I can say how I am and what I'm doing: faccio colazione, faccio la spesa, faccio sport — all six persons of fare and stare.
Fare and stare: faccio, sto
Fare and stare: faccio, sto
With these two verbs you say how you are and what you're doing.
Fare: faccio, fai, fa, facciamo, fate, fanno. Faccio and facciamo are spelled with cc: before i it's not [k] but a long [tʃ], a ch held longer than usual.
Stare: sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno. This is the verb for how you are: “Come stai? — Sto bene”, “Come sta, signor Esposito? — Non c'è male”. English says “I'm fine” and “How are you?” with be; Italian uses stare, and essere doesn't work here.
Expressions with fare: see the table. English says “have breakfast”, “play sports”, “take a photo”, “ask a question”; Italian uses fare for all of them. Two take no article at all (fare colazione, fare sport), the others do (fare la spesa, fare una foto, fare una domanda): learn each one whole.
“Che cosa fai?” / “Che cosa fa?” asks what someone is doing. Adesso means “now”. La foto is short for la fotografia and is feminine; its plural doesn't change: le foto.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Sono bene, grazie” → Sto bene, grazie.
• NOT “Faccio la colazione” → Faccio colazione.
• NOT “Io faco sport” → Io faccio sport.
• NOT “Signor Santoro, come stai?” (with a last name, only Lei) → Signor Santoro, come sta?
Fare and stare — all six persons
Both verbs are irregular — learn the whole conjugation.
| Person | fare | stare |
|---|---|---|
| io | faccio | sto |
| tu | fai | stai |
| lui, lei, Lei | fa | sta |
| noi | facciamo | stiamo |
| voi | fate | state |
| loro | fanno | stanno |
Expressions with fare
Learn them whole — two have no article, the rest do.
| Expression | Translation |
|---|---|
| fare colazione | to have breakfast |
| fare la spesa | to go grocery shopping |
| fare sport | to play sports |
| fare una foto | to take a photo |
| fare una domanda | to ask a question |
Lesson notes
Fare and stare: faccio, sto
With these two verbs you say how you are and what you're doing.
Fare: faccio, fai, fa, facciamo, fate, fanno. Faccio and facciamo are spelled with cc: before i it's not [k] but a long [tʃ], a ch held longer than usual.
Stare: sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno. This is the verb for how you are: “Come stai? — Sto bene”, “Come sta, signor Esposito? — Non c'è male”. English says “I'm fine” and “How are you?” with be; Italian uses stare, and essere doesn't work here.
Expressions with fare: see the table. English says “have breakfast”, “play sports”, “take a photo”, “ask a question”; Italian uses fare for all of them. Two take no article at all (fare colazione, fare sport), the others do (fare la spesa, fare una foto, fare una domanda): learn each one whole.
“Che cosa fai?” / “Che cosa fa?” asks what someone is doing. Adesso means “now”. La foto is short for la fotografia and is feminine; its plural doesn't change: le foto.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Sono bene, grazie” → Sto bene, grazie.
• NOT “Faccio la colazione” → Faccio colazione.
• NOT “Io faco sport” → Io faccio sport.
• NOT “Signor Santoro, come stai?” (with a last name, only Lei) → Signor Santoro, come sta?