Italian Verb Forms

Italian verbs have seven main forms:

• Infinito / Infinitive
• Participio / Participle
• Gerundio / Gerund
• Indicativo / Indicative
• Congiuntivo / Subjunctive
• Condizionale / Conditional
• Imperativo / Imperative

They are divided into 3 groups, depending on their ending:

-are Mangiare (to eat) -ere Credere (to believe) -ire Offrire (to offer)

 

Verbs can be used in the active, passive and reflexive forms.

When the subject of the sentence is performing the action we use the active form:

Luca lancia la palla.
Luca throws the ball.

 

When the subject of the sentence has something done to it and does not do it itself, we use the passive form:

La palla è lanciata da Luca.
The ball is thrown by Luca.

 

When the subject does the action to itself, we use the reflexive form:

Io mi lavo la faccia.
I wash my face.

 

See also:

Italian Verbs Conjugations Conjugations of regular and irregular Italian verbs

Italian Verb Tenses Exercises Test your knowledge of Italian verb tenses with these exercises.