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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Coniuga, an Italian verb conjugator

There are various Italian verb conjugators out there, but I like this one, which was designed for Italians (yes, they also need help with the Italian verb). It's called Coniuga.

An online verb conjugator is a useful tool that allows you to a) see the entire scheme of a verb's conjugation starting from the infinitive, and perhaps more importantly b) identify what any given verb form you come across is.

In the case of Coniuga, you just plug in an infinitive in the box to get all the forms, or plug in a verb you have read or heard to see the infinitive and what tense/mood it is.

The tenses and moods are given in Italian, but unless you are an absolute beginner, you should know the name of the tenses/moods you are exposed to. The answer will also tell you if the verb is transitive or intransitive and if it takes essere as an auxiliary verb.

Here's a little test for you to try out the tool. Input the verb you are looking up, the answer will appear toward the top (there is some advertising which is a bit distracting.) Answers follow.

1. What is the passato prossimo, third person plural, of andare?
2. What is the verb esca?
3. What is the present subjunctive, first person singular, of piacere?
4. Does muovere use essere or avere as an auxiliary?
5. What is the compound verb fossimo andati?

Answers.

1. Sono andati.
2. Subjunctive of uscire, present tense, first person singular (also second and third singular...)
3. Piaccia.
4. Both.
5. Past perfect (trapassato), subjunctive, first person plural of andare.