prenotare — Italian conjugation

to book, to reserve

Frequency#550Regular

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
ioprenotoI book
tuprenotiyou book
lui/leiprenotahe/she/it books
noiprenotiamowe book
voiprenotateyou (pl.) book
loroprenotanothey book

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
ioprenotaiI booked
tuprenotastiyou booked
lui/leiprenotòhe/she/it booked
noiprenotammowe booked
voiprenotasteyou (pl.) booked
loroprenotaronothey booked

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
ioprenotavo
tuprenotavi
lui/leiprenotava
noiprenotavamo
voiprenotavate
loroprenotavano

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
ioprenotereiI would book
tuprenoterestiyou would book
lui/leiprenoterebbehe/she/it would book
noiprenoteremmowe would book
voiprenoteresteyou (pl.) would book
loroprenoterebberothey would book

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
ioprenoteròI will book
tuprenoteraiyou will book
lui/leiprenoteràhe/she/it will book
noiprenoteremowe will book
voiprenotereteyou (pl.) will book
loroprenoterannothey will book

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 prenotatoI have booked
tuhai prenotatoyou have booked
lui/leiha prenotatohe/she/it has booked
noiabbiamo prenotatowe have booked
voiavete prenotatoyou (pl.) have booked
lorohanno prenotatothey have booked

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 prenotatoI had booked
tuavevi prenotatoyou had booked
lui/leiaveva prenotatohe/she/it had booked
noiavevamo prenotatowe had booked
voiavevate prenotatoyou (pl.) had booked
loroavevano prenotatothey had booked

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 prenotato
tuavresti prenotato
lui/leiavrebbe prenotato
noiavremmo prenotato
voiavreste prenotato
loroavrebbero prenotato

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 prenotatoI will have booked
tuavrai prenotatoyou will have booked
lui/leiavrà prenotatohe/she/it will have booked
noiavremo prenotatowe will have booked
voiavrete prenotatoyou (pl.) will have booked
loroavranno prenotatothey will have booked

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
ioprenoti
tuprenoti
lui/leiprenoti
noiprenotiamo
voiprenotiate
loroprenotino

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
ioprenotassi
tuprenotassi
lui/leiprenotasse
noiprenotassimo
voiprenotaste
loroprenotassero

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
tuprenota
lui/leiprenoti
noiprenotiamo
voiprenotate
loroprenotino

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 prenotare
lui/leinon prenoti
noinon prenotiamo
voinon prenotate
loronon prenotino