10 Must-know Italian Verbs For Beginners | Learn With Lucrezia

Tutorial Transcript

Ciao a tutti e bentornati sul mio canale. Hi everyone and welcome back to my channel. So today, I thought I would do a video lesson for beginners. So, for all of you who have just started out with Italian I'm going to tell you ten verbs that you will need to start a conversation or simply talk about yourself which is very important. So, if you're a beginner, the very first thing you need to do is learn how to talk about yourself. In this list, I didn't include the two verbs: "essere" and "avere." "To be" and "to have." Because I think you should already know those two verbs. So, let's start. The first verb you need is: "chiamarsi." "Chiamarsi." "Chiamarsi" is a reflexive verb. And you need it because you want to say your name. when you introduce yourself or just when you talk about yourself. You want to say your name, so you say "io mi chiamo" and then your name. "Io mi chiamo Lucrezia." Io mi chiamo. Tu ti chiami. Lui si chiama. Noi ci chiamiamo. Voi vi chiamate. Loro si chiamano. So you just need the present tense of this verb. "Chiamarsi." The second verb is "abitare." "Abitare." "Io abito a Roma." "Abitare." Io abito. Tu abiti. Lui abita. Noi abitiamo. Voi abitate. Loro abitano. Again, you just need the present tense because you are at a beginner level and the present tense is the only tense you need at this point. You will study other tenses as you go on but, for now, you just need the present tense. So, for now, we have: "Io mi chiamo Lucrezia, abito a Roma." And then, you can also ask "Dove abiti?" If you want to ask a friend where they live. So, "where do you live?" = "dove abiti?" So "abitare" is a very important verb. Then, the third verb is "vivere." Which is quite similar to "abitare." Vivere. Io vivo a Roma. If I say "io abito a Roma" and "io vivo a Roma" I'm saying the same thing. So, I'm sharing the same information. Then we have the verb: "parlare." "Parlare." Io parlo. Tu parli. Lui parla. Noi parliamo. Voi parlate. Loro parlano. "Parlare." How would you use the verb "parlare" at a beginner level? Well, you could ask people to talk slowly. So, you would say "parli lentamente, per favore." "Parli" if you don't know the person so you're using the polite form. If you want to say the same thing to a friend you would say "parla lentamente, per favore" Another example sentence would be: "Io parlo Italiano." Or "io parlo Inglese." The we have the verb: "salutare." "Salutare." "Salutare qualcuno." (To greet everyone) "Ciao. Buon giorno." "Io saluto i miei amici." "Salutare." Io saluto. Tu saluti. Lui saluta. Noi salutiamo. Voi salutate. Loro salutano. Then we have the verb: "andare." "Andare." "Andare" is very important because you need this verb a lot. You go to work. You go to the cinema. To the supermarket. You go shopping. Etcetera. "Andare" is an irregular verb. Irregular verb. So, the conjugation is: Io vado. Tu vai. Lui va. Noi andiamo. Voi andate. Loro vanno. So, an example sentence with the verb "andare" would be "Io vado al corso di italiano." "Io vado al corso di italiano." for example. Then we have the verb: "studiare." "Studiare." "Io studio per l'esame." "Io studio la lingua italiana." "Io vado al corso d'italiano per studiare la lingua italiana." Then we have the verb: "piacere." "Piacere." "Piacere" is a tricky verb because it is not a transitive verb. It is intransitive. If I want to say "I like swimming" I have to say "mi piace nuotare." So the subject of the sentence is "nuotare." "Nuotare piace a me." Me. It is quite complex to explain how the verb piacere works at a beginner level. So, for now, you just learn the sentence "mi piace nuotare." "Mi piace mangiare." "Mi piace leggere." "Mi piace cantare." So, for now just think about the structure and use it as it is. As you will go up in level you will understand how it works. But, for now, just don't think about how it works. If you want to ask your friend if they like swimming, you can ask: "Ti piace nuotare?" "Ti piace nuotare?" "Quindi." So. If I'm talking about myself: "mi piace nuotare." If I want to ask you, I say: "ti piace nuotare?" Ok? So we'll just leave it there for now. Then we have the verb: "chiedere." "Chiedere." To ask. "Io chiedo un'informazione." "Io chiedo un favore." "Chiedere." I think it could be very useful if you are on the street and want to ask for information. "Chiedo un'informazione." (I ask for information) "Chiedo il conto al ristorante." (I ask for the restaurant bill) And then the last verb we have in the list is the verb: "fare." This verb is very useful because you could potentially say anything with this verb. The translation in English would be either make or do. It depends on the context. So, an example sentence that you would use at a beginner level is: "Io faccio" and then your profession/your job. So, for example: "Io faccio l'insegnante." (teacher) "Io faccio il dentista." (dentist (male)) or "la dentista." (dentist (female)) "Io faccio l'avvocato." (lawyer) And the question will be: "Che lavoro fai?" "Che lavoro fai?" The answer is: "Faccio l'insegnante." Io faccio. Tu fai. Lui fa. Noi facciamo. Voi fate. Loro fanno. "Io faccio l'insegnante." But also "io faccio una torta." I make a cake. "Io faccio i compiti." I do my homework. "Faccio una passeggiata." I go for a walk. That is it for today's lesson. I hope it was useful to many of you. And thank you so much for watching. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel. I also have a podcast, if you didn't know. Ci vediamo presto. Ciao.