Entrare ("to enter, go in") and uscire ("to go out, leave") are the everyday pair Italian uses to describe crossing a threshold. Both are intransitive verbs of motion, both take essere in compound tenses, and both demand the right preposition with the right kind of noun. Get the prepositions wrong and you sound foreign even when every other word is correct. This page covers the conjugations, the preposition logic, the participle agreement that comes from the essere auxiliary, and the small set of idioms (entrare in confidenza, uscire di testa) that come up constantly in real speech.
The two verbs at a glance
Entrare is a regular -are verb: entro, entri, entra, entriamo, entrate, èntrano. Stress on the loro form falls on the root — èntrano, not entràno.
Uscire is irregular: esco, esci, esce, usciamo, uscite, èscono. The stem switches from usc- in unstressed forms (noi, voi) to esc- in the four stressed forms — see the dedicated uscire conjugation page for the full treatment of the u → e alternation.
| Person | entrare | uscire |
|---|---|---|
| io | entro | esco |
| tu | entri | esci |
| lui / lei | entra | esce |
| noi | entriamo | usciamo |
| voi | entrate | uscite |
| loro | èntrano | èscono |
Entra in classe e si siede in fondo.
He walks into the classroom and sits down in the back.
Esco di casa alle sette e mezza ogni mattina.
I leave the house at seven thirty every morning.
Entrare + in: the standard pattern
Entrare pairs with the preposition in before the place you enter. The construction is entrare in + noun — usually with the article (entrare nel negozio, entrare nella stanza) but sometimes without (entrare in classe, entrare in banca, entrare in chiesa) when the noun behaves like a generic location rather than a specific one.
Entra in classe sempre in ritardo.
He always walks into class late.
Sono entrato in banca per ritirare dei contanti.
I went into the bank to withdraw some cash.
I bambini entrano nella stanza di corsa.
The kids run into the room.
Quando entriamo nel ristorante, chiediamo un tavolo vicino alla finestra.
When we go into the restaurant, we'll ask for a table near the window.
The "with article / without article" split tends to follow this logic: when the noun refers to an institution (banca, chiesa, classe, ufficio, ospedale) used in the abstract — going to the bank as an activity, not to one specific bank building — Italian often drops the article. When the noun refers to a specific physical space, the article reappears.
Uscire + di vs uscire + da: the home/elsewhere split
Uscire splits "leaving X" into two patterns depending on what kind of place X is. This is the single trickiest piece of preposition logic for English speakers, and it's not optional — you must pick the right one.
- uscire di casa — leaving one's own home, no article
- uscire da + article + place — leaving any other place, with article
The bare di casa is a fixed expression. Casa without an article means "home" in the abstract sense — your dwelling, the place where you live. The construction parallels a casa ("at home, to home") and da casa ("from home"). So when you mean "I'm leaving home" — your home, in the everyday sense — you say esco di casa.
For everywhere else — a shop, an office, a restaurant, a meeting, a hospital, a friend's house — Italian uses da + article: dal negozio, dall'ufficio, dal ristorante, dalla riunione, dall'ospedale, da casa di Marco.
Sono uscita di casa senza prendere l'ombrello, e ovviamente è cominciato a piovere.
I left home without taking an umbrella, and of course it started raining.
A che ora esci dall'ufficio stasera?
What time are you getting off work tonight?
I bambini escono dalla scuola alle quattro.
The kids get out of school at four.
Esco dal supermercato tra cinque minuti, ti chiamo dopo.
I'm leaving the supermarket in five minutes, I'll call you after.
If you mean "leave someone else's house," the construction is uscire da casa di + person: Esco da casa di Marco ("I'm leaving Marco's place"). The bare di casa is reserved for one's own home.
Auxiliary in compound tenses: essere
Both verbs take essere in all compound tenses, and the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject — the standard rule for essere verbs.
| Subject | entrare (passato prossimo) | uscire (passato prossimo) |
|---|---|---|
| io (m.) | sono entrato | sono uscito |
| io (f.) | sono entrata | sono uscita |
| noi (m. or mixed) | siamo entrati | siamo usciti |
| noi (f.) | siamo entrate | siamo uscite |
| loro (m. or mixed) | sono entrati | sono usciti |
| loro (f.) | sono entrate | sono uscite |
Sono entrate in classe insieme e si sono sedute davanti.
They (women) walked into class together and sat down at the front.
Marco è uscito da poco, lo trovi al bar all'angolo.
Marco just stepped out, you'll find him at the bar on the corner.
Siamo usciti tardi e abbiamo preso l'ultimo metrò.
We went out late and caught the last subway.
For the underlying logic of essere-vs-avere selection, see auxiliary verbs overview and the essere auxiliary in passato prossimo.
Common idiomatic uses
Both verbs anchor a small but high-frequency family of idioms that you'll hear constantly. These are not optional vocabulary — they're how Italians talk.
Entrare in confidenza — to become close
Entrare in confidenza con qualcuno means to develop a comfortable, familiar relationship with someone — to move from formal acquaintance to genuine closeness.
Con Lucia siamo entrati subito in confidenza, sembrava di conoscerla da anni.
Lucia and I hit it off right away, it felt like I'd known her for years.
Entrare in vigore — to take effect
Used for laws, rules, or contracts that begin to apply on a given date.
La nuova legge entra in vigore il primo gennaio.
The new law takes effect on January 1st.
Uscire di testa — to lose one's mind
A vivid colloquial expression. Literally "to leave one's head"; idiomatically "to go crazy" or "to lose it" — sometimes from anger, sometimes from stress, sometimes from infatuation.
Quando ho visto il prezzo, sono quasi uscito di testa.
When I saw the price, I nearly lost it.
Sta uscendo di testa per quella ragazza.
He's losing his mind over that girl.
Uscire di scena — to exit the scene
Theatrical in origin, but used figuratively for someone who steps away from public life or a situation.
Dopo lo scandalo, il politico è uscito di scena.
After the scandal, the politician stepped out of the spotlight.
Note that all four idioms use the bare-noun pattern: entrare in confidenza, entrare in vigore, uscire di testa, uscire di scena. No article. This is the same pattern as uscire di casa — fixed expressions where the noun is abstract enough to drop the article.
Common mistakes
❌ Entro a classe alle nove.
Incorrect — entrare takes 'in', not 'a'. The 'entrare a' construction is non-standard.
✅ Entro in classe alle nove.
Correct — entrare in is the standard pattern.
❌ Esco la casa alle otto.
Incorrect — uscire is intransitive in Italian; you can't take 'la casa' as a direct object the way English takes 'the house'.
✅ Esco di casa alle otto.
Correct — 'di casa' is the fixed expression for leaving one's own home.
❌ Esco del negozio.
Incorrect — for places other than one's own home, the preposition is 'da' (with the article).
✅ Esco dal negozio.
Correct — 'da' + 'il' contracts to 'dal'.
❌ Ho entrato in banca.
Incorrect — entrare takes essere, not avere.
✅ Sono entrato in banca.
Correct — essere with participle agreement.
❌ Sono uscito di mio ufficio.
Incorrect — your own office still uses 'da + article', not 'di'. The 'di' pattern is reserved for casa.
✅ Sono uscito dal mio ufficio.
Correct — only 'casa' takes the bare 'di' for one's own place.
❌ Loro entràno sempre in ritardo.
Incorrect stress — èntrano is rizotonic, like every Italian 3pl.
✅ Loro èntrano sempre in ritardo.
Correct — stress on the root.
Key takeaways
Entrare pairs with in: entrare in classe, entrare in banca, entrare nella stanza. Entrare a is non-standard and should be avoided.
Uscire splits "leaving X" into two prepositional patterns: uscire di casa (leaving one's own home, no article — a fixed expression) versus uscire da + article + place (leaving anywhere else). For someone else's house, the construction is uscire da casa di + person.
Both verbs take essere in compound tenses with full participle agreement: sono entrata, siamo usciti, sono uscite.
The most important idioms to memorize as units: entrare in confidenza (become close), entrare in vigore (take effect), uscire di testa (lose one's mind), uscire di scena (step away from a situation). All four follow the bare-noun pattern.
For the deictic logic of andare vs venire vs tornare, see Andare, Venire, Tornare: Directional Contrast. For arriving and departing, see Partire and Arrivare.
Now practice Italian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- Motion Verbs: OverviewA2 — Why most Italian motion verbs take essere in compound tenses — and the small but critical list of exceptions that take avere instead.
- Andare, Venire, Tornare: Directional ContrastA1 — Three motion verbs that English collapses into 'go' and 'come' — and the deictic logic Italian uses to keep them apart, including the trap of 'I'm coming' vs 'vengo.'
- Partire and Arrivare: Leave and ArriveA1 — How partire and arrivare pair with their prepositions — partire da/per for departure points and destinations, arrivare a/in for cities and countries — plus the 'arrivare a + infinitive' construction every learner needs.
- Presente: Uscire (to go out)A1 — How to conjugate uscire — the unusual u→e stem shift, the four uses (leave, go out socially, be released, be dating), and how the prepositions di/da divide work between 'home' and 'shops'.
- Auxiliary Verbs: avere, essere, stareA2 — The three auxiliary verbs that build Italian's compound tenses, the progressive, and the imminent future — and why getting them right is foundational.
- Passato Prossimo with EssereA1 — The smaller but inescapable group of verbs that take essere as auxiliary — motion, change of state, occurrence — and the visible subject agreement that makes the participle change for every person.