English speakers easily confuse prendere, guidare and portare, three quite different verbs in Italian

Listen to the examples

Prendere, guidare and portare (qualcuno) are sometimes mixed up by English speakers when they want to say I pick you up, I drive you, I take you somewhere.

We can add accompagnare, because it’s a useful verb that students could and should use more often.

The confusion happens because we can’t translate these verbs directly from English into Italian and vice versa. Prendere and portare can both mean “to take” depending on the situation. Let’s see three simple examples.

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• I take you home —> Ti porto a casa (and not “Ti prendo a casa”)
• I drive you to the airport —> Ti porto all’aeroporto (and not “Ti guido all’aeroporto”)
• I’ll pick you at the station —> Verrò a prenderti alla stazione (and not “Ti raccolgo alla stazione”)

When we take someone home, the correct verb is portare, or accompagnare (to go with). The second sentence, can also be:

• Ti accompagno all’aeroporto.

Italians use the verb guidare as “to drive” only when we talk about the act of driving a car, a bike, etcetera. We don’t “drive people” in Italian. So, for example:

• Non mi piace guidare. It means that I don’t like driving.
• Non ti posso accompagnare stasera (in macchina). I can’t drive you home.

In Italian, the following sentence makes no sense:

• Puoi guidarmi all’ufficio? (as Can you drive me to the office?)

The fact I’m using (or not) a car is implicit. Guidare sounds unnecessary and fundamentally wrong to Italian speakers. Obviously, many Italians make the opposite error in English.

Let’s try to put things into the right perspective with some examples. I’m going to write and read at natural speed Italian sentences. Audio file at the bottom. Please focus on the different way we build sentences in Italian and English. Feel free to correct my English.

• Devo portare mia sorella a Milano – I have to take my sister to Milan
• Puoi portare qui i tuoi amici, se vuoi. – You can take your friends here if you want.
• Devo portare mia madre dall’altra parte della città. – I have to get my mother across the city.
• Le gondole a Venezia ti porteranno in giro per i canali. – Gondolas in Venice will carry you around the canals.
• Ti farò accompagnare a casa da qualcuno. – I’ll have someone to drive you home.
• Non dovevi portarmi a casa –  You didn’t have to drive me home.
• Mio padre mi ha insegnato a guidare da ragazzo. – My father taught me to drive as a young man.
• Vado a prenderla e ci incontriamo al bar. – I’m going to get her and we’ll meet at the bar.
• Chiamerò mia sorella per farci venire a prendere. – I’ll call my sister so she will come and get us.
• Devo passare a prendere i miei amici. – I have to come by and get my friends.

I hope this was useful. Leave a comment or get in touch for more info.

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