Noi, Voi e Loro

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We, you all, and they

Listen to the following presentations. 

  • Noi is the equivalent of ‘we’: Noi studiamo italiano (‘We study Italian’)
  • Voi is the equivalent of ‘you’ plural (you all): Voi chi siete?  (‘Who are you [all]?’).
  • Loro is the equivalent of ‘They’: Loro sono studentesse francesi (‘They are French [female] students’)
  • As for io, tu, lui, lei, and lei form., noi, voi, and loro can be easely omitted
  • You see that the form of the verbs (as well as the nouns and adjectives) change according to the subject
Read the following emails.

Listen to how to pronounce the following Italian words and phrases:

  • Cari (dear) / Carissimi (dearest)+ the name of the recipients are familiar ways to address someone, whether you know them (as in this case) or no
  • Mamma (mom), papà (dad)
  • Baci e abbracci (hugs and kisses, literally kisses and hugs), un abbraccio grande grande (a big big hug) are friendly and affectionate ways to end an email or a letter
  • Da tutto tutto il mondo (from all around the world), anche se (even if), purtroppo (unfortunately), un po’ (a little [bit])
  • Non avere tempo di + infinitive verb (Not to have time to do something)
  • Sempre (always), quasi sempre (almost always), spesso (often),
  • Ogni tanto (once in a while), adesso (now)
Andare (to go) is one of the most frequently used Italian verbs. When followed by a + an infinite verb (andare a ballare, andare a nuotare, etc.) it is the equivalent of to go + ….-ing (to go dancing, to go swimming, etc.). In all the other cases andare is used to indicate a place where one goes and several prepositions can be used. Learn some of them and more vocabulary. To practice on vocabulary and pronunciation, use Quizlet.

NOTE: a) All the above expressions (a scuola, in biblioteca, etc.) can also be used with the verb essere (to be) to indicate the place where someone is (Sono a scuola ‘I am at school‘, Sono in biblioteca ‘I am at the library’, etc.), mangiare, studiare, etc. (Mangio a casa ‘I eat at home‘, Studio in biblioteca ‘I study in the library‘, etc.) to indicate where someone does something, and with all other verbs of movement (camminare a scuola ‘to walk to school‘, arrivare a casa ‘to arrive home‘, etc.). b) Tavolo or Tavola? You already known the masculine word tavolo. Italian also has the feminine form tavola. What is the difference? Tavolo is used to describe a piece of furniture per se (tavolo da disegno ‘drawing table’, tavolo da stiro ‘ironing board’, etc.) or for a table in a restaurant. Tavola is used instead to describe the dining table, not as a piece of furniture, but in reference to the place where meals are eaten (io vado a tavola, noi siamo a tavola, voi mangiate a tavola, etc.). Andare with means of transportation.
GRAMMAR
Essere and Avere
You have already studied the verbs essere (to be) and avere (to have) with io, tu, lui and lei, including Lei formal (see Unità 1 and Unità 2). Below you find  the forms for noi (we), voi (you all), and loro (they). Click HERE for the complete conjugation of essere and avere.
essere (to be) avere (to have)
noi siamo abbiamo
voi siete avete
loro sono hanno

Regular Italian verbs in –are: noi, voi and loro forms
You have already studied the  regualr verbs in –are with io, tu, lui and lei, including Lei formal (see Unità 1 and Unità 2). To obtain the forms for noi (we), voi (you all), and loro (they) simply drop -are, and add respectively -iamo, -ate, and -ano. Click HERE for the complete conjugation of regular verbs in -are.

lavorare (to work)
noi lavoriamo
voi lavorate
loro lavorano

Verbs ending in –care (giocare ‘to play a game/sport’) and –gare (pagare ‘to pay’) add an h immediately after the root when declinations start with i (tu, as you already know and, and noi forms) to maintain the hard c or hard g sound. See the table below for a sample conjugation of giocare a (to play).
Verbs ending in –iare (mangiare ‘to eat’, studiare ‘to study‘, etc.) drop the i of the root when declinations start with i (tu, as you already know and, and noi forms). See the table below for a sample conjugation of mangiare. Click HERE for the complete conjugation of these special verbs in –are.

giocare (to play a game/sport) pagare (to pay) mangiare (to eat)
noi giochiamo paghiamo mangiamo
voi giocate pagate mangiate
loro giocano pagano mangiano

Unfortunately, not all verbs follow the regular pattern -are, so often you just have to memorize them individually. This is the case of the verb andare (to go) and stare (to stay, to remain).

The verb andare

io vado noi andiamo
tu vai voi andate
lui/lei, and Lei (form.) va loro vanno

The verb stare

io sto noi stiamo
tu stai voi state
lui/lei, and Lei (form.) sta loro stanno

A Difficult Choice: a or in?
The prepositions in and a are both used as locators of place. If at times the context clearly indicates which of the two is the more appropriate, at other times the choice is not as definite, which makes selecting the right preposition troublesome for non-native speakers.

  • As you already know a is used before names of towns/cities and it is preferably used with casa (home), scuola (school), letto (bed), etc. 
  • The preposition in is used with names of location bigger than cities and it is used with classe (classroom), ufficio (office) etc. It is also used with all words ending in -teca like biblioteca (library) and all words ending in -ria, like pizzeria.
Tasks
  • Read the two emails several times. Use Speech to text to check if the computer recognizes your pronunciation.
  • Try to write an email to your parents. Use the Dictionary if you need to find more Italian words. Then check if there are mistakes in your text with Spell and Grammar Checker.
 
Pratice

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Next > Dal singolare al plurale