Accordare the verb

By Sigrid Lee

You might have heard Italians saying, "D'accordo" to mean "OK," or "all right," in your travels, in movies and TV shows, or elsewhere. Depending on the context and inflection, it can be posed as a question:

D'accordo?

All right?

Caption 29, Provaci ancora prof! S2E5 Vita da cani - Part 8
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Or it can be a statement of agreement.

D'accordo.

All right.

Caption 73, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone S1EP2 Rabbia - Part 20
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There are various ways to use d'accordo and its main noun, accordo (agreement). We've mentioned some of them in this lesson.

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But there is also a verb form, accordare. One common use of this verb is in music. It means "to tune," such as the strings of a musical instrument.

Ah, perfetto. -Accordare la chitarra. -Sì.

Ah, perfect. -To tune a guitar. -Yes.

Caption 67, L'Eredità -Quiz TV La sfida dei sei. Puntata 2 - Part 10
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You might have heard Daniela use accordare when talking about "agreement" between various parts of speech.

Chiaramente, se il soggetto è plurale il verbo va accordato anche alla terza persona plurale.

Clearly, if the subject is plural the verb has to agree in the third person plural, as well.

Captions 3-4, Corso di italiano con Daniela La forma passiva - Part 3
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It's very common to use mettersi d'accordo to come to an agreement or essere d'accordo to agree or to be in agreement:

Dai, ti sei messa d'accordo con Polio e Faber per farmi uno scherzo

Come on, you ganged up with Polio and Faber to play a joke on me,

Caption 15, Com'è umano lui Film - Part 10
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Sono d'accordo con te.

I agree with you.

Caption 9, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone S1EP5 Misericordia - Part 25
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But it's also possible to use the reflexive verb accordarsi.

Gli sposi devono accordarsi su un piccolo particolare della formula, nessun problema.

The bride and groom have to come to an agreement about a little detail for their vows, no problem.

Caption 19, Sposami EP 5 - Part 21
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Finally, accordare can also mean "to grant." In this case, it's transitive.

Ma, veramente, commissario, ha preso un giorno di permesso. Ma gliel'ha accordato Lei, prima di partire.

But actually, Commissioner, she took a personal day. But you granted it to her, before leaving.

Captions 5-6, Il Commissario Manara S1EP6 - Reazione a Catena - Part 2
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