Mastering Ire Verbs In Italian

The third group of Italian verbs are those that end in -ire. It’s the smallest group of verbs, and it has quite a few irregular ones. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular ire verbs in Italian and how to conjugate them.

Conjugate Ire Verbs In Italian – Regular Verbs

To conjugate ire Italian verbs:

• Remove the ire ending to get the stem of the word.
• Attach the appropriate ending.

Per esempio:

• Let’s take the verb “dormire.”
• If you remove the ire, you’re left with “dorm.”
• Now, attach the appropriate ending to the stem. If you want to say, “I sleep,” it would be “dormo.”

The ending will change based on the subject pronoun and the tense.

Presente

Subject Pronoun	Ending
io	o
tu	i
lui/lei/Lei	e
noi	iamo
voi	ite
loro	ono

Examples

For partire:

• Parto – I leave
• Parti – You leave
• Parte – He/She/It/formal leaves
• Partiamo – We leave
• Partite – You all leave
• Partono – They leave

Passato Prossimo

If we want to make the past participle of a regular ire verb, we simply remove the ire ending and attach ito or iti if it is plural. When using the passato prossimo form, keep in mind that you’ll also need to use the auxiliary verb essere or avere before the verb. 

Per esempio:

• Essere: Sono partito – I left
• Avere: Ho dormito – I slept

Avere is used with transitive verbs, while essere is used with intransitive verbs.

Futuro

Subject Pronoun	Ending
io	irò
tu	irai
lui/lei/Lei	irà
noi	iremo
voi	irete
loro	iranno

Italian Ire Verbs List

Most-Used IRE Verbs in Italian

Venire: To come; arrive; to come from; to turn out; to come up; to cost; to send for or call

• Vieni a trovarci – Come and see us!
• Non sono ancora venuto – They haven’t arrived yet.

Dire: To say; to tell; to mean; to recite; to admit; to think

• Come si dice in spagnolo? – How do you say it in Spanish?
• Mi ha detto tutto – She told me everything.

Sentire: To feel (physical and emotional); to taste; to hear or listen to

• Sento dolore – I feel pain
• Sento dei passi – I hear footsteps

Uscire: To go out or leave; to come out; to be released

• Sono uscita ieri – I went out yesterday
• Uscira da – To go out

Seguire: To follow; to attend

• Seguo una dieta – I’m on a diet
• Seguire un corso – To follow a course

Partire: To leave; to start

• Quando parti? – When do you leave?
• La macchina non parte – The car isn’t starting

Salire: To go or come up; to get on or in; to rise

• Salo le scale – I’m going up the stairs
• Salire sul treno – To get on the train

Colpire: To hit or strike; to affect 

• È state colpita – He was hit
• Sono rimasto colpito – I was shocked

Offrire: To offer; to bid

• Offro io – It’s on me!
• Mi hanno offerto un passaggio – They offered me a ride (lift)

Dormire: To sleep; to be asleep

• Vieni a dormire? – Are you going to bed?
• Sto dormendo – I’m sleeping

Riuscire: To succeed; to be able to; to prove to be

• Riuscire nella vita – To succeed in life
• Non riesco a farlo – I cannot do it

Aprire: To open; to turn on

• Apriamo la finestra – Let’s open the window
• Non riesco ad aprire un file – I can’t open a file

Capire: To understand

• Non capisco – I don’t understand
• Si capisce! – Certainly or of course

Vestire: To dress; to wear

• Vestire di nero – To wear black
• Vestirsi elegantemente – To dress oneself smartly

Morire: To die (literally and figuratively); to die out or fade

• Morire di fame – To die of hunger
• Morire di paura – To be scared to death

Divertire: To have fun or amuse

• Mi ha divertito molto – I was very amused
• È stato divertente – It was fun

Agire: To act; to function 

• Bisogna agire – You have to act
• Ha agito male – She behaved badly

Scoprire: To discover or find out; to unveil

• Ho scoperto la verità – I found out the truth
• Scoprire che – To find out that…

Servire: To serve 

• Ho servito il caffè – I served coffee
• A che cosa serve? – What is it used for?

Costruire: To build or construct

• Costruiremo una nuova casa – We are going to build a new house
• Come lo costruisci? – How do you build it?

Differire: To defer or postpone

• Differiamo di un mese – We defer for a month
• Differisco un viaggio – I postpone the trip

Riempire: To fill up

• Hai riempito il termos di caffè? – Did you fill the thermos with coffee?
• Riempirsi le tasche – To fill one’s pockets

Apparire: To appear; to seem

• Appare che – It appears that…
• Apparire chiaro – It seems clear

Aderire: To adhere to or fit

• Aderire a un partito – To join a party
• I pezzi aderiscono – The pieces fit together

Suggerire: To suggest

• Lei cosa suggerisce? – What does she suggest?
• Suggerisci di partire? – Do you suggest we leave?

Inserire: To insert; to enclose

• Inserire la spina della radio – To plug in the radio
• Inserire un annuncio sul giornale – To place an ad in the newspaper

Consentire: To agree or consent

• Non me lo consente – It won’t let me
• Non dobbiamo più consentire – We must no longer allow it

Favorire: To favor; to encourage; to support; please

• Mi favoriresti il pane? Would you pass me the bread?
• Ha favorito il lavoro del figlio. – He supported his son’s work

Unire: To join or unite; to combine; to mix

• Abbiamo unito le nostre forze – We united our strengths
• Unire lo zucchero – Add the sugar

Impedire: To obstruct; to hamper; to hinder

• Impedire il trasporto di armi – To obstruct the transfer of weapons
• Che ti impedisce di farlo? – What’s stopping you from doing it?

Riferire: To report or tell

• Come ha riferito il quotidiano – As the newspaper reported
• Riferire sull’emergenza – Report on the emergency

Fuggire: To escape

• È fuggito di prigione – He escaped from prison
• Noi obbligati a fuggire dal fuoco – We are forced to flee from the fire

Irregular Ire Verbs Italian

IRE verbs in Italian comprise the smallest group of verbs among the ERE, ARE and IRE families. However, there are also Ire isc verbs Italian for some irregular verbs. There are also very popular irregular IRE verbs that don’t follow the “isc” conjugation, such as:

• Venire, which conjugates to vengo

Then there are also verbs that use “ISC,” such as:

• Preferire: to prefer:
  • Io preferisco
  • Tu preferisci
  • Lui/leu preferisce
  • Noi preferiamo
  • Voi preferite
  • Loro preferiscono
  • So many others
• Capire
• Pulire
• Costruire
• Spedire
• Finire 

Irregular IRE verbs in Italian are important to memorize because they’re easy to overlook and  can be mistaken for a regular verb. With a little time and effort, you’ll get used to seeing these verbs and will learn to conjugate them properly.