"He visits his friend."
Translation:Lui va a trovare il suo amico.
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I understand why, in the Infinitive Verbs section, we are using this translation, but why is "He visits" made so difficult when "Lui visita il suo amico" means the same thing?
The literal translation of the inital answer is "He goes to find his friend". That is far different than visiting a friend.
Perhaps it is the word "visits" that doesn't belong, in that case-- or have we stumbled upon another common idiom?
It's an idiom. Andare a trovare means to go and see or to look up or to visit.
Thanks, Viaggiatore. That makes it clearer now...just another idiom to learn. Gosh knows, all languages must have some, if not, many!
I expect you know the answer to this by now, but for the benefit of anyone else going through the tree:
'Visitare' is used for 'to visit' only in certain contexts. It implies an examination - you use it for example when you say you 'visit' your doctor.
'Andare a trovare' or 'venire a trovare' are used for 'to visit' in other contexts. If you are talking to the person you are visiting, you use 'venire a trovare', otherwise you use 'andare a trovare'.
Here is a guide: http://italian.engagedthinking.com/lessons/Lesson_194.pdf
So, would I translate 'Why don't you come visit me?' as 'Perche non mi vieni a trovare?'
'Va DA trovare' means 'goes to find', while 'va A trovare' is an idiom like viaggiatore pointed out, and mean 'visit'. So only one word (in this case a preposition) can make a difference!
In the common language you never going to use the "fa visita" form, maybe only in a real ceremonious context
Can someone translate these three English sentences?
He is going to visit his friend.
He visits his friend.
He is visiting his friend.
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Thats how i feel. Im new to Italian, but isn't there 7 different verb tenses, so "to go and visit should be different from "to visit, and from "is visiting
Well! Thank you all! Live and learn! ...but what is the difference between visiting one's parents, say, or going to find them (if they were missing or in a crowd)?
