Crescere: Full Conjugation

Crescere (to grow) is one of the central A2 verbs because growth runs through everything: a child grows up, plants grow, prices grow, ideas grow, doubts grow, debts grow. The Italian verb covers all of these — both the literal physical growth and the figurative expansion — and a learner who masters its paradigm unlocks an entire semantic field. The most distinctive thing about crescere, however, is that it can be either intransitive ("to grow [oneself]") or transitive ("to raise [someone]"), and the auxiliary in compound tenses changes accordingly. That single fact is the most important thing on this page.

The paradigm has two real points of irregularity: the passato remoto is a strong perfect with a doubled bb (crebbi, crebbe, crebbero), and the present indicative shows the standard sc spelling alternation between hard [sk] and soft [ʃ]. Everything else — present, imperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive, gerund, and crucially the participle cresciuto — is regular. The present participle pattern makes crescere much friendlier than its passato remoto suggests: a learner can be productive in everyday tenses immediately, and only needs the strong perfect for narrative writing or central/southern speech.

Indicativo presente

The present is regular, but the sc spelling shifts predictably with the following vowel. Before -o and -ono, the cluster is hard [KRES-ko] and crescono [KRES-ko-no]. Before -i and -e, it is soft [ʃ] (the English sh sound): cresci [KRES-shi], cresce [KRES-she], cresciamo [kre-SHA-mo], crescete [kre-SHE-te]. There is no doubled letter, no inserted h, no extra i — the same sc does both jobs, and the following vowel decides the pronunciation.

This is the same orthographic logic as in conoscere (conosco hard, conosci soft) and nascere (nasco hard, nasci soft). It is one of the most stable patterns in Italian spelling — once you internalise it, you never have to worry about it again. The 1pl cresciamo uses an i between sc and a to keep the soft sound through the back vowel -a- — the i is a pure spelling device that is not pronounced. This is exactly the same trick as in mangiamo (from mangiare).

The 3sg cresce is one of the workhorse forms of Italian, used for everything from height (il bambino cresce a vista d'occhio, "the child is growing visibly") to economic indicators (il PIL cresce dell'1.2%, "GDP is growing by 1.2%") to abstract magnitudes (cresce la tensione, "tension is rising").

Imperfetto

Fully regular on the cresce- stem. Note that the sc is uniformly soft throughout the imperfect because every ending begins with a front vowel. The imperfect is the natural tense for childhood narratives: crescevo in campagna ("I grew up in the countryside"), l'erba cresceva alta ("the grass was growing tall"), crescevano tutti molto in fretta ("they were all growing very fast").

Passato remoto

This is the dramatic irregularity of the verb. The passato remoto follows the 1-3-3 pattern with a doubled bb: crebbi (I grew), crebbe (he/she grew), crebbero (they grew). The 2sg, 1pl, and 2pl revert to the regular cresce- stem (crescesti, crescemmo, cresceste). This is exactly the same shape as rompere → ruppi/rompesti, sapere → seppi/sapesti, conoscere → conobbi/conoscesti.

The doubled bb is purely orthographic — it represents the geminate consonant of the spoken form: CREB-bi, CREB-be, CREB-be-ro. The historical reason is that the Latin perfect was crēvī, which evolved through assimilation in Italian into a shape with a doubled stop. You don't need to track the history; you just need to spell it right and pronounce the geminate.

The participle, by contrast, is regular -uto: cresciuto. This is one of the most common pitfalls — students see crebbi and assume the participle is crepputo or crepso. It is not. The participle is wholly regular and just inherits the soft sc from the present stem.

In modern usage, the passato remoto of crescere appears in narrative writing and in southern Italian speech: crebbe in una famiglia povera ("he grew up in a poor family"), i bambini crebbero senza padre ("the children grew up without a father"). Northern speakers swap to passato prossimo: è cresciuto in una famiglia povera.

Futuro semplice

Regular future on the crescer- stem — no contraction. Unlike cadere → cadrò or avere → avrò, crescere does not drop its medial -e-, because the resulting cluster crescr- would be unpronounceable. So the full -erò / -erai / -erà endings attach directly. The economic-prediction sense is heavy: l'inflazione crescerà ancora ("inflation will rise further"), crescerà l'occupazione ("employment will grow").

Condizionale presente

Regular conditional. Note the double m in cresceremmo — the conditional 1pl ending -emmo is always two m's. The conditional appears heavily in conjectural growth statements and would-be conditions: l'azienda crescerebbe se investissimo di più ("the company would grow if we invested more").

Congiuntivo presente

The subjunctive is built from the cresc- stem, with the standard -a / -ano endings producing hard [sk] before -a-. Compare with the indicative present, where you get soft [ʃ] before -i- and -e- but hard [sk] before -o- and -ono. So cresca [KRES-ka], crescano [KRES-ka-no] — both with hard sound. The 1pl cresciamo and 2pl cresciate keep the soft sound thanks to the orthographic -i-.

Congiuntivo imperfetto

Regular on the cresce- stem. Used in past hypotheticals and reported expectations about growth: se l'economia crescesse di più, ci sarebbero più posti di lavoro ("if the economy grew more, there would be more jobs").

Imperativo

The 2sg cresci! is genuinely used as an exhortation — usually figuratively, meaning "grow up!" or "get over it!" Cresci, dai! ("Come on, grow up!") is the classic adult-to-young-adult rebuke. The negative form non crescere is not really used; you would say non smettere di crescere ("don't stop growing") or rephrase entirely.

Forme non finite

The participle cresciuto is regular -uto with the spelling -i- preserving the soft sound through the back vowel -u-. This -iuto ending is the same orthographic trick as in conosciuto (from conoscere) and riconosciuto (from riconoscere). Without the -i-, crescuto would be pronounced [KRES-ku-to] — wrong. The -i- keeps it soft: cre-SHU-to.

Compound tenses — the auxiliary split

This is where crescere demands real attention. The verb takes essere when intransitive ("to grow [oneself], to grow up") and avere when transitive ("to raise, to bring up [someone]"). The two uses produce different sentences:

With essere, the participle agrees with the subject: Maria è cresciuta in Sicilia ("Maria grew up in Sicily" — feminine singular cresciuta), i prezzi sono cresciuti ("prices have risen" — masculine plural cresciuti), le aspettative sono cresciute ("expectations have grown" — feminine plural cresciute).

With avere, the participle stays in the masculine singular default unless a direct-object pronoun precedes the verb (the standard rule for direct-object agreement): ho cresciuto due bambine ("I raised two girls"), but le ho cresciute io ("I'm the one who raised them" — agreement with direct-object pronoun le).

A note on register: crescere as transitive ("to raise") is somewhat formal or solemn — it appears in family histories, biographical writing, and discussions of upbringing. In casual conversation, Italians more often say tirare su (literally "pull up"): li ho tirati su io ("I'm the one who raised them"). Crescere transitive is grammatically correct everywhere; it just sounds slightly more elevated than the alternatives.

Compound tenses table

Etymology, derivatives, and idioms

Crescere descends directly from Latin crēscere ("to grow, to increase"), the same root behind English crescent, crescendo, increment, accretion, concrete, recruit. The full semantic field of growth, increase, and concentration is built on this root in both languages.

Italian derivatives:

• la crescita (n.) — growth, increase (economic, demographic)
• crescente (adj.) — growing, increasing (also "crescent" of the moon)
• il crescendo — a crescendo (musical and figurative)
• l'incremento — the increment, the increase
• accrescere — to increase, to enhance
• decrescere — to decrease, to wane
• rincrescere — to be sorry, to regret (literally "to grow again [as a feeling]")
• rincrescimento — regret

The verb rincrescere deserves a special note: it is a piacere-type verb that means "to regret" or "to be sorry." Mi rincresce molto ("I'm very sorry") is a polite formula heard in formal apologies and condolences. It conjugates exactly like piacere (subject is what is regretted; experiencer is in the dative) but uses the crescere stem.

Common collocations:

• crescere come un fungo — to shoot up overnight (like a mushroom)
• crescere a vista d'occhio — to grow visibly, by the day
• crescere con il pane e [something] — to grow up on (a cultural staple)
• crescere a pane e Bach / a pane e calcio — to grow up steeped in (Bach / football)
• far crescere la barba — to grow a beard
• crescere in numero — to increase in number
• crescere in considerazione di qualcuno — to rise in someone's esteem

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

1. The auxiliary changes by transitivity. Intransitive (to grow up, to grow) → essere; transitive (to raise [someone], to grow [plants]) → avere. Get this right and most of the rest follows.

2. The passato remoto has a doubled bb: crebbi, crebbe, crebbero. The 2sg, 1pl, 2pl revert to cresce-.

3. The participle is cresciuto — regular -uto with the orthographic -i- preserving the soft sc.

4. Sc spelling alternates: hard [sk] before -o, -ono, -a, -ano, soft [ʃ] before -i, -e. Once you trust the rule, spelling falls into place.

5. Tirare su is the colloquial alternative to transitive crescere ("to raise"). Both are correct; tirare su is friendlier in conversation.

For the parallel auxiliary-split pattern, see diventare and other verbs of becoming, and the broader treatment of auxiliary choice in compound tenses.