vegliare — Italian conjugation

to watch

Frequency#1287Regular

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
ioveglioI watch
tuvegliyou watch
lui/leivegliahe/she/it watches
noivegliamowe watch
voivegliateyou (pl.) watch
loroveglianothey watch

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
iovegliaiI watched
tuvegliastiyou watched
lui/leivegliòhe/she/it watched
noivegliammowe watched
voivegliasteyou (pl.) watched
lorovegliaronothey watched

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
iovegliavo
tuvegliavi
lui/leivegliava
noivegliavamo
voivegliavate
lorovegliavano

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
iovegliereiI would watch
tuveglierestiyou would watch
lui/leiveglierebbehe/she/it would watch
noiveglieremmowe would watch
voiveglieresteyou (pl.) would watch
loroveglierebberothey would watch

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
ioveglieròI will watch
tuveglieraiyou will watch
lui/leiveglieràhe/she/it will watch
noiveglieremowe will watch
voivegliereteyou (pl.) will watch
loroveglierannothey will watch

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 vegliatoI have watched
tuhai vegliatoyou have watched
lui/leiha vegliatohe/she/it has watched
noiabbiamo vegliatowe have watched
voiavete vegliatoyou (pl.) have watched
lorohanno vegliatothey have watched

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 vegliatoI had watched
tuavevi vegliatoyou had watched
lui/leiaveva vegliatohe/she/it had watched
noiavevamo vegliatowe had watched
voiavevate vegliatoyou (pl.) had watched
loroavevano vegliatothey had watched

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 vegliato
tuavresti vegliato
lui/leiavrebbe vegliato
noiavremmo vegliato
voiavreste vegliato
loroavrebbero vegliato

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 vegliatoI will have watched
tuavrai vegliatoyou will have watched
lui/leiavrà vegliatohe/she/it will have watched
noiavremo vegliatowe will have watched
voiavrete vegliatoyou (pl.) will have watched
loroavranno vegliatothey will have watched

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
iovegli
tuvegli
lui/leivegli
noivegliamo
voivegliate
loroveglino

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
iovegliassi
tuvegliassi
lui/leivegliasse
noivegliassimo
voivegliaste
lorovegliassero

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
tuveglia
lui/leivegli
noivegliamo
voivegliate
loroveglino

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 vegliare
lui/leinon vegli
noinon vegliamo
voinon vegliate
loronon veglino