-
matteo tironi.
User deleted
Welcome back to Easy Peasy Italian, the website where you can learn ancient Frigid.... no, there must be something wrong..... ah, it was Italian 
how could I forget it with such a fancy name?
So, today we will talk about fare. Yeah, like when you get on the bus and you get caught red handed not having paid it..... well kind of.
What? Ahahah, no of course fare doesn't mean fare in Italian, it means to do. And to make. And a gazillion of other meanings. Really, everything ha a che fare con (has something to do with) fare.
In almost every sentence, you'll see it pop out now and then.... yeah, like your old aunt you've quarreled with because she wasn't so keen on financing your parties
it pops out and makes a mess.
So, before we get lost in the fare's forest, let's have a look at its grammar.
Fare is one of the few verbs that have retained their original Latin conjugation (well, almost), so the root is at times fa- and at times facc-. Yeah, it changes at random.
Well, not that it changes every week or something like that, but honestly I can't see any logic in it.
Whatever, here our very irregular verb.
Io faccio
tu fai
lui/lei fa
noi facciamo
voi fate
loro fanno
and this is just the present tense. The past participle is fatto (that also means fact).
The other ones..... well look up the dictionary
so what is fare used for? Well both to make and to do, basically. And these are two of the most common English verbs..... yeah, now you should be able to grasp how wide fare is. Pretty much like its expensive English homonym
ex.
la mamma ha fatto una torta.
Mum baked/made a cake.
Hai fatto i compiti?
Did you do your homework?
Ho fatto quello che andava fatto.
I did what was to be done.
Faccio quello che voglio.
I do whatever I want to.
And so forth. Basically, whenever you would use either to do (but not as an auxiliary!) or to make in English, apart from a few exceptions, that's fare.
Moreover, as we kind of like making this poor verb do lots of tasks, it also has additional meanings:
1) to express that someone/something gives someone else a feeling.
Do you remember when we talked about avere, and how it is used to express feelings? Well, fare is kind of its opposite. In English we use to be for both (to be scary/scared) along with the proper adjective. While this pattern is certainly possible in Italian too (essere spaventato/pauroso), using avere and fare along with the proper noun sounds much more natural.
It's scary.
Fa paura (lit. it makes fear)
it scared me a lot.
Mi ha fatto molta paura (lit. it made a lot of fear to me)
this also goes for the temperature perception we earlier used avere for.
Fa caldo.
The weather is hot.
Beware, because fa caldo and ho caldo don't mean the same. Fa caldo is a general statement, ho caldo is about the way I feel. Note that the pronouns are in case 3 here, indirect-object.
2)to express a change and obligation.
Actually this is in common with the English to make, but I wanted to point it out anyway.
When you express obligation, fare is always possible when to make is.
Mi ha fatto bere tutta la zuppa.
He made me drink all the soup.
Here the pronoun is case 3, indirect-object, unlike English.
Ho fatto bere tutta la zuppa a Maria
I made Maria drink all the soup.
As for express a change, it depends.
If you use to make along with a verb, then fare can do it too.
Mia madre mi ha fatto diventare uno studioso.
My mother made me become a scholar.
But, if you make something an adjective, then fare is no good and you have to use another verb (rendere, to render)
I made my room bigger by demolishing a wall.
Ho fatto la mia stanza più grande demolendo una parete.... WRONG
mo reso la mia stanza più grande demolendo una parete.
However, fare can be used when the change with the adjective reference is reflexive. (English usually express this concept with grow+ adjective)
Gli alberi si sono fatti grandi col tempo (lit. the trees have made themselves big over time)
the trees have grown bigger over time.
At times, however, it is a bit confusing because English usually uses an adjective whilst Italian a verb (or the contrary)
you made me angry.
Mi hai fatto arrabiare
you could also say something on the “mi hai reso arrabiato” line, but everything you give you funny glares then. Really, it is WEIRD, just like saying “you made me enrage” in English, or maybe even worse.
On the other hand, at times English uses verbs while Italian goes for adjectives.
Mi hai fatto male (lit. you made me bad)
you hurt me.
3) in place of to have when it could be replaced by to take.
to have a trip/shower/vacation and also to have sex (yeah, this one matters
) are expressed with fare in Italian.
Fare un viaggio
fare una doccia
fare una vacanza
fare sesso.
Ok, this is it for part 1, so let's recap:
1) fare is one of the most used verbs in Italian, it comes from a Latin root and therefore is quite irregular.
2) fare covers both the English to do and to make, along with other meanings: things that induce feelings, to express a change (but not when make is used with an adjective in a non-reflexive context) and to express obligation.
3) in a gazillion idioms we'll have a look at in the next part
if you have any comment or doubt, don't be afraid to ask.
.
fare1. level3the basic rules |
