A1 · The present tense
Present tense: -ere, -ire verbs
The last three letters of the infinitive are information English does not carry.
At a glance
- Remember
- No -isc- with noi and voi.
- 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) credoI believe
- Signal words
- -ono
- -ite
- -isco
- -iscono
- Trap
- Wrong:Noi capisciamo tutto.Right:Noi capiamo tutto.
Your turn
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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) stem (irregular) person ending
| I believe | (io) credo |
| you believe | (tu) credi |
| he, she believes; you believe (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) crede |
| we believe | (noi) crediamo |
| you believe (plural) | (voi) credete |
| they believe | (loro) credono |
| I sleep | (io) dormo |
| you sleep | (tu) dormi |
| he, she sleeps; you sleep (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) dorme |
| we sleep | (noi) dormiamo |
| you sleep (plural) | (voi) dormite |
| they sleep | (loro) dormono |
| I understand | (io) capisco |
| you understand | (tu) capisci |
| he, she understands; you understand (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) capisce |
| we understand | (noi) capiamo |
| you understand (plural) | (voi) capite |
| they understand | (loro) capiscono |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-ere and -ire share nearly all their endings; only the voi form separates them.
Voi credete, voi dormite.You believe, you sleep.
Some -ire verbs push in -isc-.
Non capisco, parli troppo veloce.I do not understand, you are speaking too fast.
The -isc- appears in four forms, not in noi and voi.
Finiamo alle sei, ma loro finiscono più tardi.We finish at six, but they finish later.
Which pattern applies is learnt with the verb.
Preferisco il tè, ma dormo poco.I prefer tea, but I sleep badly.
Example sentences
Non capisco bene l’italiano parlato.I do not understand spoken Italian well.
A che ora finite di lavorare?What time do you finish work?
I bambini dormono già.The children are already asleep.
Preferiamo partire domani mattina.We would rather leave tomorrow morning.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The -isc- stands in four forms and precisely not in noi and voi. Capisciamo does not exist; it is capiamo. Anybody who treats the insertion as a property of the verb rather than of four particular forms puts it everywhere, and English offers nothing to warn against that, since no English verb changes shape inside its own present tense.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
In -ere: -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ete, -ono. credere gives credo, credi, crede, crediamo, credete, credono. In -ire almost the same: -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ite, -ono, so dormire gives dormo, dormi, dorme, dormiamo, dormite, dormono. Only the voi form keeps the two families apart.
This is the part with no English foothold at all. To speak, to believe and to sleep are built identically, and nothing about them predicts anything. In Italian the last three letters of the infinitive are a label, and the label decides six forms — so an Italian verb has to be learnt with its ending attached, the way a German noun is learnt with its article.
Some of the -ire verbs push in -isc-, in four of the six forms: capisco, capisci, capisce, capiamo, capite, capiscono.
Which verb follows which pattern is not written in the word. It is learnt with the verb. The -isc- family includes capire, finire, preferire, pulire and spedire, and the noi and voi forms are the same under both patterns, so the difference disappears exactly there.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: finire · parlare · capire · dormire · essere · lavorare · partire · credere