Italian Verbs For Beginners - Mood and Tenses

Italian Verbs For Beginners - Mood and Tenses When learning Italian, students naturally tend to look for grammatical patterns. Studying Italian verbs in a programmatic fashion is a wise idea because its an efficient use of time, and Italian verbs are classified in a variety of ways. When studying Italian verbs, though, avoid the temptation to make absolute comparisons to English. Although there are many similarities between the two languages, there are also many fundamental differences. In addition, there are always exceptions to the rule. So while taking an organized approach to Italian verbs is a terrific way to improve your Italian, think of it like ordering in an Italian restaurant: be prepared to order a different primo if your favorite dish isnt available. The Santa Trinit of VerbsVerbs are fundamental to any language, and Italian is no exception. There are three primary groups of Italian verbs, classified according to the ending of their infinitives: first conjugation (-are verbs), second conjugation (-ere verbs), and third conjugation (-ire verbs). Most Italian verbs belong to the first-conjugation group and follow a highly uniform pattern. Once you learn how to conjugate one -are verb, youve essentially learned hundreds of them. And what about those Italian verbs that dont end in -are? Second-conjugation (-ere) verbs account for approximately one-quarter of all Italian verbs. Although many have some sort of irregular structure, there are also many regular -ere verbs. The final group of Italian verbs is those that end in ​-ire. Feeling Tense? A Little Moody?Feeling tense studying Italian verbs? Or maybe youre a bit moody. There is a difference. Mood (a variation of the word mode) refers to the attitude of the speaker toward what he or she is saying. There are four finite moods (modi finiti) in Italian: indicative (indicativo), which is used to indicate facts; subjunctive (congiuntivo), which is used to express an attitude or feeling toward an event; conditional (condizionale), which is used to express what would happen in a hypothetical situation; and imperative (imperativo), which is used to give commands. (Note that modern English only has three finite moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative.) There are also three indefinite moods (modi indefiniti) in Italian, so-called because the forms do not indicate the person (i.e., first, second, or third): infinitive (infinito), participle (participio), and gerund (gerundio). Moods are divided into one or more tenses, which indicates the time when the action of the verb takes place (present, past, or future). For reference, the chart below lists the mood and tenses of Italian verbs in English and Italian. ITALIAN VERBS: MOOD AND TENSEIndicative / Indicativopresent / presentepresent perfect / passato prossimoimperfect / imperfettopast perfect / trapassato prossimoabsolute past / passato remotopreterite perfect / trapassato remotofuture / futuro semplicefuture perfect / futuro anteriore Subjunctive / Congiuntivopresent / presentepast / passatoimperfect / imperfettopast perfect / trapassato Conditional / Condizionalepresent / presentepast / passato Imperative / Imperativopresent / presente Infinitive / Infinitivopresent / presentepast / passato Participle / Participiopresent / presentepast / passato Gerund / Gerundiopresent / presentepast / passato Conjugating Italian Verbs SingularI personII personIII personPluralI personII personIII person Learning six forms for every verb would be an endless task. Fortunately, most Italian verbs are regular verbs, meaning they are conjugated following a regular pattern. In fact, there are only three irregular first conjugation verbs. Once the regular verb endings are memorized the pattern can be applied to other verbs of the same group. Or, they are irregular, and do not follow a regular pattern. Although numerous, even the irregular second and third conjugation verbs fall into a few groups that make it easier to memorize. Essere and Avere: Dont Leave Home Without ThemLanguage means action, and you cant speak Italian without the verbs essere (to be) and avere (to have). These two essential verbs are used in compound verb formations, idiomatic expressions, and many other grammatical constructions. Become the maestro of these two verbs and youll have taken a giant step towards learning Italian. In TransitReady for action? Then its time for a transitive verb- those that take a direct object (complemento oggetto): Luisa legge un libro (Luisa reads a book). Transitive verbs can also be used in the absolute sense; that is, with an implicit direct object: Luisa legge (Luisa reads [a book, magazine, newspaper]). Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, are those that never take a direct object: Giorgio cammina (Giorgio walks). Some verbs can be classified as either transitive or intransitive, depending on the context of the sentence. Verbs With Voice!Italian verbs (like verbs in many other languages) have two voices. A verb is in the active voice when the subject carries out or performs the action of the verb: Marco ha preparato le valigie (Marco packed the suitcases). A verb is in the passive voice when the subject is acted on by the verb: La scena à ¨ stata filmata da un famoso regista (The scene was filmed by a famous director). Only transitive verbs with an explicit direct object can be transformed from the active voice to the passive voice. Mirror, Mirror, on the WallYou wake up (svegliarsi), take a shower (farsi la doccia), comb your hair (pettinarsi), and get dressed (vestirsi). You couldnt start your day without reflexive verbs (verbi riflessivi). Those are verbs whose action reverts to the subject: Mi lavo (I wash myself). In Italian, reflexive pronouns (i pronomi reflessivi) are required when conjugating reflexive verbs. Coulda, Woulda, ShouldaThere are three important Italian verbs known as verbi servili or verbi modali (modal verbs). These verbs, potere (to be able to, can), volere (to want), dovere (to have to, must), can stand alone, taking on their given meaning. They can also follow the infinitive of other verbs, functioning to modify the meaning of those verbs. Verbs That End In -sene, -sela, -celaThere are a group of Italian verbs that are conjugated with two different pronoun particles. Verbs such as meravigliarsene and provarcisi are called pronominal verbs (verbi pronominali). In fact, they are still classified as either first-conjugation (-are verbs), second-conjugation (-ere verbs), or third-conjugation (-ire verbs) according to the ending of their infinitives. Many pronominal verbs are used idiomatically. Shadowed By A PrepositionCertain Italian verbs (and expressions) are followed by specific prepositions such as a, di, per, and su. But to the consternation of students of all levels and abilities, there is no hard-and-fast set of rules governing this grammatical usage. This is one instance in which language learners must familiarize themselves with tables that include Italian verbs and expressions followed by specific prepositions as well as verbs followed directly by the infinitive.