Riguardare

Riguardare is an Italian transitive verb with two main senses. In its most common figurative use, it means to concern or to involve a matter: una questione che riguarda tutti (a matter that concerns everyone) or questo riguarda te (this concerns you). In a more literal sense, it means to look at again or to review something: riguardare dei documenti (to look at the documents again), riguardare un testo per correggerlo.

Conjugation and usage notes. Riguardare follows the regular -are verb pattern. Present tense forms are: io riguardo, tu riguardi, lui/lei riguarda, noi riguardiamo, voi riguardate, loro riguardano. The verb forms a perfect with avere: ho riguardato, hai riguardato, ha riguardato, abbiamo riguardato, avete riguardato, hanno riguardato. Imperfect: riguardavo, riguardavi, riguardava, riguardavamo, riguardavate, riguardavano. Future: riguarderò, riguarderai, riguarderà, riguarderemo, riguarderete, riguarderanno. The gerund is riguardando and the past participle is riguardato.

Etymology and nuance. The word is built from guardare with the prefix ri-, originally conveying “look again” and later developed the figurative sense of “affecting or relating to.” This dual meaning is reflected in both spoken and written Italian, where the same form can denote either a reexamination or a matter’s relevance to someone or something.

See also. Riguardare is closely related to guardare (to look) but occupies a distinct semantical space in Italian, often preferred when signaling relevance or involvement of a subject.