The present indicative in Italian: conjugation of the three verb groups and irregular verbs

The present indicative (presente indicativo) is the most useful tense in Italian. It covers habitual actions, general facts, the near future, and descriptions. Mastering the regular conjugation, then the most common irregular verbs, is enough to handle the vast majority of everyday conversations.

The 4 uses of the present indicative

The presente indicativo doesn’t only express what is happening right now. It has four distinct uses, all very frequent.

Use	Italian example	Translation
Action happening at the present moment	Leggo un libro.	I am reading a book.
Habit / repeated action	Ogni giorno bevo un caffè.	Every day I drink a coffee.
General truth / permanent fact	L’acqua bolle a 100 gradi.	Water boils at 100 degrees.
Near future (with a time marker)	Domani parto per Roma.	Tomorrow I’m leaving for Rome.

The last use often surprises English speakers. In Italian, the present indicative very frequently replaces the future when the time context is clear: stasera mangio con Marco (tonight I’m having dinner with Marco), la settimana prossima torno (next week I’m coming back). Time markers (domani, stasera, la prossima settimana) indicate the future without needing a future verb form.

First group: -are verbs

The first group is the most regular and the most numerous. The stem is obtained by removing -are from the infinitive. The endings are then added without exception for regular verbs. Endings: -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, -ano Verbs ending in -care and -gare (such as cercare, pagare) add an h before -i to preserve the hard sound: cerco, cerchi, cerca… or pago, paghi, paga… Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare (such as cominciare, viaggiare) drop the i before -i and -iamo to avoid doubling: comincio, cominci, comincia, cominciamo, cominciate, cominciano.

Common -are verb	io	tu	lui/lei	noi	voi	loro
amare (to love)	amo	ami	ama	amiamo	amate	amano
lavorare (to work)	lavoro	lavori	lavora	lavoriamo	lavorate	lavorano
abitare (to live/reside)	abito	abiti	abita	abitiamo	abitate	abitano
ascoltare (to listen)	ascolto	ascolti	ascolta	ascoltiamo	ascoltate	ascoltano

Second group: -ere verbs

The second group follows the same endings as the first, with two differences: the 2nd person singular takes -i (like the 1st group), and the 3rd person singular takes -e instead of -a. Endings: -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ete, -ono

Common -ere verb	io	tu	lui/lei	noi	voi	loro
leggere (to read)	leggo	leggi	legge	leggiamo	leggete	leggono
scrivere (to write)	scrivo	scrivi	scrive	scriviamo	scrivete	scrivono
ricevere (to receive)	ricevo	ricevi	riceve	riceviamo	ricevete	ricevono
temere (to fear)	temo	temi	teme	temiamo	temete	temono

Third group: -ire verbs (two subgroups)

This is the group that surprises learners most. Verbs ending in -ire split into two subgroups with different conjugations in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular, and the 3rd person plural. Subgroup A (type dormire): direct conjugation with no insertion. Subgroup B (type finire): insertion of -isc- between the stem and the ending for io, tu, lui/lei and loro. The noi and voi forms are identical in both subgroups. The -isc- insertion only affects the other four persons. Common subgroup A verbs (dormire type): aprire, coprire, fuggire, offrire, partire, seguire, sentire, servire, vestire. Common subgroup B verbs (finire type): capire, costruire, gestire, obbedire, preferire, pulire, spedire, stupire, unire.

The auxiliaries: essere and avere

Essere and avere are completely irregular. They serve as auxiliaries to form compound tenses (passato prossimo, trapassato…) and as full verbs in their own right. Their conjugation must be memorised as a top priority. The forms ho, ha, hanno are written with a silent h to distinguish them from their homophones o (or), a (at/to) and anno (year).

The most frequent irregular verbs

Beyond the auxiliaries, several of the most commonly used verbs have irregular forms. Here are the most important ones to know from the very start.

The present progressive: stare + gerund

Italian has a special form to emphasise that an action is happening right at this moment: stare in the present tense + the gerund of the verb. The gerund is formed by replacing the infinitive ending with -ando (for -are verbs) or -endo (for -ere and -ire verbs).

Infinitive	Gerund	Present progressive (io)	Translation
parlare	parlando	sto parlando	I am speaking
mangiare	mangiando	sto mangiando	I am eating
leggere	leggendo	sto leggendo	I am reading
scrivere	scrivendo	sto scrivendo	I am writing
dormire	dormendo	sto dormendo	I am sleeping
finire	finendo	sto finendo	I am finishing

The difference from the simple present is a matter of immediacy. Mangio (I eat / I’m eating) describes a habit or an ongoing action. Sto mangiando emphasises that it is happening at the very second of speaking. In practice, everyday Italian often uses the simple present even for immediate actions, so the present progressive is less obligatory than in English.

Summary table of regular endings

Pronoun	-are (parlare)	-ere (credere)	-ire A (dormire)	-ire B (finire)
io	-o	-o	-o	-isco
tu	-i	-i	-i	-isci
lui/lei	-a	-e	-e	-isce
noi	-iamo	-iamo	-iamo	-iamo
voi	-ate	-ete	-ite	-ite
loro	-ano	-ono	-ono	-iscono

Practice quiz

Test your knowledge of the Italian present indicative: