A1 · The present tense
Present tense: -are verbs
Six endings where English has one.
At a glance
- Remember
- An h after a hard c, and no second i after a soft one.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The present — What holds at the moment, what is under way, or what is always the case.
- Form
- (io) parloI speak
- Signal words
- -o
- -i
- -a
- -iamo
- -ate
- -ano
- Trap
- Wrong:Che cosa cerci? Tu mangii troppo.Right:Che cosa cerchi? Tu mangi troppo.
Your turn
5 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself4 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Italian. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) person ending
| I speak | (io) parlo |
| you speak | (tu) parli |
| he, she speaks; you speak (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) parla |
| we speak | (noi) parliamo |
| you speak (plural) | (voi) parlate |
| they speak | (loro) parlano |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The endings are -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, -ano.
Lavoriamo in centro.We work in the town centre.
An h goes in after c and g so the sound stays hard.
Paghiamo alla cassa.We pay at the till.
After ci and gi the i of the ending drops.
Mangi troppo in fretta.You eat too quickly.
The third person plural is stressed at the front.
I bambini giocano in giardino.The children are playing in the garden.
Example sentences
Studio italiano da sei mesi.I have been learning Italian for six months.
Che cosa cerchi?What are you looking for?
Loro abitano vicino alla stazione.They live near the station.
Cominciamo alle nove.We start at nine.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Before an i the spelling changes and the sound does not. cercare becomes cerchi with an h, because otherwise it would be read as cherki. And mangiare becomes mangi with no second i, because the i in gi is already doing that job. Two rules that run in opposite directions for one and the same reason.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Take off -are and add -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, -ano. parlare gives parlo, parli, parla, parliamo, parlate, parlano. This is the largest group by far, and it is the one to learn cold.
English has nothing to hand over here. I speak, you speak, we speak, they speak are one form, and only he speaks differs. The work is not the pattern but the habit: every person needs its own ending, and getting it wrong is not a small slip — it names the wrong person.
The stress in the third person plural falls at the front: PARlano, not parLAno — on the same syllable as in the singular. Only noi and voi pull it onto the ending, and parlano sounds shorter than it looks.
Verbs in -care and -gare slip in an h before i so the sound stays hard: cerco → cerchi, pago → paghiamo. Verbs in -ciare and -giare do the opposite and drop the i: mangio → mangi, not mangii.
How well do you know this topic?
This is filled in automatically after you practise. You can change it here at any time.
Next on the path: 7 · essere — to beBack to the learning path
The verbs on this page, in every form: essere · cominciare · lavorare · mangiare · cercare · abitare