Presente: Regular -ire Verbs (Pure Subgroup) | Italian Grammar

The terza coniugazione — the -ire class — splits into two distinct patterns in the presente: a pure subgroup (this page) and a much larger -isco subgroup (covered separately on the -isco -ire verbs page). The pure subgroup is small — only a few dozen verbs — but it includes some of the most common verbs in everyday Italian: dormire, partire, aprire, sentire, offrire. The -isco pattern, by contrast, is the productive default that handles every other -ire verb.

This page covers only the pure pattern. There is no rule that tells you which verbs belong to it — you have to memorize the list. That's the bad news. The good news is that the list is short, almost all of its members are everyday verbs you'll meet in your first month of study, and the conjugation itself is dead simple.

The endings

To conjugate a regular pure -ire verb in the presente, drop the -ire ending from the infinitive to get the stem, then add the appropriate ending for the subject.

The six endings are:

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

Dormire — the model verb

Take dormire, drop the -ire to get the stem dorm-, then add each ending. The bold marks below indicate stress and are training aids only.

Person	Conjugation	Stress
io	dormo	dòrmo
tu	dormi	dòrmi
lui / lei / Lei	dorme	dòrme
noi	dormiamo	dormiàmo
voi	dormite	dormìte
loro	dormono	dòrmono

Dormo sempre con la finestra aperta, anche d'inverno.

I always sleep with the window open, even in winter.

Dormi ancora? Sono già le undici!

Are you still asleep? It's already eleven!

Mio figlio dorme tredici ore di fila e poi è ancora stanco.

My son sleeps thirteen hours straight and is still tired afterwards.

Stasera dormiamo da mia sorella perché abita più vicino al teatro.

Tonight we're sleeping at my sister's because she lives closer to the theater.

Voi dormite poco, dovete riposare di più.

You guys don't sleep enough, you need to rest more.

I bambini dòrmono presto, di solito alle otto sono già a letto.

The kids sleep early; they're usually in bed by eight.

How -ire (pure) compares to -ere

The endings of pure -ire are nearly identical to those of regular -ere verbs. Five out of six match exactly:

Person	-ere	-ire (pure)
io	-o	-o
tu	-i	-i
lui / lei	-e	-e
noi	-iamo	-iamo
voi	-ete	-ite
loro	-ono	-ono

Only the voi form differs: -ite for -ire verbs, -ete for -ere verbs. Everything else is the same. So scrivete but dormite; prendete but partite; leggete but sentite.

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If you already know the -ere endings, the only thing to memorize for pure -ire is the voi form: -ite. Five out of six are free.

Stress on the loro form

Just like -are and -ere, the loro form of -ire verbs stresses the root: dòrmono, pàrtono, àprono, sèntono. The -ono ending is unstressed and pronounced quickly, almost as a single syllable. Saying dormòno with the stress on -mò- is one of the clearest tells of a non-native speaker.

I treni pàrtono ogni mezz'ora dalla stazione centrale.

The trains leave every half hour from the central station.

I negozi del centro àprono alle nove e mezza.

The shops downtown open at nine thirty.

Loro non sèntono il campanello quando sono in cucina.

They don't hear the doorbell when they're in the kitchen.

For a deeper treatment of stress placement across all conjugations, see stress patterns in conjugations.

The pure -ire subgroup: the full short list

This is the closed list of high-frequency pure -ire verbs. There are a few more in the language, but if you learn these, you've covered nearly all of them you'll meet at the A1–B1 level.

Infinitive	Meaning	io form	noi form	loro form
dormire	to sleep	dormo	dormiamo	dormono
partire	to leave, to depart	parto	partiamo	partono
aprire	to open	apro	apriamo	aprono
sentire	to hear, to feel	sento	sentiamo	sentono
offrire	to offer	offro	offriamo	offrono
soffrire	to suffer	soffro	soffriamo	soffrono
seguire	to follow	seguo	seguiamo	seguono
coprire	to cover	copro	copriamo	coprono
bollire	to boil	bollo	bolliamo	bollono
servire	to serve, to be needed	servo	serviamo	servono
vestire	to dress	vesto	vestiamo	vestono

Il treno parte alle otto e venti dal binario tre.

The train leaves at eight twenty from platform three.

Apri la finestra, c'è un caldo terribile qui.

Open the window, it's terribly hot in here.

Sento un rumore strano in cucina.

I hear a strange noise in the kitchen.

Stasera offro io, hai pagato tu l'ultima volta.

Tonight it's on me, you paid last time.

Soffro di mal di testa quando dormo poco.

I get headaches when I don't sleep enough.

Seguiamo le istruzioni passo per passo, così non sbagliamo.

We follow the instructions step by step, so we don't make a mistake.

L'acqua bolle, puoi buttare la pasta.

The water's boiling, you can put the pasta in.

Servono due uova e un po' di farina.

You need two eggs and a bit of flour.

Pure or -isco? You just have to know

There is no productive rule that distinguishes the pure subgroup from the -isco subgroup. Both follow regular phonotactics; both have ordinary-looking infinitives; both come from Latin -ire verbs. The split is historical, and from a synchronic learner's perspective, it's lexical: each verb belongs to one group or the other, and you memorize which.

Compare:

dormire → dormo, dormi, dorme (pure)
finire → finisco, finisci, finisce (-isco)

Both are perfectly regular -ire verbs, but they take different paths through the conjugation. The same is true of:

partire (pure: parto) vs capire (-isco: capisco)
sentire (pure: sento) vs preferire (-isco: preferisco)
aprire (pure: apro) vs pulire (-isco: pulisco)

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The pure subgroup is the smaller of the two. The -isco subgroup is the productive default — meaning when you encounter a new -ire verb, the safe bet is that it takes -isco. Memorize the pure list as exceptions to that default.

A common pedagogical mistake

Many textbooks introduce -isco first and treat the pure subgroup as a footnote. We do the opposite for a reason: the pure pattern is conceptually simpler (just six endings, no infix), it shares almost all its endings with -ere, and several of its members — dormire, partire, sentire, aprire, offrire — are among the most-used verbs in the language. Get the pure pattern solid first, then meet the -isco productive default with the contrast already in your ear.

That said, English speakers tend to over-extend either pattern in the wrong direction. They learn finisco and start saying dormisco. Or they learn dormo and start saying prefero. Neither one transfers — each verb sticks to its own pattern. The fix is rote memorization of which group a verb belongs to, ideally by associating each new -ire verb with its io form the moment you meet it.

Why English speakers struggle here

English distributes "-ire-meaning" verbs across several patterns. To sleep, to leave, to hear, to open — these don't share any common ending in English, so there's no anchor to cling to. And English's progressive aspect (I am sleeping) doesn't map cleanly onto Italian's single presente form, which covers both I sleep (habit) and I am sleeping (right now). For a fuller treatment, see the present indicative overview.

A practical consequence: when an English speaker says I'm sleeping at my sister's tonight, the natural Italian translation is Stasera dormo da mia sorella — the simple presente, not sto dormendo. Save sto + gerundio for genuine "right at this very moment" emphasis.

Common mistakes

❌ Loro dormiscono tardi il sabato.

Incorrect — dormire is in the pure subgroup, no -isc- infix.

✅ Loro dormono tardi il sabato.

Correct — dormono, no infix.

❌ Voi dormete bene?

Incorrect — that's the -ere voi ending. -ire uses -ite.

✅ Voi dormite bene?

Correct — voi dormite.

❌ Lui dormono otto ore.

Incorrect — dormono is the loro form. The lui form is dorme.

✅ Lui dorme otto ore.

Correct — third person singular is dorme.

❌ I treni partòno alle otto.

Incorrect — wrong stress. The loro form of -ire verbs stresses the root, not the ending.

✅ I treni pàrtono alle otto.

Correct — pàrtono, with stress on the first syllable.

❌ Sto dormendo tutte le notti otto ore.

Incorrect for habits — habitual sleep takes the simple presente, not the progressive.

✅ Dormo tutte le notti otto ore.

Correct — habits use the simple presente.

Key takeaways

The regular -ire (pure) conjugation has six endings: -o, -i, -e, -iamo, -ite, -ono. They are identical to -ere except in the voi form (-ite vs -ete).

Three points to internalize:

The pure subgroup is a closed list: dormire, partire, aprire, sentire, offrire, soffrire, seguire, coprire, bollire, servire, vestire (plus a few less common ones). Memorize the list — there is no rule.
Stress on the root in the loro form: dòrmono, pàrtono, àprono. Same rhythm as -are and -ere.
Pure vs -isco is lexical, not predictable: when you meet a new -ire verb, learn its io form alongside the infinitive so you know which group it belongs to.

Once the pure pattern is solid, learn the -isco subgroup — this is the productive default for -ire and handles every other -ire verb you'll meet. Then circle back to the two essential irregulars, essere and avere, to round out the presente system.

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