Expressions with “Fare”

Do you ever wonder why, despite mastering Italian verb conjugation and the art of matching Italian noun/adjective endings, it is still difficult for you to understand Italian while traveling in Italy?

Or why you can’t seem to comprehend certain phrases while streaming an Italian TV show or watching an Italian movie?

It is not simply that Italians speak quickly, or even that accents vary from region to region. The reason is that all native speakers use idiomatic expressions! An idiomatic expression is one in which the entire phrase has a meaning separate from the individual words in that phrase.

To be fluent in any language, we must learn how native speakers use their language.  That is, to speak Italian like a native, we must learn Italian idiomatic expressions!

Fare is an Italian verb that comes up often in Italian expressions and in particular, many idiomatic expressions.

Fare is often combined with other verbs to describe complex emotions.
Fare can even change the second verb’s meaning!

This blog explores some of the many expressions that  use with fare combined with another verb. Of course, fare is used in many other expressions without an additional verb, but the expressions listed below are significant due to their frequent use and the change that sometimes occurs in the second verb’s meaning when fare is applied. 

After reading this blog, watch an Italian movie, or stream a current Italian TV show, and hopefully some of the Italian you’ve been missing will suddenly reach you as a phrase, rather than individual words, and all will finally make sense!

 

 

How to Conjugate Fare

This section is reprinted from the last blog about fare in this series, “The many uses of ‘fare,’“ to aid in interpretation of the examples that follow.

Fare is an irregular Italian verb in the present tense.  Only the third person singular, fa, and the second person plural, fate, follow the usual rules for conjugation of Italian -are verbs.  The regular forms are given in blue in the table below, and the irregular forms in brown.  All forms should be memorized given the extensive use you will get out of this verb!

 

Present Tense Fare — To Do / To Make

io	faccio	I do / make
tu	fai	You (familiar) do / make
Lei, lei, lui	fa	You (polite), she, he does / makes
noi	facciamo	We do /make
voi	fate	You all do / make
loro	fanno	They do /make

 

Past Tense Fare:

Passato Prossimo: Fatto is the irregular past participle of fare. Avere is the helping verb for the passato prossimo.

The full conjugation is:
ho fatto, hai fatto, ha fatto,
abbiamo fatto, avete fatto, hanno fatto

Imperfetto: Fare has an irregular conjugation in the imperfetto past tense due to its irregular stem, which is “face”: facevo, facevi, faceva, facevamo, facevate, facevano

 

Future tense: Fare is an irregular verb in the future tense. Although the stem, “f,” is regular, the “a” of the -are ending does not change to an “e,” following the rule for regular future -are verbs. Instead, the conjugation is: farò, farai, farà, faremo, farete, faranno.

 

Imperative Tense (Command Form): Fare is irregular in the imperative tense. If you need a refresher on the conjugation and use of Italian command forms, including fare, visit the blog Familiar Italian Commands.

Singular familiar: Fa! or Fai!  (You do/ make it!)

Plural: Facciamo! (Let’s do it!/ Let’s make it!)  Fate! (You all do/make it!)

 

 

1.  Fare combined with fare — to make/get someone to do something

• Fare means both “to make” and “to do.”  Phrases that combine fare with fare take advantage of the two meanings of this verb.
• In other words,  if you want to “make” or “get” somebody “to do” something, you need to use “far fare a,” or fare twice in one phrase!
• Notice that, by convention, the “e” is dropped from the first fare in the phrase “far fare a,” and the preposition “a” is included at the end of the phrase.  The preposition “a” is used to link this phrase to a direct object, which will then describe what you are trying to get another to do.
• When one of the Italian modal verbs (dovere, potere, or volere),  precedes “far fare a,” use the phrase as is:
  Devo far fare a Maria il dolce per la cena stasera.
  I have to get Maria to make dessert for dinner tonight.
• When not using a modal verb, conjugate the first fare in the phrase “far fare a” to reflect the speaker.
• Many Italian idiomatic expressions already start with fare, such as fare una bella/brutta figura, which means “to make a good/bad impression.”  If you or someone else is the person behind this situation — one person has somehow made another look good or bad — just add another fare to the  beginning of the phrase!  In this case, as mentioned above, conjugate the first fare in the phrase reflect the speaker and follow with the infinitive form of fare and the preposition “a.”

To make someone look good/make a good impression:

Ho fatto fare a Maria una bella figura per la festa ieri sera.  Ho scelto il tuo vestito, l’ho truccata, e lei era molto bella!

I made Maria make a great impression at the party last night. I chose her dress, put on her makeup, and she was very beautiful!

More commonly, though, this phrase is used in the negative.  There are several expressions that start with fare to describe making a bad impression or making a fool of oneself, such as fare una brutta figura.  Others combine fare with parolacce (curse words) and are considered vulgar. The vulgar phrases  won’t be listed here but work in the same way as the more tame “fare una brutta figura.” 

Michelle ha fatto fare a Carlo una brutta figura di fronte a Maria alla festa ieri sera.
Michael made Carlo look bad in front of Maria at the party  last night.

 

If you are exasperated, relay this feeling with the two idiomatic expressions listed below taken from far fare that use fare conjugated in the third person singular fa.

Since these are idiomatic expressions, notice that the translation only makes sense if the Italian words are considered together as a complete phrase. Although, the pronouns ce and me need to be changed to reflect the speaker.

Chi ce lo fa fare?
What on earth are we doing this for?
What on earth are we doing it for?

Chi me lo fa fare?
What on earth am I doing this for?
What on earth am I doing this for?

 

There is also:

Che te lo dico a fare?
Why do I even bother?

 

Some examples from daily life using far fare with the meaning of “to get” somebody “to do” something.  The Italian verb fare can stand in for many different English verbs, as noted in our last blog, “The many uses of ‘fare,’“ and therefore the English and Italian verbs used differ in the first example.

One friend to another describing the nice evening walk he/she got Mark to take:
Ho fatto fare a Marco una bella passeggiata stasera.
I got Mark to take a lovely walk this evening.

In a sports situation, regarding how the players are trained:
Oggie, facciamo fare ai nostri calciatori gli allenamenti estivi.
Today, we made our soccer players do their summer training.

 

 

2.  Fare combined with piacere, vedere, essere, and darsi to express positive emotions

• Fare in the third person singular fa is often combined with piacere to describe an action taken by one person that has made another happy. This type of phrase comes up commonly when meeting a friend combined with the verb vedere but can be used with many other verbs. 
• Check out a previous blog in this series, “Make Me! – Fare Causitivo” for how to combine fare with other verbs and object pronouns to describe what someone has made you do or how someone has made you feel.
• Remember the examples below, as you will use them often.

“Mi fa piacere vederti!”  translates into, “It makes me so happy to see you,” or, “I am so happy to see you!”

For a group:
“Mi fa piacere vedervi!” for “I am so happy to see you all!”

-or-

“Mi fa piacere avere tue notizie.”
“It’s made me so happy to hear your (good) news.”
“It’s made me so happy to hear what’s going on with you.”

 

 

• Fare can be combined with vedere in the idiomatic expression, “Non vedo l’ora di…” This expression means, “I can’t wait…” or “I look forward to…”
• One of the most common expressions of this type uses vedere as the second verb as well, as in, “Non vedo l’ora di vederti!” for, “I can’t wait to see you!”
• In the same way, combine “non vedo” with fare to describe something you can’t wait to do or make.  For example:

Non vedo l’ora di fare una festa a casa mia per il mio compleanno.
I’m looking forward to having a party at my house for my birthday.

 

• Fare can be combined with essere.  “Essere in condizione di fare”  means “to be in the position to do something.”  “Essere padrone di fare” means “to be free to do something” and, even better, “essere libero di fare ciò che pare a” means “to be free to do whatever you want.”

Sono in condizione di fare tutti gli attrezzi per la sua azienda quest’anno.
I’m in position to make all the equipment for your company this year.

Sono padrone di fare un viaggio il mese prossimo.
I am free to take a trip next month.

 

• Fare can be combined with darsi.  While “dare da fare a” means “to keep someone busy/running around.” Notice that the preposition “a” is a part of this phrase.
• The reflexive verb darsi is combined with “da fare per/su” to describe someone who is getting involved or working hard at something. In this case, the prepositions “per” or “su” are used, depending on the situation, as discussed in previous blogs on Italian preposition use.
• “Darsi la pena di fare qualcosa,” means “to go to pains to do something.”  Notice that the preposition di plays a role in this phrase.

Il capo da da fare a Maria, la sua segretaria, tutto il giorno.
The boss kept his secretary Maria running around all day.

(Io) Mi do da fare su questa relazione per la classe d’storia.
I am working hard on this report for history class.

Mia mamma si da la pena di fare mia sorella si comporti bene.
My mother goes to pains to make my sister behave well.

 

3.  Fare + Italian verbs to change meaning

• The command form of fare combined with a direct object pronoun is one way to say “let’s” in Italian.  This is reflected in some of the meaning changes for the verbs noted below.  For a refresher on the different ways to say “let’s” in Italian, visit the blog, “Italian for ‘Let me…” “Let’s!”

 

• calcolare means “to calculate,” or “to evaluate” – but-
  calcolare di fare means “to plan.”

• capire means “to understand” – but-
  fare capire means “to explain” or “to help understand.”

• conoscere means “to know, be familiar with” – but-
  fare conoscere means “to teach” or “show” or “to make known”

• cercare means “to look for something” – but-
  cercare di fare means “to try” or “to attempt.  This was discussed
  in a previous blog in this series, “What I am looking for.”

• diventare means “to become” or “to get” – but-
  fare diventare means “to turn into” or “to transform.”

• emergere means “to emerge” or “to appear” – but-
  fare emergere means “to make emerge” or “to reveal,”
  either literally, when something comes out of water or
  figuratively, when a situation is revealed that was not previously known.

• notare means “to jot down” or “notice” – but-
  fare notare means “to point out” and
  farsi notare means “to draw attention to oneself”

• sapere means “to know a fact”  – but-
  fare sapere means “to inform” or “to let know.”

• vedere means “to see”  – but-
  fare vedere means “to show” or “to let see.”

 

Some examples:

Ho calcolato di fare un viaggio meraviglioso per noi!
I’ve planned a wonderful trip for us!

Mi fa capire questo difficile problema di matamatica.
Help me to understand this difficult mathematics problem.

Mi fai capire dove sei stato ieri sera.
Explain (to me) where you were last night.

Fammi conoscere tutti dei dipinti dall’ottocento nel museo.
Show me all of the paintings from the 1800s in the museum.

I fiori del giardino fanno diventare questo posto un paradiso.
The flowers in the garden have turned this place into paradise.

Questo discorso sull’educazione ha fatto emergere i problemi che ci sono nella nostra società.
This discourse on education has revealed the problems that there are in our society.

La guida turistica ci fa notare il duomo in lontananza.
The tourist guide pointed out the cathedral in the distance (to us).

Anna si fa notare sempre.
Ann always draws attention to herself.

Fammi sapere quando il lavoro è finito.
Let me know when the job is done.

Fammi vedere la tua macchina nuova.
Let me see/Show me your new car.

 

Remember the important expressions
with  Italian verb fare 
and I guarantee you will use
these phrases every day!

 

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs” and “Just the Grammar”
are available on Amazon.com and www.LearnTravelItalian.com