Italian -ARE Verbs
Italian -ARE verbs are the verbs whose infinitive ends in -are, such as parlare, mangiare and studiare. They form the largest and most regular group in Italian, so one set of endings lets you conjugate hundreds of everyday verbs.
To conjugate a regular -ARE verb, remove -are from the infinitive and add an ending that shows who does the action. With parlare (to speak), the stem is parl- and the present tense is parlo, parli, parla, parliamo, parlate, parlano. The imperfetto adds -av- to the stem (parlavo, parlavi, parlava), and the past participle ends in -ato (parlato). Most new verbs that enter Italian, like chattare or postare, join this group, which is one reason it is so large.
The future and the conditional need one extra step: the a of the infinitive changes to e. You say parlerò (I will speak) and parlerei (I would speak), never parlarò. The present subjunctive swaps the vowel the other way: the -ARE verbs take -i in the singular (che io parli, che lei parli) and -ino in the third person plural (che parlino), where -ERE and -IRE verbs use -a and -ano.
Some -ARE verbs change their spelling, but not their pronunciation. Verbs in -care and -gare add an h before e or i to keep the hard sound: cerchi, cerchiamo, cercherò; paghi, paghiamo, pagherò. Verbs in -ciare and -giare drop the i of the stem before e or i, because the soft sound no longer needs it: mangi, mangiamo, mangerò; cominci, comincerò. Verbs in -iare such as studiare and cambiare keep only one i when the ending already starts with i: studi, studiamo, cambi. Each pattern has its own section below.
Most -ARE verbs take avere in compound tenses (ho parlato, abbiamo mangiato). Verbs of movement or change of state take essere, and their participle agrees with the subject: sono arrivato or sono arrivata, siamo tornati, è diventata. Four very common verbs end in -are but do not follow these rules: fare, dare, stare and andare. Andare, for example, gives vado, vai, va, andiamo, andate, vanno and the future andrò. These four verbs are on the Italian Irregular Verbs page. Fare also comes from the older infinitive facere, which explains forms like faccio and facevo.
Model verb: parlare
Use parlare as your template for every regular -ARE verb. Notice that the noi form ends in -iamo (parliamo) and the voi form keeps the a (parlate). In the future and the conditional the a becomes e (parlerò, parlerebbe), and the passato remoto uses -ai, -asti, -ò (parlai, parlasti, parlò). The tu imperative is parla, but the negative tu imperative is non parlare, with the infinitive.
| io | parlo |
|---|---|
| tu | parli |
| lui / lei | parla |
| noi | parliamo |
| voi | parlate |
| loro | parlano |
Regular -ARE
These verbs follow parlare with no spelling change: remove -are and add -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, -ano (lavoro, lavori, lavora). The past participle ends in -ato (comprato, guardato, imparato) and the future in -erò (aspetterò, tornerò). Most take avere, but arrivare, entrare, restare, diventare and tornare normally take essere: sono entrata, siamo restati.
-care / -gare
Verbs that end in -care or -gare add an h before endings that start with e or i, so the c and g keep their hard sound. Cercare gives cerco, cerchi, cerchiamo and the future cercherò; pagare gives pago, paghi, paghiamo and pagherò. The h also appears in the present subjunctive (che tu giochi, che loro dimentichino) and the conditional (spiegherei). Before a and o nothing changes: cerca, paga, gioco.
-ciare / -giare
In verbs that end in -ciare or -giare, the i only shows that the c or g is soft. Before e or i the sound is already soft, so the i drops: mangi (not mangii), mangiamo, mangerò, cominci, comincerò, lascerò, viaggerei. Before a and o the i stays: mangio, mangiava, lascio, viaggiano.
-iare
Verbs in -iare such as studiare, cambiare and iniziare keep the i in most forms, but they never write two i's when the ending starts with i. So the tu form is studi (not studii), the noi form is studiamo and cambiamo, and the present subjunctive is che studino and che inizino. Unlike -ciare and -giare verbs, they keep the i in the future: studierò, cambierò, inizierò. A few verbs whose i is stressed in the io form, like inviare (invio), keep both i's: tu invii.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the present tense endings of Italian -ARE verbs?
- The endings are -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, -ano. Add them to the stem, which is the infinitive without -are: parlo, parli, parla, parliamo, parlate, parlano.
- Why does cercare become cerchi and not cerci?
- In Italian, c before i or e sounds like the English ch in church. Cercare has a hard k sound, so it adds an h to keep that sound: cerchi, cerchiamo, cercherò. Pagare does the same with g: paghi, pagherò.
- Why is the future of mangiare mangerò and not mangierò?
- The i in mangiare only makes the g soft before a or o. Before e the g is already soft, so the i drops: mangerò, mangerei. Cominciare, lasciare and viaggiare follow the same rule (comincerò, lascerò, viaggerò).
- Are fare, dare, stare and andare -ARE verbs?
- Their infinitives end in -are, but they are irregular, so they are on the Italian Irregular Verbs page. For example, andare has vado and andrò, stare has sto and stetti, and dare has diedi in the passato remoto. Fare comes from the older form facere, which gives faccio and facevo.
- Do -ARE verbs take essere or avere?
- Most take avere: ho parlato, ho mangiato. Verbs of movement or change, such as arrivare, entrare, tornare, restare and diventare, take essere, and the participle agrees with the subject: è arrivata, sono tornati.