Nombre del Alumno: Grupo:
EJERCICIOS PROPUESTOS
II. Guía de Evaluación del Módulo Manejo de circuitos eléctricos
The Italian verb essere (to be) is strongly irregular but also very important, because it is one of the two auxiliary verbs used in forming compound tenses with all other verbs.
Furthermore, essere is also used for nominal sentences, i.e. the ones in which to be is followed by an adjective or by a noun, thus forming a copula (or nominal predicate). For instance I am old; this is plastic; they were nice; we were lazy etc., in which to be expresses a condition, a quality, not a direct object which
receives a real action.
Therefore, before discussing regular verbs, it is important for the student to become confident with the verb essere.
PRESENTE
singular plural
1st person (io) sono I am (noi) siamo we are
2nd person (tu) sei you are (singular) (voi) siete you are (plural)
3rd person (egli / ella) è he/she/it is (essi / esse) sono they are
A first important thing to remember is that in spoken Italian the verbs are not necessarily introduced by a personal pronoun, as they are in English, because the different persons (singular and plural) have a specific inflection for each of them, with very few exceptions. So, when the subject of a sentence is a personal pronoun, in spoken language it is frequently omitted, while in written language it is often more correct to mention it.
This page, as well as the following ones, will show personal pronouns in brackets: it is useful for the student to practice them, yet remembering that their use is not compulsory in everyday's speech. Without a pronoun, the sentence might look as if it had no subject, because in English it is always mentioned; but in Italian the specific inflection of the verb is enough to understand who carries out the
action, i.e. who is the subject of the sentence.
In the case of the present tense, only inflection sono refers to two persons, 1st singular and 3rd plural, and could be mistaken. But also in this case, there is no need to use a pronoun when the other parts of the sentence make it clear to whom sono refers:
(io) sono alto = I am tall (alto is singular, therefore sono can only be 1st singular person) (essi) sono giovani = they are young (giovani is plural, therefore sono is 3rd plural person) Another example:
(io) sono brava = I am clever (feminine) (esse) sono brave = they are clever (feminine)
When the remaining part of the sentence does not make clear who the subject is, a pronoun is used to avoid any doubt:
sono a letto = either I am in bed or they are in bed io sono a letto = I am in bed
essi sono a letto = I am in bed
But sometimes the subject has already been mentioned, in which case the pronoun may be dropped again: dove sei? sono a letto = where are you? I am in bed
dove sono i bambini? sono a letto = where are the kids? they are in bed
Pronouns, though, may be used on purpose to give the sentence a certain emphasis, or to show a contrast. Focus this case:
sei un uomo = you are a man tu sei un uomo = you are a man
The second sentence may carry a meaning of you are a man, not me, nor her, giving a certain stress to
"you".
Also when the sentence expresses a contrast, personal pronouns may be used for the same reason explained above:
io sono un uomo e tu sei una donna = I am a man and you are a woman noi siamo veloci, voi siete lenti = we are fast, you are slow
But if no emphasis is required, the spoken language often omits the pronoun, and sometimes the written language too does:
sono magro (alternatively, io sono magro) = I am thin sei un uomo (alternatively, tu sei un uomo) = you are a man siete ragazzi (alternatively, voi siete ragazzi) = you are boys
è un vecchio libro (alternatively, esso è un vecchio libro) = it's an old book
è una brava insegnante (alternatively, ella è una brava insegnante) = she is a good teacher sono vecchie (alternatively, esse sono vecchie) = they are old (feminine)
So, there is no need to worry about the choice of pronouns, unless you wish to use them for practice or to emphasize the pronoun itself.
When the latter is used, it has to match the verb by gender and number. Plural forms will obviously be told by the same verb inflection: (tu) sei alto = you are tall (masculine)
(voi) siete alti = you are tall (plural) (io) sono giovane = I am young (noi) siamo giovani = we are young
IMPERFETTO
singular plural
1st
person (io) ero I was
(noi)
eravamo we were 2nd
person (tu) eri
you were
(singular) (voi) eravate
you were
(plural) 3rd
person
(egli / ella)
era he/she/it was
(essi / esse)
Accent falls on the penultimate syllable of each of them, except for erano, whose stressed syllable is the antipenultimate (pronounced "ehrahnoh").
Imperfect tense is usually translated with English simple past, although it expresses the concept of an action carried out in the past which has not necessarily come to an end. In many cases, the English form "I used to
be" could be used instead of "I was"; since Italian has no such form, you may translate imperfect tense with
both English forms:
ero bravo = I was clever or I used to be clever (the fact of being clever is a condition lasting throughout the time the sentence refers to)
era un cattivo studente = he/she was a bad student or he/she used to be a bad student (again, a condition, with no definite end)
erano quattro uomini = they were four men (again, a condition lasting throughout the period which the sentence refers to, although the form "they used to be..." would not be proper in this case)
FUTURO
singular plural
1st
person (io) sarò I shall be (noi) saremo we shall be 2nd
person (tu) sarai
you will be
(singular) (voi) sarete
you will be (plural) 3rd person (egli / ella) sarà he/she/it will be (essi / esse)
saranno they will be
All accents fall on the penultimate syllable of each inflection, except sarò and sarà which have an accent on the last syllable (pronounced "sahroh", "sahrah").
In a few cases, Italian future tense might have a meaning of probability, or chance: for example, if the phone rings, the expression sarà Carlo translates the English form it might be Charles.
PASSATO REMOTO
singular plural
1st
person (io) fui I was (noi) fummo we were
2nd
person (tu) fosti
you were
(singular) (voi) foste
you were (plural) 3rd person (egli / ella) fu he/she/it was (essi / esse)
furono they were
Accents fall on penultimate syllables, except in fu (only one syllable), obviously carrying stress, and furono, where the antipenultimate syllable is stressed (pronounced "fwrohnoh").
Notice that fu does not have an accented u because there is no other way of pronouncing the word. This tense expresses the fact that the action has ended time ago, and is no longer in progress: fu un brutto incidente = it was a bad accident (the fact happened long ago, and it is now over) fu un grande musicista = he was a great musician (in the past, meaning "...now he is dead")
4.4
THE VERB AVERE
PART I
SIMPLE INDICATIVE TENSES
Avere (to have) is another auxiliary verb used in compound tenses, therefore it is as much important as the previous one.
It is irregular, but less than essere.
PRESENTE
singular plural
1st
person (io) ho I have
(noi)
abbiamo we have
2nd
person (tu) hai
you have
(singular) (voi) avete
you have (plural) 3rd person (egli / ella) ha he/she/it has (essi / esse)
hanno they have
Two considerations:
• accent falls on the penultimate syllable, except in those inflections which only have one, ho, hai, and ha, which sound like "oh" "ahyh" and "ah", spelled without an accented vocal on the last letter because no other accent would be possible (as in simple past inflection fu, see paragraph 4.3);
• a second note is about the spelling of inflections starting with an h: in Italian, this consonant is absolutely soundless, so read the word as if the h was not there.
The reason for which h is added is that similar words (without an h) exist: ai = to the (pronounced exactly like hai = you have); a = to or for (pronounced exactly like ha = he/she/it has); anno = year (pronounced exactly like hanno = they have); etc.
So the consonant is merely graphic, to indicate the verb's inflections. ha una bella casa = he or she has a nice home
hanno due gatti = they have two cats
tu hai un gatto, ma io ho un cane = you have a cat, but I have a dog (notice the use of pronouns for stressing the opposition)
IMPERFETTO
singular plural
1st
person (io) avevo I had (noi) avevamo we had
2nd
person (tu) avevi
you had
(singular) (voi) avevate
you had (plural) 3rd
person
(egli / ella)
aveva he/she/it had
(essi / esse)
avevano they had
As for the same tense of the verb essere, accent falls on the penultimate syllable of each of them, except for avevano, whose stressed syllable is the antepenultimate (pronounced "ahvehvahnoh").
Always remember that the imperfect tense expresses the concept of a past action which has not necessarily come to an end:
l'uomo aveva un grosso naso = the man had a big nose (this is a condition, which obviously was lasting for the whole time the sentence refers to)
avevo tre automobili = I had three cars or I used to have three cars (probably I do no longer have them now, but nevertheless the expression carries the sense of "some time ago I used to have them", as a continuous condition).
FUTURO
singular plural
1st
person (io) avrò I shall be (noi) avremo we shall be 2nd
person (tu) avrai
you will be
(singular) (voi) avrete
you will be (plural) 3rd person (egli / ella) avrà he/she/it will be (essi / esse)
avranno they will be
Accents fall on the penultimate syllable of each inflection, except avrò and avrà which behave like sarò and sarà (see future tense of essere): although both verbs are irregular, their future tense has the same patterns.
PASSATO REMOTO
singular plural
1st
person (io) ebbi I was
(noi)
avemmo we were
2nd
person (tu) avesti
you were
(singular) (voi) aveste
you were (plural) 3rd
person
(egli / ella)
ebbe he/she/it was
(essi /esse)
ebbero they were
A tense with very irregular inflections, where all accents fall on penultimate syllables, except in ebbero, whose antepenultimate syllable is stressed (pronounced "eh'bbehroh").
Although the past perfect of the verb essere (discussed in the previous paragraph) has some differences, accents and many of the inflections work in the same way.
Remember that this tense expresses ceased actions, no longer active:
l'uomo ebbe un incidente = the man had an accident (the accident itself did not last in time) avemmo una grande fortuna = we had a great luck (we were lucky on that occasion)
ebbero due figli = they had two sons (in Italian this sounds like "their two sons were born", as a non-lasting action, while the imperfect tense avevano due figli would express the fact that during their lives "they had two sons", as a continuous condition).