Lesson 169: Understanding Verbs: The "Shopping Verbs"

During the holidays, we all do a lot shopping, whether it’s buying gifts, or returning them, receiving them and even exchanging them when items we receive don’t fit or are not to our liking. Below is a quick guide to some useful verbs that you might encounter during holiday seasons or any other time where you need to buy gifts (and then return or exchange them later...):

• Buying
  
  The verb, comprare (to buy), is your first and obvious choice. It’s a regular verb in the present (compro, compri, compra, compriamo, comprate, comprano), has a regular past participle (comprato), and takes avere in compound tenses - it shouldn’t give you any trouble.
  
  
• Giving
  
  In Italian, you’ll often here the word regalare used. This verb means “to gift a gift”. When giving a gift to someone, an indirect object pronoun is used or, when referring to a specific person, the preposition, a, precedes:
  
  Ho regalato tre buste di caffè speciale ai miei genitori.
  I gave (as a gift) three packages of special coffee to my parents.
  
  You can also use the expression fare un regalo a qualcuno (to give a present to someone). The expression, in regalo, means “as a present” or “as a gift”.
  
  
• Receiving
  
  A good verb for receiving is the verb, ricevere. It is regular in the present tense and has a regular past participle (ricevuto). You’ll often hear expressions from children and young adults to the effect of “Ho ricevuto un regalo orribile…” or something to that effect. You will also hear “Ho ricevuto un pc in regalo” (I received a PC as a present).
  
  
• Exchanging:
  
  If you receive a present that you want to exchange, the verbs cambiare or sostituire will be helpful:
  
  Mia sorella vuole sostituire la camicia che ho comprato perché non le piace il colore.
  My sister wants to exchange the shirt that I bought because she does not like the color.
  
  
• Returning
  
  When a gift has to be returned to the store, use the verbs, restituire (-isc- verb) or riportare to express that something must be returned. Both are regular verbs in the present tense with regular past particples:
  
  Restituisco questo regalo perché non mi piace.
  I am returning this gift because I do not like it.
  
  Mia nonna ha riportato il maglione. Non le piacciono i maglioni di lana.
  My grandmother returned the sweater. She does not like woolen sweaters.