Learn Italian - Lesson Two

Lesson Two - Italian Irregular Verbs, Italian Reflexive Verbs

Italian Singular to Plural (Nouns & Adjectives)

Italian nouns and adjectives are different than the English ones, The Italian noun and adjective take 4 forms, usually nouns & adjectives take “o” at the end of the singular masculine, and “a” for singular feminine, for plural masculine “i”, plural feminine take “e”.

Italian Singular to Plural

Singular masculine

Singular feminine

Plural masculine

Plural feminine

Small

Child/ Children

Piccolo

Bambino

Piccola

Bambina

Piccoli

Bambini

Piccole

Bambine

However, it’s not always the case, some nouns and adjectives ending with “e” for example only change to their plural, the feminine or masculine doesn’t matter to them.

Italian Singular to Plural

Singular masculine

Singular feminine

Plural masculine

Plural feminine

Big

Restaurant

Night

Grande

Ristorante

Grande

Notte

Grandi

Ristoranti

Grandi

Notti

Other exceptions are:

Nouns and adjectives ending in ~co/~ca and ~go/~ga are spelt ~chi/~che and ~ghi/~ghe in the plural; these modifications are made simply to maintain the same sound in the plural as well as the singular.

Singular masculine

Singular feminine

Plural masculine

Plural feminine

White

Rich

Mushroom

Lines

Bianco

Ricco

Fungo

Bianca

Ricca

Riga

Bianchi

Ricchi

Funghi

Bianche

Ricche

Righe

Italian Irregular Verbs (present tense)

These are some common irregular verbs that you might come across very often: (stare, volere, sapere, potere, dare, fare, dovere, tenere, venire), please memorize them by heart, because they don’t follow any regular rule and also because they’re used very often.

Italian Irregular Verbs

Stare

(to be)

Volere

(to want)

Sapere

(to know)

Potere

(can)

Dare

(to give)

Dovere

(to have to)

Fare

(to do)

Tenere

(to have)

Venire

(to come)

Andare

(to go)

Dire

(to say)

Lui

Noi

Voi

Loro

Sto

Stai

Sta

Stiamo

State

Stanno

Voglio

Vuoi

Vuole

Vogliamo

Volete

Vogliono

Sai

Sappiamo

Sapete

Sanno

Posso

Puoi

Può

Possiamo

Potete

Possono

Dai

Dà

Diamo

Date

Danno

Devo

Devi

Deve

Dobbiamo

Dovete

Devono

Faccio

Fai

Facciamo

Fate

Fanno

Tengo

Tieni

Tiene

Teniamo

Tenete

Tengono

Vengo

Vieni

Viene

Veniamo

Venite

Vengono

Vado

Vai

Andiamo

Andate

Vanno

Dico

Dici

Dice

Diciamo

Dite

Dicono

The verb “Stare” means to be or to stay, and used a lot in many idiomatic expressions.

-Come stai? (how are you?) -Sto bene, grazie (I'm fine, thanks). Stare is used also as a gerund referring to an action in progress: sto imparando l’italiano. (I’m learning Italian)

Potere (to be able to, can), Dovere (to have to), Volere (to want) are modal verbs as well as irregular verbs.

These are some examples of the verbs on the top:

Sto leggendo il giornale (I’m reading the newspaper)

Voglio visitare Roma (I want to visit Rome)

Non lo so! (I don’t know!)

Posso aiutarti? (can I help you?)

Noi vi diamo il libro gratis (we give you the book for free)

Devi parlare in italiano. (you have to speak in Italian)

Che fai oggi pomeriggio? (what are you doing this afternoon?)

Tengo un libro in mano (I have a book in my hand)

Vieni oggi Jennifer? (are you coming today Jennifer?)

Oggi vado con la mia famiglia a mangiare fuori (today I go with my family to eat outside)

Ti dico che sono d’accordo con te (I tell you I agree with you)

Italian Reflexive Verbs

Italian reflexive verbs are used to express an action applied to oneself, I wash myself = io mi lavo

They’re easy to form, just place (mi, ti, si, ci, vi, si) before the verb that is considered a reflexive verb.

Io mi lavo (I wash myself), tu ti lavi (you wash yourself)... lui si lava, noi ci laviamo, voi si lavate, loro si lavano.

Italian Reflexive Verbs are used more often than in English; sometimes you can use a reflexive verb in Italian but not in English:

io mi chiamo Roberto = my name is Robert (literally I call myself Robert)

Italian Direct Object (not after preposition): almost the same as the ones you just saw in the Italian reflexive verbs (mi, ti, lo/ la, ci, vi, le), the difference is in the blue font (3^rd person singular and plural).

Lui mi dice (he tells me), io ti dico (I tell you), io lo/ la vedo (I see him/her), lui ci dice (he tells us), io vi dico (I tell you all), lui le vede (he sees them)

Writing training: write the same conversation which was between Speak7 and Maria, but this time you and an imaginary person, try to look up info that you don’t know their translation in Italian, apply some of the grammar you learned, and see how it goes J

Speaking training: try to read the conversation you just wrote out loud, train yourself well, you might need that for a real conversation in the future.

This table has some useful expression that might help you expend your knowledge of Italian:

Italian Expressions
Exactly!	Esattamente!
Excellent!	Òttimo!
Excuse Me ...! ( to ask for something)	Scusami!/ Mi scusi! (polite)
Excuse Me! ( to pass by)	Permesso!
Four, Five, Six.	Quattro, Cinque, Sei.
Give Me This!	Dammi questo!
Go ahead!	Sotto!/ Vai avanti!/ Vada avanti! Passi pure!
Go on!	Avanti!
Go Straight! Then Turn Left/ Right!	Vada dritto! Poi giri a sinistra/destra!
Good Bye!	Arrivederci!
Good evening	Buonasera
Good Luck!	Buona fortuna!
Good Morning!	Buongiorno!
Good night	Buonanotte
Good Night & Sweet Dreams!	Buona notte e sogni d'oro!
Good/ Bad/ So-So.	Buono/ Cattivo/ Così e così
Good/ So-So.	Bene/ così e così.
Goodbye	Arrivederci
Hands up!	Mani in alto!
Happy Birthday!	Buon compleanno!
Happy Easter	Buona Pasqua
Happy Holidays!	Buone feste! / buone vacanze!
Happy New Year!	Felice anno nuovo!/ Buon Capodanno
Have a good holiday!	Buona vacanza!
Have a good stay	Buona permanenza
Have a good time/ Enjoy yourself	Buon divertimento! / Divertiti!
Have a good trip/ journey	Buon viaggio.
Hello!	Pronto!
Hello, Bye	Ciao
Hello, who's this?	Pronto, chi parla?
Here is / Here are...	Ecco...
Here You Go! (when giving something)	Eccolo!
Hey! Friend!	Ciao! Amico!
Hey, you	Ehi là / ehi tu
Hi!	Ciao!
Hold On Please! (phone)	Attenda prego! (al telefono)
How Are You?	Come stai?/ Come state (polite)?
How boring!	Che barba! Che noia!
How do you feel?	Come si sente?
How Do You Say "Please" In Italian?	Come dite “please” in italiano? – Please = Per favore
How far is it to Milano (from here)?	Quanto dista Milano (da qui)?
How long are you staying here?	Per quanto tempo si ferma/ti fermi/vi fermate qui?
How long have you been here?	Da quanto tempo è/sei/siete qui?
How Much Is This?	Quanto costa questo?
How Old Are You?	Quanti anni hai?
How's going?	Come va?/ Come te la passi?
Hurry Up!	Sbrigati!/ Faccia presto!
I beg your pardon. Sorry.	Le chiedo scusa. Mi dispiace /Scusi
I Don't Know!	Non lo so!
I don't remember	Non ricordo.