Congiuntivo Presente: Irregular Verbs | Italian Grammar

If you have learned that Italian's irregular present indicative forms are unpredictable — vado, vengo, salgo, scelgo, esco, faccio, dico — there's a payoff coming. Almost all of those irregularities carry over straight into the subjunctive, and they do so by a single, ruthlessly reliable rule. Once you internalize it, dozens of "irregular" subjunctive forms become regular subjunctive forms built on a stem you already know.

This is, without exaggeration, the single most powerful pedagogical move in subjunctive teaching. The rule:

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The subjunctive stem of an irregular Italian verb comes from the io form of the present indicative. Drop the final -o, then add the subjunctive endings (-a, -a, -a, -ano for -ere/-ire verbs; -i, -i, -i, -ino for -are verbs). The noi and voi forms break the pattern — they keep the regular infinitive stem and take -iamo, -iate.

How it works — venire

Take venire (to come). The io form of the indicative is vengo. Drop the -o → stem veng-. Add the subjunctive endings.

Person	Indicative	Subjunctive
io	vengo	venga
tu	vieni	venga
lui / lei	viene	venga
noi	veniamo	veniamo
voi	venite	veniate
loro	vengono	vengano

Spero che lui venga alla cena di sabato.

I hope he comes to Saturday's dinner.

Voglio che vengano tutti, nessuno escluso.

I want everyone to come, no exceptions.

Notice the structure: the io, tu, lui, loro forms all use the irregular veng- stem. The noi and voi forms revert to the regular ven- stem of the infinitive and take the regular endings -iamo, -iate. This split is the rule for every verb on this page.

The inventory — verbs the rule covers

Here is the working list. For each verb, the io form of the indicative gives you the singular and 3pl subjunctive stem; noi and voi use the infinitive stem.

Infinitive	io (ind.)	Subjunctive (io/tu/lui)	noi	voi	loro
venire	vengo	venga	veniamo	veniate	vengano
tenere	tengo	tenga	teniamo	teniate	tengano
salire	salgo	salga	saliamo	saliate	salgano
scegliere	scelgo	scelga	scegliamo	scegliate	scelgano
cogliere	colgo	colga	cogliamo	cogliate	colgano
togliere	tolgo	tolga	togliamo	togliate	tolgano
porre	pongo	ponga	poniamo	poniate	pongano
spegnere	spengo	spenga	spegniamo	spegniate	spengano
rimanere	rimango	rimanga	rimaniamo	rimaniate	rimangano
andare	vado	vada	andiamo	andiate	vadano
uscire	esco	esca	usciamo	usciate	escano
fare	faccio	faccia	facciamo	facciate	facciano
dire	dico	dica	diciamo	diciate	dicano
volere	voglio	voglia	vogliamo	vogliate	vogliano
potere	posso	possa	possiamo	possiate	possano
dovere	devo	debba / deva	dobbiamo	dobbiate	debbano / devano
bere	bevo	beva	beviamo	beviate	bevano
tradurre	traduco	traduca	traduciamo	traduciate	traducano

A handful of points to flag:

fare has a doubled cc (faccia, facciamo) because the io form is faccio, with double c.
dovere has two living forms: debba (slightly more formal/literary) and deva (more common in spoken Italian, especially in northern usage). Both are accepted; debba is the safer choice in writing.
Dare and stare are partial irregulars — their stems are simply dia- and stia-: dia, dia, dia, diamo, diate, diano and stia, stia, stia, stiamo, stiate, stiano. The io-form rule still works (do → dia, sto → stia), it just produces unusual-looking results.
Sapere is the famous exception: io form so gives a useless stem, and the actual subjunctive is sappia, sappia, sappia, sappiamo, sappiate, sappiano. Worth committing to memory directly.

Examples in context

È importante che tu vada dal medico al più presto.

It's important that you go to the doctor as soon as possible.

Bisogna che faccia silenzio durante l'esame.

He/she must be quiet during the exam.

Spero che tu dica la verità.

I hope you're telling the truth.

Voglio che tu rimanga con me stasera.

I want you to stay with me tonight.

Dubito che possano arrivare in tempo.

I doubt they can get here in time.

Mi sembra strano che esca così tardi.

It seems strange to me that he/she goes out so late.

Pare che traducano libri dal giapponese.

It seems they translate books from Japanese.

Non voglio che spengano la luce ancora.

I don't want them to turn the light off yet.

Why the rule works — a brief detour

The io-form-as-stem rule isn't arbitrary. Historically, it reflects an old Latin pattern: the present subjunctive of Latin verbs was built on the same stem as the present indicative, and Italian preserved that link. The irregularities you see in vengo, vado, faccio are mostly the result of phonological changes (sound shifts, palatalization, contraction) that affected the stem before the subjunctive endings were applied. The result is that the subjunctive faithfully copies whatever the indicative stem became.

You don't need this history to use the rule. But it's worth knowing that you're not memorizing a bunch of unrelated quirks — you're recovering a single ancient pattern.

Noi and voi: the regularity escape hatch

The noi and voi forms are nearly always regular — they take the infinitive stem plus -iamo, -iate. Venire → veniamo, veniate. Tenere → teniamo, teniate. Andare → andiamo, andiate. Dovere → dobbiamo, dobbiate (note the partial irregularity here — dobb- not dov-).

This split protects you: if you can't remember the irregular stem in a hot moment, the noi and voi forms still work normally. Many learners default to the noi form (often using bisogna che noi...) when stuck on tu or lui.

Bisogna che andiamo subito.

We need to go right away.

È necessario che facciate attenzione.

It's necessary that you (plural) pay attention.

Voglio che possiate venire.

I want you (plural) to be able to come.

Common mistakes

❌ Spero che tu vieni.

Wrong — vieni is the indicative tu form. The subjunctive is venga.

✅ Spero che tu venga.

Correct — io form is *vengo*, drop the -o, add -a.

❌ Voglio che lui va al supermercato.

Wrong — va is the indicative third person. The subjunctive is vada.

✅ Voglio che lui vada al supermercato.

Correct — io form is *vado*, drop the -o, add -a.

❌ Penso che faccino un buon lavoro.

Wrong — the loro subjunctive of fare is *facciano*, with double c, ending in -ano.

✅ Penso che facciano un buon lavoro.

Correct — io form *faccio* gives stem *facci-*; loro takes -ano.

❌ È meglio che tu sappi la verità.

Wrong — sapere is the famous exception; the form is *sappia*, with double p.

✅ È meglio che tu sappia la verità.

Correct — *sappia* is the special subjunctive of sapere.

❌ Voglio che vengiamo tutti.

Wrong — noi reverts to the regular infinitive stem: *veniamo*, not *vengiamo*.

✅ Voglio che veniamo tutti.

Correct — noi takes *veniamo*, identical to the indicative noi form.

❌ Spero che dovi finire entro stasera.

Wrong — the io form of dovere is *devo*, giving subjunctive stem *dev-* (or *debb-* for the more formal variant).

✅ Spero che tu debba / deva finire entro stasera.

Correct — both forms are accepted; *debba* is more formal.

Key takeaways

The single rule that organizes nearly all irregular Italian present subjunctives: take the io form of the indicative, drop the -o, add the subjunctive endings. The result covers io, tu, lui/lei, and loro.

The noi and voi forms break the pattern: they take the regular infinitive stem and the regular endings -iamo, -iate. This means even if you forget the irregular stem, the noi and voi forms remain accessible.

A handful of verbs have minor wrinkles — dovere has two accepted forms (debba/deva), sapere uses sappia despite an io form of so, fare doubles the c (faccia) — but these are isolated.

Once this rule is internalized, you essentially never have to consult an irregular-subjunctive table again: you derive the form from the io of the indicative on the fly.

Next, master essere and avere — the two most frequent irregulars in the language and the auxiliaries for every compound subjunctive form you'll ever need.

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