Today we will see how to conjugate Italian ire verbs. The conjugation is very similar to that of the verbs in -ere that we saw in another article (only the second person plural changes). 

Learn more about

• Italian verbs ending in are.
• The complete guide to Italian reflexive verbs.
• Italian adverbs: rules, examples and exercises.

CONJUGATION OF ITALIAN VERBS ENDING IN IRE 

Let’s see, for example, how to conjugate the verb partire (to leave). 

PARTIRE

Io part–o Tu part–i Lui/Lei part–e Noi part–iamo Voi part–ite Loro part–ono As you can see, in the present tense, the endings of the Italian ire verbs are the same as those of the verbs in ere, except that the second person plural, instead of ending in -ete, ends in -ite. An example sentence could be: 

Andrea, Giovanni, voi che fate? Partite subito o rimanete ancora qualche giorno con noi? 

In the second person plural (voi), the verb in -are (fare) becomes fate, the verb in -ere (prendere) becomes prendete and the verb in -ire (partire) becomes partite. 

ISC ITALIAN VERBS

A peculiarity of Italian ire verbs is that some of them add the element -isc between the stem and the desinence, for example the verb finire, which has the meaning of to end or to finish.

FINIRE 

Io fin–isc–o Tu fin–isc–i Lui/Lei fin–isc–e Noi fin–iamo Voi fin–ite Loro fin–isc–ono

⚠️ BE CAREFUL! ⚠️

The ISC element is only added to the first, second and third person singular (io finisco -tu finsici – lui/lei finisce) and to the third person plural (loro finiscono), never to the first or second person plural (noi finiamo – voi finite). Here is an example sentence with the verb finire:

Domani finisco di lavorare alle 18:00. Voi a che ora finite?

But how can we know whether a verb ending in -ire adds the ISC element or not? 

Unfortunately there is no rule that allows us to know with absolute certainty whether a verb ending in -ire adds the ISC element or not, but there is a ‘tendency’ which, as you can see for yourselves, is generally correct, although as always there are some exceptions. To find out whether a verb adds ISC or not, count to 5 starting with the last letter of the infinitive verb. If the fifth letter is…

• A consonant ➡️the verb tends to follow the conjugation of partire, i.e. it does NOT add the ISC element.
• A vowel ➡️ the verb tends to follow the conjugation of finire, i.e. it adds the ISC element.

FOR EXAMPLE:

• Dormire ➡️ io dormo…  /  Riempire ➡️ io riempio…

As you can see, these verbs do not add the ISC element. The same goes for aprire, coprire, partire, scoprire, seguire, sentire, servire… *Some verbs like colpire, costruire, gestire, restituire represent an exception, because although the fifth letter of the infinitive starting from the end of the verb is a consonant, they add the ISC element (io colpisco-io costruisco-io gestisco-io restituisco). 

• Sparire ➡️ io sparisco… /  Preferire ➡️ io preferisco…

The most commonly used Italian verbs that require the insertion of -isc are: agire, capire, finire, guarire, inserire, obbedire, preferire, pulire, spedire, suggerire. The verb cucire represents an exception because although the fifth letter of the infinitive starting from the end of the verb is a vowel, it does not add the isc element (io cucio-tu cuci-lui/lei cuce…).

IRREGULAR VERBS

We must not forget that there are many irregular Italian verbs ending in ire. Some of the most frequent irregular verbs are: