Condurre: Full Conjugation

Condurre (to lead, to conduct, to drive) is the canonical member of a small but important class of Italian verbs known as the -urre verbs. Like bere, dire, and fare, it is a hidden-stem verb: its short modern infinitive masks a longer Latin stem that resurfaces in nearly every conjugated form. The infinitive condurre descends from Latin condūcĕre via syncope — the -uc- of the original collapsed into -u- in the infinitive — but the original stem conduc- is preserved everywhere else: conduco, conducevo, conducendo, conducente.

The pattern is a closed productive class. Every Italian verb whose infinitive ends in -urre belongs to it: tradurre (translate), produrre (produce), ridurre (reduce), sedurre (seduce), dedurre (deduce), indurre (induce), introdurre (introduce), riprodurre (reproduce). Master condurre, and the other six fall out automatically by analogy.

Indicativo presente

The presente runs straight off the conduc- stem with regular -ere endings. The orthographic point to internalise is that the c is preserved through every form — including before front vowels e and i, where it palatalises naturally to a soft sound (conduce, conduci are pronounced with the ch-sound of cena, while conduco, conducono keep the hard k-sound). Italian never writes k; the alternation is purely phonetic, not orthographic.

Imperfetto

The imperfetto is built straight from conduc- with the standard -evo, -evi, -eva endings — exactly as if the infinitive were conducere. There are no surprises here, but English speakers must remember that the imperfetto has no clean English counterpart: conducevo covers "I was leading," "I used to lead," and habitual "I would lead" all at once.

Passato remoto

A textbook "1-3-3" passato remoto: the first-person singular, third-person singular, and third-person plural take the strong stem condùss- (with double ss), while the other three persons keep the long conduc- stem with regular weak endings. This split — strong/weak/strong/weak/weak/strong — is the same pattern you see in prendere → presi/prendesti/prese and scrivere → scrissi/scrivesti/scrisse.

The double ss is mandatory: condussi, never condusi. It descends from the Latin perfect condūxī (with the -x- spelling /ks/), which Italian regularised across the -urre class to -ss-. The same pattern applies to every -urre verb: tradussi, produssi, ridussi, sedussi, dedussi, indussi, introdussi.

Futuro semplice

The future stem condurr- has double rr. This is not a quirk — it is the predictable result of contraction. Latin condūcĕre + the future ending -ò would historically yield conducerò, which contracted first to condurò, then assimilated to condurrò. The same double-rr appears in every -urre future: tradurrò, produrrò, ridurrò, dedurrò, indurrò. It also surfaces in other contracted-future verbs unrelated to this class — vorrò (volere), terrò (tenere), berrò (bere), avrò (avere) — all of which collapsed an internal vowel and assimilated.

A common error is to write conducerò (forgetting the contraction) or condurò (single r). Both are non-forms.

Condizionale presente

The conditional builds on the same contracted condurr- stem. Watch the spelling difference between condurremo (future, single m) and condurremmo (conditional, double m) — this is the single most-confused pair in the paradigm.

Congiuntivo presente

Built on conduc- with the standard -ere subjunctive endings (-a, -a, -a, -iamo, -iate, -ano). The three singular forms collapse into conduca, so explicit subjects or context are essential after triggers like credo che, voglio che, sembra che.

Congiuntivo imperfetto

Standard -ere imperfect-subjunctive endings on the conduc- stem. Used in hypotheticals (se conducessi io...) and after past-tense subjunctive triggers (pensavo che conducesse...).

Imperativo

The imperativo follows the standard -ere pattern: tu and voi borrow from the indicative; Lei and loro borrow from the subjunctive. Conduci! is the everyday "lead!" or "drive!"; Conduca! is the formal version you might hear at a checkpoint or in a courtroom ("Conduca pure il testimone, avvocato" — "Please bring the witness in, counsellor").

Forme non finite

Two non-finite forms deserve attention:

1. Participio passato condotto is irregular and must be memorised. It is not conducto — that form would be the predictable Latinate spelling, but Italian inherited the syncopated condŭctus → condotto with the regular -tto outcome of -ct- (compare factus → fatto, strictus → stretto, coctus → cotto). Every -urre verb shares this pattern: tradotto, prodotto, ridotto, sedotto, dedotto, indotto, introdotto.

2. Participio presente conducente is alive and well in modern Italian as a noun: il conducente is the standard word for "driver" of a public-transport vehicle (a bus or coach driver), distinct from autista (chauffeur) and guidatore (general driver). You will see it on every Italian bus: "Non parlate al conducente" ("Do not talk to the driver").

Compound tenses

Condurre is transitive and uses avere as its auxiliary in every compound tense. The participle condotto does not normally agree with the subject — but it does agree with a preceding direct-object pronoun: l'ho condotta (la macchina), li ho condotti (i bambini), le ho condotte (le ricerche).

Idiomatic and collocational usage

Condurre is moderately formal but appears constantly in journalistic, professional, and bureaucratic Italian. Some core collocations:

• condurre un'inchiesta / un'indagine — to conduct an investigation
• condurre una trattativa — to conduct negotiations
• condurre un programma (radio/TV) — to host a programme; the host is il conduttore / la conduttrice
• condurre una vita
  • adjective — to lead a [quiet/healthy/active] life
• condurre per mano — to lead by the hand
• condurre in porto — to bring to a successful conclusion (literally "lead into port")
• lasciarsi condurre da... — to let oneself be guided by (instinct, emotions, advice)

The agent noun il conducente is the everyday word for "bus/coach driver." The abstract noun la condotta means "conduct, behaviour" (una condotta esemplare — "exemplary conduct"). Both are derivatives you will encounter alongside the verb itself.

The -urre verb family

Once you have condurre internalised, every other -urre verb follows the same paradigm with a different prefix. The whole family:

There is no separate paradigm to learn for any of these — once you have condurre, the rest are generated by analogy.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

Condurre is the canonical -urre verb and the template for tradurre, produrre, ridurre, sedurre, dedurre, indurre, introdurre, and riprodurre. Its short infinitive hides the longer Latin conduc- stem (from condūcĕre), which surfaces in every form except three.

Three points to internalise:

1. The conduc- stem is everywhere. Conduco, conducevo, conduca, conducendo, conducente — once you mentally treat condurre as if its infinitive were conducere, the paradigm becomes regular.

2. Three forms break the pattern. The future and conditional collapse to condurr- (double r): condurrò, condurrei. The strong passato remoto persons collapse to conduss- (double s): condussi, condusse, condussero. The participle is the irregular condotto (not conducto).

3. Avere is the auxiliary, and the participle agrees with a preceding direct-object pronoun: l'ho condotta, li ho condotti. Watch the conditional/future spelling pair: condurremmo (cond., double m) vs condurremo (fut., single m).

Once condurre is solid, tradurre and produrre — both common in everyday speech — follow automatically.