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21. TO DO OR MAKE
fare - to do / make
faccio fah-cho facciamo fah-chah-moh
fai fah-ee fate fah-teh
fa fah fanno fahn-noh
The only contractions for con that are still used nowadays are col and coi,
but even these contractions are optional.
→ Usually no article is used with in before words denoting rooms in a house
or buildings in a city.
→ Di is also used when showing possession. Italian does not have the -'s
construction that English uses, so you must say that whatever is possessed
is of the person.
Bere is only used to mean to drink when it is used in the general sense, as
is mangiare - to eat. The rest of the time you simply use prendere when
referring to eating or drinking, similar to how we can use the verb have in
English.
38. COMMANDS
-are -ere -ire
tu form (singular familiar) -a -i -i / -isci
Lei form (singular polite) -i -a -a / -isca
voi form (plural polite) -ate -ete -ite
noi form (Let's ...) -iamo -iamo -iamo
To make a command negative, add non before the command, except for
the tu (singular familiar) commands, when you use non and the infinitive.
tu form Lei form voi form
Answer! Rispondi! Risponda! Rispondete!
Don't Non Non Non
answer! rispondere! risponda! rispondete!
Irregular Commands
andare - venire - to fare - to dare - dire - to essere - avere - to stare -to
to go come do to give say / tell to be have be / stay
sing.
va' vieni fa' da' di' sii abbi sta'
fam.
sing.
vada venga faccia dia dica sia abbia stia
pol.
plural andate venite fate date dite siate abbiate state
Let's andiamo veniamo facciamo diamo diciamo siamo abbiamo stiamo
The words avanti, dai and su can accompany commands to give emphasis,
similar to come on! in English. If pure is used with a command, it softens the
intensity.
The non goes before the verb and the second part goes after.
Non ho niente. I have nothing.
Nessuno and niente can also be subjects. In this case, non is not used.
Nessuno è venuto. No one came.
Babbo Natale is Santa Claus and il panettone or il pandoro are the traditional cakes
eaten at Christmas. For Easter, the traditional cake is called la colomba. Be careful
with the difference between ferie and feriale: le ferie or i giorni di ferie are holidays
when most places of business are closed; the opposite is un giorno feriale, or a
weekday/working day.