You can skip this section if you are already familiar with grammatical terminology, however this lesson makes considerable use of grammatical terms so if you have any doubts at all you may find it useful to at least skim through the following English grammar lesson.
Italian verbs are inflected (or conjugated) to convey grammatical information such as tense, person and number, primarily by adding a variety of different endings to a fixed verb stem. English also does this to a limited extent, but where English has only a handful of distinct verb endings Italian has several dozen. The following table shows some examples of inflection in Italian verbs using the verb parlare, to speak.
Italian
English
Inflected form of the verb parlare
io parlo
I speak
present tense, 1st person singular
tu parli
you speak
present tense, 2nd person singular
lui parla
he speaks
present tense, 3rd person singular
noi parliamo
we speak
present tense, 1st person plural
loro parlano
they speak
present tense, 3rd person plural
io parlai
I spoke
past tense, 1st person singular
voi parlaste
you spoke
past tense, 2nd person plural
io parlerò
I will speak
future tense, 1st person singular
loro parleranno
they will speak
future tense, 3rd person plural
io voglio parlare
I want to speak
infinitive
loro devono parlare
They have to speak
infinitive
First verbs
Later in this lesson we will start to introduce the rules for conjugating verbs, but first we’re going to let you get a feel for using Italian verbs in a series of exercises. This will give you a bit of context for learning the rules later on. You should start to notice some of the patterns in the verb endings before we even show you the rules.
Exercises 3.1 and 3.2 use the following verbs:
Italian
English
Form
voglio
I want
present tense, 1st person singular
vogliamo
we want
present tense, 1st person plural
ho
I have
present tense, 1st person singular
abbiamo
we have
present tense, 1st person plural
vedo
I see
present tense, 1st person singular
vediamo
we see
present tense, 1st person plural
compro
I buy
present tense, 1st person singular
compriamo
we buy
present tense, 1st person plural
Notice in the previous table that we haven’t used separate Italian words to translate the English subject pronounsI and we. These pronouns do exist in Italian (io and noi respectively), but they are usually omitted because the verb endings already convey this information. You won’t need to use any of these Italian subject pronouns in this lesson.
In Italian the subject pronouns (I, you, we, he, she etc.) are usually omitted because the verb endings already convey this information.
Exercises 3.3 and 3.4 use the following new verbs …
Italian
English
Form
devo
I have to (I must)
present tense, 1st person singular
dobbiamo
we have to (we must)
present tense, 1st person plural
posso
I can (I am able)
present tense, 1st person singular
possiamo
we can (we are able)
present tense, 1st person plural
parlare
to speak
infinitive
parlo
I speak
present tense, 1st person singular
parliamo
we speak
present tense, 1st person plural
comprare
to buy
infinitive
vendere
to sell
infinitive
vendo
I sell
present tense, 1st person singular
vendiamo
we sell
present tense, 1st person plural
vedere
to see
infinitive
dormire
to sleep
infinitive
dormo
I sleep
present tense, 1st person singular
dormiamo
we sleep
present tense, 1st person plural
capire
to understand
infinitive
capisco
I understand
present tense, 1st person singular
capiamo
we understand
present tense, 1st person plural
… and the following nouns …
Italian
Gender
English
italiano
masculine
Italian (language)
inglese
masculine
English (language)
francese
masculine
French (language)
tedesco
masculine
German (language)
Remember that you don’t need to try to memorize any of these words before starting the exercises. The exercises are there specifically to help you memorize all the new words and grammatical topics that are covered in the lessons. Also, you should avoid referring to word lists or grammatical rules while doing the exercises - this is unnecessary if you are using the exercise system correctly. When you don’t know the answer to a question, simply reveal the answer, look at it and then press the hard button. The exercise system will keep showing you the same question over and over again until you find it easy to answer.
You probably noticed the following patterns from these exercises:
The present tense 1st person singular forms (the I forms) all end in -o.
The present tense 1st person plural forms (the we forms) all end in -iamo.
The infinitive forms all end in -are, -ere or -ire.
Present tense inflections
Italian verbs all fall into one of three conjugations based on the ending of the infinitive. Verbs that end in -are (like parlare and comprare) are in the first conjugation. Verbs that end in -ere (like vendere and vedere) are in the second conjugation. Verbs that end in -ire (like dormire and capire) are in the third conjugation. Each conjugation has its own set of endings that are used to create the inflections for verbs in that conjugation.
The pattern of endings used to inflect a verb depends on whether the verb’s infinitive ends in -are, -ere or -ire. Verbs that share the same ending in the infinitive are inflected in the same way.
The present tense endings for the first and second conjugations are shown in the table below, using the model verbs parlare and vendere.
Form
1st conj.
2nd conj.
Infinitive
parlare
to speak
vendere
to sell
1st pers. sing.
parl-o
I speak
vend-o
I sell
2nd pers. sing.
parl-i
you speak
vend-i
you sell
3rd pers. sing.
parl-a
he/she/it speaks
vend-e
he/she/it sells
1st pers. pl.
parl-iamo
we speak
vend-iamo
we sell
2nd pers. pl.
parl-ate
you speak
vend-ete
you sell
3rd pers. pl.
parl-ano
they speak
vend-ono
they sell
The third conjugation has two slightly different sets of endings, as shown in the table below using the model verbs dormire and capire.
Form
3rd conj. (a)
3rd conj. (b)
Infinitive
dormire
to sleep
capire
to understand
1st pers. sing.
dorm-o
I sleep
cap-isc-o
I understand
2nd pers. sing.
dorm-i
you sleep
cap-isc-i
you understand
3rd pers. sing.
dorm-e
he/she/it sleeps
cap-isc-e
he/she/it understands
1st pers. pl.
dorm-iamo
we sleep
cap-iamo
we understand
2nd pers. pl.
dorm-ite
you sleep
cap-ite
you understand
3rd pers. pl.
dorm-ono
they sleep
cap-isc-ono
they understand
You’ll notice that the only difference between these two sets of endings is that the letters -isc- are inserted between the stem and the ending for certain inflections of the verb capire. This is true for all tenses, not just the present tense shown in the previous table. When you learn a new third conjugation verb (ending in -ire) you’ll need to also learn whether it follows the pattern of capire (with -isc-) or dormire (without -isc-).
Here are all the present tense endings for all the conjugations shown again in a single table.
Form
1st conj.
2nd conj.
3rd conj. (a)
3rd conj. (b)
Infinitive
parlare
vendere
dormire
capire
1st pers. sing. (I)
parl-o
vend-o
dorm-o
cap-isco
2nd pers. sing. (you)
parl-i
vend-i
dorm-i
cap-isci
3rd pers. sing. (he/she/it)
parl-a
vend-e
dorm-e
cap-isce
1st pers. pl. (we)
parl-iamo
vend-iamo
dorm-iamo
cap-iamo
2nd pers. pl. (you)
parl-ate
vend-ete
dorm-ite
cap-ite
3rd pers. pl. (they)
parl-ano
vend-ono
dorm-ono
cap-iscono
Note the many similarities between the conjugations. The 1st person plural form is identical in all conjugations. The 1st and 2nd person singular forms are nearly identical in all conjugations - the only exception being the -isc- that is inserted for verbs like capire. The 2nd person plural forms are identical except that the vowel of the infinitive is retained before adding -te. In general the inflections of the different conjugations will only differ at most by a single vowel or by the presence of the -isc- component for verbs like capire; this is true across all tenses, not just the present tense.
Irregular verbs
Most Italian verbs are inflected exactly according to one of the four patterns of endings shown above; these are called regular verbs. There are a few verbs, however, that don’t follow the pattern exactly; these are called irregular verbs. Even irregular verbs follow one of the patterns to a certain extent - they simply have a few irregularities that need to be learnt individually. Most of the verbs you have learnt so far are regular, but you have also learnt the following irregular forms.
Italian
English
Infinitive
voglio
I want
volere
vogliamo
we want
volere
ho
I have
avere
abbiamo
we have
avere
devo
I have to
dovere
dobbiamo
we have to
dovere
posso
I can
potere
possiamo
we can
potere
Note that even though these forms are not completely regular, the basic pattern of endings, -o for the 1st person singular and -iamo for the 1st person plural, is still evident. This is true for the majority of irregular verb forms.
More verb exercises
You’ve already learnt several verbs in this lesson, and you’ve also learnt (by rote) the present tense 1st person singular and 1st person plural inflections of all those verbs (The I and we forms). In the next two exercises you’ll learn some more regular verbs and you’ll get some practice forming the 1st person inflections of those new verbs on your own (by using the present tense endings -o and -iamo). Here are the infinitives of the new verbs you will learn.
Finally in exercises 3.7 and 3.8 you’ll learn how to form the present tense 3rd person singular inflections of all the verbs you know (the he/she/it forms). For the regular verbs this means adding one of the endings -a, -e or -isce as appropriate. For the irregular verbs you’ll need to learn the new forms individually - they are shown in the following table.
Italian
English
Infinitive
vuole
he/she/it wants
volere
ha
he/she/it has
avere
deve
he/she/it has to
dovere
può
he/she/it can
potere
These exercises will also make use of the following Italian names. Note that like other nouns, names that end in -o are generally masculine and names that end in -a are generally feminine.
In this lesson you’ve learnt about Italian verbs, and in particular you’ve learnt how Italian verbs use inflection to convey information about tense, person and number. You’ve learnt how to classify verbs into one of three conjugations based on the ending of the infinitive and how to form three of the six present tense inflections of regular verbs, shown in bold in the following table.
Form
1st conj.
2nd conj.
3rd conj. (a)
3rd conj. (b)
Infinitive
parlare
vendere
dormire
capire
1st pers. sing. (I)
parl-o
vend-o
dorm-o
cap-isco
2nd pers. sing. (you)
parl-i
vend-i
dorm-i
cap-isci
3rd pers. sing. (he/she/it)
parl-a
vend-e
dorm-e
cap-isce
1st pers. pl. (we)
parl-iamo
vend-iamo
dorm-iamo
cap-iamo
2nd pers. pl. (you)
parl-ate
vend-ete
dorm-ite
cap-ite
3rd pers. pl. (they)
parl-ano
vend-ono
dorm-ono
cap-iscono
The remaining three inflections of the present tense (2nd person singular, 2nd person plural and 3rd person plural) will be left to later lessons.
You’ve also learnt that some Italian verbs are irregular, not following the standard rules, and you’ve learnt some of the inflections of the four irregular verbs volere, to want, avere, to have, dovere, to have to, and potere, to be able to.
