After discussing the conjugation of the verbs “essere” and “dire” in Italian, it’s time to focus on the “andare” conjugation. “Andare” is another fundamental verb, which mainly means “to go”. It is used when we want to talk about movement from a point to another one, no matter if it’s on foot or by any means of transport.
The “Andare” Conjugation in the Indicative Mood
Let’s start by conjugating this verb in the finite mood indicativo (Indicative).
| Note: The indicative mood is used when we want to express the certainty of an action. It has four simple tenses and four compound tenses, each of which indicates the time when the action takes place. |
The “Andare” Conjugation: Indicativo, Presente (Present Tense)
As it very often happens with the most common verbs, “andare” is an irregular verb in the present tense, so you just need to memorize its forms.
| io vado | I go |
| tu vai | you go |
| lui / lei va | he / she goes |
| noi andiamo | we go |
| voi andate | you go |
| loro vanno | they go |
Examples:
- Vado a casa in autobus. (I go home by bus.)
- In Italia i bambini vanno a scuola anche il sabato. (In Italy, children go to school also on Saturdays.)
- Domani la nonna di Marco va dal dottore. (Tomorrow Marco’s grandmother will go to the doctor.)
As you can see from the last example, in Italian we not only use the present tense to describe current actions, but also to express future actions. We understand we are talking about something that will happen in the future thanks to the time marker, in this case “tomorrow”.
The “Andare” Conjugation: Indicativo, Passato prossimo (Present Perfect Tense)
The passato prossimo is a compound tense.
| Note: A compound tense is made of two verb components: an auxiliary verb (“essere” or “avere” depending on the verb) and the participio passato (past participle) of the verb. |
The auxiliary verb for “andare” is “essere” and the past participle is andato. As it happens with all verbs which require this auxiliary verb to form the compound tenses, the past participle agrees with the subject of the sentence in number (singular or plural) and in gender (masculine or feminine), therefore we have four forms: andato (masculine singular), andata (feminine singular), andati (masculine plural), andate (feminine plural).
| io sono andato / andata | I have gone |
| tu sei andato / andata | you have gone |
| lui è andato / lei è andata | he/she has gone |
| noi siamo andati / andate | we have gone |
| voi siete andati / andate | you have gone |
| loro sono andati / andate | they have gone |
In Italian we use this tense when we want to talk about something we have started and completed in the past. It’s usually an action which only happened once.
Examples:
- Ieri sono andata al centro estetico. (Yesterday I went to the beauty salon.)
- Dove sei andato? (Where did you go?)
As you can see from the translations, the Italian passato prossimo usually translates into the Simple Past Tense in English.
The “Andare” Conjugation: Indicativo, Imperfetto (Imperfect Tense)
| io andavo | I went |
| tu andavi | you went |
| lui / lei andava | he/she went |
| noi andavamo | we went |
| voi andavate | you went |
| loro andavano | they went |
In contrast to the passato prossimo, the imperfetto is used to describe recurring actions of the past.
Example:
- Da bambini andavamo sempre al parco giochi. (As children we always went to the playground.)
In this case the use of the imperfetto of “avere” is about a habitual action of where we used to go.
We can also use this tense to describe what happened while another action was in progress. Take a look at the following example.
Example:
- Mentre andavo al supermercato, ho trovato un euro per strada. (While I was going to the supermarket, I found one euro on the street.)
The example belows describes a one-time action, but in this case we can’t use the passato prossimo, because the main focus is on the prolonged duration of the movement. For this reason, we use the imperfetto instead.
Example:
- La macchina andava a tutta velocità. (The car was going at full speed.)
The “Andare” Conjugation: Indicativo, Trapassato Prossimo (Past Perfect Tense)
| io ero andato / andata |
| tu eri andato / andata |
| lui era andato / lei era andata |
| noi eravamo andati / andate |
| noi eravate andati / andate |
| loro erano andati / andate |
The trapassato prossimo is used to describe an action which happened before another action happened in the past. For this reason, we rarely use this tense by itself.
Examples:
- Eravamo già andati all’aeroporto per prenderlo, quando ci ha chiamati per dirci che avevo perso l’aereo. (We had already gone to the airport to pick him up when he called us to tell us that he had missed his plane.)
- Prima di conoscermi, non era mai andata ad un concerto rock. (Before she met me, she had never gone to a rock concert.)
The “Andare” Conjugation: Indicativo, Passato Remoto (Remote Past Tense)
| io andai |
| tu andasti |
| lui/lei andò |
| noi andammo |
| voi andaste |
| loro andarono |
This tense is typically used in formal written language, for example novels or historical books, especially when referring to an event happened in a distant past, but not only.
It’s rarely used in spoken language, where it’s substituted with the passato prossimo, so you just need to learn it in order to recognize it.
Example:
- Nel 1854 Garibaldi andò in Inghilterra. (In 1854 Garibaldi went to England.)
| Note: In the South of Italy, many people still use the passato remoto in spoken language. This is not considered standard language, though, since it’s the consequence of the influence of the local dialects. |
The “Andare” Conjugation: Indicativo, Trapassato Remoto (Remote Perfect Perfect)
| io fui andato / andata |
| tu fosti andato / andata |
| lui fu andato / lei fu andata |
| noi fummo andati / andate |
| voi foste andati / andate |
| loro furono andati / andate |
Like the passato prossimo, the trapassato prossimo is used to talk about an action happened before another one in the past, but to use it, the other verb must be conjugated in the passato remoto. This makes it a less common tense in the Italian language.
The “Andare” Conjugation: Indicativo, Futuro semplice (Simple Future)
| io andrò | I will go |
| tu andrai | you will go |
| lui / lei andrà | he / she will go |
| noi andremo | we will go |
| voi andrete | you will go |
| loro andranno | they will go |
As already mentioned when talking about the present tense, in Italian we tend to avoid the use of the future if it’s clear from other elements of the sentence or from the context that we are talking about a future action.
Example:
- I nostri vicini andranno / vanno in vacanza la settimana prossima. (Our neighbors will go on vacation next week.)
However, we can also use this tense to express assumptions, to talk about expectations or to indicate uncertainty.
Example:
- – Sai dove va Laura? – Non lo so, forse andrà a casa. (– Do you know where Laura is going? – I don’t know, maybe she is going home.)
The “Andare” Conjugation: Indicativo, Futuro anteriore (Future Perfect Tense)
| io sarò andato / andata | I will have gone |
| tu sarai andato / andata | you will have gone |
| lui sarà andato / lei sarà andata | he / she will have gone |
| noi saremo andati / andate | we will have gone |
| voi sarete andati / andate | you will have gone |
| loro saranno andati / andate | they will have gone |
The futuro anteriore is not a very common tense, but we do need it when we want to talk about a future action which will only occur after something else has happened. Let’s look at the sentence below to see how it works.
Example:
- Appena mio figlio sarà andato a dormire, ti dirò un segreto. (As soon as my son goes to sleep, I’ll tell you a secret.)
The action that will take place first is in the futuro anteriore, the other one that follows in the futuro semplice.
The “Andare” Conjugation in the Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive mood has two simple and two compound tenses. It’s used when we want to convey doubts, opinions, wishes, hopes and hypotheses. It is required after the verbs that express these meanings or after certain conjunctions, and it rarely stands by itself.
| Note: Unlike the indicativo and the condizionale, you will see from the following conjugations in the congiuntivo that some forms are identical. This applies not just to “andare”, but to all verbs. For this reason, it’s the only Italian mood where is possible and advised to express the personal pronoun subject (e.g. io, tu, lui / lei) in order to avoid confusion. |
The “Andare” Conjugation: Congiuntivo, Presente (Present Tense)
| che io vada |
| che tu vada |
| che lui / lei vada |
| che noi andiamo |
| che voi andiate |
| che loro vadano |
Example:
- Voglio che tu vada via da me. (I want you to go away from me.)
The “Andare” Conjugation: Congiuntivo, Passato (Past Tense)
| che io sia andato / andata |
| che tu sia andato / andata |
| che lui sia andato / che lei sia andata |
| che noi siamo andati / andate |
| che voi siate andati / andate |
| che loro siano andati / andate |
Example:
- I vostri genitori credono che ieri siate andati a casa presto. (Your parents believe that you went home early yesterday.)
The “Andare” Conjugation: Congiuntivo, Imperfetto (Imperfect Tense)
| che io andassi |
| che tu andassi |
| che lui / che lei andasse |
| che noi andassimo |
| che voi andaste |
| che loro andassero |
Example:
- Aveva paura che andassero al cinema senza di lei. (She was afraid they went to the cinema without her.)
The “Andare” Conjugation: Congiuntivo, Trapassato (Perfect Tense)
| che io fossi andato / andata |
| che tu fossi andato / andata |
| che lui fosse andato / che lei fosse andata |
| che noi fossimo andati / andate |
| che voi foste andati / andate |
| che loro fossero andati / andate |
Example:
- Non sapevano che fossimo andati negli Stati Uniti. (They didn’t know that we went to the Unites States.)
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, that’s totally understandable: the congiuntivo conjugation gives a hard time to a lot of Italians, too!
The “Andare” Conjugation in the Conditional Mood
The “Andare” Conjugation: Condizionale, Presente (Present Tense)
| io andrei |
| tu andresti |
| lui / lei andrebbe |
| noi andremmo |
| voi andreste |
| loro andrebbero |
The “Andare” Conjugation: Condizionale, Passato (Past Tense)
| io sarei andato / andata |
| tu saresti andato / andata |
| lui sarebbe andato / lei sarebbe andata |
| noi saremmo andati / andate |
| voi sareste andati / andate |
| loro sarebbero andati / andate |
Combined with the congiuntivo, the condizionale is used to form hypotheses.
Examples:
- Se si potesse, andrei su Marte. (If it was possible, I would go to Mars.)
- Se lo avessi saputo, sarei andato a trovarlo all’ospedale. (If I had known, I would have gone to see him at the hospital.)
The “Andare” Conjugation in the Imperative Mood
| va’ / vai |
| vada |
| andiamo |
| andate |
| vadano |
The imperativo is used to give orders. That’s way the first person singular form doesn’t exist.
Conjugation of “Andare” in the Indefinite Moods
Lastly, here are the indefinite mood forms of the verb “andare”.
Infinito
| Presente (Present tense) | Passato (Past tense) |
| andare | essere andato / andata / andati / andate |
Participio
| Presente (Present tense) | Passato (Past tense) |
| andante | andato / andata / andati / andate |
Gerundio
| Presente (Present tense) | Passato (Past tense) |
| andando | essendo andato / andata / andati / andate |
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