
What does ballare mean in Italian?
The Italian verb ballare means to dance and, more rarely, in a figurative sense, to wobble, to rock or to shake, for example when talking about a flight with turbulences, you could say l’ aeroplano balla.
What conjugation does ballare belong to?
Ballare belongs to the first conjugation, where the infinitive form ends in -are (ballare), the participle form ends in -ato (ballato) and the gerund ends in -ando (ballando).
Is ballare regular or irregular?
Ballare is a regular verb, so it varies in a regular way throughout its conjugation. If you are able to conjugate ballare, then you’ll be able to conjugate all other regular verbs of the first conjugation (-are).
Does ballare use an essere or avere auxiliary?
Italian compound tenses such as the present perfect (passato prossimo) require the main verb to be preceded by an auxiliary, essere or avere. Ballare takes the avere auxiliary all the time (for example ho ballato – I danced) and never the essere auxiliary.
What prepositions are used with ballare?
The most common prepositions found with ballare is con (with).
- Dave balla con sua moglie (Dave is dancing with his wife)

Uses of ballare
Here are some of the most common ways to use ballare in Italian:
- Si è offerto di ballare con sua figlia (he offered to dance with his daughter)
- Andiamo a ballare in quella nuova discoteca vicino alla spiaggia (let’s go dancing in that new club by the beach)
- Qualche volta l’ aereo balla per le turbolenze (sometimes the plane shakes because of turbolences)
Italian proverbs with ballare
One Italian proverb with the verb ballare says:
Quando il gatto non c’è i topi ballano
Literally: when the cat isn’t there the rats dance
This proverb is used to refer to when people aren’t being checked upon, managed, or controlled and they decide to behave how they prefer.
Two examples of when this saying would be suitable could be a classroom misbehaving because the teacher has left, or staff in an office not doing their work because the boss is not in the office.

Synonyms of ballare
Danzare (to dance) is a synonym of ballare. Danzare is associated with classical dance and ballroom dance. In fact, we say danza classica to refer to ballet but we say le ragazze ballano alla festa (the girls are dancing at the party) to refer to a more casual, or untrained, way of dancing.
Nouns related to ballare
One useful noun related to the verb ballare is il ballo. This means the ball or the dance. For example un corso di ballo (a dance course/ dance classes).
The complete conjugation of ballare
In the table below you can see the complete conjugation of ballare in all tenses and moods.
Verb Tense | IO | TU | LUI/ LEI | NOI | VOI | LORO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Present indicative | ballo | balli | balla | balliamo | ballate | ballano |
Present perfect indicative | ho ballato | hai ballato | ha ballato | abbiamo ballato | avete ballato | hanno ballato |
Imperfect indicative | ballavo | ballavi | ballava | ballavamo | ballavate | ballavano |
Past perfect indicative | avevo ballato | avevi ballato | aveva ballato | avevamo ballato | avevate ballato | avevano ballato |
Remote past indicative | ballai | ballasti | ballò | ballammo | ballaste | ballarono |
Preterite perfect indicative | ebbi ballato | avesti ballato | ebbe ballato | avemmo ballato | aveste ballato | ebbero ballato |
Simple future indicative | ballerò | ballerai | ballerà | balleremo | ballerete | balleranno |
Future perfect indicative | avrò ballato | avrai ballato | avrà ballato | avranno ballato | avrete ballato | avranno ballato |
Present conditional | ballerei | balleresti | ballerebbe | balleremmo | ballereste | ballerebbero |
Past perfect conditional | avrei ballato | avresti ballato | avrebbe ballato | avremmo ballato | avreste ballato | avrebbero ballato |
Imperative | balla | balliamo | ballate | |||
Present gerund | ballando | ballando | ballando | ballando | ballando | ballando |
Past gerund | avendo ballato | avendo ballato | avendo ballato | avendo ballato | avendo ballato | avendo ballato |
Present subjunctive | balli | balli | balli | balliamo | balliate | ballino |
Present perfect subjunctive | abbia ballato | abbia ballato | abbia ballato | abbiamo ballato | abbiate ballato | abbiano ballato |
Imperfect subjunctive | ballassi | ballassi | ballasse | ballassimo | ballaste | ballassero |
Past perfect subjunctive | avessi ballato | avessi ballato | avesse ballato | avessimo ballato | aveste ballato | avessero ballato |