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!
Find the right forms of the present tense from Emma’s text!
Fai un esercizio!
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 | amare to love , giocare to play, mangiare to eat, lavorare to 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, dormire to 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!
Esercizi
Fai un esercizio!
Impara con Kira e Cody
dal calendario 2019
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
Prendere to take
Kira: "My girlfriend takes the plane at the airport.
She doesn't miss the plane. Thank God!"
perdere to lose, to miss
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
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 to wait
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]
- aspettare waiting does not need a preposition: lui aspetta il treno he waits for the train.
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.
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
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 to sleep - capire to understand - preferire to prefer. 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".
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)
