Italiano — -care/-gare spelling

Verbs ending in -care and -gare add an -h- before endings that start with e or i (cerchi, paghiamo, giocheremo). The h keeps the hard [k] and [g] sounds of the infinitive.

How it works

✓ Rule

Without the h, the c and g would soften before e/i. So cercare becomes tu cerchi and pagare becomes noi paghiamo; in the future and conditional the h appears throughout: io giocherò, io giocherei.

Examples

The -h- across verbs and tenses
Infinitive	Form with -h-	Person / tense
cercare	cerchi	you (sg.), present
cercare	cerchiamo	we, present
pagare	paghiamo	we, present
pagare	pagherò	I, future
giocare	giocheremo	we, future
dimenticare	dimenticherei	I, conditional

Good to know

⚠ Note

The h is added only before e or i. Before a or o it is not needed, so the present keeps io cerco, loro cercano and io pago, loro pagano without any h — a common learner mistake is writing cerchano.