Costituire

Costituire is an Italian verb meaning to form, establish, constitute, or set up. It denotes the act of creating a new entity, organizing elements into a whole, or presenting something as a component of a larger structure. It is used transitively with a direct object indicating what is formed or organized.

In addition to ordinary use, costituire appears in legal and formal language to describe the act of constituting or amounting to something. Common expressions include costituire una società (to form a company), costituire un elemento di prova (to constitute an element of evidence), and costituire un reato (to constitute a crime). The sense can extend to ideas such as forming a group, a body, or a foundational basis within a framework.

Reflexive use is also common: costituirsi. In this form, the verb can mean to surrender to authorities or to appear in court as a civil party, for example si è costituito parte civile. As a verb of the -ire group, costituire follows the typical patterns of Italian -ire verbs, with the present tense featuring the -isc- infix in many forms (io costituisco, tu costuisci/costituisci, lui/lei costituisce, noi costitu iamo/costituiamo, voi costituite, loro costituiscono). The past participle is costituito, and the gerund is costituendo.

Etymology traces costituire to Latin constituere, meaning to set up or establish, through the historical development of Italian. The word remains common in legal, administrative, academic, and everyday language for describing the creation or formation of structures, bodies, or concepts.