Italian verbs

Italian introduces a finite complement clause with che and an infinitival one with the prepositional complementizers di and a, or with no complementizer at all, as after volere 'want', intendere 'intend' and the causative fare 'make'. A verb chooses among di and a, and some take both with a difference in meaning: Marco ha convinto Gianni di avere un figlio 'Marco has convinced Gianni that he has a child' reports a belief, Marco ha convinto Gianni a avere un figlio 'Marco has convinced Gianni to have a child' an intention, and pensare 'think' alternates the same way. In its finite complement volere takes the subjunctive, Gianni vuole che Maria sia contenta 'Gianni wants Maria to be happy', with the indicative marginal for some speakers, and so does sperare 'hope'; intendere takes no finite complement, and fare embeds a finite clause only as fare sì che with the subjunctive. A verb's clauseTypers are the complementizers of the complements it takes, and its frames record the coding of each complement. Fusco and Sgrizzi's analysis of the di and a alternation is Studies/FuscoSgrizzi2026.lean; the twelve transitive verbs of Palmieri's Appendix A that also read reciprocally without si are ordinary entries here, and Italian.Reciprocals lists them as the lexical reciprocals.

An intransitive verb forms its perfect with essere when it expresses a change of location, state or condition, the continuation of a state or existence in a state, and with avere when an activity is in the foreground, whether or not its subject controls it (Italian.Verbs.perfectAuxiliary): Maria è arrivata 'Maria has arrived' but Mario ha tossito 'Mario has coughed'. Correre 'run' takes essere with a phrase that brings it to an endpoint, È corso al campo sportivo in un'ora 'he ran to the sports ground in an hour', and nuotare 'swim', which selects no such phrase, keeps avere.

Implementation notes

The mood and complementizer facts of the attitude and causative entries are Grano's and Fusco and Sgrizzi's; the attitude classifications and the non-passivizability of volere, sperare and intendere are carried over from the earlier entries and are not in those sources.

References

• [FS26]
• [Gra24]
• [Pal24]
• [MR07]
• [Sor00]
• [LRH95]

structure Italian.Verbextends Verb : Type

An Italian verb is a verb entry with the clause-typers of the complements it takes, which its frames cannot record, since di and a both introduce an infinitive.

• valency : Valency
• voiceType : Option VoiceType
• passivizable : Bool
• perfectAuxiliaries : Finset PerfectAuxiliary
• vendlerClass : Option Aspect.VendlerClass
• scaleDimension : Option Degree.ScalarDimension
• scalePolarity : Polarity
• direction : Option Spatial.Path.Direction
• incrementality : Option Aspect.Incrementality
• phasal : Option Aspect.Phasal
• factivity : Option Presupposition.Factivity
• implicative : NaturalLogic.ImplicationSignature
• opaqueContext : Bool
• attitude : Option _root_.Attitude
• readings : List Reading
• complementSig : Option NaturalLogic.Signature
• levinClasses : Finset ArgumentStructure.LevinClass
• levinExcluded : Finset ArgumentStructure.LevinClass
• root : Semantics.Root
• morphs : List Morphology.Morph
• speechActVerb : Bool
• senseTag : SenseTag
• clauseTypers : List Complementizer

  The complementizers of the verb's complements; a bare infinitive contributes none.

def Italian.Verb.withPath (v : Verb) (p : Adposition.SpatialReading) : Verb

The predicate the entry v forms with a path phrase of reading p.

Equations

• v.withPath p = { toVerb := v.withPath p, clauseTypers := v.clauseTypers }

@[simp]

theorem Italian.Verb.toVerb_withPath (v : Verb) (p : Adposition.SpatialReading) : (v.withPath p).toVerb = v.withPath p

Clause-typers

def Italian.Verbs.che : Complementizer

che introduces a finite complement clause, indicative or subjunctive.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.che = { morphs := [Morphology.Morph.free "che"], types := Clause.Selection.only Clause.SentenceType.declarative }

def Italian.Verbs.di : Complementizer

di introduces an infinitival complement.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.di = { morphs := [Morphology.Morph.free "di"], coding := some Complement.Coding.infinitive }

def Italian.Verbs.a : Complementizer

a introduces an infinitival complement.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.a = { morphs := [Morphology.Morph.free "a"], coding := some Complement.Coding.infinitive }

Attitude and causative verbs

def Italian.Verbs.convincere : Verb

convincere 'convince' takes an infinitive with di, which reports a belief and allows subject or object control, and one with a, which reports an intention and allows object control only.

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def Italian.Verbs.pensare : Verb

pensare 'think' takes an infinitive with di or with a, with the same difference in meaning as convincere.

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def Italian.Verbs.volere : Verb

volere 'want' takes a che clause in the subjunctive, the indicative being marginal for some speakers, and a bare infinitive under subject control.

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def Italian.Verbs.sperare : Verb

sperare 'hope' takes a che clause in the subjunctive, the indicative being marginal for some speakers.

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def Italian.Verbs.intendere : Verb

intendere 'intend' takes a bare infinitive under subject control and no finite complement, in either mood; the periphrasis avere intenzione di takes the infinitive with di.

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def Italian.Verbs.fare : Verb

The causative fare 'make' takes a bare infinitive under object control, and a finite clause only as fare sì che with the subjunctive, never the indicative.

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Transitive verbs with a lexical reciprocal use

def Italian.Verbs.abbracciare : Verb

abbracciare 'hug' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.abbracciare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "abbracciare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.baciare : Verb

baciare 'kiss' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.baciare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "baciare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.coccolare : Verb

coccolare 'cuddle' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.coccolare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "coccolare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.conoscere : Verb

conoscere 'know (of)' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.conoscere = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "conoscere"] }

def Italian.Verbs.consultare : Verb

consultare 'consult, confer' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.consultare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "consultare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.frequentare : Verb

frequentare 'date' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.frequentare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "frequentare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.incontrare : Verb

incontrare 'meet' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.incontrare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "incontrare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.incrociare : Verb

incrociare 'cross, run into' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.incrociare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "incrociare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.lasciare : Verb

lasciare 'leave, break up with' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.lasciare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "lasciare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.sposare : Verb

sposare 'marry' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.sposare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "sposare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.trovare : Verb

trovare 'find, meet' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.trovare = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "trovare"] }

def Italian.Verbs.vedere : Verb

vedere 'see, meet' is transitive and has a lexical reciprocal use.

Equations

• Italian.Verbs.vedere = { valency := Verb.Valency.ofFrame ArgumentFrame.np, morphs := [Morphology.Morph.root "vedere"] }

Monadic verbs

The monadic verbs of [Sor00]'s Italian examples, with the auxiliaries of their perfect, both for the verbs [MR07] §14.20 lists as taking either.

def Italian.Verbs.venire : Verb

venire 'come', a verb of change of location.

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def Italian.Verbs.arrivare : Verb

arrivare 'arrive', a verb of change of location.

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def Italian.Verbs.cadere : Verb

cadere 'fall', a verb of change with a direction ([LRH95] p. 147).

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def Italian.Verbs.salire : Verb

salire 'go up', a change along a scale of height.

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def Italian.Verbs.marcire : Verb

marcire 'go off, rot', a verb of change of state.

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def Italian.Verbs.fiorire : Verb

fiorire 'bloom', a verb of change of state.

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def Italian.Verbs.rimanere : Verb

rimanere 'remain', the persistence of a state.

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def Italian.Verbs.durare : Verb

durare 'last', which takes essere for the permanence of a state and avere where the duration is in the foreground.

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def Italian.Verbs.esistere : Verb

esistere 'exist', existence in a state.

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def Italian.Verbs.bastare : Verb

bastare 'be enough', existence in a state.

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def Italian.Verbs.sembrare : Verb

sembrare 'seem', a state predicated of the subject.

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def Italian.Verbs.appartenere : Verb

appartenere 'belong', which takes essere for a state, L'anello era appartenuto alla regina Vittoria, and avere where the subject controls it, Non ho mai appartenuto al PCI.

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def Italian.Verbs.lavorare : Verb

lavorare 'work', an activity whose subject controls it.

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def Italian.Verbs.chiacchierare : Verb

chiacchierare 'chat', an activity whose subject controls it.

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def Italian.Verbs.correre : Verb

correre 'run', a verb of manner of motion that selects a directional phrase.

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def Italian.Verbs.saltare : Verb

saltare 'jump', a verb of manner of motion that selects a directional phrase.

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def Italian.Verbs.nuotare : Verb

nuotare 'swim', a verb of manner of motion that selects no directional phrase.

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def Italian.Verbs.tossire : Verb

tossire 'cough', an activity whose subject does not control it.

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def Italian.Verbs.squillare : Verb

squillare 'ring', an activity whose subject does not control it.

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def Italian.Verbs.allVerbs : List Verb

allVerbs lists the entries.

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The perfect auxiliary

def Italian.Verbs.perfectAuxiliary (v : Verb) (fr : ArgumentFrame) : Verb.PerfectAuxiliary

The auxiliary of the perfect of v on the frame fr ([MR07] §14.20) is avere for a transitive verb; for an intransitive one essere when it is a state or expresses a change, to an endpoint or along a scale, and avere when an activity is in the foreground.

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theorem Italian.Verbs.perfectAuxiliary_mem (v : Verb) : v ∈ allVerbs → v.perfectAuxiliaries.Nonempty → perfectAuxiliary v (v.valency.frames.headD ArgumentFrame.intransitive) ∈ v.perfectAuxiliaries

The rule gives every entry on its basic frame an auxiliary its perfect takes.