Italian tenses and verb conjugation
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Sign up for freeIn the following pages you will find information on the main Italian tenses:
2. past tense
3. future tense
The Italian language has three tenses: present tense, past tense and future tense.
In the following pages we will focus on the tenses that constitute the indicative mood. Such tenses are:
| Present tense | Past tenses | Future tenses |
|---|---|---|
| Presente indicativo (present tense) | Passato prossimo (Present perfect) | Futuro semplice (Future tense) |
| / | Imperfetto (Imperfect) | Futuro anteriore (Future perfect) |
| / | Trapassato prossimo (Past perfect) | / |
| / | Passato remoto (Absolute or remote past tense) | / |
| / | Trapassato remoto (Preterite perfect tense) | / |
All of these tenses are made up both of regular and irregular verbs. Irregular verbs and the auxiliary verbs essere and avere have to be studied by heart.
Let's now briefly explain how these tenses work and how they are formed:
| When to use it | How to form it | |
|---|---|---|
| Presente indicativo | present action |
|
| Passato prossimo | action that took place in recent past | Presente indicativo auxiliary verb + past participle main verb |
| Imperfetto | a continued action that lasted an indefinite time in the past |
|
| Trapassato prossimo | a past action that took place before another action took place | Imperfetto auxiliary verb + past participle main verb |
| Passato remoto | an action which was concluded in the distant past |
|
| Trapassato remoto | in subordinate clauses: a past action that took place before another action introduced by the passato remoto | Passato remoto auxiliary verb + past participle main verb |
| Futuro semplice | action that will take place in the future |
|
| Futuro anteriore | action that will take place in the future, usually before another action introduced by the futuro semplice | futuro semplice auxiliary verb + past participle main verb |
| 1 Present tense in Italian (presente indicativo) | A lesson on the present tense in Italian |
| 2 Past tenses in Italian | Introduction to the main past tenses In Italian |
| 3 Future tenses in Italian | Introduction to the main future tenses In Italian |