Lymbery Sylvia. Colloquial Italian. Parte 1

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stare stato morire morto

dare dato

Note: These have a regular past participle:

avere avuto potere potuto

volere voluto dovere dovuto

andare andato uscire uscito

sapere saputo

Finite moods

See Unit 15.

The indicative – simple tenses

Present

This is a summary of information given in Units 1 to 5.

Regular verbs

Note: Verbs in -ire divide into: (1) those that have an extra syllable,

-isc-, in some parts of the present tense; and (2) those that form

their present tense exactly like verbs in the -ere group.

-are -ere -ire (1) -ire (2)

parlo vendo capisco parto

parli vendi capisci parti

parla vende capisce parte

parliamo vendiamo capiamo partiamo

parlate vendete capite partite

parlano vendono capiscono partono

In the third person plural of all these verbs the stress falls on the

antepenultimate syllable.

Spelling

(1) Verbs ending in -care, -gare, -ciare, -giare, -sciare. The sound

does not change and the spelling is adapted to show this. The ﬁrst

two types (-care, -gare) insert an h before an i in the ending;

270 Grammar summary

the others (-ciare, -giare, -sciare) omit the i of the stem before i

or e. This is also true in other tenses.

cerco, cerchi, cerca, cerchiamo, cercate, cercano

pago, paghi, paga, paghiamo, pagate, pagano

comincio, cominci, comincia, cominciamo, cominciate, cominciano

mangio, mangi, mangia, mangiamo, mangiate, mangiano

lascio, lasci, lascia, lasciamo, lasciate, lasciano

(2) Verbs ending in -cere, -ggere. With verbs in the -ere group

the opposite happens – the spelling does not change because the

sound does:

vincere: vinco, vinci, vince, vinciamo, vincete, vincono

leggere: leggo, leggi, legge, leggiamo, leggete, leggono

Imperfect

For a table of regular forms see Unit 13. A few verbs are irregular

and they are fully dealt with in Unit 13.

Future

For a table of regular forms see Unit 16. The following verbs are

irregular in the future tense:

(a) essere: sarò, sarai, sarà, saremo, sarete, saranno

(b) verbs that lose the vowel of their inﬁnitive: the endings follow

the regular pattern:

andare: andrò, andrai, andrà, andremo, andrete, andranno

avere: avrò; dovere: dovrò; sapere: saprò

vedere: vedrò; vivere: vivrò

stem of the inﬁnitive changed to become the same as the

second, giving -rr-:

rimanere: rimarrò

venire: verrò

volere: vorrò

(d) bere: berrò

Grammar summary 271

(e) dare: darò; fare: farò; stare: starò

The ﬁrst and third person singular are stressed on the ﬁnal vowel,

which is written with an accent to indicate this.

Past deﬁnite

This tense has not been presented in the text, but its use is

explained brieﬂy in Unit 13.

parlai vendei (etti) capii

parlasti vendesti capisti

parlò vendè (ette) capì

parlammo vendemmo capimmo

parlaste vendeste capiste

parlarono venderono (ettero) capirono

Note:

(a) The stress falls on the penultimate syllable except in the third

person singular, where the accented vowel is stressed, and the third

person plural where the stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable.

(b) In the -ere group of verbs, as well as in some irregular verbs,

there are alternative forms for the ﬁrst and third person singular

and third person plural. (These forms are given in brackets.) Many

verbs in this group are irregular in this tense. They are irregular

in the ﬁrst and third person singular and the third person plural,

but regular in the other parts. Therefore if you know the ﬁrst and

second person singular you can form the remaining parts. bere,

dire, fare form the passato remoto from their older inﬁnitives.

Below are some examples:

avere: ebbi, avesti, ebbe, avemmo, aveste, ebbero

dire: dissi, dicesti, disse, dicemmo, diceste, dissero

fare: feci, facesti, fece, facemmo, faceste, fecero

vedere: vidi, vedesti, vide, vedemmo, vedeste, videro

Given the ﬁrst and second person the others may be formed on

these models.

bere: bevvi (bevetti), bevesti

chiedere: chiesi, chiedesti

chiudere: chiusi, chiudesti

conoscere: conobbi, conoscesti

decidere: decisi, decidesti

272 Grammar summary

leggere: lessi, leggesti

mettere: misi, mettesti

nascere: nacqui, nascesti

prendere: presi, prendesti

rimanere: rimasi, rimanesti

rispondere: risposi, rispondesti

sapere: seppi, sapesti

scendere: scesi, scendesti

uccidere: uccisi, uccidesti

Also irregular are:

essere: fui, fosti, fu, fummo, foste, furono

dare: diedi (detti), desti

venire: venni, venisti

volere: volli, volesti

stare: stetti, stesti

vivere: vissi, vivesti

The indicative – compound tenses

Present perfect

See also Units 10, 11, 15 and 16. This is formed with the present

tense of avere or essere and the past participle.

(A) Verbs conjugated with essere include:

1 verbs of motion: andare, venire, arrivare, partire, entrare, uscire,

salire, scendere, tornare, passare da;

2 verbs indicating a change of state: ingrassare, dimagrire, divent-

are, divenire, aumentare, diminuire, migliorare;

3 essere, stare, nascere, morire, piacere;

4 verbs used reﬂexively;

5 verbs used impersonally, e.g. è sembrato ‘it seemed’;

6 verbs relating to weather conditions can be conjugated with

essere, but they will also be found with avere: è nevicato and

ha nevicato.

The past participle must agree with the subject:

sono andato/a siamo andati/e

sei andato/a siete andati/e

è andato/a sono andati/e

Grammar summary 273

mi sono divertito/a ci siamo divertiti/e

ti sei divertito/a vi siete divertiti/e

si è divertito/a si sono divertiti/e

(B) All other verbs are conjugated with avere:

ho ﬁnito abbiamo ﬁnito

hai ﬁnito avete ﬁnito

ha ﬁnito hanno ﬁnito

The past participle does not agree with the subject. If there is a

direct object pronoun preceding the verb, it agrees with that: I

biscotti? Li ho ﬁniti.

Other compound tenses can be formed with essere or avere

according to the verb.

Pluperfect

The imperfect of avere or essere plus the past participle:

avevo ﬁnito I had ﬁnished

ero andato/a I had gone

Future perfect

The future of avere or essere plus the past participle:

avrò ﬁnito I shall have ﬁnished

sarò andato/a I shall have gone

The conditional

See Unit 15.

Conditional perfect

The conditional perfect is formed with the conditional of avere or

essere and the past participle (see Notes).

avrei parlato I would have spoken

sarei andato/a I would have gone, etc.

The imperative

This is a summary of the information given in Unit 6. There is no

ﬁrst person singular for the imperative; and the third person plural

is rarely used since the formal plural, loro, is rarely used. The plural

274 Grammar summary

‘you’ is normally voi. As in the present indicative, the -ire group

subdivides. An example of each type is given.

parla vendi capisci parti

parli venda capisca parta

parliamo vendiamo capiamo partiamo

parlate vendete capite partite

rlino vendano capiscano partano

The stress is regular except that in the third person plural form it

falls on the antepenultimate syllable.

The subjunctive

1 Present: see Unit 17.

2 Perfect subjunctive: this is formed using the present subjunctive

of avere or essere and the past participle:

abbia parlato sia andato/a

3 Imperfect: see Unit 15.

4 Pluperfect: this is formed with the imperfect subjunctive of avere

or essere and the past participle:

avessi parlato fossi andato/a

The passive

All the verbs above are active. Those that can take a direct object

can be made passive using essere and the past participle, or some-

times venire or andare and the past participle (see Units 8 and 9).

Present: Il lavoro è fatto a mano.

The work is done by hand.

Perfect: Il lavoro è stato fatto a mano.

The work has been/was done by hand.

Imperfect: Il lavoro era fatto a mano.

The work was being done/used to be

done by hand.

Future: Il lavoro sarà fatto a mano.

The work will be done by hand.

Future perfect: Il lavoro sarà stato fatto a mano.

The work will have been done by hand.

Grammar summary 275

Conditional: Il lavoro sarebbe fatto a mano.

The work would be done by hand.

Conditional Il lavoro sarebbe stato fatto a mano.

perfect: The work would have been done

by hand.

Present Occorre che il lavoro sia fatto a mano.

subjunctive: The work must be done by hand.

Imperfect Voleva che il lavoro fosse fatto a mano.

subjunctive: He wanted the work to be done by hand.

Verbs and other expressions followed by

an inﬁnitive

To express certain ideas, we frequently need to use a verb, an

adjective, or a noun followed by a verb. In this case this following

verb is in the inﬁnitive. The precise structure necessary will depend

on the ﬁrst word.

• No preposition is required after dovere, potere, volere, lasciare,

piacere, preferire, sapere, vedere; basta, bisogna, facile, difﬁcile,

possibile, impossibile, necessario; bene, meglio. For example:

Mi piace ballare.

I like dancing/to dance.

Basta telefonare.

All you need to do is telephone.

(lit. ‘It is enough to telephone’)

E’ difﬁcile sapere che cosa fare.

It’s difﬁcult to know what to do.

• The preposition a is required after a number of verbs, including

andare, abituarsi, cominciare, imparare, provare, venire; and

after certain adjectives including abituato, pronto. For example:

Vado a sciare domenica.

I am going skiing on Sunday.

Comincia a piovere.

It’s beginning to rain.

Sei pronto a fare il bagno?

Are you ready to bathe/have a bath?

276 Grammar summary

• The preposition di is required after many verbs, including

credere, decidere, dimenticare, ricordarsi; after adjectives such

as contento, felice; and after nouns, where it is usually used with

avere, e.g. avere paura di, avere bisogno di. For example:

Credo di farcela.

I believe I can manage it.

Ha deciso di partire domani.

He has decided to leave tomorrow.

Sono contento di sapere che stai meglio.

I am pleased to know you are better.

Ho paura di fare un errore.

I am afraid of making a mistake.

Students are advised to consult a good dictionary when in doubt.

Grammar summary 277

Key to exercises

Unit 1

Al bar

Aranciata – this is a ﬁzzy orange drink; Coca-Cola.

Prima colazione

1 Maria has a bun; Piera has a pastry. 2 Maria drinks a white coffee,

Piera black.

Exercise 1

un vino rosso, un gelato, una birra, un caffè, un’ acqua minerale,

una spremuta, un succo di frutta, un tè, un vino bianco, un’ aran-

ciata

Exercise 2

1 un cappuccino 2 un’aranciata 3 una spremuta di arancia 4 una

birra

Exercise 3

(1) 7, (2) 9, (3) 400, (4) 803, (5) 2.500, (6) 1.300, (7) 10.000,

(8) 6.100 (9) 55, (10) 79

Exercise 4

1 Tre euro settantun centesimi 2 Due euro dieci centesimi 3 Venti

euro 4 Trenta euro 5 Un euro sessanta centesimi; each coffee:

ottanta centesimi 6 Dieci euro cinquantotto centesimi

Un appuntamento con il signor Rossi

1 To wait a moment and to sit down 2 S’accomodi

Un incontro per la strada

Because the teacher has to go, presumably he’s hurrying some-

where.

Exercise 5

Avv. Bruni: Buongiorno, signor Rossi, come va? Sig.Rossi: Bene

grazie. E Lei? Avv. Bruni. Bene. Devo andare. ArrivederLa. Sig.

Rossi: ArrivederLa (Buongiorno).

Exercise 6

In Al bar: l Prego. lit. I beg, request. 2 Va bene. lit. It goes well.

It’s ﬁne, OK. In Prima colazione: 3 Desidera? lit. You desire? i.e.

What would you like? In Un appuntamento con il signor Rossi:

4 Sono Angela Smith. I am Angela Smith. 5 Come va? How are

you? In Un incontro per la strada: 6 Ha un raffreddore. He has a

cold. 7 Mi dispiace. lit. it is displeasing to me. I’m sorry. 8 Sta bene.

He’s well. 9 Lavora molto. He’s working a lot. 10 Devo andare.

I have to go.

Bar famosi

1 In 1720. 2 Sparkling white wine and peach juice. 3 Yes. The food

is very good, but the bill would be substantial. 4 Arrigo Cipriani.

Exercise 7

You should ﬁnd it easy to make the list and the unit gives you

help with all the meanings.

Unit 2

Sono americano, e lei?

1 In Boston. 2 In Rome. 3 His mother is Italian, from Siracusa in

Sicily. 4 His brother lives in Los Angeles and he ﬁnds the US

friendly and interesting. 5 Yes. He likes Bologna: it is friendly and

interesting.

Key to exercises 279