Question 1

How do we get the words leggo and scrivi from their dictionary forms?

Accepted Answer

They are both regular verbs that end in -ere in their dictionary form (leggere means to read, scrivere means to write). To match the person doing the action, you drop the -ere. For io (I), you add -o to get leggo. For tu (you), you add -i to get scrivi.

Question 2

Do we have to use the words io and tu in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

No, you can usually leave them out! Because the verb endings (-o and -i) already tell us who is doing the action, you could perfectly say Leggo il giornale e scrivi una lettera. However, Italians often keep the pronouns when they want to contrast two different people, emphasizing that I am doing one thing while YOU are doing another.

Question 3

Does the double 'g' in leggo sound the same as it does in leggere?

Accepted Answer

They actually sound quite different! In Italian, when a 'g' is followed by an 'e' or 'i' (as in leggere), it makes a soft sound, similar to the 'j' in 'jump'. But when it is followed by an 'a', 'o', or 'u' (as in leggo), it makes a hard sound, like the 'g' in 'go'.

Question 4

I thought masculine words usually end in -o. Why does il giornale end in -e?

Accepted Answer

While it is true that most masculine nouns end in -o and feminine nouns end in -a, there is a group of nouns in Italian that end in -e. These can be either masculine or feminine, so you just have to memorize their gender when you learn the word. Giornale happens to be masculine, which is why we use the masculine word for 'the', which is il.

Io leggo il giornale e tu scrivi una lettera.

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