Häufige unregelmäßige Verben

The verbs Italians use most are, as in English, the ones that do not follow the pattern. Four of them, andare, fare, stare, venire, come up in almost every conversation, together with the three modal verbs.

Notice that noi and voi are the regular-looking forms (andiamo, andate): the irregularity sits in the other four.

What they cover

• andare + a / in: Vado a Roma. Andiamo in Sicilia ad agosto. - We're going to Sicily in August. Andiamo! is also "Let's go!"
• fare does the work of English "do", "make" and many idioms: fare colazione - to have breakfast, fare la spesa - to do the food shopping, fare una foto - to take a photo, Che lavoro fai? - What do you do for a living? And the weather: Fa caldo. - It's hot.
• stare is for how you are and for staying: Come stai? - Sto bene, grazie. - How are you? - I'm fine, thanks. Stiamo a casa stasera. - We're staying in tonight.
• venire is movement towards the speaker: Vieni alla festa? - Are you coming to the party? English uses "come" for moving towards the listener too ("I'm coming!"); Italian does the same: Arrivo! or Vengo!

The modal verbs: potere, volere, dovere

They are followed directly by an infinitive, with no "to": Posso entrare? - May I come in? Devo partire domani. - I have to leave tomorrow.

English speakers often order with a bare Voglio un caffè, which sounds abrupt to an Italian barista. The polite form is the conditional vorrei - I would like: Vorrei un cappuccino e un cornetto, per favore. Or simply Prendo un caffè.