Dobbiamo agire adesso.

Dobbiamo is the present tense, first-person plural form of dovere, which means to have to / must.

So:

• io devo = I must
• tu devi = you must
• lui/lei deve = he/she must
• noi dobbiamo = we must
• voi dovete = you all must
• loro devono = they must

In Dobbiamo agire adesso, dobbiamo means we must or we have to.

After a modal verb like dovere (must / have to), Italian normally uses another verb in the infinitive.

So the pattern is:

dovere + infinitive

Examples:

• Devo studiare = I have to study
• Dobbiamo partire = We have to leave
• Dobbiamo agire = We have to act

This works a lot like English: must act, have to act.

Italian often does not need subject pronouns like io, tu, noi, loro, because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here, dobbiamo already tells you the subject is noi (we).

So:

• Dobbiamo agire adesso = We must act now
• Noi dobbiamo agire adesso = We must act now

Both are correct, but noi is usually omitted unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Adesso means now. In this sentence, it gives a sense of immediacy: right now / at this moment.

Ora also means now, and in many cases adesso and ora are interchangeable:

• Dobbiamo agire adesso
• Dobbiamo agire ora

Both are natural.

Very generally:

• adesso can feel a little more like right now / at this moment
• ora can also mean now, but in some contexts it may feel slightly broader or more conversational

In everyday speech, both are very common.

Yes. Italian word order is fairly flexible, especially with adverbs like adesso.

These are all possible:

• Dobbiamo agire adesso
• Adesso dobbiamo agire
• Dobbiamo adesso agire (possible, but less natural in ordinary speech)

The most natural choices are usually:

• Dobbiamo agire adesso
• Adesso dobbiamo agire

Putting adesso at the beginning often adds emphasis to the time element: Now we must act.

Agire is pronounced roughly ah-JEE-reh.

A helpful breakdown:

• a = like a in father
• gi = like jee
• re = like reh

Important point: the g in agire is a soft g, like the g in gem or giant, not a hard g like in go.

So:

• agire = ah-JEE-reh

Often yes, but not always in exactly the same way as English.

In this sentence, agire means to act / to take action. It is commonly used when talking about doing something decisively or responding to a situation.

Examples:

• Dobbiamo agire subito = We must act immediately
• È tempo di agire = It’s time to act

But English act can also mean perform in a play, and for that Italian usually uses recitare, not agire.

So agire is more about taking action, not acting on stage.

Yes. In many contexts, dobbiamo can be translated as either we must or we have to.

So:

• Dobbiamo agire adesso = We must act now
• Dobbiamo agire adesso = We have to act now

The exact English choice depends on tone and context. Italian dovere covers both ideas very naturally.

Yes, that is completely correct.

Adding noi is usually for emphasis, contrast, or clarity. For example:

• Noi dobbiamo agire adesso, non loro = We must act now, not them

Without emphasis, Italian usually prefers just:

• Dobbiamo agire adesso

So the version without noi is more neutral and more typical.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• adesso = now
• subito = immediately / right away

So:

• Dobbiamo agire adesso = We must act now
• Dobbiamo agire subito = We must act immediately

They are similar, but subito is a bit stronger and more urgent.

It is a simple sentence made up of:

• dobbiamo = conjugated modal verb
• agire = infinitive verb
• adesso = adverb of time

So the structure is:

[modal verb] + [infinitive] + [time expression]

This is a very common pattern in Italian, for example:

• Possiamo partire domani = We can leave tomorrow
• Vogliamo mangiare adesso = We want to eat now
• Dobbiamo agire adesso = We must act now