The past absolute of vincere, “to win,” and giungere, “to arrive” (in-transitive), “to join” (transitive), are similar. The past participles of both verbs are irregular.

When giungere is used intransitively, it is conjugated with essere in compound tenses: sono giunto, –a, etc.; when it is used transitively, the auxiliary is avere: ho giunto, etc. Another use of giungere is with a, before an infinitive, to mean “to succeed” (in doing).

Conjugated like vincere: convincere (to convince).

Conjugated like giungere: aggiungere (to add), congiungere (to join), disgiungere (to disjoin), raggiungere (to overtake), soggiungere (to add).

VOCABULARY A

VOCABULARY B

The present tense is idiomatically used with da in Italian to express the idea that an act or state that started in the past is still going on.

-“I have been studying for an hour.”

Studio da un’ora.

or

È da un’ora che studio.

VOCABULARY

In addition to the meanings noted in the preceding section (for, since), da may have any of the following meanings.

(from) Viene da Roma. –“He comes from Rome.”

(by) È ammirato da tutti. –“He is admired by all.”

(as, like) Combattè da eroe. –“He fought like a hero.”

(with) il medico dalla barba lunga –“the doctor with the long beard”

(at or to the home [office, shop, etc.] of, at or to the place associated with, etc.) È andata dal medico. –“She went to the doctor’s (office).”

(on) da un lato (da una parte) –“on the one hand” (“on one side”)

dall’altro lato (dall’altra parte) –“on the other hand” (“on the other side”)

Furthermore, before an infinitive, da may mean “to” or “something to,” or may express duty or necessity.

Che c’è da mangiare? –“What is there to eat?”

Dategli da bere. –“Give him something to drink.”

Ho molto da fare. –“I have a lot to do.”

Ho da scrivere a casa. –“I have to write home.”

VOCABULARY A

VOCABULARY B