Essere o non essere — to be or not to be? This question might be hard to answer, but it’s pretty easy to understand for new learners. And isn’t that nice? When you know the most common Italian verbs (in this case, essere — “to be”), you can even understand difficult philosophical questions!
In all seriousness, as soon as you know the most common words in a language, you can say a lot more than you might think. To help you on your quest to learn Italian, we’ve put together a list of the 20 most common Italian verbs, complete with their conjugations in the present tense and an everyday example. These are the verbs that you’ll see and hear all over, which will help you remember them quickly. You’ll be amazed at how many new sentences you can put together when you’ve mastered these verbs!
Example: Sei di nuovo in ritardo! (You’re late again!)
Heads up: Personal pronouns are only used in Italian when you want to emphasize them. That’s why they’re generally left out, and therefore largely left out in our examples.
Example: Hai voglia di un aperitivo? (Do you want [lit. have desire for] an aperitivo?)
Example: Mi fai un piacere? (Can you do me a favor?)
Example: Mi puoi dire l’ora, per favore? (Can you tell me the time, please?)
Example: Purtroppo non posso, magari un’altra volta. (Unfortunately I can’t, maybe another time.)
Example: Volete ancora qualcosa? (Do you want anything else?)
Example: Boh, non lo so! (Hm, I don’t know!)
Example: Come stai? (How are you?)
Heads up: Stare has a few other meanings, like “to stand” or “to lie,” and is used in a lot of fixed expressions, as you can see in the example.
Example: Devo scappare. A presto! (I have to go. See you soon!)
Example: Vedo che vi divertite qui. (I see that you’re having fun here.)
Example: Perché non andiamo al cinema? (Why don’t we go to the cinema?)
Example: Vieni a ballare stasera? (Are you coming to dance tonight?)
Example: Mi dai un consiglio? (Can you give me some advice?)
Example: Scusi, può parlare più lentamente? (Excuse me, can you speak more slowly?)
Example: Dove trovo una farmacia? (Where can I find a pharmacy?)
Example: Hai sentito le novità? (Have you heard the news?)
Example: Lasciami in pace! (Leave me in peace!)
Example: Prendiamo un caffè? (Shall we take a coffee?)
Example: Guardiamo un film stasera? (Are we watching a film tonight?)
Example: Dove metto la valigia? (Where do I put the suitcase?)
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