Il verbo “fare”

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Note: a) As you can notice there are still typical male (falegname, idraulico, meccanico, muratore, vigile del fuoco/pompiere) and female (casalinga) professions, so they have only one gender. Other nouns work for both masculine and feminine and only the articles in front of them make the gender clear (il/la barista, il/la farmacista, il/la musicista, il/la pilota). Their plural in any case changes according to the rule (m. in -a > –i and f. -a > –e, see Unità 3): i baristi/ le bariste, etc. In other cases the job has only one form (originally masculine) that combines one article and a noun that work for both masculine and feminine in the singular (l’architetto, l’informatico, l’ingegnere, il medico) and the plural (gli architetti, gli informatici, gli ingegneri, i medici). Nouns of foreing origin maintain the same form (il/la manager, i/le manager).

Fare
It’s an irregular verb, so it doesn’t follow the typical -are verb ending pattern.

Every time you  talk about doing something or making something you must use the verb  fare. In fact this verb can translate both to do and to make, but it also can be used in many idiomatic expressions that cannot be translated literally from English to Italian or vice versa: Faccio il biglietto (I buy a ticket/I am buying a ticket), Faccio una doccia (I take a shower/I am taking a shower), etc.

How do you answer a simple question as Che cosa fai?  (What do you do/are you doing? or What do you make/are you making?):

• replying with the appropriate verb: Io studio (I study/I am studying), Mangio la pizza (I eat pizza/I am eating pizza), etc.
• replying with the verb fare only when the verb is necessary: Io faccio una torta (I make a cake/I am making a cake), Faccio i compiti (I do homework/I am doing homework), Faccio la fila (I wait in line/I am waiting in line), etc.

Fare is also used when asking someone about their job: Che lavoro fai? means ‘What do you do?’ in context of jobs. You reply with the verb fare + “profession”: Faccio il falegname (I am a carpenter), Faccio l’infermiera (I am a nurse), etc. The answers with essere Sono [un] falegname, Sono [un’] infermiera, etc.) are equivalent and completely accettable.

Note that when essere is used instead of fare  the definite article (il, la, etc.)  can be replaced by the indefinite article (uno, una, etc.) or simple obmitted: Faccio il cameriere/Sono [un] cameriere (I am a waiter), Faccio la farmacista/Sono [una] farmacista (I am a pharmacist). In case of plural nouns, obviously the indefinite article can’t be used and the noun always follows  the verb directly: Facciamo i camerieri/Siamo camerieri, Facciamo le farmaciste/Siamo farmaciste.

• Che cosa ti piace fare? (What do you like to do?) Answer the question writing ten different sentences. Use five idiomatic expressions with fare and five verbs other than fare. Then check if there are mistakes in your sentences with Spell and Grammar Checker.
• Che lavoro fai? – Ti piace il lavoro che fai? Answer the questions orally. Then use  Speech to Text to check your pronunciation
• Ask your friends the same questions.