Italian All-in-One For Dummies (144 page)

Venire
has the added attraction of serving as a base verb; that is, when altered by the addition of prefixes, it noticeably expands your vocabulary — and you have only one irregular conjugation to remember. For example,
svenire
adds the letter
s,
which often changes a word into its opposite. In this case,
svenire
means
to come undone
or
to faint
.

Declaring Needs, Wants, and Abilities: Dovere, Volere, and Potere

You use the verbs
dovere
(
to have to
),
volere
(
to want
), and
potere
(
to be able to
) to express your needs, desires, and abilities. They're very personal verbs in that you use them to communicate intimate or personal ideas.

These verbs are also called
semi
-
auxiliary
or “sort of” helping verbs. You can use them with infinitives, and you often will. For example:
Devo andare
(
I have to go
);
Non posso
(
I can't
); and
Vorrei mangiare
(
I would like to eat
).

The following tables show the conjugations of
dovere,
volere,
and
potere
.

The first person singular, or
I
form, of
volere
isn't terribly polite. Consider the difference between
I want
(
voglio
) and
I would like
(
vorrei
). It's not that you never use
voglio,
but
vorrei
is much more polite and the form you may want to use in public (in a restaurant, for example).

In moods other than the indicative (the condition is the mood of
vorrei
), these verbs change their basic meaning and allow you to use
should, might, could,
and
ought to.
In other words, they add nuance, and occasionally sarcasm, to your Italian.

Do Tell: Dire

Dire
(
to say; to tell
) is another verb that serves as the base for other common verb forms. After you know the conjugation of
dire,
you can add prefixes to change its meaning.
Disdire,
for example, means
to take back
or
to cancel (an appointment),
while
maledire
becomes
to curse
.

Dire
gives you the chance to use conversational fillers. For example, after interrupting your flow of thought, you can return to your point by saying
dicevo
(
as I was saying
). You can sum something up by saying
detto questo
(
this having been said
)
,
a form, the ablative absolute, taken directly from that most economical of languages, Latin. Or you can use (sparingly, and only with a close friend or relative) the phrase
non te l'avevo detto?
(
didn't I tell you?
)

Stepping Out: Uscire

To go
has shades of meaning, even in English. In Italian, more than one verb means
to go,
each with a particular sense.

Uscire
means
to go out or exit a room/location.
For example:
Esco con degli amici
(
I am going out with some friends
) and
Lui non esce mai
(
He never goes out
).
Andare,
mentioned earlier in this chapter, means
to undertake the physical act of going somewhere,
such as
Vado in giardino
(
I'm going to the garden
) or
Vanno a Napoli
(
They are going to Naples
).
Partire
means
to leave
or
to depart
. It has a regular
-ire
conjugation:
Noi partiamo per l'Italia domani mattina
(
We are leaving for Italy tomorrow morning
).

Here's the irregular conjugation for
uscire.
(See the earlier section “
To Come and to Go: Venire and Andare
” for the conjugation of
andare.
)

Uscire
shows up with the prefix
ri-
(literally:
again
) and is a type of synonym to
potere
(
to be able to
) that means
to succeed.
Should someone say to you
Non riesco a farlo,
it doesn't mean he or she isn't going out again; it means he or she is unable to do something or
doesn't succeed in doing something
.

Bottom's Up: Bere

Bere
(
to drink
) is another commonly used irregular verb, and its conjugation is shown in the following table.

You can use
bere
to
bere alla salute
(
drink to someone's health
), but for having a cup of coffee or tea or a glass of wine, you can just as easily use
prendere,
a regular
-ere
verb. For example:
Io bevo thè
and
Io prendo thè
mean
I'm drinking tea.
The difference in meaning is very slight.
Bevo
(
I'm drinking
) is perhaps more immediate.
Prendo
(
I'm drinking
) carries the sense of ordering, as in
I'm having tea
.