Andare ("to go") is one of the first verbs every learner meets, and it punishes any attempt to memorize it as a regular -are verb. The stem doesn't even appear in four out of six forms — and- simply vanishes, replaced by va- or vad-. Once the conjugation is in your bones, the next challenge takes over: every destination needs the right preposition (a, in, da, al), and English intuitions will steer you wrong.
This page conjugates andare, lays out the prepositions, and addresses the periphrastic uses that make this verb a workhorse of everyday Italian.
The conjugation
Andare is suppletive — that is, it draws its forms from two completely different Latin roots (ambulare gave us the infinitive andare and the noi/voi forms; vadere gave the rest). That's why the pattern looks so broken.
| Person | Conjugation | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| io | vado | vàdo |
| tu | vai | vài |
| lui / lei / Lei | va | và |
| noi | andiamo | andiàmo |
| voi | andate | andàte |
| loro | vanno | vànno |
The pattern: va- in singular and 3pl, and- only in noi and voi. The 3pl vanno doubles the n (like stanno, danno, fanno). Note the spoken vò for vado exists in poetry and old novels but is archaic in modern Italian — write vado.
Vado al lavoro in bicicletta.
I go to work by bike.
Dove vai stasera?
Where are you going tonight?
Mio fratello va all'università a Bologna.
My brother goes to university in Bologna.
Andiamo al cinema dopo cena?
Shall we go to the movies after dinner?
I miei genitori vanno in vacanza in Sicilia ogni estate.
My parents go on vacation to Sicily every summer.
Auxiliary in compound tenses: essere
Andare is a verb of motion, so in compound tenses (passato prossimo and others) it takes essere as the auxiliary, and the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.
Sono andato a Roma il mese scorso. (man speaking)
I went to Rome last month.
Sono andata a Roma il mese scorso. (woman speaking)
I went to Rome last month.
Le ragazze sono andate al concerto.
The girls went to the concert.
This rule is not negotiable: ho andato is wrong in every variety of standard Italian. See auxiliary choice in compound tenses for the full picture.
Prepositions of destination — the rule that no English speaker gets right the first time
In English, "to" handles almost every destination: to Rome, to Italy, to school, to my friend's house, to the cinema. Italian splits this single preposition into at least five distinct ones, and the choice is dictated by what comes after, not by any logic about distance or formality.
a + cities, towns, small islands
Vado a Roma per il weekend.
I'm going to Rome for the weekend.
Vai mai a Capri d'estate?
Do you ever go to Capri in the summer?
Andiamo a Napoli in treno.
We're going to Naples by train.
in + countries, regions, large islands, continents
Vado in Italia ad agosto.
I'm going to Italy in August.
I miei amici vanno in Francia in macchina.
My friends are driving to France.
Lavoro in Toscana, ma vivo in Liguria.
I work in Tuscany, but I live in Liguria.
Quest'anno andiamo in Sardegna.
This year we're going to Sardinia.
The size cutoff between a (small island) and in (large island) is not a strict rule — Capri, Ischia, Procida take a; Sicilia, Sardegna take in. Memorize the major exceptions case by case.
in + means of transport (closed, you're inside it)
Vado al lavoro in macchina.
I drive to work.
Andiamo in treno o in pullman?
Are we going by train or by coach?
Preferisco viaggiare in aereo.
I prefer to travel by plane.
a + means of transport that you ride or use without enclosure
Vado a piedi, è solo a dieci minuti.
I'm going on foot, it's only ten minutes away.
Vai a cavallo?
Are you going by horse?
Preferisco andare in bicicletta — o a volte a piedi.
I prefer to go by bike — or sometimes on foot.
(Note that bicicletta is treated like an enclosed vehicle in modern Italian — in bicicletta — even though logically you ride it open. A piedi and a cavallo preserve the older logic.)
da + a person (to someone's home, office, shop)
Vado da Marco stasera.
I'm going to Marco's place tonight.
Devo andare dal dottore domani.
I have to go to the doctor's tomorrow.
Andiamo dai miei nonni per Natale.
We're going to my grandparents' for Christmas.
This da + person construction is one of the most useful patterns in Italian. Vado dal parrucchiere (I'm going to the hairdresser's), vado dal dentista, vado da Luca — all use da, never a or in.
a + the (al, allo, alla, all', ai, agli, alle) for public places
For most public destinations — the cinema, the station, the supermarket, the beach, the mountains, the office — Italian uses a + definite article, contracted as a single word.
| Place | Italian | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| cinema | al cinema | to the movies |
| stazione | alla stazione | to the station |
| supermercato | al supermercato | to the supermarket |
| mare | al mare | to the sea(side) |
| parco | al parco | to the park |
| aeroporto | all'aeroporto | to the airport |
| ristorante | al ristorante | to the restaurant |
Vado al cinema con gli amici stasera.
I'm going to the movies with friends tonight.
Devo passare alla stazione a prendere mia madre.
I have to swing by the station to pick up my mom.
Andiamo al mare questo fine settimana?
Shall we go to the seaside this weekend?
Articleless destinations: the special list
A small but high-frequency set of destinations takes no article. These are places you go to as activities, not as physical buildings — they conceptually represent doing what you do there.
| Italian | Translation | Why no article |
|---|---|---|
| a casa | (to) home | not "the home" — your home |
| a scuola | to school | as a student-activity |
| a letto | to bed | to sleep |
| a tavola | to the table (to eat) | for the meal |
| a teatro | to the theater | as an evening out |
| a messa | to mass | for the service |
| in chiesa | to church | activity-based |
| in ufficio | to the office | workplace-as-activity |
| in piscina | to the pool | swimming activity |
| in palestra | to the gym | workout activity |
| in vacanza | on vacation | state of being on holiday |
| in centro | downtown | idiomatic |
Vado a casa, sono stanchissima.
I'm going home, I'm exhausted.
A che ora vai a scuola?
What time do you go to school?
I bambini vanno a letto alle nove.
The kids go to bed at nine.
Vado in palestra tre volte alla settimana.
I go to the gym three times a week.
Andiamo in vacanza a luglio.
We're going on vacation in July.
Andare a + infinitive: doing something next
Andare a + infinitive describes going somewhere to do something. It is not a future tense (Italian doesn't use vado a the way English uses "going to" for future intent) — it literally means "to go (somewhere) to do."
Vado a comprare il pane.
I'm going to buy bread. (literally, going [out/to the shop] to buy)
Vai a dormire, è tardi!
Go to bed, it's late!
Andiamo a mangiare qualcosa?
Shall we go grab something to eat?
Vado a vedere chi è alla porta.
I'll go see who's at the door.
This is not the English "going to" future. To say "I'm going to study tomorrow," Italian uses the simple presente with a time expression (Domani studio) or the futuro semplice (Domani studierò). Vado a studiare means "I'm physically going somewhere in order to study."
The imperative
The tu imperative of andare has two forms in modern Italian:
- vai (the same as the indicative tu form)
- va' (with apostrophe, the apocopated form — common before pronouns)
- va (without apostrophe, accepted in some style guides but increasingly rare)
The Lei imperative is vada (borrowed from the congiuntivo). The noi form is andiamo ("let's go").
Vai a letto, è mezzanotte!
Go to bed, it's midnight!
Va' via!
Go away!
Vada avanti, signore, La seguo.
Go ahead, sir, I'll follow you.
Andiamo, è tardi!
Let's go, it's late!
Common mistakes
❌ Vado a Italia.
Incorrect — countries take 'in', not 'a'.
✅ Vado in Italia.
Correct — in for countries, regions, continents.
❌ Vado in Roma.
Incorrect — cities take 'a', not 'in'.
✅ Vado a Roma.
Correct — a for cities and small towns.
❌ Vado a Marco stasera.
Incorrect — going to a person's place takes 'da'.
✅ Vado da Marco stasera.
Correct — da + person.
❌ Vado alla casa adesso.
Wrong if you mean 'going home' — articleless 'a casa' is the natural form.
✅ Vado a casa adesso.
Correct — 'a casa' (no article) is the standard expression for going home.
❌ Loro vano al cinema.
Incorrect — 3pl is vanno with double n.
✅ Loro vanno al cinema.
Correct — vanno like stanno, danno, fanno.
❌ Ho andato al supermercato ieri.
Incorrect — andare takes essere in compound tenses.
✅ Sono andato al supermercato ieri. (m.) / Sono andata al supermercato ieri. (f.)
Correct — essere + agreement of the past participle.
❌ Vado a studiare domani all'università.
Awkward as a future statement — sounds physically locative.
✅ Domani studio all'università. / Domani studierò all'università.
Correct — Italian uses simple present or futuro for future plans.
Key takeaways
Andare conjugates as vado, vai, va, andiamo, andate, vanno — note the suppletive split between va- and and-, and the doubled n in vanno.
The preposition rules in one sentence: a for cities and a fixed list of activity-destinations (a casa, a scuola); in for countries, regions, large places, and most enclosed transport; da for people; al/alla/agli... for most public places; no article for the special activity destinations.
Andare takes essere in compound tenses with full participle agreement: sono andato (m.), sono andata (f.), siamo andati (m.pl. or mixed), siamo andate (f.pl.).
Once andare is solid, venire is the natural next step — together they handle every direction of motion in Italian.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- Presente: Venire (to come)A1 — How to conjugate venire and how Italian's deictic logic of motion differs from English — when to come, when to go, and the surprising passive use of venire.
- Presente: StareA1 — How to conjugate stare in the present and how to choose between stare and essere — health, progressive aspect, imminent future, and a few stubborn collocations.
- Presente Indicativo: OverviewA1 — How Italian's most-used tense covers everything English splits between simple present and present progressive — and why 'sto facendo' is not the default.
- Auxiliary Verbs: avere, essere, stareA2 — The three auxiliary verbs that build Italian's compound tenses, the progressive, and the imminent future — and why getting them right is foundational.
- Transitive and Intransitive VerbsA2 — Why the transitive/intransitive distinction matters more in Italian than in English: it determines the auxiliary in compound tenses and shapes how you build sentences.