A2 · The present tense
Spelling changes: -care, -gare
English adds a k in panicking for exactly this reason.
At a glance
- Remember
- A hard c needs an h, a soft c needs no second i.
- 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) cercoI look for
- Signal words
- cerchi
- paghi
- mangi
- cominci
- cercherò
- Trap
- Wrong:Che cosa mangii stasera?Right:Che cosa mangi stasera?
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) tense marker person ending
| I look for | (io) cerco |
| you look for | (tu) cerchi |
| he, she looks for; you look for (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) cerca |
| we look for | (noi) cerchiamo |
| you look for (plural) | (voi) cercate |
| they look for | (loro) cercano |
| I pay … | pago, paghi, paga |
| I eat | (io) mangio |
| you eat | (tu) mangi |
| he, she eats; you eat (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) mangia |
| we eat | (noi) mangiamo |
| you eat (plural) | (voi) mangiate |
| they eat | (loro) mangiano |
| I begin … | comincio, cominci, comincia |
| I will look for | (io) cercherò |
| you will look for | (tu) cercherai |
| he, she will look for; you will look for (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) cercherà |
| we will look for | (noi) cercheremo |
| you will look for (plural) | (voi) cercherete |
| they will look for | (loro) cercheranno |
| I will eat | (io) mangerò |
| you will eat | (tu) mangerai |
| he, she will eat; you will eat (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) mangerà |
| we will eat | (noi) mangeremo |
| you will eat (plural) | (voi) mangerete |
| they will eat | (loro) mangeranno |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-care and -gare take an h.
Che cosa cerchi?What are you looking for?
-ciare and -giare lose the i.
Che cosa mangi stasera?What are you eating this evening?
The same applies in the future.
Pagherò io, non ti preoccupare.I will pay, do not worry.
The sound never changes.
Cominciamo alle nove in punto.We start at nine on the dot.
Example sentences
Se paghi tu, offro il caffè la prossima volta.If you pay, I will buy the coffee next time.
Mangi troppo in fretta.You eat too fast.
Cercheremo una soluzione insieme.We will look for a solution together.
Comincio a capire come funziona.I am beginning to see how it works.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The two rules run in opposite directions, and that is the whole difficulty: -care gains a letter and -ciare loses one. Mangii with two i does not exist, and neither does cerci without the h. The test is the ear, not the eye: whichever spelling keeps the sound of the infinitive is the right one.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Verbs in -care and -gare slip an h in before e and i: cercare → cerchi, pagare → paghi. Without the h the k sound would turn into a ch sound.
Verbs in -ciare and -giare do the opposite and lose the i, because it has nothing left to do there: mangiare → mangi, cominciare → cominci.
Neither of these is an irregularity — it is spelling. The sound stays exactly the same and only the written form adjusts, because c and g are read differently before e and i than before a, o, u. English does the same thing and nobody notices: panic becomes panicking with a k that appears from nowhere, and notice becomes noticing with an e that vanishes. Same problem, same solution, different letters.
The rule applies wherever an ending begins with e or i: in the future (cercherò, mangerò), in the subjunctive (cerchi, mangi) and in the imperative.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: cominciare · pagare · mangiare · cercare · funzionare · capire · offrire