In a previous lesson, we talked about forming the passive voice with the verb venire (to come) instead of the usual verb essere (to be). We mentioned that it is similar to using "get" in English (although using "get" this way is frowned upon by some grammar experts). 

In this lesson, we'll talk about another verb used to form the passive. This time we use the verb andare (to go) and although the procedure is roughly the same as for venire and essere, the context and purpose, as well as the meaning, are slightly different. 

We use andare to form the passive voice when something has to be done, must be done. Whereas with venire, we might be talking about something done regularly, or about how something is carried out, here, with andare, we're talking about obligation. And, we can think of it as often referring to something in the future. Again, the verb andare (in its passive voice role) is always in the third person and is followed (perhaps with an adverb in between) by the past participle of a transitive verb.

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One of the most common verbs to put in the passive voice with andare is the verb fare (to do). Because there are always so many things we have to do or should have done! In this first example, Andromeda could also have used venire to say, "this is how it is done," but she evidently wanted to stress that ice cream has to be made with fresh ingredients, because they are ingredients that can go bad (dairy products and eggs). 

Il gelato è un prodotto molto nutriente, va fatto con ingredienti freschi, freschissimi.

Ice cream is a very nutritious product; it has to be made with fresh, very fresh ingredients.

Captions 6-7, Andromeda in - Storia del gelato - Part 2

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Prova a verificare se ci sono persone che possiedono serpenti da quelle parti. Vanno denunciati, mi pare, no?

Try to see if there are people who possess snakes around those parts. They should be reported, I think, right?

Captions 78-80, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1 EP5 Rione Serra Venerdì - Part 7

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Here, the meaning is clear. Zamagna is a doctor who had to remove some tumors.

Zamagna sa quello che fa. Se l'ha fatto, vuol dire che andava fatto.

Zamagna knows what he is doing. If he did it, it means it had to be done.

Captions 31-32, La linea verticale EP3 - Part 3

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The next example features the conditional form of andare, which indicates uncertainty. So in this case, it's not strongly obligatory.

E, capisco signora, vede, eh... questa cucina andrebbe rifatta tutta da capo.

And, I understand, Ma'am, you see, uh... this kitchen should be done over from scratch.

Captions 31-32, Un medico in famiglia Stagione 3 S3EP4 Lo stagno del ranocchio - Part 7

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 Let's keep in mind that to form the negative, we just put non before the verb andare.

Una porta chiusa non la puoi aprire, perché dietro chissà cosa sta facendo il personale medico, che non va disturbato per nessuna ragione.

You can't open a closed door, because behind it, who knows what the medical personnel is doing, who mustn't be disturbed for any reason.

Captions 62-64, La linea verticale EP 5 - Part 4

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There are different ways to translate these passive phrases, but the main thing is to get a sense of when venire and andare work better than essere in expressing meaning and tone. And we hope you feel better prepared to understand when you are encountering these unusual passive forms. 

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When Marika showed us her balcony, she used a couple of long words that may have seemed a bit daunting. There are certainly plenty of long words in Italian that are just plain difficult, like farmaceutico (pharmaceutical). The meaning is clear, but pronouncing it takes some practice (don’t snub any of the vowels). Other words, though, have common abbreviations that make life easier. And some long words can be broken down into their parts, making them easily comprehensible as well as pronounceable.

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One of the words Marika used in her video was stendibiancheria. It’s long but there’s help.

First of all, most people just say lo stendino (the drying rack).

Second of all, if we start breaking down stendibiancheria into manageable parts, the next time it comes up, you’ll know what it means from the inside out, and you will probably be able to pronounce it as well.

We start out with the verb stendere. It’s a very useful verb that means to spread, to lay out, to stretch out, to extend over space. Thinking of  “extend” can help recall this verb.

An interesting extra fact is this:

In the eighteenth century, in Tuscany at least, the (transitive) verb was tendere, that is, to stretch out, to unfold (after washing and wringing out) so that the laundry would dry faster.

As we have learned in a video, and a written lesson, adding an s at the beginning of a word can give it an opposite meaning. So, stendere used to be the opposite of tendere, and meant taking in the now dry laundry, or rather taking it off the clothesline.

Later on, stendere and tendere lost their distinction (dictionaries indicate that in many contexts, stendere and tendere mean the same thing).

Stendere survived as the most common term for hanging up the laundry. Let’s also remember that lacking a clothesline, some people would also have spread their clean laundry on bushes or rocks to catch the sun, so stendere—“spreading it out” makes a certain amount of sense.

Another important context for stendere is cooking.

In the following example, we start out with little balls of pizza dough, but then we spread them out to cover a larger area. So when you are following a recipe in Italian for making fresh pasta or pizza, stendere la sfoglia is when you roll out the dough, spread it out by hand, or use a pasta machine to make wide, flat strips.

Queste pallette [palline] poi vanno fatte lievitare circa due ore

These little balls then are left to rise about two hours

e si stende la pizza.

and you roll out the pizza.

Captions 15-16, Anna e Marika - Pizza al taglio romana

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The past participle of stendere, steso, which can also pass for an adjective, is useful for when you are talking about positions in space.

Stavo, mi ricordo, guardando le olimpiadi, stesa sul divano

I was, I remember, watching the Olympics, lying on the couch

come una balena spiaggiata.

like a beached whale.

Captions 12-13, Anna presenta - Il mio parto

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In the above example, “stretched out” could have worked just as well to translate Anna’s position.

When referring to muscles or just how someone feels, we can use teso (tense), the past participle of tendere, also used as an adjective.

Ha notato qualcosa di strano? Se era teso, preoccupato?

Did you notice anything strange? If he was tense, worried?

Caption 19, Il Commissario Manara -S1EP9 - Morte in paradiso

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The prefix dis is also used to give a word the opposite meaning. In fact, disteso, the past participle of distendere and adjective, can mean either “relaxed,”  “unwound,” or “out,” as in the following example.

Per dire: "ci sentiamo per telefono",

To say, "we'll talk by phone,"

si porta la mano all'altezza dell'orecchio

you bring your hand up to the height of your ear

e si simula la cornetta,

and you imitate a receiver,

tenendo pollice e mignolo distesi.

holding your thumb and little finger out.

Captions 9-12, Arianna spiega - I gesti degli Italiani

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Tendere also means “to tend” as in tendenza (tendency). That’s a nice cognate, isn’t it?

Le piante tendono, quando si inselvatichiscono,

Plants tend, when they become wild,

a fare i frutti molto più piccoli.

to produce much smaller fruit.

Captions 17-18, Gianni si racconta - L'olivo e i rovi

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It’s easy to be confused by all these words that are so close in meaning. Context is key, so just keep watching, listening, and reading, and piano piano ce la farai (little by little you’ll make it), one word at a time!