esercitare — Italian conjugation

to exercise

Frequency#551Regular

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
ioesercitoI exercise
tuesercitiyou exercise
lui/leiesercitahe/she/it exercises
noiesercitiamowe exercise
voiesercitateyou (pl.) exercise
loroesercitanothey exercise

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
ioesercitaiI exercised
tuesercitastiyou exercised
lui/leiesercitòhe/she/it exercised
noiesercitammowe exercised
voiesercitasteyou (pl.) exercised
loroesercitaronothey exercised

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
ioesercitavo
tuesercitavi
lui/leiesercitava
noiesercitavamo
voiesercitavate
loroesercitavano

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
ioesercitereiI would exercise
tueserciterestiyou would exercise
lui/leieserciterebbehe/she/it would exercise
noieserciteremmowe would exercise
voieserciteresteyou (pl.) would exercise
loroeserciterebberothey would exercise

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
ioeserciteròI will exercise
tueserciteraiyou will exercise
lui/leieserciteràhe/she/it will exercise
noieserciteremowe will exercise
voiesercitereteyou (pl.) will exercise
loroeserciterannothey will exercise

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 esercitatoI have exercised
tuhai esercitatoyou have exercised
lui/leiha esercitatohe/she/it has exercised
noiabbiamo esercitatowe have exercised
voiavete esercitatoyou (pl.) have exercised
lorohanno esercitatothey have exercised

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 esercitatoI had exercised
tuavevi esercitatoyou had exercised
lui/leiaveva esercitatohe/she/it had exercised
noiavevamo esercitatowe had exercised
voiavevate esercitatoyou (pl.) had exercised
loroavevano esercitatothey had exercised

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 esercitato
tuavresti esercitato
lui/leiavrebbe esercitato
noiavremmo esercitato
voiavreste esercitato
loroavrebbero esercitato

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 esercitatoI will have exercised
tuavrai esercitatoyou will have exercised
lui/leiavrà esercitatohe/she/it will have exercised
noiavremo esercitatowe will have exercised
voiavrete esercitatoyou (pl.) will have exercised
loroavranno esercitatothey will have exercised

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
ioeserciti
tueserciti
lui/leieserciti
noiesercitiamo
voiesercitiate
loroesercitino

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
ioesercitassi
tuesercitassi
lui/leiesercitasse
noiesercitassimo
voiesercitaste
loroesercitassero

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
tuesercita
lui/leieserciti
noiesercitiamo
voiesercitate
loroesercitino

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 esercitare
lui/leinon eserciti
noinon esercitiamo
voinon esercitate
loronon esercitino