crescere

Crescere is an Italian verb meaning to grow, to increase in size or quantity, and to develop or mature over time. It can refer to living beings, plants, objects, and more abstract processes, as well as to improvements in skills or status. The sense can be physical, chronological, or figurative.

Etymology and related forms: Crescere comes from Latin crescere, from a Proto-Italic root meaning to grow or increase. It is cognate with several Romance-language verbs such as French croître and Spanish crecer. The verb is versatile and used both intransitively and transitively, sometimes with a direct object in the transitive sense of making something grow. The past participle is cresciuto, and the gerund is crescendo. In compound tenses, the auxiliary ère is used for intransitive senses, while avere is used with transitive meanings (for example, ho cresciuto un figlio – I have raised a child).

Conjugation basics: In the present indicative the forms are: io cresco, tu cresci, lui/lei cresce, noi cresciamo, voi crescete, loro crescono. The imperfect is crescevo, crescevi, cresceva, cresce- vamo, cresce- te, cresce- vano. The passato remoto (formal literary tense) is crebbi, crescesti, crebbe, crescemmo, cresceste, crebbero. The past participle is cresciuto and the gerund is crescendo. The subjunctive present is cresca, cresca, cresca, cresciamo, cresciate, crescano.

Usage notes: Crescere describes natural growth (una pianta cresce), numerical increases (la popolazione è cresciuta), and development (un ragazzo sta crescendo). It can also be used transitively with objects meaning to cause growth (crescere i capelli, crescere l’interesse). Common expressions include crescere insieme, crescere di numero, crescere in importanza.