Italian, Lesson 3: -are ending verbs

Italian

Ciao a tutti! Sono Taras.

  • Chi sono? – Who am I?
  • Chi sei? – Who are you?
  • Chi è? – Who’s that/there?

Note: Chi pronounces as [ki]. Ch before vowel sounds as [k]. C before vowel sounds as [ch]

Okay, as we know from Lesson 1, Italian verbs are used in different forms for different pronouns. Happily there are only 3 types of verbs (we skip special cases for now) – ending on -are, -ere and -ire.

Verbs ending on -ARE. Parlare – 1st type verb

Today we gonna learn the conjunction rules for the first type of the verbs. First example will be parlare – to speak verb:

Parlare – singular and plural forms
  • io parlo – I speak
  • tu parli – you speak
  • lei/lui parla – she/he speaks
  • noi parliamo – we speak
  • voi parlate – you speak
  • noi parlano – they speak

The rule is easy – verb root parl- stays, ending changes. In English we also make corrections: I speak, He/she speaks. English is simpler.

Stress – in most italian words stress falls on the second syllable from the end: parlo, parli, parla, parliamo, parlate. BUT -ano in verbs is never under stress – parlano – stress shifts to the beginning. 

  • Io parlo l’Italiano! – I speak Italian!
  • Parli l’Inglese? – Do you speak English?

Let’s do the same with couple more words – abitare (to live), studiare (to study) and amare (to love):

Abitare (to live)
  • io abito – I live
  • tu abiti – you live
  • lei/lui abita – she/he lives
  • noi abitiamo – we live
  • voi abitate – you live
  • loro abitano – they live
Studiare (to study)
  • io studio – I study
  • tu studi – you study
  • lei/lui studia – she/he studies
  • noi studiamo – we study
  • voi studiate – you study
  • loro studiano – they study

If a root has a necessary vowel in the end, we don’t need add another one: studiare – tu studi, NOT studii.

Amare (to love)
  • io amo – I love
  • tu ami – you love
  • lei/lui ama – she/he loves
  • noi amiamo – we love
  • voi amate – you love
  • loro amano – they love

(Stress is always on the second to last vowel: amo, ami, ama, amiamo, amate. Except -ano – stress shifts to beginning – amano).

Perfetto! We learned a lot today. More to learn next time.

Ciao!