Bevo acqua e mangio alcune verdure fresche.

I drink water and eat some fresh vegetables.

Breakdown of Bevo acqua e mangio alcune verdure fresche.

• io: I
• l'acqua: the water
• bere: to drink
• e: and
• mangiare: to eat
• fresco: fresh
• la verdura: the vegetable
• alcune: some

Questions & Answers about Bevo acqua e mangio alcune verdure fresche.

Why does the sentence use Bevo instead of Bevi or Beve?

Bevo is the first-person singular present tense form of the verb bere (to drink).

• Bevo = I drink
• Bevi = You (singular) drink
• Beve = He/She/It drinks

Why does the sentence use alcune instead of qualche when talking about vegetables?

Both alcune and qualche can mean some, but they’re used differently in Italian grammar.

• Alcune is used with plural, countable nouns (e.g., alcune verdure = some vegetables).
• Qualche is used with singular nouns, but it’s understood as plural in meaning (e.g., qualche verdura = some vegetable(s)).

Why is the adjective fresche (fresh) ending in -e and not -a or -i?

Italian adjectives must agree in number and gender with the noun they describe.

• Verdure is a feminine plural noun.
• Fresche is the feminine plural form of fresco (masculine singular).
  Hence verdure fresche follows the correct gender and number agreement.

Is e in the sentence Bevo acqua e mangio alcune verdure fresche pronounced like the English and?

No, the Italian conjunction e (meaning and) is pronounced like the English short e sound (as in bet). It never sounds like the English word and.

Can I leave out the subject pronoun (io) in Bevo acqua e mangio alcune verdure fresche?

Yes. In Italian, subject pronouns (like io, meaning I) are often omitted because the verb endings usually indicate who is performing the action. That’s why it’s perfectly natural to say Bevo acqua e mangio alcune verdure fresche without mentioning io (I).