Italian Verb Conjugations: Nascere

The Italian verb nascere is a versatile action word that translates into English as to be born, arise, spring up, sprout, grow, cross one's mind, or occur. Nascere is an irregular second-conjugation Italian verb; it is also an intransitive verb, so it does not take a direct object.

Italian Second Conjugation Verbs

Before learning how to conjugate nascere, it's important to review the characteristics of second conjugation irregular verbs. The infinitives of all regular verbs in Italian end in  –are, –ere, or  –ire. Irregular verbs, however, are those that do not follow the typical conjugation patterns of their respective types (infinitive stem + endings), as follows:

• Change to the stem (andare—"to go"— io vado)
• Change in the normal ending (dare—"to hand over," "to pay," "to entrust," "to charge," "to give up," and "to let have"—io darò)
• Change to both stem and ending (rimanere—"to stay," "to remain," "to be left behind"—io rimasi)

Since, nascere is an –ere verb, it conjugates like rimanere, as they are both irregular, second-conjugation –ere verbs.

Conjugating Nascere

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: nascere

Passato: essere nato

PARTICIPLE/PARTICIPIO

Presente: nascente

Passato: nato

GERUND/GERUNDIO

Presente:  nascendo

Passato: essendo nato

Poetice Meaning of "Nascere"

Giuseppe Basile wrote a book in 2013 that shows perfectly how to use nascere in its infinitive form: "In Attesa di Nascere," which translates as "Waiting to be Born." A publisher's description on Amazon notes:

Living, surviving daily life ... perhaps in the vain hope that finally the caterpillar will become a butterfly! (The book is) a collection of thoughts that do not presume to be called poetry.

Nascere here represents not just a literal birth, but a springing up, a coming into existence, and even a transformation into something new—as in the caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

Source

Basile, Giuseppe. "In attesa di nascere." Italian Edition, Kindle Edition, Amazon Digital Services LLC, July 13, 2013.