collegare — Italian conjugation

to connect, to join together, to link, to link up

Frequency#273Irregular

Indicative

Present (Presente) Irregular

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
iocollegoI connect
tucolleghiyou connect
lui/leicollegahe/she/it connects
noicolleghiamowe connect
voicollegateyou (pl.) connect
lorocolleganothey connect

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
iocollegaiI connected
tucollegastiyou connected
lui/leicollegòhe/she/it connected
noicollegammowe connected
voicollegasteyou (pl.) connected
lorocollegaronothey connected

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
iocollegavo
tucollegavi
lui/leicollegava
noicollegavamo
voicollegavate
lorocollegavano

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
iocolleghereiI would connect
tucollegherestiyou would connect
lui/leicollegherebbehe/she/it would connect
noicollegheremmowe would connect
voicollegheresteyou (pl.) would connect
lorocollegherebberothey would connect

Future (Futuro semplice) Irregular

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
iocollegheròI will connect
tucollegheraiyou will connect
lui/leicollegheràhe/she/it will connect
noicollegheremowe will connect
voicolleghereteyou (pl.) will connect
lorocollegherannothey will connect

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 collegatoI have connected
tuhai collegatoyou have connected
lui/leiha collegatohe/she/it has connected
noiabbiamo collegatowe have connected
voiavete collegatoyou (pl.) have connected
lorohanno collegatothey have connected

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 collegatoI had connected
tuavevi collegatoyou had connected
lui/leiaveva collegatohe/she/it had connected
noiavevamo collegatowe had connected
voiavevate collegatoyou (pl.) had connected
loroavevano collegatothey had connected

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 collegato
tuavresti collegato
lui/leiavrebbe collegato
noiavremmo collegato
voiavreste collegato
loroavrebbero collegato

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 collegatoI will have connected
tuavrai collegatoyou will have connected
lui/leiavrà collegatohe/she/it will have connected
noiavremo collegatowe will have connected
voiavrete collegatoyou (pl.) will have connected
loroavranno collegatothey will have connected

Subjunctive

Present subjunctive (Congiuntivo presente) Irregular

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
iocolleghi
tucolleghi
lui/leicolleghi
noicolleghiamo
voicolleghiate
lorocolleghino

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
iocollegassi
tucollegassi
lui/leicollegasse
noicollegassimo
voicollegaste
lorocollegassero

Other forms

Imperative (affirmative) (Imperativo) Irregular

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
tucollega
lui/leicolleghi
noicolleghiamo
voicollegate
lorocolleghino

Imperative (negative) (Imperativo negativo) Irregular

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 collegare
lui/leinon colleghi
noinon colleghiamo
voinon collegate
loronon colleghino