The Italian verbs dovere meaning must, potere meaning can, and volere meaning 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 verbinfinitiveOggi devo andare al lavoro.Translation: Today I have to go to work.
- modal verbinfinitiveDomani possiamo andare a fare una passeggiata.Translation: Tomorrow, we can go for a walk.
- modal verbinfinitiveVuoi andare al cinema venerdì sera?Translation: 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!
How do Italian modal verbs work?
The golden rule of modal verbs is that the three modal verbs dovere meaning want, potere meaning can, and volere meaning want are often followed by a main verb in its infinitive form.
In the example above, the infinitive that follows voglio meaning I want is the main verb of our sentence, and volere helps uscire meaning 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 |
How to use ‘dovere,’ ‘potere,’ and ‘volere’ in compound tenses?
When it comes to compound tenses like the passato prossimo meaning 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 meaning to be or avere meaning 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 meaning to go requires essere (e.g. sono andato/a, sei andato/a, ... ).
Mangiare meaning 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 meaning to be if the infinitive that follows it takes essere
avere meaning 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.Translation: 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.Translation: 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:
esseredovuto/a
dovuti/einfinitive
Mario è dovuto andare via presto.Translation: Mario had to leave early.When the infinitive takes avere:
averedovutoinfinitive
Ho dovuto mangiare un piatto strano.Translation: I had to eat a strange dish.Potere in compound tenses
When the infinitive takes essere:
esseredovuto/a
dovuti/einfinitive
Lucia è potuta andare al concerto.Translation: Lucia was able to go to the concert.When the infinitive takes avere:
averepotutoinfinitive
Avete potuto mangiare una lasagna buonissima.Translation: You were able to eat a very good lasagna.Volere in compound tenses
When the infinitive takes essere:
esserevoluto/a
voluti/einfinitive
I ragazzi sono voluti andare al cinema.Translation: Lucia was able to go to the concert.Le ragazze sono volute andare al cinema.Translation: The girls wanted to go to the cinema.When the infinitive takes avere:
averevolutoinfinitive
Hanno voluto mangiare un’insalata.Translation: They wanted to eat a salad.
How to use ‘dovere,’ ‘potere,’ and ‘volere’ with pronouns
To use direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns, double pronouns, or reflexive pronouns with dovere meaning have to, potere meaning can, and volere meaning 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. Translation: I have to call my brother. |
|
indirect object pronoun | indirect object Vorrei parlare con mia zia. Translation: I would like to talk to my aunt. |
|
double pronoun | direct objectindirect object Voglio portare il computer a Marco. Translation: I want to bring the computer to Marco. |
|
double pronoun with ne | indirect object Potresti parlare a Laura del nostro progetto? Translation: Could you talk to Laura about our project? |
|
reflexive | (sentence cannot be expressed without a reflexive pronoun) |
|
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 pronounIeri li ho dovuti chiamare due volte.Translation: Yesterday, I had to call them twice.Putting the pronoun after the infinitive:
direct object pronounIeri ho dovuto chiamarli due volte.Translation: Yesterday, I had to call them twice.Notice that there’s no agreement with the past participle here! Yay!
To sum up
When followed by a verb, an infinitive comes after dovere meaning must, potere meaning can, and volere meaning 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! 💪 🧠
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