I’m an American who is trying to learn Italian as a second language. It’s my third attempt, actually. I abandoned my Italian textbooks in 2008 and I lost patience with Duolingo in 2017. Why? I was frustrated with my progress, or lack thereof. The curriculum seemed completely random. Also, every “rule” that I encountered had obvious and unexplained exceptions.
Today, my focus is on learning Italian verbs first. The most common Italian verbs appear in almost every sentence and they are irregular. That means that these verbs are not conjugated with simple rules. They must be memorized like any other vocabulary. To my mind, learning those irregular verbs is more useful than practicing simple vocabulary like “dog” or “apple.”
I’m trying to understand the basics of how Italian verbs are organized and used. My goal is to teach myself by writing an explanation for others.
(Cover artwork by Evelyn DeFeo)
Person
Italian verbs have a root and an ending. The root rarely changes, but the ending of the verb is used to communicate information about who (or what) is performing or undergoing an action. This is a peculiar feature for English-speakers because, in Italian, the subject is not always specified. It is implied.
(Imagine that by saying “Atee,” an American listener could understand that a group of men ate. This is how Italian verbs work.)
Italian verbs must agree with their subject in both person (who or what) and in number (how many). Here are the most common Italian subject pronouns:
First Person (Singular) — io, which means “I”
First Person (Plural) — noi, which means “we”
Second Person (Singular) — tu, which means “you” in a familiar way
Second Person (Plural) — voi, which means “all of you”
Third Person (Singular) — lui, which means “he” and lei, which means “she.” The Italians also use the gender-neutral Lei (same pronunciation as lei) as a courteous way of saying “you,” yet said in the third person. This formality reminds me of how someone might address royalty: “How is her majesty feeling this morning?” In Italian, cortesia is used to show respect and deference toward strangers, professionals, the elderly, etc.
Third Person (Plural) — loro, which means “they”
Mixed subjects like “you and I” or “my friends and I” are treated the same as “we” when conjugating a verb. A combination of second- and third-person subjects (e.g. you and your friends) are conjugated like “all of you” and multiple third-person subjects (e.g. Jim and his parents) are conjugated like “they.”
Collective nouns like “band” or “group” are conjugated using the third person singular, like in English. For example, the band is, not the the band are.
Moods
Italian verbs are grouped into seven moods, and these moods are subdivided into two overarching collections: finite moods and indefinite moods.
Each of the four finite moods define the subject of the verb. However, they are used in different circumstances:
Indicative — Deals in facts, certainty and objectivity;
Subjunctive — Deals in feelings, uncertainty and emotions;
Conditional — Relates possibilities (if this, then…); and
Imperative — Issues commands or calls to action.
The three indefinite moods do not define the subject of the verb. This means that they can be used impersonally: (In English, these constructions are often used as movie titles: Drive; Being There; Taken; etc.).
Infinitive — Defines the verb in its most basic form, like in a dictionary;
Gerund — Expresses ongoing action, like the -ing ending in English; and
Participle — Used to form compound tenses, nouns, adjectives or adverbs.
Tenses
In Italian, the word “tense” is translated as tempo, which also means “time.” Italian verbal tenses express the time when an action takes place:
Present Tense — The action is happening now (or will happen imminently);
Past Tense — The action, real or hypothetical, has already happened; and
Future Tense — The action, which isn’t completely certain, has yet to happen.
Simple tenses use a single word to express action, like “I love.” Compound tenses communicate an action using multiple words, like “I have loved,” and they are formed using important helper verbs: essere (to be) or avere (to have).
Conjugation is the combination of all a verb’s tenses, persons and moods. I nearly choked on my coffee when I first counted the variations, 95 in total.
Allow me to spare you my initial shock by not listing everything just yet.