Fare: Full Conjugation

Fare (to do, to make) ranks among the four most-used Italian verbs alongside essere, avere, andare. It is irregular in almost every tense, but the irregularity follows a single underlying logic: the verb keeps its hidden Latin stem fac- in the conjugations where the syllable structure permits it (imperfetto, gerundio, congiuntivo, much of the passato remoto), and uses the contracted modern stem fa-/far- elsewhere. Once you see fac- lurking under the surface, the paradigm clicks.

Fare is the centerpiece of two grammatical constructions you cannot avoid: the causative (faccio fare i compiti a Marco — "I have Marco do his homework") and roughly a hundred fixed phrases (fare la spesa, fare colazione, fare un giro, fare attenzione, fare freddo). Like andare, it has a truncated imperative fa' that triggers consonant-doubling on attached clitics (fammi, falle, facci).

Indicativo presente

The hidden fac- stem surfaces clearly in faccio and facciamo (where -cc- represents the Latin -c- before -i-). The lui/lei form fa carries no accent in modern spelling — older texts used fà, but the Accademia della Crusca dropped the accent in the twentieth century because the form is unambiguous. (Some style guides still recommend fa' with apostrophe to distinguish it from the imperative, but standard usage writes both as fa.)

The third-person plural fanno has stress on the first syllable (fànno), like all rizotonic loro forms — not on the ending.

Imperfetto

The hidden stem fac- is fully visible across the imperfetto. Despite fare belonging to the -are class, the imperfetto endings here are -evo, -evi, -eva (the -ere set), not the regular -are -avo, -avi, -ava — because the underlying Latin verb was facebam, not facabam. The same pattern appears in dire → dicevo and bere → bevevo, both inheritors of -ere Latin verbs that look -are/-ire on the surface.

Passato remoto

A model 1-3-3 passato remoto: io, lui, and loro share the irregular stem fec- (feci, fece, fecero), while tu, noi, and voi take the regular stem fac- with regular endings. The fec- stem comes directly from Latin feci, fecit, fecerunt — Italian preserved it untouched.

Futuro semplice

The futuro uses the short stem far- — predictable, and identical to the -are pattern. Don't write facerò or farerò; both are non-forms.

Like essere and avere, the futuro of fare doubles as conjecture about the present: Cosa farà a quest'ora? ("I wonder what he's doing at this hour").

Condizionale presente

Same short stem far-. As ever, faremmo (conditional, double m) versus faremo (future, single m) — the canonical Italian spelling trap.

Congiuntivo presente

Built directly on the fac- stem with the standard -a/-iamo/-iate/-ano endings. The three singular forms collapse into faccia, identical to the formal Lei imperative.

Congiuntivo imperfetto

Built on the fac- stem with standard -essi/-esse endings — the same -ere-style pattern as the imperfetto. Used heavily in hypothetical clauses with se: se facessi attenzione ("if you paid attention").

Imperativo

Like andare → va' and dare → da', the truncated fa' with apostrophe is the traditional tu imperative; the longer fai is also accepted. When a clitic pronoun attaches to fa', the initial consonant of the clitic doubles:

The single exception to consonant-doubling is the clitic gli, which never doubles: fagli un favore, not faggli.

Forme non finite

The gerundio facendo uses the fac- stem; the participio fatto is irregular (regular -are participle would be farato, which doesn't exist). Fatto is also the most common Italian word for "fact" used as a noun: un fatto importante.

Compound tenses (with avere)

Fare takes avere as its auxiliary, like nearly all transitive verbs. The participle does not normally agree with the subject — but it does agree with a preceding direct-object pronoun.

The causative: fare + infinitive

This is one of the most distinctive features of fare. Fare + infinito means to have/make someone (do something) — a periphrasis Italian uses constantly where English would say "I had my hair cut" or "she made him cry."

When the embedded verb has a direct object, the agent is marked with a (or da): faccio leggere il libro a Marco ("I have Marco read the book"). When there's no direct object, the agent is just a direct object: faccio venire Marco ("I'm having Marco come").

Idiomatic expressions with fare

Fare is the workhorse of Italian set phrases. A small sample:

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

Fare is built on a hidden Latin fac- stem that surfaces wherever syllable structure allows it (imperfetto facevo, congiuntivo faccia, gerundio facendo, much of the passato remoto). Where it doesn't, the modern short stems fa- (presente sing.) and far- (futuro/condizionale) take over. The participle fatto is fully irregular and forms compound tenses with avere.

Three points to internalise:

1. Hidden fac- stem: facevo, facevi, faceva (-ere-style imperfetto), faccia (congiuntivo), facendo (gerundio), feci/fece/fecero (passato remoto irregular forms).

2. Truncated imperative fa' + clitic doubling: fammi, falle, facci, fallo, fatti. The clitic gli is the lone exception (fagli, not faggli).

3. The causative fare + infinito is the standard Italian way to say "have/make someone do something": mi fai ridere, faccio tagliare i capelli, l'insegnante fa leggere gli studenti.

Drill fare alongside essere and avere — together these three verbs account for an enormous slice of everyday Italian, and mastering all three early pays off across every later topic.