LESSON 3

Tempi verbali
Quando usare l’Indicativo Presente
Regola generale per l’Indicativo Presente di tutti i verbi
just an overview over all the TEMPI VERBALI ITALIANI
 When to use the indicativo presente

We use the Indicativo Presente to:

● Talk about actions occurring as we talk

Ho caldo! Puoi accendere il ventilatore? (I’m hot! Could you turn on the fan?)
● Talk about habits
Ogni Natale lo passiamo in famiglia (We spend every Christmas with the family)
● Talk about absolute truths
Febbraio è il mese più corto dell’anno (February is the shortest month of the Year)
● Express actions that started in the past and that are still recurring
Marta studia italiano da due anni. (Marta has been studying italian for two years)
● Talk about a future really really close (used mainly when talking to someone)
Cosa fai di solito nel weekend? (What do you usually do on the weekend?)
erbs in -are -ere -ire
The infinite form of the verbs in italian either end in to eat translates to “MANGIARE” in italian.
-are -ere or -ire.
Mangiare is formed by
While in english there is also the term “to” before
the present form of the verb, in italian there is the MANGI + ARE
root (radice)-which never changes unless there are
ROOT ENDING
some irregularities- and the endings (desinenza) -are,
-ere, -ire. To conjugate the verbs the ending -are is taken off
from the infinite form so to leave only the root. Then
CANTARE CORRERE DORMIRE
the right endings of each person is added.

TO SING TO RUN TO SLEEP

verbs in -are CANTARE

IO -O IO CANT-O

TU -I TU CANT-I

EGLI -A EGLI CANT-A

NOI -IAMO NOI CANT-IAMO

VOI CANT-ATE
VOI -ATE
ESSI CANT-ANO
ESSI -ANO
verbs in -ERE CORRERE

IO -O IO CORR-O
TU -I TU CORR-I
EGLI -E EGLI CORR-E

NOI -IAMO NOI CORR-IAMO

VOI -ETE VOI CORR-ETE

ESSI -ONO ESSI CORR-ONO

verbs in -IRE PARTIRE FINIRE
IO -O -ISCO IO PART-O IO FIN-ISCO

TU -I -ISCI TU PART-I TU FIN-ISCI

EGLI -E -ISCE EGLI PART-E EGLI FIN-ISCE

NOI -IAMO OR -IAMO NOI PART-IAMO NOI FIN-IAMO

-ITE -ITE VOI PART-ITE VOI FIN-ITE

VOI

-ONO -ISCONO
ESSI PART-ONO ESSI FIN-ISCONO
ESSI
There isn’t a specific rule that explains when to use which form, but a common
suggestion is to count from the last letter up to the 5th letter and check. If it’s a vowel
then the second form is used and if a consonant the first.
p ra tica
p ra tica
pratica -are
pratica -ere
pratica
-ire
COMMON IRREGULAR
VERBS IN -ARE
COMMON IRREGULAR
VERBS IN -ERE
COMMON IRREGULAR
VERBS IN -IRE
pratica
pratica