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fluentbyear

ITALIAN VERB

cancellare

to delete, to erase

  • #408 most used
  • Regular -are verb
  • Past participle: cancellato
  • Gerund: cancellando

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Presente · now, habits and facts

  1. io I delete
  2. tu you delete
  3. lui, lei, Lei he/she deletes
  4. noi we delete
  5. voi you all delete
  6. loro they delete

Past

Passato prossimo · finished actions: “ho parlato”

  1. io I deleted
  2. tu you deleted
  3. lui, lei, Lei he/she deleted
  4. noi we deleted
  5. voi you all deleted
  6. loro they deleted

Imperfect

Imperfetto · “used to” and “was …ing”

  1. io I used to delete
  2. tu you used to delete
  3. lui, lei, Lei he/she used to delete
  4. noi we used to delete
  5. voi you all used to delete
  6. loro they used to delete

Future

Futuro semplice · plans and guesses

  1. io I will delete
  2. tu you will delete
  3. lui, lei, Lei he/she will delete
  4. noi we will delete
  5. voi you all will delete
  6. loro they will delete

Conditional

Condizionale · “would”, polite requests

  1. io I would delete
  2. tu you would delete
  3. lui, lei, Lei he/she would delete
  4. noi we would delete
  5. voi you all would delete
  6. loro they would delete

Present subjunctive

Congiuntivo presente · wishes, doubts, “che …”

  1. io (that) I delete
  2. tu (that) you delete
  3. lui, lei, Lei (that) he/she delete
  4. noi (that) we delete
  5. voi (that) you all delete
  6. loro (that) they delete

Imperative

Imperativo · requests and orders: tu, Lei, noi, voi

  1. tu delete!
  2. Lei delete! (formal)
  3. noi delete! (let’s)
  4. voi delete! (all of you)

How to use cancellare

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    Cancello sempre le foto venute male.

    I always delete the photos that came out badly.

  2. Past

    Ho cancellato il messaggio per sbaglio, me lo rimandi?

    I deleted the message by mistake, can you send it again?

  3. Imperfect

    La maestra cancellava la lavagna troppo in fretta.

    The teacher used to wipe the board too quickly.

  4. Future

    Cancellerò le vecchie app per liberare spazio.

    I'll delete the old apps to free up space.

  5. Conditional

    Cancellerei quel commento, non fa ridere.

    I'd delete that comment, it isn't funny.

  6. Present subjunctive

    È meglio che cancelli quel numero dal telefono.

    It's better you delete that number from your phone.

  7. Imperative

    Cancella la cronologia prima di restituire il computer.

    Clear the history before giving the computer back.

Good to know

  • Cancellare is to delete a file or a message and to rub out what is written; a booking is more often disdire or annullare.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: regular -are verb.