Imporre

Imporre is an Italian transitive verb meaning to impose, to lay down, or to enforce something by authority. It is used when someone, such as a government, an institution, or a person in a position of power, requires compliance or imposes obligations, sanctions, or burdens on others. The verb can refer to laws, rules, duties, limits, sanctions, or the imposition of one’s will.

Etymology and usage notes: Imporre derives from the Latin imponere, literally “to place upon,” with the prefix in- evolving into the modern form. In Italian, imporre is typically followed by a direct object indicating what is imposed, and by a phrase indicating the recipient or target of the imposition, for example: imporre una tassa a una popolazione, imporre restrizioni a un mercato, imporre la propria volontà agli altri.

Conjugation overview: Imporre is an irregular verb of the -ere class. Present indicative forms are impongo, imponi, impone, imponiamo, imponete, impongono. The passato prossimo uses avere with the participle imposto: ho imposto, hai imposto, ha imposto, abbiamo imposto, avete imposto, hanno imposto. The imperative is imponi (tu), imponga (Lei), imponiamo (noi), imponete (voi), impongano (Loro). Other key forms include: congiuntivo presente imponga, imponga, imponga, imponiamo, imponiate, impongano; futuro semplice imporrò, imporrai, imporrà, imporremo, imporrete, imporranno; imperfetto imponevo, imponevi, imponeva, imponevamo, imponevate, imponevano; passato remoto imposi, imponesti, impose, imponemmo, imponeste, imposero; participio passato imposto.

Related concepts: Imposizione is the noun for the act of imposing (and commonly used for imposition in general or of taxes), while imposta is a noun meaning tax or duty. Imporre is distinct from verbs meaning coercion or force in some contexts, such as costringere, but can convey a similar sense when describing coercive or compulsory actions.