Knowing the present tense is very important to be able to form your first sentences in Italian. Let’s learn together the rules of the present tense and irregular verbs like essere and avere.
Emma si presenta
Listen and read this little introduction of our friend Emma and pay attention to the verbs.
Ciao! Mi chiamo Emma e ho due anni. Abito a Linnich, un paese tra Colonia e Aquisgrana, con i miei padroncini e i bambini. Abitiamo in una casa grande. I bambini vanno a scuola, i miei padroncini invece lavorano . Spesso la mia padroncina legge un libro o guarda la TV sul divano, mentre io dormo sulla poltrona. Ma siamo anche molto sportivi. Io faccio agility, la mia padroncina fa yoga e il mio padroncino fa jogging. Mi piace molto fare agility! A presto!
TRADUZIONE
Hi! My name is Emma and I’m two years old. I live in Linnich, a village between Cologne and Aachen, with my mom and dad and the children. We live in a big house. The children go to school, mom and dad work. My mom often reads a book or watches TV on the sofa while I sleep on the armchair. But we are also very sporty: I do agility, my mom does yoga and my dad goes jogging. I like doing agility! See you soon!
Find the right forms of the present tense from Emma’s text!
Time limit: 0
Quiz-summary
0 of 5 questions completed
Questions:
1
2
3
4
5
Information
Fai un esercizio!
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading...
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:
Results
0 of 5 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)
Categories
Not categorized0%
Eccellente!
1
2
3
4
5
Answered
Review
Question 1 of 5
1. Question
VERBI IN -ARE ABITARE
io (abito)
tu abiti
lui, lei abita
noi (abitiamo)
voi abitate
loro abitano
Correct
Eccellente!
Incorrect
Oh no 🙁
Question 2 of 5
2. Question
VERBI IN -ERE LEGGERE
io leggo
tu leggi
lui, lei (legge)
noi leggiamo
voi leggete
loro leggono
Correct
Ottimo!
Incorrect
Oh no 🙁
Question 3 of 5
3. Question
VERBI IN -IRE DORMIRE
io (dormo)
tu dormi
lui, lei dorme
noi dormiamo
voi dormite
loro dormono
Correct
Ottimo!
Incorrect
Oh no 🙁
Question 4 of 5
4. Question
Essere
io sono
tu sei
lui, lei è
noi (siamo)
voi siete
loro sono
Correct
Grande!
Incorrect
Oh no 🙁
Question 5 of 5
5. Question
AVERE
io (ho)
tu hai
lui, lei ha
noi abbiamo
voi avete
loro hanno
Correct
Ottimo!
Incorrect
Oh no 🙁
Molto bene! You start learning the verbs in the present tense. Now let’s take a closer look at the grammar.
The three verb classes
The verbs in Italian are divided into three verb classes. These are -are, -ere and -ire.
–ARE
amareto love , giocare to play, mangiareto eat, lavorareto work, cucinare to cook, camminare to walk, parlare to speak, urlare to shout
–ERE
vivere to live, leggere to read, scrivere to write, prendere to take, cadere to fall, conoscere to know
–IRE
partire to leave/depart, dormireto sleep, aprire to open, sentire to hear, seguire to follow, offrire to offer
The formation of the present tense
To form the present tense you have to cut off the ending -are, -ere or -ire. Thus you get the so-called verb stem. Then you have to add the appropriate present tense ending. Each verb class has its own endings.
Verb stem + present ending
AMARE
VIVERE
SENTIRE
io
amo
vivo
sento
tu
ami
vivi
senti
lui, lei
ama
vive
sente
noi
amiamo
viviamo
sentiamo
voi
amate
vivete
sentite
loro
amano
vivono
sentono
I love Italy!
ESEMPI
Amo la pizza! I love pizza!
Il cane dorme sul divano. The dog sleeps on the couch.
Noi viviamo in centro. We live in the city center.
Le ragazze mangiano il gelato. The girls eat ice cream.
Il bambino scrive una cartolina. The kid writes a postcard.
Non sento niente. I don’t hear anything.
LEARN MORE
1) Some verbs on -ire add -isc- between verb stem and ending. Pay attention at the pronunciation!
Capireto understand:
io capisco tu capisci lui, lei capisce noi capiamo voi capite loro capiscono
Other such verbs are: preferireto prefer, finireto finish, pulireto clean.
2) Verbs on -care, -gare add an h between stem and ending if the ending starts with -i or -e. In this way the c is always pronounced hart, like [k].
Giocareto play
io gioco tu giochi lui, lei gioca noi giochiamo voi giocate loro giocano
IRREGULAR VERBS
Here you can find some of the most important irregular verbs.
Furthermore, the verb bereto drink forms the present tense based on the old verb bevere: io bevo, tu bevi, lui beve, noi beviamo, voi bevete, loro bevono.
Esempi
Sono felice! I’m happy!
Il mio gatto ha fame. My cat is hungry.
Sono stanco, vado a casa. I’m tired, I’ll go home.
Dopo cena faccio una passeggiata. I’ll go for a walk after dinner.
Venite alla festa? Do you come to the party?
Come stai? – Sto bene, grazie. How are you? – I’m fine, thanks.
Esercizi
Time limit: 0
Quiz-summary
0 of 8 questions completed
Questions:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Information
Fai un esercizio!
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading...
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:
Presente tense of verbs on -are Arrivare to arrive
Cody: "The train arrives at 8. The train arrives at the station."
l'autista (m., f.) driver la giraffa giraffe il treno Train il binario track
Presente tense of verbs on -ere Prendere to take
Kira: "My girlfriend takes the plane at the airport. She doesn't miss the plane. Thank God!"
perdereto lose, to miss
Presente tense of verbs on -ire Partire to leave, depart
Cody: I'm going on vacation! I'm leaving for Verona!
le cuffie (pl.) headphones la valigia suitcase gli occhiali da sole (pl.) sunglasses
Presente tense of some verbs on -ire Capire to understand
Giapponese: イタリアが好きです (Itaria ga suki desu) I like Italy. Italiano: I'm sorry, I don't understand!
il giapponese Japanese
Cody's going on vacation. The train for the airport leaves at six from track 2. Cody waits patiently for the train. "Oh no, the train is late!" Fortunately, it's only 10 minutes late. Cody arrives at the airport on time. He even has time to stop at the café for coffee. He takes a caffè macchiato. He finishes drinking and says: "Now I'm ready to leave!"
Regular verbs: aspettare towait arrive to arrive prendere to take partire to leave, depart finire to finish
Comments: - il caffè macchiato is an espresso with warm milk. Pronunciation: [makkjato] - aspettarewaiting does not need a preposition: lui aspetta il treno he waits for the train.
Esercizio: Write the verbs in the present tense.
Soluzioni:
1) Di notte gli animali dormono. At night the animals sleep. 2) Il papà pulisce la macchina. Daddy cleans the car. 3) Le foglie cadono dagli alberi. The leaves fall from the trees. 4) Voi suonate la chitarra molto bene! You play the guitar very well! 5) Tu conosci il mio amico Tom? Do you know my friend Tom? 6) Per cena noi cuciniamo il risotto. We cook risotto for dinner.
Present indicative of irregular verbs Fare to do, make
Kira: "I take a bath in the bathtub." (lit. I do the bath in the bathtub) Kira: "I like to make foam!"
Vocabulary: la schiuma foam
Present indicative of irregular verbs Andare to go
Cody: "Every now and then I go to the disco." Cody: "I like to go dancing!"
Game with verbs: Find the intruder In every series of verbs there is a verb that is different from the others. The reason for this can be of semantic or grammatical nature. Can you find it?
Solution:
1. finire to finish - dormire tosleep - capire tounderstand - preferire toprefer. REASON: The other verbs add -isc. 2. andare to go, drive - venire to come - leggere to read - partire to leave, depart. REASON: The others are movement verbs. 3. fare to make, do - andare to go, drive - dare to give - mangiare to eat. REASON: The others are irregular verbs 4. dire to say - parlare to speak - urlare to shout - uscire to go out. REASON: The other verbs belong to the semantic word field of "speak".
Esercizio: Which is the right form?
SOLUZIONI: 1) lui viene (venire to come) 2) noi diamo (dare to give) 3) voi andate (andare to go) 4) io faccio (fare to do, make) 5) noi giochiamo (giocare to play) 6) tu preferisci (preferire to prefer)