Unit 71 Guidebook: talk about the present

KEY PHRASES

Talk about the present

Voglio una caramella.
I want a candy.
Noi abbiamo un costume.
We have a costume.
Non abbiamo manzo.
We do not have beef.
Aprite la bottiglia.
You open the bottle.
Guardiamo il menu.
We look at the menu.
TIP

I do!

Some Italian verbs are special: they don't follow the patterns you've already seen. Unfortunately, this means that you'll have to learn their forms by heart.

An example is fare, a very useful verb that means both to do and to make.

Cosa fate?
What do you do?
Noi facciamo torte.
We make cakes.

These are the forms of the verb fare.

subject verb (fare)
io
I		 faccio
do / make
tu
you 		fai
do / make
lui / lei
he / she 		fa
does / makes
noi
we		 facciamo
do / make
voi
you all 		fate
do / make
loro
they		 fanno
do / make
TIP

How are you?

If you want to ask How are you? in Italian, just say Come stai?.

Ciao, come stai?
Hi, how are you?

To ask how other people are, just use different forms of the verb stare.

Come stai?
How are you?
Come sta?
How is he/she/it?
Come stanno?
How are they?
TIP

How’s it going?

One of the most special verbs in Italian is andare, to go. Notice how its forms are very different from each other.

subject verb (andare)
io
I		 vado
go
tu
you 		vai
go
lui / lei
he / she 		va
goes
noi
we		 andiamo
go
voi
you all 		andate
go
loro
they		 vanno
go

Andare is also used in the common expression Come va?, which means How's it going?

Come va?
How's it going?

Come va? and Come stai? have almost the same meaning. You can use whichever one you like better!