| DIALOGO | DIALOGUE |
|---|---|
| A: Cosa leggi? | What are you reading? |
| B: Leggo un libro di Camilleri, un famoso scrittore italiano. | I read a book by Camilleri, a famous Italian writer. |
| A: Sembra interessante. | It looks interesting. |
| B: Sì, lo è. | Yes, it is. |
| A: Che libri ti piacciono? | What kind of books do you like? |
| B: Mi piacciono generi diversi ma leggo molti libri gialli. | I enjoy different genres but I read many crime books. |
To conjugate -ere verbs at the presente indicativo tense, we have to follow the same process as with -are verbs. That is, you take the infinitive form of the verb (for example, leggere), then drop the ending -ere, leaving you with legg-, and finally add the appropriate endings:
| Subject | Leggere (-ERE conjugation) | To read |
|---|---|---|
| Io | leggo | I read |
| Tu | leggi | You read |
| Lui / Lei | legge | He / She reads |
| Noi | leggiamo | We read |
| Voi | leggete | You read |
| Loro | leggono | They read |
*Some -ere verbs, like lèggere, have the stress on the first "e" of the infinitive but some others have the stress on the other syllables. For instance, take the verb conoscére: here the stress is on the penultimate syllable. When in doubt, check a dictionary.
To recap, the pattern of the indicativo presente of regular verbs ending in -ere is:
| Subject | -ERE pattern |
|---|---|
| Io | -O |
| Tu | -I |
| Lui / Lei | -E |
| Noi | -IAMO |
| Voi | -ETE |
| Loro | -ONO |
EXERCISE