Use succedere for everyday talk (Che cosa è successo?) and accadere when you want a more formal or written tone (È accaduto un incidente). Both mean “to happen”, both take essere, and in most sentences either one is grammatically fine. The difference is register, not meaning.
The same question, two registers
Ask a friend what is going on and you will almost always use succedere:
- Cosa succede? (What’s happening?)
- Che cosa ti è successo? (What happened to you?)
- Non è successo niente. (Nothing happened.)
Accadere turns up where the language is more careful: newspapers, reports, speeches, and anywhere an event is being described rather than chatted about.
- Il fatto è accaduto ieri sera. (The incident happened last night.)
- Può accadere a tutti. (It can happen to anyone.)
- Non accadrà più. (It won’t happen again.)
Swap them and nothing breaks. Cosa accade? is correct, it just sounds like a news anchor. Può succedere a tutti is just as correct and sounds more relaxed.
How the forms differ
Both verbs are used almost only in the third person, so these are the forms you need.
| succedere | accadere | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | succede / succedono | accade / accadono |
| Passato prossimo | è successo / sono successi | è accaduto / sono accaduti |
| Imperfect | succedeva | accadeva |
| Future | succederà | accadrà |
| Conditional | succederebbe | accadrebbe |
The one to watch is the future and conditional. Succedere keeps its full ending (succederà), while accadere drops a vowel (accadrà, accadrebbe). It is easy to produce accaderà by analogy, and it is wrong.
Think of accadere as the shorter, sharper verb: it loses a syllable in the future (accadrà) just like it feels more clipped in the news. Succedere stays long and easy, like a chat.
Agreement with essere
Because both use essere, the participle agrees with what happened:
- È successa una cosa strana. (Something strange happened.)
- Sono successe tante cose questa settimana. (A lot of things happened this week.)
- Sono accaduti due incidenti. (Two accidents happened.)
One thing only succedere does
Followed by a, succedere also means “to succeed” in the sense of coming after someone: Il figlio è succeduto al padre alla guida dell’azienda. (The son succeeded his father as head of the company.) If you mean “to succeed” as in “to be successful”, Italian uses a different verb, riuscire, so Ci sono riuscito means “I managed it”. Don’t use either of these for accadere, which only ever means “to happen”.
A third option: capitare
You will also hear capitare, which suggests something happening by chance: Mi è capitato di incontrarlo. (I happened to run into him.) Use succedere or accadere for the plain fact that something took place.
Knowing that accadrà is correct is one thing; producing it on the spot is another. VerbPal has you type the forms from memory until they stick.
Try VerbPal free →Frequently asked questions
Is accadere or succedere more common in spoken Italian?
Succedere is the one you will hear most in conversation: Che cosa è successo? Accadere is more at home in news reports, writing and slightly formal speech.
Do accadere and succedere take essere or avere?
Both take essere in compound tenses, so you say è successo and è accaduto. The participle agrees with the subject when it is plural: sono successe tante cose.
Can succedere mean something other than 'to happen'?
Yes. Followed by a, succedere means to succeed or follow someone, as in a throne or a post: Il figlio è succeduto al padre. Accadere has no such meaning.