May 2017

Composed Italian Verbs plus some Italian Verbs Exercises

Do you know that in Italian there are plenty of Italian Verbs coming from the Latin preposition AD (the Italian prefix A) + an Adjective or a Noun? The result is an INFINITIVE VERB ending in ARE or in IRE. It never ends in ERE.
First of all we will discuss about these Composed Italian Verbs and then you will find a nice Exercise for practicing.

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Composed Italian Verbs: A + ADJECTIVE

AD +	ADJECTIVE	RESULT	IN ENGLISH
1. AD +	LUNGO	ALLUNGARE	1. to make something longer: TO EXTEND
2. AD +	CORTO	ACCORCIARE	2. to make something shorter: TO SHORTEN
3. AD +	BASSO	ABBASSARE	3. to make something lower: TO LOWER
4. AD +	BELLO	ABBELLIRE	4. to make something more beauty: TO BEAUTIFY
5. AD +	ROSSO	ARROSSARE	5. to become red: TO REDDEN
6. AD +	ROSSO	ARROSSIRE	6. to become red in face: TO BLUSH
7. AD +	COMODO	ACCOMODARE	7. to make your self or someone comfortable. Sometimes TO ARRANGE.

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Composed Italian Verbs: A + NOUNS

The same happens with some NOUNS.

AD +	NOUN	RESULT	IN ENGLISH
1. AD +	TERRA	ATTERRARE	1. to get the land: TO LAND
2. AD +	LUNA	ALLUNARE	2. to LAND ON THE MOON
3. AD +	BRACCIO	ABBRACCIARE	3. TO HUG
4. AD +	DENTE	ADDENTARE	4. TO BITE
5. AD +	SAPORE	ASSAPORARE	5. TO TASTE
6. AD +	LACCIO	ALLACCIARE	6. TO LACE
7. AD +	BOTTONE	ABBOTTONARE	7. TO BOTTON UP

Notice that ALWAYS the old D drops and the first consonant of the noun or of the adjective doubles.

Pay attention to pronounce clearly the double consonants. (To know more about the right pronunciation of the double consonants, visit this page: Italian Pronunciation: Double Consonants.)

Finally a nice exercise for practicing.

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Composed Italian Verbs Exercises

Try now to imagine by yourself the result of the contraction and guess the word meaning in English. Remember that the infinitive can end only in ARE or in IRE.
Remember also that:
1. the D from the Latin preposition AD drops
2. the first consonant of the noun or of the adjective doubles.

AD +	ADJECTIVE or NOUN	RESULT	IN ENGLISH
1. AD +	VICINO (adj.)	—	—
2. AD +	LONTANO (adj.)	—	—
3. AD +	FIANCO (noun)	—	—
4. AD +	DOLCE (adj.)	—	—
5. AD +	SOCIO (noun)	—	—
6. AD +	VALORE (noun)	—	—
7. AD +	FONDO (noun)	—	—
8. AD +	NIENTE or NULLA (pronouns: NOTHING)	—	—

Here you have an hint, it is the random list of the English verbs that come out from the exercise. 😉 TO SINK, TO PLACE NEAR, TO VALIDATE, TO SWEETEN, TO PLACE SIDE BY SIDE, TO ASSOCIATE, TO DISTANCE, TO CANCEL.

Finally remember that in some case these verbs come also from some pronouns or other types of words. Another example is “AD + DENTRO”, it gives ADDENTRARE, “to come inside”, TO ENTER in English.