Basic Italian: A Grammar and Workbook

9 Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) and -gere (or -ggere) change the sound of
c (or sc) and g (or -gg), which become ‘hard’ before the endings of the first
person singular (-o) and the third person plural (-ono). So care needs to be
taken in speaking these verbs:

Prendo il prossimo treno.

Prendiamo questa strada.

Anna scrive una lettera.

Marco e Martina ridono molto.

I’m getting/taking the next train.

We take this road.

Anna is writing a letter.

Marco and Martina laugh a lot.

Vincere

(io) vinco

(tu) vinci

(lui/lei) vince

(noi) vinciamo

(voi) vincete

(loro) vincono

Spoken like English

k

ch

ch

ch

ch

k

To win

I win

you win

he/she/it wins

we win

you win

they win

Conoscere

(io) conosco

(tu) conosci

(lui/lei) conosce

(noi) conosciamo

(voi) conoscete

(loro) conoscono

Spoken like English

sk

sh

sh

sh

sh

sk

To know

I know

you know

he/she/it knows

we know

you know

they know

Leggere

(io) leggo

(tu) leggi

(lui/lei) legge

(noi) leggiamo

(voi) leggete

(loro) leggono

Spoken like English

g [as in ‘go’]

j

j

j

j

g [as in ‘go’]

To read

I read

you read

he/she/it reads

we read

you read

they read

Vince sempre.

Non conosco i tuoi genitori.

Leggono il giornale.

Non piango mai.

He/she always wins.

I don’t know your parents.

They’re reading the paper.

I never cry.