Professor Dave here, let’s conjugate andare.
We now know how to conjugate regular verbs of the first conjugation, which end in ARE,
but unfortunately, there are four irregular verbs for this group, and they are very important
because of how common they are, so we need to memorize these conjugations as well.
The first one we will look at is andare, which means to go.
As soon as we begin, you will probably be surprised by how this verb changes, as io
vado doesn’t resemble the infinitive at all.
But the reason behind this is quite simple.
Vado derives from a Latin verb that also means to go.
Once that is understood, the other forms will look a little friendlier.
Notice that only the first and second person plural forms resemble the infinitive.
The difficulty with this verb is not so much memorizing the forms, but the preposition
that is required after.
Andare can be followed by in or a, or even da, depending on whether the movement describes
entering or approaching.
The usage of these prepositions is best learned by example rather than rule, so let’s go
through some common situations.
If you are going to a city or a small island, you always use a.
If you are going to a big island, country, or continent, you use in.
If you are going to see a person, you use da.
If you are describing your own motion in a vehicle of some kind, you use in.
This only applies to machines, so when walking or riding an animal, we use a.
English often uses “to go” plus an infinitive in order to express a future action, like:
Next summer I am going to swim in the ocean.
Italian doesn’t do this.
Instead, andare plus an infinitive will simply mean to go to a place in order to be able
to do that action.
To actually describe the action of swimming or eating, we would need the future tense,
which we will learn later.
Now that we know how to say that we are going somewhere, let’s learn how to say some places
where we might be going.
Lastly, there are a few idiomatic meanings for andare.
It can sometimes represent functionality.
If your car isn’t working, you could say:
It could refer to being fashionable.
It could refer to how things are proceeding.
It could refer to how well clothing fits.
It could imply a state of being.
And lastly it could refer to cost.
Now that we know how to use andare, let’s check comprehension.