prevedere — Italian conjugation

to foresee

Frequency#154Irregular

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
ioprevedoI foresee
tuprevediyou foresee
lui/leiprevedehe/she/it foresees
noiprevediamowe foresee
voiprevedeteyou (pl.) foresee
loroprevedonothey foresee

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
ioprevidiI foresaw
tuprevedestiyou foresaw
lui/leiprevidehe/she/it foresaw
noiprevedemmowe foresaw
voiprevedesteyou (pl.) foresaw
loropreviderothey foresaw

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
ioprevedevo
tuprevedevi
lui/leiprevedeva
noiprevedevamo
voiprevedevate
loroprevedevano

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
ioprevedereiI would foresee
tuprevederestiyou would foresee
lui/leiprevederebbehe/she/it would foresee
noiprevederemmowe would foresee
voiprevederesteyou (pl.) would foresee
loroprevederebberothey would foresee

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
ioprevederòI will foresee
tuprevederaiyou will foresee
lui/leiprevederàhe/she/it will foresee
noiprevederemowe will foresee
voiprevedereteyou (pl.) will foresee
loroprevederannothey will foresee

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 previstoI have foreseen
tuhai previstoyou have foreseen
lui/leiha previstohe/she/it has foreseen
noiabbiamo previstowe have foreseen
voiavete previstoyou (pl.) have foreseen
lorohanno previstothey have foreseen

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 previstoI had foreseen
tuavevi previstoyou had foreseen
lui/leiaveva previstohe/she/it had foreseen
noiavevamo previstowe had foreseen
voiavevate previstoyou (pl.) had foreseen
loroavevano previstothey had foreseen

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 previsto
tuavresti previsto
lui/leiavrebbe previsto
noiavremmo previsto
voiavreste previsto
loroavrebbero previsto

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 previstoI will have foreseen
tuavrai previstoyou will have foreseen
lui/leiavrà previstohe/she/it will have foreseen
noiavremo previstowe will have foreseen
voiavrete previstoyou (pl.) will have foreseen
loroavranno previstothey will have foreseen

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
iopreveda
tupreveda
lui/leipreveda
noiprevediamo
voiprevediate
loroprevedano

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
ioprevedessi
tuprevedessi
lui/leiprevedesse
noiprevedessimo
voiprevedeste
loroprevedessero

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
tuprevedi
lui/leipreveda
noiprevediamo
voiprevedete
loroprevedano

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 prevedere
lui/leinon preveda
noinon prevediamo
voinon prevedete
loronon prevedano