Italian present tense: A comprehensive guide

If there’s something Italian is known for, it’s the rich variety of verb tenses. Before you get ahead of yourself and jump into those deep waters, let’s dip a toe with the Italian present tense or presente indicativo. It may be the simplest of tenses, but its uses range widely. From describing current situations to narrating historical facts, the present indicative in Italian is quite multifaceted.

As a rule of thumb, to build the present indicative in Italian (as well as most tenses), you will substitute the endings of their infinitive forms – ‘are’, ‘ere’ or ‘ire’ –  with the declined ones in the present tense. Each ending conjugates according to the subject. For each subject pronoun, a different suffix is added.

Time to get more pragmatic, though, and to learn how to conjugate and use the Italian present tense.

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Present indicative: verbs ending in ‘are’

Verbs ending in ‘are’ are also called “first conjugation verbs” (verbi di prima coniugazione) and among others, you can find amare (to love), mangiare (to eat), regalare (to give a gift), baciare (to kiss) and suonare (to play an instrument). 

When wanting to conjugate them in the Italian present tense, the ‘-are’ portion is removed and subject-accorded endings are added. Let’s take the verb parlare (to speak) as an example:

Note: In Italian, who carries out an action (that is to say, the subject) is usually expressed through the ending of the verb itself. Soon you will realize that natives omit for the most part the subjects both when speaking and writing. 

• (Noi) Parliamo al telefono ogni giorno – We speak on the phone everyday
• (Lei) Parla al telefono ogni giorno – She speaks on the phone everyday
• (Loro) Parlano al telefono ogni giorno – They speak on the phone everyday

Verbs ending in ‘gare’ or ‘care’

As hinted above, Italian verbs can be tricky. That is the case with verbs of the first conjugation ending in ‘gare’ or ‘care’. In both cases, you need to remember to insert an -h right between the root verb and its ending in the ‘you’ person, both singular and plural. This is to maintain the hard /g/ and /k/ sounds and facilitate pronunciation.

Let’s see what happens when we decline the verbs pagare (to pay) and cercare (to look for):

Present indicative: verbs ending in ‘ere’

Verbs ending in ‘ere’ belong to the seconda coniugazione or second conjugation. Examples of verbs belonging to this group are: chiedere (to ask), perdere (to lose), leggere (to read) or conoscere (to know).

The verb scrivere (to write), in the Italian present tense is conjugated as follows:

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Present indicative: verbs ending in ‘ire’

This is the third and last of the verb groups in Italian. Verbs that end in ‘ire’ count among them aprire (to open), scoprire (to discover, to find out), coprire (to cover) and many more. 

In Italian, the present indicative for the verb sentire (to feel) shapes as shown below:

The exception: verbs as preferire and capire

Verbs such as preferire (to prefer) or capire (to understand), even though belonging to the third conjugation group, behave slightly differently than their counterparts.

The exception for these verbs stands in how the three singular persons and the 3rd person plural are formed: between the root verb and the ending, ‘-isc’ is added.

Other verbs that behave this way are: finire (to finish), pulire (to clean), spedire (to send).

Uses of the present tense in Italian

Wow! What a parade of verb endings! Understanding how the present indicative in Italian works allows you to start building simple sentences and thoughts. With consistent practice, you will soon be able to hardwire these three conjugations into your linguistics skills and use them effortlessly.

But what the Italian present tense abounds of (declination-wise), it makes up for it by bulking up its uses. The present indicative describes:

• Regular events, habits or actions
• Actions happening at the moment of speaking
• Events that happen in the future
• Something that happened in the past whose effects continue in the present
• Historical events

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Regular events, habits or actions

The most straightforward of uses for the present indicative is to talk about actions, events or habits that occur regularly. This follows the same logic as the present simple in English.

• (Io) Faccio colazione alle 8.30 (I eat breakfast at 8.30)
• (Voi) Siete vegetariani e non mangiate né carne né pesce (You are vegetarian and don’t eat meat nor fish)

Actions happening at the moment of speaking

To facilitate things, in a sentence where English would employ the present continuous, Italian sticks instead to the present. 

• Il telefono squilla (The phone is ringing)
• Lucia beve un caffè (Lucia is drinking a coffee)

Events that happen in the future

With the addition of temporal particles, the present tense in Italian can also be used to discuss plans that will happen in the future.

• Domani (noi) andiamo a ballare (Tomorrow we are going dancing)
• (Lei) Gioca a calcio questo fine settimana (She is playing football this weekend)

Something that happened in the past whose effects continue in the present

Instead of using a tailored tense for situations that started in the past but still have an effect in the present, Italian adopts once more the present indicative.

• (Loro) Si conoscono da 10 anni (They have known each other for 10 years)
• (Lui) Abita a Berlino da quando era un bambino (He has been living in Berlin since he was a kid)

Historical events

Usually employed this way for a dramatic effect, the Italian present tense is also used when narrating historical facts. Bear in mind that, even so, it doesn’t totally replace the past tense:

• La Costituzione Italiana entra in vigore nel 1948 (The Italian Constitution went into effect in 1948) 
• La Nazionale Italiana vince il Campionato del Mondo nel 2006 (The Italian team won the World Cup in 2006) 

Pronti? Via! (Ready? Let’s go!)

Verbs are the foundation of speech and communication. Knowing how to conjugate them and how to best use them is are paramount for your journey into learning the language of the Bel Paese. Italians do not shy away from an in-promptu chat, so you wanna be prepared to surprise your native friends with your flawless use of the present tense.

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Valentina Rampazzo

Valentina Rampazzo is an Italian Content Manager and writer. She has lived in five countries across Europe and speaks as many languages. She is based in Berlin where she works at Lingoda. She also collaborates with a Portuguese association focused on helping the integration of migrants through languages by writing for their blog. Apart from writing, she enjoys cooking and experimenting with plant-based food, loves traveling and has a hard time saying no to cuddle time with her black cat.

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