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### The Three Meals of the Italian Day

You already know the meal nouns — *la colazione*, *il pranzo*, *la cena*. Italian turns two of them into dedicated verbs, while breakfast takes **fare**.

### Fare colazione — to have breakfast

There is no verb *colazionare*: breakfast is always **fare colazione**, with no article.

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### Pranzare and cenare — dedicated verbs

Lunch and dinner have their own regular -are verbs: **pranzare** and **cenare**.

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### On the Table

**Il panino** (a filled roll), **il riso**, **il pollo** — everyday staples. Note that **la frutta** and **la verdura** are *collective singulars*: fruit and vegetables in general take a singular noun where English often thinks plural.

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**La cucina** is both the kitchen and a cuisine — *la cucina italiana*.

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### Meal Verbs at a Glance

| meal | noun (known) | verb |
|---|---|---|
| breakfast | la colazione | **fare colazione** |
| lunch | il pranzo | **pranzare** |
| dinner | la cena | **cenare** |

Meals and eating (fare colazione, pranzare)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (il, la, l')

Indefinite articles (un, una)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
to have breakfast	fare colazione
I have breakfast at eight.	Faccio colazione alle otto.
On Saturdays I have breakfast late.	Il sabato faccio colazione tardi.
to have lunch	pranzare
I have lunch at noon.	Pranzo a mezzogiorno.
We are having lunch at the restaurant today.	Pranziamo al ristorante oggi.
to have dinner	cenare
I have dinner with my family.	Ceno con la mia famiglia.
In the evening we have dinner at eight.	La sera ceniamo alle otto.
the sandwich, the filled roll	il panino
I eat a sandwich with cheese.	Mangio un panino con il formaggio.
The sandwich is good.	Il panino è buono.
the rice	il riso
the chicken	il pollo
I eat rice with chicken.	Mangio il riso con il pollo.
I like chicken.	Mi piace il pollo.
the fruit	la frutta
Fruit is good for your health.	La frutta è buona per la salute.
I eat fruit in the morning.	Mangio la frutta la mattina.
the vegetables	la verdura
Rice with vegetables is good.	Il riso con le verdure è buono.
I eat a lot of vegetables.	Mangio molta verdura.
I buy vegetables at the supermarket.	Compro la verdura al supermercato.
the kitchen; the cuisine	la cucina
The kitchen is big.	La cucina è grande.
I prepare dinner in the kitchen.	Preparo la cena in cucina.
the knife	il coltello
The knife is on the table.	Il coltello è sul tavolo.
I eat the meat with the knife.	Mangio la carne con il coltello.
This knife is not clean.	Questo coltello non è pulito.
the aperitif (pre-dinner drink) (m)	l'aperitivo
The aperitif is a very Italian moment.	L'aperitivo è un momento molto italiano.
Do you want an aperitif or a coffee?	Vuoi un aperitivo o un caffè?
to have an aperitif	prendere l'aperitivo
Tonight we are having an aperitif in the square.	Stasera prendiamo l'aperitivo in piazza.
On Fridays I have an aperitif with my friends.	Il venerdì prendo l'aperitivo con gli amici.
to have an afternoon snack	fare merenda
The children have their afternoon snack at four.	I bambini fanno merenda alle quattro.
We have an afternoon snack with bread and chocolate.	Facciamo merenda con pane e cioccolato.
to have a snack (a quick bite)	fare uno spuntino
At noon I have a quick snack.	A mezzogiorno faccio uno spuntino veloce.
Shall we have a snack? Yes, gladly!	Facciamo uno spuntino? Sì, volentieri!
enjoy your meal!	buon appetito
Dinner is ready — enjoy your meal!	La cena è pronta: buon appetito!
The waiter brings the plates and says: enjoy your meal!	Il cameriere porta i piatti e dice: buon appetito!

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