Italian Present Tense of -ere Verbs: Rules and Exercises

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Italian verbs fall into three conjugations, recognisable by their infinitive ending: -are, -ere, -ire. Verbs ending in -ere form the second conjugation, and they are very common: vedere (to see), leggere (to read), scrivere (to write), prendere (to take), vivere (to live), rispondere (to answer). If you have already studied the present tense of -are verbs, this lesson will be a pleasant surprise: only a few endings change.

How to form the present tense of -ere verbs

Remove -ere from the infinitive and add the present-tense endings. Here are five very common regular verbs:

Person	Ending	vedere (to see)	prendere (to take)	scrivere (to write)	vivere (to live)
io	-o	vedo	prendo	scrivo	vivo
tu	-i	vedi	prendi	scrivi	vivi
lui / lei / Lei	-e	vede	prende	scrive	vive
noi	-iamo	vediamo	prendiamo	scriviamo	viviamo
voi	-ete	vedete	prendete	scrivete	vivete
loro	-ono	vedono	prendono	scrivono	vivono

The same pattern works for hundreds of verbs: leggere (to read), mettere (to put), chiudere (to close), correre (to run), vendere (to sell), credere (to believe), ricevere (to receive), perdere (to lose), spendere (to spend), decidere (to decide), chiedere (to ask), ripetere (to repeat), rispondere (to answer). All of them take the same six endings ^[1].

-are, -ere and -ire compared

The three conjugations share almost everything. The differences are in only a few persons:

Person	-are (parlare)	-ere (vedere)	-ire (partire)
io	parlo	vedo	parto
tu	parli	vedi	parti
lui / lei	parla	vede	parte
noi	parliamo	vediamo	partiamo
voi	parlate	vedete	partite
loro	parlano	vedono	partono

Notice that -ere and -ire verbs are identical in five persons out of six: only voi differs (-ete versus -ite). The -are verb, on the other hand, has -a in the third person singular and -ano in the third person plural. A good memory trick: in -ere verbs the vowel is always e (vede, vedete) except in the third person plural, where you find -ono.

The sounds of c and g: watch your pronunciation

In many -ere verbs the stem ends in c or g. The spelling stays the same in the whole conjugation, but the sound changes depending on the vowel that follows: hard before o, soft before i and e.

• leggere (to read): leggo (hard g), leggi (soft), legge (soft), leggiamo (soft), leggete (soft), leggono (hard);
• vincere (to win): vinco (hard c), vinci (soft), vince (soft), vinciamo (soft), vincete (soft), vincono (hard);
• conoscere (to know a person or place): conosco (hard sc), conosci (soft), conosce (soft), conosciamo, conoscete, conoscono (hard).

You do not add or remove any letters: the endings are the regular ones. You only have to read the right sound, and this will also help your writing. Note that the i in conosciamo only keeps the soft sound of sc before a: it is not pronounced as a separate vowel.

Stress: where does your voice go?

-ere verbs fall into two groups, and you can already hear the difference in the infinitive:

• some are stressed on the ending: vedére, avére, potére, volére, dovére, sapére;
• most are stressed on the stem: prèndere, scrìvere, lèggere, vìvere, chiùdere, méttere, córrere.

In the present tense the third person plural is never stressed on the ending: say prèndono, scrìvono, lèggono, vìvono, not “prendóno”. Even vedono is pronounced VÉ-do-no. To practise, read aloud, slowly at first and then at normal speed: vivo – viviamo, scrivi – scrivete, prende – prendono.

When to use the present tense

As with -are verbs, the present tense expresses:

• actions happening now: Leggo un messaggio. (I’m reading a message.)
• habits: La mattina prendo un caffè e leggo il giornale. (In the morning I have a coffee and read the newspaper.)
• general truths: L’acqua bolle a cento gradi. (Water boils at one hundred degrees.)
• the near, planned future: Domani prendo il treno delle otto. (Tomorrow I’m taking the eight o’clock train.)

The most useful -ere verbs to know

Area	Verbs
Daily life	prendere, mettere, chiudere, vendere, vivere, correre, spendere
Communication	scrivere, leggere, rispondere, chiedere, ripetere, decidere
Knowledge and study	vedere, conoscere, credere, ricevere, perdere
Irregular verbs to learn soon	bere, sapere, rimanere, scegliere (we will see them in a separate lesson)

Some of the most frequent Italian verbs are irregular and belong to the second conjugation, for example bere (to drink: bevo, bevi, beve…) and sapere (to know a fact: so, sai, sa…). Dire and fare also belong to the second conjugation, because they come from the Latin verbs dicere and facere ^[3]; the same is true of porre, trarre and condurre ^[2][3]. We will look at them in the lesson on irregular present-tense verbs.

Mini-dialogue: a morning at the office

Marta: Che cosa prendi, un caffè o un tè?
Luca: Prendo un caffè, grazie. Leggo le email e rispondo ai clienti prima delle nove.
Marta: E quando chiudete l’ufficio?
Luca: Chiudiamo alle sei, ma io spesso scrivo ancora un po’ a casa. Tu dove vivi?
Marta: Vivo a Locarno con mio fratello. Lui corre ogni mattina e vende biciclette in centro.

In English: Marta: What are you having, a coffee or a tea? Luca: A coffee, thanks. I read my emails and answer the clients before nine. Marta: And when do you close the office? Luca: We close at six, but I often still write a bit at home. Where do you live? Marta: I live in Locarno with my brother. He runs every morning and sells bicycles in the centre.

The most common mistakes

• “Io prendi” or “tu prendo”: always check the person. It is io prendo, tu prendi.
• “Voi vedite”: the voi form of -ere verbs ends in -ete (vedete); -ite belongs to -ire verbs (partite).
• “Loro leggeno”, “loro scriveno”: the third person plural is -ono: leggono, scrivono. Only -are verbs take -ano.
• One g or c too few: leggo has two g‘s; do not write “lego”.
• “Noi prendamo”: in all three conjugations the noi ending is -iamo: prendiamo, vediamo, partiamo.

Reading: Marco’s Saturday

Marco vive a Lugano e lavora in una libreria. Il sabato non lavora: si alza tardi, prende un cappuccino e legge il giornale. A mezzogiorno vede un’amica e mettono insieme una lista di film da guardare. Nel pomeriggio rispondono alle email dei clienti, scrivono due o tre messaggi e poi chiudono il computer. La sera i due amici prendono un gelato e decidono dove andare a cena.

In English: Marco lives in Lugano and works in a bookshop. On Saturdays he does not work: he gets up late, has a cappuccino and reads the newspaper. At noon he sees a friend and together they put a list of films to watch. In the afternoon they answer the clients’ emails, write two or three messages and then close the computer. In the evening the two friends have an ice cream and decide where to go for dinner.

Your turn: rewrite the text in the noi form (“Viviamo a Lugano…”) and then in the io form (“Vivo a Lugano…”). Check every ending: which verbs change and which do not?

Exercise 1: conjugate the verb in brackets

1. Marco (leggere) ______ il giornale ogni mattina.
2. Noi (prendere) ______ il treno alle otto.
3. Voi (scrivere) ______ molte email?
4. Io (vedere) ______ i miei amici il sabato.
5. Loro (vivere) ______ a Locarno.
6. Tu (rispondere) ______ sempre subito?
7. Noi (conoscere) ______ bene questa città.
8. Il negozio (chiudere) ______ alle sette.

Answers: 1. legge – 2. prendiamo – 3. scrivete – 4. vedo – 5. vivono – 6. rispondi – 7. conosciamo – 8. chiude.

Exercise 2: find the mistake

1. Io prendi un caffè al bar.
2. Voi vedite il film stasera?
3. Noi scriviamo una lettera.
4. Loro leggeno il libro.
5. Lucia vive a Zurigo.

Answers: 1. prendo. 2. vedete. 3. Correct. 4. leggono. 5. Correct.

Think about it: describe your day in six sentences using six different -ere verbs. Then read the sentences aloud: are the sounds of c and g correct?

Keep learning

• The present tense of -are verbs
• The verbs essere and avere
• Italian definite and indefinite articles
• Italian grammar course A1

Let’s practise together

Conjugation is learnt by using it. Book a free trial lesson or check your level with the free test. For a structured path, join the course waiting list.

Sources

• [1] Blum, Gemmani, “Indicativo presente”, in D’accordo! (University of Iowa Pressbooks) (accessed 24 October 2026)
• [2] “Le coniugazioni”, Sapere.it (Virgilio) (accessed 24 October 2026)
• [3] “Seconda coniugazione attiva: Temere”, Studentville (accessed 24 October 2026)

Tables, dialogue, reading text and exercises come from my experience teaching Italian to foreign learners.