consigliare — Italian conjugation

to advise, to suggest, to recommend, to counsel

Frequency#228Irregular

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
ioconsiglioI advise
tuconsigliyou advise
lui/leiconsigliahe/she/it advises
noiconsigliamowe advise
voiconsigliateyou (pl.) advise
loroconsiglianothey advise

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
ioconsigliaiI advised
tuconsigliastiyou advised
lui/leiconsigliòhe/she/it advised
noiconsigliammowe advised
voiconsigliasteyou (pl.) advised
loroconsigliaronothey advised

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
ioconsigliavo
tuconsigliavi
lui/leiconsigliava
noiconsigliavamo
voiconsigliavate
loroconsigliavano

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
ioconsigliereiI would advise
tuconsiglierestiyou would advise
lui/leiconsiglierebbehe/she/it would advise
noiconsiglieremmowe would advise
voiconsiglieresteyou (pl.) would advise
loroconsiglierebberothey would advise

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
ioconsiglieròI will advise
tuconsiglieraiyou will advise
lui/leiconsiglieràhe/she/it will advise
noiconsiglieremowe will advise
voiconsigliereteyou (pl.) will advise
loroconsiglierannothey will advise

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 consigliatoI have advised
tuhai consigliatoyou have advised
lui/leiha consigliatohe/she/it has advised
noiabbiamo consigliatowe have advised
voiavete consigliatoyou (pl.) have advised
lorohanno consigliatothey have advised

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 consigliatoI had advised
tuavevi consigliatoyou had advised
lui/leiaveva consigliatohe/she/it had advised
noiavevamo consigliatowe had advised
voiavevate consigliatoyou (pl.) had advised
loroavevano consigliatothey had advised

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 consigliato
tuavresti consigliato
lui/leiavrebbe consigliato
noiavremmo consigliato
voiavreste consigliato
loroavrebbero consigliato

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 consigliatoI will have advised
tuavrai consigliatoyou will have advised
lui/leiavrà consigliatohe/she/it will have advised
noiavremo consigliatowe will have advised
voiavrete consigliatoyou (pl.) will have advised
loroavranno consigliatothey will have advised

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
ioconsigli
tuconsigli
lui/leiconsigli
noiconsigliamo
voiconsigliate
loroconsiglino

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
ioconsigliassi
tuconsigliassi
lui/leiconsigliasse
noiconsigliassimo
voiconsigliaste
loroconsigliassero

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
tuconsiglia
lui/leiconsigli
noiconsigliamo
voiconsigliate
loroconsiglino

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 consigliare
lui/leinon consigli
noinon consigliamo
voinon consigliate
loronon consiglino