
104 Italian Demystifi ed
Present Indicative of -are Verbs
Parli italiano? Do you speak Italian? The verb used in this question is parlare,
which means to speak. Parlare is the infi nitive form of the verb. Parli is its second-
person singular (you) form.
Infi nitives ending in -are, such as parlare, are called fi rst-conjugation verbs.
Such verbs, when classifi ed as regular, are conjugated by adding the endings -o, -i,
-a, -iamo, -ate, -ano to the stem of the verb (in this case, it would be parl-). Any
-are verb that is not conjugated like this is called, logically enough, irregular, which
means it does not follow the normal rules of conjugation.
The indicative is used in all languages to express or indicate facts. It is the most
commonly used mood in everyday conversation. The present, as its name implies,
is the particular tense that allows us to express facts in the present time or related to
it in some way.
As mentioned, to conjugate regular fi rst-conjugation verbs in the present indica-
tive, drop the infi nitive ending -are (parl-), and add on the endings according to the
person (fi rst, second, third) and number (singular and plural).
Singular
(io) parlo I speak, am speaking, do speak
(tu) parli you (familiar) speak, are speaking, do speak
(Lei) parla you (polite) speak, are speaking, do speak
(lui/lei) parla he/she speaks, is speaking, does speak
Plural
(noi) parliamo we speak, are speaking, do speak
(voi) parlate you (familiar plural) speak, are speaking, do speak
(Loro) parlano you (polite plural) speak, are speaking, do speak
(loro) parlano (pAhr-lah-noh) they speak, are speaking, do speak
NOTE: The Italian present indicative is a versatile tense that translates three dif-
ferent ways in English (I speak, I am speaking, I do speak).
Let’s quickly review some of what you have previously learned in Part I of this
book. It’s important to understand this now before moving on to subsequent
chapters.