{"id":70677,"date":"2024-05-15T03:58:32","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T07:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/italian-to-be\/"},"modified":"2024-10-03T04:03:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T08:03:32","slug":"italian-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/italian\/italian-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"“To Be” in Italian: The Simple Guide to Conjugating Essere"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essere <\/em>is an Italian verb meaning “to be” or “to exist”.<\/strong> Learning the conjugations of essere<\/em> immediately gives you the ability to create simple sentences<\/a>, such as “I am American” or “What time is it?”<\/p>\n

You also need it to say where you’re from or to express possession. Essere<\/em> also functions as an auxiliary verb<\/a> in compound tenses, so you can talk about events beyond the present tense.<\/p>\n

Clearly, knowing how to use “to be” in Italian is essential learning if you want to become fluent.<\/p>\n

Below is a quick and simple guide with conjugations, common expressions, tips and more<\/strong> to get you started!<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]
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The Present, Imperfect and Future Conjugations of Essere<\/em><\/h2>\n

Learning the conjugations of\u00a0essere\u00a0<\/em>happens in the first few pages of any Italian textbook<\/a>, and there’s no way to get around it. Luckily, as far as grammar goes, it’s fairly straightforward.<\/p>\n

How to conjugate essere\u00a0<\/em>in the present tense <\/strong>(note that it’s an irregular verb<\/a>!):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Italian<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Io sono<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>I am<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tu sei<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>You are (informal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lui \u00e8<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n Lei \u00e8<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n Lei \u00e8<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>		He is
\nShe is
\nYou are (formal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Noi siamo<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>We are<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Voi siete<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>You all are<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Loro sono<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>They are<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Naturally, as you progress in Italian, you’re going to want to communicate about more than what’s happening in just the present moment.<\/p>\n

The imperfect tense<\/a>, or imperfetto<\/em>, is used to talk about continued actions in the past. It would be used to describe two past actions going on at the same time\u2014instances when the words “used to” or “would” are used in English.<\/p>\n

How to conjugate essere\u00a0<\/em>in the<\/strong> imperfect tense:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Italian<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Io ero<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>I was<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tu eri<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>You were (informal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lui era<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n Lei era<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n Lei era<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>		He was
\nShe was
\nYou were (formal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Noi eravamo<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>We were<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Voi eravate<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>You all were<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Loro erano<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>They were<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Next, the future simple tense<\/a>, or futuro semplice<\/em>, is used to express what will happen in the future.<\/p>\n

While in English we would use the words “will” or “going to,” Italian requires the verb essere\u00a0<\/em>to be conjugated.\u00a0Notice how all the conjugations start with the stem sar-<\/em>.<\/p>\n

How to conjugate essere\u00a0<\/em>in the<\/strong> future simple tense:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Italian<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Io sar\u00f2<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>I will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tu sarai<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>You will be (informal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lui sar\u00e0<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n Lei sar\u00e0<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n Lei sar\u00e0<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>		He will be
\nShe will be
\nYou will be (formal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Noi saremo<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>We will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Voi sarete<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>You all will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Loro saranno<\/strong> <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>They will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

There are additional tenses in Italian, including the conditional tense<\/a>, the subjunctive<\/a> and other forms of past tenses<\/a>, some of which use essere\u00a0<\/em>as an auxiliary verb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learning the conjugations of the present, imperfect and future tenses, however, is a great place to start to build up your communicative ability in the language and prepare yourself for using compound tenses.<\/p>\n

How to Form the Negative of Essere<\/em><\/h2>\n

Now we’ll look at how to say when someone or something is not\u00a0<\/em>something.<\/p>\n

To form the negative with any verb in Italian\u2014including\u00a0essere<\/em>\u2014put non\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>before the verb. For example:<\/p>\n

Non sono<\/strong> occupato oggi. <\/em>(I am not busy today.)<\/p>\n

Often in Italian, you will omit the pronoun in the sentence because the verb tells you that information. For instance, we left out the subject pronoun<\/a> Io<\/em> (I) above.<\/p>\n

But what if we are using a pronoun before essere<\/em>? In that case, non<\/em> goes after the pronoun and before the verb.<\/p>\n

Lei non \u00e8<\/strong> mia cugina. <\/em>(She is not my cousin.)<\/p>\n

Common Expressions That Use Essere<\/em><\/h2>\n

General descriptions: <\/strong>As noted before, the verb\u00a0essere<\/em> is very useful when starting to learn Italian. This is because it can lead to a lot of simple expressions, particularly in terms of describing people, objects and places.<\/p>\n

The conjugated verb connects the subject with an attribute, like this:<\/p>\n

Il cappello \u00e8<\/strong> rosso. <\/em>(The hat is red.)<\/p>\n

Il film \u00e8<\/strong> lungo. <\/em>(The movie is long.)<\/p>\n

To indicate place of origin:<\/strong> When we want to say where a person or object is from, we use the appropriate form of essere\u00a0<\/em>+\u00a0di<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Io sono di<\/strong> Roma. <\/em>(I am from Rome.)<\/p>\n

Il professore \u00e8 di<\/strong> Madrid. <\/em>(The professor is from Madrid.)<\/p>\n

To show possession: <\/strong>Much like in English,\u00a0essere\u00a0<\/em>can be used in simple phrases to indicate possession.<\/p>\n

Questa \u00e8<\/strong> la mia giacca. <\/em>(That is my jacket.)<\/p>\n

Questo \u00e8<\/strong> il gatto di Maria. <\/em>(That is Maria’s cat.)<\/p>\n

Basic Grammatical Pointers for Using Essere<\/em><\/h2>\n