🔍 In short. Italian irregular present tense verbs are about twenty high-frequency forms that break the regular -are/-ere/-ire endings. The biggest groups are: monosyllabic first-person verbs (vado, do, sto, fo→faccio, so), -go insertion verbs (vengo, tengo, salgo, scelgo, rimango, spengo), modal verbs (voglio, posso, devo), -urre verbs (traduco, produco, conduco), plus essere, avere, dire, bere, uscire. This guide covers all the major patterns, when they apply, and the traps that trip A2 learners.
The italian irregular present tense looks intimidating but compresses into roughly six patterns. Once you internalise the patterns, the verbs that fall into each one come naturally, and you stop memorising separate paradigms one by one.
Cosa impareremo oggi
👆🏻 Jump to section
- Why some verbs are irregular
- Essere and avere: the basics
- Monosyllabic 1sg group: andare, fare, stare, dare, sapere
- The -go insertion group: venire, tenere, salire, rimanere
- Modal verbs: volere, potere, dovere
- Dire and bere: long Latin stem
- Verbs in -urre: tradurre, produrre, condurre
- Uscire and riuscire: e- root change
- Cheat sheet: italian irregular present tense
- Three common mistakes
- Dialog: planning a Saturday in Lucca
- Strategy: how to learn irregular verbs
- Frequently asked questions
- Related guides
Why some verbs are irregular
The italian irregular present tense exists because Italian inherited verb forms from Latin without flattening them into the modern -are/-ere/-ire patterns. Verbs that were already irregular two thousand years ago kept their irregularities; the most frequent ones in daily speech are the ones that resisted normalisation the most.
The good news is that almost all the irregular verbs you need to know are the high-frequency ones: essere, avere, andare, fare, stare, dare, sapere, venire, tenere, dire, bere, uscire, volere, potere, dovere, rimanere, salire, scegliere, spegnere, plus the -urre family. Twenty verbs cover 90% of the irregular forms you will use. The rest can wait until B1+.
Across all these verbs, the noi and voi forms tend to stay regular (or nearly so). Most of the irregularity concentrates on io, tu, lui/lei, and loro. This is a useful anchor when you forget a form: noi and voi rarely surprise you.
Essere and avere: the basics
Essere and avere are irregular in every tense and every mood of the italian irregular present tense. You learn them at A1 and use them at C2. They power the perfect tenses (ho mangiato, sono andato), the passive, the impersonal, the existential c’è. Drill them until they come out without thinking.
| Person | essere | avere |
|---|---|---|
| io | sono | ho |
| tu | sei | hai |
| lui/lei | è | ha |
| noi | siamo | abbiamo |
| voi | siete | avete |
| loro | sono | hanno |
- Pietro è il libraio di Lucca più conosciuto del centro storico.
Pietro is the most well-known bookseller in the Lucca historic centre. - Caterina ha una piccola sartoria in via Fillungo da quindici anni.
Caterina has had a small tailor shop in via Fillungo for fifteen years. - Loro sono di Padova ma vivono a Modena per lavoro.
They are from Padova but live in Modena for work.
The silent h in ho, hai, ha, hanno is a spelling convention that distinguishes the verb from the homophones o (or), ai (to the), a (to), anno (year). Native speakers do not pronounce it; learners must write it.
Monosyllabic 1sg group: andare, fare, stare, dare, sapere
Five verbs of the italian irregular present tense have a very short first-person singular: vado, faccio, sto, do, so. The forms come straight from Vulgar Latin; the noi and voi stay regular, the third-person plural ends in -nno attached to the singular root.
| Person | andare | fare | stare | dare | sapere |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| io | vado | faccio | sto | do | so |
| tu | vai | fai | stai | dai | sai |
| lui/lei | va | fa | sta | dà | sa |
| noi | andiamo | facciamo | stiamo | diamo | sappiamo |
| voi | andate | fate | state | date | sapete |
| loro | vanno | fanno | stanno | danno | sanno |
- Domani vado al mercato di Lucca alle nove di mattina.
Tomorrow I’m going to the Lucca market at nine in the morning. - Pietro fa il libraio da quasi vent’anni, conosce tutti i clienti per nome.
Pietro has been a bookseller for almost twenty years, he knows every customer by name. - Caterina sta finendo il vestito di una sposa di Modena entro venerdì.
Caterina is finishing a wedding dress for a Modena bride by Friday.
🔍 Accent on dà. The 3sg form of dare takes a grave accent (dà) to distinguish it from the preposition da. The 1sg do takes no accent in modern Italian (the old form dò is still found but the Crusca recommends do without accent). Same logic: sa 3sg of sapere vs sà archaic.
The -go insertion group: venire, tenere, salire, rimanere
Six verbs insert a g between the root and the ending in 1sg and 3pl. The middle forms (tu, lui/lei, noi, voi) stay close to the regular pattern. This is the signature of an old Latin alternation that survived only in these high-frequency verbs.
| Person | venire | tenere | salire | rimanere | scegliere | spegnere |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| io | vengo | tengo | salgo | rimango | scelgo | spengo |
| tu | vieni | tieni | sali | rimani | scegli | spegni |
| lui/lei | viene | tiene | sale | rimane | sceglie | spegne |
| noi | veniamo | teniamo | saliamo | rimaniamo | scegliamo | spegniamo |
| voi | venite | tenete | salite | rimanete | scegliete | spegnete |
| loro | vengono | tengono | salgono | rimangono | scelgono | spengono |
- Vengo a Lucca in treno domani mattina presto, ti raggiungo in libreria entro le dieci.
I’m coming to Lucca by train tomorrow morning, I’ll meet you at the bookshop by ten. - Pietro tiene tutti i romanzi di Pennacchi sullo scaffale dietro la cassa, per evitare furti.
Pietro keeps all the Pennacchi novels on the shelf behind the till, to avoid theft. - I miei nonni rimangono a Lucca tutto agosto, fa troppo caldo per viaggiare.
My grandparents stay in Lucca all August, it is too hot to travel.
Modal verbs: volere, potere, dovere
The three Italian modal verbs (volere = want, potere = can/be able to, dovere = must/have to) are irregular in this set and central to every B1 conversation. They are almost always followed by another verb in the infinitive: voglio andare, posso uscire, devo studiare.
| Person | volere | potere | dovere |
|---|---|---|---|
| io | voglio | posso | devo |
| tu | vuoi | puoi | devi |
| lui/lei | vuole | può | deve |
| noi | vogliamo | possiamo | dobbiamo |
| voi | volete | potete | dovete |
| loro | vogliono | possono | devono |
- Vogliamo invitare Matteo a cena sabato sera, conosci un buon ristorante in centro?
We want to invite Matteo to dinner on Saturday evening, do you know a good restaurant downtown? - Caterina non può consegnare il vestito prima di venerdì, ha ancora i bottoni da cucire.
Caterina can’t deliver the dress before Friday, she still has the buttons to sew on. - Devo finire la traduzione entro stasera, l’editore aspetta da una settimana.
I have to finish the translation by tonight, the publisher has been waiting for a week.
Old spoken forms: debbono instead of devono (still accepted, slightly bureaucratic); denno archaic; vo instead of voglio only in poetry. Modern Italian sticks to the forms in the table.
Dire and bere: long Latin stem
Two verbs hide their longer Latin stem behind a shortened infinitive: dire goes back to Latin dicere (stem dic-) and bere to bevere (stem bev-). The modern infinitive looks regular -ere, but the conjugation pulls out the longer stem.
| Person | dire | bere |
|---|---|---|
| io | dico | bevo |
| tu | dici | bevi |
| lui/lei | dice | beve |
| noi | diciamo | beviamo |
| voi | dite | bevete |
| loro | dicono | bevono |
- Caterina dice sempre che il sabato è la giornata più caotica della settimana in sartoria.
Caterina always says Saturday is the most chaotic day of the week at the tailor shop. - Bevo tre caffè al giorno, soprattutto in libreria al pomeriggio.
I drink three coffees a day, especially at the bookshop in the afternoon. - Pietro e Caterina dicono che il prossimo mese vanno in Argentina per visitare i parenti.
Pietro and Caterina say next month they are going to Argentina to visit relatives.
Note: the voi form of dire is dite (short), but the noi is diciamo (long stem). For bere both noi and voi keep the long stem (beviamo, bevete). The same logic applies to the imperfetto (dicevo, bevevo), the gerundio (dicendo, bevendo), and the past participle (detto, bevuto).
Verbs in -urre: tradurre, produrre, condurre
Verbs ending in -urre hide a long Latin stem -uce-. The infinitive looks short and unusual, but the conjugation pulls out the full stem: traduco, traduci, traduce, traduciamo, traducete, traducono.
| Person | tradurre | produrre | condurre |
|---|---|---|---|
| io | traduco | produco | conduco |
| tu | traduci | produci | conduci |
| lui/lei | traduce | produce | conduce |
| noi | traduciamo | produciamo | conduciamo |
| voi | traducete | producete | conducete |
| loro | traducono | producono | conducono |
- Elena traduce romanzi dall’inglese all’italiano per una casa editrice di Padova.
Elena translates novels from English to Italian for a Padova publisher. - In quella fabbrica di Modena producono parti per automobili da quarant’anni.
In that Modena factory they have produced car parts for forty years.
The same long-stem logic applies to -orre verbs (porre → pongo, pongono) and -arre verbs (trarre → traggo, traggono), though these are rarer in everyday usage.
Uscire and riuscire: e- root change
Two verbs change root vowel: uscire (go out) becomes esco, and its derivative riuscire (succeed, manage to) becomes riesco. The change happens in 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, 3pl; the noi and voi keep the regular root.
| Person | uscire | riuscire |
|---|---|---|
| io | esco | riesco |
| tu | esci | riesci |
| lui/lei | esce | riesce |
| noi | usciamo | riusciamo |
| voi | uscite | riuscite |
| loro | escono | riescono |
- Esco di casa alle otto, prendo il treno alle otto e venti, arrivo a Lucca alle nove.
I leave home at eight, I take the train at eight twenty, I arrive in Lucca at nine. - Non riesco a capire perché il romanzo di Pennacchi non sia ancora arrivato in libreria.
I can’t understand why the Pennacchi novel hasn’t arrived at the bookshop yet.
🎯 Mini-task #1. Conjugate the italian irregular present tense verb.
- Io ___ (andare) al mercato ogni sabato.
- Tu ___ (fare) colazione al bar?
- Loro ___ (venire) a Lucca per il weekend.
- Noi ___ (dovere) finire il lavoro entro venerdì.
- Elena ___ (tradurre) un romanzo francese.
- Lei ___ (uscire) sempre alle otto di mattina.
- Voi ___ (dire) sempre la verità.
- Pietro ___ (volere) aprire un secondo negozio.
👉 Show answers
1. vado · 2. fai · 3. vengono · 4. dobbiamo · 5. traduce · 6. esce · 7. dite · 8. vuole
Cheat sheet: italian irregular present tense
One table with all the most common irregular present-tense verbs in a single view. Keep it open while you draft a sentence in Italian.
| Verb | io | tu | lui/lei | noi | voi | loro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| essere | sono | sei | è | siamo | siete | sono |
| avere | ho | hai | ha | abbiamo | avete | hanno |
| andare | vado | vai | va | andiamo | andate | vanno |
| fare | faccio | fai | fa | facciamo | fate | fanno |
| stare | sto | stai | sta | stiamo | state | stanno |
| dare | do | dai | dà | diamo | date | danno |
| sapere | so | sai | sa | sappiamo | sapete | sanno |
| venire | vengo | vieni | viene | veniamo | venite | vengono |
| tenere | tengo | tieni | tiene | teniamo | tenete | tengono |
| uscire | esco | esci | esce | usciamo | uscite | escono |
| dire | dico | dici | dice | diciamo | dite | dicono |
| bere | bevo | bevi | beve | beviamo | bevete | bevono |
| volere | voglio | vuoi | vuole | vogliamo | volete | vogliono |
| potere | posso | puoi | può | possiamo | potete | possono |
| dovere | devo | devi | deve | dobbiamo | dovete | devono |
| rimanere | rimango | rimani | rimane | rimaniamo | rimanete | rimangono |
| salire | salgo | sali | sale | saliamo | salite | salgono |
| scegliere | scelgo | scegli | sceglie | scegliamo | scegliete | scelgono |
| spegnere | spengo | spegni | spegne | spegniamo | spegnete | spengono |
| tradurre | traduco | traduci | traduce | traduciamo | traducete | traducono |
Three common mistakes
Three slips with italian irregular present tense flag an A2 sentence as written by a learner. Fixing them is fast.
Mistake 1. Treating the noi form as regular when the verb has a long stem. Wrong: noi diamo for “we say”. Correct: noi diciamo. The verb dire uses the long Latin stem dic- everywhere except in the short voi form (dite). Same for bere (beviamo), tradurre (traduciamo), produrre (produciamo).
Mistake 2. Missing the silent h in avere. Wrong: io o un libro. Correct: io ho un libro. The h is mandatory in writing (ho, hai, ha, hanno) even though it is silent in pronunciation. Without it, the verb looks like the conjunction o (or).
Mistake 3. Confusing dà (gives) with da (from). Wrong: Pietro da un libro a Elena. Correct: Pietro dà un libro a Elena. The 3sg of dare keeps the grave accent to distinguish the verb form from the preposition. Same logic: do (give, 1sg) has no accent; the older dò with accent is acceptable but old-fashioned.
🎯 Mini-task #2. Fix the irregular verb error in each sentence.
- Noi diamo che il treno è in ritardo.
- Pietro ha sempre raggione, non posso discutere con lui.
- Caterina da il vestito alla cliente venerdì.
- Io o tre libri di Pennacchi sullo scaffale.
- Loro escono di casa alle sette e venono in libreria alle otto.
👉 Show answers
1. diciamo (not diamo) · 2. ragione (just a typo trap) and Pietro ha → correct, posso → correct · 3. dà (accent on 3sg dare) · 4. ho (silent h mandatory) · 5. vengono (not venono)
Dialog: planning a Saturday in Lucca
Elena calls Pietro on a Friday afternoon to plan a quick visit to Lucca the next day. Count every irregular verb they use: andare, fare, venire, volere, dovere, potere, sapere.
👩🏼🦰 Elena: Pietro, ciao! Domani vengo a Lucca con Matteo. Sai a che ora apre la libreria?
Pietro, hi! Tomorrow I’m coming to Lucca with Matteo. Do you know what time the bookshop opens?
👨🏽🦱 Pietro: Apriamo alle nove. Se volete, faccio io il caffè in retrobottega, così non dovete andare al bar.
We open at nine. If you want, I’ll make the coffee in the back room, so you don’t have to go to the café.
👩🏼🦰 Elena: Perfetto. Matteo vuole comprare l’ultimo Pennacchi, lo tieni ancora sullo scaffale?
Perfect. Matteo wants to buy the latest Pennacchi, do you still keep it on the shelf?
👨🏽🦱 Pietro: Sì, ne ho ancora due copie. Posso metterne una da parte se vuoi.
Yes, I still have two copies. I can set one aside if you want.
👩🏼🦰 Elena: Sì, mettila da parte. Poi dopo la libreria andiamo a pranzo da Caterina. Vieni anche tu se non hai impegni.
Yes, set it aside. Then after the bookshop we’ll go to Caterina’s for lunch. Come too if you don’t have plans.
👨🏽🦱 Pietro: Volentieri! Esco dalla libreria all’una e vi raggiungo. Caterina sa già che vengo?
Gladly! I leave the bookshop at one and I’ll meet you. Does Caterina already know I’m coming?
👩🏼🦰 Elena: Glielo dico stasera. Possiamo restare fino al pomeriggio se ti va.
I’ll tell her tonight. We can stay until the afternoon if you feel like it.
Count the irregular verbs Elena and Pietro use: vengo, sai, apre, apriamo, volete, faccio, dovete, andare, vuole, tieni, ho, posso, vuoi, vieni, hai, esco, raggiungo, sa, vengo, dico, possiamo. Twenty-one irregular forms in eight short turns: the heartbeat of A2-B1 conversational Italian.
🎯 Mini-challenge. Describe your typical Saturday morning in six sentences, using at least six different italian irregular present tense verbs from this guide: one from each pattern (essere/avere, monosyllabic 1sg, -go group, modal, dire/bere, uscire). Read it out loud once.
Strategy: how to learn the italian irregular present tense
Memorising twenty paradigms feels overwhelming. The faster path through the italian irregular present tense is to group verbs by pattern, then drill each group together. Start with essere/avere (week one), add the monosyllabic 1sg group (week two), then -go insertion (week three), modal verbs (week four), and finish with dire/bere/uscire/-urre. Each group reuses the same logic, so by week three you predict new forms instead of memorising them.
The second piece of strategy: drill the italian irregular present tense in context, not in isolation. Write five sentences a day using only irregular verbs. After two weeks, the forms come out automatically because you have used them in real meaning, not just in conjugation tables. This is how children learn them, and it works for adult learners too. Twenty verbs sound like a lot until you realise they are the same twenty verbs you use every single day, in every conversation, in every email, in every text message.
Test your understanding
The quiz below mixes italian irregular present tense forms across all six pattern groups, with traps on noi/voi (long stem) and on accents (dà vs da).
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Frequently asked questions
Six questions about italian irregular present tense come up in every A2 cohort. The answers below draw on real classroom usage and on the Crusca note Sull’accento di dà.
Which Italian present tense verbs count as irregular?
About twenty high-frequency verbs cover almost all the cases you need at A1-A2: essere, avere, andare, fare, stare, dare, sapere, venire, tenere, dire, bere, uscire, riuscire, volere, potere, dovere, rimanere, salire, scegliere, spegnere, plus the family of -urre verbs (tradurre, produrre, condurre). The list looks long but compresses into six patterns: essere/avere on their own, monosyllabic 1sg (vado/faccio/sto/do/so), -go insertion (vengo/tengo/salgo/rimango/scelgo/spengo), modal verbs (voglio/posso/devo), long-stem dire/bere, -urre and e-root change (uscire → esco).
Is vado the only irregular form for andare?
All singular forms of andare are irregular (vado, vai, va) plus the third plural (vanno), but noi and voi are regular (andiamo, andate). The Latin original was a different verb entirely (vadere for the singular, ambulare for the plural), and modern Italian inherited the split. The same pattern applies to fare, stare, dare, sapere: irregular in io, tu, lui/lei, loro; regular in noi and voi. Knowing this saves you from second-guessing the longer forms.
Do modal verbs (volere, potere, dovere) take any preposition?
No. The italian modal verbs are followed directly by another verb in the infinitive, without any preposition: voglio andare, posso uscire, devo studiare, vuole comprare, possono venire, dobbiamo finire. This contrasts with verbs like cominciare, finire, riuscire, which need a or di: cominciare a fare, finire di leggere, riuscire a capire. Memorise the modals as the no-preposition group: they are the most frequent verbs in spoken Italian.
What’s the difference between dò and do (dare 1sg)?
Modern Italian prefers do without accent. The Accademia della Crusca recommends do (no accent) for the 1sg present of dare, since there is no homograph to disambiguate from. The form dò with grave accent is still seen in older texts and was traditionally taught at school as a parallel to dà (3sg), where the accent is mandatory. Today: dà keeps the accent (3sg, distinguishes from preposition da), do drops it (1sg, no ambiguity).
Why is the noi form of fare facciamo, not famo?
Because fare comes from Latin facere, and the long stem face- surfaces in many forms across the conjugation. The 1pl facciamo, the 2pl fate (short), the 3pl fanno (short), the imperfetto facevo (long), the gerundio facendo (long), the past participle fatto (long). The short forms come from the Latin shortened root fa-; the long forms from face-. Italian has kept both and you cannot predict which appears where without memorising the conjugation. Same logic for dire (dico/diciamo long, dite short), bere (bev- throughout), tradurre (traduc- throughout).
Are -urre verbs (tradurre, produrre) irregular or regular?
They are irregular in form but completely regular in pattern: every verb ending in -urre conjugates the same way, with the long stem -uce- replacing the short -ur- of the infinitive. So tradurre gives traduco, produrre gives produco, condurre gives conduco, ridurre gives riduco, dedurre gives deduco. Once you learn one, you know them all. The same holds for -orre (porre → pongo) and -arre (trarre → traggo), though these verbs are much rarer in everyday speech.
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Related guides
Three guides that pair well with this one, plus an institutional reference on the accent of dà.
- Italian Modal Verbs: the deep-dive on volere, potere, dovere, sapere, with all tenses.
- Italian Indicativo Tenses: All 8: the hub on the indicative mood and how the present sits among the other tenses.
- Italian Imperfetto: the past tense that uses long stems for dire (dicevo), bere (bevevo), fare (facevo).
- Accademia della Crusca: Sull’accento di dà, do, dare: institutional note on the accent rules for the verb dare.
