ricorrere — Italian conjugation

to resort to, to recur

Frequency#1085IrregularAuxiliaryessere

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	ricorro	I resort to
tu	ricorri	you resort to
lui/lei	ricorre	he/she/it resorts to
noi	ricorriamo	we resort to
voi	ricorrete	you (pl.) resort to
loro	ricorrono	they resort to

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	ricorsi	I resorted to
tu	ricorresti	you resorted to
lui/lei	ricorse	he/she/it resorted to
noi	ricorremmo	we resorted to
voi	ricorreste	you (pl.) resorted to
loro	ricorsero	they resorted to

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.

Pronoun	Italian
io	ricorrevo
tu	ricorrevi
lui/lei	ricorreva
noi	ricorrevamo
voi	ricorrevate
loro	ricorrevano

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?

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	ricorrerei	I would resort to
tu	ricorreresti	you would resort to
lui/lei	ricorrerebbe	he/she/it would resort to
noi	ricorreremmo	we would resort to
voi	ricorrereste	you (pl.) would resort to
loro	ricorrerebbero	they would resort to

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	ricorrerò	I will resort to
tu	ricorrerai	you will resort to
lui/lei	ricorrerà	he/she/it will resort to
noi	ricorreremo	we will resort to
voi	ricorrerete	you (pl.) will resort to
loro	ricorreranno	they will resort to

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	sono ricorso/a	I have resorted to
tu	sei ricorso/a	you have resorted to
lui/lei	è ricorso/a	he/she/it has resorted to
noi	siamo ricorsi/e	we have resorted to
voi	siete ricorsi/e	you (pl.) have resorted to
loro	sono ricorsi/e	they have resorted to

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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	ero ricorso/a	I had resorted to
tu	eri ricorso/a	you had resorted to
lui/lei	era ricorso/a	he/she/it had resorted to
noi	eravamo ricorsi/e	we had resorted to
voi	eravate ricorsi/e	you (pl.) had resorted to
loro	erano ricorsi/e	they had resorted to

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.

Pronoun	Italian
io	sarei ricorso/a
tu	saresti ricorso/a
lui/lei	sarebbe ricorso/a
noi	saremmo ricorsi/e
voi	sareste ricorsi/e
loro	sarebbero ricorsi/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.

Pronoun	Italian	English
io	sarò ricorso/a	I will have resorted to
tu	sarai ricorso/a	you will have resorted to
lui/lei	sarà ricorso/a	he/she/it will have resorted to
noi	saremo ricorsi/e	we will have resorted to
voi	sarete ricorsi/e	you (pl.) will have resorted to
loro	saranno ricorsi/e	they will have resorted to

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.

Pronoun	Italian
io	ricorra
tu	ricorra
lui/lei	ricorra
noi	ricorriamo
voi	ricorriate
loro	ricorrano

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.

Pronoun	Italian
io	ricorressi
tu	ricorressi
lui/lei	ricorresse
noi	ricorressimo
voi	ricorreste
loro	ricorressero

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.

Pronoun	Italian
tu	ricorri
lui/lei	ricorra
noi	ricorriamo
voi	ricorrete
loro	ricorrano

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.

Pronoun	Italian
tu	non ricorrere
lui/lei	non ricorra
noi	non ricorriamo
voi	non ricorrete
loro	non ricorrano