When do verbs end in ar/er/ir instead of are/ere/ire?

Question

I've been studying Italian for a few months, and I've learned that verbs end with are, ere or ire. However, I've started reading some Italian and I've seen many cases where the "e" seems to be dropped. I understand cases such as dargli ribellarsibecause the e is replaced by the direct object. But why is the "e" dropped in cases like Come poter dar torto a ...I would have expected the above to be Come potere dare torto a ...and I would really like to understand the rule for when the following "e" is dropped.

Answer 1

Ciao! Great question! The rule is quite simple, though it can be very confusing if you're not familiar with it. They drop the final 'e' in a sentence such as the one you provided, "come poter dar torto a..." to simplify the sound of the sentence. To see this, try saying both out loud, first the one without 'e's and then the one with them, and you'll see how much harder it is to pronounce when every word ends with an 'e'. That's all there is to it! Let me know if you have more questions about this!