Regular verbs maintain their root and follow a conjugation pattern which depends on their infinitive endings (are, ere, ire).
Simple tenses are made removing the infinitive ending and adding the appropriate ending for the subject and the tense you need.
Verb ‘camminare’:
- simple present: (io) cammino
- present conditional: (io) camminerei
- imperative: (tu) cammina!
Compound tenses are made of an auxiliary verb (to be or to have) conjugated according to the subject and the past participle.
Verb ‘camminare’:
- present perfect: (io) ho camminato
- past conditional: (io) avrei camminato
Indefinite moods (infinitive, participle and gerund) lack person.
Verb ‘camminare’:
- compund infinitive > avere camminato
- simple gerund > camminando
- compount gerund > avendo camminato
Peculiarity
First conjugation (are)
Verbs in -care and -gare put ‘h’ before vowels ‘i’ and ‘e’:
- dimenticare > tu dimentichi
- allegare > tu alleghi
Verbs in -iare lost ‘i’ before another ‘i’:
- ampliare > tu ampli
However, avviare, deviare, espiare, fuorviare, inviare, obliare, ovviare, ravviare, rinviare, sciare, spiare, sviare, traviare do not lost the ‘i’:
- inviare > tu invii
Verbs in -ciare and giare lost the ‘i’ also before ‘e’ (except sciare):
- abbracciare > tu abbraccerai
- sciare > tu scierai
Second conjugation (ere)
Verbs in -cere, -gere, -gliere, -gnere have a peculiar pattern in three tenses: simple present, present subjunctive, imperative.
Verbs in -arre, -orre, -urre also belong to the second conjugation and have a peculiar pattern of conjugation in all tenses.
Third conjugation (ire)
Most verbs in -ire add -ISC- between root and ending in three tenses: simple present, present subjunctive, imperative:
- capire > io capisco