Idioms with the verb "Fare"

Grammar

Friday, November 6th, 2009

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Basics on idioms

An idiom is an expression that can not be translated litteraly from English to Italian or vice versa. For example the expression "faccio il biglietto" litteraly translated from Italian to English would read: "I do the ticket". However, what the person is really trying to say is: I am buying a ticket. I Do the ticket makes no sense in English!

Below are some common idioms with the verb "fare" which means to do or make.

fare i compiti to do one's homework

fare il biglietto to purchase a ticket

fare la fila/la coda stand on line/wait on line

fare la spesa to go grocery shopping

fare le spese to go shopping

fare forca to play hooky

fare vedere to show someone something

fare una domanda to ask a question

fare una fotografia to take a picture

fare una passeggiata to take a walk

fare colazione to have breakfast

fare un viaggio to take a trip

fare un capello in quattro to split hairs

farsi la barba to shave

farsi coraggio to take heart

fare castelli in aria to daydream

fare fingere to pretend, make believe

fare male to be painful, to ache

farsi in la to step to one side

fare di tutto to do everything possible

fare del proprio meglio to do one's best

farsi degli amici to make friends

fare alla romana to split the check

fare il pieno to fill up the gas tank

fare passare to let through

Now, once you know these expressions, all you have to do is conjugate the verb "fare" and then write the rest of the expression and now you have an idiom!

Here is the conjugation of "fare"

Faccio = I make
Fai = You (singular) make
Fa = He/She makes
Facciamo = We make
Fate = You (plural) make
Fanno = They make

So let's say I wanted to express the following in Italian: "we wait in line"
I find my expression "to wait in line" which is "fare la fila." Now I go to the "we" form of fare which is "facciamo." Then I add the rest of the phrase which is "la fila". You put it together and get" Facciamo la fila = We wait in line.

Now you try:

I do my homework =

We pretend =

They take a trip =

You (singular) have breakfast =

He goes shopping =

Article by Giacomo DePasquale

Soluzioni: (Io) faccio i compiti;(noi) facciamo finta;(loro) fanno un viaggio;(lui) va a fare shopping

Idioms with the verb "Fare"

Grammar