Present tense: common irregular verbs (andare, fare, dare, stare)

Ogni giorno vado al lavoro e faccio colazione al bar.Every day I go to work and have breakfast at the café.

Four very frequent verbs ending in -are do not follow the regular pattern: andare (to go), fare (to do, to make), dare (to give) and stare (to stay, to be). They are irregular in the present, so it is worth learning their forms as they are.

Quick shortcut: for all four, tu ends in -ai (vai, fai, dai, stai), lui / lei is a short form (va, fa, dà, sta), and loro ends in -nno (vanno, fanno, danno, stanno).

The four verbs together

The voi forms (andate, fate, date, state) look like regular -are forms. Dà takes an accent to tell it apart from the preposition da: Lui dà un libro ad Anna (He gives a book to Anna), but Vengo da Roma (I come from Rome).

Stress: VA-do, vai, va, an-DIA-mo, an-DA-te, VAN-no. The short forms va, fa, sta have a single syllable.

andare (to go)

Andare covers going on foot and by any means of transport. With places it usually takes a (towns), in (countries and regions) or da (to a person's place); see Simple prepositions:

• Vado a Roma. (I'm going to Rome.)
• Andiamo in Italia in treno. (We're going to Italy by train.)
• Vai dal dottore? (Are you going to the doctor's?)

fare (to do, to make)

Fare is one of the most useful verbs in Italian, because it appears in many fixed expressions:

• fare colazione (to have breakfast), fare la spesa (to do the shopping), fare una domanda (to ask a question), fare sport (to do sport)
• Che lavoro fai? (What do you do for a living?)
• Fa freddo. (It's cold.) Fa caldo. (It's hot.)

dare (to give)

Dare has the same meaning as English "give", often with a person: Ti do il mio numero. (I'll give you my number.) Danno un regalo a Marco. (They give Marco a present.)

stare (to stay, to be)

Stare means "to stay, to remain" and is also used to say how someone is:

• Come stai? (How are you?) Sto bene, grazie. (I'm fine, thank you.)
• Sto a casa oggi. (I'm staying at home today.)

It is not a substitute for essere: for identity, origin, profession and description, Italian uses essere (Sono Anna, Sono di Roma). For wellbeing, use stare: ✅ Sto bene, ❌ Sono bene.

Common mistakes

• ❌ tu vi → ✅ tu vai
• ❌ noi andamo → ✅ noi andiamo
• ❌ loro vano → ✅ loro vanno (double n)
• ❌ io facio → ✅ io faccio (double c)
• ❌ lui da un regalo → ✅ lui dà un regalo (with the accent)
• ❌ noi stamo → ✅ noi stiamo
• ❌ Sono bene. → ✅ Sto bene.

Quick check

Write the correct present-tense form.

1. io (andare)
2. tu (fare)
3. lei (dare)
4. noi (stare)
5. voi (andare)
6. loro (fare)
7. loro (stare)

Key takeaways

• Andare, fare, dare and stare are irregular, so learn their present forms as they are.
• Shared traits: tu in -ai, short lui / lei forms (va, fa, dà, sta), and loro in -nno.
• Voi is the regular form (andate, fate, date, state).
• Dà has an accent to tell it apart from the preposition da.
• Fare appears in many fixed expressions (fare colazione, fare la spesa, fa freddo).
• To say how you are, use stare (Sto bene), not essere.