dovere — Italian conjugation

to have to (modal verb)

Frequency#10Irregular

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	devo	I have to
tu	devi	you have to
lui/lei	deve	he/she/it has to
noi	dobbiamo	we have to
voi	dovete	you (pl.) have to
loro	devono	they have to

Simple past (Passato remoto) Irregular

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	dovei	I had to
tu	dovesti	you had to
lui/lei	dové	he/she/it had to
noi	dovemmo	we had to
voi	doveste	you (pl.) had to
loro	doverono	they had to

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.

Pronoun	Italian
io	dovevo
tu	dovevi
lui/lei	doveva
noi	dovevamo
voi	dovevate
loro	dovevano

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?

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	dovrei	I would have to
tu	dovresti	you would have to
lui/lei	dovrebbe	he/she/it would have to
noi	dovremmo	we would have to
voi	dovreste	you (pl.) would have to
loro	dovrebbero	they would have to

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	dovrò	I will have to
tu	dovrai	you will have to
lui/lei	dovrà	he/she/it will have to
noi	dovremo	we will have to
voi	dovrete	you (pl.) will have to
loro	dovranno	they will have to

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	ho dovuto	I have had to
tu	hai dovuto	you have had to
lui/lei	ha dovuto	he/she/it has had to
noi	abbiamo dovuto	we have had to
voi	avete dovuto	you (pl.) have had to
loro	hanno dovuto	they have had to

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	avevo dovuto	I had had to
tu	avevi dovuto	you had had to
lui/lei	aveva dovuto	he/she/it had had to
noi	avevamo dovuto	we had had to
voi	avevate dovuto	you (pl.) had had to
loro	avevano dovuto	they had had to

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.

Pronoun	Italian
io	avrei dovuto
tu	avresti dovuto
lui/lei	avrebbe dovuto
noi	avremmo dovuto
voi	avreste dovuto
loro	avrebbero dovuto

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	avrò dovuto	I will have had to
tu	avrai dovuto	you will have had to
lui/lei	avrà dovuto	he/she/it will have had to
noi	avremo dovuto	we will have had to
voi	avrete dovuto	you (pl.) will have had to
loro	avranno dovuto	they will have had to

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.

Pronoun	Italian
io	debba
tu	debba
lui/lei	debba
noi	dobbiamo
voi	dobbiate
loro	debbano

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.

Pronoun	Italian
io	dovessi
tu	dovessi
lui/lei	dovesse
noi	dovessimo
voi	doveste
loro	dovessero