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

Listen to the examples

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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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Grazie e alla prossima.