arme" is poetically admitted)
• la mano / le mani (hand/hands)
• l'eco / gli echi (echo (feminine) / echos (masculine))
• la moglie / le mogli (wife/wives)

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 pejoratives.

	Suffix	Example
diminutivi (diminutive)	-ino	tavolo (table)	tavolino (a small table)
	-etto	libro (book)	libretto
	-ello	bambino (child)	bambinello (a little child)
	-icello	monte (mountain)	monticello
	-icciolo	porto (port)	porticciolo
vezzeggiativi (terms of endearment)	-uccio	cavallo (horse)	cavalluccio
	-acchiotto	orso (bear)	orsacchiotto
	-iciattolo	fiume (river)	fiumiciattolo
	-olo	figlio (son)	figliolo (also figliuolo)
	-otto	cucciolo (puppy)	cucciolotto
accrescitivi (augmentative)	-one	libro (book)	librone (a big book)
	-accione	uomo (man)	omaccione
dispregiativi (pejorative)	-accio	libro (book)	libraccio (a bad book)
	-astro	medico (medic)	medicastro (quack doctor)
	-ucolo	poeta (poet)	poetucolo
	-onzolo	medico (medic)	mediconzolo
	-uncolo	uomo (man)	omuncolo (an insignificant man)

Many other alterations can be built, also through more than one suffix: for example, libro (book) can become libretto (diminutive), libricino (double diminutive), libercolo (diminutive + pejorative), libraccio (pejorative), libraccione (pejorative + augmentative). Uomo (man), coming from Latin homo, becomes om- in altered forms: omino (diminutive), omone (augmentative), omaccio (pejorative), omaccione (augmentative + pejorative).

Adjectives

In Italian, an adjective can be before or after the noun. Placing the adjective after the noun can alter its meaning or indicate restrictiveness of reference; the unmarked placement for most adjectives (e.g. colours, nationalities) is after the noun. If a noun has many adjectives, usually no more than one will be before the noun. When there is possibility to choose, the second word is the more important, so if the adjective is after the noun, it is more emphasized:

• un buon uomo = a good man (nothing special, a good man)
• un uomo buono = a good man, a man that is good (it is important that he is good, the adjective is emphasized)

Adjectives are inflected by gender and number:

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

Degrees of comparison

Italian has three degrees of comparison: comparative, relative superlative and absolute superlative.

The comparative and relative superlative degrees are both formed around the word più (literally "plus", meaning "more" or "most"), for instance:

• sono il più alto fra gli uomini ("I am the tallest of men")
• sono più alto di te ("I am taller than you")

Vice versa, inverting the order of the words, it's required to replace più with meno (literally 'minus', meaning "less" or "few"), for instance:

• sono il meno forte del campionato ("I am the least strong of the championship", in this particular case "più debole" sounds fine)
• tu sei meno alto di me ("You are less tall than me", exactly the same meaning)

Another comparative form is made with the word come (literally "like", "as"), for instance:

• sono alto come te ("I am as tall as you")

At last we have the so-called absolute comparative. It is made with the word troppo ("too") placed before the adjective, for instance:

• sei troppo buono ("you are too good").

The absolute superlative, derived from the Latin synthetic superlative in -issimus, is formed by adding -issimo to an adjective: intelligente ("intelligent"), intelligentissimo ("very intelligent"); sporco ("dirty") sporchissimo ("very dirty"). If the two letters before the last vowel are pr or br (aspro, Latin asper, celebre, Latin celeber), the r is removed and -errimo is the suffix used (asperrimo, celeberrimo) (English: very sour, very famous). Another way to form the absolute superlative is to place before the adjective the words molto ("very") or assai ("very"). For instance sporchissimo and molto sporco ("very dirty") are the same. This second system may be quite helpful to foreigners when there is doubt whether -issimo or -errimo should be added.

Some adjectives form their degrees of comparison irregularly (though with a regular variant also in common use), like

• buono ("good"), migliore / più buono ("better" or "best"), migliore / ottimo / buonissimo ("very good")
• cattivo ("bad"), peggiore / più cattivo ("worse" or "worst"), pessimo / cattivissimo ("very bad")
• grande ("big"), maggiore / più grande ("bigger"), massimo / grandissimo ("very big")
• piccolo ("small"), minore / più piccolo ("smaller"), minimo / piccolissimo ("very small")

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:

Person	Masculine		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st sing.	mio	miei	mia	mie
2nd sing.	tuo	tuoi	tua	tue
3rd sing.	suo	suoi	sua	sue
1st pl.	nostro	nostri	nostra	nostre
2nd pl.	vostro	vostri	vostra	vostre
3rd pl.	loro	loro	loro	loro

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

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:

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.	("Luke is a friend of mine.")

The only exception is when the possessive refers to an individual family member, (unless the family member is described or characterized in some way):

Laura è mia sorella	("Laura is my sister.")
Ieri ho visto mia sorella Diana	("I saw my sister Diana yesterday.")
Questa penna è di mia zia.	("This pen is my aunt's.")

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

È colpa sua	("It is his/her fault")
Oh dio mio!	("Oh, my god!")
Arrivederci, amico mio!	("Goodbye, my friend!")
Vorresti andare a casa mia?	("Would you like to come over to my house?")

If the antecedent of a third person possessive (being used as an object) is the subject of the sentence, proprio can be used instead of suo, though the usage of proprio is declining in the spoken language:

Marco e Maria hanno discusso di filosofia. Marco ha scelto il proprio punto di vista.	("Marco and Maria discussed philosophy. Marco took his own point of view.")
Marco e Maria hanno discusso di filosofia. Marco ha scelto il suo punto di vista.	("Marco and Maria discussed philosophy. Marco took his/her point of view.")

The first sentence is unambiguous and states that Marco took his own point of view, whereas the second sentence is ambiguous because it may mean that Marco took either his own or Maria's point of view.

Demonstrative adjectives

Italian originally had three degrees of demonstrative adjectives: questo (for items near or related to the first person speaker: English "this"), quello (for items near or related to an eventual third person: English "that"), and codesto (for items near or related to an eventual second person). The usage has undergone a simplification, including the meaning of codesto in quello. Only Tuscan speakers still use codesto. In modern Italian, its use is very rare, and the word has acquired a rather pejorative connotation.

Pronouns

Italian features a sizeable set of pronouns. Personal pronouns are inflected by person, number and, in the third person, gender. Literary subject pronouns also have a distinction between animate (egli, ella) and inanimate (esso, essa) antecedents, although this is lost in colloquial usage, where lui, lei and loro are used for animate subjects as well as objects, while no specific pronoun is employed for inanimate subjects (if needed, demonstrative pronouns such as "questo" or "quello" may be used). There is also the uninflected pronoun ciò, which is only used with abstract antecedents.

Personal pronouns are normally dropped in the subject, as the conjugation is usually enough to determine the grammatical person. They are used when some emphasis is needed, e.g. sono italiano ("I am Italian") vs. io sono italiano ("I [specifically, as opposed to others] am Italian").

Italian personal pronouns

			Nominative	Genitive		Dative			Accusative		Instrumental
			Stressed form	Clitic form	Stressed form	Clitic form I.	Clitic form II.	Stressed form	Clitic form	Stressed form	Clitic form	Stressed form
Sing.	1st.		io	--	di me	mi	me	a me	mi	me	--	con me
	2nd.		tu	--	di te	ti	te	a te	ti	te	--	con te
	3th.	m.	egli, esso, lui	ne	di lui	gli	glie-	a lui	lo	lui	ci	con lui
		f.	ella, essa, lei	ne	di lei	le	glie-	a lei	la	lei	ci	con lei
		refl.	--	ne	di sé	si	se	a sé	si	sé	ci	con sé
Plur.	1st.		noi	--	di noi	ci	ce	a noi	ci	noi	--	con noi
	2nd.		voi	--	di voi	vi	ve	a voi	vi	voi	--	con voi
	3th.	m.	essi, loro	ne	di loro	loro	loro	a loro	li	loro	ci	con loro
		f.	esse, loro	ne	di loro	loro	loro	a loro	le	loro	ci	con loro
		refl.	--	ne	di sé	si	se	a sé	si	sé	ci	con sé

Notes:

• 2nd person nominative pronoun is tu for informal. For formal use, the 3rd person form Lei has been used since the Renaissance: it is 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". The pronouns lei (third-person singular) and Lei (second-person singular formal) are pronounced the same but written as shown. Formal Lei and Loro take third-person conjugations. The formal plural person is very rarely used in modern Italian; the unmarked form is widely used instead Lei was originally an object form of ella, which in turn referred to an honorific of the feminine gender such as la magnificenza tua / vostra ("Your Magnificence") or Vossignoria ("Your Lordship"). Example: "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 lo and la elide to l' before a vowel or before h: l'avevo detto ("I had said it"), l'ho detto ("I have said 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, hai comprato i cocomeri e le mele? ("Did you buy the watermelons and the apples?") - Li [i cocomeri] ho comprati ma non le [le mele] ho comprate ("I bought them [the former] but I did not buy them [the latter]"). This also happens when the underlying pronoun is made opaque by elision: l'ho svegliato ("I woke him up"), versus L'ho svegliata ("I woke her up").
• 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...". It works even in feminine: "Conosci Lucia e Gina: gli ho sempre detto..." instead of more classic "... ho detto loro...".
• The words ci and ne act both as clitic pronouns (see the table above) and, also, clitic pro-forms for "there" (ci, as in c'è, ci sono, ci vengo, etc.) and "from there" (ne, as in è entrato in casa alle 10:00 e ne è uscito alle 11:00).

Clitic pronouns

Though objects come after the verb as a rule, this is not the case with a class of unstressed, clitic pro-forms.

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.

Examples of clitic pronouns

	Italian	English
Genitive	Non vedo Francesco, ma ne vedo la bicicletta.	I do not see Francesco, but I see the bike of him.
Dative	Gli parlai per un'ora intera.	I spoke to him for a whole hour.
Accusative	Lo vedo.	I see him.
Instrumental	Sì! Lo conosco! Una volta ci giocai a pallacanestro!	Yes! I know him! Once I played basketball with him!

Other 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 pro-forms in French and Catalan.)

Finally, in the imperative mood, 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")

• Dative mi, ti, ci, and vi become me, te, ce, and ve when preceding another pronoun ("dammelo" (give it to me)) or develop as a me, a te, a noi and a voi when emphasized ("dallo a me" (give it TO ME)).
• In colloquial speech the clitic form of the dative pronouns (mi,ti,gli,le,ci,vi) is often associated with the emphasized dative form (a me, a te, a lui, a lei, a noi, a voi, a loro) in such a way: a me mi danno un libro (they give me a book), a loro gli hanno venduto una casa (they sold them a house). It is not grammatically correct, since it represents a repetition of the dative pronoun, but it is widely used by Italian speaking people.
• 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)).
• 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))
• 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?)).

Verbs

Main article: Italian verbs

Italian infinito presente may end by one of these three endings, either -are, -ere, or -ire. Exceptions are also possible fare "to do/make" (from Latin facere), and verbs ending in -urre or -arre, most notably tradurre (Latin traducere) "to translate". Italian grammar does not have distinct forms to indicate specifically verbal aspect, though different verbal inflections and periphrases do render different aspects, in particular the perfective and imperfective aspects and the perfect tense–aspect combination. While the various inflected verbal forms convey a combination of tense (location in time), aspect, and mood, language-specific discussions generally refer to these inflectional forms as "tempi", for this reason it is impossible to make comparisons between the tenses of English verbs and the tempi of Italian verbs as there is no correspondence at all.

Tenses

Simple tenses

Tense	Italian name	Example	English equivalent
Indicative Mood
Present	indicativo presente	faccio	I do I am doing
Imperfect	indicativo imperfetto	facevo	I did/used to do I was doing
Future	futuro semplice	farò	I will do
Preterite	passato remoto	feci	I did (historic)
Conditional mood
Present	condizionale presente	farei	I would do
Subjunctive mood
Present	congiuntivo presente	(che) io faccia	(that) I do
Imperfect	congiuntivo imperfetto	(che) io facessi	(that) I did/do
Imperative mood
Present	imperativo	fa'/fai!	do! (sing. informal)

Compound tenses

Tense	Italian name	Example	English equivalent
Indicative Mood
Recent past	passato prossimo	ho fatto	I have done I did
Recent pluperfect	trapassato prossimo	avevo fatto	I had done
Future perfect	futuro anteriore	avrò fatto	I will have done
Remote pluperfect	trapassato remoto	ebbi fatto	I had done
Conditional mood
Preterite	condizionale passato	avrei fatto	I would have done
Subjunctive mood
Preterite	congiuntivo passato	(che) io abbia fatto	(that) I did
Pluperfect	congiuntivo trapassato	(che) io avessi fatto	(that) I had done

Impersonal forms

Tense	Italian name	Example	English equivalent
Infinitive
Present	infinito presente	fare	to do
Past	infinito passato	aver fatto	to have done
Gerund
Present	gerundio presente	facendo	doing
Past	gerundio passato	avendo fatto	having done
Participle
Present	participio presente	facente	doing
Past	participio passato	fatto	done

Aspect other than imperfective, aorist (that are rendered by simple tenses) and perfect (that is rendered by compound tenses) are rendered in Italian through periphrastical forms which aren't recognized by the canonical Italian grammar as proper tenses.

Examples

• Present tense, indicative mood, progressive aspect: io sto facendo (English: I'm doing)
• Present tense, indicative mood, prospective aspect: io sto per fare (English: I'm about to do)

Notes

Compound tense auxiliary verbs

In Italian, compound tenses are formed with either auxiliary verb essere ("to be") or avere ("to have").

All transitive verbs use avere as their auxiliary verb. Verbs in the passive voice use essere or venire, with a different meaning:

• La porta è stata aperta. ("The door has been opened.")
• La porta viene aperta. ("The door is being opened.")

For intransitive verbs a reliable rule cannot be given, although a useful rule of thumb is that if a verb's past participle can take on adjectival value, essere is used, otherwise avere. Also, reflexive verbs and unaccusative verbs use essere (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 either, though, like vivere ("to live"): Io ho vissuto ("I have lived") can alternatively be expressed as, Io sono vissuto.

Past participle

The past participle is used in Italian as both an adjective and to form many of the compound tenses of the language. There are regular endings for the past participle, based on the conjugation class (see below). There are, however, many irregular forms as not all verbs follow the pattern, particularly the -ere verbs. Some of the more common irregular past participles include: essere (to be) → stato (same for stare); fare (to do, to make) → fatto; dire (to say, to tell) → detto; aprire (to open) → aperto; chiedere (to ask) → chiesto; chiudere (to close) → chiuso; leggere (to read) → letto; mettere (to put) → messo; perdere (to lose) → perso; prendere (to take, to get) → preso; rispondere (to answer) → risposto; scrivere (to write) → scritto; vedere (to see) → visto.

For the intransitive verbs taking essere, the past participle always agrees with the subject—that is, it follows the usual adjective agreement rules: lui è partito; lei è partita. This is also true for reflexive verbs, the impersonal si construction (which, interestingly, requires any adjectives that refer to it to be in the masculine plural: Si è sempre stanchi alla fine della giornata - One is always tired at the end of the day), and the passive voice, which also use essere (Si è sparato - He shot himself, against Lui ha sparato - He shot).

The past participle when used with avere never changes to agree with the subject. It agrees with the object though, in sentences where a pronoun replacing the object precedes the verb (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).

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. These rules order the subjunctive tense in order to express contemporaneity, posteriority and anteriority in relation with the principal sentence.

• 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 David is smart.
• when the principal clause has a past imperfect or perfect, 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, 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 have been smart.

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
	1st Conj.	2nd Conj.	3rd Conj.	1st Conj.	2nd Conj.	3rd Conj.	1st Conj.	2nd Conj.	3rd Conj.	1st Conj.	2nd Conj.	3rd 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
egli	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
essi	parlano	temono	partono	parlarono	temettero	partirono	parlavano	temevano	partivano	parleranno	temeranno	partiranno
	Recent past = present of avere / essere + past participle			Remote pluperfect = preterite of avere / essere + past participle			Recent pluperfect = imperfect of avere / essere + past participle			Future perfect = simple future of avere / essere + past participle

Some third conjugation verbs such as capire insert -isc- between the stem and the endings in the first, second, and third persons singular and third person plural of the present, e.g., capire -> capisco, capisci, capisce, capiamo, capite, capiscono. 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. There are some 500 verbs like this, the first ones in alphabetic order being abbellire, abolire, agire, alleggerire, ammattire and so forth. 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

The Italian subjunctive mood is used to indicate cases of desire, express doubt, make impersonal emotional statements, and to talk about impeding events.

	Present			Imperfect
	1st Conj.	2nd Conj.	3rd Conj.	1st Conj.	2nd Conj.	3rd Conj.
io	parli	tema	parta	parlassi	temessi	partissi
tu	parli	tema	parta	parlassi	temessi	partissi
egli	parli	tema	parta	parlasse	temesse	partisse
noi	parliamo	temiamo	partiamo	parlassimo	temessimo	partissimo
voi	parliate	temiate	partiate	parlaste	temeste	partiste
essi	parlino	temano	partano	parlassero	temessero	partissero
	Past = present of avere / essere + past participle			Past perfect = imperfect of avere / essere + past participle

• 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.

Conditional mood

	Present
	1st Conj.	2nd Conj.	3rd Conj.
io	parlerei	temerei	partirei
tu	parleresti	temeresti	partiresti
egli	parlerebbe	temerebbe	partirebbe
noi	parleremmo	temeremmo	partiremmo
voi	parlereste	temereste	partireste
essi	parlerebbero	temerebbero	partirebbero
	Past = present of avere / essere + past participle

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. Example:

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:

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):

Se lo sapevo, andavo alla spiaggia	("If I had known it, I would have gone to the beach.")
Se Lucia non faceva quel segno, la risposta sarebbe probabilmente stata diversa.	("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"), "should", with the conjugated forms of dovere ("to have to"), or "would like", with the conjugated forms of "volere" (want):

[Lui] potrebbe leggere un libro.	("He could read a book.")
[Loro] dovrebbero andare a letto.	("They should go to bed.")
Vorrei un bicchiere d'acqua, perfavore.	("I would like a glass of water, please.")

Imperative mood

	1st Conj.	2nd Conj.	3rd Conj.
(tu)	parla!	temi!	parti!
(Lei)	parli!	tema!	parta!
(noi)	parliamo!	temiamo!	partiamo!
(voi)	parlate!	temete!	partite!
(essi)	parlino!	temano!	partano!

Verbs like capire insert -isc- in all except the noi and voi forms. Technically, the only real imperative forms are the 2nd persons singular and plural, with the other persons being borrowed from the present subjunctive.

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 the 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, can), dovere (duty, to have to, must), 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 majority of regular verbs (except "andare" (to go), "fare" (to do, to make (from third Latin conjugation)), "dare" (to give) and "stare" (to stay), which are strongly irregular). Almost every new verb (as neologism) enters in first conjugation (e.g. formattare (to format)) and is perfectly regular.

The second conjugation is usually irregular. The few regulars are from Latin second conjugation: like "temere" (to fear), "godere" (to enjoy)... The majority is from Latin third conjugation. Most of these have developed irregularities in Italian.

The third conjugation (deriving from Latin fourth conjugation) has two different ways: Greek one (or incohative) 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.

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
egli	è	fu	era	sarà	sia	fosse	sarebbe
noi	siamo	fummo	eravamo	saremo	siamo	fossimo	saremmo
voi	siete	foste	eravate	sarete	siate	foste	sareste
essi	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
egli	ha	ebbe	aveva	avrà	abbia	avesse	avrebbe
noi	abbiamo	avemmo	avevamo	avremo	abbiamo	avessimo	avremmo
voi	avete	aveste	avevate	avrete	abbiate	aveste	avreste
essi	hanno	ebbero	avevano	avranno	abbiano	avessero	avrebbero

potere (to be able to, can, could; 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
egli	può	poté	poteva	potrà	possa	potesse	potrebbe
noi	possiamo	potemmo	potevamo	potremo	possiamo	potessimo	potremmo
voi	potete	poteste	potevate	potrete	possiate	poteste	potreste
essi	possono	poterono	potevano	potranno	possano	potessero	potrebbero

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

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

volere (to want, will, would); 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
egli	vuole	volle	voleva	vorrà	voglia	volesse	vorrebbe
noi	vogliamo	volemmo	volevamo	vorremo	vogliamo	volessimo	vorremmo
voi	volete	voleste	volevate	vorrete	vogliate	voleste	vorreste
essi	vogliono	vollero	volevano	vorranno	vogliano	volessero	vorrebbero

Adverbs

An adjective can be made into a modal adverb by adding -mente (from Latin "mente", 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").

These adverbs can also be derived from the absolute superlative form of adjectives, e.g. lentissimamente ("very slowly"), facilissimamente ("very easily").

There is also a plethora of temporal, local, modal and interrogative adverbs, mostly derived from Latin, e.g. quando ("when"), dove ("where"), come ("how"), perché ("why"/"because"), mai ("never"), sempre ("always"), etc.

Prepositions

Italian has a closed class of basic prepositions, to which a number of adverbs can be added that also double as prepositions, e.g.: sopra il tavolo ("upon the table"), prima di adesso ("before now").

In modern Italian the prepositions tra and fra are interchangeable, and often chosen on the basis of euphony: tra fratelli ("among brothers") vs. fra i tralicci ("between the power pylons").

All the basic prepositions except tra, fra, per and con have to be combined with an article placed next to them.

Italian	English	Preposition + article
di	of, from	del, dello, della, dell' / dei, degli, delle
a	to, at	al, allo, alla, all' / ai, agli, alle
da	from, by	dal, dallo, dalla, dall' / dai, dagli, dalle
in	in	nel, nello, nella, nell' / nei, negli, nelle
con	with	con il or col, con lo, con la, con l' / con i or coi, con gli, con le
su	on, about	sul, sullo, sulla, sull' / sui, sugli, sulle
per	for, through	per il, per lo, per la, per l' / per i, per gli, per le
tra / fra	between, among	tra il, tra lo, tra la, tra l' / tra i, tra gli, tra le

Sentences and word order

Italian is an SVO language. Nevertheless, the SVO sequence is sometimes replaced by one of the other arrangements (SOV, VSO, OVS, etc.), especially for reasons of emphasis and, in literature, for reasons of style and metre: Italian has a relatively free word order.

The subject is usually omitted when it is a pronoun – 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). There is usually no other special marker, although wh-movement does usually occur. In general, intonation and context are important to recognize questions from affirmative statements.

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.)
(Egli) 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.

Disputed points in Italian grammar

Among the deprecated Italian grammar uses are:

• in spoken informal or dialectal language, the usage of an indicative form where a subjunctive one is prescribed. 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 telephoned her") is preferred by prescriptive grammars, se Maria era a casa le telefonavo is deprecated, even if it is an old usage, found in classic Italian writers.
• the nominative third person pronouns (egli, ella, essi) and the courtesy form (Ella) are being replaced by their accusative forms (lui, lei, loro and Lei).

Italian grammar books

The first Italian grammar was printed by Giovanni Francesco Fortunio in 1516 with the title Regole grammaticali della volgar lingua. Ever since, several Italian and foreign scholars have published works devoted to its description. Among others may be mentioned the famous Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti written by the philologist Gerhard Rohlfs, published at the end of the 1960s.

Among the most modern publications are those by Luca Serianni, in collaboration with Alberto Castelvecchi, Grammatica italiana. Suoni, forme, costrutti (Utet, Torino, 1998); and by Lorenzo Renzi, Giampaolo Salvi and Anna Cardinaletti, Grande grammatica italiana di consultazione (3 vol., Bologna, Il Mulino, 1988-1995).

External links

• Verb Conjugation Trainer from Molto Bene Italian
• Accademia della Crusca
• Italian grammar at DMOZ