ITALIAN VERBS CONJUGATION

In Italian each verb is composed of several elements and among these are its conjugations, of which there are three: -are, -ere, -ire.

These conjugations do not apply to all verbs, but we will see this in detail in the future. In this lesson, we will learn what a verb is and what its conjugations are and the cases in which they can vary!

WHAT IS A VERB

A verb is a variable part of speech, which can indicate several things:

•  an action that has been performed, by someone or something;
•  an action that has been undergone, by someone or something;
•  a situation in which someone or something finds itself;
•  a way of being of someone or something;
•  the existence of someone or something.

Here are some examples of verbs that indicate precisely these elements:

THE PARTS OF THE VERB

What does a verb look like? Here are all the necessary “ingredients”:

•  the root, which contains the meaning of the verb [parl- for parlare (to speak)];

•  the thematic vowel, which tells us the conjugation. Together with the root, it forms the verb’s theme (parla-);

•  the desinence, the variable part that contains the grammatical information (-are for parlare).

THE THREE CONJUGATIONS

Italian verbs are classified into three conjugations on the basis of the ending of the infinitive:

•  the first conjugation is that of verbs in -are;
•  the second conjugation includes verbs in -ere;
•  the third conjugation is that of verbs in -ire.

Actually, as you see, the distinguishing element is not the desinence, but the thematic vowel:
-a for verbs of the first conjugation, -e for those of the second and -i for those of the third.

There are, however, exceptions concerning the second conjugation:

Verbs in -rre

Verbs in –rre such as trarre (to draw), porre (to place) and condurre (to lead) belong to the second conjugation due to their Latin origin (trahere, ponere, conducere);

Dire & Fare

dire (to say) and fare (to do) are two verbs derived from the Latin dicere and facere. This is why they can be treated as irregular verbs of the second conjugation, although many prefer to attribute them to the third and first conjugation respectively on the basis of the termination.

Most Italian verbs belong to the first conjugation.

Knowing the conjugation of a verb, in general, is important because it allows us to know how all its modes and tenses are formed, following a fixed pattern of behaviour.

THE FIRST CONJUGATION -ARE

Let’s have a look at the first conjugation with the verb PORTARE (to bring) as an example.

Verbs of the first conjugation are those with the infinitive in -are, such as parlare.

However, there are some peculiarities to bear in mind:

•  verbs in –care (giocare, to play) and –gare (pagare, to pay) retain the hard C and G even in forms with a desinence beginning with E or I by adding an H between the root and the desinence (gochiamo, pagherò)

•  verbs in –ciare (baciare, to kiss) and –giare (mangiare, to eat) lose the I if the desinence begins with E (bacerò, mangerei)

•  verbs in –eare (creare, to create) retain the E even before another E (creeremo).

THE SECOND CONJUGATION -ERE

Let’s have a look at the first conjugation with the verb TEMERE (to fear) as an example.

The second conjugation includes verbs with the infinitive in –ere or in –rre. However, attention must be paid to some particularities:

•  Verbs in –cere (vincere, to win) and –gere (piangere, to weep) usually have a soft sound before -E or -I (vinci, piangere), while they take on the hard sound before -A and -O (vinca, piangere).

Exceptions are verbs such as cuocere that retain the soft sound of the infinitive even before the vowels -A and -O with the insertion of an I between root and desinence (cuocio);

• In verbs such as tenere the thematic vowel -E becomes a diphthong (-IE) in tonic position, i.e. accented (tieni, teniamo).

THE THIRD CONJUGATION -IRE

Let’s have a look at the first conjugation with the verb PARTIRE (to leave) as an example.

Verbs of the third conjugation have the infinitive in –ire.

Many verbs, however, add the suffix -isc to the root in the three singular persons and the third plural of the indicative (capire capisco) and the present subjunctive (capisci).

The suffix derives from Latin where it indicated the incoative aspect: don’t let the big word scare you off, it just means that it was used to give the verb the meaning of cominciare (begin to).

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