Form Third Conjugation Verbs in Italian Using -Ire

While there are certainly a lot of regular verbs that conjugate according to the patterns you learn in textbooks, there are also a number of verbs that don’t cooperate with those rules. Third conjugation verbs fall squarely in that category and have a unique feature about their endings that you’ll need to know if you’re going to conjugate verbs like a native speaker. To start, the infinitives of all regular verbs in Italian end in –are, –ere, or–ire and are referred to as first, second, or third conjugation verbs, respectively. In English, the infinitive (linfinito) consists of to verb. amare:  to lovetemere:  to fearsentire:  to hear Start with third conjugation verbs, which are verbs with infinitives ending in -ire. They’re also more simply called -ire verbs. -Ire Verbs in Italian The present tense of a regular -ire verb is formed by dropping the infinitive ending (-ire) and adding the appropriate endings to the resulting stem. There is a different ending for each person, â€Å"I,† â€Å"you,† or â€Å"we,† for example. Capire: To understand (present tense) io capisco noi capiamo tu capisci voi capite lui, lei, Lei capisce essi, Loro capiscono Characteristics of Third Conjugation Verbs When it comes to the indicative and subjunctive present moods, many -ire verbs add the suffix -isc to the first, second, and third person singular and third person plural. The -isc suffix is also added to the second and third person singular and third person plural of the present imperative mood. Finire:  To finish io finisco: I  finishtu finisci: you finishegli finisce: he finishesessi finiscono:  they finish Present Subjunctive Mood che io finisca: that I  finishche tu finisca: that you finishche egli finisca: that he finishesche essi finiscano: that they finishfinisci: you finishfinisca: he/she/it finishesfiniscono: they finish Preferire: To prefer io preferisco: I prefertu preferisci: you preferegli preferisce: he prefersessi preferiscono: they preferche io preferisca: that I preferche tu preferisca: that you preferche egli preferisca: that he prefersche essi preferiscano: that they prefer Verbs That Use Both Forms Languire: to languish, to fade io languo   io languisco Mentire: to lie io mento   Ã‚  io mentisco Other verbs also have both forms but take on diverse significance: Ripartire io riparto: to leave againio ripartisco: to divide   Present Participles Ending in -Ente or -Lente Generally, the present participle (il participio presente) of third conjugation verbs end in -ente. Several have the form -iente, and a few can have both endings: morire/morente: to dieesordire/esordiente: to begin, to start off, to commencedormire/dormente/dormiente: to sleep  Ã‚   Some participles change the letter that precedes the participle -iente to the letter z: sentire/senziente: to feel, to hear Other popular verbs that are third conjugation and take the -isc suffix are: agire: to act, to behaveapprofondire: to increase, to enhancecapire: to understandchiarire: to clarifycostruire: to constructdefinire: to definefallire: to failfornire: to providegarantire: to guaranteeguarire: to healpulire: to clean