Italian grammar

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Italian grammar is the study of grammar in the Italian language.

Contents

Nouns (i nomi)

Nouns in Italian have gender (masculine or feminine, but no neuter), and number (singular or plural). The gender and number is always shown by the leading article (definite or indefinite), and usually by the final vowel.

In most cases:

  • Masculine singular in -o, plural in -i
    • il ragazzo / i ragazzi (the boy / the boys)
  • Feminine singular in -a, plural in -e
    • la ragazza / le ragazze (the girl / the girls)

but:

  • Masculine singular in -e, plural in -i
    • il cane / i cani (the dog / the dogs)
  • Feminine singular in -e, plural in -i
    • la parete / le pareti (the wall / the walls)

Irregular nouns (i nomi irregolari)

Irregular noun patterns:

  • Masculine singular in -a, plural in -i (problema/problemi problem(s))
  • Masculine singular in è, plural in è (caffè coffee(s))
  • Feminine singular in -à, plural in -à (città city/cities)
  • Feminine singular in -o, plural in -o (except la mano, le mani, hand(s))

Certain body parts and other nouns are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural:

  • il braccio (m) / le braccia (f) (the arm / the arms)
  • il ginocchio (m) / le ginocchia (f) (the knee / the knees)
  • il sopracciglio (m) / le sopracciglia (f) (the eyebrow / the eyebrows)
  • l'uovo (m) / le uova (f) (the egg / the eggs)

These nouns are really neuter, and their endings derive regularly from the Latin neuter endings of the 2nd declension; the tradition of calling them "irregular" or "mobile gender" (genere mobile) comes from the fact that there are very so few nouns of this kind that the existence of neuter can be considered vestigial.

And occasional individual exceptions when a word has been abbreviated but keeps its original gender, for example:

  • la foto (= la fotografia, the photograph)
  • la moto (= la motocicletta, the motorcycle)

Lastly, the soft/hard nature of italian c and g leads to a few spelling/pronunciation rules in certain cases:

  • Words in -cio and -gio form plurals in -ci and -gi (to preserve pronunciation).
  • Words in -co and -go:
    • Form plurals in -ci and -gi if the final letter before the suffix is a vowel: l'amico, gli amici
    • Generally form plurals in -chi and -ghi if the final letter before the suffix is a consonant: il fungo, i funghi
  • Words in -cia and -gia:
    • Form plurals in -cie and -gie if the final letter before the suffix is a vowel: la camicia, le camicie
    • Form plurals in -ce and -ge if the final letter before the suffix is a consonant: la frangia, le frange
  • Words in -cie are invariable in the plural, with the exception of: la superficie, le superfici.

Articles (gli articoli)

The definite article (the)

  • Masculine singular: il (lo before an impure consonant sound, l' before a vowel)
  • Masculine plural: i (gli before a vowel or impure consonant sound)
  • Feminine singular: la (l' before a vowel)
  • Feminine plural: le

Impure consonant sounds are z, gn, pn, ps, or s+consonant (sp, st, etc). See also Italian sounds.

The indefinite article (a)

  • Masculine: un (uno before an impure consonant sound)
  • Feminine: una (un' before a vowel)

Pronouns (i pronomi)

Declension

First Person Second Person Third Person
Singular Plural Informal Formal Masculine Feminine
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative io noi tu voi Lei Loro lui (egli, esso) loro (essi) lei (ella, essa) loro (esse)
Accusative mi ci ti vi La Le lo li la le
Dative mi ci ti vi Le Loro gli loro le loro
Prepositional me noi te voi Lei Loro lui loro lei loro

Notes:

  • egli/ella are fading, esso/essa/essi/esse are rare neuter forms.
  • 2nd person Nom. is tu for informal, Lei for formal since 1940s. lei (third person singular) and Lei (second person singular formal) are pronounced the same but written as shown. Formal Lei/Loro take third-person conjugations.
  • Accusative mi, ti, ci, and vi become me, te, ce, and ve when emphasized.
  • Accusative lo and la contract to l' before a vowel or h.
  • Dative mi, ti, ci, and vi become me, te, ce, and ve when emphasized or when preceding an accusative pronoun.
  • Dative gli combines with Accusative lo, la, li, and le to form glielo, gliela, glieli, and gliele.
  • Lui is accusative case in formal and written italian, in the spoken language often but not always replace egli in the subject pronoun role the same thin haeppens with loro\essi

(Compare German Sie.)

Adjectives (gli aggettivi)

Adjectives, like nouns, have two genders and two numbers.

In general, for adjectives:

  • Masculine in -o, plural in -i
  • Masculine in -e, plural in -i
  • Feminine in -a, plural in -e
  • Feminine in -e, plural in -i

Possessive adjectives

  • Masc. sing.: mio, tuo, suo, nostro, vostro, loro
  • Fem. sing.: mia, tua, sua, nostra, vostra, loro
  • Masc. pl.: miei, tuoi, suoi, nostri, vostri, loro
  • Fem. pl.: mie, tue, sue, nostre, vostre, loro

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

  • Ho perso la mia penna. (I've lost my pen.)
  • Mi piace il mio lavoro. (I like my job.)
  • Hanno rubato la mia automobile! (They've 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've seen a photograph of him/her.)
  • Luca è un mio amico. (Luca is a friend of mine.)

The only exception is when the possessive refers to an individual family member:

  • Sara è mia sorella (Sarah is my sister.)
  • Questa penna è di mia zia. (This pen is my aunt's.)

Tenses (i tempi)

  • Simple tenses (examples in first person)
Present Presente do, am doing1 faccio, sto facendo
ImperfectImperfettowas doing, used to dofacevo
FutureFuturowill dofarò
PreteritePassato remotodid2feci
  • Compound tenses
Recent Past Passato Prossimo have done ho fatto
Recent PluperfectTrapassato Prossimohad done3avevo fatto
Remote PluperfectTrapassato Remotohad doneebbi fatto
Future PerfectFuturo Anteriorewill have doneavrò fatto
  • Special forms
Infinitive Infinito to do fare
Past ParticipleParticipio Passatodonefatto
Present participle/GerundParticipio Presente/Gerundiodoingfacente/facendo
ImperativeImperativodo!fai! / fa!

Notes

1Present continuous in Italian is similar to that in English but not as frequently used. Italian usually uses the simple present instead, except when emphasizing the ongoing nature of the action.

2The preterite is becoming obsolete in spoken Italian. It is still used in Southern Italy but becoming less common there too. It is however very common in literature, even modern literature.

3The Trapassato Prossimo (Recent Pluperfect) and the Trapassato Remoto (Remote Pluperfect) are separate tenses in Italian though not in English.

Verbs (i verbi)

Italian verb infinitives have one of three endings, either -are, -ere, or -ire. (Exceptions are porre "to place", and a few verbs ending in -urre, most notably tradurre "to translate".)

Compound tense auxiliary verbs

In Italian, compound tenses are formed with an auxiliary verb (either essere "to be" or avere "to have"). Most verbs use avere as their auxiliary verb. The exceptions are reflexive verbs, verbs in the passive voice, and unaccusative verbs (typically non-agentive verbs of motion and change of state, i. e. involuntary actions like "fall" or "die").

The distinction between the two auxiliary verbs is important for the correct formation of the compound tenses and is also essential to the agreement of the past participle.

The past participle

The past participle is used in Italian as both an adjective and to form many of the compound tenses of the language. The past participle conjugated with essere (for unaccusative verbs et al) follows the usual adjective agreement rules.

For the intransitive essere verbs, the past participle always agrees with the subject: lui è partito; lei è partita. This is also true for reflexive verbs, the impersonal si construction, and the passive voice, which also use essere.

The past participle when conjugated with avere never changes to agree with the subject. It agrees with the object though, in sentences where a pronoun replacing the object is proceeding (e.g. Hai mangiato la mela? - Si, l'ho mangiata (Have you eaten the apple? - Yes, I have eaten it)).

Regular conjugations

Indicative mood (l'indicativo)

Present Preterite Imperfect Future
First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj.
io parlo batto parto parlai battei partii parlavo battevo partivo parlerò batterò partirò
tu parli batti parti parlasti battesti partisti parlavi battevi partivi parlerai batterai partirai
egli parla batte parte parlò batté partì parlava batteva partiva parlerà batterà partirà
noi parliamo battiamo partiamo parlammo battemmo partimmo parlavamo battevamo partivamo parleremo batteremo partiremo
voi parlate battete partite parlaste batteste partiste parlavate battevate partivate parlerete batterete partirete
essi parlano battono partono parlarono batterono partirono parlavano battevano partivano parleranno batteranno partiranno

The infinitive of first conjungation verbs end in -are, that of second conjungation verbs in -ere, and that of third conjungation verbs in -ire.

Some third conjugation verbs such as capire insert -isc- between the stem and the endings in the present, e. g. capisco, capisci, capisce, etc. It is impossible to tell from the infinitive form which verbs exhibit this phenomenon, though it tends to be the shorter verbs. In some grammatical systems, "isco" verbs are considered a fourth conjugation, often labelled 3b. The infinitive of some second conjungation verbs ends in -urre, e. g. tradurre, condurre, dedurre. Their conjungation is the same as if the verbs were traducere, conducere, deducere.

Subjunctive mood (il congiuntivo)

Present Imperfect
First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj. First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj.
io parli batta parta parlassi battessi partissi
tu parli batta parta parlassi battessi partissi
egli parli batta parta parlassi battessi partissi
noi parliamo battiamo partiamo parlassimo battessimo partissimo
voi parliate battiate partiate parlaste batteste partiste
essi parlino battano partano parlassero battessero partissero

Third conjugation verbs like capire mentioned above insert -isc- in the first, second, and third persons singular and third person plural of the present.

Conditional mood (il condizionale)

First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj.
io parlerei batterei partirei
tu parleresti batteresti partiresti
egli parlerebbe batterebbe partirebbe
noi parleremmo batteremmo partiremmo
voi parlereste battereste partireste
essi parlerebbero batterebbero partirebbero

Imperative mood (l'imperativo)

First Conj. Second Conj. Third Conj.
(tu) parla! batti! parti!
(egli) parli! batta! parta!
(noi) parliamo! battiamo! partiamo!
(voi) parlate! battete! partite!
(essi) parlino! battano! partano!

Verbs like capire insert -isc- in all except the noi and voi forms.

Non-finite forms

  • Gerund: -ando, -endo, -endo
  • Participle: -ato, -uto, -ito

Irregular verbs (i verbi irregolari)

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), dovere (duty, to have to), stare (to stand, to be in a particular state), sapere (to know how to), and volere (to want to) are all irregular.

The 110 most-used irregular verbs are conjugated here

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 erarano 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, 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
lui può poté poteva potrà possa potesse potrebbe
noi possiamo potemmo potevamo potremo possiamo potessimo potremmo
voi potete poteste potevate potrete possate poteste potreste
loro possono poterono potevano potranno possano potessero potrebbero

Adverbs (avverbi)

An adjective can be made into an adverb by adding -mente to the ending of the feminine singular form of the adjective. (E.g. lenta "slow" becomes lentamente "slowly". Adjectives ending in "-re" or "-le" lose their "e" before adding -mente (facile "easy" becomes facilmente "easily").

Sentences and word order

Italian is an SVO language, where Subject, Verb, and Object normally come in that order. The subject, if a pronoun, is usually omitted -- 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). The question word (how, who, what, etc.) simply replaces the missing subject or object. Subject-verb inversion does not mark a question as in many European languages, it just emphasizes the subject, though this usage may be changing.

Note how in the following examples the Italian word order remains relatively fixed while the English varies somewhat:

E.g.

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.)
È arrivato Davide in ufficio? (Has David, in particular, arrived at the office?)
È arrivato in ufficio. (He has arrived at the office.)
Lui 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 also placed before the noun.

Object pronouns

Though objects come after the verb as a rule, the rule changes when the object is a pronoun.

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. (Note that "ci", the first person plural accusative, is easy to confuse with "ci", the accusative particle, but they're not the same. See examples.)

Examples: (please correct these and add more, it's a difficult grammar point.)

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 there. (but also: David leaves it to us.))
Davide ce ne lascia una. (David leaves one there. (but also: David leaves us one of them.))
Davide potrebbe lasciarcene una. (David might leave one of them there (but also: David might leave us one of them.)

(Compare with the similar use of objective pronouns, and "y" and "en" in French.)


And finally, in the imperative and infinitive cases, 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 there!" also "Leave it to us!")
Davide potrebbe lasciarla in ufficio. (David might leave it at the office.)
"Non lasciarcela!" ("Don't leave it there!" also "Don't leave it to us!")
Davide dovrebbe lasciarcela. ("David should leave it there." also "David should leave it to us")

The 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, though they are fading from spoken Italian. 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 buono. I think (that) David is a good man.
  • when the principal clause has a past imperfect or perfect tense, the subordinate clause uses the imperfect subjunctive, expressing contemporaneity in the past.
    • Pensavo che Davide fosse buono. I thought David was a good man.
  • 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 buono. I thought David was a good man.
  • to express anteriority when the principal clause has a past imperfect or perfect tense, the subjunctive has to be pluperfect.
    • Pensavo che Davide fosse stato buono. I thought David was a good man.
  • to express posteriority the subordinate clause uses not subjunctive but indicative mood , because the subjunctive has no future tense.
    • Penso che Davide sarà buono. I think David will be good
  • the subordinate clause may use past conditional when the main clause is in a simple past tense, similarly to English or French.
    • Pensavo che Davide sarebbe stato buono. I thought that David would have been good.
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