Most Common -IRE Verbs in Italian

Most Common -IRE Verbs: Regular vs. Irregular

In Italian, -ire verbs fall into two main types:

Regular -ire verbs — like “dormire” (to sleep) — follow a standard conjugation pattern. See the first chart for this pattern.

Irregular -ire verbs — like “capire” (to understand) — follow a slightly different pattern. They insert “-isc-” before the ending in all forms except “noi” and “voi.” See the second chart for this conjugation.

? Key point:

Present Tense of ‘dormire‘ (Regular Conjugation) 

IodormoI sleep or I’m sleeping
TudormiYou sleep (singular, informal) or you’re sleeping
Lui/LeidormeHe/She sleeps or she/he’s sleeping
NoidormiamoWe sleep or we’re sleeping
VoidormiteYou all sleep or you all are sleeping
LorodormonoThey sleep or they’re sleeping
conjugation of “ire verbs” with the present tense (3rd group)

Present Tense of ‘capire‘ (Irregular Conjugation) 

Iocap-ISC–oI understand or I’m understanding
Tucap-ISC-iYou understand or you’re understanding
Lui/Leicap-ISC-eHe/she understands or he/she’s understanding
NoicapiamoWe understand or we’re understanding
VoicapiteYou all understand or you’ll are understanding
Lorocap-ISC-onoThey understand or they’re understanding
conjugation of irregular “ire verbs” with the present tense (3rd group)

List of Common Verb -IRE Verbs

dormireto sleepregular verb
coprireto coverregular verb
restituireto return somethingirregular verb
seguireto followregular verb
aprireto openregular verb
scoprireto find outregular verb
offrireto offerregular verb
partireto leave forregular verb
sentireto hearregular verb
most common “ere” verbs, in Italian (3rd group verbs)

List of Common Irregular -IRE Verbs (with -ISC-)

Italian VerbEnglish MeaningNote
preferireto preferirregular (-isc-)
restituireto return somethingirregular (-isc-)
finireto finishirregular (-isc-)
capireto understandirregular (-isc-)
dimagrireto lose weightirregular (-isc-)
spedireto shipirregular (-isc-)

✅ Note: All these verbs add “-isc-” in all forms except “noi” and “voi.”

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Serena Capilli

Ciao! I’m Serena, a certified Italian teacher and author, born in Sicily and based in Rome. I learned to speak seven languages through stories and context — not by memorizing endless rules — and since 2022 I’ve written easy readers to help others do the same, with 25,000+ copies now out in the world.

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