Salire is the everyday verb for going up — climbing stairs, getting on a bus, boarding a plane, rising in the ranks, or watching a temperature go up. It's a verb you'll use multiple times a day in Italian, and the conjugation is mostly regular with one exception: the -g- insertion in the io and loro forms (salgo, salgono).
What makes salire genuinely interesting is its auxiliary: in compound tenses, salire can take either essere or avere, depending on whether it's used intransitively (going up somewhere) or transitively (going up something specific, like the stairs). It's one of a small handful of Italian verbs that show this alternation, and English speakers consistently get it wrong by defaulting to one auxiliary across the board.
The conjugation
| Person | Conjugation | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| io | salgo | sàlgo |
| tu | sali | sàli |
| lui / lei / Lei | sale | sàle |
| noi | saliamo | saliàmo |
| voi | salite | salìte |
| loro | salgono | sàlgono |
Salgo le scale a piedi, l'ascensore è guasto.
I'm going up the stairs on foot, the elevator is broken.
Sali con noi o aspetti qui?
Are you coming up with us or waiting here?
Il sole sale lentamente sopra l'orizzonte.
The sun rises slowly over the horizon.
Saliamo a vedere il panorama dal tetto.
Let's go up to see the view from the roof.
Salite a piedi o prendete l'ascensore?
Are you going up on foot or taking the elevator?
I bambini salgono sull'altalena uno alla volta.
The kids get on the swing one at a time.
The -g- insertion
Salire is part of a small group of -ire verbs that insert a -g- between the stem and the ending in the 1sg and 3pl forms only. The pattern is:
You've already seen this -g- insertion in venire (vengo, vengono — but vieni, viene, veniamo, venite) and tenere (tengo, tengono — but tieni, tiene). Salire works the same way, except that salire has no stem-vowel shift: the stem stays as sal- throughout. There's no salio, no salu-, no diphthong — just the consonant insertion and otherwise the regular -ire pattern.
The auxiliary alternation: essere or avere?
This is where salire becomes interesting. In compound tenses, the auxiliary depends on how the verb is being used:
- Intransitive (no direct object): salire takes essere, with participle agreement.
- Transitive (with a direct object — typically le scale, "the stairs"): salire takes avere, no agreement.
This kind of alternation is rare in Italian. Most verbs take one auxiliary or the other, full stop. Salire and scendere ("to go down") both show the alternation, and so do a few others: correre ("to run"), volare ("to fly"), passare ("to pass / to spend [time]"), vivere ("to live").
Intransitive salire (essere)
When salire describes the act of going up without specifying what is climbed — boarding a vehicle, ascending in some abstract sense, just rising — it takes essere, and the past participle agrees with the subject.
Sono salito sul treno alle otto.
I got on the train at eight.
Maria è salita in macchina con lui.
Maria got into the car with him.
I prezzi sono saliti del dieci percento.
Prices have gone up by ten percent.
Siamo salite al sesto piano.
We went up to the sixth floor. (feminine subject)
Transitive salire (avere)
When salire takes a direct object — the most common case being le scale ("the stairs") — it shifts to avere, with no participle agreement.
Ho salito le scale di corsa.
I climbed the stairs running.
Abbiamo salito tutti i gradini fino in cima.
We climbed all the steps to the top.
Mio padre ha salito la montagna in tre ore.
My father climbed the mountain in three hours.
The same speaker, the same act of going up — but with a direct object the verb behaves transitively and grabs avere. With a prepositional phrase (su, in, a) it's intransitive and grabs essere. Compare:
Sono salito sulle scale.
I went up onto the stairs. (intransitive, essere)
Ho salito le scale.
I went up the stairs. (transitive, avere)
These are semantically very close, and English speakers often try to translate "I went up the stairs" as the first form. In careful Italian, the second is the right choice — but both are heard.
Prepositional patterns
In its intransitive use, salire combines with several prepositions to specify what is being climbed onto, into, or up. Each pattern has a slightly different meaning.
Salire su / sul / sulla — to get on (a vehicle, an object)
The most common pattern. Salire su + a vehicle or surface. Used for trains, buses, planes, boats, swings, tables — anything you can mount or board.
Sali sul treno per Roma al binario tre.
Get on the Rome train at platform three.
Non salire sulla sedia, è pericoloso!
Don't climb on the chair, it's dangerous!
Saliamo sull'aereo tra dieci minuti.
We're boarding the plane in ten minutes.
Salire in — to get in (vehicles you sit inside)
For cars, taxis, and small enclosed vehicles, Italians prefer salire in rather than salire su. The logic: you sit inside the car, so it's a container.
Sali in macchina, ti accompagno io.
Get in the car, I'll drive you.
Sono salita in taxi all'aeroporto.
I got in a taxi at the airport.
For larger vehicles you can stand up in (treni, autobus, navi, aerei), su dominates. For cars and taxis, in dominates. Italians don't always agree on the boundary, but these are the prototype usages.
Salire a — abstract / titular (rise to)
Used metaphorically, especially with al potere (rise to power) and al trono (ascend the throne). Also for ranks and positions.
È salito al potere dopo il colpo di stato.
He came to power after the coup.
La principessa salì al trono nel 1837.
The princess ascended the throne in 1837.
Salire a bordo — to board
A fixed expression. Bordo ("on board") combines with salire a to mean "to board" — used especially for ships and planes.
I passeggeri possono salire a bordo.
Passengers may board.
High-frequency uses
Salire shows up in a number of everyday contexts that aren't always obvious to learners.
Prices, temperature, quantities — going up
Italian uses salire for any kind of upward movement of a number — prices, temperature, blood pressure, popularity, anything quantifiable.
La temperatura salirà a 35 gradi domani.
The temperature will rise to 35 degrees tomorrow.
L'inflazione è salita al cinque percento.
Inflation has risen to five percent.
La sua popolarità sta salendo nei sondaggi.
His popularity is rising in the polls.
Salire di livello / di grado — to level up / get promoted
A common expression in work and gaming contexts.
Sono salito di grado in azienda.
I got promoted at the company.
Il mio personaggio è salito di livello.
My character has leveled up.
Mi sale la rabbia / mi sale il sangue alla testa — figurative
Strong emotions are described as "rising" — anger, blood pressure, embarrassment.
Mi sale la rabbia solo a pensarci.
I get angry just thinking about it.
Quando lo vedo mi sale il sangue alla testa.
When I see him my blood boils.
Antonym: scendere
The mirror image of salire is scendere ("to go down"), which shares the same auxiliary alternation: essere when intransitive (sono sceso dal treno), avere when transitive (ho sceso le scale). Italians use the two as a natural pair, often in the same breath.
Salgo, prendo le chiavi e scendo subito.
I'll go up, grab the keys, and come right back down.
Le persone salgono dalla porta davanti, scendono da quella dietro.
People get on at the front door, get off at the back.
The participio passato: salito
The past participle is salito — completely regular. It agrees in gender and number with the subject when the auxiliary is essere:
| Form | Use |
|---|---|
| salito | masculine singular |
| salita | feminine singular |
| saliti | masculine plural / mixed |
| salite | feminine plural |
When the auxiliary is avere (transitive use), the participle does not agree with the subject — it can agree with a preceding direct-object pronoun, but not in the basic case:
Maria è salita in cima.
Maria climbed to the top. (essere — feminine agreement)
Maria ha salito le scale.
Maria climbed the stairs. (avere — no agreement with the subject)
Common mistakes
❌ Io salo le scale ogni mattina.
Incorrect — the io form takes the inserted -g-: salgo, not salo.
✅ Io salgo le scale ogni mattina.
Correct — salgo with the irregular -g- insertion.
❌ Loro salono al sesto piano.
Incorrect — the loro form is salgono, with the -g- insertion.
✅ Loro salgono al sesto piano.
Correct — salgono is the irregular 3pl form.
❌ Sono salito le scale di corsa.
Incorrect — with a direct object (le scale), salire takes avere, not essere.
✅ Ho salito le scale di corsa.
Correct — transitive use, avere, no participle agreement.
❌ Ho salito sul treno alle otto.
Incorrect — without a direct object (just a prepositional phrase 'sul treno'), salire takes essere.
✅ Sono salito sul treno alle otto.
Correct — intransitive use, essere, with participle agreement.
❌ Sali in treno al binario tre.
Marginal — for trains, buses, and large vehicles Italian prefers 'salire su' (sul treno), not 'salire in.'
✅ Sali sul treno al binario tre.
Correct — sul treno is the natural pattern.
❌ Sale lui sulle scale ogni mattina.
Misleading — 'salire sulle scale' suggests climbing onto the staircase as an object (mounting it), not going up. For 'climb the stairs,' use 'salire le scale' (transitive).
✅ Sale le scale ogni mattina.
Correct — transitive use means simply going up the stairs.
Key takeaways
Salire is mostly regular, with three things to internalize:
The -g- insertion in 1sg and 3pl. Salgo, salgono — but sali, sale, saliamo, salite. Same pattern as venire, tenere, scegliere, togliere, cogliere.
The auxiliary alternation. Intransitive → essere with agreement (sono salito sul treno). Transitive → avere without subject agreement (ho salito le scale). Look for a direct object.
The prepositional patterns. Su for vehicles you stand in (treno, autobus, aereo), in for vehicles you sit in (macchina, taxi), a for abstract ascent (al potere, al trono).
The opposite verb scendere mirrors salire exactly — same auxiliary alternation, same kind of compound prepositions. Learn the two as a pair and you've covered most everyday vertical-motion vocabulary in Italian.
For the broader -g- insertion pattern that salire belongs to, see also the -gliere family and scegliere. For the auxiliary distinction across all verbs, see the auxiliary overview.
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- Regular vs Irregular VerbsA1 — What it means for an Italian verb to be regular, where irregularities tend to cluster, and the main families of irregular forms you will meet.