Amy Chambless

Present (Il presente)

The present tense is used to talk about actions in the present. I study Italian, What time do you get up in the morning?, and We play basketball on Thursday all use the present tense. The present (presente) in Italian is one of the first things you learn, when you encounter the common verbs essere (to be) and avere (to have). But wait, back up. Before we get into the Italian present, here are a few things about Italian verbs in general:

There are three classes of verbs: those ending in –are, –ere, and –ire. Each class of verbs has a set of endings that correspond to each possible subject (io - I, tu - you, lui - he, noi - we, etc.)
Each class includes some verbs with strange forms, called irregular. Although their endings are consistent with the regular verbs of their class, spelling changes creep into their root (i.e. the middle part of the verb). As luck would have it, many of the most irregular verbs are also the most common, so start putting them on note cards as they come up.
Here are a few terms often used in grammar books to talk about verbs:
- A verb's conjugation is the way its form changes to agree with the subject of the sentence. You will find conjugations to four verbs in the table below.
- A verb tense refers to the time that the action takes place. The most common tenses are present, past, and future.
- The stem of a verb is another name for its root, the middle part of the verb, right before its ending. As mentioned above, most of the irregularities in verbs occur in the stem.
- The infinitive of a verb is the form of the unconjugated verb, that is, the verb in its –are, –ere, or –ire form. Verbs listed in the chapter endings and glossary of your textbook and in your dictionaries are usually found in the infinitive.

Although the subject pronouns io, tu, lui, etc. are used in textbook exercises, it is generally not necessary to use these when writing or speaking, except in cases of emphasis. This is because the subject is already evident in the ending of the verb, in other words, the subject is implicit in the verb.

Regular Verbs

	-are: parlare	-ere: mettere	-ire: dormire	-ire: capire
io	parlo	metto	dormo	capisco
tu	parli	metti	dormi	capisci
lui,lei,Lei	parla	mette	dorme	capisce
noi	parliamo	mettiamo	dormiamo	capiamo
voi	parlate	mettete	dormite	capite
loro	parlano	mettono	dormono	capisccono

There are two variations among -ire verbs: Some experience a stem change, inserting the letters -isc before the endings in the io, tu, lui and loro forms; others do not. There is no way to predict which verbs belong to which category. I recommend designating these verbs on your note cards with an (isc) next to the verb.

There are some -are verbs which are more or less regular, except for a small change in spelling which is made to preserve the sound of the root. For example:

cercare: io cerco, tu cerchi, lui cerca, noi cerchiamo, voi cercate, loro cercano
pagare: io pago, tu paghi, lui paga, noi paghiamo, voi pagate, loro pagano.
cominciare: io comincio, tu cominci, lui comincia, noi cominciamo, voi cominciate, loro cominciano
mangiare: io mangio, tu mangi, lui mangia, noi mangiamo, voi mangiate, loro mangiano

With verbs that end in -care or -gare, insert an -h right before the ending in the tu and noi forms.

With verbs that end in -ciare or -giare, drop the -i in the tu and noi forms.

Irregular Verbs

Check out the irregular conjugations of the following -are verbs:

	andare to go	dare to give	fare to do, make	stare to stay
io	vado	do	faccio	sto
tu	vai	dai	fai	stai
lui,lei,Lei	va	da	fa	sta
noi	andiamo	diamo	facciamo	stiamo
voi	andate	date	fate	state
loro	vanno	danno	fanno	stanno

The two most common verbs are irregular -ere verbs:

	avere to have	essere to be
io	ho	sono
tu	hai	sei
lui,lei,Lei	ha	e'
noi	abbiamo	siamo
voi	avete	siete
loro	hanno	sono

Check out the conjugations of these other common irregular -ere verbs:

	bere to drink	dovere must	potere can	sapere to know	tenere to keep	volere to want
io	bevo	devo	posso	so	tengo	voglio
tu	bevi	devi	puoi	sai	tieni	vuoi
lui,lei,Lei	beve	deve	puo'	sa	tiene	vuole
noi	beviamo	dobbiamo	possiamo	sappiamo	teniamo	vogliamo
voi	bevete	dovete	potete	sapete	tenete	volete
loro	bevono	devono	possono	sanno	tengono	vogliono

And finally, a few irregular -ire verbs:

	dire to say	uscire to go out	venire to want
io	dico	esco	vengo
tu	dici	esci	vieni
lui,lei,Lei	dice	esce	viene
noi	diciamo	usciamo	veniamo
voi	dite	uscite	venite
loro	dicono	escono	vengono

Use

In Italian, verbs used in the present tense can be used to connote three different types of action:

present habitual action, e.g. Leggo spesso il giornale. (I often read the paper.)
present progressive action, e.g. Ora leggo il giornale. (Now I am reading the paper.)
future action, when the action is planned or expected, e.g. Sabato andiamo alla festa di compleanno di Lorenzo. (Saturday we are going to Lorenzo's birthday party.)

So, when you want to talk about an event in progress or a planned future event, use the present tense outlined above. Don't try to create a compound verb using a form of essere (equivalent to our English: I am going, We are reading, etc.).

When making a sentence negative, place the non right in front of the verb. e.g. Non parlo l'italiano. (I don't speak Italian.)

When asking questions, there is no Italian verb that corresponds to the English do/does as in Do you sleep late on the weekends? Rather, you have to depend upon inflection to make your utterance recognizable as a question.

Practice Exercises