LESSON #10 – VERBS TO DO/MAKE, TO COME and PREPOSITIONS

FARE – to make, do

VENIRE – to come

LA MATTINA – morning

IL POMERIGGIO – afternoon

LA SERA – evening

LA NOTTE – night

DESTRA – right (direction, hand)

SINISTRA – left (direction, hand)

DOPO – later, after, afterwards

LA TAZZA – a cup

IL TAVOLO – a table

CHE COSA – what 

LA COLAZIONE – breakfast

IN – in

DI – of, from

DA – from, since

CON – with

SU – on, onto, up

PER – for*

*And we already know the preposition “a” – “in, to” from the Lesson 7.

An alphabetical list of the vocabulary can be found here.

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In this lesson we learn two more IRREGULAR VERBS:

 

FARE- TO MAKE/DO
SINGULAR		PLURAL
I make/do	(io) faccio	we make/do	(noi) facciamo
you (singular) make/do	(tu) fai	you (plural) make/do	(voi) fate
he, she makes/does	(lui, lei) fa	they make/do	(loro) fanno

VENIRE- TO COME
SINGULAR		PLURAL
I come	(io) vengo	we come	(noi) veniamo
you (singular) come	(tu) vieni	you (plural) come	(voi) venite
he, she comes	(lui, lei) viene	they come	(loro) vengono

Do you remember the word “breakfast” from the Lesson 5? Now with the verb “make/do” – “fare” we can learn a very useful expression. In English we say “to have breakfast”, in Italian “fare colazione”. But as you surely remember from the Lesson 8 you can’t say “fare pranzo” or “fare cena”! There are two specific verbs to express the action “pranzare” and “cenare”.

Do you remember the word “questo” – “this” from the Lesson 4? It can be also abbreviated and connected with some of the word in this way:

questa+mattina → stamattina
questa+sera → stasera
questa+notte → stanotte

See the use of this rule with the preposition “a” below.

PREPOSITIONS:

A

We have already learned that “a” is used with cities:
I live in Rome.
Io abito a Roma.

Other places and directions used with “a”:
I go home.
Vado a casa.
I’m at home.
Sono a casa.
Should I go (literally “do I go”) to the right or to the left?
Vado a destra o a sinistra?

Another expression used with “a” is a verb pattern. You need to learn by heart that two verbs are connected together by a certain preposition. In this case the verb “andare” is connected with any following verb by “a”.
If the following verb begins with a vocal it becomes “ad”, it sounds better.
I’m going to work.
Vado a lavorare.
She is going to call.
Lei va a telefonare.
We are going to live in Rome.
Andiamo ad abitare a Roma.

You can use “a” with almost any word of time to use it as a greeting “see you“:
See you on Monday.
A lunedì!.
See you this evening! 
A stasera! 

It’s used with the verb “call“:
I call Maria.
Io telefono a Maria.

Usually you can use “a” also with the months, again remember it becomes “ad” before a vowel.
Vado a casa a settembre.
I’ll go home in September.
Non lavoro ad agosto.
I don’t work in August.

These are few examples, we will learn more in the future.

IN

With places:

I am in Italy.
Sono in Italia.

I live in a city.
Abito in città.

Let’s go to a pizza restaurant.
Andiamo in pizzeria.

Do you go by car or by train?
Andate in macchina o in treno?

DI

Possesive:

Mary‘s friend is Italian.
L’amica di Maria è italiana..
Andrew‘s house is big.
La casa di Andrea è grande.

With numbers (of):

Two of them are Americans.
Due di loro sono americani.

Origin:

Where are you from? I’m from Rome.
Di dove sei? Sono di Roma.

ATTENTION !!
“Di” is used with the verb “to be”, not with other verbs.

ATTENTION !!
The preposition in the question is at the beginning of the sentence, not at the end as in English.

Subject of a conversation:

We speak about Anthony.
Parliamo di Antonio.

Contents:

A cup of coffee.
Una tazza di caffè.

With certain verbs (in addition to parlare):

What do you think about him?
Che cosa pensi di lui?

ATTENTION !!
There are other two versions of “che cosa“: you can use also only “cosa” or “che“.

DA

Origin:

Where do you come from? I come from Rome.
Da dove vieni? Vengo da Roma.

ATTENTION !!
“Da” is used with all the other verbs as “venire” except the verb “to be” (see the preposition DI).

Place of stay or direction (to be or to go at someone’s):

Annamaria is at my mother’s.
Annamaria è da mia madre.

Annalisa is going to my mother’s.
Annalisa va da mia madre.

Since:

I’ve been studying since yesterday.
Studio da ieri.

CON

With:

I’m at home with Joseph and Anthony.
Sono a casa con Giuseppe e Antonio.

He speaks with Christine and Catherine.
Lui parla con Cristina e Catarina.

I’ll come in my car.
Vengo con la mia macchina.

SU

On, above, up:

The pizza is on one of the tables.
La pizza è su uno dei tavoli. (in the next lesson we will learn how to connect prepositions with articles as “dei”).

Italians are up in the house (I’m in the garage.).
Gli italiani sono su in casa.

PER

For:

The pizza is for Maurizio.
La pizza è per Maurizio.