Introduction

Dimenticare means “to forget”, and this page covers exactly one thing: dimenticare in the present tense. The present is the tense Italian speakers reach for when they talk about what happens regularly, what is true in general, and what is happening right now. On this page you will find the full present table for dimenticare, how the tense is formed for this verb, the situations where it is used, how it differs from the passato prossimo, worked examples, the mistakes learners make most often, an eight-question quiz with explained answers, and answers to the questions students ask about dimenticare in the present. It means to forget something, and it is regular apart from its spelling: the -care stem keeps its hard c by inserting h before e and i, so the tu form is dimentichi and the future is dimenticherò. Do not confuse it with ricordare, which means to remember. For example: “Lui dimentica le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “He forgets the keys.” Everything on this page uses the forms of dimenticare exactly as they are conjugated in the present, so you can trust every form you see here.

Dimenticare in the Present — full table

Person Form
io dimentico
tu dimentichi
lui/lei dimentica
noi dimentichiamo
voi dimenticate
loro dimenticano
Gerund: dimenticando · Past participle: dimenticato
The gerund is dimenticando, which you use with stare to say what is happening at the same time as the main action: “Dimenticando le chiavi, imparo molto.” — “While forgetting the keys, I learn a lot.” The past participle is dimenticato, which you use with avere in the perfect tenses: ho dimenticato is the passato prossimo, used for a completed action. Keep both forms in mind as you read the examples below, because the present is only one part of how dimenticare is used.
Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for dimenticare, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

How the present of dimenticare is formed

The present tense of dimenticare has six forms: io dimentico, tu dimentichi, lui dimentica, noi dimentichiamo, voi dimenticate, loro dimenticano. Say them in order — io, tu, lui, noi, voi, loro — and notice which forms share a stem and which do not. dimenticare is regular: every form follows the standard -are endings, so once you know the pattern you can build every tense from the stem. There are no surprises in any tense — the tables below are exactly what the endings predict. The present is the tense you will use most, so learn these six forms before you learn any other tense of this verb. Because dimenticare is a -care verb, the stem keeps its hard c by inserting h before e and i: tu dimentichi, and the future is dimenticherò.

Two things about the present of dimenticare are worth noticing. First, the noi and voi forms are the anchor of the verb: the imperfect is built from the same stem, and the present subjunctive takes its noi and voi forms from the same stem, so learning dimentichiamo and dimenticate pays off in three tenses at once. Second, the present is the tense Italian uses where English would often use the continuous form, so dimentico can mean both “I forget” and “I am forgetting” — context tells the listener which one you mean.

Because dimenticare is regular in the present, the six forms follow the standard -are endings exactly. Once you know the pattern for one regular -are verb, you know it for all of them — only the stem changes. That is why the present of a regular verb is the cheapest tense to learn in the whole language.

When to use the present of dimenticare

The present is not a single-purpose tense. Below are the five situations where you will use dimenticare in the present most often. Each one comes with a real example, so read the rule, then say the example out loud.

1. Habits and routines

The present tense is the tense of routine. When something happens every day, every week or every morning, the present is the natural choice, and dimenticare is no exception. Use time expressions such as ogni giorno, sempre or ogni settimana to make the routine explicit. Example: “Io dimentico le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “I forget the keys.”

2. General truths

Use the present for things that are true in general, not just today. A fact about dimenticare does not need a time expression, because it is true whenever you say it. Example: “Lui dimentica le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “He forgets the keys.”

3. What is happening right now

The present also describes an action in progress at this very moment. Italian often prefers the simple present where English would use the continuous form, so a sentence with dimenticare in the present can mean both “I do this” and “I am doing this now”. Context tells the listener which one you mean. Example: “Noi dimentichiamo le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “We forget the keys.”

4. Scheduled future events

Italian uses the present for something already fixed in the near future, especially with a time expression. It sounds more certain than the future tense, because the plan is already made. Example: “Tu dimentichi le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “You forget the keys.”

5. Narration and commentary

In stories, instructions and live commentary, the present brings the action into the room. A recipe, a game or a story told in the present feels immediate, and dimenticare in the present is the tense that carries it. Example: “Loro dimenticano le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “They forget the keys.”

Present Tense vs Passato Prossimo: how to choose

The closest tense to the present is the passato prossimo, and learners mix them up constantly. The rule is simple: the present describes habits, general truths and what is happening now, while the passato prossimo describes one finished action in the past. The three pairs below use the same verb, so the only thing that changes is the time frame — and with it, the tense. Notice how the present sentences use words such as ogni giorno or sempre, while the passato prossimo sentences use ieri or la settimana scorsa. Those time words are your best clue when you are choosing a tense.

  • Present Tense: “Lui dimentica le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “He forgets the keys”
  • Passato Prossimo: “Lui ha dimenticato le chiavi questa settimana.” — “He has forgotten the keys”
  • The present sentence is a routine or a general truth; the passato prossimo sentence is one finished event. Ogni giorno points to the present, ieri points to the passato prossimo.
  • Present Tense: “Io dimentico le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “I forget the keys”
  • Passato Prossimo: “Io ho dimenticato le chiavi questa settimana.” — “I have forgotten the keys”
  • The present sentence is a routine or a general truth; the passato prossimo sentence is one finished event. Ogni giorno points to the present, ieri points to the passato prossimo.
  • Present Tense: “Tu dimentichi le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “You forget the keys”
  • Passato Prossimo: “Tu hai dimenticato le chiavi questa settimana.” — “You have forgotten the keys”
  • The present sentence is a routine or a general truth; the passato prossimo sentence is one finished event. Ogni giorno points to the present, ieri points to the passato prossimo.

Example sentences: dimenticare in the present

Read these eight sentences out loud. They cover all six persons, so by the end you will have seen every form in the table used in a real sentence. Pay attention to the words around the verb — the time expressions and the objects — because those are what make each sentence sound natural.

  1. “Io dimentico le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “I forget the keys”
  2. “Tu dimentichi le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “You forget the keys”
  3. “Lui dimentica le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “He forgets the keys”
  4. “Noi dimentichiamo le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “We forget the keys”
  5. “Voi dimenticate le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “You forget the keys”
  6. “Loro dimenticano le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “They forget the keys”
  7. “Io dimentico le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “I forget the keys”
  8. “Lui dimentica le chiavi ogni giorno.” — “He forgets the keys”

Common mistakes

These are the errors learners actually make with this verb in this tense. Each one shows the wrong version, the right version, and why the correction matters.

  • Wrong: “Io dimentichi le chiavi.” Right: “Io dimentico le chiavi ogni giorno.” Why: The io form is dimentico, not dimentichi. dimentichi is the tu form. Mixing the two persons is the most common error with this verb.
  • Wrong: “Noi dimentico le chiavi.” Right: “Noi dimentichiamo le chiavi ogni giorno.” Why: Noi needs the noi form dimentichiamo. dimentico belongs with io only. Learn the six forms as two groups — singular and plural — and the pattern becomes automatic.
  • Wrong: “Io dimentico le chiavi ogni giorno ieri.” Right: “Io ho dimenticato le chiavi questa settimana.” Why: Ieri points to the past, so the present is wrong here. Use the passato prossimo ho dimenticato for a finished action yesterday.
  • Wrong: “Io dimenticare le chiavi.” Right: “Io dimentico le chiavi ogni giorno.” Why: The infinitive dimenticare never takes a subject. After io you need the conjugated form dimentico.

Quiz: test yourself

Choose the correct answer for each question, then check the answer key. Every answer is explained, so a wrong answer still teaches you something.

  1. What is the io form of dimenticare in the Present indicative?

    • A) dimentichi
    • B) dimentico
    • C) dimentica
    • D) dimentichiamo

  2. What is the tu form of dimenticare in the Present indicative?

    • A) dimentico
    • B) dimentica
    • C) dimentichi
    • D) dimentichiamo

  3. What is the lui/lei form of dimenticare in the Present indicative?

    • A) dimentico
    • B) dimentichi
    • C) dimentichiamo
    • D) dimentica

  4. What is the noi form of dimenticare in the Present indicative?

    • A) dimentichiamo
    • B) dimentico
    • C) dimentichi
    • D) dimentica

  5. What is the voi form of dimenticare in the Present indicative?

    • A) dimentico
    • B) dimenticate
    • C) dimentichi
    • D) dimentica

  6. What is the loro form of dimenticare in the Present indicative?

    • A) dimentico
    • B) dimentichi
    • C) dimenticano
    • D) dimentica

  7. What is the io form of dimenticare in the Present indicative?

    • A) dimentichi
    • B) dimentica
    • C) dimentichiamo
    • D) dimentico

  8. What is the tu form of dimenticare in the Present indicative?

    • A) dimentichi
    • B) dimentico
    • C) dimentica
    • D) dimentichiamo

Answer key

  1. B) dimentico — the correct form is dimentico. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  2. C) dimentichi — the correct form is dimentichi. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  3. D) dimentica — the correct form is dimentica. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  4. A) dimentichiamo — the correct form is dimentichiamo. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  5. B) dimenticate — the correct form is dimenticate. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  6. C) dimenticano — the correct form is dimenticano. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  7. D) dimentico — the correct form is dimentico. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  8. A) dimentichi — the correct form is dimentichi. The other options are other forms of the same verb.

Frequently asked questions

What does dimenticare mean in English?

dimenticare means “to forget”. It is a non-reflexive, regular -are verb.

How is the present tense of dimenticare formed?

The six present forms are: io dimentico, tu dimentichi, lui dimentica, noi dimentichiamo, voi dimenticate, loro dimenticano. dimenticare is regular: every form follows the standard -are endings, so once you know the pattern you can build every tense from the stem.

When do I use the present instead of the passato prossimo?

Use the present for habits, general truths and what is happening now. Use the passato prossimo for one finished action in the past. The time words are your best clue: ogni giorno points to the present, ieri points to the passato prossimo.

What are the gerund and past participle of dimenticare?

The gerund is dimenticando and the past participle is dimenticato.

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