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To express that something *must* be done—like following rules at border control—Italian frequently uses a special passive voice called the *passivo di necessità* (passive of necessity).

### Forming the passive of necessity

Instead of using the verb *dovere* (must), this construction uses the simple tenses of **andare** (to go) followed by a **past participle**. Even though it uses the verb "to go," it translates to "must be [done]".

Since this is a passive sentence, the thing receiving the action is the subject. The verb *andare* is usually conjugated in the third person: **va** for a singular subject, or **vanno** for a plural subject. 

Crucially, the past participle must agree in gender and number with that subject:

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### Border control rules

You will hear this structure constantly when officials explain requirements for inspecting bags and stamping documents.

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When dealing with customs, you might need to pay a duty (*il dazio*) or risk having prohibited merchandise confiscated. Notice again how the past participle matches the subject (*la merce* is feminine singular, so we use *sequestrata*):

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Even if you are just passing through, your transit tickets and forms will still need to be validated (*convalidati*).

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The passive of necessity (va firmato)

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 visa	il visto
must be (+ past participle)	andare
the official / the civil servant	il funzionario
The visa must be checked by the official.	Il visto va controllato dal funzionario.
to show / to exhibit (e.g., documents, tickets)	esibire
The passport and the visa must be shown at the border.	Il passaporto e il visto vanno esibiti al confine.
to inspect	ispezionare
Every bag must be inspected carefully.	Ogni bagaglio va ispezionato attentamente.
to stamp	timbrare
These documents must be stamped immediately.	Questi documenti vanno timbrati immediatamente.
The official inspects the suitcases while we wait.	Il funzionario ispeziona le valigie mentre aspettiamo.
the duty / the tariff	il dazio
The duty must be paid even if you show the invoice.	Il dazio va pagato anche se esibisce la fattura.
to confiscate / to seize	sequestrare
The prohibited merchandise must be confiscated.	La merce vietata va sequestrata.
the transit	il transito
to validate	convalidare
The transit ticket must be validated before leaving.	Il biglietto di transito va convalidato prima di partire.
to authorize	autorizzare
The transit must be authorized by the director.	Il transito va autorizzato dal direttore.
The forms must be validated and stamped.	I moduli vanno convalidati e timbrati.
This is the duty, you cannot argue.	Questo è il dazio, non può discutere.
These permits must be authorized by the official.	Questi permessi vanno autorizzati dal funzionario.
Every dangerous object must be confiscated.	Ogni oggetto pericoloso va sequestrato.