The present tense – Il presente indicativo
Italian present tense translates a variety of different English forms:
I write
I am writing
I do write
I will write
Formation
 Unlike English, Italian verbs are inflected. This means that
there is a different form of the verb for every tense.
 Verb forms are usually arrived at by adding person-specific
endings (1st, 2nd, 3rd person in the singular and plural) to a
‘stem’.
 The ‘stem’ is that part of the infinitive form left when the final
vowel + ‘re’ (-are, -ere, -ire) are omitted (e.g. ‘parl’ from
parlare, ‘vend’ from vendere etc.)
 There are three infinitive endings for Italian present tenses: ARE, -ERE, -IRE.
Regular verbs
-ARE
Parlo
Parli
Parla
Parliamo
Parlate
Parlano
-ERE
Vendo
Vendi
Vende
Vendiamo
Vendete
Vendono
-IRE
Dormo
Dormi
Dorme
Dormiamo
Dormite
Dormono
-IRE
Spedisco
Spedisci
Spedisce
Spediamo
Spedite
Spediscono
ATTENZIONE!
-CARE and –GARE verbs
Remember to keep the hard sound throughout the conjugation
when the infinitive has a hard sound:
GIOCARE
Gioco
Giochi
Gioca
Giochiamo
Giocate
Giocano
-CIARE and –GIARE verbs
Note that these verbs lose the –i in the stem for the TU and NOI
persons in order to avoid the double –ii:
MANGIARE
Mangio
Mangi
Mangia
Mangiamo
Mangiate
Mangiano
Irregular verbs
ESSERE (to be)
AVERE (to have)
STARE (to be, to stay)
DARE (to give)
BERE (to drink)
FARE (to do)
DIRE (to say)
DOVERE (to have to, must)
POTERE (to be able to, can)
SAPERE (to know, can)
VENIRE (to come)
VOLERE (to want)
RIMANERE (to stay, to remain)
ANDARE (to go)