Stare is one of the most useful — and most misunderstood — verbs in Italian. English speakers often translate it as "to be" because that is what it sounds like, and Spanish speakers reach for it whenever they would use estar. Both groups end up overusing it. In modern Italian, essere does the heavy lifting that estar does in Spanish: stare has been pushed back into a smaller, sharper set of uses where no other verb will do.
This page conjugates stare in the presente, lays out exactly when to reach for it, and shows the boundary with essere.
The conjugation
Stare is irregular. It looks superficially like a regular -are verb, but the loro form drops the expected vowel and doubles the n.
| Person | Conjugation | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| io | sto | stò |
| tu | stai | stài |
| lui / lei / Lei | sta | stà |
| noi | stiamo | stiàmo |
| voi | state | stàte |
| loro | stanno | stànno |
Notice that stanno doubles the n — never write stano. The 3sg sta has no written accent (unlike dà from dare, which does). The 2sg stai is one syllable.
Use 1 — Health and how you feel
This is the core use of stare in modern Italian, and the one that essere cannot replace. When asking or saying how someone is feeling — physically or emotionally, in the moment — Italian uses stare.
Come stai?
How are you? (How are you feeling?)
Sto bene, grazie. E tu?
I'm well, thanks. And you?
Mia nonna non sta bene da qualche giorno.
My grandmother hasn't been feeling well for a few days.
Stai meglio oggi?
Are you feeling better today?
I bambini stanno benissimo, hanno solo un po' di raffreddore.
The kids are perfectly fine, they just have a bit of a cold.
The standard answers — bene, male, così così, benone, da Dio — are all adverbs, not adjectives, so they do not agree with anything. Sto bene is the same whether you are male or female.
There is one cardinal trap here for learners: come sei? is not "how are you?" — it asks what kind of person you are (your character, your appearance). If you ask a friend "come sei?" you are asking them to describe their personality.
Come stai?
How are you (feeling)? — health, mood, current state
Com'è il tuo nuovo collega? — È simpatico, molto disponibile.
What is your new colleague like? — He's nice, very helpful. — character
Use 2 — The progressive: stare + gerundio
To stress that something is happening right at this very moment, Italian uses the stare + gerundio construction (the gerundio is the -ando / -endo form: parlando, leggendo, finendo).
Sto leggendo un libro bellissimo, non posso parlare adesso.
I'm reading a wonderful book, I can't talk right now.
Cosa stai facendo? — Sto preparando la cena.
What are you doing? — I'm making dinner.
Stiamo guardando la partita, vieni anche tu?
We're watching the match, are you coming too?
I bambini stanno dormendo, parla piano.
The kids are sleeping, talk quietly.
The critical point for English speakers: the simple presente already covers "I am ...-ing" in most contexts. Leggo un libro can mean both "I read a book" and "I'm reading a book." You only reach for sto leggendo when you specifically want to stress the action is unfolding at this very moment and nothing else.
The progressive cannot be used for habits, professions, scheduled future events, or stable states. Sto vivendo a Milano sounds like you have just moved there for a temporary stay; Vivo a Milano is the natural way to say where you live.
Use 3 — Imminent future: stare per + infinito
Stare per + infinitive means "to be about to (do something)." It marks an action that is on the verge of happening — minutes away, sometimes seconds.
Sto per uscire, ti chiamo dopo.
I'm about to head out, I'll call you later.
Il treno sta per partire — corri!
The train is about to leave — run!
Stavamo per andarcene quando è arrivata Sara.
We were about to leave when Sara arrived.
Attento, sta per piovere.
Watch out, it's about to rain.
This construction is enormously useful and has no clean single-word equivalent in English. Note that you can use it in any tense — stavo per (I was about to), starò per (I'll be about to) — but the presente is the most common.
Use 4 — Collocations with adverbs of manner
Stare combines with a small set of adverbs and adjectives in fixed expressions where essere would sound wrong.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| stare zitto/zitta | to be quiet, shut up |
| stare fermo/ferma | to stay still |
| stare attento/attenta | to pay attention, be careful |
| stare calmo/calma | to stay calm |
| stare tranquillo/tranquilla | to stay calm, not worry |
| stare insieme | to be together (a couple) |
| stare bene a qualcuno | to suit someone (clothing) |
Stai zitto, per favore!
Be quiet, please!
Sta' tranquilla, andrà tutto bene.
Don't worry, everything will be fine.
Marco e Laura stanno insieme da cinque anni.
Marco and Laura have been together (a couple) for five years.
Quel vestito ti sta benissimo.
That dress looks great on you.
The pattern here: stare + adverb/adjective expresses a way of being or behaving that you maintain or adopt. Essere zitto would describe a permanent silent character; stare zitto is "be quiet right now."
Use 5 — Location (regional)
In Southern Italian, in Tuscan, and in much of spoken Italian, stare is used for location: La chiesa sta in piazza. In standard written Italian and in Northern speech, essere or trovarsi is preferred.
La chiesa è in piazza. (standard)
The church is in the square.
La chiesa si trova in piazza. (more formal)
The church is located in the square.
La chiesa sta in piazza. (regional, especially southern)
The church is in the square.
For learners: stick with essere or si trova for inanimate locations. Use stare for the location of people only when it implies a temporary or ongoing stay: Sto a casa stasera (I'm staying home tonight) — but here the meaning shades toward "to stay," not "to be located."
The Spanish trap: stare is not estar
Spanish speakers learning Italian carry a very strong intuition: estar for temporary states and location, ser for identity and permanent qualities. Italian does not work this way. Italian essere absorbs almost everything ser and estar do — it covers location (Sono a Roma), feelings expressed adjectivally (Sono stanco — I'm tired), conditions, marital status, and characteristics alike.
| Spanish | Italian | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Estoy cansado. | Sono stanco. | essere, not stare |
| Estoy en Roma. | Sono a Roma. | essere for location |
| La sopa está caliente. | La zuppa è calda. | essere for temporary state |
| Está triste. | È triste. | essere |
| ¿Cómo estás? | Come stai? | stare for health/feeling |
| Estoy leyendo. | Sto leggendo. | stare for progressive |
The shortlist of stare's territory is precisely:
- Health and feeling (Come stai? Sto bene.)
- Progressive (sto leggendo)
- Imminent future (sto per partire)
- A handful of fixed collocations (sta' zitto, stai attento)
- "To stay" (sto a casa) — i.e., the original Latin meaning
Everything else is essere.
For the full side-by-side, see essere vs stare.
Common mistakes
❌ Sto stanco oggi.
Incorrect — adjectives describing how you feel use essere in standard Italian.
✅ Sono stanco oggi.
Correct — Italian uses essere for states described by an adjective.
❌ Stiamo a Roma per le vacanze. (meaning 'we are in Rome')
Ambiguous — sounds like 'we are staying in Rome'. For pure location, use essere.
✅ Siamo a Roma per le vacanze.
Correct — essere is the standard verb for location.
❌ Come sei? — Bene, grazie.
Incorrect — 'come sei?' asks about your character, not your health.
✅ Come stai? — Bene, grazie.
Correct — health/feeling questions use stare.
❌ Sto lavorando in una banca da dieci anni.
Incorrect — habits and professions take the simple presente.
✅ Lavoro in una banca da dieci anni.
Correct — sto + gerundio is reserved for actions happening at this exact moment.
❌ Loro stano bene.
Incorrect — the loro form doubles the n.
✅ Loro stanno bene.
Correct — stanno, like vanno, danno, fanno.
❌ La macchina sta rotta.
Incorrect — for the state of an object, use essere.
✅ La macchina è rotta.
Correct — essere with adjectival/participial predicates.
Key takeaways
Stare conjugates as sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno — the loro form doubles the n.
Reach for stare in exactly five contexts:
- Health and feeling: Come stai? Sto bene.
- Progressive: sto + gerundio, only for actions happening right now.
- Imminent future: sto per + infinitive.
- Fixed collocations: sta' zitto, stai attento, stiamo insieme.
- "To stay": sto a casa, stiamo qui un'altra ora.
Everything else — location, identity, profession, characteristics, adjectival states — takes essere. When in doubt between sono and sto, choose sono. You will be right far more often than wrong.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- Presente: Essere (to be)A1 — How to conjugate essere — the most important irregular verb in Italian — and how to navigate the situations where Italian uses avere where English uses 'to be'.
- Presente: Avere (to have)A1 — How to conjugate avere in the present indicative — its silent h, its many idiomatic uses for states English expresses with 'to be,' and its role as the default auxiliary in compound tenses.
- Presente Indicativo: OverviewA1 — How Italian's most-used tense covers everything English splits between simple present and present progressive — and why 'sto facendo' is not the default.
- Presente: Andare (to go)A1 — How to conjugate andare and how to choose the right preposition for every destination — cities, countries, transport, people, public places.
- Copulative Verbs: essere, stare, diventare, sembrare, parereA2 — The verbs that link a subject to a predicate noun or adjective in Italian — and how the adjective then agrees with the subject through the verb.
- Auxiliary Verbs: avere, essere, stareA2 — The three auxiliary verbs that build Italian's compound tenses, the progressive, and the imminent future — and why getting them right is foundational.