ITALIAN REGULAR VERBS ENDING IN “-ERE”
Prendere- to take:
The Italian verb for prendere means to take and is almost omnipresent and used very often, and sometimes when you’re not expecting.
Once you know the conjugation of prendere which ends with “ere”, you can pretty much conjugate all verbs that end in -ere.
- io prendo- I take
- tu prendi- you take
- lui prende- he / it takes
- lei prende- she / it take
- noi prendiamo- we take
- voi prendete- all of you take
- loro prendono- they take
Conjugating Prendere:
- -o
- -i
- -e
- -iamo
- -ete
- -ono
Also check the post on conjugating verbs ending with “-are” so that you can understand it better.
Other verbs like prendere:
- scrivere- to write
- leggere- to read
- chiedere- to ask
- decidere-to decide
- spendere-to spend
- conoscere- to know
- mettere- to put
- vincere- to win
- perdere- to lose
- credere- to believe
Different examples of prendere:
These examples are unusual to an English speaker:
- Cosa prendi?– What are you having? (literally “what do you take?”)
- Io prendo un caffè-I’m having a coffee (literally “I take a coffee” )
- Maria prende le medicine ogni giorno- Maria takes her medicines everyday
- Prendiamo il treno per andare a Lecce– We take the train to Lecce
- Prendete sempre dei voti bassi a scuola– You always get (take) bad marks at school
- Loro prendono un bicchiere di vino– They’re having a glass of wine (literally “they take a glass of wine”)
Interesting “prendere” idioms:
Prendere also makes an appearance in many ways in Italian idioms. For example- “Prendere per la gola” does not mean take you by the throat, but in Italian it means to seduce somebody by preparing delicious food. In English a similar idiom goes “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach“.
More examples:
- Prendere in giro– To take around
- Prendere per i fondelli– To take for the butt
- Prendere per il naso– To take for the nose
- Prendi la palla al balzo!– Take the ball on the bounce!
- Prendere due piccioni con una fava– To take two pigeons with one bean