Say what you do: -are verbs

Start from the infinitive

The form you find in the dictionary is the infinitive: parlare, lavorare, cucinare. It means to speak, to work, to cook, and it doesn’t say who is doing anything.

To use the verb, take off -are to find the stem (parl-, lavor-, cucin-), then add the ending for the person. In regular verbs the stem never changes; only the ending moves.

Don’t use the infinitive as the io form. Io parlare sounds like me to speak. Say io parlo.

One person: io, tu, lui, lei

Talking about yourself, end in -o: parlo. Talking to one friend (tu), end in -i: parli. Talking about one other person, he or she, end in -a: parla.

The -a form is also the polite you. With a stranger, a shopkeeper or someone older, use Lei with the -a form: Signora, Lei parla inglese? So Italian marks the difference between talking to a friend (parli) and talking about someone (parla). Listen for it.

Talking to her: tu lavori. Talking about her: lei lavora.

More than one: noi, voi, loro

For a group that includes you (noi), end in -iamo: parliamo. For a group you’re talking to (voi), end in -ate: parlate. For a group you’re talking about (loro), end in -ano: parlano. Two names joined by e make a group: Marco e Anna is loro, Paolo e io is noi.

Because every ending is different, the verb alone shows who is doing it, so Italians usually drop the pronoun: Parliamo italiano is enough. Keep it for contrast: Io lavoro, lui studia.

Where the stress falls

In parlo, parli, parla and parlano, the stress stays on the stem: PAR-lo, PAR-la-no. A very common slip is to stress the ending, par-LA-no. Keep your voice on the same syllable as in parlo.

In parliamo and parlate, the stress moves onto the ending: par-LIA-mo, par-LA-te. Longer verbs follow their io form: abito is stressed on the first syllable, A-bi-to, so abitano is A-bi-ta-no.

Say the io form first, then add the extra syllables without moving the stress: PAR-lo, PAR-la-no.

-care and -gare: keep the hard sound

You met this in the sounds lesson: before i and e, c and g go soft, like the ch in church and the j in jet. In cercare (to look for), pagare (to pay) and giocare (to play), the c or g just before -are is hard, like k and the g in get. To keep them hard before the endings -i and -iamo, add an h: cerchi, cerchiamo, paghi, paghiamo.

The other endings start with o or a, so the sound is already hard and there’s no h: cerco, cerca, cercate, cercano.

The h is only spelling: cerchi keeps the k sound of cerco. Without it, cerci would end in a ch sound.

-iare: one i is enough

Verbs like mangiare (to eat), studiare (to study) and viaggiare (to travel) already have an i at the end of the stem: mangi-, studi-, viaggi-. The tu ending is -i and the noi ending starts with i, but Italian doesn’t write two i’s here: tu mangi, noi mangiamo, never mangii or mangiiamo.

In mangiare and viaggiare that i is silent, as you saw in the sounds lesson; it only makes the g soft. In studiare you can hear it: studio, studi.

A few verbs stress that i, like sciare (to ski: io scio). They keep both i’s for tu: tu scii. You won’t meet many.

When to use the present

The Italian present does more than the English one. It’s for what’s happening now (Aspetto il treno: I’m waiting for the train), for habits (La domenica cucino: On Sundays I cook) and for plans in the near future (Domani lavoro: I’m working tomorrow).

So you don’t need a separate -ing form, or a helper like do: Parli inglese? means Do you speak English? Just raise your voice at the end.

Aspettare already means to wait for, cercare means to look for and ascoltare means to listen to. Don’t add an extra word for for or to.

Common mistakes

• Io parlare italiano.Io parlo italiano.The infinitive is the dictionary form. For io, drop -are and add -o.
• Tu parla inglese?Tu parli inglese?Parla is for he, she or polite Lei. Talking to a friend, use -i.
• Loro lavorono.Loro lavorano.-ono belongs to other verb families. -are verbs take -ano.
• tu mangiitu mangiThe stem already ends in i, so write just one.
• tu cercitu cerchiAdd an h to keep the hard k sound before i.
• noi pagiamonoi paghiamoPagare keeps its hard g with an h before -iamo.

The full table

Drop -are, then add the ending for who’s doing it.

-care / -gare add an h to keep the hard sound: tu cerchi, noi paghiamo.

Most -iare verbs don’t double the i: tu mangi, noi mangiamo.

Stress: parlo and parlano keep it on the stem (PAR-la-no); parliamo and parlate stress the ending.