by Lily Garner

Created on: July 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

Learning the conjugation of verbs in any language can be intimidating, and those of the Italian language are no different. Yet it is possible and, when learning the patterns, can become reasonably easy. There is nothing tricky or confusing; all regular verbs will follow a certain pattern, and once these patterns are remembered, you are on your way to forming sentences and creating conversations.

To begin to form the present tense of a regular verb, you need to look at the verb in the infinitive form. All regular verbs will end in one of the three following ways:

-are (e.g. parlare - to speak)

-ere (e.g. temere - to fear)

-ire (e.g. capire - to understand)

Determining which ending is used in the infinitive is key to forming the present tense, as it tells us which pattern the verb follows when forming the tenses.

When you know the infinitive, there are a number of steps you need to take. First you must remove the suffix (either "-are", "-ere" or "-ire"). So for the verb "parlare", you would remove the last three letters, leaving "parl".

There are then a number of "alternative suffixes" to use, depending on which person is used. This is the part that changes depending on whether the infinitive ended in "-are", "-ere" or "-ire".

For "-are" verbs the suffixes are:

1st person singular- "-o"

2nd person singular (informal) -"-i"

3rd person singular/2nd person singular (polite) - "-a"

1st person plural - "iamo"

2nd person plural - "-ate"

3rd person plural - "-ano".

This can be applied to any regular verb ending in "-are". Take, for example, the verb "parlare" (to speak). You would use the beginning "parl-" and add the above endings, resulting in:

I speak - io parlo

you speak - tu parli

he speaks - lui parla

we speak - noi parliamo

you (plural) speak - voi parlate

they speak - parlano

It should be noted that the pronouns used above are not necessary to use with any verb. For example, "Parlo" alone means I speak. In Italian, pronouns used in this context are simply for emphasis.

For "-ere" verbs, the structure is slightly different:

1st person singular - "-o"

2nd person singular (informal) - "-i"

3rd person singular/2nd person singular (polite)- "-e"

1st person plural - "-iamo"

2nd person plural" - "-ete"

3rd person plural - "-ono"

Just as verbs ending in "-are", those ending in "-ere" follow the simple structure of the ending of the verb being replaced with the above endings. Take, for example, "temere" (to fear):

I fear: temo

you fear:

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