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When recounting a lively story, you often need to describe the sudden, abrupt start of a reaction. Imagine a comedic scene where someone trips over a rug and, all at once, the whole room reacts.

Instead of using a conjugated past tense phrase like *hanno cominciato a guardare* (they started to look), Italian storytellers often use a vivid, fast-paced shortcut called the **Historical Infinitive** (*infinito narrativo*).

### The Historical Infinitive

To express that someone abruptly began doing something in a past narrative, simply use the preposition **a** followed by the **present infinitive** of the verb:

- **[Subject] + a + [Infinitive]**

This structure stands alone as a main clause. Though the verb is in the infinitive, it translates to "started [verb]ing" or "began to [verb]" based on the past context of the story.

{{item:852908}}

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Notice how stripping away the conjugated tense creates a sense of immediate, dramatic action. It drops the listener right into the chaos of the moment.

### Reflexive Verbs and Simultaneous Actions

If the verb is reflexive, the reflexive pronoun simply attaches to the end of the infinitive (dropping the final *-e*), just as it normally would:

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Because this structure is so snappy, you can easily chain multiple historical infinitives together to describe a scene where everyone is suddenly reacting at the exact same time:

{{item:852923}}

Sprinkling this structure into your anecdotes is a fantastic, authentic way to bring your storytelling to life.

Historical infinitive (a + infinitive)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
to trip	inciampare
He had tripped on the rug, and everyone started looking.	Era inciampato sul tappeto, e tutti a guardare.
funny	buffo
Nobody had ever seen anything so funny.	Nessuno aveva mai visto niente di così buffo.
to point	indicare
bizarre	bizzarro
He pointed at the bizarre hat, and the children started laughing!	Ha indicato il cappello bizzarro, e i bambini a ridere!
to leap	balzare
dumbfounded	allibito
The woman leaped to her feet, more and more dumbfounded.	La donna è balzata in piedi, sempre più allibita.
commotion	lo scompiglio
to scatter	sparpagliarsi
Due to the commotion, the guests started scattering everywhere!	Per lo scompiglio, gli ospiti a sparpagliarsi ovunque!
embarrassment	l'imbarazzo
laugh	la risata
There was a great embarrassment, but then a long laugh.	C'era un grande imbarazzo, ma poi una lunga risata.
The cat started running, and we started leaping onto the sofa!	Il gatto a correre, e noi a balzare sul divano!
Nobody had noticed the bizarre commotion.	Nessuno aveva notato il bizzarro scompiglio.
After the embarrassment, the friends scattered with a laugh.	Dopo l'imbarazzo, gli amici si sono sparpagliati con una risata.
We were left dumbfounded when the waiter tripped again.	Siamo rimasti allibiti quando il cameriere è inciampato di nuovo.
The cat made a funny jump and everyone started pointing at the animal.	Il gatto ha fatto un salto buffo e tutti a indicare l'animale.