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Introduzione ai verbi
Verbs are action words that express the action (He runs) or state of being (I am tired) of a sentence. They are one of the main parts of speech.
Italian verbs have to be “conjugated” or “inflected”; that is, changed according to how they are used. They have five to six different conjugations for each tense and mood.
The basic form of a verb is called the "infinitive" and is the name of the verb. The English infinitive is “to” followed by a verb, while the Italian infinitive is a single word with one of three infinitive endings (-are, –ere, or –ire). These three groups can then be further divided into:
A) Regular verbs, which follow a standard pattern of verb conjugations:
| 1. | -are | parlare | (to speak) | Regular -are verbs |
| 2. | -ere | vendere | (to sell) | Regular -ere verbs |
| 3. | -ire | partire | (to leave) | Regular -ire verbs |
B) Stem-changing verbs, which take the same endings as regular verbs, but undergo spelling changes in the radical* of some conjugations.
C) Irregular verbs, which have unique conjugations.
When you encounter a new verb, be sure to learn its infinitive, which is used as the basis for just about everything you do with it.
* Most Italian verbs are conjugated by removing the infinitive ending to find the "radical" or "root" (e.g.,
More detailed lessons on all of the above coming soon!
Italian Verb Conjugations
Related Lesson
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