ridurre

Ridurre is an Italian verb meaning to reduce, lessen, or diminish. It is commonly used to indicate a decrease in size, amount, intensity, or complexity, and it can describe actions performed on objects, quantities, or states. The word derives from Latin reducere, re- meaning back and ducere meaning to lead or bring, and it entered Italian with the sense of bringing something back to a smaller or simpler form.

Common senses include reducing costs or consumption (ridurre i costi, ridurre i consumi), reducing emissions (ridurre le emissioni di CO2), and reducing a fraction to simplest terms (ridurre una frazione ai minimi termini). It can also denote changing a condition or state, often with the preposition a: ridurre a una condizione diversa, ridurre qualcuno allo stremo (to reduce someone to the brink of exhaustion). The verb is widely used in technical, economic, scientific, and everyday contexts.

Conjugation and forms are regular for a verb of its class, with ridurre forming a characteristic stem across tenses.Indicative present forms include io riduco, tu riduci, lui/lei riduce, noi riduciamo, voi riducete, loro riducono. Imperfect: io riducevo, tu riducevi, lui riduceva, noi riducevamo, voi riducevate, loro riducevano. Future: io ridurrò, tu ridurrai, lui ridurrà, noi ridurremo, voi ridurrete, loro ridurranno. Conditional present: ridurrei, ridurresti, ridurrebbe, ridurremmo, ridurreste, ridurrebbero. Subjunctive present: che io riduca, che tu riduca, che lui riduca, che noi riduciamo, che voi riduciate, che loro riducano. Participio passato: ridotto; gerundio: riducendo.

Noun form and related terms include riduzione (reduction) and riduttivo/riduttiva (reducing, adjectival). See also diminuire, abbassare.