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Italian modal verbs: What are they and how to use them in sentences?

By: Miriam Muccione Fri Aug 30 2024
Italian
Verbs, Modal

The Italian verbs dovere(must), potere(can), and volere(want) belong to a class of verbs called modal verbs. Unlike the English “should,” “could,” and “would,” dovere, potere, and volere are always conjugated when followed by the infinitive of a verb they help:

  • modal verbinfinitive

    Oggi devo andare al lavoro.

    Today I have to go to work.

  • modal verbinfinitive

    Domani possiamo andare a fare una passeggiata.

    Tomorrow, we can go for a walk.

  • modal verbinfinitive

    Vuoi andare al cinema venerdì sera?

    Do you want to go to the movies Friday night?

This post is the first in our three-part series on Italian modal verbs. In this post we’ll teach you about how to form sentences with modal verbs: how to conjugate the modals, where to put them in sentences, and how to use object pronouns with modal verbs.

Now, keep reading to find out about how they work!

Table of Contents

    How do Italian modal verbs work?

    The golden rule of modal verbs is that the three modal verbs dovere(want), potere(can), and volere(want) are often followed by a main verb in its infinitive form.

    modal verbinfinitive

    Voglio uscire.

    I want to go out.

    In the example above, the infinitive that follows voglio(I want) is the main verb of our sentence, and volere helps uscire(to go out) to convey the fact that that action is an intention, a desire, a wish.

    We’ll cover the meanings and uses of these modals in the next post in our series on modals: How to use Italian modal verbs dovere, potere, and volere? But for now, let’s have a look at their forms.

    How to conjugate the modal verbs in Italian?

    As we noticed above, unlike modals in English, Italian modal verbs are conjugated. Now, their conjugation is typically irregular, which means that oftentimes you need to learn them by heart. Do not worry, though: modals are so recurrent in daily conversations that after a while their conjugation will become second nature to you.

    To get off to a good start, let’s start by learning the present indicative of dovere, potere, and volere. In this tense, modals conjugate irregularly:

    Subject
    Pronoun
    dovere
    potere
    volere

    io

    devo

    posso

    voglio

    tu

    devi

    puoi

    vuoi

    lui/lei/Lei

    deve

    può

    vuole

    noi

    dobbiamo

    possiamo

    vogliamo

    voi

    dovete

    potete

    volete

    loro

    devono

    possono

    vogliono

    Important

    Note that modals can be conjugated in other tenses and moods. You can conjugate them in all Italian past tenses, in the Italian simple future, as well as in the Italian future perfect. In addition, they conjugate in the present conditional and past conditional, in all the subjunctive tenses: present and past subjunctive, as well as the imperfect and past perfect subjunctive.

    However, modal verbs do not have imperative forms!

    How to use ‘dovere,’ ‘potere,’ and ‘volere’ in compound tenses?

    When it comes to compound tenses like the passato prossimo(perfect tense), modal verbs behave in a quite special way.

    If you’ve studied the passato prossimo, you know that it is a compound tense because it forms with two words:

    • the present of essere(to be) or avere(to have), functioning as auxiliary verbs

    • the past participle of the verb we are conjugating

    You also know that some verbs form compound tenses with essere while others use avere.

    • Andare(to go) requires essere (e.g. sono andato/a, sei andato/a, ... ).

    • Mangiare(to eat) requires avere (e.g. ho mangiato, hai mangiato, ... ).

    What about dovere, potere, and volere? Do they take essere or avere in the passato prossimo?

    Take notes: unlike all other verbs, dovere, potere, and volere are special because it all depends on the verb that follows the modal:

    In compound tenses, a modal verb takes…

    • essere(to be) if the infinitive that follows it takes essere

    • avere(to have) if the infinitive that follows it takes avere

    You can see this rule in the following pair of sentences:

    • Marco e Luca sono dovuti andare a Roma.

      Marco and Luca had to go to Rome.

      Here dovere requires essere because andare requires it.
      (Note that, with essere as a helping verb, the past participle of dovere, which is dovuto, ends in -i because it agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.)
    • Ho dovuto mangiare un panino al volo.

      I had to eat a sandwich on the move.

      Here dovere requires avere because mangiare requires it.

    Let’s have a look at how to use the different modal verbs with infinitives that take essere vs. avere in the passato prossimo:

    • Dovere in compound tenses

      When the infinitive takes essere:

      essere

      dovuto/a
      dovuti/e

      infinitive

      Mario è dovuto andare via presto.

      Mario had to leave early.

      When the infinitive takes avere:

      avere

      dovuto

      infinitive

      Ho dovuto mangiare un piatto strano.

      I had to eat a strange dish.

    • Potere in compound tenses

      When the infinitive takes essere:

      essere

      dovuto/a
      dovuti/e

      infinitive

      Lucia è potuta andare al concerto.

      Lucia was able to go to the concert.

      When the infinitive takes avere:

      avere

      potuto

      infinitive

      Avete potuto mangiare una lasagna buonissima.

      You were able to eat a very good lasagna.

    • Volere in compound tenses

      When the infinitive takes essere:

      essere

      voluto/a
      voluti/e

      infinitive

      I ragazzi sono voluti andare al cinema.

      Lucia was able to go to the concert.

      Le ragazze sono volute andare al cinema.

      The girls wanted to go to the cinema.

      When the infinitive takes avere:

      avere

      voluto

      infinitive

      Hanno voluto mangiare un’insalata.

      They wanted to eat a salad.

    Important

    Including the aforementioned passato prossimo, there are seven compound tenses in Italian. In all compound tenses, modals behave in the same way, taking the auxiliary of the verb they help. The only variation to keep in mind is the tense of the auxiliary, which changes depending on the compound tense.

    Let’s observe how the tense of the auxiliary changes in the following compound tenses:

    • trapassato prossimo → auxiliary in the imperfect tense

      Prima venire a vivere in Italia, avevo già dovuto studiare italiano a scuola.

      Before coming to live in Italy, I had already had to study Italian in school.

    • futuro anteriore → auxiliary in the future tense

      Michele non è casa, sarà voluto uscire a fare una passeggiata.

      Michele is not home, he must have wanted to go out for a walk.

    • condizionale passato → auxiliary in the present conditional

      Avrebbero potuto prendere il treno per arrivare prima.

      They could have taken the train to get there earlier.

    How to use ‘dovere,’ ‘potere,’ and ‘volere’ with pronouns

    To use direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns, double pronouns, or reflexive pronouns with dovere(have to), potere(can), and volere(want), put the pronoun either before the conjugated verb or after the infinitive and attached to it. To attach the pronoun to an infinitive, just drop the -e at the end and then add the pronoun as an ending.

    Type of pronoun
    Example with object as noun
    Options with pronouns

    direct object pronoun

    direct object

    Devo chiamare mio fratello.

    I have to call my brother.

    • Lo devo chiamare.

      I have to call him.

    • Devo chiamarlo.

      I have to call him.

    indirect object pronoun

    indirect object

    Vorrei parlare con mia zia.

    I would like to talk to my aunt.

    • Le vorrei parlare.

      I’d like to talk to her.

    • Vorrei parlarle.

      I’d like to talk to her.

    double pronoun

    direct objectindirect object

    Voglio portare il computer a Marco.

    I want to bring the computer to Marco.

    • Glielo voglio portare.

      I want to bring it to him.

    • Voglio portarglielo.

      I want to bring it to him.

    double pronoun with ne

    indirect object

    Potresti parlare a Laura del nostro progetto?

    Could you talk to Laura about our project?

    • Gliene potresti parlare?

      Could you talk to her about it?

    • Potresti parlargliene?

      Could you talk to her about it?

    reflexive

    (sentence cannot be expressed without a reflexive pronoun)

    • Ti devi comprare una giacca.

      You have to buy yourself a jacket.

    • Devi comprarti una giacca.

      You have to buy yourself a jacket.

    Using pronouns with modal verbs in compound tenses

    In compound tenses, the pronoun can similarly be placed either before the whole verb (that is, before essere or avere), or after the infinitive. Both word order options are valid! They are 100% equivalent and you can choose the one that you like the most! 😊

    However, there are a couple tricky rules in compound tenses that you don’t have to learn for simple tenses. Let’s have a look:

    • Putting the pronoun before essere/avere:

      direct object pronoun

      Ieri li ho dovuti chiamare due volte.

      Yesterday, I had to call them twice.

      Important

      The past participle agrees with direct object pronouns that come before the verb!

      If you decide to place the direct pronoun/double pronoun before the verb, the past participle always needs to agree in gender and number with the direct object pronoun, regardless of whether the auxiliary is essere or avere.

      This is why we say li ho dovuti above! Because li is masculine plural, the participle has its masculine plural ending.

      If the pronoun is a double pronoun, the participle will also agree with the gender and number of the direct object part of that pronoun.

      However, note that this rule only applies when the pronoun comes before the verb.

    • Putting the pronoun after the infinitive:

      direct object pronoun

      Ieri ho dovuto chiamarli due volte.

      Yesterday, I had to call them twice.

      Notice that there’s no agreement with the past participle here! Yay!

      ImportantBeware of reflexives!

      When using reflexive pronouns with compound tenses, you can place the reflexive pronoun (like other pronouns) either before the auxiliary or after the infinitive. However, the two options may require different auxiliary verbs!

      • pronoun + auxiliary + modal + infinitive → use essere

        reflexive pronounauxiliary

        Ti sei dovuto comprare una giacca nuova.

        You had to buy yourself a new jacket.

      • auxiliary + modal + infinitive + pronoun → use the auxiliary required by the infinitive (essere or avere)

        auxiliaryreflexive pronoun

        Hai dovuto comprarti una giacca nuova.

        You had to buy yourself a new jacket.

    To sum up

    • When followed by a verb, an infinitive comes after dovere(must), potere(can), and volere(want).

    • Italian modal verbs are irregular, so you need to learn their conjugations by heart.

    • In compound tenses like the passato prossimo, modal verbs take the auxiliary verb of the main verb.

    • With modal verbs, pronouns can be placed either before the conjugated verb or attached to the infinitive, by dropping the -e of the verb in the infinitive.

    But this is not all you need to know about modal verbs! Keep learning from our article on how to use dovere, potere, and volere to learn when and why we use these verbs in the first place! Or maybe you want to skip to the end and read the third article in our series on modals: Non-modal uses of dovere, potere, and volere!

    Or if you’re feeling confident, click the link to practice your knowledge of Italian modal verbs! 💪 🧠

    Downloadable Resources

    Elevate your language-learning journey to new heights with the following downloadable resources.

    How do Italian Modal Verbs work?~Modal Verbs Conjugations TableHow do Italian Modal Verbs work?~Activities

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