Guardare Conjugation in Italian
guardare means “to look” in English, and it is one of the first verbs Italian learners meet — it sits at number 29 in VerbFlow’s frequency list for Italian verbs. It means to look at something and to watch, and it is the verb for looking at a view, a film or a person. It is completely regular, and it is different from vedere, which means to see without necessarily looking on purpose. This page gives you the complete conjugation of guardare — every tense, every person, the gerund and the past participle — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “Io guardo la televisione ogni giorno.” — “I look at the television.”
Quick facts
- Infinitive: guardare
- English: to look
- Verb type: Regular -are verb
- Irregular in: none — regular in every tense
- Gerund: guardando
- Present participle: guardante
- Past participle: guardato
- Auxiliary: avere (all perfect tenses are formed with avere + the past participle)
- Ending: -are verbs; pattern are in the verified tables
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for guardare, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one. Learn the spelling of the forms first, and listen to a native speaker for the sounds rather than trusting an invented transcription. The forms below are the ones that matter: once you can read guardare in every tense, you can recognise it in speech even before you can pronounce every form perfectly.
Three things to remember about guardare
- It is regular: every form follows the ordinary -are pattern, so once you know the stem you can build the whole table. The only work is learning the endings, not memorising exceptions.
- The perfect tenses use avere: the passato prossimo is formed with avere in the present plus the past participle guardato. The tables on this page give the participle in the masculine singular form, exactly as it appears in the verified dump; agreement with the subject is a separate step that depends on the sentence, not on the verb table.
- The participles are guardante and guardato: keep both in mind as you read the tables, because the present participle appears as an adjective and the past participle appears in every perfect tense. If you know those two forms and the present tense, you already know the skeleton of the whole conjugation.
Full conjugation tables
Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for guardare. Learn the present tense first, then the passato prossimo and the imperfect, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.
Present indicative (presente)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | guardo |
| tu | guardi |
| lui/lei | guarda |
| noi | guardiamo |
| voi | guardate |
| loro | guardano |
The present indicative is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Io guardo la televisione ogni giorno.” — “I look at the television”
Passato remoto
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | guardai |
| tu | guardasti |
| lui/lei | guardò |
| noi | guardammo |
| voi | guardaste |
| loro | guardarono |
The passato remoto is used for completed actions in the distant past, mostly in written and literary Italian and in the south of Italy. For example: “Io guardai la televisione ieri.” — “I looked at the television”
Imperfect (imperfetto)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | guardavo |
| tu | guardavi |
| lui/lei | guardava |
| noi | guardavamo |
| voi | guardavate |
| loro | guardavano |
The imperfect is used for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and for background description. For example: “Io guardavo la televisione una volta.” — “I used to look at the television”
Future (futuro semplice)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | guarderò |
| tu | guarderai |
| lui/lei | guarderà |
| noi | guarderemo |
| voi | guarderete |
| loro | guarderanno |
The future is used for what will happen, for predictions and for probability. For example: “Io guarderò la televisione domani.” — “I will look at the television”
Conditional (condizionale)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | guarderei |
| tu | guarderesti |
| lui/lei | guarderebbe |
| noi | guarderemmo |
| voi | guardereste |
| loro | guarderebbero |
The conditional is used for what would happen, for polite requests and for hypothetical situations. For example: “Io guarderei la televisione un giorno.” — “I would look at the television”
Present perfect (passato prossimo)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | ho guardato |
| tu | hai guardato |
| lui/lei | ha guardato |
| noi | abbiamo guardato |
| voi | avete guardato |
| loro | hanno guardato |
The passato prossimo is used for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken Italian. For example: “Lui ha guardato la televisione questa settimana.” — “He has looked at the television”
Pluperfect (trapassato prossimo)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | avevo guardato |
| tu | avevi guardato |
| lui/lei | aveva guardato |
| noi | avevamo guardato |
| voi | avevate guardato |
| loro | avevano guardato |
The pluperfect is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Io avevo guardato la televisione prima della festa.” — “I had looked at the television”
Future perfect (futuro anteriore)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | avrò guardato |
| tu | avrai guardato |
| lui/lei | avrà guardato |
| noi | avremo guardato |
| voi | avrete guardato |
| loro | avranno guardato |
The future perfect is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Io avrò guardato la televisione per domani.” — “I will have looked at the television”
Conditional perfect (condizionale passato)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | avrei guardato |
| tu | avresti guardato |
| lui/lei | avrebbe guardato |
| noi | avremmo guardato |
| voi | avreste guardato |
| loro | avrebbero guardato |
The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Io avrei guardato la televisione ieri.” — “I would have looked at the television”
Present subjunctive (congiuntivo presente)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | guardi |
| tu | guardi |
| lui/lei | guardi |
| noi | guardiamo |
| voi | guardiate |
| loro | guardino |
The present subjunctive is used for wishes, doubts, emotions and opinions after che. For example: “È importante che io guardi la televisione.” — “It is important that I look at the television”
Imperfect subjunctive (congiuntivo imperfetto)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | guardassi |
| tu | guardassi |
| lui/lei | guardasse |
| noi | guardassimo |
| voi | guardaste |
| loro | guardassero |
The imperfect subjunctive is used in the past for wishes and hypotheticals after che, and in if-clauses. For example: “Era importante che io guardassi la televisione.” — “It was important that I look at the television”
Imperative (affirmative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | guarda |
| lui/lei | guardi |
| noi | guardiamo |
| voi | guardate |
| loro | guardino |
The affirmative imperative is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “Guarda la televisione!” — “Look at the television!”
Imperative (negative)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | guardare |
| lui/lei | guardi |
| noi | guardiamo |
| voi | guardiate |
| loro | guardino |
The negative imperative is used for prohibitions and negative commands. For example: “Non guardare la televisione.” — “Do not look at the television.”
Gerund
| Form | Italian |
|---|---|
| Gerund | guardando |
The gerund is used for an action happening at the same time as another action, often with stare for the progressive. For example: “Guardando la televisione, imparo molto.” — “While looking at the television, I learn a lot.”
Present participle
| Form | Italian |
|---|---|
| Present participle | guardante |
The present participle is used as an adjective, describing an ongoing action. For example, the participle guardante is used to describe something that is happening at the same time as the main action, much like an English -ing adjective.
Past participle
| Form | Italian |
|---|---|
| Past participle | guardato |
The past participle is used with an auxiliary to form the perfect tenses, and as an adjective. For example: “Io ho guardato la televisione questa settimana.” — “I have looked at the television.”
Example sentences
Ten natural sentences with guardare, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the Italian and try to produce it from the English.
- “Io guardo la televisione ogni giorno.” — “I look at the television”
- “Tu guardasti la televisione ieri.” — “You looked at the television”
- “Lui guardava la televisione una volta.” — “He used to look at the television”
- “Io guarderò la televisione domani.” — “I will look at the television”
- “Tu guarderesti la televisione un giorno.” — “You would look at the television”
- “Lui ha guardato la televisione questa settimana.” — “He has looked at the television”
- “Io avevo guardato la televisione prima della festa.” — “I had looked at the television”
- “Tu avrai guardato la televisione per domani.” — “You will have looked at the television”
- “È importante che io guardi la televisione.” — “It is important that I look at the television”
- “Guarda la televisione!” — “Look at the television!”
Common mistakes
1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form
✗ Wrong: “Io guardare la televisione.”
✓ Right: “Io guardo la televisione ogni giorno.”
The infinitive guardare never takes a subject. After io you need the conjugated present form guardo.
2. Using the wrong person’s form
✗ Wrong: “Io guardi la televisione.”
✓ Right: “Io guardo la televisione ogni giorno.”
guardi is the tu form, not the io form. Match the verb to the subject every time: io goes with guardo.
3. Using the present for a finished past action
✗ Wrong: “Io guardo la televisione ieri.”
✓ Right: “Io ho guardato la televisione questa settimana.”
Yesterday points to the past, so the present is wrong here. Use the passato prossimo ho guardato for a finished action yesterday.
4. Using the wrong auxiliary in the passato prossimo
✗ Wrong: “Io sono guardato la televisione.”
✓ Right: “Io ho guardato la televisione questa settimana.”
The passato prossimo of guardare is formed with avere plus the past participle guardato: the io form is ho guardato. Check the auxiliary in the table above before you build a perfect tense.
5. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger
✗ Wrong: “È importante che io guardo la televisione.”
✓ Right: “È importante che io guardi la televisione.”
After è importante che Italian needs the subjunctive, so use guardi here, not the indicative guardo.
6. Using the gerund instead of the past participle in a perfect tense
✗ Wrong: “Io ho guardando la televisione.”
✓ Right: “Io ho guardato la televisione questa settimana.”
The perfect tenses need the past participle guardato, not the gerund guardando. The gerund belongs in progressive constructions, never after an auxiliary in a perfect tense.
Quiz: test yourself
Ten questions on guardare. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.
What is the io form of guardare in the Present indicative?
- A) guardi
- B) guardo
- C) guarda
- D) guardiamo
What is the lui/lei form of guardare in the Passato remoto?
- A) guardai
- B) guardasti
- C) guardò
- D) guardammo
What is the noi form of guardare in the Imperfect?
- A) guardavo
- B) guardavi
- C) guardava
- D) guardavamo
What is the tu form of guardare in the Future?
- A) guarderai
- B) guarderò
- C) guarderà
- D) guarderemo
What is the io form of guardare in the Conditional?
- A) guarderesti
- B) guarderei
- C) guarderebbe
- D) guarderemmo
What is the lui/lei form of guardare in the Present perfect (passato prossimo)?
- A) ho guardato
- B) hai guardato
- C) ha guardato
- D) abbiamo guardato
What is the lui/lei form of guardare in the Present subjunctive?
- A) guardiamo
- B) guardiate
- C) guardino
- D) guardi
What is the io form of guardare in the Imperfect subjunctive?
- A) guardassi
- B) guardasse
- C) guardassimo
- D) guardaste
What is the gerund of guardare?
- A) guardato
- B) guardando
- C) guardare
- D) guardo
What does guardare mean in English?
- A) to be
- B) to have
- C) to look
- D) to do, to make
Answer key
- B) guardo — the correct form is guardo. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) guardò — the correct form is guardò. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- D) guardavamo — the correct form is guardavamo. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- A) guarderai — the correct form is guarderai. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- B) guarderei — the correct form is guarderei. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) ha guardato — the correct form is ha guardato. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- D) guardi — the correct form is guardi. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- A) guardassi — the correct form is guardassi. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- B) guardando — the correct form is guardando. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
- C) to look — the correct form is to look. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
Frequently asked questions
What does guardare mean in English?
guardare means “to look”. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.
Is guardare regular or irregular?
guardare is regular: it follows the ordinary -are pattern in every tense. The gerund is guardando and the past participle is guardato.
What are the gerund and past participle of guardare?
The gerund is guardando — use it with stare for the progressive. The past participle is guardato — use it with avere for the perfect tenses, as in ho guardato.
Which auxiliary does guardare take in the passato prossimo?
guardare takes avere in the passato prossimo: the io form is ho guardato. All four perfect tenses on this page are built with avere plus the past participle guardato.
How do I say “I look” in Italian?
Say “Io guardo la televisione ogni giorno.” — “I look at the television” The io form of the present is guardo, and it is the form you will use most often.
Related pages
- Full conjugation of guardare — every tense of guardare in one place.
- Guardare in the present tense — the full table and usage rules for one tense.
- Guardare examples and quiz — more example sentences and practice questions for this verb.
- Italian present tense guide — the full guide to the present tense in Italian.
- Fare conjugation — another everyday Italian verb.
- Andare conjugation — another everyday Italian verb.
- Italian verbs — the full hub of Italian conjugation pages.
- VerbFlow home — all languages, tools and verb lists.
- Verb Conjugator — practise guardare with the interactive tool.
- Conjugation Chart Printer — practise guardare with the interactive tool.
- Tense Finder — practise guardare with the interactive tool.