Taking Action in Italian Using Regular ARE Verbs What are Infinitives? In English, infinitives are the words To + a verb, such as: to play to read to study Italian Infinitives In Italian, infinitives end in the following letters: ARE, ERE or IRE. Such as: Parlare to speak Scrivere to write Sentire to feel What is conjugation? Conjugation is the act of changing an infinitive to a verb used with a subject. For example: To speak Parlare We speak Noi parliamo Conjugating Italian Verbs Step 1: Find the stem of the verb, using the following formula: Infinitive – ARE = Stem Parlare – ARE = Parl Conjugating Italian Verbs Step 2: Bring down the stem to each pronoun. io tu parl parl lui, lei, Lei parl noi parl voi parl loro, Loro parl Conjugating Italian Verbs Step 3: Add the correct endings to the stems io parlo noi parliamo tu voi parlate parli lui, lei, Lei parla loro, Loro parlano Important points to remember • Do NOT translate the word do in Italian verbs it’s already understood: tu parli- you speak, you do speak, you are speaking • When making sentences negative, put the word non directly in front of the verb: tu non parli- you don’t speak, you are not speaking Important Points to Remember • When writing questions, the verb comes before the subject: Parli tu l’italiano? Do you speak Italian? Un po’ di prattica! Translate the following in your notes! We study French. I travel a lot. He explains the lesson. They speak German.