Italian Regular Verb Endings

The Italian language has a large number of so-called irregular verbs, including staple verbs such as essere and avere. These are verbs that have endings in some tenses and for some persons that do not follow a regular pattern (even one mere irregular tense can cause a verb to be defined as irregular).

However, an even vaster number of Italian verbs do follow a regular pattern, and, once mastered, that pattern can be easily applied to like verbs.

Three Conjugations

As you know from studying the basics of Italian verbs, they divide in three families based on their endings as grouped in conjugations: verbs in -are (first conjugation), -ere (second conjugation), and -ire (third conjugation). The verbs mangiare (to eat), credere (to believe), and partire (to leave) are good examples of regular verbs in each of them. In the third conjugation there is a sub-family of verbs (which are regular) that are the verbs in -isc or -isco. Among them is the verb finire (to finish), and also capire (to understand) and preferire (to prefer).

Below are tables showing the endings of the three conjugations for regular verbs in the present indicative, the imperfect indicative, the remote past, and the simple future. This is a good place to start to learn the tenses and conjugations of regular verbs.

Present Indicative Endings

The presente is, of course, the tense of today, or now. In English it translates to I eat or I am eating. These are the endings of the presente.

(Note that the -isc infix needs to be added to the stem of all three singular persons and the third person plural in the present indicative, in the present subjunctive tense, as well as some persons in the imperative tense.)

Let's look at the full present indicative conjugation of our four sample verbs. It is helpful to see them alongside each other and to read them through side by side to see and hear the similarities and differences. Once you have learned the basic pattern, it will become rote.

Imperfect Indicative Endings

The imperfetto indicativo is the past tense used for background actions and actions that repeat themselves in the past. "I used to always to go my grandmother's house for lunch" is a good example of the Italian imperfetto. Here are the endings for this tense for regular verbs in the three conjugations.

And here is the full imperfetto indicativo conjugation of our four regular sample verbs. Again, it helps to see them and read them out loud side by side to see the differences between them. Note that the -isc infix has no bearing on the imperfetto.

Indicative Remote Past Endings

Here are the endings for the regular verbs in the three conjugations for the remote or absolute past tense, the Italian passato remoto.

And here is the passato remoto conjugation for the four sample verbs. Note that, again, the -isc infix has no bearing on this tense.

Simple Future Indicative Endings

Here are the endings for the three conjugations in the simple future indicative.

And here is the full conjugation of our sample verbs in the future tense. Again, it helps to look at them and read them out loud side by side to compare the differences and get the sound of each conjugation in your mind.

Buono studio!