Verbs & Actions
What happens in the story?
The heart of every sentence
Verbs bring stories to life. They tell what characters do, want, can, and must. Fortunately, most Italian verbs follow three predictable patterns.
The irregular verbs we cover are so frequent that you'll encounter them in almost every paragraph. With this knowledge, you can follow the main thread of any story.
The 3 Regular Patterns
Recognize the pattern, understand hundreds of verbs
About 90% of all Italian verbs follow one of these three patterns. If you know these, you can often guess the meaning of new verbs. Note: in Italian, the subject (io, tu, lui, etc.) is usually omitted because the verb form already indicates who performs the action. We show them here for clarity, but in normal sentences you would just say "parlo" instead of "io parlo".
-ARE verbs (the largest group)
This pattern is the most common. Look at the endings:
Common -ARE verbs
-ERE verbs
The second group, fewer verbs but very frequent:
Common -ERE verbs
-IRE verbs (two subgroups!)
Note: some -ire verbs add -isc- in the singular:
Common -IRE verbs
The Essential Irregulars
These verbs are everywhere
These six verbs are irregular but so frequent that you must know them by heart. They appear in almost every conversation and story.
FARE (to do/make)
Important expressions with FARE
ANDARE (to go)
VENIRE (to come)
Modal verbs - Want, Can, Must
Use these verbs with an infinitive: posso mangiare (I can eat)
VOLERE (to want)
POTERE (can/may)
DOVERE (must/have to)
Questions & Negations
Essential for dialogues
In stories, characters ask questions and deny things. These words help you understand dialogues.
Question words
Making questions - Three ways
Negations with NON
Place NON before the verb:
Other negative words
These words are often used WITH non: