Coniugazioni imperative
 |
|
| Share / Tweet / Pin Me! | |
The Italian imperative exists for 5 different grammatical people: tu, Lei, noi, voi, and Loro.* It’s conjugated by taking the infinitive of the verb, dropping the infinitive ending, and adding a new set of endings.
Regular –are verbs
The imperative endings for –are verbs are:
| tu | -a | |
| Lei | -i | |
| noi | -iamo | |
| voi | -ate | |
| Loro | -ino |
Per esempio…
| parlare | lavare | |||
| (tu) | parla | lava | ||
| (Lei) | parli | lavi | ||
| (noi) | parliamo | laviamo | ||
| (voi) | parlate | lavate | ||
| (Loro) | parlino | lavino |
For all regular and most irregular verbs, imperative conjugations for noi and voi are identical to their indicative conjugations.
Regular –ere verbs
The imperative endings for –ere verbs are:
| tu | -i | |
| Lei | -a | |
| noi | -iamo | |
| voi | -ete | |
| Loro | -ano |
Per esempio…
| correre | prendere | |||
| (tu) | corri | prendi | ||
| (Lei) | corra | prenda | ||
| (noi) | corriamo | prendiamo | ||
| (voi) | correte | prendete | ||
| (Loro) | corrano | prendano |
Regular –ire verbs
The imperative endings for regular –ire verbs are:
| tu | -i | |
| Lei | -a | |
| noi | -iamo | |
| voi | -ite | |
| Loro | -ano |
Per esempio…
| aprire | servire | |||
| (tu) | apri | servi | ||
| (Lei) | apra | serva | ||
| (noi) | apriamo | serviamo | ||
| (voi) | aprite | servite | ||
| (Loro) | aprano | servano |
Regular –ire verbs with –isc–
The imperative endings for –ire verbs with –isc– are:
| tu | -isci | |
| Lei | -isca | |
| noi | -iamo | |
| voi | -ite | |
| Loro | -iscano |
Per esempio…
| costruire | finire | |||
| (tu) | costruisci | finisci | ||
| (Lei) | costruisca | finisca | ||
| (noi) | costruiamo | finiamo | ||
| (voi) | costruite | finite | ||
| (Loro) | costruiscano | finiscano |
Irregular Verbs
There are only a few Italian verbs with irregular imperative conjugations.
Irregular –are verbs
Note that for these verbs, the short tu form is usually written with an apostrophe to distinguish the verb conjugation from other words**
| andare | dare | fare | stare | |||||
| (tu) | va’ vai |
da’ dai |
fa’ fai |
sta’ stai |
||||
| (Lei) | vada | dia | faccia | stia | ||||
| (noi) | andiamo | diamo | facciamo | stiamo | ||||
| (voi) | andate | date | fate | state | ||||
| (Loro) | vadano | diano | facciano | stiano |
The single syllable of the tu imperative of these four verbs as well as dire, below, can seem impolite, so the present indicative is commonly used instead.
Irregular –ere verbs
| avere | essere | sapere | ||||
| (tu) | abbi | sii | sappi | |||
| (Lei) | abbia | sia | sappia | |||
| (noi) | abbiamo | siamo | sappiamo | |||
| (voi) | abbiate | siate | sappiate | |||
| (Loro) | abbiano | siano | sappiano |
Irregular –ire verbs
| dire | uscire | venire | ||||
| (tu) | di’ dici |
esci | vieni | |||
| (Lei) | dica | esca | venga | |||
| (noi) | diciamo | usciamo | veniamo | |||
| (voi) | dite | uscite | venite | |||
| (Loro) | dicano | escano | vengano |
* Notes
- As explained in the "You" lesson, Loro is extremely rare in modern Italian, so these conjugations are provided mainly for reference. It’s also somewhat uncommon to use the Lei imperative.
- The vast majority of Italian imperative conjugations are the same as subjunctive conjugations.
- ** For example, da‘ = give (imperative) vs da = from, by (preposition)
Related lessons
En español
En français
Share / Tweet / Pin Me!
Ciao! I’m Laura K Lawless, creator, writer, editor, and CLO (Chief Lawless Officer) of this free online Italian learning site.
Lawless Italian is an official Lawless Languages site.