{"id":14583,"date":"2017-08-01T12:30:18","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T10:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=14583"},"modified":"2017-08-01T12:30:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T10:30:18","slug":"understanding-italian-modal-verbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/understanding-italian-modal-verbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Italian Modal Verbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Volere <\/strong>(to want), dovere<\/strong> (to have to) and potere<\/strong> (to be able to) are the three so called modal verbs. As verbs go, they are not particularly difficult to conjugate … until you need to use them in the present perfect (passato prossimo<\/strong>). Then things start to get really interesting!<\/span><\/p>\n

A prerequisite to understanding how to conjugate these verbs in the passato prossimo<\/strong> is a knowledge of how transitive and intransitive verbs work. I strongly recommend, therefore, that you study our recent post Italian Transitive And Intransitive Verbs<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0before trying to tackle this one.<\/p>\n

The best way to illustrate how modal verbs work in the passato prossimo<\/strong> is with practical example of their usage. But first, let’s just break down a couple of instances in order to clarify their grammatical construction.<\/p>\n

Modal verbs used in <\/span>intransitive<\/span><\/em> constructions <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s imagine that we want to tell a friend: “Last week I went to Rome”. Andare<\/strong> (to go) is an intransitive verb, which uses the auxiliary verb essere<\/strong> in the passato prossimo<\/strong>. This gives us: “la settimana scorsa sono andato\/a a Roma”<\/strong>.
\nNow we’re going to say: “Last week I had to go to Rome”. For this construction we need to use the modal verb dovere<\/strong> (to have to). Here’s how it looks: “La settimana scorsa sono dovuto andare a Roma”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

N.B.<\/strong> Beware that although it’s grammatically correct to use essere<\/strong> in the above construction, it’s also extremely common to hear avere<\/strong> used instead in everyday spoken Italian, i.e: “La settimana scorsa ho dovuto andare a Roma”<\/strong>.
\nTo clarify: “La settimana scorsa sono dovuto andare a Roma”<\/strong> is grammatically correct, so this is the construction that you should learn. But be prepared to hear “La settimana scorsa ho dovuto andare a Roma”<\/strong> in everyday conversation.<\/p>\n

Modal verbs used in <\/span>transitive<\/span><\/em> constructions<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This time we’re going to tell our friend: “I visited my aunt in Rome”. Visitare<\/strong> is a transitive verb, and therefore we need to use the auxiliary verb avere<\/strong> (to have) in the passato prossimo<\/strong>, hence: “ho visitato mia zia a Roma”<\/strong>.
\nNow let’s change that statement to: “I had to visit my aunt in Rome”. Once again, we use the modal verb dovere<\/strong> (to have to) to construct the following sentence: “ho dovuto visitare mia zia a Roma”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The above examples illustrate the following:
\nThe choice of which auxiliary verb to use (essere<\/strong> or avere<\/strong>) follows exactly the same rules as any other construction in the passato prossimo<\/strong>:
\nsono andato<\/span> <\/strong>(I went)
\nho visitato<\/span><\/strong> (I visited)<\/p>\n

The past participle of the modal verb (in this case dovere<\/strong>) is inserted between the auxiliary verb and the infinitive of main verb:
\nsono<\/span> dovuto andare<\/span><\/strong> (I had to go)
\nho<\/span> dovuto<\/strong> visitare<\/strong><\/span> (I had to visit)
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

So far, we’ve only looked at constructions using the modal verb dovere<\/strong>, but here’s the easy bit: all three modal verbs, volere<\/strong>, dovere<\/strong> and potere<\/strong> follow exactly the same rules, as illustrated in the following tale:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wanted to take the eight o’clock bus to the market
\nHo voluto prendere l’autobus delle otto per il mercarto<\/strong><\/p>\n

I couldn’t take the chickens on the bus because there was no room!
\nNon ho potuto portare le galline sull’autobus perch\u00e9 non c’era spazio!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had to get off the bus because I felt sick
\nSono dovuta scendere dall’autobus perch\u00e9 mi \u00e8 venuta la nausea<\/strong><\/p>\n

My husband had to come and get me with the donkey
\nMio marito \u00e8 dovuto venire a prendermi con l’asino<\/strong><\/p>\n

We had to ride home together on the donkey
\nSiamo dovuti tornare a casa assieme a dorso d’asino<\/strong><\/p>\n

My husband wasn’t very happy because he wanted to milk the cow
\nMio marito non era molto contento perch\u00e9 voleva mungere la mucca
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead, he had to save his poor wife
\nInvece ha dovuto salvare la povera moglie
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next time, I’ll go to the market with the donkey and cart. The chickens can ride in the back!
\nLa prossima volta vado al mercato con l’asino e il carretto. Le galline possono viaggiare dietro!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you notice that I wrote perch\u00e9 voleva<\/span> mungere la mucca<\/strong> instead of perch\u00e9 ha voluto<\/span> mungere la mucca<\/strong>? <\/span><\/em>
\nThis will be explained in a future blog, so stay tuned …
\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

A presto!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Volere (to want), dovere (to have to) and potere (to be able to) are the three so called modal verbs. As verbs go, they are not particularly difficult to conjugate … until you need to use them in the present perfect (passato prossimo). Then things start to get really interesting! A prerequisite to understanding how…<\/p>\n

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