In Italian the verb conjugation is affected by mood, tense, person, number, aspect and occasionally gender.

 

Verbal moods inform you about the nature of the action expressed by a certain verb.

 

In Italian there are seven moods, divided in two categories:

 

- defined - which inflect according to the number and gender of the person performing the action;

- undefined - which don't.

 

The four defined moods are:

- Indicativo (Indicative)

- Congiuntivo (Subjunctive)

- Condizionale (Conditional)

- Imperativo (Imperative)

 

The three undefined moods are:

 

- Infinito (Infinitive)

- Gerundio (Gerund)

- Participio (Participle)

 

Verbal tenses inform you about the moment when the action expressed by a certain verb takes place.

 

Each verbal mood has a different number of tenses which can be either simple (that is, consisting of one single word) or compound (that is, consisting of an auxiliary verb - essere / to be or avere / to have in the specific mood + the past participle of the specific verb).

 

Indicative has eight tenses, four simple and four compound.

Subjunctive has four tenses, two simple and two compound.

Conditional has two tenses, one simple and one compound.

Imperative has one tense, simple.

Infinitive has two tenses, one simple and one compound.

Gerund has two tenses, one simple and one compound.

Participle has two tenses, both simple.