The –ire Verb Family
L’infinito
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L’infinito means “the infinitive” in
Italian. It looks like this: mangiare,
ballare, spendere. It doesn’t tell us
who is doing that action.
We know that we have to change the
ending of the infinitive when we want
to be specific in a sentence. We know
how to change –are verbs and –ere
verbs. Now let’s look at –ire verbs!
Ripasso: altri verbi
Let’s review our other verb endings
first:
What are the endings for –are verbs?
-o
-iamo
-i
-ate
-a
-ano
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Ripasso: altri verbi
Let’s review our other verb family:
What are the endings for –ere verbs?

-o
-i
-e
-iamo
-ete
-ono
Verbi -ire
What are the –ire endings?
-o
–iamo
-i
–ite
-e
-ono
What do you notice about –ire and –ere
endings?

Paragoniamo (Let’s compare!)
Vediamo (Let’s see):
-ere
vs.
-o -iamo
-i
-ete
-e -ono
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-o
-i
-e
-ire
–iamo
–ite
-ono
Sono simili! (They’re similar!)
-ere and –ire endings are almost all the
same EXCEPT in the “voi” form.
–ere verbs have –ete
–ire verbs have –ite
Esempi
Dormire – to sleep
Aprire – to open
Offrire – to offer
Partire – to leave, to depart
Seguire – to follow
Sentire – to hear
Servire – to serve
Not so fast!
Some –ire verbs add an –isc before the
ending we are used to adding on.
For example : pulisco, pulisce, finisco,
finisci, capisci, preferiscono…
-isc with -ire
These are sometimes called “boot verbs”
because the –isc is added into all the
forms except “noi” and “voi”.
Esempio: capire – to understand
Capisco
Capiamo
Capisci
Capite
Capisce
Capiscono
-isc
If you draw a line around the verb
conjugations that add the –isc, you will
see a boot!
Vediamo (Let’s see): finire – to finish
Finisco
Finiamo
Finisci
Finite
Finisce
Finiscono
Which –ire verbs get –isc?
The –ire verb family is weird. Some –ire
verbs get –isc added into them, and
others don’t. How do we know when to
do that?
Give them the “5 letter test”!
5 letter test
Look at the –ire verb in its infinitive form.
Let’s take “pulire” – “to clean”.
Start at the END of the word, on the “e”.
Count back 5 letters. Do we land on a
vowel?
1:e , 2:r, 3:i, 4:l, 5:u
YES!
5 letter test
Since we landed on a vowel, we know to
add in “isc” for all our forms EXCEPT
noi and voi.
Pulisco Puliamo
Pulisci
Pulite
Pulisce Puliscono
We still have to add our normal endings,
too!
5 letter test
Let’s try another one: dormire.
1:e, 2:r, 3:i, 4:m, 5:r
I didn’t land on a vowel, so this is regular.
Dormo
Dormiamo
Dormi
Dormite
Dorme
Dormono
Esempi
-isc verbs from the –ire family:
Capire – to understand
Finire – to finish
Pulire – to clean
Preferire – to prefer
2 modi (2 ways)
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So, we can say that there are 2
ways to conjugate –ire verbs.
1.) Regularly, like “dormire” (dormo,
dormi…)
2.) Irregularly, when you add in the
–isc, like “capire” (capisco,
capisci…)