The 200 most common Italian Verbs with Meanings

Regardless of the language, verbs are action words, meaning they describe an action, occurrence, or state. Before delving into the subject of common Italian verbs, it might help to have a little refresher course as to what they are and how people use them in sentences.

For starters, verbs form the main part of a predictable sentence. In other words, they serve as a link between the subject of the verb and the subject’s information, which is typically descriptive. At the same time, people use them as a phrase that functions like an adjective or adverb, which contains a verb and associated objects, modifiers, and complements.

Active Verbs

To show the action of an activity, you would use active verbs. However, they must also link to describe conditions. Following are a few sentence examples:

• She appears in an off-Broadway play. (active) Margaret appears upset. (linking) 
• He smells the chicken cooking on the grill. (active) The wet dog smells horrible. (linking)

You can take verb phrases one step further by including a complement, adverb, or object. As an example, look at the sentence, “He was walking quickly to his office.” With this, you have the verb “walking” combined with the complement “his office.”

Some examples of what a phrase looks like when it functions as an adjective or adverb with a verb and associated complement, modifier, or object:

• The new puppy was hesitant to learn new tricks.
• When she arrives, we can make a cake.
• Finally, we can afford to purchase a new car.
• Texting on his phone, the driver crashed into another car.
• Open the door to let in fresh air.

Now with the verb refresher course complete, we will move on to the most commonly used Italian phrases. If you have plans to move to or visit Italy, you can use these same rules. Also, if you have limited Italian-speaking ability, learning these verbs along with common phrases will make it easier for you to follow along with conversations.

General Italian Verb Phrases

Regardless of what you want to do or see while in Italy, you can use general Italian verb phrases to get around. Following are just a few examples:

• Andiamo a fare shopping – Let’s go shopping.
• Vado a fare una passeggiata – I’m going for a walk.
• Chi sta comprando pizza stasera? – Who is buying pizza tonight?
• Posso prendere la tua foto? – May I take your picture?
• Dovrei portare una glacca? – Should I bring a jacket?
• Posso guardarlo? – May I look at that?
• Chi vuole allenarsi con me? – Who wants to work out with me?
• Potremmo andare a nuotare – We could go swimming.
• Parli inglese? – Do you speak English?

Italian Verb Phrases When Clothes Shopping

Since clothes shopping in Italy is a favorite pastime, it makes sense to start with some of the more common phrases. While many store owners and employees know some English, not all do. Learning these phrases with common Italian verbs while out shopping will allow you to communicate better and come across as a polite customer.

• Posso provario per favore? – May I try this on, please?
• Posso pagare per questo con una carta di credito? – Can I pay for this with a credit card?
• Posso scambiarlo con una taglia diversa? – Can I exchange this for a different size?
• Ho bisogno di scegliere i fiori per il matrimonio del mio amicao – I need to pick out flowers for my friend’s wedding.
• Vendi questo in un altro colore? – Do you sell this in a different color?
• Sto cercando una bella giacca – I am looking for a nice jacket.

Italian Verb Phrases When Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping is always exciting in Italy. Especially when visiting open-air markets, you will find a vast assortment of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and more. Following are some of the commonly spoken Italian verb phrases:

• Sto cercando frutta fresca/verdure – I am looking for fresh fruit/vegetables.
• Voglio comprare (number) – I want to buy (number).
• Posso avere un campione? – Can I have a sample?
• Accettate la valuta Americana? – Do you accept American currency?
• Puoi consegnare questo? – Can you deliver this?

Common Italian Verbs – Entertainment and Dining Phrases

Entertainment and dining are two additional popular things for locals and tourists to do in Italy. For these, the verb phrases listed below are among the most commonly used.

• Prenderemo un tavolo per due, per favore – We’ll take a table for two, please.
• Quanti biglietti dovrei comprare? – How many tickets should I buy?
• Proveremo la casa speciale – We’ll try the house special.
• Lascia andare a teatro – Let’s go to the theater.
• Mi sono divertito cosi tanto – I had such a good time.
• Puoi attirare la sua attenzione? – Can you get his/her attention?
• Cosa mi consiglia di provare? – What do you recommend I try?
• So guidare – I can drive.

Single Italian Verbs

Because the list of single Italian verbs is almost endless, we selected the 200 most common Italian verbs and their meanings that you should put at the top of your list.

English	Italian
to allow	consentire
to annoy	infastidire
to apologize	scusarsi
to appeal	appello
to appear	apparire
to argue	discutere
to arrive	arriva
to ask	chiedere a
to attempt	tentativo
to attract	attira
to be aware of	essere consapevoli di
to be called	essere chiamato
to beat	battere
to become	diventa
to begin	inizia
to believe	credere
to belong	appartenere a
to break	rompere
to bring	porta
to buy	acquista
to call	chiamare
to can	può
to catch	cattura
to celebrate	festeggiare
to choose	scegliete
to clean	pulire
to close	chiudi
to come	a venire
to compare	confrontare
to cooking	cucina
to cost	costo
to count	conta
to create	crea
to cry	grida
to cut	taglio
to decide	decidere
to delete	cancellare
to die	muori
to disturb	disturbare
to do	fare
to draw	sorteggio
to dream	sogno
to drink	bevanda
to drive	drive
to earn	guadagnare
to eat	mangiare
to end	fine
to endow	dotare
to enter	entra in
to explain	spiegare
to fall	caduta
to feel	sentite
to fetch	vai a prendere
to find	trova
to fit	in forma
to fly	vola
to follow	seguire
to forget	dimenticare
to get	ottenere
to get off	scendere
to get to know	conoscere
to give	dare
to go	vai a
to greet	saluta
to grow	crescere
to hang	appendere
to happen	accadere
to happy	felice
to hate	odio
to have	avere
to have breakfast	fare colazione
to help	aiuto
to hide	nascondere
to hold	tenere
to hope	speranza
to hurt	ferito
to inform	informare
to interest	interesse
to introduce	presenta
to invite	invita
to its	il suo
to jump	salta
to kiss	bacio
to know	sapere
to lack	mancanza
to laugh	ridete
to lay	laico
to lead	piombo
to learn	imparare
to let	lasciate che
to lie	mentire
to lift	ascensore
to like	come
to listen	ascolta
to live	in diretta
to living	vivente
to look	guarda
to lose	perdere
to love	amore
to mail	posta
to make	fare
to make up	fare pace
to marry	sposare
to may	maggio
to mean	significa
to meet	Incontrare
to miss	mancare
to move	spostare
to move out	traslocare
to must	must
to need	bisogno
to offer	offerta
to open	aprire
to pack	pack
to paint	vernice
to pay	pagare
to pay attention	prestare attenzione
to phone	telefono
to place	posto
to play	giocare
to please	per favore
to plug	spina
to prepare	preparare
to press	stampa
to prohibit	vietare
to pull	tirare
to push	Spingere
to race	gara
to rain	pioggia
to read	leggi
to receive	ricevere
to reckon	calcolare
to recommend	raccomandare
to register	iscriviti a
to remember	ricordati di
to rent	Affitto
to rent out	affittare
to repair	riparazione
to repeat	ripetere
to reply	risposta
to rest	resto
to rouse	suscitare
to running	in esecuzione
to say	diciamo
to say goodbye	dire addio
to search	ricerca
to see	vedi
to seem	sembra
to sell	vendere
to send	inviare
to shall	dovrà
to share	Condividi
to shoot	Spara
to shout	grida
to show	mostra
to shower	doccia
to shut down	spento
to sing	cantare
to sit	siediti
to sit down	siediti
to sleep	dormire
to smell	odore
to smile	sorriso
to smoke	fumo
to snow	neve
to sorry	scusate
to speak	parlare
to stand	stand
to start	inizia da
to stay	soggiorno
to steal	rubare
to stop	stop
to study	studio
to take	prendere
to take a bath	fare il bagno
to talk	parlare
to taste	assaggiate
to tell	ditelo a
to tell lies	dire bugie
to thank	ringrazia
to think	pensa
to throw	lanciare
to to dance	per ballare
to to swim	a nuotare
to touch	toccare
to travel	viaggio
to try	prova
to turn on	accendere
to unclasp	decomprimere
to understand	capire
to view	vedi
to visit	visita
to wait	aspetta
to wake up	svegliarsi
to want	desidera
to wash	lavaggio
to wear	Indossare
to wish	augurio
to work	lavoro
to write	scrivi

Conclusion

As with any new language, there is a definite learning curve when it comes to Italian. However, it is worth the time and effort to learn the most common Italian verbs in this beautiful language of romance. Ideally, the best time to start is several months before traveling overseas. However, as it is the fifth-most-taught language in the United States, you will have no problem finding other people that you can communicate with while honing your new skill.

In fact, you can find groups of other people learning Italian all over the country that you can hook up with in person or online. Just remember what verbs are and how to use them. In no time, they will make sense when speaking Italian. If you need help, there are numerous online courses and local tutors available, as well.