LESSON #14 – VERBS class -IRE and ADVERBS of FREQUENCY

APRIRE – to open

DORMIRE – to sleep

OFFRIRE – to offer

PARTIRE – to leave, to set off

SENTIRE – to hear, to feel, to smell

CAPIRE – to understand

COSTRUIRE – to build

FINIRE – to finish

PREFERIRE – to prefer

PULIRE – to clean, to tidy up

MAI – never

RARAMENTE – rarely

A VOLTE – sometimes

DI SOLITO – usually

SPESSO – often

SEMPRE – always

OGNI – every, each

L’ORA (feminine) – hour, now

INSIEME – together

LA FINESTRA – a window

An alphabetical list of the vocabulary can be found here.

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We divided the verbs into two groups because there are two ways of conjugation of the verbs ending with “-ire”. 

VERBS class -IRE (model of conjugation)
SINGULAR		PLURAL
I:	(io) verb + o	we:	(noi) verb + iamo
you (singular):	(tu) verb + i	you (plural):	(voi) verb + ite
he, she:	(lui, lei) verb + e	they:	(loro) verb + ono

A practical example of the verb DORMIRE – to sleep. Accent is on the underlined syllable.

DORMIRE
SINGULAR		PLURAL
I:	(io) dormo	we:	(noi) dormiamo
you (singular):	(tu) dormi	you (plural):	(voi) dormite
he, she:	(lui, lei) dorme	they:	(loro) dormono

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But much bigger part of verbs ending with “-ire” is conjugated in a different way. “ISC” is inserted before the suffix:

VERBS class -IRE (model of conjugation)
SINGULAR		PLURAL
I:	(io) verb + ISCo	we:	(noi) verb + iamo
you (singular):	(tu) verb + ISCi	you (plural):	(voi) verb + ite
he, she:	(lui, lei) verb + ISCe	they:	(loro) verb + ISCono

A practical example of the verb CAPIRE – to understand. Accent is on the underlined syllable.

CAPIRE
SINGULAR		PLURAL
I:	(io) capISCo	we:	(noi) capiamo
you (singular):	(tu) capISCi	you (plural):	(voi) capite
he, she:	(lui, lei) capISCe	they:	(loro) capISCono

Be careful to pronounce correctly. All the forms are pronounced in a “soft” way “ʃ”, except the third one plural (loro – they) which is pronouced in a hard way “sk”. Listen to the recording.

All the verbs correctly conjugated (put the accent on the red syllable):

APRIRE – apro, apri, apre, apriamo, aprite, aprono

OFFRIRE – offro, offri, offre, offriamo, offrite, offrono

PARTIRE – parto, parti, parte, partiamo, partite, partono

SENTIRE – sento, senti, sente, sentiamo, sentite, sentono

COSTRUIRE – costruisco, costruisci, costruisce, costruiamo, costruite, costruiscono

FINIRE – finisco, finisci, finisce, finiamo, finite, finiscono

PREFERIRE – preferisco, preferisci, preferisce, preferiamo, preferite, preferiscono

PULIRE – pulisco, pulisci, pulisce, puliamo, pulite, puliscono

Examples of the verbs in a simple sentence:

Apri di solito le finestre? – Do you usually open the windows?

Dorme 8 ore ogni giorno. – She sleeps 8 hours every day.

Spesso offriamo un lavoro. – We often offer a job.

Partiamo insieme. – We leave toghether.

Sento freddo. – I feel cold.

Non capisco l’italiano. – I don’t understand Italian.

Lui costruisce case. – He builds houses.

Finisce scuola questa settimana. – He/She finishes school this week.

Preferisco gelato. – I prefer ice-cream.

Pulisco ogni domenica. – I clean every Sunday.