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Italian · Verb Tables · Intermediate

Sentire Conjugation

sentire means "to to hear" in Italian. Present: io sento, tu senti, lui / lei / Lei sente, noi sentiamo, voi sentite, loro / Loro sentono. Below: all 17 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present Presente

Stem + the present endings; used for habitual actions, current states and general truths.

Present continuous Presente progressivo

stare (present) + gerund (-ando/-endo); stresses that an action is happening right now, more emphatic than the simple present.

Simple past Passato remoto

A one-word past tense for completed, distant events. In everyday speech it is mainly literary and used in narration (novels, history); in the south of Italy and in Sicily and Sardinia it is still common in ordinary conversation instead of the passato prossimo. Learners should recognize it before using it actively.

Imperfect Imperfetto

Stem + imperfect endings; used for ongoing or habitual past actions, background description, and age/time/weather in the past.

Present perfect Passato prossimo

avere/essere (present) + past participle; the everyday spoken past for completed actions with present relevance, most common in the north and center of Italy.

Pluperfect Trapassato prossimo

avere/essere (imperfect) + past participle; describes an action completed before another past action.

Near future

stare per + infinitive; Italian has no separate near-future tense like English "going to" — this construction expresses that something is about to happen, and the simple present or futuro semplice are also used for planned near-future events.

Simple future Futuro semplice

Infinitive (with the final -e dropped, and -are verbs changing a to e) + future endings; used for future plans, predictions and probability.

Future perfect Futuro anteriore

avere/essere (simple future) + past participle; an action that will be finished before another future action, or a guess about the past.

Conditional Condizionale presente

Same future stem + conditional endings; used for polite requests, advice and hypothetical present actions.

Conditional perfect Condizionale passato

avere/essere (conditional) + past participle; expresses what would have happened, and reported future-in-the-past.

Present subjunctive Congiuntivo presente

Stem + subjunctive endings (the io/tu/lui-lei forms are identical, so subject pronouns are often needed for clarity); used in clauses after verbs/expressions of opinion, doubt, emotion, wish or necessity (penso che, credo che, spero che, è possibile che, benché, affinché).

Present perfect subjunctive Congiuntivo passato

avere/essere (present subjunctive) + past participle; a completed action in a clause that requires the subjunctive.

Imperfect subjunctive Congiuntivo imperfetto

Stem + imperfect subjunctive endings; used after a past/conditional main verb requiring the subjunctive, and in "se" clauses expressing an unreal present condition (se + imperfect subjunctive, ... conditional).

Pluperfect subjunctive Congiuntivo trapassato

avere/essere (imperfect subjunctive) + past participle; used for an unreal past condition (se + pluperfect subjunctive, ... conditional perfect) and after past-tense main verbs.

Affirmative imperative Imperativo affermativo

Has its own tu form (like the present indicative for -are verbs, or the present for -ere/-ire); the Lei form borrows the present subjunctive, and noi/voi/loro forms mostly match the present indicative/subjunctive. No io form exists.

Negative imperative Imperativo negativo

non + infinitive for tu (the only form that differs from the affirmative); non + the same form as the affirmative for Lei/noi/voi/loro.

Examples

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