Italian Language Lessons
Grammar, spelling, and usage
Italian Present Tense
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The Italian present tense (presente) is happening right now. It's a simple tense—that is, the verb form consists of one word only. The present tense of a regular Italian verb is formed by dropping the infinitive ending and adding the appropriate endings to the resulting stem.
The present tense of a regular -are verb is formed by dropping the infinitive ending -are and adding the appropriate endings to the resulting stem (-o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, -ano). See the table below for a sample conjugation of amare (to love).
| PRESENT TENSE CONJUGATION OF AMARE (TO LOVE) |
|---|
| PERSON | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
|---|
| I | (io) amo (I love) | (noi) amiamo (we love) |
| II | (tu) ami (you love, familiar) | (voi) amate (you love, familiar) |
| III | (Lei) ama (you love, formal) | (Loro) amano (you love, formal) |
| (lui/lei) ama (he/she loves) | (loro) amano (they love) |
The infinitive of first-conjugation Italian verbs (those ending in -are) and the conjugated forms of the present tense are pronounced like most Italian words: the stress falls on the next-to-last syllable. The one exception is the third person plural form amano, which is pronounced AH-mah-noh, with stress falling on the first syllable. A few first-conjugation verbs are listed in the following table.
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