How to Conjugate the Verb "Trovare" in Italian

Beyond the most basic meaning of “to find,” trovare is a rich verb worth knowing in greater depth. It is a regular first conjugation verb, so it follows the typical -are verb ending pattern at its simplest. It can be transitive, in which case it takes the auxiliary avere and a direct object—unless it is in intransitive or reflexive mode, trovarsi, in which case it takes essere. The participio passato or past participle, which you need for your compound tenses, is trovato. Trovare can have the following meanings:

To find: to find a job, a car, a dress (something you are looking for)
To run into/across someone or somebody by chance (not looking)
To meet up with
To think or find: to find something interesting or beautiful
To find as in to confirm
To go visit someone somewhere (with andare)
To be/to be located

Indicativo Presente: Present Indicative

Aside from not finding your keys or a new apartment, in the presente trovare is often used to express an opinion. Troviamo gli italiani molto simpatici. We find Italians to be very fun to be around. Also, when you see somebody, you can use it to say, Ti trovo benissimo! I find you very well: You look great. Or you can ask, Come avete trovato Francesca oggi? How did Francesca look/seem to you today?

Io	trovo	Trovo sempre i cani per strada.	I always run into dogs in the street.
Tu	trovi	Tu trovi sempre cose belle.	You always find beautiful things.
Lui, Lei, Lei	trova	Lei trova amici dappertutto.	She finds friends everywhere.
Noi	troviamo	Noi troviamo i politici noiosi.	We find politicians to be boring.
Voi	trovate	Voi trovate una casa nuova.	You find a new house.
Loro	trovano	Loro trovano sempre belle macchine.	They always find beautiful cars.

Indicativo Passato Prossimo: Present Perfect Indicative

In the passato prossimo and all transitive compound tenses, trovare is conjugated with avere (intransitive and reflexive modes are discussed at the bottom of this article). This is the tense you will use the most for trovare in the immediate past: to announce that you found a job today (Ho trovato lavoro!), or that you ran into a friend at the restaurant tonight (Sai chi ho trovato al ristorante?), or that you found the movie this week to be very boring (Ho trovato il film noiosissimo!).

Io	ho trovato	Ho trovato i cani per strada oggi.	I ran into the dogs on the street today.
Tu	hai trovato	Sei fortunata! Hai trovato belle cose al mercato oggi.	You're lucky! You found beautiful things at the market today.
Lui, lei, Lei	ha trovato	Lei ha sempre trovato amici dappertutto.	She has always found friends everywhere.
Noi	abbiamo trovato	Questa sera abbiamo trovato i politici noiosi.	This evening we found the politicians to be boring.
Voi	avete trovato	Avete trovato casa nuova questa settimana?	Did you find a new house this week?
Loro	hanno trovato	Oggi Giulio e Lucia hanno trovato una bella macchina.	Today Giulio and Lucia found a beautiful car.

Indicativo Imperfetto: Imperfect Indicative

Use your imperfetto of trovare to describe things you used to find when you were little (trovavo sempre molti fiori per mia mamma) or having difficulty finding your keys today (non trovavo le chiavi). Remember, you use the imperfetto for imperfect spans of time or repeated, routine activities.

Io	trovavo	Quando abitavo in Via Pen, non trovavo mai i cani per strada.	When I lived in Via Pen, I never used to find dogs on the street.
Tu	trovavi	Da giovane trovavi sempre le cose belle.	When you were young you used to always find beautiful things.
Lui, lei, Lei	trovava	Da ragazza Giulia trovava sempre amici dappertutto.	When she was a girl, Giulia used to always find friends everywhere.
Noi	trovavamo	Noi trovavamo sempre i politici ai comizi noiosi.	We used to always find politicians at stump meetings to be boring.
Voi	trovavate	A Parigi voi trovavate sempre le case nuove molto belle.	In Paris you always used to find beautiful new houses.
Loro	trovavano	Quando abitavano in Germania loro trovavano sempre una bella macchina da guidare.	When they lived in Germany they used to always find a beautiful car to drive.

Indicativo Passato Remoto: Remote Past Indicative

Use the passato remoto of trovare for actions long past and stories and memories from long ago. When you were in Italy in 1975 and you found that beautiful purse (Quando ero in Italia nel 1975, trovai una bellissima borsa di pelle). Or when an old friend told a story and everyone thought it to be very sad (trovammo la storia molto triste). Since trovare is regular, it has a regular passato remoto, which is good news.

Io	trovai	Una volta trovai dei cani per strada.	Once I ran into some dogs on the street.
Tu	trovasti	Quell'anno tu trovasti molte cose belle.	That year you found many beautiful things.
Lui, lei, Lei	trovò	A Parigi lei trovò amici dappertutto.	In Paris she found friends everywhere.
Noi	trovammo	Quell'anno noi trovammo i politici al festival noiosi.	That year we found the politicians at the event to be boring.
Voi	trovaste	Quell'anno trovaste la casa nuova.	That year you found your new house.
Loro	trovarono	Nel 1992 loro trovarono la bella macchina dei loro sogni.	In 1992 they found the beautiful car of their dreams.

Indicativo Trapassato Prossimo: Past Perfect Indicative

The trapassato prossimo of trovare is made from the imperfetto of the auxiliary and your past participle. You use this tense to describe something you found before something else happened, also in the past. You had already found a new job when you bought that new house: Avevo già trovato il nuovo lavoro quando ho comprato casa nuova. You had found a beautiful wine but you dropped it.

Io	avevo trovato	Quel giorno avevo trovato dei cani per strada.	That day I had run into some dogs on the street.
Tu	avevi trovato	Quel giorno tu avevi trovato delle belle cose al mercato.	That day you had found some beautiful things at the market.
Lui, lei, Lei	aveva trovato	A Parigi lei aveva trovato amici dappertutto ed era molto felice.	In Paris she had found friends everywhere and she was very happy
Noi	avevamo trovato	Quella sera avevamo trovato i politici particolarmente noiosi e siamo andati a bere.	That evening we had found the politicians to be particularly boring, and then we went to drink some wine.
Voi	avevate trovato	Quell'anno voi avevate trovato casa nuova ed eravate molto felici.	That year you had found your new house and you were very happy.
Loro	avevano trovato	Quel giorno loro avevano trovato una bella macchina ed erano molto felici.	That day they had found a beautiful car and they were very happy.

Indicativo Trapassato Remoto: Preterite Perfect Indicative

The trapassato remoto, always accompanied by the passato remoto, is rarely used—mostly in literature. Nonetheless, so you can tell it apart in your studies, it is a tense used to describe something that happened long, long ago right before something else happened. After the soldiers found the food, they resumed their walk toward the front. Dopo che i soldati ebbero trovato il cibo, ripartirono per il fronte. It is formed with the passato remoto of the auxiliary and the past participle.

Io	ebbi trovato	Appena ebbi trovato i cani per strada li portai a casa.	As soon as I had run into the dogs I took them home.
Tu	avesti trovato	Dopo che avesti trovato delle belle cose, te ne andasti.	After you had found the beautiful things, you left.
Lui, lei, Lei	ebbe trovato	Non appena ebbe trovato degli amici nuovi se ne andò.	As soon as he had found the new friends he left.
Noi	avemmo trovato	Dopo che avemmo trovato i politici noiosi ce ne andammo.	After we had found the politicians to be boring we left.
Voi	aveste trovato	Dopo che aveste trovato la casa nuova venne l'uragano.	After you had found the new house, the hurricane came.
Loro	ebbero trovato	Dopo che ebbero trovato la bella macchina fecero l'incidente.	After they had found the new car, they had the accident.

Indicativo Futuro Semplice: Simple Future Indicative

Italian Verbs: Trovarsi

By Michael San Filippo

In the futuro semplice trovare takes on a hopeful sound, like a good omen: Vedrai! Troverai il lavoro che cerchi! You'll see, you'll find the job you are looking for! Also, when talking about opinions, it takes on a bit of a predictive tone: Troverete Parigi una città fantastica. You will find Paris to be a fabulous city. In part this is because for the immediate future, often in Italian you can use the present tense, and most do. Vedrai, presto trovi lavoro.

Io	troverò	Vedrai! Domani troverò i cani per strada.	You'll see: tomorrow I will run into the dogs on the street.
Tu	troverai	Tu troverai sempre cose belle.	You will always find beautiful things.
Lui, lei, Lei	troverà	Lei troverà sempre amici dappertutto.	She will always find friends everywhere.
Noi	troveremo	Al comizio la settimana prossima troveremo sicuramente i politici noiosi.	At the stump meeting, we will surely find the politicians to be boring.
Voi	troverete	Dai, quest'anno troverete la casa nuova.	C'mon, this year you will find a new house.
Loro	troveranno	Forse domani troveranno la bella macchina che cercano.	Maybe tomorrow they will find the beautiful car they are looking for.

Indicativo Futuro Anteriore: Future Perfect Indicative

The futuro anteriore of trovare, a compound tense made of the future of avere and your past participle trovato, expresses an action of finding that will take place in the future after another action will have happened, also in the future. Ci sposeremo quando avremo trovato casa. We will get married after we will have found a house. Of course, English-speakers just say, we'll get married when we find a house. Italians, too. But this is the nuanced and correct way to say it.

Io	avrò trovato	Domani a quest'ora avrò trovato i cani per strada.	Tomorrow at this time I will have run into the usual dogs in the street.
Tu	avrai trovato	Quando avrai trovato le tue belle cose che vuoi, ti sistemerai.	When you will have found the beautiful things you want, you will settle down.
Lui, lei, Lei	avrà trovato	Quando avrà trovato gli amici sarà contenta.	When she will have found her friends she will be happy.
Noi	avremo trovato	Quando avremo trovato i politici noiosi come sempre ce ne andremo.	When we will have found the politicians to be boring as usual, we will leave.
Voi	avrete trovato	Quando avrete trovato la casa nuova vi sposerete.	When you will have found your new house, you will get married.
Loro	avranno trovato	Quando avranno trovato la bella macchina saranno felici.	When they will have found the beautiful car, they will be happy.

Congiuntivo Presente: Present Subjunctive

In the presente, the subjunctive expresses the world of hope, wish, fear in the present: My mother hopes today I find a job now (mia mamma spera che io trovi un lavoro adesso); voglio che troviamo un bar per guardare la partita (I want us to find a bar to watch the game). Straight-up regular subjunctive in -are.

Che io	trovi	Mia madre crede che io trovi i cani per strada tutti i giorni, ma non è vero.	My mother believes that I run into the dogs on the street every day, but it's not true.
Che tu	trovi	Spero che tu trovi sempre le cose belle.	I hope that you find beautiful things.
Che lui, lei, Lei	trovi	Spero che lei trovi sempre amici dappertutto.	I hope that she finds friends everywhere.
Che noi	troviamo	Spero che non troviamo i politici noiosi come sempre.	I hope that we don't find the politicians to be as boring as usual.
Che voi	troviate	Spero che voi troviate la casa nuova.	I hope that you find your new house.
Che loro	trovino	Spero che loro trovino la bella macchina che vogliono.	I hope that they find the beautiful car they are looking for.

Congiuntivo Passato: Present Perfect Subjunctive

In the passato, the subjunctive expresses hope or wish today that the finding has already happened. A compound tense, it is made of the present subjunctive of the auxiliary and the past participle. Spero che abbiate trovato il bar per guardare la partita (I hope that you have found the bar for us to watch the game). We don't know if it has happened.

Che io	abbia trovato	Mia madre teme che abbia trovato i cani per strada un'altra volta.	My mother fears that I ran into the dogs in the street once again.
Che tu	abbia trovato	Spero che tu abbia trovato le cose belle che cerchi.	I hope that you have found the beautiful things you are looking for.
Che lui, lei, Lei	abbia trovato	Spero che lei abbia trovato amici dappertutto.	I hope that she has found friends everywhere.
Che noi	abbiamo trovato	Temo che abbiamo trovato i politici noiosi come sempre.	I fear that we have found the politicians boring as usual.
Che voi	abbiate trovato	Spero che voi abbiate trovato la casa nuova.	I hope that you have found your new home.
Che loro	abbiano trovato	Spero che loro abbiano trovato la bella macchina che cercano.	I hope that they have found the beautiful car they are looking for.

Congiuntivo Imperfetto: Imperfect Subjunctive

The subjunctive imperfetto is a simple (non-compound) tense that expresses the wish or fear of finding with both the wishing and the finding in the same realm of the past: Speravo che trovassimo il bar per guardare la partita. I hoped that we would find the bar to watch the game. It may or may not have happened, but we can suspect. Regular -are subjunctive.

Che io	trovassi	Mia madre temeva che io trovassi i cani per strada.	My mother feared that I would find the dogs in the street.
Che tu	trovassi	Speravo che tu trovassi le belle cose che cercavi	I hoped that you would find the beautiful things you were looking for.
Che lui, lei, Lei	trovasse	Speravo che lei trovasse amici dappertutto.	I hoped that she would find friends everywhere.
Che noi	trovassimo	Speravo che noi non trovassimo i politici noiosi come sempre.	I hoped that we would not find the politicians to be boring as usual.
Che voi	trovaste	Speravo che trovaste la casa nuova.	I hoped that you would find your new home.
Che loro	trovassero	Speravo che trovassero la bella macchina che vogliono.	I hoped that they would find the beautiful car they want.

Congiuntivo Trapassato: Past Perfect Subjunctive

With the trapassato, the trovare is in a compound tense, with the auxiliary avere in the imperfect subjunctive. The verb expressing wish or desire or fear can be in several different tenses, all in the past or the conditional: Speravo che avessimo trovato il bar per guardare la partita; ho sperato che avessimo trovato il bar per guardare la partita; avrei sperato che avessimo trovato il bar per guardare la partita. It all translates to I hoped/I had hoped/I would have hoped that by now we had found the bar to watch the game.

Che io	avessi trovato	Mia madre sperava che avessi trovato i cani per strada.	My mother had hoped that I had found the dogs in the street.
Che tu	avessi trovato	Vorrei che tu avessi trovato le cose belle che cerchi.	I wish that you had found the beautiful things you are looking for.
Che lui, lei, Lei	avesse trovato	Avrei voluto che avesse trovato amici dappertutto.	I wished that she had found friends everywhere.
Che noi	avessimo trovato	Luigi avrebbe voluto che non avessimo trovato i politici noiosi come sempre.	Luigi wished that we had not found the politicians boring as usual.
Che voi	aveste trovato	Speravo che voi aveste trovato la casa nuova.	I had hoped that you had found your new house.
Che loro	avessero trovato	Vorrei che avessero trovato la bella macchina che vogliono.	I wished that they had found the beautiful car they want.

Condizionale Presente: Present Conditional

The presente condizionale of trovare expresses what you would find if something else happened: a new apartment if you were rich, or a new boyfriend if you had time, or a new museum in Rome if you knew about it.

Io	troverei	Troverei i cani per strada se aspettassi.	I would find the dogs in the street if I waited.
Tu	troveresti	Troveresti le cose belle se tu aspettassi.	You would find the beautiful things you look for if you waited.
Lui, lei, Lei	troverebbe	Troverebbe amici dappertutto se aspettasse.	She would find friends everywhere if she waited.
Noi	troveremmo	Troveremmo i politici noiosi come sempre se li ascoltassimo.	We would find the politicians to be boring as usual if we listened to them.
Voi	trovereste	Trovereste la casa nuova se aspettaste.	You would find your new house if you waited.
Loro	troverebbero	Troverebbero la bella macchina che vogliono se aspettassero.	They would find the beautiful car they want if they waited.

Condizionale Passato: Past Conditional

The passato condizionale of trovare expresses what you would have found in the past if something else had happened or not happened—both in the past. Since this is a compound tense, it is formed with the present conditional of avere and the past participle (except for the reflexive use, see below).

Io	avrei trovato	Avrei trovato i cani per strada se avessi aspettato.	I would have found the dogs in the street if I had waited.
Tu	avresti trovato	Avresti trovato le belle cose che cerchi se tu avessi aspettato.	You would have found the beautful things you want if you had waited.
Lui/lei/Lei	avrebbe trovato	Avrebbe trovato amici dappertutto se avesse aspettato.	She would have found friends everywhere had she waited.
Noi	avremmo trovato	Avremmo trovato i politici noiosi come sempre se avessimo aspettato.	We would have found the politicians to be as boring as usual had we waited.
Voi	avreste trovato	Avreste trovato la casa nuova se aveste aspettato.	You would have found your new house had you waited.
Loro	avrebbero trovato	Avrebbero trovato la bella macchina se avessero aspettato.	They would have found the beautiful car had they waited.

Imperativo/Imperative

Tu	trova	Trova il cane!	Find the dog!
Noi	troviamo	Troviamo il cane!	Let's find the dog!
Voi	trovate	Trovate il cane!	Find the dog!

Infinito Presente & Passato: Infinitive Present & Past

The infinito of trovare is used often with helping verbs (cercare di trovare, sperare di trovare), and with andare or venire it takes on the special meaning of to visit. Vado a trovare mia nonna: I'm going to visit my grandmother. Vieni a trovarmi! Come see me! And as you know, both in the present and in the past, it can serve quite well as a noun (infinito sostantivato).

Trovare	Trovarti mi ha risollevata.	Running into you made me feel better.
Avere trovato	Avere trovato il ristorante aperto è stata una fortuna.	Having found the restaurant open was a stroke of luck.

Gerundio Presente & Passato: Present & Past Gerund

Trovando	Trovando il ristorante chiuso, Giorgio ha deciso di mangiare a casa.	Finding the restaurant closed, Giorgio decided to eat at home.
Avendo trovato	Avendo trovato il rumore a casa sua impossibile, Giorgio ha traslocato.	Having found the noise at his house impossible to bear, Giorgio moved.

Intransitive and Reflexive

Trovare in the intransitive trovarsi means to find oneself (in a quandary, for example, or a certain situation). In that case, you use essere in compound tenses. Non mi sarei trovata in questa situazione se non per te. I wouldn't have found myself (I wouldn't be) in this situation if not for you.

But in the intransitive it is also often used to mean "to be located" or more simply "to be," with the si particle as a complement of location. For example:

Milano si trova in Lombardia. Milan is located in Lombardia.
Mio nipote si trova a Roma per lavoro. My nephew is in Rome for work.
In questo momento mi trovo a Parigi. In this moment I am in Paris.

With the adverbs bene or male—trovarsi bene or trovarsi male—it means to find oneself at home; to be happy or at ease or at home in a place (or not); to like being in a place (or not). Again, note the essere auxiliary: Marco e Gianna si sono trovati molto bene da Franco. Marco and Gianna liked it a lot/found themselves happy at Franco's place.

It also means to find something for oneself. You will hear it used in the reflexive, for example, to say, I would have found myself a new house if I had had the money: Mi sarei trovata casa nuova se avessi avuto i soldi. Did you find yourself a new friend? Ti sei trovata un'amica nuova?

Trovarsi Reciprocal

In the reciprocal trovarsi means to find each other or to get together, run into each other, or meet up together (with another person):

Che bello che ci siamo trovati per strada! How nice to run into each other on the street!
Troviamoci in Piazza del Campo. Let's meet up in Piazza del Campo.
Quando lavoravo a Pisa, io e Lucia ci trovavamo spesso per un caffé. When I worked in Pisa, Lucia and I got together often for coffee.

Also in the gerund reflexive and reciprocal:

Trovandomi a Cetona, ho visitato la bellissima Rocca. Finding myself in Cetona, I went to visit the beautiful Rocca.
Essendomi trovata male, sono partita. Having found myself in difficulty, I left.
Essendoci trovati insieme a cena, abbiamo brindato. Having found each other together at dinner, we celebrated.

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Hale, Cher. "How to Conjugate the Italian Verb Trovare." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/conjugate-the-verb-trovare-in-italian-4063125. Hale, Cher. (2023, April 5). How to Conjugate the Italian Verb Trovare. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/conjugate-the-verb-trovare-in-italian-4063125 Hale, Cher. "How to Conjugate the Italian Verb Trovare." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/conjugate-the-verb-trovare-in-italian-4063125 (accessed April 24, 2024).