fornì

Fornì is the passato remoto (simple past) form of the Italian verb fornire, meaning to provide, supply, or furnish. It is used in narrative or historical writing to indicate that a person or institution provided something in the past. The form fornì is part of a broader set of passato remoto conjugations and appears as the past-tense form for the singular subject.

Fornire is a transitive verb and forms its present tense as fornisco, fornisci, fornisce, forniamo, fornite, forniscono. The passato remoto forms vary by person, with fornì (singular) and fornirono (plural) among the common endings used in standard literary Italian. In everyday speech, speakers usually avoid the passato remoto in favor of the passato prossimo (ha fornito, hanno fornito).

Etymology: fornire derives from Romance language roots centered on provisioning or furnishing goods. It is cognate with the French fournir and English furnish, and it shares a family with the related nouns fornitura (supplies) and fornitore (supplier). The root semantic field is the act of supplying or equipping, a connection reinforced by related terms such as forno (oven) in the sense of provisioning or furnishing.

Usage notes: The passato remoto form fornì is predominantly found in literary, historical, or formal texts. In contemporary spoken Italian, past actions of this kind are typically expressed with the passato prossimo rather than the passato remoto. For example, La ditta fornì le parti mancanti is a common use in narrative past.

Example: La ditta fornì le parti mancanti.