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In English, when you witness an action happening, you might use an "-ing" form or a base verb: "I see the juggler *smiling*" or "I hear the siren *sound*". In Italian, you express this by pairing a conjugated verb of perception—like **vedere** (to see) or **sentire** (to hear)—with an infinitive verb.

The standard sentence structure is: **conjugated perception verb** + **noun/object** + **infinitive**.

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### Other perception verbs

This exact same structure is used for other verbs related to observing and listening, such as **guardare** (to watch) and **ascoltare** (to listen to).

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### Using different tenses

The perception verb can be conjugated in any tense (like the past tense) or follow a modal verb like *volere* (to want). Regardless of how the main verb changes, the action you are observing always stays in the infinitive.

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### Infinitive before the object

While the object usually sits between the two verbs, you can also place the infinitive directly after the perception verb, putting the noun at the end. This is especially common when the noun phrase is long, or when you are listing multiple things.

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Perception verbs with infinitives (vedere, sentire)

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
the juggler	il giocoliere
the passer-by	il passante
I see the juggler smiling and I hear the passers-by applauding.	Vedo il giocoliere sorridere e sento i passanti applaudire.
the siren	la sirena
Suddenly I hear a siren sounding far away.	Improvvisamente sento una sirena suonare lontano.
the drum	il tamburo
the rhythm	il ritmo
Do you hear the boy playing the drum and following the rhythm?	Senti il ragazzo suonare il tamburo e seguire il ritmo?
the guitar	la chitarra
the violin	il violino
Last night I saw Marco playing the guitar and the violin.	Ieri sera ho visto Marco suonare la chitarra e il violino.
to act (perform)	recitare
The passers-by watched the actor perform in the square.	I passanti guardarono l'attore recitare in piazza.
I would like to see the girls perform in that theater.	Vorrei vedere le ragazze recitare in quel teatro.
I see the juggler finish the show and I hear the audience applaud.	Vedo il giocoliere finire lo spettacolo e sento il pubblico applaudire.
I would like to hear the musician sing without playing the guitar.	Vorrei sentire il musicista cantare senza suonare la chitarra.
to whistle	fischiare
We hear the policeman whistling and we see the ambulance arriving.	Sentiamo il poliziotto fischiare e vediamo l'ambulanza arrivare.
The students listened to the musician playing in the square.	Gli studenti ascoltarono il musicista suonare in piazza.
The cities are crowded and we see people running.	Le città sono affollate e vediamo le persone correre.
I see the juggler flee without greeting the audience.	Vedo il giocoliere fuggire senza salutare il pubblico.
the applause	l'applauso
I hear the violin and the drum playing, and I hear the applause.	Sento suonare il violino e il tamburo, e sento l'applauso.
We see the passerby whistling the rhythm, and we hear the siren and the applause.	Vediamo il passante fischiare il ritmo, e sentiamo la sirena e l'applauso.