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Italian Verb Servire

How to Use the Italian Verb Servire

By Michael San Filippo, About.com

In Italian there are several ways to express the concept of serving or helping oneself. The verb servire means "to serve": Il cameriere serve il caffè ai clienti. (The waiter serves coffee to the customers.)

The phrase servirsi da, which literally means "to serve oneself" refers to the concept of helping oneself: Grazie lo stesso; ci serviamo da soli. (Thank you anyway; we'll serve (help) ourselves.)

The phrase servirsi di means "to use" or "to avail oneself of": Per adesso mi servo di questi libri. (For now I use these books)

And finally, the phrase non servire a nulla means "to be of no use": Queste cose non servono a nulla. (These things are useless.)

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