-ir

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin -īre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of fourth conjugation verbs, which merged with -ēscere, -īscere, from which come the -eix- infix.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Suffix

-ir

1. forms infinitives

Usage notes

• Dir does not count as a third conjugation verb, belonging to the second conjugation.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

• “-ir”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin -īre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of fourth conjugation verbs. Cognate with Spanish -ir, Italian -ire, Romanian -i and -î, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Suffix

-ir

1. (non-productive) forms the infinitives of many verbs

Usage notes

• Most verbs with infinitives in -ir are marked by the once-inchoative infix -iss- in many parts of their conjugation, as well as in various derived words; two such verbs are choisir (“to choose”) and pourrir (“to rot”). A fair number of these have English counterparts in -ish; some such examples are finir (“to finish”), nourrir (“to feed, to nourish”), accomplir (“to accomplish”), and polir (“to polish”).
• Many verbs with infinitives in -ir have an inchoative meaning. Examples include blanchir (“to whiten, to bleach, to make whiter, to become pale”), durcir (“to harden, to make more rigid, to become stronger”), grandir (“to become bigger, to magnify, to make bigger”), rougir (“to redden, to blush, to become redder, to make redder”), and vieillir (“to age, to become older, to make older”).
• A sizable group of verbs have infinitives in -ir but do not use the infix -iss-, and are otherwise fairly regular; these include, among others, the common verbs sortir (“to go out, to take out”), partir (“to leave”), dormir (“to sleep”) (but these examples are also irregular, with sors instead of *sortis). An irregular -ir verb which is truly conjugated exactly as a regular -ir verb except only without the infix (although it is dated and has a regular alternative conjugation) is chauvir.
• This suffix is spelled -ïr on a few verbs where the previous syllable ends in a vowel, such as haïr (“to hate”) and ouïr (“to hear”). Additionally, it is spelled -ire on the verb maudire (“to curse”), by analogy with the related but irregular verb dire (“to say”), and the verb bruire.
• Not all verbs whose infinitives happen to end in these letters can truly be said to have this suffix; in particular, a fair number of irregular verbs have infinitives in the unrelated suffix -oir.

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

See also

• -er
• -ire
• -oir
• -re

Fula

Affix

-ir

1. (Pulaar) indicates that the action is performed with an instrument or tool, (by means of)

   ‎winndude (“to write”) + ‎-ir → ‎winndirde (“to write with...”)

   ‎helde (“to break”) + ‎-ir → ‎helirde (“to break with.../to break by means of”)

2. when a nominalizing class-marker suffix is affixed, it forms an instrumental deverbal (a noun indicating the means by which a verb is accomplished)

   ‎wuppude (“to do laundry”) + ‎-ir → ‎wuppirgal (“a tool used to do laundry”)

Usage notes

• affixed following the verb stem
• This form follows -u in active voice verbs
• following -aa in middle voice verbs the affix becomes -oraa

References

• M. Niang, Pulaar-English English-Pulaar Standard Dictionary, New York: Hippocrene Books, 1997.
• Mamadou Saliou Diallo, La Suffixation Verbal en Pulaar (Peul): Morphologie et Phonologie des Suffixes Verbaux dans le Pulaar du Fouta-Djallon (Guinée), Thèse, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, Université Mohammed V, Rabat, Maroc, (1992)

Ido

Etymology

Modeled after -ar and -is.

Suffix

-ir

1. Used to denote the past infinitive of a verb.

   Me devas telefonir tu.

   I should have called you.

Related terms

• -ar (present infinitive tense)
• -or (future infinitive tense)

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin -īre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of fourth conjugation verbs, which merged with -ēscere, -īscere, from which come the -iss- and -isc- infix.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈi/

Suffix

-ir

1. A verb ending for infinitives.

Conjugation

    Conjugation of -ir in Lengadocian (Central Occitan)

		simple			compound
infinitive		-ir			aver -it
past participle		-it			—
gerund		-issent			avent -it
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ieu	tu	el	nosautres	vosautres	eles
	present	-issi	-isses	-ís	-issèm	-issètz	-isson
	imperfect	-issiái	-issiás	-issiá	-issiam	-issiatz	-issián
	preterite	-iguèri	-iguères	-iguèt	-iguèrem	-iguèretz	-iguèron
	future	-irai	-iràs	-irà	-irem	-iretz	-iràn
	conditional	-iriái	-iriás	-iriá	-iriam	-iriatz	-irián
	conditional 2nd form1	-iguèra	-iguèras	-iguèra	-igueram	-igueratz	-iguèran
compound tenses	present perfect	use the present tense of aver plus the past participle
	pluperfect	use the imperfect tense of aver plus the past participle
	past anterior	use the preterite tense of aver plus the past participle
	future perfect	use the future tense of aver plus the past participle
	conditional perfect	use the conditional tense of aver plus the past participle
subjunctive		que ieu	que tu	que el	que nosautres	que vosautres	que eles
	present	-isca	-iscas	-isca	-iscam	-iscatz	-iscan
	imperfect	-iguèsse	-iguèsses	-iguèsse	-iguèssem	-iguèssetz	-iguèsson
compound tenses	past	use the present subjunctive of aver plus the past participle
	pluperfect	use the imperfect subjunctive of aver plus the past participle
imperative		—	tu	—	nosautres	vosautres	—
			-ís		-iscam	-issetz	1Now chiefly obsolete, still in use in some Limousin and Vivaro-Alpin dialects

Old French

Etymology

From Latin -īre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of fourth conjugation verbs.

Suffix

-ir

1. used to form infinitives of second conjugation verbs

See also

• Appendix:Old French verbs
• -er

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Norse -ᛁᛃᚨᛉ (-ijaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *-ijaz.

Suffix

-ir m

1. a suffix used to create agent nouns from verbs

   Synonyms: -andi, -ari, -i

   ‎stilla (“to still; control”) + ‎-ir → ‎stillir (“stiller, controller; ruler”)

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese -ir, from Latin -īre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of fourth conjugation verbs. In some verbs, it is a reflex of Latin -ere of the third conjugation.

Pronunciation

• (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈi(ɻ)/
• (Nordestino) IPA^(key): /ˈi(χ)/
• Homophone: -i (Brazil, with dropped -r)

Suffix

-ir (verb-forming suffix, first-person singular present -o, first-person singular preterite -i, past participle -ido)

1. (non-productive) forms the infinitive of the third-conjugation verbs

Conjugation

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin -īre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of fourth conjugation verbs.

Suffix

-ir (verb-forming suffix, first-person singular present -o, first-person singular preterite -í, past participle -ido)

1. a verb ending for infinitives

Conjugation

Below are the suffixes for the regular conjugation of -ir verbs

See also

• -ar
• -er

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪr/

Suffix

-ir

1. (literary) verb suffix for the impersonal present indicative/future

Usage notes

-ir causes i-affection of internal vowels, for example, ‎canu (“to sing”) + ‎-ir → ‎cenir (“is sung, one sings, will be sung, one will sing”).

Derived terms