Vivere ("to live") is regular in the presente — none of the surprises that hit you elsewhere in its paradigm — but it deserves its own page because of two things that catch English speakers out. First, vivere is wildly irregular outside the present tense (the participio passato vissuto and passato remoto vissi look nothing like vivere). Second, Italian splits English's single verb to live across vivere and abitare, and choosing the wrong one makes you sound off.
The conjugation in the presente
Vivere takes the regular -ere endings on the regular stem viv-. No spelling changes, no stem shifts, no infixes.
| Person | Conjugation | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| io | vivo | vìvo |
| tu | vivi | vìvi |
| lui / lei / Lei | vive | vìve |
| noi | viviamo | viviàmo |
| voi | vivete | vivéte |
| loro | vivono | vìvono |
The loro form vivono stresses the root, like every other Italian 3pl: vìvono, never vivòno. This is the single most important pronunciation point.
Vivo a Milano da quasi vent'anni.
I've been living in Milan for almost twenty years.
Vivi ancora con i tuoi genitori?
Do you still live with your parents?
Mio fratello vive in Australia con la moglie.
My brother lives in Australia with his wife.
Viviamo in un piccolo paese vicino a Bologna.
We live in a small village near Bologna.
Voi vivete in centro o in periferia?
Do you live in the center or in the suburbs?
I miei nonni vivono in campagna da sempre.
My grandparents have always lived in the countryside.
Outside the presente: irregular forms
Although vivere is regular in the presente, you should know up front that it is not regular elsewhere. Two forms in particular trip up learners.
| Tense | Form | Note |
|---|---|---|
| participio passato | vissuto | NOT *vivuto. Used in all compound tenses. |
| passato remoto (1sg) | vissi | NOT *vivei. Plus vivesti, visse, vivemmo, viveste, vissero. |
You will encounter vissuto constantly — every time vivere appears in a compound tense (ho vissuto, sono vissuto, avevo vissuto) you need this participle. Memorize it now to save yourself the headache later.
Ho vissuto a Berlino per cinque anni.
I lived in Berlin for five years.
Hai mai vissuto da solo?
Have you ever lived alone?
The auxiliary in compound tenses: essere or avere?
Vivere is one of the relatively rare verbs that allows both auxiliaries in compound tenses, with a fine semantic distinction:
| Construction | Use case | Register |
|---|---|---|
| essere + vissuto | "to reside, to dwell" — life as a state of being somewhere | more traditional, slightly literary |
| avere + vissuto | "to live (through), to experience" — life as activity or event | more common in modern speech |
In practice, when vivere describes residing in a place, both auxiliaries are accepted and the difference is mostly stylistic. Sono vissuto a Roma and ho vissuto a Roma both mean "I lived in Rome." The essere version sounds slightly more formal and is preferred by traditional grammarians; the avere version is more frequent in everyday Italian and is what you'll hear most often.
Ho vissuto a Roma per dieci anni.
I lived in Rome for ten years. (common, neutral)
Sono vissuto a Roma per dieci anni.
I lived in Rome for ten years. (slightly more formal)
When vivere is transitive — "to live through, to experience an event" — only avere is correct.
Ha vissuto una storia incredibile durante la guerra.
He lived through an incredible story during the war.
Abbiamo vissuto momenti difficili negli ultimi anni.
We've lived through difficult times in recent years.
Vivere a + city, vivere in + country/region
Vivere takes specific prepositions for places, and the choice depends on the type of location:
| Location type | Preposition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| City | a | vivo a Milano, vive a Roma, viviamo a Napoli |
| Country | in | vivo in Italia, vive in Francia, viviamo in Germania |
| Region | in | vivo in Toscana, vive in Sicilia, viviamo in Lombardia |
| Continent | in | vivo in Europa, vive in Asia |
| Island (small) | a | vivo a Capri, vive a Ischia |
| Island (large) | in | vivo in Sicilia, vive in Sardegna |
This same rule applies to abitare and to verbs of motion (andare, venire). It's not specific to vivere — it's the general Italian rule for places.
Vivo a Firenze, ma sono nato in Sicilia.
I live in Florence, but I was born in Sicily.
Mia sorella vive in Spagna ormai da dieci anni.
My sister has been living in Spain for ten years now.
I miei zii vivono a New York.
My aunt and uncle live in New York.
Vivere vs abitare: the choice English speakers can't avoid
This is the conceptual heart of the page. English uses to live for two distinct things:
- To exist, to be alive, to have a life somewhere — vivere
- To dwell, to have one's home in a specific place — abitare
In conversation about housing, both are often available, but they emphasize different aspects.
| Verb | Focus | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| vivere | broader life: existence, lifestyle, identity tied to a place | "I have my life here" / "I exist as a person here" |
| abitare | narrower dwelling: physical residence, address | "I have my home here" / "this is where I sleep" |
The distinction:
- Abito a Roma in via Cavour 12. = I reside at 12 Via Cavour, Rome. Concrete address. Vivo would sound oddly grandiose here.
- Vivo a Roma da dieci anni. = I've been living in Rome for ten years. Implies your life is rooted there. Abito is also fine but slightly more clinical.
- Vivo per la musica. = I live for music. Only vivere — the existential, vital sense. Abitare would be ungrammatical.
- In quel palazzo abitano sei famiglie. = Six families live in that building. Strictly residential. Vivono would sound odd.
A good test: if English would say "I reside" or "I have my home at" → abitare. If English would say "I have my life" or "I am settled" → vivere. When both fit, vivere is broader and abitare is more concrete.
Abito al terzo piano.
I live on the third floor. (physical location)
Vivo qui da quando avevo cinque anni.
I've lived here since I was five. (rooted life)
Abitano in una casa enorme con il giardino.
They live in a huge house with a garden. (describing the dwelling)
Mio cugino vive a Londra ma non ci si trova bene.
My cousin lives in London but he's not happy there. (lifestyle, sense of being settled)
In most everyday "where do you live?" exchanges, both verbs work and Italians switch between them without thinking:
Dove abiti? — Vivo a Bologna.
Where do you live? — I live in Bologna. (perfectly natural to mix)
The two verbs also differ in their non-residential meanings: only vivere can mean "to be alive" (vive ancora? "is he still alive?"), to "live through" (vivere un'esperienza), or to "live for/by" (vivere per la famiglia). Abitare is restricted to dwelling.
Vivere as "to be alive"
Outside the housing context, vivere takes the more general meaning "to be alive" or "to exist."
Mio nonno vive ancora, ha novantadue anni.
My grandfather is still alive, he's ninety-two.
In quel bosco vivono cinghiali e lupi.
Wild boars and wolves live in that forest.
Vive di pane e acqua, è una santa.
She lives on bread and water, she's a saint.
The construction vivere di + noun ("to live on / live off / live by") is highly idiomatic.
Vivo del mio lavoro, non chiedo aiuto a nessuno.
I live off my own work, I don't ask anyone for help.
L'artista vive di passione e di poco altro.
The artist lives off passion and little else.
Common collocations
Vivere appears in many high-frequency expressions worth recognizing:
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| vivere bene | to live well, to enjoy life |
| vivere male | to have a hard life |
| vivere alla giornata | to live day by day |
| vivere alle spalle di qualcuno | to live off someone (sponge off them) |
| vivere per qualcosa/qualcuno | to live for something/someone |
| vivere e lasciar vivere | live and let live |
| chi vivrà vedrà | time will tell (proverb) |
Vivono alla giornata, senza fare programmi.
They live day by day, without making plans.
Vivo per i miei figli, sono tutto quello che ho.
I live for my kids, they're everything I have.
Common mistakes
❌ Loro vivòno in campagna.
Incorrect stress — the loro form stresses the root, not the ending.
✅ Loro vìvono in campagna.
Correct — vìvono with stress on the first syllable.
❌ Ho vivuto a Roma per dieci anni.
Incorrect — the participio passato is vissuto, not vivuto.
✅ Ho vissuto a Roma per dieci anni.
Correct — irregular participle vissuto.
❌ Vivo in Milano.
Incorrect preposition — cities take 'a', not 'in'.
✅ Vivo a Milano.
Correct — a + city.
❌ Vivo a Italia.
Incorrect preposition — countries take 'in', not 'a'.
✅ Vivo in Italia.
Correct — in + country.
❌ Vivo al terzo piano.
Stylistically odd — for a specific physical address, abitare is more natural.
✅ Abito al terzo piano.
Correct — narrow dwelling sense, use abitare.
❌ Abito per la musica.
Ungrammatical — abitare can't take this existential meaning.
✅ Vivo per la musica.
Correct — vivere per for living for something.
❌ Mio nonno abita ancora, ha novant'anni.
Wrong verb — abitare cannot mean 'to be alive.'
✅ Mio nonno vive ancora, ha novant'anni.
Correct — vivere for being alive.
Key takeaways
Vivere conjugates as vivo, vivi, vive, viviamo, vivete, vivono in the presente — fully regular -ere endings on the stem viv-. The loro form is vìvono with root stress.
Three points to internalize:
The participio passato is vissuto, not vivuto. The passato remoto 1sg is *vissi. Both will catch you in compound tenses and narrative writing.
Both essere and avere are possible auxiliaries when vivere means "to reside" — sono vissuto / ho vissuto a Roma. Default to avere for modern speech, essere for elevated register. When vivere is transitive ("to live through"), only avere works.
Vivere ≠ abitare. Abitare is concrete dwelling ("I reside at this address"), vivere is broader life ("I have my life here, I exist here, I am alive"). For specific addresses use abitare; for life as a whole, vivere. Many contexts allow both.
For the auxiliary question, see the auxiliary overview; for the model -ere paradigm, review regular -ere verbs.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- Presente Indicativo: OverviewA1 — How Italian's most-used tense covers everything English splits between simple present and present progressive — and why 'sto facendo' is not the default.
- Presente: Regular -ere VerbsA1 — How to conjugate the second-conjugation -ere verbs in the present indicative — the smallest of the three classes, but home to many of the most common verbs in the language.
- Presente: Essere (to be)A1 — How to conjugate essere — the most important irregular verb in Italian — and how to navigate the situations where Italian uses avere where English uses 'to be'.
- Presente: Avere (to have)A1 — How to conjugate avere in the present indicative — its silent h, its many idiomatic uses for states English expresses with 'to be,' and its role as the default auxiliary in compound tenses.
- 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.