Present (Verbs) 2

NOTES

(from Duolingo)

The verb “mancare” when referring to people, works like “piacere“: the indirect object misses the subject.

• Io [subject] non le [indirect object] manco. (She does not miss me.)

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NOTES

(by DuoItalian)

We experience modal verbs (or “helper verbs”) for the first time in this lesson.  These are verbs which precede the infinitive of another verb, thus indicating a mode. They can take on different meanings in different tenses:

POTERE (as learned in a previous lesson meaning “to be able to” or “can”)

• Posso uscire? (May I go out?)
• Posso suonare la chitarra. (I can play the guitar.)
• Ho potuto spedire il pacco. (I was able to mail the package.)
• Non sono potuti venire più presto. (They could not come earlier, but they tried.)

VOLERE (as learned in a previous lesson meaning “to want”)

• Luca vuole imparare l’inglese. (Luca wants to learn English.)
• Ho voluto farlo. (I wanted to do it. -OR- I decided to do it.)
• Marco non ha voluto finirlo. (Mark didn’t want to do it. -OR- Mark refused to do it.)

DOVERE (as learned in a previous lesson meaning “to have to” or “must”)

• Che cosa devo fare? (What should I do?)
• Dovrei finire i miei compiti. (I should/ought to finish my homework.)

TIPS: While the verb provare (to try) is most commonly used, you will occasionally come across the nearly identical tentare (to attempt). The subtle differences between the two are far too negligible to debate here.

However, it could be useful to know that when used with a second verb in the infinitive, the former takes the preposition a and the latter takes the preposition di.

• Ho provato a aprire la scatola. (I tried to open the box.)
• Ho tentato di aprire la scatola, ma … (I attempted to open the box, but …)
  

The Italian prefix ri- sometimes corresponds to the English re-, which when combined with a verb means to repeat something.

• ripagare (to repay)
• ridire (to say again)
• rileggere (to reread)
• riscrivere (to rewrite)
• ricontrollare (to check again)

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VOCABULARY

(from Duolingo)

giocare	to play
unire	to unite, combine
provare	to try
cambiare	to change
perdere	to lose, misplace
offrire	to offer
costruire	to construct, build
rispondere	to respond, answer
indicare	to indicate
succedere	to happen
chiudere	to close
aiutare	to help
amare	to love
scegliere	to select, choose
aggiungere	to add
mancare	to miss, lack
ricevere	to receive
guidare	to drive
dimostrare	to demonstrate, show
significare	to mean
incontrare	to encounter, meet
pagare	to pay
crescere	to grow
spiegare	to explain
cadere	to fall
colpire	to hit
fermare	to stop
studiare	to study
controllare	to check, verify
mandare	to send
correre	to run
girare	to turn
ritornare	to return
invitare	to invite
salvare	to save
vendere	to sell
descrivere	to describe
dimenticare	to forget
scusare	to excuse
tirare	to pull
attraversare	to cross
imparare	to learn
preferire	to prefer
bastare	to be enough
durare	to endure, last
cercare	to search for
contare	to count
creare	to create

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