Learn Italian: Oggi io devo cucinare la cena e tu devi guidare la macchina. - Today I must cook dinner and you must drive the car.

When you use a modal verb like dovere (to have to / must), only the first verb changes to match the person doing the action (io devo). The second verb stays in its base dictionary form, called the infinitive (cucinare).

Since Italian normally drops subject pronouns, why are io and tu included here?

While you can completely drop them and just say Oggi devo cucinare la cena e devi guidare la macchina, using io and tu here emphasizes the contrast. It strongly highlights that I have to do one thing, while you have to do another.

Does dovere translate to "must" or "to have to"?

It means both! English has different words for this, but Italian uses the same verb for both concepts. So io devo can mean "I must" or "I have to", and tu devi means "you must" or "you have to".

Why is there a la before cena? Wouldn't we just say "cook dinner" in English?

Italian uses definite articles (like la) much more often than English does. When talking about meals like dinner (cena), Italian generally includes the article, so you are literally saying "cook the dinner".