5. Conjugations and Present Tense of Regular Verbs
Le tre coniugazioni e l’indicativo presente dei verbi regolari
Read the grammar note, then click on the Audio button to listen to the present tense conjugation of the verbs arrivare, vedere, dormire, capire. See the transcript if you want to learn more verbs.
Italian verbs are traditionally divided into three conjugations according to the ending of the infinitive form, namely -are, -ere, -ire. Moreover, the 3rd conjugation is divided into 2 sub-groups: verbs belonging to group b just add “isc” before the ending of singular persons and before the ending of the 3rd person plural.
As for the 3rd conjugation, the bad news is that there is no rule to distinguish verbs belonging to group a from verbs belonging to group b. But the good news is that verbs of 3rd conjugation are just a few, and those of b-type are even less. The easiest thing could be to learn by heart the most common verbs belonging to group b (capire, finire, preferire, pulire, spedire, restituire, costruire). See below for details.
| c1 | c2> |
|---|---|
| 1st conjugation -are | arrivare (to arrive) |
| 2nd conjugation -ere | vedere (to see) |
| 3rd conjugation -ire (group a) | dormire (to sleep) |
| 3rd conjugation -ire (group b) | capire (to understand) |
Italian verbs have the following endings in the present tense:
| c1 | c2> | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| arrivare (to arrive) |
vedere (to see) |
dormire (to sleep) |
capire (to understand) |
|
| io | arrivo | vedo | dormo | capisco |
| tu | arrivi | vedi | dormi | capisci |
| lui, lei | arriva | vede | dorme | capisce |
| noi | arriviamo | vediamo | dormiamo | capiamo |
| voi | arrivate | vedete | dormite | capite |
| loro | arrivano | vedono | dormono | capiscono |
| c1 | c2> |
|---|---|
| arrivare | |
| vedere | |
| dormire | |
| capire |
| c1 | c2> | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present tense endings | ||||
| -are | -ere | -ire (group a) | -ire (group b) | |
| io | -o | -o | -o | -isc-o |
| tu | -i | -i | -i | -isc-i |
| lui, lei | -a | -e | -e | -isc-e |
| noi | -iamo | -iamo | -iamo | -iamo |
| voi | -ate | -ete | -ite | -ite |
| loro | -ano | -ono | -ono | -isc-ono |
N.B. Personal pronouns are usually omitted, but they are used to express emphasis:
Leggo molto I read a lot
Io leggo molto, loro poco - I read a lot, they (read) little
TRANSCRIPT
Italian verbs mostly belong to first conjugation-type.
Some examples of first conjugation verbs:
aiutare to help
amare to love
ascoltare to listen
aspettare to wait
cantare to sing
comprare to buy
cucinare to cook
entrare to enter
incontrare to meet
lavorare to work
mangiare to eat
parlare to talk
pensare to think
portare to bring
preparare to prepare
ricordare to remember
studiare to study
Some examples of second conjugation verbs:
chiudere to close
correre to run
credere to believe
leggere to read
mettere to put
perdere to lose
rispondere to answer
scrivere to write
vendere to sell
vivere to live
Some examples of verbs belonging to third conjugation (group a):
aprire to open
offrire to offer
partire to leave
seguire to follow
sentire to feel
vestire to dress
Some examples of verbs belonging to third conjugation (group b):
capire to understand
costruire to build
finire to finish
preferire to prefer
pulire to clean
spedire to send
restituire to return, give back