nascere — Italian conjugation

to be born

Frequency#137IrregularAuxiliaryessere

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
ionascoI am born
tunasciyou are born
lui/leinascehe/she/it is born
noinasciamowe are born
voinasceteyou (pl.) are born
loronasconothey are born

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.

PronounItalianEnglish
ionacquiI was born
tunascestiyou were born
lui/leinacquehe/she/it was born
noinascemmowe were born
voinascesteyou (pl.) were born
loronacquerothey were born

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
ionascevo
tunascevi
lui/leinasceva
noinascevamo
voinascevate
loronascevano

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
ionascereiI would be born
tunascerestiyou would be born
lui/leinascerebbehe/she/it would be born
noinasceremmowe would be born
voinasceresteyou (pl.) would be born
loronascerebberothey would be born

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
ionasceròI will be born
tunasceraiyou will be born
lui/leinasceràhe/she/it will be born
noinasceremowe will be born
voinascereteyou (pl.) will be born
loronascerannothey will be born

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
iosono nato/aI have been born
tusei nato/ayou have been born
lui/leiè nato/ahe/she/it has been born
noisiamo nati/ewe have been born
voisiete nati/eyou (pl.) have been born
lorosono nati/ethey have been born

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
ioero nato/aI had been born
tueri nato/ayou had been born
lui/leiera nato/ahe/she/it had been born
noieravamo nati/ewe had been born
voieravate nati/eyou (pl.) had been born
loroerano nati/ethey had been born

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
iosarei nato/a
tusaresti nato/a
lui/leisarebbe nato/a
noisaremmo nati/e
voisareste nati/e
lorosarebbero nati/e

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
iosarò nato/aI will have been born
tusarai nato/ayou will have been born
lui/leisarà nato/ahe/she/it will have been born
noisaremo nati/ewe will have been born
voisarete nati/eyou (pl.) will have been born
lorosaranno nati/ethey will have been born

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
ionasca
tunasca
lui/leinasca
noinasciamo
voinasciate
loronascano

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
ionascessi
tunascessi
lui/leinascesse
noinascessimo
voinasceste
loronascessero

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
tunasci
lui/leinasca
noinasciamo
voinascete
loronascano

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 nascere
lui/leinon nasca
noinon nasciamo
voinon nascete
loronon nascano