This page is concerned with similarities and differences between Italian and

　　Spanish.

　　My main motivation in writing it was to help those who are already fluent or

　　near-fluent in one of the two languages to start learning the other.

　　However the page may also be of interest to people who speak neither language,

　　but who wonder whether Italian and Spanish are really as similar as they at

　　first appear.

　　In all the examples, I have used the convention of putting Italian words and

　　phrases first, followed by Spanish.

　　The page is under construction! If you have any suggestions or corrections,

　　please let me know. (Contact details are here.)

　　Pronunciation and Spelling

　　The Italian alphabet officially only contains 21 letters. If the letters j, k,

　　w, x or y appear in a word, it is because the word has been borrowed from a

　　foreign language.

　　The situation with Spanish is a bit more complicated. The current official

　　stance of the Real Academia Española is that there are 29 characters, with

　　'ch', 'll' and 'ñ' regarded as characters in their own right. However, the

　　Academia permits the rule to be relaxed for 'ch' and 'll' to make computerised

　　sorting easier.

　　Italian has seven vowels and Spanish five. The vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ are

　　pronounced very similarly. However, standard Italian has 'open' and 'closed'

　　versions of both /e/ and /o/, whereas Spanish only has one version of each. To

　　me, the Spanish /e/ and /o/ sound similar to the closed Italian counterparts.

　　In both languages, the voiceless consonants /p/, /t/ and /k/ are less

　　aspirated than in English. Also the /t/ is made by putting the tongue against

　　the upper teeth.

　　The voiced consonants /b/, /d/ and /g/, on the other hand, differ. The Italian

　　versions are similar to English, although the voicing is more marked. Spanish

　　/b/ is indistinguishable from /v/ and is made using the lips. When /d/ appears

　　between vowels in Spanish, it becomes like the sound at the beginning of the

　　English word 'this'. When /g/ appears between vowels, it becomes softer

　　(technically, it becomes a fricative).

　　Both Italian and Spanish have a sound which is similar, but not identical, to

　　the sound 'lli' in the English word 'million'. The Italian version is written

　　'gl', as in consiglio, svegliarsi, and is always followed by 'i'. The Spanish

　　version is written as 'll', as in calle, llamar, caballo, and may be followed

　　by any vowel.

　　Both Italian and Spanish also have a sound which is similar, but not

　　identical, to the sound 'ni' in the English word 'onion'. The Italian version

　　is written 'gn', as in spagnolo, bagno, whereas the Spanish version is written

　　as 'ñ', as in español, baño.

　　The letter 'h' is silent in both languages. However, it can change the sound

　　of adjacent letters, as explained below.

　　Italian and Spanish follow English in that the letters 'c' and 'g' are

　　softened when followed by 'e' or 'i'. Unfortunately, the meaning of 'softened'

　　varies from one language to another. In Italian, the soft 'c' is like English

　　'ch', and 'g' behaves as in English. In Spanish, the soft 'c' is like the

　　sound at the beginning of the English word 'think', and the soft 'g' is like

　　the Scottish 'ch'.

　　Just as in English, this causes difficulties if you want a hard 'c' or 'g'

　　before 'e' or 'i'. To do this in Italian, you have to insert an 'h', as in

　　chi, righe, paghi. To do this in Spanish, you use 'qu' or 'gu', as in que,

　　guerra.

　　This leads to the confusing situation where the Italian words che, quando and

　　quanto mean exactly the same thing as the Spanish words que, cuando and

　　cuanto, and are pronounced in exactly the same way, but are spelled

　　differently!

　　Alternatively, you may want a soft 'c' or 'g' before 'a', 'o' or 'u'. To do

　　this in Italian, you have to insert an 'i', as in ciao, ciò, già, giù. To do

　　this in Spanish, you have to use 'z' and 'j', as in zapatos, zumo, oja, ajo.

　　In Italian, 'sc' is pronounced like the English 'sh' when before 'e' or 'i',

　　as in sciare, capisce. If you want 'sc' to be pronounced normally before 'e'

　　or 'i', you again have to insert an 'h', as in schifo, mosche.

　　In Spanish, 'ch' is pronounced as in English. E.g. chocolate, hecho.

　　In Italian, the letter 's' can be pronounced voiced or voiceless, depending on

　　the context. In Spanish, it is always voiceless.

　　In Italian, the letter 'z' is pronounced as /ts/ or /dz/, again depending on

　　the context, whereas in Spanish it is pronounced like the 'th' in 'think', as

　　we have seen.

　　Italian contains many, many words with doubled consonants, as in gabbia,

　　bocca, addio, baffi, leggo, bello, gomma, anno, scoppiare, correre, adesso,

　　gatto, avverbio, azzurro. When a consonant is doubled in this way, the sound

　　is lengthened. In Spanish, on the other hand, the only consonants which can be

　　doubled are 'l' (llamar) and 'r' (perro). The Spanish 'rr' is similar to the

　　Italian version, but 'll' is a sound in its own right as described above. (It

　　is also possible to have 'cc' in Spanish, as in acción, but this is not a true

　　doubling as the first 'c' is hard and the second is soft.)

　　In Italian, the majority of words are stressed on the penultimate syllable, as

　　in cane, orologio, bella. However, there are many exceptions. If the final

　　syllable is stressed, it is indicated with an accent, such as caffè, città,

　　virtù. If a different syllable is stressed, there is no indication and the

　　word must simply be learned, as in the case of parlano, abito, possibile.

　　Spanish on the other hand has very simple rules governing stress. Words ending

　　in a vowel, 'n' or 's' are normally stressed on the penultimate syllable, as

　　in casa, tienen, hombres. Words ending in other letters are normally stressed

　　on the last syllable, as in ciudad, español. Any exceptions must be indicated

　　by an acute accent, as in árbol, andén.

　　Accents are always acute in Spanish. In Italian, they are usually grave, but

　　occasionally an acute accent is used to indicate an open 'e', as in perché.

　　On the whole I would say that Spanish spelling is slightly easier to master

　　than Italian, but both systems are a lot simpler than English!

　　Similar Vocabulary

　　In many (but by no means all) cases, the Italian and Spanish words for something

　　are very similar. In fact there are some simple rules for converting one to the

　　other which work in many cases:

　　Almost all words in Italian end in a vowel, whereas many Spanish words do not.

　　Compare giardino/jardín, partire/partir, migliore/mejor.

　　Italian 'o' or 'uo' often becomes 'ue' in Spanish when the syllable is

　　stressed. E.g. morto/muerto, posto/puesto.

　　Italian 'e' often becomes 'ie' in Spanish when the syllable is stressed. E.g.

　　concerto/concierto, tempo/tiempo.

　　Italian 'f' often becomes 'h' in Spanish when at the start of a word. E.g.

　　fumo/humo, figlio/hijo.

　　Italian voiceless consonants 'c' and 't' often become voiced ('g' and 'd'

　　respectively) in Spanish. E.g. amico/amigo, potere/poder, colpo/golpe.

　　Italian 'sc', 'sf', 'sp' and 'st' often become 'esc, 'esf', 'esp' and 'est' in

　　Spanish, when at the start of a word. E.g. scrivere/escribir, sforzo/esfuerzo,

　　speciale/especial, studente/estudiante.

　　The Italian suffixes '-tà' '-tù' and '-zione' become '-dad', '-tud' and

　　'-ción' in Spanish. E.g. università/universidad, virtù/virtud,

　　informazione/información.

　　Armed with this knowledge, you can easily learn the following pairs, which

　　involve the 'o' to 'ue' rule:

　　l'accordo/el acuerdo, il collo/el cuello, il conto/la cuenta, la corda/la

　　cuerda, il corno/el cuerno, il corpo/el cuerpo, il fuoco/el fuego, il mobile/el

　　mueble, la mostra/la muestra, la noce/la nuez, la porta/la puerta, il porto/el

　　puerto, il risposto/la rispuesta, il racconto/el cuento, l'ospito/el huéspede,

　　l'osso/el hueso, lo sconto/el discuento, il posto/el puesto, l'uovo/el huevo, il

　　volo/el vuelo, buono/bueno, forte/fuerte, morto/muerto, nostro/nuestro,

　　nuovo/nuevo, fuori/fuera, dopo/después.

　　And these ones, which involve the 'e' to 'ie' rule:

　　il cervo/el ciervo, il concerto/el concierto, il dente/el diente, la febbre/la

　　fiebre, la festa/la fiesta, il governo/el gobierno, l'inverno/el invierno, la

　　nebbia/la niebla, la petra/la piedra, il pelo/el piel, il tempo/el tiempo, il

　　vento/el viento, mentre/mientras, bene/bien, aperto/abierto, sempre/siempre,

　　vecchio/viejo.

　　And these ones, which involve the initial 'f' rule:

　　la farina/la harina, la fata/el hada, il fegato/el hígado, il ferro/el hierro,

　　il fico/el higo, il figlio/el hijo, il filo/el hilo, la foglia/la hoja, il

　　fondo/el hondo, la formica/la hormiga, il forno/el horno, il fumo/el humo,

　　fare/hacer, ferire/herir.

　　Completely Different Vocabulary

　　I would not want to give the impression that all words are similar in the two

　　languages! Here are some examples of sentences where the two languages become

　　mutually incomprehensible:

　　'This boy works in the shop' becomes Questo ragazzo lavora nel negozio in

　　Italian and Este muchacho trabaja en la tienda in Spanish.

　　'The street on the left' becomes La strada a sinistra in Italian and La calle

　　a la izquierda in Spanish.

　　'We ate carrots and peas' becomes Abbiamo mangiato carote e piselli in Italian

　　and Comimos zanahorias y guisantes in Spanish.

　　'Would you like to leave a message?' becomes Vorrebbe lasciare un messaggio?

　　in Italian and ¿Querría usted dejar un recado? in Spanish.

　　'I'm going to take a nap' becomes Faccio un pisolino in Italian and Me echo

　　una siesta in Spanish.

　　Italian-speakers may find the following Spanish verbs difficult to learn:

　　quedar, quejar, quemar, querer and quitar. (These are approximately equivalent

　　to rimanere, lamentare, brucciare, volere and togliere, respectively.)

　　They may also find the following verbs difficult: llegar, llenar, llevar, llover

　　and llorar (approximately equivalent to arrivare, pienare, portare, piovere and

　　piangere).

　　Finally, Italian has only two verbs meaning 'to become': diventare and divenire.

　　Spanish has several ways of saying it, with slightly different meanings:

　　convertirse en, hacerse, llegar a ser, pasar a ser, ponerse, quedar(se),

　　volverse.

　　False Friends

　　The following pairs can be misleading.

　　Italian pesca usually means peach, although it can (if pronounced with a

　　closed 'e') mean she/he/it fishes. Spanish pesca always has the latter

　　meaning.

　　Italian burro means butter; Spanish burro means donkey.

　　Italian salire means to go up; Spanish salir means to go out or to depart.

　　Italian tenere means to hold or to take; Spanish tener usually means to have.

　　Italian subire means to undergo or to endure; Spanish subir means to raise or

　　to go up.

　　Italian sembrare means to seem; Spanish sembrar means to sow (seed).

　　Italian guardare means to look (at); Spanish guardar means to keep or to

　　guard.

　　Italian topo means mouse; Spanish topo means mole (i.e., the animal).

　　To make life even more complicated, the Italian word deluso and the Spanish word

　　decepcionado do not mean deluded or deceived respectively. In fact, they both

　　mean disappointed!

　　Articles

　　Articles are much more complicated in Italian than in Spanish.

　　In both languages, the indefinite artices are un (masculine) and una

　　(feminine). However, in Italian, un becomes uno before a noun beginning with

　　's'+consonant, as in uno studente, and in a few other cases. Also, una becomes

　　un' before a noun beginning with a vowel, as in un' università.

　　In Italian, the definite artices are il (masculine singular), i (masculine

　　plural), la (feminine singular) and le (feminine plural). The Spanish

　　equivalents are el, los, la and las respectively. However, in Italian, il

　　becomes lo before 's' + consonant and l' before a vowel, la becomes l' before

　　a vowel, and i becomes gli before 's' + consonant or a vowel.

　　The only change of this kind in Spanish is that la becomes el before a

　　stressed 'a', as in el agua, el águila.

　　Generally speaking, Italian uses articles more frequently than Spanish. For

　　example, 'Do you have another pen?' is Hai un'altra penna? in Italian, but

　　simply ¿Tienes otro boli? in Spanish. There are exceptions, however: 'on the

　　right' is a destra in Italian but a la derecha in Spanish.

　　Also, Italian has the so-called 'partitive article' construction, but Spanish

　　does not. For example 'I'd like some water' is Vorrei dell'acqua in Italian

　　but simply Querría agua in Spanish.

　　Prepositions

　　The list of prepositions, and their uses, is fairly similar in both languages.

　　However:

　　Italian has both di and da, whereas Spanish only has de. Compare Il padre di

　　Pietro with El padre de Pedro, and Il treno viene da Londra with El tren viene

　　de Londres.

　　On the other hand, Spanish has both para and por, whereas Italian only has

　　per. Compare Ti chiamo per sapere with Te llamo para saber, and Andiamo per

　　strada with Andamos por la calle.

　　In some cases, where Italian uses 'di', Spanish does not need a preposition.

　　Compare Spero di viaggiare with Espero viajar, Penso di poterlo fare with

　　Pienso poderlo hacer and Ha deciso di sposarsi with Ha decidido casarse.

　　Similarly, there are cases where Spanish needs 'de' when Italian doesn't need

　　a preposition. Compare sono sicuro che with estoy seguro de que.

　　There are other cases in which one language needs a preposition but the other

　　does not. For example, compare siamo in cinque with somos cinco.

　　There are cases where each language requires a preposition, but not the same

　　one. Examples: interessarsi di qualcosa/interesarse en algo, qualcosa da

　　bere/algo para beber, penso a te/pienso en ti, per forza/a la fuerza.

　　Care must be taken with sentences beginning with 'I went to' or 'I live in'.

　　In Italian we have Sono andato a Parigi, Sono andato in Francia, Vivo a

　　Parigi, Vivo in Francia. In Spanish, we have Fui a París, Fui a Francia, Vivo

　　en París, Vivo en Francia. (The Spanish system is similar to the English one.)

　　The Spanish sobre can mean either su (on) or sopra (above) depending on the

　　context.

　　Spanish has the so-called 'personal a'. This means that, when a direct object

　　is a person, the preposition 'a' has to be inserted. Compare Vedo Paulo with

　　Veo a Pablo. Remember this only occurs with persons, so for example Leggo il

　　libro becomes simply Leo el libro.

　　The 'personal a' causes some difficulties with object pronouns (see below).

　　Finally, in Italian there exist many expressions in which 'di' occurs before

　　an infinitive, as in Penso di averlo fatto, Mi ha chiesto di venire, Dille di

　　scrivermi. This construction can be used in Spanish only when the infinitive

　　refers to the subject of the sentence. That is, one can say Pienso de haberlo

　　hecho, but one would have to say Me pedió que viniera and Dile que me escriba.

　　Personal Pronouns

　　The Italian personal pronouns are summarized in the following table:

　　SubjectDirect ObjectIndirect ObjectStressedReflexive

　　1st pn sg.iomimimemi

　　2nd pn sg.tutititeti

　　3rd pn sg.lui/leilo/lagli/lelui/leisi

　　1st pn pl.noicicinoici

　　2nd pn pl.voivivivoivi

　　3rd pn pl.loroli/leglilorosi

　　Here, stressed means following a preposition. Sometimes, stressed pronouns are

　　called disjunctive. Now compare this with the corresponding table for Spanish:

　　SubjectDirect ObjectIndirect ObjectStressedReflexive

　　1st pn sg.yomememíme

　　2nd pn sg.tútetetite

　　3rd pn sg.él/ellalo/laleél/ellase

　　1st pn pl.nosotrosnosnosnosotrosnos

　　2nd pn pl.vosotrosososvosotrosos

　　3rd pn pl.ellos/ellaslos/laslesellos/ellasse

　　Note the switch of 'i' and 'e' in the first and second person singular forms,

　　and also in the third person reflexive forms. This can lead to confusion and

　　needs to be memorized. (Compare mi piace, ti dico and si lavano with me gusta,

　　te digo and se lavan, respectively.)

　　Here are some remarks about usage:

　　In Italian, one uses 'Lei' followed by the third person singular form to

　　address somebody in formal speech, as in Di dov'è Lei?. One can also use

　　'Loro' to address more than one person, as in Di dove sono Loro?, but this is

　　now regarded as very formal and old-fashioned. In Spanish formal speech, one

　　uses 'usted' followed by the third person singular form when addressing one

　　person, as in ¿De donde es usted?, and 'ustedes' followed by the third person

　　plural form when addresses more than one person, as in ¿De donde son ustedes?.

　　In both languages, subject pronouns are optional. That is, in Italian one can

　　say either Hai mangiato tutto or Tu hai mangiato tutto, and in Spanish one can

　　say Has comido todo or Tú has comido todo. The pronoun is only included when

　　necessary to avoid confusion, for emphasis, or to make it obvious that formal

　　speech is being used.

　　In Spanish it is common to add redundant indirect object pronouns to

　　sentences, as in Le hablo a él and A mí me gusta. This is regarded as

　　substandard in Italian and is best avoided. One would simply say Parlo a lui

　　and A me piace, respectively.

　　On the other hand, there is one situation where Italian uses a redundant

　　direct object pronoun. This is when a direct object is moved to the beginning

　　of a sentence for emphasis. Compare La carne non la mangio with Carne no como.

　　(This example also illustrates the fact mentioned above, that Italian uses

　　articles more frequently than Spanish.)

　　The 'personal a', mentioned in the section on prepositions, causes problems in

　　Spanish. It makes it hard sometimes to tell whether a person is a direct or

　　indirect object. A sentence like 'I saw him' can be translated as either Lo vi

　　or Le vi. It varies from one region to another. For an Italian speaker, it is

　　easier to use lo/la/los/las here.

　　Complications arise when an indirect object pronoun is immediately followed by

　　a direct object pronoun. In Italian, 'gli lo' and 'le lo' are contracted to

　　'glielo'. In Spanish, 'le lo' becomes 'se lo'. So, for example, 'I have given

　　it to him' becomes Gliel'ho dato in Italian and Se lo he dado in Spanish.

　　Finally, I should mention the stressed version of the reflexive third person

　　pronouns, which are 'sé' or 'se stesso' in Italian and 'sí' or 'sí mismo' in

　　Spanish. So, for example, 'He is talking to himself' becomes Parla con se

　　stesso in Italian and Habla con sí mismo in Spanish. Note yet again the

　　irritating switch of 'i' and 'e'.

　　Other Pronouns

　　In Italian, the demonstrative pronouns are identical to the demonstrative

　　adjectives. E.g. questo libro means 'this book' and questo means 'this (one)'.

　　Spanish is a little more complicated: we would have este libro and esto

　　respectively.

　　In Italian, the possessive pronouns are identical to the possessive

　　adjectives. E.g. il mio libro means 'my book' and il mio means 'my one'.

　　Again, Spanish is a little more complicated: we would have mi libro and el mío

　　respectively.

　　The relative pronouns are extremely similar in both languages, although the

　　spelling differs: che/que, quando/cuando, quanto/cuanto, chi/quien,

　　quale/cual, dove/donde.

　　In Italian, the interrogative pronouns are identical to the relative pronouns.

　　E.g. che can mean both 'what' and 'that'. Spanish is similar, but an accent is

　　added to the interrogative version: ¿qué?, ¿cuándo? and so on.

　　Italian has the so-called 'clitic pronouns', ne and ci, which are usually used

　　in place of an object phrase. Spanish, like English, does not have them.

　　Compare ne ho due with tengo dos, non ci sono mai stato with nunca he estado

　　allí and devo pensarci with tengo que pensar sobre eso.

　　The 'neuter' subject pronoun is ciò in Italian and lo in Spanish. Example: Ciò

　　che dice non è vero, Lo que dice no es verdad.

　　Auxiliary Verbs

　　Spanish has the complication of two verbs meaning 'to be', namely, ser and

　　estar. The first is used mainly for permanent states, whereas the second is

　　used mainly for temporary states. The equivalent verbs essere and stare exist

　　in Italian, but stare is used much less frequently than estar. Compare the

　　Italian Dov'è? and Sono stanco with the Spanish ¿Dónde está? and Estoy

　　cansado.

　　Italian use of stare follows Spanish, however, in the construction of the

　　gerund (see below) and also in a few set phrases (compare Sto bene with Estoy

　　bien).

　　The main verb in Italian meaning 'to have' is avere. In Spanish it is tener.

　　However, whereas Italian uses avere to form compound tenses, Spanish does not

　　use tener. Instead, Spanish has the special auxiliary verb haber.

　　To say 'there is', 'there are' in Italian, use ci plus essere. For example,

　　c'è una macchina, ci sono delle donne, c'era molta gente. In Spanish, you just

　　use haber. For example, hay un coche, hay de las mujeres, había mucha gente.

　　Italian has three modal auxiliary verbs: dovere, potere and volere.

　　Spanish also has the three verbs deber, poder and querer. However, in Spanish

　　there exist several other modal constructions. E.g., it is common to use tener

　　que in place of deber. For impersonal constructions, one can use hay que or

　　hace falta.

　　It should be noted that the Spanish modal querer followed by a human object

　　means 'to love'.

　　For more on the auxiliary verbs essere, avere and haber, see below (under

　　compound tenses).

　　Simple Tenses

　　By 'simple' tenses I mean ones which involve changing the verb itself, rather

　　than introducing auxiliary verbs. In both Italian and Spanish these are the

　　present, imperfect, past, future and conditional.

　　In both languages, there are three main conjugations. The infinitive endings are

　　-are, -ere and -ire in Italian, and -ar, -er and -ir in Spanish.

　　Present:

　　Examples of present tense conjugations of regular Italian verbs are as follows:

　　ParlareVenderePartire

　　1st pn sg.parlovendoparto

　　2nd pn sg.parlivendiparti

　　3rd pn sg.parlavendeparte

　　1st pn pl.parliamovendiamopartiamo

　　2nd pn pl.parlatevendetepartite

　　3rd pn pl.parlanovendonopartono

　　The equivalent is Spanish is:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　1st pn sg.hablovendoparto

　　2nd pn sg.hablasvendespartes

　　3rd pn sg.hablavendeparte

　　1st pn pl.hablamosvendemospartimos

　　2nd pn pl.habláisvendéispartís

　　3rd pn pl.hablanvendenparten

　　Again, there are obvious similarities. The main difference is that all Italian

　　finite forms end in a vowel, but in Spanish this does not hold.

　　Imperfect:

　　This tense is extremely simple in Italian; it basically involves the insertion

　　of the letter 'v':

　　ParlareVenderePartire

　　1st pn sg.parlavovendevopartivo

　　2nd pn sg.parlavivendevipartivi

　　3rd pn sg.parlavavendevapartiva

　　1st pn pl.parlavamovendevamopartivamo

　　2nd pn pl.parlavatevendevatepartivate

　　3rd pn pl.parlavanovendevanopartivano

　　Spanish is similar, except that it involves the addition of 'b' in the first

　　conjugation and 'í' in the second and third conjugations:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　1st pn sg.hablabavendíapartía

　　2nd pn sg.hablabasvendíaspartías

　　3rd pn sg.hablabavendíapartía

　　1st pn pl.hablábamosvendíamospartíamos

　　2nd pn pl.hablabaisvendíaispartíais

　　3rd pn pl.hablabanvendíanpartían

　　Note that Spanish does not make a distinction between the first and third person

　　singular here.

　　Simple past:

　　The simple past is called the passato remoto in Italian and the pretérito in

　　Spanish. The regular forms in Italian are:

　　ParlareVenderePartire

　　1st pn sg.parlaivendeipartii

　　2nd pn sg.parlastivendestipartisti

　　3rd pn sg.parlòvendépartì

　　1st pn pl.parlammovendemmopartimmo

　　2nd pn pl.parlastevendestepartiste

　　3rd pn pl.parlaronovenderonopartirono

　　The regular forms in Spanish are:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　1st pn sg.hablévendépartí

　　2nd pn sg.hablastevendistepartiste

　　3rd pn sg.hablóvendiópartió

　　1st pn pl.hablamosvendimospartimos

　　2nd pn pl.hablasteisvendisteispartisteis

　　3rd pn pl.hablaranvendieronpartieron

　　There are some clear similarities in the verb endings. However, in both

　　languages there are many irregularities, and in the case of Italian there are

　　even alternative forms for some verbs. The usage of the simple past also differs

　　from one language to another. It is rarely used in spoken Italian, and is

　　reserved mainly for formal written language. Italians tend to prefer the perfect

　　tense (see below). In Spanish, however, it is used extremely frequently, as

　　indeed in English. For example, 'I did the shopping yesterday' would be ho fatto

　　la spesa ieri (perfect tense) in Italian, but fui de compras ayer (simple past

　　tense) in Spanish.

　　Future:

　　Here is the future tense in Italian:

　　ParlareVenderePartire

　　1st pn sg.parleròvenderòpartirò

　　2nd pn sg.parleraivenderaipartirai

　　3rd pn sg.parleràvenderàpartirà

　　1st pn pl.parleremovenderemopartiremo

　　2nd pn pl.parleretevenderetepartirete

　　3rd pn pl.parlerannovenderannopartiranno

　　The basic idea is to add an appropriate ending to the infinitive. The same idea

　　applies in Spanish, but the endings are slightly different:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　1st pn sg.hablarévenderépartiré

　　2nd pn sg.hablarásvenderáspartirás

　　3rd pn sg.hablarávenderápartirá

　　1st pn pl.hablaremosvenderemospartiremos

　　2nd pn pl.hablaréisvenderéispartiréis

　　3rd pn pl.hablaránvenderánpartirán

　　Both languages use the future tense less frequently than in English, with a

　　preference for the present tense.

　　Care must be taken when producing statements such as 'when you come, I will pay

　　you'. Here, English uses the present tense for the first clause and the future

　　for the second. In Italian, the two tenses must be the same; either both present

　　(quando vieni, ti pago) or both future (quando verrai, ti pagherò). Spanish on

　　the other hand follows English, except that the first verb must be in the

　　subjunctive: cuando vengas, te pagaré.

　　Conditional:

　　Finally, the conditional tense. In Italian:

　　ParlareVenderePartire

　　1st pn sg.parlereivendereipartirei

　　2nd pn sg.parlerestivenderestipartiresti

　　3rd pn sg.parlerebbbevenderebbepartirebbe

　　1st pn pl.parleremmovenderemmopartiremmo

　　2nd pn pl.parlerestevenderestepartireste

　　3rd pn pl.parlerebberovenderebberopartirebbero

　　As with the future tense, the basic idea is to add an appropriate ending to the

　　infinitive. The same idea applies in Spanish, but the endings in Spanish are

　　easier to remember because they resemble the imperfect endings:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　1st pn sg.hablaríavenderíapartiría

　　2nd pn sg.hablaríasvenderíaspartirías

　　3rd pn sg.hablaríavenderíapartiría

　　1st pn pl.hablaríamosvenderíamospartiríamos

　　2nd pn pl.hablaríaisvenderíaispartiríais

　　3rd pn pl.hablaríanvenderíanpartirían.

　　Compound Tenses

　　In Italian, the compound tenses are formed by taking the appropriate form of the

　　auxiliary verb avere (to have) or essere (to be), followed by the past

　　participle. Most verbs take avere, but all reflexive verbs and most intransitive

　　verbs take essere. When essere is used, the ending of the past participle must

　　agree with the gender and number of the subject.

　　Spanish is much simpler. There is a single auxiliary verb, haber, and there is

　　no agreement necessary.

　　Italian also has the so-called 'preceding direct object pronoun' rule. That is,

　　the ending of the past participle must agree with a direct object pronoun if

　　that pronoun precedes the verb. For example, 'I have seen it' becomes L'ho

　　vista, if 'it' refers to something feminine. Spanish does not have this rule, so

　　the sentence becomes simply La he visto.

　　Here are the five compound tenses, in the same order as their simple

　　counterparts:

　　Perfect:

　　(In English, 'I have eaten' and so on.) Formed by present tense of auxiliary +

　　past participle.

　　Examples: ho mangiato/he comido, sei andata/has ido, si sono alzati/se han

　　levantado.

　　Pluperfect:

　　(In English, 'I had eaten' and so on.) Formed by imperfect tense of auxiliary +

　　past participle.

　　Examples: avevo mangiato/había comido, eri andata/habías ido, si erano alzati/se

　　habían levantado.

　　Past anterior:

　　No real equivalent in English. Used for remote past and rarely used. Formed by

　　simple past tense of auxiliary + past participle.

　　Examples: ebbi mangiato/hube comido, fosti andata/hubiste ido, si furono

　　alzati/se hubieran levantado.

　　Future perfect:

　　(In English, 'I will have eaten' and so on.) Formed by future tense of auxiliary

　　+ past participle.

　　Examples: avrò mangiato/habré comido, sarai andata/habrás ido, si saranno

　　alzati/se habrán levantado.

　　Conditional perfect:

　　(In English, 'I would have eaten' and so on.) Formed by conditional tense of

　　auxiliary + past participle.

　　Examples: avrei mangiato/habría comido, saresti andata/habrías ido, si sarebbero

　　alzati/se habrían levantado.

　　The Gerund

　　The use and formation of the gerund is similar in both languages. In both

　　Italian and Spanish, one uses -ando for first conjugation verbs, as in parlando,

　　hablando. Italian uses -endo for second and third conjugation verbs, whereas

　　Spanish uses -iendo (compare vendendo and partendo with vendiendo and

　　partiendo).

　　The gerund is normally preceded by the appropriate form of stare/estar. E.g.,

　　Sto parlando, Estoy hablando.

　　There is an important difference, however, between the two languages. In

　　Italian, the gerund always applies to the subject and never to the object.

　　Therefore, a sentence like l'ho visto fumando means that I saw him while I (the

　　subject) was smoking. In Spanish, however, the gerund can apply to the object in

　　certain contexts. The sentence lo vi fumando would normally be interpreted to

　　mean that he (the subject) was smoking.

　　The Subjunctive Mood

　　There is no room here to explain the subjunctive mood in detail, but it will

　　suffice to say that it is used to express subjectivity or hypothetical

　　situations. Frequently, but not always, it appears in a subordinate clause

　　following the word che/que.

　　There are two simple forms of the subjunctive: present and imperfect.

　　(Apparently there used to be a future version, but it has disappeared.) The two

　　corresponding compound forms are the perfect subjunctive and the pluperfect

　　subjunctive.

　　Present subjunctive:

　　In Italian, roughly speaking, you put an 'i' into the 'are' verbs and an 'a'

　　into 'ere' and 'ire' verbs:

　　ParlareVenderePartire

　　1st pn sg.parlivendaparta

　　2nd pn sg.parlivendaparta

　　3rd pn sg.parlivendaparta

　　1st pn pl.parliamovendiamopartiamo

　　2nd pn pl.parliatevendiatepartiate

　　3rd pn pl.parlinovendanopartano

　　Spanish is similar: you put an 'e' into the 'ar' verbs and an 'a' into 'er' and

　　'ir' verbs:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　1st pn sg.hablevendaparta

　　2nd pn sg.hablesvendaspartas

　　3rd pn sg.hablevendaparta

　　1st pn pl.hablemosvendamospartamos

　　2nd pn pl.habléisvendáispartáis

　　3rd pn pl.hablenvendanpartan

　　Note that, whereas the singular endings are the same in Italian regardless of

　　person, in Spanish only the first and third person singular endings are the

　　same.

　　Example: 'I hope that he comes' is Spero che (lui) venga in Italian and Espero

　　que (él) venga in Spanish.

　　Imperfect subjunctive:

　　This is an easy mood/tense to learn in Italian:

　　ParlareVenderePartire

　　1st pn sg.parlassivendessipartissi

　　2nd pn sg.parlassivendessipartissi

　　3rd pn sg.parlassevendessepartisse

　　1st pn pl.parlassimovendessimopartissimo

　　2nd pn pl.parlastevendestepartiste

　　3rd pn pl.parlasserovendesseropartissero

　　In Spanish, strangely, there are two alternative versions of the imperfect

　　subjunctive. The first one is very similar to the Italian:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　1st pn sg.hablasevendesepartise

　　2nd pn sg.hablasesvendesespartises

　　3rd pn sg.hablasevendesepartise

　　1st pn pl.hablásimosvendésimospartísimos

　　2nd pn pl.hablaseisvendeseispartiseis

　　3rd pn pl.hablasenvendesenpartisen

　　But the second form is rather different:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　1st pn sg.hablaravendierapartiera

　　2nd pn sg.hablarasvendieraspartieras

　　3rd pn sg.hablaravendierapartiera

　　1st pn pl.habláramosvendéramospartíramos

　　2nd pn pl.hablaraisvenderaispartirais

　　3rd pn pl.hablaranvendieranpartieran

　　Unfortunately, the second form, the one which is unlike Italian, is more common

　　in spoken Spanish.

　　Example: 'I though he was coming' is Pensavo che (lui) venisse in Italian and

　　Pensaba que (él) veniera/veniese in Spanish.

　　Perfect subjunctive:

　　This is just formed by using the present subjunctive of the auxiliary followed

　　by the past participle. For example, 'I doubt that he has come' would be Dubito

　　che (lui) sia venuto and Dudo que (él) haya venido.

　　Pluperfect subjunctive:

　　Similarly, this is formed by using the imperfect subjunctive of the auxiliary

　　followed by the past participle. For example, 'I thought he had been to Italy

　　once' would be Credevo che fosse andato una volta in Italia and Creía que

　　hubiese/hubiera ido una vez a Italia.

　　More comments on the subjunctive

　　There are cases where the subjunctive is used in Italian but not in Spanish.

　　Compare Credo che (lui) sia inglese with Creo que (él) es inglés. Also compare

　　La persona più simpatica che (io) abbia mai conosciuto with La persona más

　　simpática que he conocido.

　　On the other hand, there are some cases where the subjunctive is used in

　　Spanish but not in Italian. Compare Quando ho del tempo libero, vengo with

　　Cuando tenga tiempo libre, vendré.

　　The imperfect subjunctive is often used in 'if... then' clauses. For example,

　　'if I were able, I would write to you' is Se (io) potessi, ti scriverei and Si

　　(yo) pudiese/pudiera, te escribiría.

　　The same applies to the pluperfect subjunctive. 'If I had been able, I would

　　have written to you' becomes Se (io) avessi potuto, ti avrei scritto and Si

　　(yo) hubiese/hubiera podido, te habría escrito.

　　The Imperative Mood

　　Here are the regular imperative endings in Italian:

　　ParlareVenderePartire

　　tuparla!vendi!parti!

　　Leiparli!venda!parta!

　　noiparliamo!vendiamo!partiamo!

　　voiparlate!vendete!partite!

　　Loroparlino!vendano!partano!

　　Note that the 'tu' imperative ending is 'a' for 'are' verbs and 'i' for 'ere'

　　and 'ire' verbs, the reverse of the present subjunctive. The formal (Lei/Loro)

　　forms are taken from the present subjunctive. The other two forms (noi/voi) are

　　identical to the present indicative.

　　The negative imperative forms are identical, with the exception of the 'tu'

　　form, where the infinitive is used: non parlare!, non vendere!

　　The equivalent is Spanish is:

　　HablarVenderPartir

　　tú¡habla!¡vende!¡parte!

　　usted¡hable!¡venda!¡parta!

　　nosotros¡hablemos!¡vendamos!¡partamos!

　　vosotros¡hablad!¡vended!¡partid!

　　ustedes¡hablen!¡vendan!¡partan!

　　The 'usted', 'nosotros' and 'ustedes' forms are taken from the present

　　subjunctive. Also, all negative imperative forms use the present subjunctive:

　　¡no hables!, ¡no venga!, ¡no fumes! and so on.

　　Created 22nd January 2004. Last updated 19th May 2005.

　　Back to home page.

　　Adam N. Letchford