vestire — Italian conjugation

to dress

Frequency#116Regular

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
iovestoI dress
tuvestiyou dress
lui/leivestehe/she/it dresses
noivestiamowe dress
voivestiteyou (pl.) dress
lorovestonothey dress

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
iovestiiI dressed
tuvestistiyou dressed
lui/leivestìhe/she/it dressed
noivestimmowe dressed
voivestisteyou (pl.) dressed
lorovestironothey dressed

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
iovestivo
tuvestivi
lui/leivestiva
noivestivamo
voivestivate
lorovestivano

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
iovestireiI would dress
tuvestirestiyou would dress
lui/leivestirebbehe/she/it would dress
noivestiremmowe would dress
voivestiresteyou (pl.) would dress
lorovestirebberothey would dress

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
iovestiròI will dress
tuvestiraiyou will dress
lui/leivestiràhe/she/it will dress
noivestiremowe will dress
voivestireteyou (pl.) will dress
lorovestirannothey will dress

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 vestitoI have dressed
tuhai vestitoyou have dressed
lui/leiha vestitohe/she/it has dressed
noiabbiamo vestitowe have dressed
voiavete vestitoyou (pl.) have dressed
lorohanno vestitothey have dressed

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 vestitoI had dressed
tuavevi vestitoyou had dressed
lui/leiaveva vestitohe/she/it had dressed
noiavevamo vestitowe had dressed
voiavevate vestitoyou (pl.) had dressed
loroavevano vestitothey had dressed

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 vestito
tuavresti vestito
lui/leiavrebbe vestito
noiavremmo vestito
voiavreste vestito
loroavrebbero vestito

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 vestitoI will have dressed
tuavrai vestitoyou will have dressed
lui/leiavrà vestitohe/she/it will have dressed
noiavremo vestitowe will have dressed
voiavrete vestitoyou (pl.) will have dressed
loroavranno vestitothey will have dressed

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
iovesta
tuvesta
lui/leivesta
noivestiamo
voivestiate
lorovestano

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
iovestissi
tuvestissi
lui/leivestisse
noivestissimo
voivestiste
lorovestissero

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
tuvesti
lui/leivesta
noivestiamo
voivestite
lorovestano

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 vestire
lui/leinon vesta
noinon vestiamo
voinon vestite
loronon vestano