Conjugating regular Italian verbs ending with IRE in the present tense
Infinitive – “…A verb form that functions as a substantive while retaining certain verbal characteristics, such as modification by adverbs, and that in English may be preceded by to, as in To go willingly is to show strength or We want him to work…” 1There are three main categories of Italian Verbs known as 1st, 2nd and 3rd conjugation. Here is the most obvious, initial difference;
1st Conjugation verbs are verbs that end with the letters ARE in the infinitive form.
2nd Conjugation verbs are verbs that end with the letters ERE in the infinitive form.
3rd Conjugation verbs are verbs that end with the letters IRE in the infinitive form.
(These ending are “Infinitive endings”)
To illustrate how to conjugate an IRE verb, I like to use a math equation as an example but first here are the conjugated endings for IRE verbs;
|
Subject Pronoun Io Tu Lui/Lei Noi Voi Loro |
Ending o i e iamo ite ono |
To conjugate = infinitive verb – infinitive ending = verb stem + conjugated ending = conjugated verb. Example;
Servire (To Serve) - ire = Serv + iamo (ending for we) = Serviamo (We see)
Servire conjugated in the present tense
|
Io Tu Lui/Lei Noi Voi Loro |
Servo Servi Serve Serviamo Servite Servono |
I serve You serve He/She/It serves We serve Y'all serve They serve |
There is one exception with the 3rd conjugation on how it is handled in the present tense for some regular verbs. That is, there are some verbs that you have to insert the letters "ISC" after the infinitive root and before the present indicative ending for Io, Tu, Lui/Lei and Loro. Therefore, we conjugate these verbs as follows;
Example;
Capire (To Understand) - ire = Cap + isc = capisc + ono (ending for they) = Capiscono (They understand)
Capire conjugated in the present tense
|
Io Tu Lui/Lei Noi Voi Loro |
Capisco Capisci Capisce Capiamo Capite Capiscono |
I understand You understand He/She/It understands We understand Y'all understand They understand |
1 The definitions or portions thereof were taken from thefreedictionary.com
