In this comparative grammar lesson of Romance languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, & French, we study the present indicative tense, aka present simple tense, in each language.
Table of Contents
- Verb Endings in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French
- Regular Verbs
- Dropping the Subject Pronoun
- Irregular Verbs
- Indicative Mood vs Subjunctive Mood
- Level I – Basic
Verb Endings in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French
Verbs in their infinitive form in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French have one of three endings:
| SP | -ar | -er | -ir |
| PT | -ar | -er | -ir |
| IT | -are | -ere | -ire |
| FR | -er | -ir | -re |
When conjugated, these endings are replaced with different conjugation suffixes based on the subject.
In English, verb conjugation in the present tense is quite simple. For example, the verb “to break” is conjugated as follows: I/you/we/they break, he/she/it breaks. Thus, there are only two conjugation forms of the verb “to break” in the simple present tense, which are “break” and “breaks.”
In Romance languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French, it is a little more complicated.
Regular Verbs
Regular verbs in the present indicative tense follow the conjugation rules discussed here with an example from each verb group:
Conjugation of Regular Verbs in Spanish
The stem is formed by removing the final “-ar,” “-er,” or “-ir.” Then, the conjugation ending is added depending on the personal pronoun, as follows:
| -ar ending hablar (to speak) | -er ending comer (to eat) | -ir ending vivir (to live) | |
| yo | hablo | como | vivo |
| tú | hablas | comes | vives |
| él/ella/usted | habla | come | vive |
| nosotros/-as | hablamos | comemos | vivimos |
| vosotros/-as | habláis | coméis | vivís |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hablan | comen | viven |
Conjugation of Regular Verbs in Portuguese
The stem is formed by removing the final “-ar,” “-er,” or “-ir.” Then, the conjugation ending is added depending on the personal pronoun, as follows:
| -ar ending falar (to speak) | -er ending comer (to eat) | -ir ending partir (to leave) | |
| eu | falo | como | parto |
| ele/ela/você | fala | come | parte |
| nós | falamos | comemos | partimos |
| eles/elas/vocês | falam | comem | partem |
Conjugation of Regular Verbs in Italian
The stem is formed by removing the final “-are,” “-ere,” or “-ire.” Then, the conjugation ending is added depending on the personal pronoun, as follows:
Notice that there are two types of “-ire” verbs in Italian. Type II requires the addition of “-isc-” between the stem and the conjugation suffix normally used with Type I for all forms except “noi” and “voi.” Unfortunately, only practice and a good dictionary can help you determine the type of an “-ire” verb.
Conjugation of Regular Verbs in French
The stem is formed by removing the final “-er,” “-ir,” or “-re.” Then, the conjugation ending is added depending on the personal pronoun.
| -er ending parler (to speak) | -ir ending finir (to finish) | -re ending vendre (to sell) | |
| je | parle /paяl/ | finis /fee-nee/ | vends /vã/ |
| tu | parles /paяl/ | finis /fee-nee/ | vends /vã/ |
| il/elle/on | parle /paяl/ | finit /fee-nee/ | vend/vã/ |
| nous | parlons /paя-lõ/ | finissons /fee-nee-sõ/ | vendons /vã-dõ/ |
| vous | parlez /paя-le/ | finissez /fee-nee-se/ | vendez /vã-de/ |
| ils/elles | parlent /paяl/ | finissent /fee-nees/ | vendent /vãd/ |
Notice that the conjugation suffixes of the singular forms in the table above are not pronounced. In other words, “parle” and “parles” are both pronounced the same i.e., /paяl/. Similarly, “finis” and “finit” are both pronounced the same, i.e., /fee-nee/. In addition, the third-person plural suffix “-ent” is never pronounced, e.g., “parlent” /paяl/, “vendent” / vãd /, etc.
Dropping the Subject Pronoun
In Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, unlike in English, we generally drop the subject pronoun because the conjugation is usually sufficient to indicate the subject.
Notice that the subject pronoun cannot be dropped in French because, as we have seen, the pronunciation is not sufficient to distinguish between the different forms.
Here is an example:
| SP | Yo hablo inglés. | Hablo inglés. | I speak English. |
| PT | Eu falo inglês. | Falo inglês. | |
| IT | Io parlo inglese. | Parlo inglese. | |
| FR | Je parle anglais. | – |
Both options are considered perfect speech and grammatically correct. It even sounds more native to drop the subject pronoun in informal speech. Opting to use the subject pronoun can sound less natural in some contexts, because it can indicate an emphasis on the subject rather than the verb.
Irregular Verbs
Not all verbs are regular in the present indicative tense. For example, the verbs “to be” and “to have” are two important verbs in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French, used to form sentences and as auxiliary verbs. Both are completely irregular and are conjugated as follows:
Conjugation of Irregular Verbs in Spanish
| ser (to be) | tener (to have) | |
| yo | soy | tengo |
| tú | eres | tienes |
| él/ella/usted | es | tiene |
| nosotros/-as | somos | tenemos |
| vosotros/-as | sois | tenéis |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | son | tienen |
Conjugation of Irregular Verbs in Portuguese
| ser (to be) | ter (to have) | |
| eu | sou | tenho |
| ele/ela/você | é | tem |
| nós | somos | temos |
| eles/elas/vocês | são | têm |
Conjugation of Irregular Verbs in Italian
| essere (to be) | avere (to have) | |
| io | sono | ho |
| tu | sei | hai |
| lui/lei | è | ha |
| noi | siamo | abbiamo |
| voi | siete | avete |
| loro | sono | hanno |
Conjugation of Irregular Verbs in French
| être (to be) | avoir (to have) | |||
| je/j’ | suis | /swee/ | ai | /e/ |
| tu | es | /e/ | as | /a/ |
| il/elle/on | est | /e/ | a | /a/ |
| nous | sommes | /som/ | avons | /a-võ/ |
| vous | êtes | /et/ | avez | /a-ve/ |
| ils/elles | sont | /sõ/ | ont | /õ/ |
Indicative Mood vs Subjunctive Mood
We will learn more about irregular verbs in the present indicative tense in Level II, Lesson 2. It is important to note that the present tense we have discussed so far is also called the present indicative tense to distinguish it from the present subjunctive tense. The indicative and the subjunctive are two different moods.
You do not have to worry about the difference for now. We will cover the subjunctive mood in more advanced lessons starting in Level IV, Lesson 5. As we progress with more advanced tenses in the levels to come, use the provided verb conjugation chart as a cheat sheet and gain perspective on the different moods and tenses.
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