Italian -ERE Verbs
Italian -ERE verbs are the second conjugation, with infinitives like credere, prendere and leggere. Their present tense is regular, but many of them have an irregular past participle that you must learn one by one.
Regular -ERE verbs take the endings -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ete, -ono in the present tense (credo, credi, crede, crediamo, credete, credono), and their past participle ends in -uto (creduto, venduto, ricevuto). Watch the stress: most of these verbs are stressed on the stem, like CRE-de-re and PREN-de-re, but a few are stressed on the ending, like ca-DE-re. The verbs on this page are split into two groups: verbs with a regular participle, and the much larger group with an irregular participle such as preso, letto or chiuso.
Many of the most common verbs that end in -ere are so irregular that they are on the Italian Irregular Verbs page instead: essere, avere, volere, potere, dovere, sapere, piacere, rimanere, scegliere, tenere and bere. Bere is a shortened form of the older infinitive bevere, which is why its forms use the stem bev- (bevo, bevevo, bevuto).
Model verb: credere
Credere shows the regular -ERE endings. Compare it with parlare: the vowel of the ending is e where -ARE verbs have a (crede, credete, credevo), the future is crederò, and the participle is creduto. The present subjunctive uses -a (che io creda, che loro credano). In the passato remoto, credere has the forms credetti, credette, credettero.
| io | credo |
|---|---|
| tu | credi |
| lui / lei | crede |
| noi | crediamo |
| voi | credete |
| loro | credono |
Regular -ERE
These verbs follow credere in the present tense and form the past participle with -uto: conosciuto, ricevuto, venduto, caduto, cresciuto. Conoscere and crescere add an i in the participle to keep the soft sh sound (conosciuto, cresciuto), and the io form is pronounced with a hard sk (conosco, cresco). Some verbs in this group still have an irregular passato remoto (conobbi, crebbi, caddi), and cadere has a short future, cadrò.
Irregular Past Participle
These verbs are regular in the present tense but have a short, irregular past participle: prendere gives preso, mettere messo, leggere letto, scrivere scritto, chiedere chiesto, chiudere chiuso, vincere vinto and rispondere risposto. Most of them use the same irregular stem in the passato remoto for io, lui/lei and loro (presi, prese, presero; scrissi, scrisse, scrissero). Nascere and scendere take essere (sono nato, è scesa), and vivere has a short future, vivrò.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the present tense endings of Italian -ERE verbs?
- The endings are -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ete, -ono: credo, credi, crede, crediamo, credete, credono. The io, tu and noi endings are the same as for -ARE verbs.
- What is the past participle of a regular -ERE verb?
- Regular -ERE verbs form it with -uto: credere becomes creduto, vendere becomes venduto, and ricevere becomes ricevuto. Many common -ERE verbs are irregular here, for example prendere (preso) and scrivere (scritto).
- Which -ERE verbs have an irregular past participle?
- Common ones are prendere (preso), mettere (messo), leggere (letto), scrivere (scritto), chiedere (chiesto), chiudere (chiuso), vivere (vissuto), correre (corso), perdere (perso), decidere (deciso) and nascere (nato).
- Where do I stress an -ERE infinitive?
- Most -ERE verbs are stressed on the stem: CRE-de-re, LEG-ge-re, SCRI-ve-re. A smaller group is stressed on the ending: ca-DE-re, ve-DE-re, sa-PE-re. The spelling does not show the difference, so learn the stress with each verb.
- Are essere and avere -ERE verbs?
- Their infinitives end in -ere, but they are fully irregular (sono, sei, è; ho, hai, ha), so they are on the Italian Irregular Verbs page with volere, potere, dovere, sapere and bere.