Everything sits around the doing word

A verb is the doing word: is, see, go, eat. Its ending tells you who is acting, and negation, questions and the small words for me and you all take their place around it.

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What’s in this chapter

The verb is the doing word — is, see, go, eat. Several rules place things relative to it.
Its ending is the subject: vedo I see, vedi you see, vede he or she sees.
non goes straight in front of the verb, and there is no Italian word for “do” or “does”.
A statement becomes a question with your voice — nothing is reordered, nothing is added.
The small words for me and you jump in front of the verb: Ti vedo reads “you I-see”.

One term first. The verb is the doing word in a sentence — is, see, go, eat. Italian puts things roughly where English does: who, then the doing word, then the thing it was done to.

The ending tells you who is doing it

The last letter or two of a doing word says who. Compare the three rows: the front of the word stays put and only the ending moves.

vedoVEH-doh

I see

vediVEH-dee

you see

vedeVEH-deh

he sees, she sees

I see the dog.

Vedo il cane.

VEH-doh eel KAH-neh

Two words where English needs four. The ved- is the seeing; the -o is the “I”. When a sentence seems to have no subject, read the last letter or two of the verb: that is the subject. This single habit is most of what separates fluent reading from tapping every word.

I do not see the cat.

Non vedo il gatto.

nohn VEH-doh eel GAHT-toh

non goes in front of vedo and everything else stays put. Wherever English says don’t, doesn’t or isn’t, Italian says non and then the verb — no word matches “do”. Yes and no are sì and no.

Four question words

These four tell you what a question is asking about. Spotting one lets you follow the question before you understand every other word.

English	Italian	Sounds like
what	cosa	KOH-zah
who	chi	kee
where	dove	DOH-veh
why	perché	pehr-KEH

A statement becomes a question with the voice alone — Quello è un cane?“Is that a dog?” reorders nothing. Perché also means because; the question mark tells you which.

Where the apostrophes come from

Two words can run together and lose a vowel where they meet. Each row shows the full pair first, then the shorter spelling a book prints.

dove è

dov'èdoh-VEH“where is”

la acqua

l'acquaLAHK-kwah“the water”

Italian dislikes two vowels bumping together and writes an apostrophe where one has gone. Put the missing vowel back and you will recognise both words.

I see you.

Ti vedo.

tee VEH-doh

Word for word, “you I-see”: ti“you” first, then vedo. English does not do that; Italian normally does. The same goes for mi“me”.

Find the verb, then everything around it

Non vedo il coniglio.
non sits in front of the verb; the -o at the end of the verb is the “I”.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Non vedo il coniglio.nohn VEH-doh eel koh-NEE-lyoh“I do not see the rabbit”
Dov'è l'acqua?
Put the missing vowel back into both apostrophes.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Dov'è l'acqua?doh-VEH LAHK-kwah“Where is the water?”
Mi vede.
The small word for me comes first.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Mi vede.mee VEH-deh“He sees me; she sees me”

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Italian chapters ↗