impiegare — Italian conjugation

to employ

Frequency#593Irregular

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
ioimpiegoI employ
tuimpieghiyou employ
lui/leiimpiegahe/she/it employs
noiimpieghiamowe employ
voiimpiegateyou (pl.) employ
loroimpieganothey employ

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
ioimpiegaiI employed
tuimpiegastiyou employed
lui/leiimpiegòhe/she/it employed
noiimpiegammowe employed
voiimpiegasteyou (pl.) employed
loroimpiegaronothey employed

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
ioimpiegavo
tuimpiegavi
lui/leiimpiegava
noiimpiegavamo
voiimpiegavate
loroimpiegavano

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
ioimpieghereiI would employ
tuimpiegherestiyou would employ
lui/leiimpiegherebbehe/she/it would employ
noiimpiegheremmowe would employ
voiimpiegheresteyou (pl.) would employ
loroimpiegherebberothey would employ

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
ioimpiegheròI will employ
tuimpiegheraiyou will employ
lui/leiimpiegheràhe/she/it will employ
noiimpiegheremowe will employ
voiimpieghereteyou (pl.) will employ
loroimpiegherannothey will employ

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 impiegatoI have employed
tuhai impiegatoyou have employed
lui/leiha impiegatohe/she/it has employed
noiabbiamo impiegatowe have employed
voiavete impiegatoyou (pl.) have employed
lorohanno impiegatothey have employed

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 impiegatoI had employed
tuavevi impiegatoyou had employed
lui/leiaveva impiegatohe/she/it had employed
noiavevamo impiegatowe had employed
voiavevate impiegatoyou (pl.) had employed
loroavevano impiegatothey had employed

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 impiegato
tuavresti impiegato
lui/leiavrebbe impiegato
noiavremmo impiegato
voiavreste impiegato
loroavrebbero impiegato

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 impiegatoI will have employed
tuavrai impiegatoyou will have employed
lui/leiavrà impiegatohe/she/it will have employed
noiavremo impiegatowe will have employed
voiavrete impiegatoyou (pl.) will have employed
loroavranno impiegatothey will have employed

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
ioimpieghi
tuimpieghi
lui/leiimpieghi
noiimpieghiamo
voiimpieghiate
loroimpieghino

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
ioimpiegassi
tuimpiegassi
lui/leiimpiegasse
noiimpiegassimo
voiimpiegaste
loroimpiegassero

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
tuimpiega
lui/leiimpieghi
noiimpieghiamo
voiimpiegate
loroimpieghino

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 impiegare
lui/leinon impieghi
noinon impieghiamo
voinon impiegate
loronon impieghino