Regular -are Verbs

The -are verbs are the largest and most regular family of Italian verbs, and learning their conjugation pattern is one of the fastest ways to dramatically expand what you can say. Verbs like parlare (to speak), mangiare (to eat), lavorare (to work), studiare (to study), abitare (to live), and guardare (to watch) all follow the same six endings in the present tense: -o, -i, -a, -iamo, -ate, -ano. Once you internalize this pattern, hundreds of verbs become instantly usable — just drop the -are ending and slot in the one you need.

So parlare becomes io parlo, tu parli, lui/lei parla, noi parliamo, voi parlate, loro parlano. The stress pattern is worth noting: the loro form (parlano, mangiano, lavorano) is stressed on the stem, not the ending, which often trips up learners who expect it to sound like "par-LA-no." A few spelling adjustments are also built into the system. Verbs ending in -care and -gare (cercare, pagare) add an h before -i and -iamo to keep the hard sound: cerchi, cerchiamo, paghi, paghiamo. Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare (cominciare, mangiare) drop the i before -i and -iamo to avoid a double i: cominci, cominciamo, mangi, mangiamo. Verbs ending in -iare (studiare) also drop the extra i: studi, not studii.

These tiny spelling tweaks might seem picky, but they're invisible rules Italians apply without thinking, and they'll quickly become second nature to you too. Because -are verbs cover such a huge slice of everyday actions — talking, eating, working, studying, arriving, living, loving, playing, traveling, cooking, singing, dancing — they're the backbone of basic conversation: Parlo italiano, Mangio una pizza, Lavoro a Roma, Studiamo insieme, Viaggiamo spesso in Italia.

The -are family also includes verbs that share roots with many English words, which gives you a huge vocabulary boost almost for free: preparare, visitare, arrivare, entrare, rispettare, importare, esportare, considerare, continuare. Once you know the conjugation pattern, a single rule unlocks thousands of cognates you can suddenly understand and use. The exercises below will drill the six endings across a wide set of verbs, including the spelling-change verbs, in contexts ranging from daily routines to short dialogues. Aim for automaticity: when you see a new -are verb later in your studies, you should already know exactly how to conjugate it without stopping to think, which is the reflex you need to move on to -ere and -ire verbs.