Dobbiamo agire adesso.

We have to act now.

Breakdown of Dobbiamo agire adesso.

• adesso: now
• dovere: to have to
• agire: to act

Questions & Answers about Dobbiamo agire adesso.

Why is dobbiamo used here?

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.

Why is agire in the infinitive?

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.

Why is there no word for we in the sentence?