Present indicative. Regular verbs ending in -are, -ere, -ire

I. Indicativo presente: Present Indicative of Regular Verbs

Italian verbs can be divided into three groups depending on the ending of the infinitive form of the verb.

1. Verbs in the first conjugation end in -are. For example, ascoltare (to listen), comprare (to buy), and amare (to love).


2. Verbs in the second conjugation end in -ere. Some frequently used examples are ripetere (to repeat), credere (to believe), and vendere (to sell).


3. Verbs in the third conjugation end in -ire.Verbs ending in -ire can be separated into two subgroups.
   
   • Verbs which require -isc- to be inserted between the stem and the ending, except in the noi and voi forms. These are the most common -ire verbs. Examples include finire (to finish), capire (to understand), and preferire (to prefer).
   
   
   • Verbs which do not require the insertion of -isc-. For example, sentire (to hear, to feel, to smell, to taste), partire (to leave), and aprire (to open).

To form the indicativo presente we drop the infinitive endings (-are, -ere, -ire) and add a new ending to the stem. All regular verbs follow the pattern of endings shown in the table below.

	comprare	credere	finire	sentire
io	compro	credo	finisco	sento
tu	compri	credi	finisci	senti
lui/lei/Lei	compra	crede	finisce	sente
noi	compriamo	crediamo	finiamo	sentiamo
voi	comprate	credete	finite	sentite
loro	comprano	credono	finiscono	sentono

Spelling Changes

Some verbs will require spelling changes in the indicativo presente.

1. Verbs which end in -care and -gare require an h in the tu and noi conjugations, which maintains the sound of the hard c or g.
   
   
   • dimenticare (to forget) ..... dimentichi, dimentichiamo
   • pagare (to pay) .....paghi, paghiamo


2. Verbs ending in -ciare, -giare, and -sciare drop the -i- from the stem when ending begins with -i- in the tu and noi forms.
   
   
   • cominciare (to start, to begin) ..... cominci, cominciamo
   • mangiare (to eat) ..... mangi, mangiamo
   • lasciare (to leave) .....lasci, lasciamo


3. Verbs which end in -gliare also drop the -i- from the stem in the same two cases.
   
   
   • assomigliare (to look like) ..... assomigli, assomigliamo


4. When verbs end in -iare they only drop the -i- from the stem in the tu form if the -i- is not stressed in the io form. In the following examples the underlined letter is stressed.
   
   
   • studiare (to study) ..... io studio, tu studi
   • inviare (to send) ..... io invio, tu invii

II. Uses of the indicativo presente

1. The indicativo presente can express the following:
   
   
   • An action taking place in the present
     
     
     Scrivo un email.
     I’m writing an email.
   
   
   • An impending future action
     
     
     Domani mattina lavoro in città.
     Tomorrow morning I’ll be working in the city.
   
   
   • A habitual action
     
     
     Parlo spesso con mia madre.
     I talk often with my mother.
   
   
2. The indicativo presente also expresses an action begun in the past and which is continuing in the present. English uses the present perfect tense to convey this idea (I have studied; I have been studying).
   
   
   • To express this in Italian, we use this pattern: verb + da + time expression.
     
     
     Studio l’italiano da due mesi.
     I have been studying Italian for two months.
     
     Conosco il mio ragazzo da un paio d’anni.
     I have known my boyfriend for a couple of years.
     
     - Da quanto tempo vivi a Roma?
     - Vivo a Roma da un anno.
     - How long have you lived in Rome?
     - I’ve lived in Rome for a year.
     

There are also alternative ways to express the same idea, which we will cover in subsequent lessons.