Let’s compare the two following sentences:

Active voice: John hit the ball.
Passive voice: The ball is hit by John.

In the active sentence, John is the subject (soggetto), and the ball is the direct object (complemento oggetto) – the receiver of the action (hitting). In the passive sentence, the ball becomes the subject, and John now becomes the agent.  In Italian the agent is always preceded by the preposition, da.  Note that all passive phrases need or have agents.

The Italian passive voice is formed exactly the same way as in English. The passive can be formed with essere or venire. The only caveat with venire is that it cannot be used passively with compound tenses.  Take note that the past participles in passive phrases must agree with the subject, not the agent!

Passive sentences in Italian follow this basic pattern below:

subject of the sentence + essere/venire + participio passato + (da + person/agent)

Present/Presente:

The car is bought by Jane.
La macchina è comprata da Giovanna.
La macchina viene comprata da Giovanna.

Passato Prossimo (Only essere can be used passively with the passato prossimo!):

The car has been bought by Jane.
The car was bought by Jane.
La macchina è stata comprata da Giovanna.

Passato Remoto:

The car was bought by Jane.
La macchina venne comprata da Giovanna.
La macchina fu comprata da Giovanna.

Imperfect/Imperfetto:

The car was bought by Jane.
The car was being bought by Jane.
La macchina era comprata da Giovanna.
La macchina veniva comprata da Giovanna.

Remember, that the imperfect also has the meaning, “used to“:

The cheese used to be eaten by the mice until we bought a cat.
Il formaggio era mangiato dai topi finchè abbiamo comprato un gatto.

Trapassato Prossimo:

The car had been bought by Giovanna.
La macchina era stata comprata da Giovanna.

Future/Futuro:

The car will be bought by Jane.
La macchina sarà comprata da Giovanna.
La macchina verrà comprata da Giovanna.

Conditional/Condizionale:

The car would be bought by Jane.
La macchina sarebbe comprata da Giovanna.
La macchina verebbe comprata da Giovanna.

The passive can also be formed with andare + past participle, but this implies an obligation or necessity, and is synonymous with dovere essere + past participle (has to be, must be):

The bills must be paid.
I conti devono essere pagati.
I conti vanno pagati.

Venire can only be used passively with these tenses:

presente indicativo
presente congiuntivo
passato remoto
imperfetto
congiuntivo imperfetto
futuro semplice
condizionale

 

1. Andare means “to go“, but more specifically it is movement towards a place. It’s important to note that the person to whom you are speaking is not included of your movement.
   

   Vado al cinema con Alessio.  Vorresti venire con noi?
   I’m going to the cinema with Alessio.  Would you like to come with us?

   When followed by an infinitive, the preposition, a, must be used: andare a + infinitive.

2. Venire means “to come“, but more specifically, it means moving and going towards a place where the person to whom you are speaking is located.
   

   Vengo a Londra, Vittoria.  Hai organizzato qualcosa?
   I’m coming to London, Victoria.  Have you organized anything?
   (where the person to whom you are speaking is already located)

   When followed by an infinitive, the preposition, a, must be used: venire a + infinitive.

Sometimes, seeing the verbs used in their context can help to explain better the grammar — let’s look at this conversation below between two friends, Marta and Enrico:

Marta: Enrico, vai al cinema stasera?

Marta: Enrico, are you going to the cinema tonight?

Enrico: Sì, certo. Devo vedere il nuovo film di Tarantino. Volete venire?

Enrico: Yes, of course. I have to see the new Tarantino film. Do you want come?

Marta: Beato te! Purtroppo non possiamo venire. Mia suocera viene da Milano stasera, e mio marito e io andiamo a cenare fuori con lei.

Marta: Lucky you! Unfortunately, we can’t come. My mother-in-law is coming from Milan this evening, and my husband and I are going to dine out with her.

Enrico: Peccato che non veniate al cinema.

Enrico: It’s a pity you are not coming.

Marta: Forse mio marito e io ci andremo questo fine settimana. Buon film e divertiti!

Marta: Perhaps my husband and I will go this weekend. Enjoy the film and enjoy yourself!

In the first sentence, if Marta had said vieni instead of vai, she would have been implying that she, too, would have been at the cinema. Using andare, signals that she and Enrico will not be at the same location.

In the second sentence, Enrico asks “Volete venire?“, which means “Do you want to come with me to the theater?” If Enrico had asked “Volete andare?“, what he is really asking is “Do you also want to go to the movies, but not with me?” You might ask “Vuoi andare?” if you are asking if the person really want to go to see the film, not with the speaker.

When Marta says “non possiamo venire” what she is saying is: “We are not able to come and join you at the theater” (you being Enrico). If she had used andare, she would have been saying “we are not able to go to see the movie” at any theater, regardless if it was the one that Enrico would be at or not.

When a person comes from one place and goes to another, you use venire da, which means “I left from one place and will arrive where the person the speaker is addressing is located.” For example, if you are in Rome, and I said, “Vengo da Milano“, it means “I’ve left from Milan and am coming to you, the speaker, who is in Rome“. In the example above, Marta’s mother-in-law is arriving from Milan to Marta’s location.

In the second to last sentence, Enrico says “…non veniate al cinema” he is saying “It’s a pity that you are not coming to join me at the theater“. If andare were used, the meaning changes: “It’s a pity that you are not going to some theater tonight to see this movie, too“.

In the last statement, Marta says “…ci andiamo questo weekend“, meaning “Perhaps we’ll go this weekend” meaning “Perhaps we’ll go to see the movie at some cinema this weekend but you won’t be there, Enrico, because you’ve already seen the movie and presumably you don’t want to see it a second time.” If Marta used veniamo, she would have been implying that Enrico, too, might joining them.

io do
tu dai
lui/lei/Lei dà
noi diamo
voi date
loro/Loro danno

di pomeriggio, del pomeriggio in the afternoon

di sera in the evening

di notte at night, nights

di mattino (often, del mattino), di mattina in the morning

di buon’ora early

di giorno in the daytime

d’inverno in the winter

d’estate in the summer

d’autunno in the fall

di primavera in the spring

Below are some sample sentences using some of the expressions used above:

Durante la settimana lavora di notte.

During the week she works nights.

Di notte andiamo a comprare cornetti freschi.

At night we are going to buy fresh cornetti.

Devo svegliarmi di buon’ora per prendere il treno.

I have to wake up early in order to take the train.

D’estate mia sorella va dai nostri nonni.

In the summer my sister goes to our grandparents.

fare una foto | to take a picture

Quando vado a Roma, voglio fare tante foto perché la mia nonna italiana possa vedere la bella città.

When I go to Rome, I want to take many pictures so that my Italian grandmother can see the beautiful city.

scattare una foto | to take/to snap a picture/photo

Alonso ha scattato una foto del delitto la quale la polizia ha usato per catturare il sospetto.

Alonso snapped a photo of the crime which the police used to capture the suspect.

prendere la foto | to take a picture (from somplace)

Marcia ha preso la foto dal cassetto e l’ha portata all’università per scannerizzarla per il suo blog.

Marcia took the photo from the drawer and brought it to the university to scan it for her blog.

Spero che il supermercato venda le patate rosse oggi.

I hope the supermarket is selling red potatoes today.

The dependent clause in the example (in bold) takes the subjunctive because of the conjugated verb, spero, from the verb, sperare. This verb signals that the following clause will require the subjunctive. However, when the subjects are the same, as in the example below, the infinitive is used (often with the preposition, di):

Spero di andare in Italia questa estate.

I hope to go to Italy this summer.

I hope I am going to Italy this summer.

but

Spero che anche Mario vada in Italia questa estate.

I hope Mario is also going to Italy this summer.

Below is a list of just a sampling of verbs and expression which signal the use of the subjunctive (I also advise the book, Viva il congiuntivo, by Valeria della Valle and Giuseppe Patota, an invaluable resource on using the subjunctive):

Expressions indicating emotions:

Sono contente che / I am happy that

Sono felice che / I am happy that

Mi dispiace che / I am sorry that

Mi piace che / I like that

Ho paura che / I am afraid that

Preferisco che / I prefer that

Temo che / I fear that

Spero che / I hope that

Expressions indicating opinions, doubt, uncertainty:

Credo che / I believe that

Dubito che / I doubt that

Ho l’impressione che / I am under the impression that

Immagino che / I imagine that

Penso che / I think that

Expressions indicating a command or wish:

Chiedo che / I ask that

Desidero che / I wish that

Esigo che / I demand that

Voglio che / I want that

Aspetto che / I expect that

Impersonal Verbs and Expressions:

È bene che / It is good that
Non è bene che / It isn’t good that

Bisogna che / It is necessary that
Non bisogna che / It isn’t necessary that

È importante che / It is important that
Non è importante che / It isn’t important that

È impossibile che / It is impossible that
Non è impossibile che / It isn’t impossible that

È possibile che / It is possible that
Non è possibile che / It is not possible that

È improbabile che / It is improbable/unlikely that
Non è improbabile che / It is not improbable/unlikely that

È probabile che / It is probable/likely that
Non è probabile che / It is not probable/likely that

È inconsueto che / It is unusual that
Non è inconsueto che / It is not unusual that

È male che / It is bad that
Non è male che / It is not bad that

È meglio che / It is better that
Non è meglio che / It is not better that

È ora che / It is time that

Pare che / It seems that

È peccato che / It’s a pity/shame that

Peccato che / It’s a pity/shame that

È peggio che / It’s worse that
Non è peggio che / It isn’t worse that

Può darsi che / It might be that or

Sembra che / It seems that

È strano che / It is strange that

It is important to remember that the subjunctive is only used when the subject of the dependent clauses is DIFFERENT than that of the independent clause.

io dico
tu dici
lui/lei/Lei dice
noi diciamo
voi dite
loro/Loro dicono

Dire also has an irregular past participle (participio passato), detto. In compound tenses (tempi composti), avere is used.

Dire is also irregular in the passato remoto:

(io) dissi
(tu) dicesti
(lui/lei) disse
(noi) dicemmo
(voi) diceste
(loro) dissero

And also irregular in the imperfetto:

(io) dicevo
(tu) dicevi
(lui/lei) diceva
(noi) dicevamo
(voi) dicevate
(loro) dicevano

Remember also that the third person plural has the same stressed syllable as the third person singular!

Women, especially, when learning Italian should always remember to use the feminine when talking about themselves (Sono brava or Sono stata a Napoli) since most textbooks tend to use the masculine standard.

Gender:

As a rule, nouns ending in -o are masculine. Nouns ending in -a are usually feminine.

masculine: amico, biglietto, campo, telefonino

feminine: amica, carta, mela, macchina

Nouns that end in -e can be either masculine or feminine

masculine: studente, ristorante, affare

feminine: carne, nozze, stazione, immigrazione

Nouns that end in consontants generally are masculine.

bar, internet, browser, film, sport

Number:

Italian nouns indicate number based on their endings:

Singular nouns ending -ca or -ga as well as many nouns ending in -go require an “h” to keep the hard “g” (such as: go, gone, game):

amica -> amiche
acciuga -> acciughe
borgo -> borghi

There are also invariable nouns: nouns which have the same singular and plural and do not change. Invariable nouns generally end in an accented vowel, a consonant, can be abbreviated or are foreign words.

caffè, film, cinema, città, metro

Nouns ending in -io can be tricky. If the “i” in the -io is stressed, then the “i” is doubled in the plural, as in zio and invio:

zio -> zii
invio -> invii

If the “i” is unstressed, as in negozio or municipio, then the plural is formed by dropping the “o”. For example:

negozio -> negozi
municipio -> municipi

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