Present tense: other common irregular verbs (venire, uscire, dire, sapere)

Stasera esco con gli amici e dico a Marco di venire con noi.Tonight I'm going out with my friends and I'm telling Marco to come with us.

Four more very frequent verbs are irregular in the present: venire (to come), uscire (to go out, to leave), dire (to say, to tell) and sapere (to know). Their forms do not follow the regular patterns, so it is worth learning them as they are. They continue the list in Present tense: common irregular verbs (andare, fare, dare, stare).

Quick shortcut: venire and uscire have an irregular stem in io and loro (vengo / vengono, esco / escono) and go back to the infinitive stem in noi (veniamo, usciamo). Dire uses dic- nearly everywhere (dico, dici, dice, diciamo, dicono), with dite as the exception. Sapere has its own short forms (so, sai, sa, sanno).

The four verbs together

Three things are easy to miss:

• Venire adds a g in io and loro (vengo, vengono), and its vowel changes in tu and lui / lei (vieni, viene).
• Uscire starts with esc- whenever the stress falls on the stem (esco, esci, esce, escono) and with usc- when the stress is on the ending (usciamo, uscite).
• Dire is the odd one in voi: dite, not ❌ dicete.

Stress: VEN-go, vie-NI, VIE-ne, ve-NIA-mo, ve-NI-te, VEN-go-no · ES-co, ES-ci, ES-ce, u-SCIA-mo, u-SCI-te, ES-co-no · DI-co, DI-ci, DI-ce, di-CIA-mo, DI-te, DI-co-no · so, sai, sa, sap-PIA-mo, sa-PE-te, SAN-no.

venire (to come)

Venire is used much like English "come", often with da (from) or a (to) and con (with); see Simple prepositions:

• Vengo da Roma. (I come from Rome. I'm from Rome.)
• Vieni con noi? (Are you coming with us?)
• Quando venite a casa mia? (When are you coming to my place?)

When someone calls you or invites you, Italian often says Vengo! (I'm coming!) where English may say "I'm coming" or "I'm on my way". Compare andare (going to a place) and venire (coming toward the place of the speaker or listener): Vado al cinema, vieni anche tu? (I'm going to the cinema, are you coming too?)

uscire (to go out, to leave)

Uscire means to leave a place or to go out, for example in the evening:

• Esco alle otto. (I leave at eight.)
• Stasera usciamo con gli amici. (Tonight we're going out with our friends.)
• Esci di casa presto? (Do you leave the house early?)

dire (to say, to tell)

Dire is used with what is said (dire la verità) and, usually, with a before the person who hears it:

• Dico sempre la verità. (I always tell the truth.)
• Che cosa dici? (What are you saying?)
• Dico a Marco di venire. (I tell Marco to come.)
• Dicono che è buono. (They say it's good.)

sapere (to know)

Sapere means to know a fact, or to know how to do something:

• So che Anna abita a Roma. (I know that Anna lives in Rome.)
• Non so. (I don't know.) Non sai dov'è? (Don't you know where it is?)
• Sai nuotare? (Can you swim? / Do you know how to swim?) Sì, so nuotare.

For knowing people and places you have met or been to, Italian usually uses a different verb, conoscere, so ✅ Conosco Anna rather than ❌ So Anna.

Common mistakes

• ❌ io venio → ✅ io vengo
• ❌ loro venono → ✅ loro vengono
• ❌ io usco → ✅ io esco
• ❌ voi dicete → ✅ voi dite
• ❌ io dio → ✅ io dico
• ❌ noi sapiamo → ✅ noi sappiamo (double p)
• ❌ io sapo → ✅ io so

Quick check

Write the correct present-tense form.

1. io (venire)
2. tu (uscire)
3. lei (dire)
4. noi (sapere)
5. voi (dire)
6. loro (uscire)
7. loro (sapere)

Key takeaways

• Venire, uscire, dire and sapere are irregular, so learn their present forms as they are.
• Venire and uscire have an irregular stem in io and loro (vengo / vengono, esco / escono) and use the infinitive stem in noi; dire keeps dic- except in voi (dite).
• Sapere has short forms (so, sai, sa, sanno) and sappiamo with a double p.
• Venire is "come" (toward the speaker or listener), uscire is "go out, leave", dire is "say, tell" (usually with a + person).
• Sapere is for facts and "know how to"; for people and places, use conoscere.