Presente

		singular			plural
1st person		chiedo	I ask		chiediamo	we ask
2nd person		chiedi	you ask (singular)		chiedete	you ask (plural)
3rd person		chiede	he/she/it asks		chiedono	they ask

Accents fall on the same syllable as in present tense of the 1st conjugation (see paragraph 4.5). In order to memorize this tense more easily, concentrate on the following differences with the 1st conjugation: the inflection of 3rd singular person turns from ...a (1st conj.) into ...e (2nd conj.); the 2nd plural person turns from ...ate into ...ete, for the same reason; the 3rd plural person changes from ...ano into ...ono.

i turisti chiedono un buon ristorante = the tourists ask [for] a good restaurant (note the shortening of buono into buon, according to the rule discussed in paragraph 2.4) discutiamo un argomento = we discuss a topic tu ridi ma lui piange = you laugh but he cries (note the use of pronouns, to stress the contrast of subjects

--- PHONETIC CHANGES ---

When the last letter of the verb's root is c or g, verbs of the 2nd conjugation behave in a different way from the 1st one: they do NOT add a phonetic h. Therefore, no change occurs in the verb's root: this means that the sound of c or g actually changes from "hard" to "soft", according to the vowel following this consonant:

		singular			plural
1st person		vinco	I win		vinciamo	we win
2nd person		vinci	you win (singular)		vincete	you win (plural)
3rd person		vince	he/she/it wins		vincono	they win

the 1st singular person sounds like "vynkoh" ("hard" c), the 2nd singular like "vynchyh" ("soft" c), the 3rd singular "vyncheh" ("soft" again), the 1st plural "vynchahmoh" ("soft"), the 2nd plural "vynchehteh" ("soft"), the 3rd plural "vynkohnoh" ("hard").

tingo ("tyngoh") = I dye, tingi ("tynjyh") = you dye, etc. spingo ("spyngoh") = I push, spingi ("spynjyh") = you push, etc. piango ("pyahngoh") = I cry, piangi ("pyahnjyh") = you cry, etc. nasco ("nahskoh") = I am born, nasci ("nahshyh") = you are born, etc.