Verbs and prepositions - A Practical Guide - Modern Italian Grammar

Modern Italian Grammar: A Practical Guide, Third Edition (2013)

Appendix IV. Verbs and prepositions

Complex sentences often make use of verbs linked to infinitives. Most verbs are linked to the verb infinitive by a preposition such as a or di. A few verbs do not need any preposition but are followed directly by the verb infinitive. Here is a list of the most common verbs (in alphabetical order) grouped into categories according to the preposition normally used, along with some examples. If you want to use a verb not contained in this list and are not sure which preposition is needed, you can check in any good Italian dictionary.

Note that the verb + infinitive construction can only be used where the subject of the main verb and the subject of the verb infinitive are the same. Where the subject of the main verb and the subject of the dependent verb are not the same, the verb cannot be followed by an infinitive but must be followed by che and a dependent clause. In Section 4, we give examples of verbs that involve an action carried out by another person.

1 Verbs followed directly by infinitive

This group of verbs includes the auxiliary verbs dovere, potere, volere as well as several others.

amare

to love to

desiderare

to desire to

dovere

to have to

osare

to dare to

potere

to be able to

preferire

to prefer to

sapere

to know how to

volere

to want to

Examples

Devo andare in banca.
I have to go to the bank.

Sai nuotare bene?
Do you know how to swim well?

Non oso chiamarlo.
I don't dare call him.

Non voleva venire con noi.
She didn't want to come with us.

Also in this group are impersonal verbs and/or verbs used mainly impersonally with the sense of ‘one’:

basta

to be enough to

dispiace

to regret

bisogna

to be necessary to

occorre

to be necessary to

conviene

to be advisable to

piace

to please

Examples

Basta mangiare cose sane per dimagrire.
You only have to eat healthy things to lose weight.

Bisogna portare il vino a casa di Gianluca stasera.
We (‘one’) must take wine to Gianluca's house tonight.

Ti piace andare al cinema?
Do you like going to the cinema?

Ci conviene prendere il bus delle 8.00.
We should get the 8.00 bus.

Impersonal expressions formed by verb (normally essere) and adjective are also followed directly by the infinitive:

è difficile

it's difficult

è facile

it's easy

è importante

it's important

è impossibile

it's impossible

è possibile

it's possible

è probabile

it's probable

Examples

Non è facile trovare un posto di lavoro.
It's not easy to get a job.

Era importante arrivare presto la mattina.
It was important to arrive early in the morning.

2 Verbs followed by a

This group of verbs includes verbs of beginning, continuing or succeeding such as cominciare; verbs of onward action of some kind, such as continuare; and verbs of movement such as andare, venire.

abituarsi

to get used to

andare

to go to (see also section 3 below for another use of andare)

aver difficoltà

to have difficulty in

cominciare

to begin to

continuare

to continue to

correre

to run to

decidersi

to make one's mind up to

divertirsi

to enjoy oneself

esitare

to hesitate

fare bene

to do well to

fare male

to be a bad idea to

fare meglio

to do better to

fare presto

to be quick to

fermarsi

to stop to

imparare

to learn

impegnarsi

to commit oneself

iniziare

to begin to

mettersi

to begin to

passare

to pass to

prepararsi

to get ready to

provare

to try to

rimanere

to stay

rinunciare

to give up

riprendere

to begin again

riuscire

to succeed in

sbrigarsi

to hurry

stare

to stay

tornare

to return to

venire

to come

Examples

Vado a comprare il giornale.
I'm going to buy the newspaper.

Ho cominciato a fumare a 12 anni.
I began smoking at age 12.

Ci siamo abituati a vederlo sempre in giro.
We got used to seeing him always around.

Sono rimasta a casa a studiare.
I stayed home to study.

3 Verbs followed by di

This group includes verbs that communicate information such as dire; verbs and related verb phrases expressing emotion, such as essere contento, vergognarsi; verbs expressing opinion, belief or hope such as credere, pensare, parere, sembrare, sperare; verbs of remembering, forgetting and realising such as ricordare, dimenticare, accorgersi; and verbs of deciding and choosing such as decidere, scegliere.

accettare

to accept, agree to

accorgersi

to realise, to notice

affermare

to assert

ammettere

to admit

andare (mi va)

to feel like

annunciare

to announce

aspettare

to wait to

aspettarsi

to expect to

augurarsi

to wish

cercare

to try to

cessare

to stop

comunicare

to communicate

confermare

to confirm

credere

to believe

decidere

to decide to

dichiarare

to declare

dimenticare

to forget to

dire

to say, tell

dubitare

to doubt

essere + adjective

to be

fare a meno di

to do without

far finta

to pretend to

fingere

to pretend to

finire

to finish

immaginare

to imagine

informare

to inform

lamentarsi

to complain

mancare

to fail to

meravigliarsi

to be amazed at

negare

to deny

offrire

to offer to

(mi) pare

to seem to

pensare

to think of, to intend to

pentirsi

to regret

preoccuparsi

to worry about

promettere

to promise to

raccontare

to recount

rendersi conto

to realise

ricordare

to remember

ricordarsi

to remember

rifiutarsi

to refuse

ritenere

to maintain

sapere

to know (but see also section 1 above)

scegliere

to choose

sembrare

to seem

sentirsela

to feel like

smettere

to finish, to end

sognare

to dream of

sperare

to hope to

spiegare

to explain

stancarsi

to tire of

stupirsi

to be amazed at

temere

to fear

tentare

to try to

vergognarsi

to be ashamed of

Examples

Ho deciso di partire domani sera.
I've decided to leave tomorrow evening.

Mi ha detto di aver visto un fantasma.
He told me he had seen a ghost.

Spero di vederlo domani mattina.
I hope to see him tomorrow morning.

Sono proprio contenta di rivederlo.
I am really happy to see him again.

Pensavo di organizzare una festa.
I thought I would organise a party.

Verb phrases followed by di include:

c'è bisogno

it is necessary to

avere bisogno

to need

avere paura

to be afraid to

avere voglia

to want to

essere in grado

to be able to

4 Verbs involving other people

Most verbs that invite, force, encourage or advise others to do something will either use no preposition or use the preposition a with the person involved (i.e. as indirect object); they generally use a — occasionally di — to link the verb to the infinitive that follows (in the list below, qcn is used as abbreviation for qualcuno):

aiutare qcn a

to help someone to

chiedere a qcn di

to ask someone to

comandare a qcn di

to command someone to

consigliare a qcn di

to advise someone to

convincere qcn a

to persuade someone to

costringere qcn a

to force someone to

dire a qcn di

to tell someone to

domandare a qcn di

to ask someone to

forzare qcn a

to force someone to

impedire a qcn di

to prevent someone from

incoraggiare qcn a

to encourage someone to

insegnare a qcn a

to teach someone to

invitare qcn a

to invite someone to

mandare qcn a

to send someone to

obbligare qcn a

to oblige someone to

ordinare a qcn di

to order someone to

permettere a qcn di

to allow someone to

persuadere qcn a

to persuade someone to

pregare qcn di

to beg someone to

proibire a qcn di

to forbid someone to

proporre a qcn di

to propose, suggest to someone to

raccomandare a qcn di

to recommend someone to

suggerire a qcn di

to suggest to someone to

vietare a qcn di

to forbid someone to

Example

Ho aiutato mio fratello a fare i compiti.
I helped my brother to do his homework.

5 Fare, lasciare and verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

The following verbs are followed directly by the infinitive, and then by the person involved:

fare

to make

lasciare

to let

Example

Faccio venire Marco.
I'll have Marco come.

Constructions with fare, lasciare are covered in detail in 21.7.

The same applies to verbs such as sentire ‘to hear, to feel’, vedere ‘to see’:

Ho visto arrivare Gianna.
I saw Gianna arriving.