partecipare — Italian conjugation

to participate

Frequency#219Regular

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
iopartecipoI participate
tupartecipiyou participate
lui/leipartecipahe/she/it participates
noipartecipiamowe participate
voipartecipateyou (pl.) participate
loropartecipanothey participate

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
iopartecipaiI participated
tupartecipastiyou participated
lui/leipartecipòhe/she/it participated
noipartecipammowe participated
voipartecipasteyou (pl.) participated
loroparteciparonothey participated

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
iopartecipavo
tupartecipavi
lui/leipartecipava
noipartecipavamo
voipartecipavate
loropartecipavano

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
iopartecipereiI would participate
tuparteciperestiyou would participate
lui/leiparteciperebbehe/she/it would participate
noiparteciperemmowe would participate
voiparteciperesteyou (pl.) would participate
loroparteciperebberothey would participate

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
ioparteciperòI will participate
tuparteciperaiyou will participate
lui/leiparteciperàhe/she/it will participate
noiparteciperemowe will participate
voipartecipereteyou (pl.) will participate
loroparteciperannothey will participate

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 partecipatoI have participated
tuhai partecipatoyou have participated
lui/leiha partecipatohe/she/it has participated
noiabbiamo partecipatowe have participated
voiavete partecipatoyou (pl.) have participated
lorohanno partecipatothey have participated

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 partecipatoI had participated
tuavevi partecipatoyou had participated
lui/leiaveva partecipatohe/she/it had participated
noiavevamo partecipatowe had participated
voiavevate partecipatoyou (pl.) had participated
loroavevano partecipatothey had participated

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 partecipato
tuavresti partecipato
lui/leiavrebbe partecipato
noiavremmo partecipato
voiavreste partecipato
loroavrebbero partecipato

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 partecipatoI will have participated
tuavrai partecipatoyou will have participated
lui/leiavrà partecipatohe/she/it will have participated
noiavremo partecipatowe will have participated
voiavrete partecipatoyou (pl.) will have participated
loroavranno partecipatothey will have participated

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
iopartecipi
tupartecipi
lui/leipartecipi
noipartecipiamo
voipartecipiate
loropartecipino

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
iopartecipassi
tupartecipassi
lui/leipartecipasse
noipartecipassimo
voipartecipaste
loropartecipassero

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
tupartecipa
lui/leipartecipi
noipartecipiamo
voipartecipate
loropartecipino

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 partecipare
lui/leinon partecipi
noinon partecipiamo
voinon partecipate
loronon partecipino