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Italian Present Tense — Regular Verbs

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Three conjugations, one pattern each: -are, -ere and -ire verbs, the -isc- infix, and questions by intonation.

Three conjugations: -are, -ere, -ire

Italian verbs fall into three conjugations. -are is the biggest: parlare (to speak) gives parlo, parli, parla, parliamo, parlate, parlano. -ere: leggere (to read) gives leggo, leggi, legge, leggiamo, leggete, leggono. -ire: dormire (to sleep) gives dormo, dormi, dorme, dormiamo, dormite, dormono. Subject pronouns are dropped — Parlo italiano alone means "I speak Italian".

The -isc- infix verbs

Many common -ire verbs insert -isc- in the singular and third plural: finire (to finish) gives finisco, finisci, finisce, finiamo, finite, finiscono. Others in this large family: capire (to understand — capisco), preferire (to prefer — preferisco), pulire (to clean). Dictionaries mark them, and capisco / non capisco (I understand / don't understand) is the most useful pair a beginner owns.

Negation and questions

Negation is non before the verb: Non parlo italiano (I don't speak Italian). Questions need no inversion — Parli inglese? with rising intonation asks "do you speak English?". Question words lead with the verb right after: Dove abiti? (where do you live?), Cosa fai? (what do you do?). To ask someone to repeat: Come? or the politer Può ripetere? (can you repeat?).

The verbs you need first

Priority regulars: parlare (speak), abitare (live), lavorare (work), studiare (study — note the i: studio, studi, studia…), mangiare (eat — keeps its i: mangio), leggere (read), scrivere (write — irregular in distant tenses, regular now), dormire (sleep). The two verbs of liking: mi piace (I like it — literally "it pleases me") for singular, mi piacciono for plural.

Italian course Practice Quiz Review