-are verbs

In an earlier post we learned that verbs are playas - they get the action. We saw that verbs in the dictionary are in a pure "off the rack" form called the infinitve that must be altered to "fit the dimensions" of the person doing the verb. You don't say, "Hi, I to be Pino," you say, "I am Pino." And we learned our first irregular verb, essere (to be). We called it irregular because the way it changes doesn't follow a predictable pattern, unlike most verbs (which are called regular).

Well today we're going to learn the first of three patterns regular verbs follow when they conjugate. The pattern a verb follows is determined by its ending in the infinitive (or "dictionary form"). All Italian verbs end in either -are, -ere or -ire in the dictionary. The pattern we'll look at today is the one followed by regular verbs ending in -are. We'll take "parlare" (to speak or talk) as an example.

parlare

io parlo

tu parli

Lei parla

lui/lei parla

noi parliamo

voi parlate

loro parlano

So to conjugate a regular -are verb, you remove the -are of the infinitve and attach the ending (shown in bold) that matches the particular person doing the verb (the subject). The beauty is, this works like clockwork no matter what the regular -are verb. So by memorizing these few endings, you'll be able to express yourself in a wide array of situations. You'll be able to say you love, hate, eat, fly, dance, sing or play - all -are verbs in Italian. That's the beauty of grammar - you learn a little, and say a lot. Ciao for now!