Il presente
(The Present Tense)
First of all, we need the subject
pronouns
Io
I
tu
you (singular)
lui/lei
he/she
Lei
you (formal)
noi
we
voi
you (plural)
loro
they
In Italian the “Present Tense” is
used for :
• repeated or habitual actions in the present
e.g. Mangiamo sempre frutta a pranzo
We always eat fruit at lunch
• Actions that take place at the moment of
speaking
e.g. “Che cosa fai?” “Studio italiano”
“What are you doing?”I’m studying Italian”
• actions with a future meaning
e.g. Visitiamo Venezia domani
We are visiting Venice tomorrow
How to form the Present Tense
• The starting point is the infinitive
• In English you have “to” before the verbs
in the infinitive
e.g. to sing
to read
to sleep
In Italian you have the ending
“-are”, “-ere” or “-ire”
cantare
leggere
dormire
Verbi in -are
Step 1
• Take off the –are ending
• parl – are
to speak
becomes
PARL
Step 2
• Add the endings
io
-o
tu
lui/lei/Lei
-i
-a
noi
-iamo
voi
-ate
loro
-ano
The verb becomes
io
tu
parlo
parli
I speak
you speak
parla
you speak (formal)
he/she speaks
noi
voi
parla
parliamo
parlate
you speak
loro
parlano
they speak
Lei
lui/lei
we speak