Learn what it means to conjugate a verb
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| Michael: What does it mean to conjugate an Italian verb? |
| Ofelia: And what are the basic ways to do it? |
| Michael: At ItalianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. |
| Listen to the following conversation. Ben Lee, a college student, is talking to his friend about her eating habits. She says, "I eat a lot of pasta." |
| Federica Fontana: Mangio molta pasta. |
| Federica Fontana: Mangio molta pasta. |
| Ben Lee: Mangerò la pasta a pranzo. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Federica Fontana: Mangio molta pasta. |
| Michael: "I eat a lot of pasta." |
| Ben Lee: Mangerò la pasta a pranzo. |
| Michael: "I'll eat pasta for lunch." |
| Michael: A lot of students find the idea of conjugating verbs intimidating. But it's something that most Italian students are already doing in their native language. For example, English speakers understand that if they want to say "I eat" and "she eats," they need to use a different form of the verb "eat." When talking in the first person, it's simply "eat," but when talking about other people, it's "eats." Italian simply presents a more complicated version of this very pattern. |
| For example, the infinitive of the verb, "to eat," |
| Ofelia: mangiare, |
| Michael: changes its form depending on whether someone is talking about themselves in the first person, or others in the third person. It will also change depending on other factors, too. |
| Verbs change depending on their tense — that is whether they're talking about the past or the future. They'll also change based on their voice — whether they're active or passive. And finally, they'll change based on what is called "mood." This refers to whether a verb is being used to talk about reality in a concrete way, or to issue a command, or else to speculate, talk about wishes or dreams, or other things that aren't grounded in reality. Italian is a heavily inflected language, and its verbs have lots of different endings depending on all of these factors. This may sound like a lot, but really you don't have to master all of them right away. Let's start with the basics. |
| The infinitive, or |
| Ofelia: infinito, |
| Michael: is the unconjugated form of the verb, the one you'll find in the dictionary. Italian verbs are divided into three main conjugation groups, according to their infinitive endings. |
| Verbs of the first conjugation end in –are. For example, |
| Ofelia: mangiare |
| Michael: means "to eat." |
| Verbs of the second conjugation end in –ere. For example, |
| Ofelia: leggere |
| Michael: means "to read." |
| Verbs of the third conjugation end in –ire. For example, |
| Ofelia: dormire |
| Michael: means "to sleep." |
| Each group has a regular conjugation pattern, but the pattern differs for each one. |
| Michael: Now, Italian has a lot of irregular verbs, also, which means they don't follow these patterns. But most Italian verbs follow one of these three systems of conjugation. |
| Each conjugation pattern has different endings you'll need to add to the verb stem. To get the stem of a verb, all you have to do is take away -are, -ere, or -ire. |
| So the stem of |
| Ofelia: parlare |
| Michael: is |
| Ofelia: parl- |
| Michael: the stem of |
| Ofelia: leggere |
| Michael: Is |
| Ofelia: legg- |
| Michael: and the stem of |
| Ofelia: dormire |
| Michael: is |
| Ofelia: dorm-. |
| Michael: As mentioned above, endings are affected by mood, tense, person, number, and sometimes even gender. |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Ben's friend says, |
| "I eat a lot of pasta." |
| [Pause 4 seconds] |
| Federica Fontana |
| Mangio molta pasta. |
| Michael: Here, she inflects the infinitive verb, |
| Ofelia: mangiare, |
| Michael: to |
| Ofelia: mangio. |
| Michael: She puts the verb into the first person singular of the present tense. |
| Now let's take a look at Ben's response |
| Do you remember how Ben says, |
| "I'll eat pasta for lunch." |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Ofelia: Mangerò la pasta a pranzo. |
| Michael: Here, Ben inflects the verb, |
| Ofelia: mangiare, |
| Michael: to |
| Ofelia: mangerò. |
| Michael: He also puts the verb into the first person singular form. But he's using the future tense, because he's talking about something that will happen later in the day. |
| While English would use helping verbs to accomplish the same thing, Italian changes the sound at the end of the word. Listen one more time. Pay close attention to the difference. Ben's friend says, |
| Ofelia: mangio. |
| And Ben says, |
| Ofelia: Mangerò. |
| Michael: That difference in the ending sound is enough to convey information about the tense. |
| Michael: Now let's look at one more example. We used a first conjugation verb ending in |
| Ofelia: -are |
| Michael: in our dialogue. Now let's consider a second conjugation verb ending in - |
| Ofelia: ere. |
| Michael: Our example is the infinitive verb, |
| Ofelia: leggere (enunciated). |
| leggere, |
| Michael: meaning "to read." The stem of this word is |
| Ofelia: legg-. |
| Michael: Let's see the conjugation of this verb in the first person singular of the present tense and the same person and number in the future tense. We'll only be using indicative mood and active voice here. |
| To make the first person singular of the present tense, simply add an |
| Ofelia: -o |
| Michael: to the stem. |
| Ofelia: Leggo. |
| Michael: Now to say, "I will read," simply add |
| Ofelia: -erò |
| Michael: To the stem. |
| Ofelia: leggerò. |
| Michael: That's all there is to it! |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the Italian speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Ben's friend says, |
| "I eat a lot of pasta." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Mangio molta pasta. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Mangio molta pasta. |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Mangio molta pasta. |
| Michael: And do you remember how Ben Lee says, |
| "I'll eat pasta for lunch." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Mangerò la pasta a pranzo. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Mangerò la pasta a pranzo. |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Mangerò la pasta a pranzo. |
| Michael: Italian verb conjugation is actually one of the most challenging things, even for native speakers. But don't panic! If you get started with the regular verbs in the indicative present tense, you'll soon familiarize yourself with the conjugation patterns! |
| Michael: Great job. Now you know the basics of conjugating verbs in Italian. That's all there is to it! |
| Be sure to download the lesson notes for this lesson at ItalianPod101.com — and move onto the next lesson! |
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