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Il Verbo Andare – Part 2 Posted by on Mar 16, 2012 in Grammar, Italian Language

In part 1. we looked at the most common conjugations of the verb andare (to go). Let’s take a look now at some of the many different ways in which we use this verb:

 

andarsene (to go away) a slightly more emphatic form of andare via: adesso me ne vado, ciao (I’m off now, bye), se ne sono già andati? (have they already left/gone away?)

andare bene (lit. to go well): come va? (how’s it going/how are you?), va bene/male (it’s going well/badly). We also commonly use va bene to mean ‘o.k.’: potremmo anche farlo così, va bene? (we could also do it like this, o.k.?) sì, va bene (yes, o.k.)

andare bene/male in (to be good/bad at): vado male in matematica (I’m no good at mathematics). N.B. This form is only used when talking about school subjects.

lasciare andare (to leave be/drop/forget): lascia andare! (forget it!), lasciamo andare quell’argomento (let’s drop the subject/stop talking about it)

andare (di moda) (to be in fashion): quest’anno va (di moda) il nero (black is fashionable this year) N.B. we often leave out ‘di moda’ and simply say quest’anno va il nero (this year black is very ‘in’).

andare a ruba (to sell out quickly): il nuovo modello è andato a ruba (the new model quickly sold out)

 

Other common uses of andare

– to feel like: ti va un caffè? (do you feel like a coffee?), non mi va di uscire stasera (I don’t feel like going out this evening).

– to fit (clothing): questa giacca non mi va più (this jacket doesn’t fit me any more), ti vanno bene i nuovi jeans? (do your new jeans fit well?)

– to have to be/must be: la stufa a legna va pulita tutti i giorni (the wood stove has to be cleaned every day), gli pneumatici vanno controllati regolamente (the tyres must be checked regularly)

– to run on: la mia macchina va a gpl (my car runs on liquid propane), i vecchi treni andavano a carbone (the old trains ran on coal)

– used as an expression of disbelief: ma va! (you’re kidding!)

– to not function: la mia macchina fotografica non va (my camera isn’t working)

 

Finally, for your entertainment, andare used when swearing:

va’ al diavolo (go to the devil), va’ a farti friggere (go and get fried), va’ a farti benedire (go and get blessed), va’ all’inferno (go to hell), and va’ a quel paese (go to that village) are all relatively mild ways of telling someone to ‘get lost’. To get a bit more serious we use the following: (warning do not read if easily offended): va a cagare (go take a s**t), vaffanculo (go f**k yourself, lit. ‘go and do it in your bottom’).

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Comments:

  1. Ivana Duria:

    Continuando con il verbo andare.
    Vado matta per il blog e lo uso spesso nelle mie lezioni e per questo ne sono molto grata.
    Vorrei sapere come mai avete cambiato il modo di riceverli. Adesso devo andare al transparent.com.per vederli al completo.
    Era molto piú facile prima.
    comunque mille grazie, ivana

    • Serena:

      @Ivana Duria Salve Ivana, non ho niente a che fare con l’amministrazione del blog. Comunque, ho chiesto alla mia manager e mi ha risposto così:

      Reason #1 was that, as many of you know, displaying the entire blog article via email led to people hitting reply to the email to make comments and ask questions. All those emails come directly to me. So for a while, I tried forwarding them to you guys, but the fact is, these comments need to be made on the blogs, for the benefit of both you AND the other readers. Valuable insights and discussion were being lost, and this is why we went back to the old method.

      Saluti da Geoff

  2. Daniel Léo Simpson:

    Another great blog – I really look forward to them now. And the level is perfect for me. I’m past “Buon giorno signor Rossi” haha 😉 but not fluent. I would consider my level as “stumbling” haha. I can get through any conversation and not at all intimidated to try and do so but the language is butchered I’m afraid – so this blog really helps with the idiomatic phrases. “Adesso, se ne vado” for example. I recognize and understand the verb and know all the words, but not in that idiom etc. Quando sto aspetando nell’ufficio postale, e ci sono molto gente (aspetto, aspetto, aspetto) allora, guardo alla mia cellini (cell phone) per questa Blog per leggere e studiare. See what I mean? I butchered it, but you understood it right? “When stuck in a long line at the post office, I reach for my cell phone and study your blog.” That’s what I mean by my “stumbling” phase. So this blog is really great. Ciao tutti!
    Daniel Léo Simpson
    Composer
    San Francisco

    • Geoff:

      @Daniel Léo Simpson Ciao Daniel, grazie tanto per il ‘feedback’. Spero che non ti dispiaccia se ti faccio un paio di correzioni?
      1. if you want to say ‘I’m going away’ it should be ‘me ne vado’ and not ‘se ne vado’, here are all the common conjugations:

      io – me ne vado
      tu – te ne vai
      lui/lei/Lei – se ne va
      noi – ce ne andiamo
      voi – ve ne andate
      loro – se ne vanno

      2. la gente (folk) is always singular, hence ‘c’è molta gente’. This takes a while to get used to because in English it would be plural.

      3. If you own a Cellini then you must be very rich! Cellini was a famous Florentine sculptor of the renaissance period: http://www.scultura-italiana.com/Biografie/Cellini.htm
      A cell phone, on the other hand, is called either il cellulare, or il telefonino.

      However, I much prefer the image of you wheeling a Cellini sculpture around to the post office to ‘far arrivare la sera’ (pass the time) while you’re waiting in the queue! 😉

      Alla prossima, Geoff

  3. jacques:

    Ciao Geoff
    Ho scoperto questo blog recentemente e ho sottoscritto subito al flusso RSS ! Grazie per questo tesoro di conoscenza della lingua italiana.
    Sono francese e studio l’italiano da alcuni anni. Leggo e capisco questa bella lingua abbastanza facilmente, la scritto un po più difficilmente, ma il mio italiano orale è un disastro vero ! Quando parlo italiano dimentico tutte le regole della grammatica e faccio dei errori che non faccio allo scritto !
    Credo di essere proprio “terrorizzato” quando parlo italiano ! Eppure mi fa tanto piacere di parlarlo..
    Grazie mille di nuovo.


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