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ITALIAN VERB

metterci

to take (of time; ci metto un'ora, it takes me an hour)

  • #118 most used
  • Irregular -ere verb
  • Past participle: messo
  • Gerund: mettendoci

Conjugation

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

Present

Presente · now, habits and facts

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

Past

Passato prossimo · finished actions: “ho parlato”

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

Imperfect

Imperfetto · “used to” and “was …ing”

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

Future

Futuro semplice · plans and guesses

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

Conditional

Condizionale · “would”, polite requests

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

Present subjunctive

Congiuntivo presente · wishes, doubts, “che …”

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

Imperative

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

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

How to use metterci

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

  1. Present

    Ci metto venti minuti per arrivare al lavoro.

    It takes me twenty minutes to get to work.

  2. Past

    Ci abbiamo messo due ore per trovare parcheggio.

    It took us two hours to find parking.

  3. Imperfect

    Prima ci mettevo un'ora in treno.

    It used to take me an hour by train.

  4. Future

    Quanto ci metterai a prepararti?

    How long will it take you to get ready?

  5. Conditional

    A piedi ci metteremmo troppo.

    On foot it would take us too long.

  6. Present subjunctive

    Non credo che ci metta tanto a rispondere.

    I don't think it'll take him long to reply.

  7. Imperative

    Mettici un po' più di impegno, dai!

    Put a bit more effort into it, come on!

Good to know

  • Ci metto un'ora says how long it takes you; volerci says how long something takes in general: ci vuole un'ora.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: irregular -ere verb.