tornare

Tornare is an Italian verb of the first conjugation, meaning to return or come back, and also to revert to a previous state or to resume an activity. It can refer to returning to a place or person, and it is used in both literal and figurative senses, such as tornare a casa, tornare indietro, tornare di moda, or tornare utile.

Conjugation and usage: Tornare is regular for its conjugation class. Present indicative forms are torno, torni, torna, torniamo, tornate, tornano. Imperfect: tornavo, tornavi, tornava, tornavamo, tornavate, tornavano. Future: tornerò, tornerai, tornerà, torneremo, tornerete, torneranno. Past historic: tornai. Present subjunctive: torni, torni, torni, torniamo, torniate, tornino. Gerund: tornando. Past participle: tornato. In compound tenses, the auxiliary is usually essere when indicating a return to a location: sono tornato, sei tornato, è tornato (with agreement for gender and number).

Etymology and related forms: The verb originates in Latin tornare and has cognates in other Romance languages, reflecting a root related to turning back or returning. It is widely used in both physical and figurative contexts in Italian.

Usage notes: The intransitive sense emphasizes movement back to a place, while figurative uses include resuming an activity or returning to a previous condition. Common constructions include tornare a + infinitive (tornerò a studiare), tornare utile (to prove useful), and tornare di moda (to come back into fashion). The past participle tornato is used with essere in the passato prossimo and other tenses requiring agreement.