Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | It/he/she bites |
| Origin | A present tense conjugation of the verb mordere, which means to bite |
Examples
| La vipera morde il fungaiolo alla mano. | The viper bites the mushroom picker in the hand. |
| La bambina si morde le unghie. | The child bites her nails. (Mordersi, reflexive verb) |
| Il cane morde la gamba di un passante. | The dog bites the leg of a passerby. |
How to use morde 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 off 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 mordere, “to eat”?
Take away the infinitive ending -are and add -o!
Mordere… ➡️ Mord-… ➡️ Io mordo?
Correct!
That said, let’s see the present tense conjugation of mordere along with its pronunciation.
Present tense conjugation for mordere
| io | mordo |
| tu | mordi |
| lui, lei | morde |
| noi | mordiamo |
| voi | mordete |
| loro | mordono |
For example, you can say…
| I labrador non mordono quasi mai. | Labradors hardly ever bite. |
| Non sapendo come rispondere, lo studente si morde il labbro. | Not knowing how to reply, the student bites his lip. |
| Non parlarmi, perché oggi mordo! | Don’t talk to me, because I’m biting today! |
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