Stare Conjugation in the Indicative Present Tense

Stare is an intransitive verb, meaning that it does not take a direct object. It’s also an irregular verb and it does not follow the pattern of the verbs ending in “-are”. Here is how to form the present tense of stare.

• Come stai?
  How are you?

• In questi giorni sto a Roma.
  These days I’m staying in Rome.

• Sto per uscire.
  I’m about to leave.

Stare is often used to form the Present Progressive tense, in order to talk about an action that is happening at the same time we are speaking. This construction is formed by stare + the gerund of the verb.

• Sto mangiando.
  I’m eating.

• Sto andando a lavoro.
  I’m going to work.

Stare Conjugation in the Indicative Past Tense

The indicative mood has two simple past tenses: imperfetto and passato remoto.

• Stavo per uscire quando il telefono ha squillato.
  I was about to leave, when the phone rang.
  
• Quando ho visto Paola, non stava facendo niente.
  When I saw Paola, she wasn’t doing anything.
  

While the imperfetto is used for recurring actions in the past or for events that happened not too long ago, the passato remoto is used to talk about something that took place months, or years ago. However, it’s rarely used in real life (with the exception of some regional uses, especially in Southern Italy).

• Ero così arrabbiato che non stetti nemmeno a sentirlo.
  I was so angry that I didn’t even stay to listen to him.

Stare Conjugation to Talk about the Future

There are two tenses to express the future in Italian. We’ll see first the Future Simple of stare.

• Ho sbagliato, ma in futuro starò più attento.
  I made a mistake; in the future, I’ll be more careful.
  
• Starò a Parigi per due settimane.
  I’ll stay in Paris for two weeks.

Compound Tenses of Stare Conjugation

The indicative mood also has a few compound tenses. Since stare is an intransitive verb, its compound tenses are formed by adding the auxiliary essere (to be).

Stare Conjugation: Present Perfect Tense

The Present Perfect is the most used tense to talk about past actions. Here is how you form it.

• Sono stato a Milano per una settimana.
  I’ve stayed in Milan for a week.

• La spiegazione non è stata molto chiara.
  The explanation wasn’t very clear.

Remember that when essere is used as an auxiliary, you need to modify the acting verb according to the gender and number of the subject.

Stare Conjugation: Pluperfect and Preterite Perfect tense

The trapassato prossimo is normally used to talk about an action that happened in the past, before another action.

• A quanto pare non ero stato chiaro, così gliel’ho rispiegato.
  Apparently, it wasn’t clear enough, so I explained it again.

The Trapassato remoto is formed with the Remote Past tense of essere + the past participle of stare.

You will hardly encounter the trapassato remoto of stare, so don’t worry too much: it’s only used in complex structures in literature, hence, it’ll be quite weird to use it in spoken language.

Stare Conjugation: Future Perfect Tense

The futuro anteriore has no equivalent in English, and is mostly used for two purposes:

• To indicate an action that will be finished before another one will take place.
• To express an hypothesis or uncertainty, or when you’re not sure about whether something will take place.

• Se sarai stato promosso con buoni voti, ti farò un bel regalo.
  If you’ll pass this year with good marks, I’ll give you a nice present.

• Perchè Marco non c’è? Sarà stato trattenuto a lavoro.
  Why is Marco not here? He must be stuck at work.

Subjunctive Tense of Stare

The subjunctive is the mood of uncertainty and is often introduced in Italian by the conjunction “che” (that). It is often used to express opinions, hope, wishes, assumptions, feelings, doubts or hypotheses.

Present Subjunctive

The present subjunctive of stare conjugation has the same three endings for all singular persons. Therefore, it’s advisable to add a pronoun before the verb, to help distinguish among them.

• Non credo che tu mi stia ascoltando.
  I believe you’re not listening to me.

• Penso che Luca stia dicendo una bugia.
  I think that Luca is telling a lie.

Perfect Subjunctive

The Past Subjunctive is formed with the Present Subjunctive of essere + the Past Participle of stare.

It is used to express past actions and express hypothesis or doubts, as well as to formulate rhetorical questions.

• Che sia stato lui a scrivere quella lettera?
  Perhaps it was him who wrote that letter?

Subjunctive Imperfect

The subjunctive imperfect of stare is another irregular tense and is formed by removing the verb ending -are and by adding the following endings: -essi, -essi, -esse, -essimo, -este, -essero.

• Non sapevo che Lucia stesse per partire, altrimenti l’avrei salutata.
  I didn’t know that Lucia was about to leave, otherwise I would say goodbye to her.
• Se tu non stessi a casa così spesso, conosceresti più persone.
  If you didn’t stay home so often, you’ll get to know more people.

Pluperfect Subjunctive

The Pluperfect Subjunctive of stare is formed by the Present Subjunctive of essere + the past participle of stare. It is mostly used in hypothetical clauses, often introduced by “se” (if).

• Se fossi stato onesto, non avremmo litigato.
  If you were sincere, we wouldn’t have fought.

• E se fosse stato lui a tradire la tua fiducia, che farai?
  What if it was him who betrayed you, what would you do?

Conditional Mood of Stare

The Conditional mood only has two tenses: present and past. This verbal mode is used to talk about actions or situations that are conditioned by other actions, or to express impossible situations, or an information that the speaker is unsure about. It is the equivalent of the English would + verb.

• Non starei mai con uno come te.
  I would never stay with someone like you.

• Se foste arrivati prima ad aiutarci, non staremmo in questa situazione.
  If you came earlier to help us, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

The conditional past is used for the same purpose, but of course it is used to talk about past actions/information. It is formed by using the Conditional Present of essere + the past participle of stare.

• Non sarei mai stato in grado di superare l’esame, senza il tuo aiuto.
  I would never be able to pass the exam without your help.

• Non sarei stato così tanto a Roma, se non avessi amato la città.
  I would never have stayed so long in Rome if I hadn’t loved the city.

Imperative Mood and Indefinite Moods of Stare

Finally, let’s end this overview of the stare conjugation by looking at the imperative mood (used to express orders or requests) and the indefinite moods.

• Sta’ zitto!
  Shut up!

• Stai qui, mentre vado a fare la spesa.
  Stay here, while I go shopping.

Lastly, the indefinite moods of stare: