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italian modal verbs - Dante Learning

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Sapere is a rather important verb. Let’s see it together and learn some useful sentences. This time the webcast is for everyone. Ciao a tutti Sapere VS conoscere Prima di tutto, first and foremost, let’s have a look at the conjugations of the two verbs and listen to the correct pronunciation.   Both sapere and conoscere translate as “to …

There are two important Italian verbs English speakers tend to confuse: “Sapere” and “Conoscere”. They both translate into English as “to know”. Podcast. In a previous post, about some Italian verbs that my students tend to mistake, I dedicated a few words to sapere VS conoscere. I think the topic deserves some more attention. The confusion is …

It’s time for you to start learning Italian modal verbs. Today we are going to have a close look at DOVERE,: “Have to”, “Need to”, “Must”. Listen to the podcast. Along with “fare”, “essere” and “avere”, modal verbs are the pillars of the Italian language: DOVERE, POTERE, VOLERE, SAPERE. All Italian modal verbs share an important …

Let’s have a look at the Italian imperfetto tense of the modal verbs dovere, potere, volere and sapere. Listen to the podcast.   We already introduced the Italian imperfetto tense and the difference with the passato prossimo tense, both belonging to the indicativo mood (realis mood). If you want to progress from the beginner-level to the intermediate-level, you need …

Ciao a tutti! Do you know the difference between dovere, potere, volere and sapere? A guide to Italian modal verbs with podcast and some examples. Today we will go deeper into details with the Italian modal verbs dovere, potere, volere and sapere and provide examples with the presente and passato prossimo. What is a modal verb? In Italian we …

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Italian modal verbs: potere, dovere, volere, sapere. Quick guide and quiz

Riccardo Cristiani

3-4 minutes

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Italian modal verbs, called verbi servili, express a necessity, a requirement, a possibility, a wish or an ability. Just like the English modal verbs, the Italian verbi servili are used in combination with a second verb. The Italian definition of verbi servili describes pretty well their function: to support, “be of service” to a second verb. Let’s see some basic theory and examples.
As usual, please be careful when comparing Italian and English. Italian modal verbs are slightly different.
The formula is simple:
modal verb+ another infinitive verb  –>  dovere/potere/volere/sapere + are/ere/ire
There are four common Italian modal verbs, but in theory all verbs supporting a second infinitive verb without the help of prepositions are modal.

Dovere
The meaning is similar to the English have to / must

• Io devo andare
• Tu devi capire
• Lui/Lei deve dormire
• Noi dobbiamo giocare
• Voi dovete smettere
• Loro devono tornare 

Potere
The meaning is similar to the English can                                                      

• Io posso aspettare
• Tu puoi entrare
• Lui/Lei può venire 
• Noi possiamo pagare
• Voi potete cominciare
• Loro possono sedersi

Volere
The meaning is similar to the English want.                                   

• Io voglio imparare
• Tu vuoi comprare
• Lui/Lei vuole volare
• Noi vogliamo partecipare
• Voi volete scommettere
• Loro vogliono mentire 

Sapere
The meaning is similar to the English know how to…

• Io so nuotare
• Tu sai leggere
• Lui/Lei sa suonare
• Noi sappiamo guidare 
• Voi sapete cucinare
• Loro sanno scrivere 

For the sake of simplicity, those examples are conveniently created with the presente indicativo. What if we use a compound tense like for example the passato prossimo? Which auxiliary verb are we going to use? Essere or avere?
The answer is pretty easy, we just need to follow a simple rule: use the same auxiliary of the main verb. For example:

• Io voglio andare –> Io sono voluto andare  – andare wants the auxiliary essere
• Lui non sa cucinare –> Lui non ha saputo cucinare – cucinare wants the auxiliary avere

The only exception is when the main verb, instead of being anything common like andare or cucinare is the almighty verb essere. In this case noi dobbiamo usare l’ausiliare avere , we have the use the auxiliary verb avere.

• Io devo essere all’aeroporto alle 10 –> Io ho dovuto essere all’aeroporto alle 10

The rule is valid whenever we use any compound tense, like for example trapassato prossimo or futuro anteriore.
All verbs supporting a second infinitive WITH a preposition (usually DI, A or PER) belong to a different family called verbi fraseologici. For example cominciare: Ho cominciato A leggere un libro. Please read this post for more information.
We hope you liked this quick guide about the Italian modal verbs and we hope to see you soon at one of our on-line Italian language lessons. Please take some time for solving the quiz about today’s topic. If you have questions or suggestions, please  leave a comment. We’ll be happy to get back to you with an answer.