Italiano — Impersonal verbs
Some Italian verbs have no real subject and appear only in the third person singular. Weather verbs like piove and expressions of necessity such as bisogna studiare or occorre tempo describe a situation, not something a person does.
How it works
Impersonal verbs stay in the third person singular with no subject pronoun. bisogna, occorre and conviene are followed by an infinitive (bisogna partire, conviene aspettare) or by che + subjunctive (bisogna che tu parta). basta and occorre can also take a noun (basta un attimo, occorre pazienza), and sembra reports an impression (sembra facile).
Examples
| Example | Meaning and use |
|---|---|
| Piove. | It's raining. — weather verb, no subject |
| Bisogna partire subito. | We must leave right away. — necessity + infinitive |
| Bisogna che tu parta. | You need to leave. — bisogna + che + subjunctive |
| Occorre pazienza. | Patience is needed. — occorre + noun |
| Basta un attimo. | A moment is enough. — basta + noun (sufficiency) |
| Conviene aspettare. | It's better to wait. — advisability + infinitive |
| Sembra facile. | It seems easy. — sembra reports an impression |
Good to know
bisogna is invariable and impersonal — never say io bisogno; to conjugate for a person use avere bisogno di (ho bisogno di riposo). occorre and sembra do agree with a plural noun (occorrono due giorni, sembrano stanchi), because there the noun is the real subject.