The present

The present indicative#

Essere. Essere (“to be”) is irregular. The form sono is used both with io and with loro. Essere is used to give a nationality, a state or a job and, followed by di, a home town: Sono di Bologna. After essere, a job is usually given without an article: Sono studente, Anna è insegnante; Sono uno studente is correct too. The feminine of studente is studentessa; insegnante is the same for a man and a woman. È (“he is, she is, it is”) takes a grave accent; without an accent, e means “and”.

Avere. Avere (“to have”) is irregular. The h of ho, hai, ha and hanno is not pronounced; in writing it distinguishes these forms from o (“or”), ai (“to the”), a (“to, at”) and anno (“year”). Age is expressed with avere and the word anni (“years”): Ho vent'anni, Quanti anni hai? Hunger, thirst, cold and heat are expressed with avere followed by a noun with no article: ho fame (“I am hungry”), ho sete (“I am thirsty”), ho freddo (“I am cold”), ho caldo (“I am hot”).

Verbs in -are. The first conjugation is by far the largest: abitare, lavorare, guardare, comprare, aspettare, cucinare. In the third person plural, the stress falls on the same syllable as in the singular, not on the ending: àbitano, pàrlano, like àbita, pàrla. In verbs in -care and -gare, the c and the g keep their hard sound in every person; before an ending beginning with i, they are written ch and gh: giochi, paghi, cerchiamo. Verbs in -ciare and -giare, and verbs in -iare whose i is unstressed, are written with a single i before the endings -i and -iamo: mangi, mangiamo, cominci, studi.

Verbs in -ere. The second conjugation takes -e in the third person singular, -ete with voi and -ono with loro: prendere, leggere, vivere, scrivere, chiudere, vedere. The spelling of the stem does not change, but its sound may: in leggo and leggono, the g is hard, as in “get”; in leggi and legge, it is soft, as in “gem”.

Verbs in -ire. Dormire, partire, sentire and aprire take the endings of the second conjugation, except with voi: dormite, partite. Another group of verbs in -ire adds -isc- to the stem (capisco); these verbs are explained in “Irregular verbs and verbs in -isc-”.

Volere, potere, dovere. The three modal verbs are irregular and are followed directly by an infinitive, with no word for English “to”: voglio partire, posso entrare?, devo lavorare. Può takes an accent; vogliamo, possiamo and dobbiamo have a stem different from the infinitive.

→ See also: Want, can, must: vorrei and the modal verbs (A1)

The subject pronoun. The ending is enough to show the person: parlo means “I speak”. The pronoun is expressed to contrast two people or for emphasis. A subject made of two nouns, or of a noun and a pronoun, takes the verb in the plural: io e Marco takes the form of noi (Io e Marco abitiamo qui), Anna e Luca the form of loro. The polite Lei takes the form of lui and lei: Signora, parla inglese?

• Mia sorella abita vicino al mare.My sister lives near the sea.
• Leggete il giornale la mattina?Do you read the paper in the morning?
• Il bambino dorme in camera.The child is sleeping in the bedroom.
• Paolo e io siamo di Torino.Paolo and I are from Turin.
• Stasera guardiamo un film.We are watching a film this evening.
• Hai sete? Prendi un bicchiere d'acqua.Are you thirsty? Have a glass of water.

Irregular verbs and verbs in -isc-#

Before -o and -ono, sc is pronounced like “sk” (capisco, finiscono); before -i and -e, like the “sh” of “ship” (capisci, finisce).

A few very frequent verbs have an irregular stem; the table gives them in full:

Andare has two stems: vad- / va- in the singular and with loro, and- with noi and voi. In venire, a g appears with io and loro, and the e becomes ie with tu and lui / lei. Uscire begins with e- in the forms stressed on the stem (esco, escono); with noi and voi, the stem is that of the infinitive (usciamo, uscite). Dire and bere are conjugated on a longer stem than the infinitive, inherited from Latin: dic- and bev-; the voi form of dire is dite. Dà (“he gives, she gives”) takes an accent that distinguishes it from the preposition da; so and sa are written without an accent.

• Che cosa fai sabato?What are you doing on Saturday?
• Oggi mia nonna sta meglio.My grandmother is feeling better today.
• Andiamo al mare domenica.We are going to the seaside on Sunday.
• I miei amici vengono da Napoli.My friends come from Naples.
• La sera esco con Giulia.In the evening I go out with Giulia.
• Che cosa bevete?What are you drinking?
• Sapete dov'è la fermata dell'autobus?Do you know where the bus stop is?
• Il treno parte alle otto e finisco il lavoro alle sette.The train leaves at eight and I finish work at seven.

The present in full#

Saying the six forms of a verb aloud, in the order io, tu, lui / lei, noi, voi, loro, fixes the pattern of its conjugation and the irregularities of its stem. The endings are as follows:

Irregular verbs have endings close to those of the regular verbs, but a stem that changes: vengo, vieni; esco, usciamo; posso, puoi. The noi and voi forms are usually formed on the stem of the infinitive: andiamo, andate; veniamo, venite; potete. A reflexive verb is said with its reflexive pronoun: mi chiamo, ti chiami, si chiama, ci chiamiamo, vi chiamate, si chiamano. In the loro form, the ending -ano or -ono is never stressed: pàrlano, vèngono, èscono.

In short