trattare — Italian conjugation

to treat

Frequency#283Regular

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
iotrattoI treat
tutrattiyou treat
lui/leitrattahe/she/it treats
noitrattiamowe treat
voitrattateyou (pl.) treat
lorotrattanothey treat

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
iotrattaiI treated
tutrattastiyou treated
lui/leitrattòhe/she/it treated
noitrattammowe treated
voitrattasteyou (pl.) treated
lorotrattaronothey treated

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
iotrattavo
tutrattavi
lui/leitrattava
noitrattavamo
voitrattavate
lorotrattavano

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
iotrattereiI would treat
tutratterestiyou would treat
lui/leitratterebbehe/she/it would treat
noitratteremmowe would treat
voitratteresteyou (pl.) would treat
lorotratterebberothey would treat

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
iotratteròI will treat
tutratteraiyou will treat
lui/leitratteràhe/she/it will treat
noitratteremowe will treat
voitrattereteyou (pl.) will treat
lorotratterannothey will treat

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 trattatoI have treated
tuhai trattatoyou have treated
lui/leiha trattatohe/she/it has treated
noiabbiamo trattatowe have treated
voiavete trattatoyou (pl.) have treated
lorohanno trattatothey have treated

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 trattatoI had treated
tuavevi trattatoyou had treated
lui/leiaveva trattatohe/she/it had treated
noiavevamo trattatowe had treated
voiavevate trattatoyou (pl.) had treated
loroavevano trattatothey had treated

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 trattato
tuavresti trattato
lui/leiavrebbe trattato
noiavremmo trattato
voiavreste trattato
loroavrebbero trattato

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 trattatoI will have treated
tuavrai trattatoyou will have treated
lui/leiavrà trattatohe/she/it will have treated
noiavremo trattatowe will have treated
voiavrete trattatoyou (pl.) will have treated
loroavranno trattatothey will have treated

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
iotratti
tutratti
lui/leitratti
noitrattiamo
voitrattiate
lorotrattino

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
iotrattassi
tutrattassi
lui/leitrattasse
noitrattassimo
voitrattaste
lorotrattassero

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
tutratta
lui/leitratti
noitrattiamo
voitrattate
lorotrattino

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 trattare
lui/leinon tratti
noinon trattiamo
voinon trattate
loronon trattino