Italian All-in-One For Dummies (141 page)

When you tire of sounding like a precocious 4-year-old and are comfortable with the present tense, you can add in other tenses.

Communicating Quickly with Verbs

No doubt you want to communicate in Italian, but maybe you feel that you don't yet have an adequate vocabulary. There's so much to remember. And verbs, the lifeline of any language, take work, practice, and patience.

Here are some verbs you can use to express yourself quickly and easily. As in English, they're followed by an infinitive. Rather than learning all the conjugations immediately, try these verbs — all of which are in the
io
conjugation, but not all of which are in the present tense — and attach infinitives that express your daily wants, needs, and actions. Because they're all in the
io
form, you can choose to use the subject pronoun or not.

preferisco
(
I prefer to
)

vorrei
(
I would like to
)

Note:
This is in the present conditional tense because it is much more polite than the present indicative “I want.”

mi piacerebbe
(
I would like to
)

Note:
This is in the present conditional tense because it is much more polite than the present indicative “I want.”

devo
(
I must; I have to
)

posso
(
I am able to; I can
)

so, non so
(
I know how to; I don't know how to
)

ho bisogno di
(
I need to
)

ho voglia di
(
I feel like
)

sto per
(
I'm about to
)

Consider your daily movements. Which infinitives would you attach to these expressions? (If you need to, review the verbs already presented in this chapter.) Here are some examples:

Devo studiare. Mi piacerebbe guardare la televisione. Ma non posso.
(
I have to study. I would like to watch television. But I can't.
)

So parlare italiano. Vorrei parlare italiano molto bene. Sto per studiare. Ma prima, vorrei mangiare e prendere un caffè.
(
I know how to speak Italian. I would like to speak Italian really well. I'm about to study. But first, I'd like to eat and have a cup of coffee.
)

Posso ballare? No. Non so ballare. Posso cantare? No. Posso suonare uno strumento musicale? No. Ma posso scrivere belle poesie.
(
Can I dance? No. I don't know how to dance. Can I sing? No. Can I play a musical instrument? No. But I can write nice poetry.
)

Ho voglia di andare al cinema. Vorrei vedere quel nuovo film di Benigni. Invece, devo lavorare.
(
I feel like going to the movies. I'd like to see that new Benigni film. Instead, I have to work.
)

Sto per uscire. Posso telefonare dopo?
(
I'm about to leave. Can I call later?
)

Looking More Closely at Personal Subject Pronouns

Personal subject pronouns tell you who the subject of a verb is or who is completing an action. They also determine which form of a conjugated verb to use.

Italian formal
you
forms of address include the plural
Loro.
But when addressing people, you often use
voi
instead.

In an attempt to make Italian more egalitarian, during the 1940s, the government abolished the distinction between the formal and informal singular forms and used
voi
instead. If someone addresses you (just you, one of you) as
voi,
it probably means that he or she is of an advanced age or is speaking “opera,” where use of
voi
is ubiquitous.

Because verb endings always indicate the subject, personal subject pronouns aren't required in the present tense. However, if you want to be really clear, you should still use them. For example, the verb endings for
he, she, it,
and
you
(formal) are the same.
Giorgio e Mirella? Lui canta e lei balla.
(
George and Mirella? He sings and she dances.
) The pronouns make it clear that Giorgio is singing and Mirella is dancing.