Restare and rimanere in Italian
In this lesson we will look at the Italian verbs restare and rimanere.
They both mean “to remain, to be left, to stay“.
Let’s have a look at some examples in context:
Sono rimasta a casa sua fino a mezzanotte.
I stayed (remained) at his place until midnight
Resta solo un biscotto, li ha mangiati tutti Michele.
There is only one biscuit left, Michele ate them all.
As we just mentioned, restare and rimanere are synonyms most of the time.
However, there is a slight difference between the two: restare is mostly used to talk about a place, while rimanere is more about time.
Do not worry at all about this slight shade of meaning though, as even native speakers sometimes can’t tell the difference between the two, and in spoken language, they’ve practically always synonyms.
Often, people choose one or the other based on personal preference, style or phonetics (how it sounds).
Restare and rimanere: conjugation
Here is the conjugation of the two verbs in the present tense:
RIMANERE
| io | rimango |
| tu | rimani |
| lui / lei | rimane |
| noi | rimaniamo |
| voi | rimanete |
| loro | rimangono |
RESTARE
| io | resto |
| tu | resti |
| lui / lei | resta |
| noi | restiamo |
| voi | restate |
| loro | restano |
If you want to form compound tenses, you will need to use the past participle of these verbs:
- rimanere – rimasto, rimasta, rimasti, rimaste
- restare – restato, restata, restati, restate
Both verbs take the verb essere (to be) to form compound tenses.
Here, for example, is the passato prossimo:
| io | sono rimasto/a | sono restato/a |
| tu | sei rimasto/a | sei restato/a |
| lui/lei | è rimasto/a | è restato/a |
| noi | siamo rimasti/e | siamo restati/e |
| voi | siete rimasti/e | siete restati/e |
| loro | sono rimasti/e | sono restati/e |
Rimanere and restare: How to use
Now that we know how to conjugate these verbs, let’s have a more detailed look at when and how to use them.
Restare and rimanere can be used to:
- Talk about staying or remaining in a place:
Sono rimasta a casa tutto il giorno.
I stayed home all day.
Resti qui a pranzo?
Will you stay for lunch?
- Talk about a situation or state staying the same over time:
Siamo rimaste amiche.
We remained friends.
La situazione resta incerta.
The situation remains uncertain.
- Talk about something “left“:
Mi restano solo 10 euro nel portafoglio.
I only have 10 euros left in my wallet.
Sono rimasti solo due partecipanti.
There are only two contestants left.
Rimanere and restare: common expressions
And here are some common colloquial expressions with the verbs rimanere and restare.
rimanerci or restarci male
to be disappointed
rimanere or restare d’accordo
to have agreed on something
rimanerci or restarci di sasso (di stucco)
to be stunned
restare or rimanere a bocca asciutta
to be left high and dry
Still translating in your head? Wanna speak Italian for real? Check out Stefano's courses to think directly in Italian and become fluent fast!
