A with Verbs (verb + a + infinitive)

When two verbs combine in Italian — I begin to study, I learn to drive, I manage to finish — the second verb appears in the infinitive, and a tiny preposition slots between them. That preposition is sometimes a, sometimes di, and sometimes nothing at all. There is no semantic principle that decides which one each verb takes. The choice is lexically specified — locked into each verb the way English locks particles to phrasal verbs (give up but call off, never the reverse).

This page is about the a-verbs: the set of Italian verbs that require a before a following infinitive. You will memorize the most useful ones in groups, see the patterns that make the groups cohere, and learn to recognize when the rule breaks down. By the end you will know that comincio a studiare and riesco a farlo are right, why comincio di studiare is wrong, and how to tell which preposition a new verb is likely to want.

1. The basic pattern

The structure is rigid:

conjugated verb + a + bare infinitive

The a never contracts here (there is no article to contract with), and nothing comes between a and the infinitive — no subject, no object pronoun, nothing. Object pronouns either attach to the front of the conjugated verb (lo comincio a leggere) or to the end of the infinitive (comincio a leggerlo). Both are correct.

The bare infinitive is critical. English speakers sometimes try to insert a subject (comincio a io studiare) — that's ungrammatical. The implied subject of the infinitive is the same as the subject of the conjugated verb. Where the subjects differ, you switch to a che + subjunctive clause instead (comincio a pensare che tu abbia ragione).

2. Beginning and continuing verbs

This is the cleanest semantic family. Verbs that mark the start, ongoing nature, or progressive intensification of an action all take a. The metaphor is spatial: you are moving toward the action, the way you move toward a city (vado a Roma).

The contrast with the di-family is sharp: finire di (finish), smettere di (stop), terminare di (finish off). The endpoint of an action takes di; the start or middle of one takes a. This is the deepest pattern in the system, and it holds with very few exceptions.

3. Motion verbs

Verbs of physical motion — go, come, return, run, climb — almost always take a before an infinitive. The infinitive expresses the purpose of the motion: the reason for going.

The motion-verb pattern is systematic: any verb that places the subject in motion toward a place takes a + infinitive to specify the purpose. The English equivalent is "go to do" / "come to do" — but English also allows "go and do" (go and get bread), which is informal. Italian uses only a: vado a prendere il pane, never vado e prendo.

4. Learning, teaching, and getting used to

This family covers acquiring or imparting a skill. Italian groups them all under a, which makes intuitive sense — they are all "movement toward competence."

A note on provare: it has a tricky split. Provare a + infinitive means "to try (to attempt)." Provare + noun means "to try (a thing, a flavor, a feeling)." And provare alone means "to feel" (provo dolore, I feel pain). Don't confuse provare a fare (try to do) with cercare di fare (try to do, with effort) — they overlap heavily but cercare takes di, not a. More on that contrast in section 9.

5. Helping, forcing, and inviting

Verbs that involve one person moving another toward an action — helping them do it, forcing them to do it, inviting them to do it — take a. The metaphor is the same: motion toward the action.

A useful sub-pattern: nearly every verb of interpersonal influence — convincing, persuading, urging, encouraging, forcing, inviting — takes a. The English equivalents almost all use to + infinitive (convince to, force to, invite to), so the transfer from English is clean here.

6. Achievement and effort verbs

This family has the strongest semantic split with di. Verbs that mark successful completion or capacity take a. Verbs that mark effort or attempt without specifying success take di.

The opposition between riuscire a (succeed) and cercare di (try) is one of the most useful contrasts in spoken Italian. Riuscire a implies the action gets accomplished — it's English "manage to," not English "try to."

The riuscire a / cercare di contrast is a litmus test for whether you have internalized the system. If you can swap them appropriately and feel the difference, you have the core distinction.

7. Commitment and habituation

A small but useful group: verbs of committing to or becoming habituated to an action.

8. Pensare a vs pensare di — same verb, different prepositions

Some verbs take both prepositions, with different meanings. Pensare is the cleanest example.

• pensare a + noun / infinitive = to think about (something), to focus mentally on
• pensare di + infinitive = to plan / consider doing

The split is reliable: pensare a points your attention at something (a noun, or an action you contemplate); pensare di announces an intention to act. Other verbs with similar splits — credere a (believe in / trust) vs credere di (believe oneself to be); parlare a (speak to someone) vs parlare di (speak about something) — follow related logic but operate at the level of arguments rather than nested infinitives.

9. The patterns at a glance

The a / di choice is, at root, lexically arbitrary. But the following loose tendencies catch most of the common verbs.

These patterns are tendencies, not laws. Sperare takes di, but sperare points toward something positive (you might expect a). Smettere takes di, even though it could be analyzed as a kind of motion away from the action. The patterns help your guesses — they don't replace memorization. The 30 or so most common verbs in the a family must simply be drilled into long-term memory.

10. Why is the system this way?

The a / di split goes back to Latin. A descends from Latin ad (toward, to), and the verbs that take it tend to involve forward motion or directional aim — going somewhere, beginning, learning, helping, forcing, inviting. The metaphor is spatial: you, or someone else, are oriented toward the action.

Di descends from Latin de (from, about, of), and the verbs that take it lean toward separation, completion, or mental contemplation — finishing, stopping, deciding, thinking, refusing, prohibiting. The metaphor is again spatial, but in the other direction: you are turning away from an action or contemplating it from a distance.

This Latin-rooted sense often still works as an intuition pump. Comincio a parlare (I start, motion toward the speaking) and smetto di parlare (I stop, separation from the speaking) feel right when you hold the spatial metaphor in mind. But the metaphor has been ground down by centuries of lexical drift, and many verbs now take a or di purely by tradition. Sperare di (hope to) and credere di (believe one will) are the kind of opaque cases where you just have to memorize.

11. Common mistakes

These are the errors English speakers consistently make.

12. Key takeaways

The Italian verb-plus-preposition system has no single decoder rule. But it does have shape:

• The a family covers beginning, achieving, motion, learning, helping, forcing, committing.
• The di family covers finishing, deciding, trying, thinking, asking, promising.
• The split goes back to Latin ad (toward) vs de (from / about), and the spatial metaphor still works as a guide.
• Some verbs (notably pensare) take both prepositions with different meanings.
• The 30-or-so most common a-verbs deserve direct memorization — drill them in pairs with their typical objects.

Once cominciare a, imparare a, riuscire a, andare a, aiutare a, invitare a, costringere a feel automatic, the rest of the family falls into place by analogy.