Cercare means “to look for” or “to search for.” With di and an infinitive it also means “to try,” so it covers two very frequent English verbs at once.
Infinitive
cercare
English
to look for, to search
Auxiliary
avere
Past participle
cercato
Gerund
cercando
-care verb: the c of cerc- must stay hard, so an h is written before every ending that begins with e or i. In the present that affects only tu cerchi and noi cerchiamo; cerco, cerca, cercate and cercano need no h. The future and conditional are cercherò and cercherei throughout, and the present subjunctive is cerchi in the singular and cerchino in the third person plural. The polite imperative is cerchi, signora. The imperfect, passato remoto and participle are regular -ARE: cercavo, cercai, cercato.
Cercare takes its object directly, with no word for “for”: cerco le chiavi, cerchiamo casa, sto cercando lavoro. A sign that says cercasi cameriere means “waiter wanted.” The second big use is cercare di plus an infinitive, which means making an effort: cerca di dormire un po', cercherò di arrivare presto. Shop assistants often ask cerca qualcosa? (“are you looking for something?”), and on the phone chi cerca? asks who the caller wants to speak to. For searching online Italians say cercare su Google or cercare in rete.
Cercare takes avere: ho cercato, avevamo cercato dappertutto. The participle agrees with a direct object pronoun in front of the verb: la borsa? L'ho cercata ovunque. Cercarsi, used for problems you bring on yourself, takes essere: se l'è cercata.
Cercare in context
Presente:Scusi, cerco la fermata dell'autobus per il centro. (Excuse me, I'm looking for the bus stop for the city centre.)
Presente:Perché non cerchiamo un ristorante vicino alla stazione? (Why don't we look for a restaurant near the station?)
Passato Prossimo:Ho cercato il passaporto per tutta la mattina. (I looked for my passport all morning.)
Imperfetto:Quando ti ho chiamato, cercavo parcheggio da mezz'ora. (When I called you, I had been looking for a parking space for half an hour.)
Futuro Semplice:Cercherò di finire il lavoro entro venerdì. (I'll try to finish the work by Friday.)
Congiuntivo Presente:Il capo vuole che cerchiate una soluzione insieme. (The boss wants you to look for a solution together.)
Imperativo:Cerca di stare calmo, va tutto bene. (Try to stay calm, everything is fine.)
Common expressions with cercare
cercare di + infinitive: to try to do something. Cerco di studiare ogni giorno. For trying something new, like a food, Italians use provare instead.
cercasi: wanted. Used on signs and in ads: cercasi commessa, cercasi appartamento.
cercare guai: to look for trouble. Stai cercando guai? is a warning, as in English.
cercarsela: to ask for it, to bring it on yourself. Se l'è cercata: “he had it coming.”
cercare un ago in un pagliaio: to look for a needle in a haystack
Common mistakes
Cerco il mio telefono., not Cerco per il mio telefono. (I'm looking for my phone.). Cercare already contains the meaning of “look for,” so the object follows directly. Adding per is a literal translation of “for.”
Tu cerchi sempre scuse., not Tu cerci sempre scuse. (You're always looking for excuses.). Without the h, cerci would be read with a soft ch sound. The h keeps the hard c of cerco before an i.
Cerco di capire., not Cerco a capire. (I'm trying to understand.). In the sense of “to try,” cercare is followed by di and an infinitive, never by a.
Avere. You say ho cercato and abbiamo cercato, and the participle does not change with the subject: Laura ha cercato un regalo. It agrees only with a preceding direct object pronoun: le ho cercate.
Why is it cerchi and not cerci?
In Italian spelling, c before i or e sounds like the ch in “church.” To keep the hard k sound of the infinitive, cercare inserts h before those vowels: cerchi, cerchiamo, cercherò. The sound stays the same as in cerco.
Is cercare irregular?
No. Cercare is a regular -ARE verb with a spelling change in some forms. The extra h does not change the pronunciation, and the endings are the same as parlare.
What is the difference between cercare di and provare a?
Cercare di means making an effort toward a result: cerco di non arrabbiarmi. Provare a means having a go to see what happens: prova a spegnere e riaccendere. In many sentences both work, but provare a sounds more like an experiment.