Conjugations
There are three...
Italian has three conjugations (le coniugazioni):
first: -are verbs
second: -ere verbs
third: -ire verbs1
Verbs that end in -arre, -irre, and -urre belong to the second conjugation of verbs.
The stress on the infinitive:
Falls on the suffix of the verb: amàre, cadère, preferìre
But, for some -ere verbs, the stress falls within the stem: crèdere, prèndere, difèndere
Sometimes students ask me how can you tell, and the only way to know is to look up the verb in a dictionary to see, ask a native speaker, or make a guess and wait to be corrected!
On Wednesday, I’ll talk about le desinenze or endings for verbs in the present tense for all three conjugations.
Some -ire verbs may have an infixed conjugation or what you probably have seen as -isc- verbs, like finire or preferire.