tenere a mente

Parola del giorno | Word of the day

Today's Parola del Giorno is the verb expression tenere a mente, which means to keep in mind.

Note that tenere is irregular in the present tense in Italian: tengo, tieni, tiene... tengono.

The past participle is tenuto.

See the expression used below:

Quando farai l'esame di scuola guida, tieni a mente che non puoi fare molti errori o non passerai il test. Meglio che ti prepari come si deve!

When you take your driving school test, keep in mind that you can't make a lot of errors or you won't pass the test. It is best you prepare yourself properly!

Un pizzico di grammatica (‘A pinch of grammar’)

Remember that some -ere verbs have their stress in the stem of the infinitive while others have it in the root of the infinitive. The phonetic stress is indicated in italics (unfortunately, this platform doesn’t allow for underlining).

The root of the infinitive is -ere in this case. The stem is the rest of the infinitive.

Leggere, credere, and chiudere have their stress in the stem.

Others, like tenere, cadere, and vedere, have it in the infinitive's ending. 

With -ere verbs, check an online or physical dictionary to find where the stress falls!