Valere: Full Conjugation

Valere (to be worth) is one of those Italian verbs that earns its place in any reference by sheer frequency: it shows up in everything from price negotiations (non vale i soldi che chiedi, "it's not worth the money you're asking") to philosophical debates (la libertà vale più di tutto, "freedom is worth more than anything") to the universal idiom vale la pena ("it's worth the effort"). The verb is also a textbook example of the -g- insertion pattern that English speakers have to internalise to navigate Italian present-tense irregularities — and once you have valere down, you have a template for tenere, venire, salire, scegliere, and a dozen more verbs that share the same logic.

What makes the paradigm coherent rather than chaotic is that the irregularities are not random: they cluster predictably around the vowel-final stem. The 1sg present valgo inserts a g to keep the stem-final -l- from rubbing against the ending -o. The future varrò contracts the infinitive valere by losing the medial -e- and assimilating the resulting l-r into a doubled rr. The passato remoto valsi uses the -si pattern of strong perfects, with the participle valso in the matching -so family. The auxiliary is essere in compound tenses, and the participle agrees with the subject — which surfaces idiomatically in non è valsa la pena ("it wasn't worth it"), where valsa agrees with the feminine pena.

Indicativo presente

The -g- insertion in valgo and valgono is not a quirk — it is a regular phonological repair. Italian dislikes a stem-final -l- directly followed by the back vowels -o and -ono, so a buffering -g- slips in. The same pattern produces tengo/tengono (from tenere), vengo/vengono (from venire), salgo/salgono (from salire), and scelgo/scelgono (from scegliere). The 2sg vali, 3sg vale, 1pl valiamo, and 2pl valete all keep a single -l- because the next vowel is -i- or -e-, which doesn't trigger the repair.

The 3sg vale is the form you will use most: it is the heart of pricing, evaluation, and moral worth. Quanto vale? ("How much is it worth?"), non vale niente ("it's worthless"), ogni opinione vale ("every opinion counts"). The 3pl valgono is the second workhorse, used whenever multiple things are being assessed: queste regole non valgono per i clienti abituali ("these rules don't apply to regular customers").

Imperfetto

Fully regular on the vale- stem, with the standard -evo / -evi / -eva endings of second-conjugation imperfect. Used for past states of worth, status, or applicability: la lira non valeva quasi niente alla fine degli anni Novanta ("the lira was worth almost nothing at the end of the 90s"), quella regola non valeva ancora ("that rule didn't yet apply").

Passato remoto

The -si pattern is one of the great regularities of irregular Italian. Verbs whose stem ends in a liquid (l, n, r) often form their passato remoto by adding -si (1sg), -se (3sg), and -sero (3pl) directly to a shortened stem: vals-i, vals-e, vals-ero. The 2sg, 1pl, and 2pl revert to a regular vale- stem with standard endings — this is the famous 1-3-3 pattern (irregular in persons 1, 3, and 6). Compare: rimanere → rimasi, rimase, rimasero; prendere → presi, prese, presero; scendere → scesi, scese, scesero.

In modern Italian, the passato remoto of valere is mostly literary or historical — you encounter valse in essays, biographies, and journalism. Quel gesto gli valse l'ammirazione di tutti ("that gesture earned him everyone's admiration") is a textbook deployment.

Futuro semplice

Varrò is a contracted future, formed by dropping the medial -e- of the infinitive valere and assimilating the resulting l-r cluster into a doubled rr: valerò → valrò → varrò. Writing valerò is a real spelling error in modern Italian; the contracted form is the only standard. The same pattern produces parrò (parere), terrò (tenere), verrò (venire), vorrò (volere), berrò (bere), rimarrò (rimanere).

The future is the natural tense for predictions about future worth: fra dieci anni questo varrà il triplo ("in ten years this'll be worth three times as much"). It also carries the conjectural sense common to Italian future forms: varranno almeno cinquecento euro could mean "they'll be worth at least 500 euros" or "they must be worth at least 500 euros."

Condizionale presente

Same contracted varr- stem. The 3sg varrebbe is the everyday form, used in suggestions and gentle assessments: varrebbe la pena provarci almeno ("it would be worth at least giving it a try"). Note the double m in varremmo — the conditional 1pl ending -emmo is always spelled with two m's, the single difference from the future varremo (one m).

Congiuntivo presente

The subjunctive is built from the valg- stem of the present 1sg, exactly the same way tenga comes from tengo and venga from vengo. The three singular forms collapse into valga, used after the standard subjunctive triggers: credo che, penso che, è importante che. The 1pl valiamo and 2pl valiate drop the -g- because they preserve the front-vowel ending — same logic as in the indicative present.

Congiuntivo imperfetto

Regular on the vale- stem with the standard -essi / -esse endings. Heavy use in past hypotheticals: se valesse la pena, lo farei ("if it were worth it, I'd do it"). Also common in counterfactuals about the past: avrei accettato anche se non fosse valso niente ("I would have accepted even if it had been worth nothing").

Imperativo

The 2sg imperative is vali — not valga, despite the -g- of the indicative 1sg. This is the standard rule: the tu imperative of -ere verbs takes the regular indicative-2sg form. The Lei imperative is valga, borrowed from the subjunctive. The imperative of valere is rare in everyday speech because "be worth!" is hardly a normal command — but the literary turn vali per due ("be worth two") and the encouragement vali per quello che sei ("be worth what you are") do appear.

Forme non finite

The participle valso belongs to the -so family of strong participles (compare rimasto, perso, corso, scelto). Compound tenses use essere, and valso agrees with the subject in gender and number — a fact that surfaces idiomatically in the famous non è valsa la pena, where valsa is feminine singular to agree with la pena.

Compound tenses with essere

Valere la pena — the king of all idioms

If you learn one thing about valere, learn this construction. Valere la pena literally means "to be worth the effort/trouble," and it is the everyday way Italians say something is worthwhile. Three patterns to know:

Vale la pena + infinitive: vale la pena provarci ("it's worth trying"). The infinitive can be introduced bare or with di: vale la pena di provarci is also correct, slightly more formal.

Vale la pena che + congiuntivo: when the embedded clause has a different subject. Vale la pena che tu lo conosca di persona ("it's worth your meeting him in person").

Non vale la pena as a complete answer: in conversation, the bare phrase non vale la pena functions as "don't bother" / "it's not worth it."

The agreement on the participle in compound tenses follows la pena (feminine singular), so you say non è valsa la pena, non sarebbe valsa la pena, non è mai valsa la pena.

Etymology, related forms, and idioms

Valere descends directly from Latin valēre ("to be strong, to be well, to be worth"), the same root behind English value, valid, valiant, prevail. The "to be well" sense survives in the Italian greeting-formula vale! (used at the end of letters in archaic or jocular Latin-flavoured style) and the verb valutare ("to evaluate"), a clear derivative.

Common collocations and idioms:

• valere la pena — to be worth it (the supreme idiom)
• vale a dire — that is to say, namely (a discourse marker)
• far valere — to assert, to enforce (one's rights, opinion)
• far valere i propri diritti — to assert one's rights
• vale per uno — counts as one (in counting tickets, votes, etc.)
• non valere un fico secco — to be worth nothing (literally "not worth a dried fig")
• tanto vale — one might as well (tanto vale che ce ne andiamo — "we might as well leave")
• vale doppio — counts double (in games, contests)

Vale a dire is one of the most useful: it functions exactly like English "that is to say" in writing and formal speech, joining a clarification to what came before.

The reflexive valersi di qualcosa ("to make use of something, to avail oneself of") is more formal and common in legal or bureaucratic Italian: si è valso del diritto di non rispondere ("he availed himself of the right not to answer"). The derived adjective valido ("valid") and noun valore ("value, worth, courage") are everyday vocabulary.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

1. The -g- insertion in valgo and valgono belongs to a regular family: tengo, vengo, salgo, scelgo. Once you see the pattern, it stops feeling random.

2. The contracted future and conditional — varrò, varrei — are the only standard forms. Spelling valerò is wrong.

3. The participle is valso (-so family), and compound tenses use essere. The participle agrees with the subject — crucially, with la pena in the idiom.

4. Vale la pena + infinitive is the high-frequency idiom learners must drill. Non è valsa la pena is the past-tense version.

5. Far valere ("to assert, enforce") and vale a dire ("that is to say") are the two most-useful collocations beyond the central vale la pena family.

For the parallel patterns in similar irregular verbs, see tenere and venire — they share the -g- present, the contracted future, and the essere auxiliary in many of the same ways.