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The Indicative mode is used for talking about real facts, and things the speaker thinks to be true. It is chiefly
used main clauses:
Oggi piove; It's raining today.
Mi chiamo luca; My name is Luca.(litterally: "I call myself Luca")
So che Roma è la capitale d'Italia; I know that Rome is the capital of Italy.
Ho comprato un libro; I have bought a book.
It is also used in relative clauses, time clauses, clauses of reason and result:
Il libro che ho comprato ieri è interessante;
The book I bought yesterday is interesting.
Quando torno a casa, guardo la televisione;
When I come back home, I watch the tv.
Guardo il calcio in TV perché mi piace;
I watch the soccer on TV because I like it.
Era così divertente che tutti hanno riso;
It was so funny that every one laughed.
Clases of reason, time and result sometimes can have the subjunctive instead of indicative.
| Simple Tenses | Compound Tenses |
| Presente | Passato Prossimo |
| Imperfetto | Trapassato Prossimo |
| Passato Remoto | Trapassato Remoto |
| Futuro | Futuro Anteriore |
The present tense is used to talk about habits:
Al Sabato di solito studio; I usually study on Saturday.
It is used to talk about actions which take place at the time of speaking:
Cosa fai? Studio; What are you doing? I'm studying.
Here is the conjugation of "essere" and "avere". They're chiefly used to form compound tenses,
but they're used for a lot of other things too. Refer to the Auxiliary Verbs
page for more informations.
| éssere (to be) | avère (to have) |
| io sono (I am) | io ho (I have) |
| tu sei (you are) | tu hai (you have) |
| egli/ella/esso è (he/she/it is) | egli/ella/esso ha (he/she/it has) |
| noi siàmo (we are) | noi abbiàmo (we have) |
| voi siète (you are) | voi avète (you have) |
| essi sono (they are) | essi hanno (they have) |
| potère(can,may) | dovère(must, to have to) | volère(want) |
| io pòsso (I can) | io dèvo (I must) | io vòglio (I want) |
| tu puòi (you can) | tu dèvi (you must) | tu vuòi (you want) |
| egli/ella/esso può (he/she/it can) | egli/ella/esso dève (he/she/it must) | egli/ella/esso vuòle(he/she/it wants) |
| noi possiàmo (we can) | noi dobbiàmo (we must) | noi vogliàmo (we want) |
| voi potète (you can) | voi dovète (you must) | voi volète (you want) |
| essi pòssono (they can) | essi dèvono (they must) | essi vògliono (they want) |
Take the infinitive of the verb, and remove the "-are", "-ere" or "-ire" desinences
in order to get the verb stem:
amàre--->am-
lèggere--->legg-
dormìre--->dorm-
Then add the proper desinences to the stem:
| 1st conjugation(-are) | am- | -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, -ano |
| 2nd conjugation(-ere) | legg- | -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ete, -ono |
| 3rdt conjugation(-ire) | am- | -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ite, -ono |
| -are verbs: am-are(to love) | -ere verbs: legg-ere(to read) | -ire verbs: dorm-ire(to sleep) |
| io àmo (I love) | io lèggo (I read) | io dòrmo (I want) |
| tu ami (you love) | tu leggi (you read) | tu dormi (you sleep) |
| egli/ella/esso ama (he/she/it loves) | egli/ella/esso legge (he/she/it reads) | egli/ella/esso dorme (he/she/it sleeps) |
| noi amiàmo (we love) | noi leggiàmo (we read) | noi dormiàmo (we sleep) |
| voi amàte (you love) | voi leggète (you read) | voi dormìte (you sleep) |
| essi àmano (they love) | essi lèggono (they read) | essi dòrmono (they sleep) |
| estràrre (to draw off) | suppòrre (to suppose, to guess) | condùrre (to lead) |
| io estràggo | io suppòngo | io condùco |
| tu estrài | tu suppòni | tu condùci |
| egli/ella/esso estrae | egli/ella/esso suppone | egli/ella/esso conduce |
| noi estraiàmo | noi supponiàmo | noi conduciàmo |
| voi estraete | voi supponete | voi conducete |
| essi estràggono | essi suppòngono | essi condùcono |
| finìre (to end) |
| io finìsco |
| tu finìsci |
| egli/ella/esso finìsce |
| noi finiàmo |
| voi finìte |
| essi finìscono |
This tense is formed by the present of the auxiliary and
the past participle of the verb:
Io sono stato,I have been;
Io ho avuto,I have had;
Laura ha visto quel film, Laura have watched that movie;
Giovanni è uscito pochi minuti fa, Giovanni left a few minutes ago.
Remember that, in case the verb wants "essere" as the auxiliary, the participle takes the plural form when the subject is plural:
Laura e Lucia hanno visto quel film, Laura and Lucia have watched that movie;
Giovanni e Luca sono usciti pochi minuti fa, Giovanni and Luca left a few minutes ago.
The formation of Passato Prossimo is a bit more difficult when you want to use "volere", "potere" and "dovere".
These three verbs doesn't have an auxiliary, but they use the auxiliary of the verbs that follows them in the infinitive mode.
for example: we want to say "I had to study", and we want to use the Passato Prossimo. "to study" in Italian is
"studiare" and it uses "avere" as the auxiliary verb. So we will say:
Io = the subject
ho = the auxiliary verb of "studiare"
dovuto = the past participle of "dovere"
studiare = the infinitive of "studiare"
so the correct italian translation of "I had to study" is "Io ho dovuto studiare"
If you want to use a verb which uses "essere" as an auxiliary, for example "andare"(to go),
"dovere" will use "essere" and so the senteces "I had to go" will be translated "Io sono dovuto andare".
The Passato Prossimo expresses an action which took place in the near past:
Ieri Paolo e laura sono andati all'università Paolo and Laura went to the university yesterday.
It expresses an action which began in the past but whose effect still lasts at the time of speaking:
Paolo ha vissuto qui per vent'anni Paolo has lived here for twenty years
Used with the adverb "appena" it expresses recently completed actions:
E'appena uscito He's just gone out
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