{"id":998,"date":"2011-10-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=998"},"modified":"2011-10-05T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T08:00:00","slug":"the-modal-verbs-volere-dovere-and-potere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/the-modal-verbs-volere-dovere-and-potere\/","title":{"rendered":"The Modal Verbs Volere, Dovere, and Potere"},"content":{"rendered":"

The passato prossimo<\/strong>, as we saw in the last blog, makes use of the auxiliary verbs essere<\/font><\/strong> = to be, and avere<\/font><\/strong> = to have, in order to express an event that happened in the past, e.g.: sono<\/font> andato\/a<\/strong> = I went, ho<\/font> mangiato<\/strong> = I ate, siamo<\/font> venuti\/e<\/strong> = we came, abbiamo<\/font> visto<\/strong> = we saw.<\/p>\n

There are three verbs, however, that require a special construction in the passato prossimo<\/strong>: volere<\/strong>, dovere<\/strong>, and potere<\/strong>. These are called \u2018modal verbs\u2019, and when you use them the choice of essere<\/font><\/strong> or avere<\/font><\/strong> depends on the verb that follows. Let\u2019s look at how this works with some practical examples:<\/p>\n

Volere<\/strong> = to want to<\/p>\n

1. with avere<\/font><\/strong>:<\/em>  ho<\/font> voluto finire questo lavoro<\/strong> = I wanted to finish this job<\/p>\n

2. with essere<\/font><\/strong>:<\/em>  sono<\/font> voluto\/a andare al mercato<\/strong> = I wanted to go to the market<\/p>\n

3. reflexive:<\/em>  mi sono<\/font> voluto\/a riposare<\/strong>= I wanted to relax<\/p>\n

Dovere<\/strong> = to have to<\/p>\n

1. with avere<\/font><\/strong>:<\/em>  abbiamo<\/font> dovuto rimandare l\u2019appuntamento<\/strong> = we had to postpone the appointment<\/p>\n

2. with essere<\/font><\/strong>:<\/em>  \u00e8<\/font> dovuto\/a andare al pronto soccorso<\/strong> = he\/she had to go to the first aid department<\/p>\n

3. reflexive:<\/em>  si \u00e8<\/font> dovuto\/a cambiare<\/strong> = he\/she had to change clothes<\/p>\n

Potere<\/strong> = to be able to<\/p>\n

1. with avere<\/font><\/strong>:<\/em>  non ho<\/font> potuto mangiare tutto<\/strong> = I couldn\u2019t eat everything<\/p>\n

2. with essere<\/font><\/strong>:<\/em>  \u00e8<\/font> potuto\/a partire prima<\/strong> = he\/she was a able to leave early<\/p>\n

3. reflexive:<\/em>  mi sono<\/font> potuto\/a fare una doccia<\/strong> = I was able to have a shower<\/p>\n

Obviously this is a more complicated construction than the normal passato prossimo<\/strong>, and you have to be sure about your use of auxiliary verbs before you are able to use modal verbs confidently. For example, if you want to say \u201cI had to come back straightaway\u201d<\/em> you will need to know that the verb ritornare<\/strong> = to return\/come back, uses the auxiliary essere<\/strong> e.g. sono ritornato\/a<\/strong> = \u2018I came back\u2019. You then simply insert the modal verb dovere<\/strong> = \u2018to have to\u2019, followed by the infinitive ritornare<\/strong> in order to create the statement: sono dovuto\/a ritornare subito<\/strong> = I had to return\/come back straight away. If you want to say \u201cI had to eat straight away\u201d<\/em> you will need to know that the verb mangiare <\/strong>= to eat, uses the auxiliary avere<\/strong> = to have. Follow the same pattern of inserting the modal verb dovere<\/strong> to create the statement ho dovuto<\/strong> mangiare<\/strong> subito<\/strong> = I had to eat straight away.<\/p>\n

N.B.<\/strong> When using  the auxiliary verb essere<\/strong> remember to change the past participle according to gender: sono dovuto<\/u> andare<\/strong> = I had to go (masculine), sono dovuta<\/u> andare<\/strong> = I had to go (feminine), \u00e8 dovuto<\/u> venire<\/strong> = <\/strong>he had to come, \u00e8 dovuta<\/u> venire<\/strong> = she had to come, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The passato prossimo, as we saw in the last blog, makes use of the auxiliary verbs essere = to be, and avere = to have, in order to express an event that happened in the past, e.g.: sono andato\/a = I went, ho mangiato = I ate, siamo venuti\/e = we came, abbiamo visto =…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[58975,58976,58977],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-modal-verbs","tag-past-tense-of-volere-dovere-potere","tag-volere-dovere-potere-passato-prossimo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}