The past tense Flashcards
Which verb is used to turn verbs into the past tense?
Have - avere
I visited
Ho (I have) visitato (visit+ato)
To ask a question in italian you only have to raised your voice at the end of the sentence! eg you have visited rome?
Ha (you have) visitato (visited) Roma?
io ho
tu hai
lui, lei ha
noi abbiamo
voi avete
loro hanno
in Italian, the words for “I”, “he”, “she”, “you”, “we” and “they” do not always need
to be included in a sentence in the way they would be in English.
In fact, they tend to be left out. If you do include one of these words, however, such as the word for “I”, which is io, it simply makes the sentence far more emphatic
I have not prepared the cafe
You have not -
Non ho (i have not) preparato (prepared) il caffe
Non ha
For you
For me
Per (for) Lei (you)
Per me
I have
you have
she has
He has
We have
You all have
They have
Ho
Ha (?Hai informal)
Ha
Ha
Abbiamo
Avete
Hanno (“ano”)
Words that end in -ation (eg decoration) can be altered to form past tense (I have ____ )
minus -ation and add -ato
preparato
I have formed
Ho formato
The villa
La villa
the piazza
La piazza
The cake
La torta
I have decorated the cake, I
decorated the cake, I did decorate the cake. In Italian, these are all expressed in the same
way, simply as: “I have decorated the cake”, which in Italian is: Ho decorato la torta.
The above three sentences can therefore be served by the same single tense in Italian.
a petition
Una petizione
Minus -ition from petition, leaving pet- and then plus -izione, giving petizione
You have decorated the cake (formal)
You have decorated the cake (informal)
Ha decorate la torta
Hai decorato la torta
“You” in italian
As you may have noticed above, there are several words that mean “you”
in Italian.
Lei means “you” when you are talking to just one person. It is the formal word for
“you”, meaning that it is polite and is what you will use when you first meet someone;
it is the most important one to learn.
Tu is also used for talking to just one person but it is for use with family, close friends
and for talking to children. It is the informal word for “you”. English speakers often do
not know when it is appropriate to start using tu with Italian speakers. The rule-of thumb is: don’t use it first! Wait until a native speaker initiates it with you and then it should be all right to use it back.
Voi means “you” when you are talking to more than one person – it is the plural ➜ 1
“you”. You can use this with any group of people, whether you know them well or not
