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The Imperative Mode

Usage

The imperative is used to give orders. You can use it with your friends and family, because it is a straightforward way to give orders, and sometimes might seem rude. In formal occasion or when you want to give an order in a polite way, you should use the present subjunctive for the same purpose.
The imperative is has the present tense only.

Imperative of auxiliary verbs

	Essere	Avere	Volere	Potere	Dovere
tu	sii	abbi	vogli	puoi	devi
voi	siate	abbiate	vogliate	potete	dovete

Obviously, "volere","potere" and "dovere" are seldom used in the imperative.

Formation of the Imperative in regular verbs

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-	-a, -ate
2nd conjugation(-ere)	legg-	-i, -ete
3rd conjugation(-ire)	dorm-	-i, -ite

Examples of conjugation

	Amare	Leggere	Dormire
tu	ama	leggi	dormi
voi	amate	leggete	dormite

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The Infinitive Mode

Usage

The infinitive expresses the bare meaning of the verb:
amàre to love
lèggere to read
dormire to sleep
It is the form of the verb that you find on the dictionary. It can be used as the subject or the direct object of a sentece:
Andare al cinema piace molto a PaoloPaolo likes going to the cinema very much
Laura odia guidare Laura hates driving
Preceded by "per", it forms a clause of purpose, when the subject of the main clause and of the secondary clause is the same:
Laura è andata a Londra per studiare Inglese Laura went to London to study English (clause of purpose)
Preceede by "Prima di" before it forms a time clause: Prìma di mangiàre, làvati le màniBefore eating, wash your hands

The infinitive has two tenses, the present and the past. The past infinitive is formed by the present infinitive of the auxiliary and the past participle of the verb.
Preceded by "dopo" (after) it forms a time clauses:
Dopo essere andati al cinema, cenarono in un ristorante After going to the cinema, they had dinner at a restaurant
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The Participle Mode

Usage

There're two participles in Italian. The present participle, and the past participle. The present participle has a really limited use. Usually, the present participle of some verbs is used as a nouns or an adjective:
insegnante: present participle of "insegnare" which means "to teach". So the present participle means "teacher"
delinquente: present participle of "delinquere" a very old verb which means "to commit criminal acts": the present participle means "criminal". The most usual synonim for "delinquente" is "criminale". affascinante: present participle of "affascinare" which means "to fascinate, to charm", the present participle meaning "fascinating".
The present participle has the same desinences of a "-e" noun or adjective.

The past participle is more used in Italian. It is used for forming the coumpound tenses of the verbs:
Ieri sono andato al cinema yesterday I went to the cinema
Then it is used as an adjective:
L'uomo ferito si alzò dal letto the wounded man got up
It is a really effective way to express in a word a time clause when the action in the time clause takes place before the action in the main clase:
Andato in cucina, aprì il frigo After going to the kitchen, he opened the fridge
The past participle has the same desinences of the "-o" adjectives.

Present and Past Participle of auxiliary verbs

	Essere	Avere	Volere	Potere	Dovere
Present	ente	avente	volente	potente	dovente
Past	stato	avuto	voluto	potuto	dovuto

Formation of the Participle in regular verbs

Take the infinitive of the verb, and remove the "-are", "-ere" or "-ire" desinences in order to get the verb stem:
amàre--->am-
temère--->tem-
dormìre--->dorm-
Then add the proper desinences to the stem:
Instead of "leggere" which has an irregular past participle (you will learn it in the next paragraph), I've used the verb temere above and in the following table, because it is one of the few regular verbs of the 2nd conjugation. "Temère" means "to be afraid of".

	Stem	Present	Past
1st conjugation(-are)	am-	-ante	-ato
2nd conjugation(-ere)	tem-	-ente	-uto
3rdt conjugation(-ire)	dorm-	-iente	-ito

Examples of conjugation

	Amare	Leggere	Dormire
Present	amante	leggente	dormiente
Past	amato	letto	dormito

[---Go back to the Modes paragraph---]

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The Gerund Mode

Usage

The gerund is used to express:

a)The way an action is performed: Ella scappò al criminale correndo via She escaped the criminal by running away b)The instrument which is used to do something: Studiando diventerai una persona importante You'll become an inportant person by studying c)The moment when something happens: Andando al cinema, ho visto Laura While I was going to the cinema, I saw Laura d)The moment when something happens: Sapendo tutto, ho deciso cosa fare As I knew every thing, I decided what to do e)Preceded by the verb "stare" at the present tense, it expresses the present progressive: Sto facendo i compiti I'm doing my homework>

Present Gerund of auxiliary verbs

Essere	Avere	Volere	Potere	Dovere
essendo	avendo	volendo	potendo	dovendo

Formation of the Present Gerund in regular verbs

In order to form the Present of the Gernund, 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:

	Stem	Present
1st conjugation(-are)	am-	-ando
2nd conjugation(-ere)	legg-	-endo
3rdt conjugation(-ire)	dorm-	-endo

You should use the Present Gerund when the action it expresses takes place at the same time of the action expressed in the main clause.

Formation of the Past Gerund

The formation of the past Gerund follows the same rule of all the other coumpound tenses: you have to put the gerund of the auxiliary and the past participle of the verb: Avendo amato having loved
You can use "potere", "dovere" and "volere" in the past gerund form too:
Avendo potuto amato having been able to love
Remember the rule we studied when had discussed the Passato Prossimo. You should use the Past Gerund to indicate that the action expressed by the Gerund occurs before that expressed in the main clause.

Examples of conjugation

	>Amare	Leggere	Dormire
Present	amando	leggendo	dormendo
Past	avendo amato	avendo letto	avendo dormito

[---Go back to the Modes paragraph---]

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