The Italian Present Tense

The present tense in Italian (tempo presente) is one of the most important and most frequently used verb tenses. It corresponds to the present simple tense in English (e.g., I speak, you eat, they sleep) and is used to describe:

• Current actions
• General truths
• Habits
• Scheduled events

Infinitive Forms and Conjugation

In Italian, verbs in the infinitive end in one of three ways:

• -ARE e.g., mangiare – to eat
• -ERE e.g., bere – to drink
• -IRE e.g., dormire – to sleep

To conjugate a verb in the present tense, follow these steps:

1. Remove the infinitive ending -are, -ere, -ire.
2. Add the appropriate present tense endings based on the verb type and subject.

-ARE Verbs (e.g., parlare – to speak)

Other examples: sognare – io sogno, tu sogni; ascoltare – io ascolto, tu ascolti

-ERE Verbs (e.g., scrivere – to write)

Other examples: vivere – io vivo, tu vivi; rispondere – io rispondo, tu rispondi

-IRE Verbs (e.g., dormire – to sleep)

Other examples: partire – io parto, tu parti; sentire – io sento, tu senti

Note: Some -IRE verbs like capire, preferire, finire insert -isc- in all forms except noi and voi.

Negation in Italian

To make a sentence negative, simply place non before the verb. It's a straightforward rule that applies to almost all Italian verbs.

Asking Questions in Italian

In Italian, forming questions is surprisingly easy: You usually don’t need to change the word order. Just raise your voice at the end in speech, and use a question mark in writing. This makes it very similar to English, where intonation often turns a statement into a question.

Yes/No Answers: To respond to a yes/no question, simply use sì (yes) or no (no). You can optionally add more information to your answer to make it more complete.

Orthographic Changes & Irregular Verbs

ISC Verbs – Special -IRE Verbs

Some -IRE verbs insert -isc- before the present tense endings, except for noi and voi. There's no fixed rule for which verbs do this—you simply must memorize them as you encounter them.

Example: finire – to finish

Example: capire – to understand

Verbs Ending in -URRE

A small group of verbs ending in -urre, like tradurre (to translate) and ridurre (to reduce), have irregular conjugations that stem from their Latin origins.

Example: tradurre – to translate

Verbs Ending in -CARE and -GARE

For verbs ending in -care and -gare, you need to add an H after the root for the tu and noi forms to preserve the hard 'c' or 'g' sound. Without the 'h', the 'c' would sound like 'ch' (as in ciao) and the 'g' like 'j' (as in journey).

Example: cercare – to look for

Example: pagare – to pay

Irregular Verbs – Present Tense

Some of the most common Italian verbs are irregular in the present tense, meaning they don't follow typical conjugation patterns. These are essential to memorize as they are used frequently in daily conversation.

Andare – to go

Fare – to do, to make

Dare – to give

Rimanere – to stay

Bere – to drink

Uscire – to go out

Tenere – to hold, to keep

Venire – to come

Morire – to die

Dire – to say, to tell

Salire – to go up, to get on

Sapere – to know (facts/info)

Sedersi – to sit down (reflexive)

Stare – to be, to stay

Scegliere – to choose

Riuscire – to succeed, to manage

Proporre – to propose

Supporre – to suppose

Comporre – to compose, to dial

Apparire, Comparire – to appear

Both Apparire and Comparire mean to appear and are often interchangeable, especially in everyday contexts. They share a similar conjugation pattern.