Italian · Chapter 1 · Lesson 18 · Grammar primer

Three verb families, and the ones that break the rules

The regular majority conjugates on sight. The irregulars are the verbs you need most, which is not bad luck: frequency protects irregularity.

The short version

The hardest Italian verbs are the ones you need first

Essere, avere, fare, dire, andare, potere, volere and dovere are all irregular, and that is not bad luck. A verb used a hundred times a day gets learned whole by every child and never gets tidied into the regular pattern. Frequency protects irregularity, in Italian as in English.

Posso fare questo.

I can do this.

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Lesson 18 of 24 in this chapter

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