| Third Conjugation Italian Verbs |
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–Ire Verbs in Italian
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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 (l'infinito) consists of to + verb.
amare to love temere to fear sentire to hear
Verbs with infinitives ending in –ire are called third conjugation, or –ire, verbs. 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.
Characteristics of the Third Conjugation
- Many –ire verbs add, between the root and declination, the suffix isc to the first, second, and third person singular and third person plural of the indicative and subjunctive present tense, and to the second and third person singular and third person plural of the present infinitive tense:
| finire |
| io finisco | che io finisca |
| tu finisci | che tu finisca |
| egli finisce | che egli finisca |
| essi finiscono | che essi finiscano |
| finisci | finisca | finiscono |
- some verbs have both forms, similar to the model of sentire and finire:
| languire | io languo | io languisco |
| mentire | io mento | io mentisco |
- other verbs also have both forms but take on diverse significance:
| ripartire |
| io riparto (to leave again) |
| io ripartisco (to divide) |
- 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 |
| esordire | esordiente |
| dormire | dormente/dormiente |
- Some participles change the letter t that precedes the declination of the participle iente to the letter z:
