Guardare means “to look at” and “to watch.” It is the verb for deliberately directing your eyes at something, from a painting to a football match on TV.
Infinitive
guardare
English
to look at, to watch
Auxiliary
avere
Past participle
guardato
Gerund
guardando
Regular -ARE verb with the stem guard-. Present: guardo, guardi, guarda, guardiamo, guardate, guardano. The gu is always pronounced gw, in every form. Future and conditional use guarder-: guarderò, guarderemmo. The imperfect is guardavo, the passato remoto guardai, guardò, and the participle guardato. The tu imperative guarda and the Lei form guardi are both very frequent in speech. No forms are irregular.
Guardare is transitive, so the thing you look at follows with no preposition: guardo il mare, guardiamo un film, guarda quella macchina! That is a key difference from English “look at.” Guardare is intentional, while vedere is simply seeing: puoi guardare fuori, ma con la nebbia non vedi niente. The imperative guarda is also a filler that introduces a point, like “look” or “listen” in English: guarda, non lo so. Guardarsi means looking at yourself or at each other (si guardano negli occhi), and guardarsi da means guarding against something.
Guardare takes avere in every compound tense: ho guardato, avete guardato la partita? A preceding direct object pronoun makes the participle agree: la serie? L'abbiamo guardata tutta in un weekend. The reflexive guardarsi takes essere: ci siamo guardati e abbiamo riso.
Guardare in context
Presente:La sera guardiamo un film sul divano. (In the evening we watch a film on the sofa.)
Presente:Perché mi guardi così? (Why are you looking at me like that?)
Passato Prossimo:Hai guardato la partita ieri sera? (Did you watch the match last night?)
Imperfetto:Da piccola guardavo i cartoni animati prima di andare a scuola. (When I was little I watched cartoons before going to school.)
Futuro Semplice:Stasera guarderemo le stelle dal terrazzo. (Tonight we'll look at the stars from the terrace.)
Condizionale Presente:Io guarderei l'orario prima di partire. (I'd check the timetable before leaving.)
Imperativo:Guarda, c'è un arcobaleno sopra il lago! (Look, there's a rainbow over the lake.)
Common expressions with guardare
guarda caso: funnily enough, as luck would have it. Often ironic: guarda caso, lui non c'era.
guardare male qualcuno: to give someone a dirty look
guardarsi intorno: to look around. Mi sono guardato intorno ma non c'era nessuno.
stare a guardare: to stand by and watch, to do nothing. Non posso stare a guardare: “I can't just stand by.”
guardare dall'alto in basso: to look down on someone
dare un'occhiata: to have a quick look. Not guardare, but the natural way to say “have a look”: dai un'occhiata a questo.
Common mistakes
Guarda questa foto., not Guarda a questa foto. (Look at this photo.). Guardare takes a direct object. English “look at” has a preposition, but Italian does not.
Non vedo bene senza occhiali., not Non guardo bene senza occhiali. (I can't see well without glasses.). The ability to see is vedere. Guardare is the act of looking on purpose.
What is the difference between guardare and vedere?
Guardare is looking or watching on purpose; vedere is seeing, perceiving with your eyes. You can guardare without vedere (in the dark) and vedere without guardare (something catches your eye). For films both are used: guardare un film stresses the activity, vedere un film the experience.
Does guardare take essere or avere?
Avere: ho guardato, avevano guardato. Guardarsi, as in guardarsi allo specchio, uses essere: si è guardata allo specchio.
Is guardare irregular?
No. Guardare is fully regular in every tense. The only thing to watch is the pronunciation of gu as gw: GWAR-do, gwar-DAH-te.
What does guarda mean at the start of a sentence?
It is the tu imperative used as a discourse marker, similar to “look” or “listen”: guarda, ti dico la verità. The formal version is guardi: guardi, signora, non è possibile.