Italian Verb Conjugations: 'Rispondere'

Rispondere is an Italian verb meaning to answer, respond, reply (to), and be responsible for. It is an irregular second-conjugation verb. It can be a transitive verb, which takes a direct object, or an intransitive verb, which does not. Rispondere is conjugated with the auxiliary verb avere (to have).

Irregular Second-Conjugation Verbs

Rispondere is also called an irregular -ere verb. This group is by far the most common among irregular second conjugation verbs. These verbs are usually divided into two groups:

• Verbs ending in -ére, (cadere, dovere, valere). The majority of irregular changes occur in the root, generally in the present indicative and subjunctive (valg–o, valg–a).
• Verbs ending in -’ere (accendere, accludere) in which the accent falls on the stem. Usually, these irregular verbs have changes in the past remote and the past participle (acce–si, acce–so).

Rispondere falls into the second group. The accent (or emphasized) part of the verb falls on the first three letters, ris-.

Conjugating "Rispondere"

The table gives the pronoun for each conjugation—io (I), tu (you), lui, lei (he, she), noi (we), voi (you plural), and loro (their). The tenses and moods are given in Italian—presente (present),  passato prossimo (present perfect), imperfetto (imperfect), trapassato prossimo (past perfect), passato remoto (remote past), trapassato remoto (preterite perfect), futuro semplice (simple future), and futuro anteriore (future perfect)—first for the indicative, followed by the subjunctive, conditional, infinitive, participle, and gerund forms.

INDICATIVE/INDICATIVO

SUBJUNCTIVE/CONGIUNTIVO

CONDITIONAL/CONDIZIONALE

IMPERATIVE/IMPERATIVO

INFINITIVE/INFINITO

Presente: rispondere

Passato: avere risposto

PARTICIPLE/PARTICIPIO

Presente: rispondente

Passato: risposto

GERUND/GERUNDIO

Presente: rispondendo

Passato: avendo risposto