Ractice using the correct imperative form of verbs
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| Do you know how to ask someone to do something in Italian? |
| Welcome to Three Step Italian Practice by ItalianPod101.com. In this lesson, you'll practice using verbs in the informal imperative form. |
| Let's look at the main dialogue. |
| Two people are having a conversation. |
| Fatto. |
| "Done." |
| Lava le melanzane. |
| "Wash the eggplants." |
| Lava le melanzane. |
| lava |
| In Lava le melanzane, lava is the imperative form of lavare, meaning "to wash." |
| It is formed using specific verb endings, and the subject pronoun is omitted. |
| Let's look at how to form the informal imperative based on the verb type. |
| Italian verbs are grouped by their infinitive endings: -are, -ere, and -ire. Each group has a different pattern for forming the imperative in the tu form, which is used for giving commands or instructions to one person informally. |
| For -are verbs, like parlare, "to speak," the -are ending is dropped and replaced with -a. |
| So, parlare becomes parla — "speak." |
| For -ere verbs, like scrivere "to write," the -ere ending is dropped and replaced with -i. |
| So, scrivere becomes scrivi — "write." |
| For -ire verbs, like dormire "to sleep," the -ire ending is dropped and also replaced with -i. |
| So, dormire becomes dormi — "sleep." |
| These endings help learners predict the correct form of most regular verbs when giving informal commands. |
| Let's practice using these imperative verbs during this lesson. |
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