A1 · The present tense
-ire verbs with -isc-
It follows the stress — and English stress moves the same way.
At a glance
- Remember
- Four with -isc-, and noi and voi without.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The present — What holds at the moment, what is under way, or what is always the case.
- Form
- (io) finiscoI finish
- Signal words
- finisco
- capisco
- preferisco
- finiscono
- Trap
- Wrong:Finisciamo il lavoro domani.Right:Finiamo il lavoro domani.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Italian. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) stem (irregular) person ending
| I finish | (io) finisco |
| you finish | (tu) finisci |
| he, she finishes; you finish (formal) | (lui, lei, Lei) finisce |
| we finish | (noi) finiamo |
| you finish (plural) | (voi) finite |
| they finish | (loro) finiscono |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Four forms take -isc-, two do not.
Finisco di lavorare alle sei.I finish work at six.
noi and voi stay regular.
Finiamo il lavoro domani.We will finish the job tomorrow.
dormire and partire do not belong to the group.
Dormo sempre otto ore.I always sleep eight hours.
capire is the commonest of them.
Non capisco quello che dici.I do not understand what you are saying.
Example sentences
Preferisco il tè al caffè.I prefer tea to coffee.
Capisci l’italiano quando parlano veloce?Do you understand Italian when they speak fast?
I bambini finiscono i compiti alle cinque.The children finish their homework at five.
Spedisco il pacco domani mattina presto.I am sending the parcel off early tomorrow morning.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The we and you forms take no -isc-. Finisciamo does not exist; it is finiamo. Anybody who takes the insertion for a part of the stem builds it in everywhere — but it belongs to the stress, not to the verb, and the stress is exactly what moves in those two forms.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
A large share of the verbs in -ire push an -isc- in front of the ending: finire → finisco, capire → capisco, preferire → preferisco. It happens in four of the six forms — the three singulars and the third person plural: finisco, finisci, finisce, finiamo, finite, finiscono.
That distribution is not random, and it is the same one the irregular verbs show. It follows the stress: where the stem is stressed the stem changes, and where the ending is stressed it does not. fiNIsco against fiNIAmo — say them both and the pattern is audible.
English speakers have the ear for this already, even if the rule is new. PHOtograph, phoTOgraphy, photoGRAPHic: the stress moves and the vowels change with it, and nobody who says those words is applying a rule. Italian does the same thing more tidily, and the -isc- is what it looks like written down.
Which verbs belong to the group no rule will tell you — it is a list, and it is long. The commonest ones without -isc- are dormire, partire, aprire, offrire, sentire, seguire and servire.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: finire · capire · essere · dire · lavorare · parlare · dormire