Basic Italian: A Grammar and Workbook

16 Dovere, potere and volere usually need to be followed by another verb in
the infinitive:

17 The verb sapere is another that is often followed by a verb in the infinitive;
used in this way, it expresses the ability to do something (in the sense of ‘to
know how to’ do something):

18 A few verbs end in -urre (like condurre (to lead/drive/manage), tradurre (to
translate), produrre (to produce), etc.); all have the following pattern:

Exercise 1

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets.

Example: Non (io conoscere) tua mamma: conosco

Ho conosciuto il padre di Pia.

Non conosco il tuo ragazzo.

Conosci questa città?

I (have) met Pia’s father.

I don’t know your boyfriend.

Do you know this town?

Dobbiamo fare gli esercizi.

Posso parlare con Luigi?

Puoi telefonare domani.

Non vogliono uscire.

We’ve got to do the exercises.

May I talk to Luigi?

You can phone tomorrow.

They don’t want to go out.

So nuotare.

Paolo non sa ballare.

Sai usare quello scanner?

I can swim. [i.e. I know how to]

Paolo can’t dance. [i.e. he doesn’t know how to]

Can you/Do you know how to use that scanner?

Endings

-uc-o

-uc-i

-uc-e

-uc-iamo

-uc-ete

-uc-ono

Produrre

(io) produco

(tu) produci

(lui/lei) produce

(noi) produciamo

(voi) producete

(loro) producono

To produce

I produce

you produce

he/she/it produces

we produce

you produce

they produce

Questa fabbrica produce automobili.

Traducono dal francese.

This factory produces cars.

They translate from French.

1 Claudio (arrivare) con il prossimo

treno.

2 Anna (vivere) a Roma.

3 Non (noi mangiare) spesso fuori.

4 (tu cercare) casa?

5 Stasera (voi prendere) l’autobus.