Tutorial Transcript

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my channel! I have a new video for you. And in this video, I would like to talk to you about two expressions that you use a lot in conversation. As you can see from the title of this video, they are two expressions that often get confused. I'm talking about "andare a trovare" and the verb "visitare". Let's start with "visitare". "Visitare" is mainly used for locations, so for places, for physical locations. Cities, countries, buildings, museums, etc. So I can say, "Voglio visitare la Russia", for example. "Voglio visitare il Marocco." "Visitare un paese (country)", "visitare una città". "I would like to visit (visitare) Torino," for example. Or a museum: "I'd like to visit (visitare) the museum of modern art". The verb "visitare" is also used to talk about medical visits. That is, the doctor visits the patients. "Visitare" in this case means to check on the physical condition of someone. The verb "visitare" is further used for visits while on duty. For example, the President of the Republic often goes to visit the presidents of other countries. In that case we're talking about a political visit, so we could define political visits by the President of the Republic as a duty call. An "office visit", if you will. We also speak of visits made to help or comfort (someone). For example, if a person or friend is in the hospital, we can say "I'm going to visit (visitare) my friend in the hospital." Actually, in that last case it's much more common to use the expression "andare a trovare". And it's here, in this specific context, that these two verbs or these two expressions are often confused. Because in Italian it is much more natural to say "andare a trovare un amico" instead of "visitare un amico". Because "visitare" is normally used in other contexts that are more specific. When one instead speaks of going to visit a friend, visiting family, visiting a person they care about, to be together, to talk to each other, to spend some time together, it's better to use the expression "andare a trovare" someone. Like I was saying earlier, it's easy to use the verb "visitare" in this context, because it's the literal translation of the verb "to visit". Because in English you use the verb "to visit someone" to say "andare a trovare" someone. Therefore, when you're talking about a building, a city, a country, so a physical location, when you're talking about a doctor, and when you're talking about very formal situations, you use the verb "visitare". To visit a city, to visit a country, the doctor visits the patient, the President of the Republic makes many political visits. But when you're talking about friends, family, relatives, or any person you care about, you use the expression "andare a trovare". So, "this summer I'm going to visit (andrò a trovare) my friends in Puglia." "This summer I'm going to visit (andrò a trovare) my grandparents in Marche." So, "andare a trovare" a friend, a relative, etc. To notice the different usage of these two verbs, these two expressions in Italian, shows a thorough understanding of the language. Because obviously if you say "this summer I'm going to visit (visiterò) my friends", one would understand what you're trying to say. but it is always better to use the more natural phrases or figures of speech Italians would use in certain cases, in certain situations. Tell me in the comments below if you've ever had any misunderstandings while using these verbs in conversation, or if you've always used the correct option, every time. Alright, thank you very much for having watched this video, and we'll see each other in the next one. Angelina says bye too! Bye, see you soon!

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