Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | We go, let’s go |
| Origin | A present tense or imperative mood conjugation of the verb andare, which means to go |
Andare is a very irregular verb in Italian.
Examples
| Andiamo! Siamo già in ritardo. | Let’s go! We are already late. |
| Ragazzi, andiamo o faremo tardi! | Guys, let’s go or we’ll be late! |
| Andiamo a cenare al ristorante stasera! | Let’s go to the restaurant for dinner tonight! |
Use of andiamo in Italian
You probably already know that the indicativo presente (present tense) conjugation for the pronoun io adds the ending -o to the root of the verb, or stem (see note for more info).
What’s the stem of a verb?
Italian infinitive verbs end in -ARE, -ERE and -IRE.
Cut iff this part and you are left with the root verb.
Examples:
tremare ➡️ trem-
piovere ➡️ piov-
cucire ➡️ cuc-
Italian verb endings for each tense are added to these root forms of the verb.
Now, how would you conjugate the present tense of andare, “to go”?
Take away the infinitive ending -are and add -o!
Andare… ➡️ And-… ➡️ Io ando?
That’s… not quite right.
You may be surprised to learn that the correct conjugation for andare is actually io vado. This is because andare is an irregular verb.
That said, let’s see the imperative mood conjugation of andare along with its pronunciation.
Imperative mood conjugation of andare
| io | — |
| tu | vai/va’ |
| lui, lei | vada |
| noi | andiamo |
| voi | andate |
| loro | vadano |
For example, you can say…
| Vai a destra e poi prendi la prima strada a sinitra. | Turn right and then take the first road on the left. |
| Andate a prendere gli scatoloni in garage! | Go get the boxes in the garage! (plural) |
Andiamo can also be used as an exclamation of joy or frustration. This is equivalent to the English exclamation come on!.
| Andiamo! Non puoi dire sul serio. | Come on! You can’t be serious. |
| Andiamo, non è poi così difficile! | Come on, it’s not that difficult! |
Other meanings of andiamo in Italian
Part of the imperative mood conjugation of andare overlaps with the present tense conjugation of the same verb.
Present tense conjugation of andare
| io | vado |
| tu | vai |
| lui, lei | va |
| noi | andiamo |
| voi | andate |
| loro | vanno |
For example, you can say…
| Vado a fare spesa. Ti serve qualcosa? | I’m doing the shopping. Do you need anything? |
| Anna va a scuola tutti i giorni. | Anna goes to school every day. |
This means that andiamo has three different meanings:
- let’s go!
- come on!
- we go
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