Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate regular verbs from all three Italian conjugation groups in the present tense, including the distinctive -isc- pattern.

Lesson Explanation

Italian verbs fall into three groups by infinitive ending: -are, -ere, and -ire. The -are group, modeled on parlare (to speak): parlo, parli, parla, parliamo, parlate, parlano.

The -ere group, modeled on credere (to believe): credo, credi, crede, crediamo, credete, credono. -IRE verbs come in two genuinely distinct patterns. The simpler one, modeled on dormire (to sleep): dormo, dormi, dorme, dormiamo, dormite, dormono.

A second, genuinely common -IRE pattern inserts -isc- before the ending in all forms except noi and voi — a feature with no equivalent in Spanish or French -ir verbs. Modeled on capire (to understand): capisco, capisci, capisce, capiamo, capite, capiscono. There is no reliable rule for which -ire verbs take -isc- and which don’t — it must be memorized per verb. Other common -isc- verbs: finire, preferire, pulire (to finish, prefer, clean).

A small set of extremely common verbs is genuinely irregular: andare (to go): vado, vai, va, andiamo, andate, vanno. fare (to do/make): faccio, fai, fa, facciamo, fate, fanno. Andare is essential for the near-future construction: Vado a studiare. (I’m going to study.)

Practice Questions