chattare — Italian conjugation

to chat

Frequency#1215Regular

Indicative

Present (Presente) Regular

The presente covers habits, ongoing situations, and plans about to start — much like English “I study” and “I am studying”. One present tense does both in Italian.

Lavora da casa tre giorni a settimana.

PronounItalianEnglish
iochattoI chat
tuchattiyou chat
lui/leichattahe/she/it chats
noichattiamowe chat
voichattateyou (pl.) chat
lorochattanothey chat

Simple past (Passato remoto) Regular

The passato remoto tells a completed, narrative past, especially in the south and in literature. The passato prossimo is the normal spoken past in the north, so you choose register and region, not a difference in time alone.

Quella sera arrivò tardi, senza alibi.

PronounItalianEnglish
iochattaiI chatted
tuchattastiyou chatted
lui/leichattòhe/she/it chatted
noichattammowe chatted
voichattasteyou (pl.) chatted
lorochattaronothey chatted

Imperfect (Imperfetto) Regular

The imperfetto is for incomplete past actions, context, and repeated or habitual situations without a clear end. The passato prossimo, not the remoto, is its usual “event” partner in speech.

Da bambina passavo le estati al mare.

PronounItalian
iochattavo
tuchattavi
lui/leichattava
noichattavamo
voichattavate
lorochattavano

Conditional (Condizionale) Regular

The condizionale is for polite “would you…”, first-condition hypotheticals, and reported future from a past point of view. The classic if-chain is se + imperfetto → condizionale.

Potresti alzare un poco la voce?

PronounItalianEnglish
iochattereiI would chat
tuchatterestiyou would chat
lui/leichatterebbehe/she/it would chat
noichatteremmowe would chat
voichatteresteyou (pl.) would chat
lorochatterebberothey would chat

Future (Futuro semplice) Regular

The futuro semplice is for predictions and far decisions. In speech you often hear the present (with a time adverb) or a paraphrase, and a famous trick is the futuro di probabilità for a present guess: saranno le tre.

Domani partiremo all'alba.

PronounItalianEnglish
iochatteròI will chat
tuchatteraiyou will chat
lui/leichatteràhe/she/it will chat
noichatteremowe will chat
voichattereteyou (pl.) will chat
lorochatterannothey will chat

Present perfect (Passato prossimo) Regular

The passato prossimo is the workhorse preterit-like past in the north and in everyday Italian: avere/essere + participle, essere for reflexives, motion, and other change-of-state patterns.

Siamo andati a piedi, poi abbiamo preso l'autobus.

PronounItalianEnglish
ioho chattatoI have chatted
tuhai chattatoyou have chatted
lui/leiha chattatohe/she/it has chatted
noiabbiamo chattatowe have chatted
voiavete chattatoyou (pl.) have chatted
lorohanno chattatothey have chatted

Pluperfect (Trapassato prossimo) Regular

The trapassato prossimo is “further in the past than another past” — the Italian pluperfect. It pairs with a main past clause to mark sequence.

Avevamo già mangiato quando suonò il telefono.

PronounItalianEnglish
ioavevo chattatoI had chatted
tuavevi chattatoyou had chatted
lui/leiaveva chattatohe/she/it had chatted
noiavevamo chattatowe had chatted
voiavevate chattatoyou (pl.) had chatted
loroavevano chattatothey had chatted

Conditional perfect (Condizionale passato) Regular

The condizionale passato is for unreal or missed past results and often appears with se + trapassato prossimo in the protasis.

Avrei accettato, se mi avessero avvisato in tempo.

PronounItalian
ioavrei chattato
tuavresti chattato
lui/leiavrebbe chattato
noiavremmo chattato
voiavreste chattato
loroavrebbero chattato

Future perfect (Futuro anteriore) Regular

The futuro anteriore says something will already be over before a still-later future, or, like the French, can express a logical guess about a past result.

Entro le cinque, avrà già lasciato l'ufficio.

PronounItalianEnglish
ioavrò chattatoI will have chatted
tuavrai chattatoyou will have chatted
lui/leiavrà chattatohe/she/it will have chatted
noiavremo chattatowe will have chatted
voiavrete chattatoyou (pl.) will have chatted
loroavranno chattatothey will have chatted

Subjunctive

Present subjunctive (Congiuntivo presente) Regular

The congiuntivo presente is required after many verbs and fixed phrases of will, fear, purpose, and doubt. Impersonal and semi-impersonal triggers (è importante che) also force the subjunctive mood.

Penso che sia la scelta giusta.

PronounItalian
iochatti
tuchatti
lui/leichatti
noichattiamo
voichattiate
lorochattino

Imperfect subjunctive (Congiuntivo imperfetto) Regular

The congiuntivo imperfetto is the past of the congiuntivo system after a past matrix clause and in se + congi. imperf. → condizionale with unreal conditions.

Se avessi più tempo, viaggerei ogni mese.

PronounItalian
iochattassi
tuchattassi
lui/leichattasse
noichattassimo
voichattaste
lorochattassero

Other forms

Imperative (affirmative) (Imperativo) Regular

The affirmative imperativo reuses the tu form as 3sg for -are verbs, while other conjugations use the normal tu present. It is the direct command register.

Raccontami com'è andata l'esame.

PronounItalian
tuchatta
lui/leichatti
noichattiamo
voichattate
lorochattino

Imperative (negative) (Imperativo negativo) Regular

Negative commands use non + full infinitive in modern Italian, which is a distinctive rule compared to other Romance languages. Polite or indirect “please don’t” can still soften the tone in context.

Non aprire quella finestra, per favore.

PronounItalian
tunon chattare
lui/leinon chatti
noinon chattiamo
voinon chattate
loronon chattino