Il presente (The Present Tense)

First of all, we need the subject pronouns Io I tu you (singular) lui/lei he/she Lei you (formal) noi we voi you (plural) loro they

In Italian the “Present Tense” is used for : repeated or habitual actions in the present e.g. Mangiamo sempre la frutta a pranzo We always eat fruit at lunch

Actions that take place at the moment of speaking e.g. “Che cosa fai?” “Studio italiano” “What are you doing?”I’m studying Italian”

actions with a future meaning e.g. Visitiamo Venezia domani We are visiting Venice tomorrow

How to form the Present Tense The starting point is the infinitive In English you have “to” before the verbs in the infinitive e.g. to sing to read to sleep

In Italian you have the ending “-are”, “-ere” or “-ire” cantare leggere dormire

Verbi in -are

Step 1 Take off the –are ending parl – are to speak becomes PARL

Step 2 Add the endings

io - o tu -i lui/lei/Lei -a noi -iamo -ate voi loro -ano

The verb becomes parlo io I speak tu parli you speak you speak (formal) Lei parla he/she speaks lui/lei parla parliamo we speak noi voi parlate you speak loro parlano they speak