Shopping, computer, pillole, ancora una e poi smetto! (Italian Edition)

In Part B, you will find all the different ways in which you can say what you want, with an indication of where you can find further informa- tion on the grammar structures used, and also references to related functions found in other parts of the book. If, on the other hand, you know the grammatical name for the structure you want to use, for example personal pronouns or impersonal si, you can look that up in the index instead.

You will find each grammar structure explained in Part A. Part A is also useful as an easy-to-use quick reference section, where you can remind your- self of the correct form, or check on a verb ending, for example. A glossary, which immediately follows this short guide, gives definitions of the grammatical terms used in the book, with examples. Note that throughout the book an asterisk is used to denote a form or wording that does not actually exist or is incorrect, shown only to demonstrate a point. Lastly, Italian and English keywords are indexed to make it easier for the reader to look up a particular point.

We hope you enjoy learning Italian using this book as a guide. Remember that some spoken skills such as pronunciation, intonation and stress cannot simply be learned from a book. But grammar structures are the foundation of any language, and this book will teach you how to use these structures to express what you want to say. Anna Proudfoot and Francesco Cardo, Glossary Abstract noun One which refers to a concept or quality rather than a person or object. Active construction An active construction is a sentence in which the subject of the sentence is the person carrying out the action, or the event taking place as opposed to a passive construction where the subject is the person affected by the action: A verb can therefore have an active form chiudiamo la porta a mezzanotte 'we shut the door at midnight' or a passive form la porta viene chiusa a mezzanotte 'the door is shut at midnight'.

Adjective Adjectives describe or give information about a noun. They can be descriptive such as grande 'big', bianco 'white', vecchio 'old', italiano 'Italian' , demonstrative questo 'this', quel 'that' , indefinite qualche 'some', alcuni 'some, a few', certo 'certain' , interrogative quale 'which', quanto 'how much, many' or possessive mio 'my', tuo 'your', etc. Adverb Adverbs give information about a verb, saying, for example, how something is done: They can also add further information about an adjective or another adverb: Agreement In Italian, adjectives, articles and in some cases past participles have to 'agree' with the noun or pronoun they accompany or refer to.

Rent a house – Leads Pro Realty

Article Italian has three types of article: GLOSSARY Auxiliary verb Auxiliary verbs such as avere, essere are used in combination with the past participle to form compound tenses, both active Ho mangiato 'I have eaten', siamo andati 'we have gone' and passive e stato licenziato 'he was sacked'. See also modal auxiliaries. Clause A clause is a section or part of a sentence that contains a subject and a verb. Complex sentences are made up of a series of clauses. The main clause or clauses is the part of a sentence that makes sense on its own and does not depend on any other element in the sentence.

A subordinate clause always depends on another clause, and is often introduced by a conjunction such as che. There are different types of subordinate clause, for example: Comparative When one person, object or activity is compared with another a comparative form is used: Compound noun A compound noun is a noun formed by joining together one or more words, either nouns or other parts of speech: Compound tenses Compound tenses are tenses consisting of more than one element. In Italian, the compound tenses are formed by the auxiliary avere or essere, and the past participle: See also Simple tenses.

Conditional The conditional is not strictly a tense, but a verb mood. It can be used on its own, particularly as a polite way of expressing a request: Le dispiacerebbe aprire la finestra? It can also be used in condi- tional sentences, where the meaning of the main sentence is dependent on some condition being fulfilled: Andrei in vacanza anch'io, se avessi tempo 'I would go on holiday too if I had the time'. Conjugation This refers to the way in which verb forms change according to the person, tense or mood: The word conjugation is also used to mean the regular patterns of verbs ending in -are, -ere, -ire to which verbs belong.

Conjunction A linking or joining word, usually linking two words, phrases or clauses within a sentence: Marco e Davide 'Marco and Davide'; con amore ma con disciplina 'with xviii Glossary love but with discipline'; sono andata a letto perche ero stanca 'I went to bed because I was tired'; i giudici dicono che bisogna cambiare la legge 'the judges say that the law should be changed'. Conjunctions can either be coordinating, linking two phrases or clauses of equal weight, or subordinating, linking a main clause and subordinate clause.

Countable A noun is countable if it can normally be used in both singular and plural, and take the indefinite article un, una etc. Whereas an uncountable noun is one which is not normally found in the plural e. Declension This means the way in which nouns and adjectives decline in other words, change their endings according to whether they are singular or plural, masculine or femi- nine: This pattern of endings is known as the declension. Demonstrative A demonstrative adjective or a pronoun is one which demonstrates or indicates the person or object being talked about: Direct object A direct object, whether noun or pronoun, is one which is directly affected by the action or event.

A direct object can be living or inanimate. It is always used with a transitive verb: Finite verb A verb that has a subject and is complete in itself, as opposed to infinitives or participles, which have to depend on another verb: Gender All nouns in Italian have a gender: Even where living beings are concerned, grammatical gender is not always the same as natural gender: Gender is important since it deter- mines the form of noun, the article and adjective.

Gerund A gerund is a verb form ending in -ando or -endo: The gerund is most often used in Italian along with the verb stare to express a continuous action or event: The nearest equivalent in English is the '-ing' form but it is not used in exactly the same way. Idiomatic An idiomatic expression is one that cannot normally be translated literally, for exam- ple ubriaco fradicio literally 'soaking drunk' but more idiomatically 'dead drunk'. Impersonal verbs, verb forms Impersonal verbs or verb forms do not refer to any one particular person. They can generally be translated by the English 'it' form and use the third person form: These verbs can be personalised by the addition of a personal pronoun, usually the indirect object: Indefinites An adjective or pronoun used to refer to a person or thing in a general way, rather than a definite person or thing.

Indicative verbs The verb mood we use most in speaking and writing is the indicative mood. Within this mood is a full range of tenses: The verb mood used to express uncertainty is the subjunctive, which also has a full range of tenses. Indirect object An indirect object, whether noun or pronoun, is one that is indirectly affected by the action or event. An indirect object can be found with a transitive verb, which already has one direct object: Or it can be used with an intransitive verb, which does not take a direct object, in which case it may be found together with a prepo- sition such as a, da: Marco telefonava a sua madre ogni sera 'Marco used to phone his mother every evening'.

Infinitive The infinitive of a verb is the form always given in a dictionary and is recognised by its endings -are, -ere, -ire: It cannot be used on its own but depends on a finite verb form, often a modal verb: Interrogative Interrogative words are used to ask questions or indirect questions. They include chi 'who'; come 'how'; cosa 'what'; dove 'where'; quale 'which'; quando 'when'; perche 'why'.

Intransitive verbs See also Transitive verbs. Intransitive verbs are verbs that cannotbe used with a direct object. Some intransitive verbs can be used with an indirect object: Some can only be used without any object: Many of these verbs take the auxiliary essere, but some take avere: Sometimes a verb that can be used transitively in English 'to walk the dog' cannot be used transitively in Italian camminare. Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively see Transitive verbs. Invariable Invariable nouns are nouns that have the same form for both singular and plural, un film, dei film 'a film, some films', or for both masculine and feminine, un artista, un'artista 'an artist'.

An invariable adjective is one that does not change form to agree with the noun, whether masculine or feminine, singular or plural: Irregular noun or verb A noun or verb that does not follow one of the standard patterns of forms or endings: Modal verb A verb that is used with a verb infinitive to modify what is being said: Mood The seven main ways in which verbs can express actions or events are known as moods. The four finite moods - all of which, except the imperative, have a full range of tenses - are: The other three moods are: Negative A statement is negative when it specifies an action or event that has not taken place or will not take place.

Negative words or phrases turn a positive statement or ques- tion into a negative one. Examples of negative words in Italian include: Noun A noun indicates a person, place, thing or event. Italia 'Italy'; assis- tente 'language assistant'; la festa 'the party'. Nouns are inextricably linked to the articles il, un, etc. All nouns have a gender and this determines the form of the adjectives and articles that go with it.

Number Number is the distinction between singular and plural. Verb forms alter according to the number of the subject: GLOSSARY Object In grammatical terms, an object is the person or thing affected by the action or event, as opposed to the subject, which is the person or thing responsible for it. Participle present, past Verbs normally have a present participle and a past participle. Unlike other finite verb forms, the participle cannot be used on its own but is found together with other verb forms. The past participle is used with the verb avere or essere to form the passato prossimo tense: When used with essere, it agrees with the subject: The present participle, less frequently used, changes form when used as an adjective i.

Partitive article see Article. Passato composto We use this term for the compound past, a past tense formed by auxiliary and participle: Some books call it the passato prossimo 'perfect tense'. Passato remoto see Passato semplice. Passato semplice We have used the term passato semplice 'simple past' to denote the past tense that is simple, not compound, e. Most books call this tense passato remoto, English 'past definite', 'past historic' or 'past absolute'. Passive verb forms A passive construction is a sentence in which the subject of the sentence is the person or thing affected by the action or event taking place as opposed to an active construction where the subject is the person carrying out the action: Person The verb subject can be a first person io T , second person tu 'you' third person lui, lei 'he, she' and so on.

Personal pronouns see also Pronouns Personal pronouns can be: Glossary Preposition A word that gives further information about a person, action or event, for example, about time, place, value or purpose: There are various categories of pronoun: Question Direct questions sometimes use a question word dove vai stasera? Indirect questions are introduced by words such as chiedere 'to ask': Reflexive verb A reflexive verb is a verb that can be used with a reflexive pronoun the equivalent of English 'myself, himself indicating that the subject and the object are one and the same: Sometimes the verb can only be used reflexively, and no object is actually present: Regular A regular noun or verb is one that follows one of the main noun or verb patterns, in other words one whose forms and endings can be predicted, for example: Relative A relative pronoun introduces a relative clause, i.

Reported speech This is also known as indirect speech and is a way of relating words spoken or written by someone else. Reported speech is usually introduced by verbs such as dire 'to say, to tell', scrivere 'to write', annunciare 'to announce', and the conjunc- tion che: Sentence A sentence must have a verb and a subject. It can either be a simple sentence one subject, one verb , e. Simple tenses Those that are formed of one word only. See also Compound tenses. Stem see Verb stem. Subject The subject is usually a noun, pronoun or proper name denoting the person or object performing the action or the event taking place: In the case of a passive construction, the subject is the person or thing affected by the action: With Italian verbs, it is not always essential to have a subject mentioned since it is understood from the verb form, e.

Subjunctive The subjunctive mood is used to express doubt or uncertainty. It is almost always used in complex sentences where one clause depends on another e. However it can be found standing on its own, when used as an imperative form: It can be introduced by a conjunction such as che 'what' or perche 'because', or a relative pronoun such as che 'who, which'. Superlative See also Comparative.

When one or more people, objects or activities are compared with others, or a comparison is implied, a superlative form is used to express the one that is superior to all the rest: Tense A finite verb form that normally provides a clue as to the time setting present, past, future for an action or event: Occasionally the gram- matical verb tense does not correspond to the time setting - for example the future can be used for a present time setting: Mio marito sara gia a Palermo 'It's 4.

My husband will be at Palermo by now' - and the imperfect can be used to express a polite request: Glossary Transitive verbs Transitive verbs are verbs that can always be used transitively, in other words with a direct object: Sometimes no object is used ho fumato 'I smoked', but the verb is still a transitive verb because it can, and often does, take an object. Some verbs can be used both transitively and intran- sitively, e. Verb A verb describes an action, event or state. It always has a subject and can also have an object.

Its form varies according to mood and tense, and the person, gender and number of its subject. Verb stem The stem of a verb is its 'base', the part of the verb left when you take away -are, -ere-, -ire from the infinitive form. In a regular verb the ending changes but the stem does not usually change. In an irregular verb, the stem may change too. Voice Verbs normally have two voices: The main function of nouns in any language is to denote an entity person, object, etc. Together they form a group of words called the noun group; two examples are shown below: In Italian the three components of the noun group can be considered not only separately but also as a 'whole', in which the various components have to 'agree', so we will also look at how they are used together.

The noun The noun is the focus of the noun group, and in fact the article and adjectives always agree with the noun in gender masculine or feminine and number singular or plural. The two grammatical features of gender and number determine the form of noun, article and adjective. Gender All Italian nouns have either a masculine or a feminine gender. Gender is a purely grammatical term. Nouns referring to human beings or animals sometimes have the same grammatical gender as their natural gender, but not always see below.

Italian native speakers rarely find this a problem. However speakers of other languages often find it difficult to remember the gender of nouns and this creates a problem when it comes to making the other components of the noun group 'agree' with the noun. With non-animate objects, there is not always an obvious explanation for their gender.

Why, for example, should sera 'evening' be feminine, while giorno 'day' is masculine? Non-Italian speakers either have to learn and memorise the genders of words or consult a dictionary. Italian dictionaries usually indicate the gender of nouns with abbreviations such as s. Nouns whose masculine form ends in -e have a feminine form ending either in -a or in -essa: Number Unlike gender, the grammatical concept of singular or plural 'number' causes no problem for speakers of English. Occasionally as in English a singular noun is used to refer to a collective entity that one might expect to be grammatically plural, e.

On the other hand, some objects that are singular in English may be plural in Italian, e. The noun Common noun patterns The gender and number determine the ending of the noun. These patterns of endings are called inflexions. Italian nouns can be divided into several different groups, according to their patterns of inflexion. The three most common patterns also followed by most adjectives, see below are: Nouns in the third group -e have the same ending whatever the gender.

Examples Singular Plural 1 Masculine tavolo table tavoli tables albero tree alberi trees sbaglio mistake sbagli mistakes ragazzo boy ragazzi boys 2 Feminine donna woman donne women parola word parole words scuola school scuole schools ragazza girl ragazze girls 3 Masculine padre father padri fathers studente student studenti students bicchiere glass bicchieri glasses 3 Feminine madre mother madri mothers occasione occasion occasioni occasions chiave key chiavi keys Note: In the plural, nouns ending in -co, -go; -ca, -ga; -cia, -gia present variations in their endings, as shown below.

Nouns ending in -co, -go Masculine nouns ending in -co or -go in the singular normally form the plural as follows: Nouns ending in -ca, -ga Feminine nouns ending in -ca, -ga form their plural in -che, -ghe, with the hard c, g sound: Nouns ending in -cia, -gia Feminine nouns ending in -cia, -gia form their plural as follows: There is no difference in pronunciation between the -cie of camicie and the -ce of arance.

The i is pronounced and given its full value as a syllable only when stressed as in farmacie and bugie. In the plural, nouns ending in -io sometimes double the final i, sometimes not, according to whether the 'i' is stressed or unstressed: Here are some other noun patterns. Masculine or feminine nouns with singular ending in -a Singular -a m. The singular ending -a is used whether they are male or female, but the plural form is different according to the 'natural' gender.

A large number of these nouns end in -ista English '-ist' indicating an ideology socialista, marxista , profession chitarrista, dentista or sport ciclista, tennista. Masculine nouns with singular ending in -a Singular -a m. See also masculine nouns ending in -ca, -ga above. Singular Plural mano f. Masculine nouns with singular in -o, feminine plural in -a A number of masculine nouns become feminine in the plural, with an irregular ending in -a: Plural in -i m.

Plural in -a f. For example, le dita are the fingers of your hand, when talked about 'collectively' ho le dita gelate 'my fingers are frozen' while i diti are the fingers considered 'individually or separately' ho due diti rotti T have two broken fingers'. Le mura are the collective walls of a city Lucca e una citta circondata da mura romane 'Lucca is a city surrounded by Roman walls' , while i muri refer to all other kinds of walls.

Le ossa is the plural form normally used when talking about the skeletal system mi fanno male le ossa 'my bones ache' while the masculine plural gli ossi is used when talking about separate bones, e. Invariable nouns Invariable nouns have the same form in the plural as in the singular. These include the following. Nouns with stress falling on last syllable These are mainly feminine in gender, coming from an older form, of Latin origin, ending in -tate civitate, qualitate now abbreviated and ending in -a: Singular Plural auto car auto moto motorbike moto radio radio radio foto photo foto bici bike bici Nouns of one syllable Singular Plural Masculine re king re sci ski sci Feminine gru crane gru Words borrowed from another language Singular Plural Masculine bar bar, cafe bar sport sport sport film film film computer computer computer Feminine reclame advert reclame gaffe gaffe gaffe brioche brioche brioche Remember not to add -s in the plural, however tempting il film - i film.

There are two main types of article in Italian, as there are in English: They distinguish the generic from the specific, the known from the unknown see also 9. In giardino c'e un cane. There is a dog in the garden, unknown dog In giardino c'e il cane. There is the dog in the garden, our dog or a dog we know about In Italian the form of the article has to agree with the gender and number of the noun it is attached to, but also according to the initial letter of the word immedi- ately following it, whether noun or adjective.

This applies also a third type of article, the partitive article. A partitive article can also be used in the singular, indicating a quantity of uncount- able things, people or abstract concepts: Ho visto della gente che correva. C'e ancora della speranza. I'd like some bread. I saw some people running. There is still some hope. Definite article The form of the definite article varies according to the number and gender of the noun it accompanies, but also on whether the noun begins with a vowel, a conso- nant or certain letters or groups of letters, as seen in the table below: In the plural, they take the article le, which is never abbreviated.

Give me the toothpicks. Give me some toothpicks. Known or unknown, specified or unspecified a The definite article is used to specify known people or things Flavia vuole portare I'amico alia festa. Flavia wants to take her friend to the party, particular friend or boyfriend Vorrei la camera che abbiamo avuto l'anno scorso. I would like the room we had last year, specific room 12 The article b The indefinite article is used, as in English, for an unknown or unspecified indi- vidual or thing: Flavia vuole portare un amico alia festa.

Flavia wants to take a friend to the party, an unspecified friend Vorrei una camera per stasera, per favore. II delfino e un mammifero. The dolphin is a mammal. I like American films. Note how English only uses the definite article 'the' in the singular 'the dolphin'. There is a dolphin! Ho visto un bel film americano alia televisione. I've seen a nice American film on television. These are only general guidelines. In many cases the use or omission of the articles depends on different linguistic habits. Some particular uses of the definite article In Italian we always use the definite article with the proper names of geographical features such as mountains, rivers, etc.: Firenze Londra Florence London except when qualified in some way: II Brasile e campione del mondo.

Brazil is world champion. I live in Italy. We go to Spain. Si vive meglio neZZ'Italia meridionale. One lives better in southern Italy. But we do sometimes use it to refer to masculine or plural countries: Vivo negli Stati Uniti. I live in the USA. For the forms of the definite article with prepositions in, a, etc.

When speaking of somebody's profession we use the article with fare: I am an engineer, but omit it with essere note how English usage differs: I am an engineer. We can summarise these patterns in the following way: An adjective is a word that qualifies the meaning of a noun by adding some spec- ification or description to it. There are many different categories of adjective including demonstrative questo, quello , interrogative quale , possessive mio, tuo , indefinite alcuni, qualche and negative nessun.

But in this chapter we only cover the use of aggettivi qual- ificativi: The other types of adjectives will be shown in Chapter 3, together with the corresponding pronouns. The adjective Common adjective patterns Almost all descriptive adjectives follow the same basic patterns as the nouns see 1. There are two 'classes' or groups of adjectives: In the second group, the ending is the same for both masculine and feminine: Feminine piccola piccole grande grandi m. The gender and number of the adjective must agree with the noun to which it refers see 1.

Singular Plural Singular Plural Masculine libro piccolo balcone piccolo Feminine penna piccola libri piccoli libro grande libri grandi balconi piccoli balcone grande balconi grandi penne piccole penna grande penne grandi stazione piccola stazioni piccole stazione grande stazioni grandi Exceptions to this pattern Only a few descriptive adjectives have a different pattern from those shown above.

Adjectives with singular -a for both masculine and feminine have masculine plural in -i and feminine plural in -e. Many of these have endings such as -ista, -asta, -ita, -ida, -ota for nouns with similar endings, see 1. The most common invari- able adjectives are: This is the usual non-emphatic position occupied by the adjective, when it expresses a basic, intrinsic characteristic of the noun: Ho visto un film interessante Abbiamo visitato una citta storica I saw an interesting film We visited an historic city Adjectives of shape, colour and nationality almost always come after the noun.

Note that adjectives of nationality never have a capital letter in Italian: Although Italian descriptive adjectives, particularly the most common e. Dammi il cacciavite piccolo. Give me the small screwdriver, not the big one Sul tavolo c'era un piccolo cacciavite. There was a small screwdriver on the table, description of screwdriver Sandra e una ragazza bella.

Sandra is a beautiful girl, not merely nice Sandra e una bella ragazza. Sandra is a really beautiful girl. Ho comprato una macchina nuova. I bought a new car. Paola put on a new dress, another, a different one Some adjectives have a completely different meaning from their common one when their position is changed, expressing their literal meaning when used after, but a quite different, often figurative, meaning when used before: Pavarotti un grande uomo a great man e.

Napoleon Ci sono molti studenti poveri There are many poor students Poveri studenti! The exam will be hard! Note that bello, when positioned before the noun see example above, un bel prob- lema changes its endings in the same way as the definite article il, la, lo, etc. The adjective buono, on the other hand, follows the pattern of the indefinite article un, una, un', uno see 1.

La mia macchina e veloce come la tua. My car is as fast as yours. La mia macchina e piii veloce della tua. My car is faster than yours. La mia macchina e meno veloce della tua. My car is less fast than yours. As a reinforcement, we can also use the words tanto, altrettanto or cosi before the first element: II mio nuovo ufficio e comodo quanto quello di prima. My new office is as comfortable as the one I had before. La mia collega e tanto carina quanto efficiente. My colleague is as pretty as she is efficient.

Qui le melanzane non sono care come in Inghilterra. Here aubergines are not as dear as in England. Sandro e piu bravo di Angelo a bridge. Sandro is better than Angelo at bridge. E stato meno facile di quanto pensassi. It was less easy than I expected. E piii facile criticare che risolvere i problemi. It's easier to criticise than to solve problems. Sara e piii carina che intelligente. Sara is prettier than she is intelligent. The choice of di or che depends on what part of speech the second element of the comparison is, and on its position in the sentence: Special forms of comparative Four very common adjectives have a special form of comparative: Similarly, minore can mean 'smaller' or 'younger', but can also mean 'less, the lesser' when referring to an abstract quality: La maggiore si chiama Diana.

I have two sisters. The elder is called Diana. Noi abbiamo una maggiore responsabilita di voi. We have a greater responsibility than you. II mio fratello minore frequenta la scuola elementare. My little younger brother goes to elementary school. Lui lavora con minore impegno da quando si e sposato. He works with less commitment since he got married. Relative superlatives To refer to something or somebody as having 'the most' of a certain quality, in rela- tion to other individuals, we use il piu together with the relevant adjective.

This is called the relative superlative: Silvia e la piu brava studentessa della nostra classe. Silvia is the best student in our class. Pavarotti e il tenore italiano piu famoso del mondo. Pavarotti is the most famous Italian tenor in the world. II Po e il piii lungo iiume italiano. The Po is the longest Italian river. Again, a few common adjectives have a special form of relative superlative, as well as the regular one: Secondo me, il problema maggiore dei giorni nostri e la droga.

In my opinion, the greatest problem in our time is that of drugs. Absolute superlatives Absolute superlatives indicate the greatest possible degree of a quality, but without any comparison being made. Superlative adjectives are formed in Italian by adding the suffix -issimo to the end of the adjective: Nouns, adjectives and articles used together in a noun group must agree in number and gender. For example, if we use a feminine singular noun such as borsa 'bag', we have to use a feminine singular article la and adjective rossa: La borsa rossa The red bag If we use a masculine plural noun such as sandali 'sandals', we have to use a mascu- line plural article i and adjective rossi: I sandali rossi The red sandals The English articles and adjectives are identical in both examples 'the red.

II vestito rosso I sandali rossi La borsa rossa Le scarpe rosse Noun and adjective of same pattern When noun and adjective belong to the same pattern of endings, the agreement will be obvious: Sul tavolo c'e un piatto rotondo. On the table there is a round dish. I met two Italian girls. Noun and adjective of different patterns It is more difficult to remember how to make the agreement when the noun and adjective belong to different patterns and therefore have different endings: Sul tavolo c'e un piatto grande.

There is a large dish on the table. I met two English girls. II programma era noioso. The programme was boring. La radio era rotta. The radio was broken. More than one noun same gender If an adjective refers to more than one noun of the same gender, it will be plural and have the same gender as the nouns: Ho comprato un libro e un vocabolario tedeschi. I bought a German book and German dictionary. Ho comprato una grammatica e un'agenda tedesche.

I bought a German grammar and a German diary. More than one noun different genders If the two nouns are of different genders then the adjective is generally masculine plural: Ho comprato un vocabolario e una grammatica tedeschi. I bought a German dictionary and a German grammar. However if the second of the two nouns - the one nearest to the adjective - is femi- nine plural, the adjective may sometimes agree with it: Ho comprato un vocabolario e due grammatiche tedesche. I bought a German dictionary and two German grammars.

Italian has a complex system of different verb forms. In the first section of this chapter we shall intro- duce the general features of Italian verbs, both regular and irregular, with a brief explanation of basic grammatical terminology, which will help you to understand these features. In the second section, the different verb forms are illustrated in table form for the regular and the most common irregular verbs and also for the passive forms of the four regular verb types. Finally, in the third section, we look at the different verb moods and tenses individually with brief explanations on their use.

Part B of the book illustrates usage more fully. Grammatical subject Usually the subject of a verb is the 'agent' or 'doer' of an action, the 'protagonist' of an event: Noi partiamo per l'America. We leave for America. Franco e Teresa partono per l'America. Franco and Teresa leave for America. Sometimes we talk of facts rather than actions. Here the 'subject' of the verb is not 'doing' anything, but is the theme or main topic expressed by the verb: Questo film dura due ore. This film lasts two hours. However the grammatical subject of the verb may be different from the real subject or agent of the action.

This is the case with passive constructions see Persons of the verb The different forms of the verb, determined by its grammatical subject, are called the persons this is a purely grammatical term, not necessarily referring to human beings: The different endings immediately identify the 'person' - the subject of the action - unlike in English where only the third person singular has a distinctive ending T eat, you eat, he eats'.

How old are you? Using a subject pronoun to refer to the third person is often unnecessary where the person or thing has already been mentioned: Quanti anni ha Maria? How old is Maria? Verb conjugations The fact that Italian verbs have a pattern of six distinct verb endings in each of the tenses creates a large number of different forms of the same verb almost a hundred!

Fortunately, most verbs follow common patterns of change known as conjugations. Each verb has an invariable part the 'stem' , which carries its meaning, and an inflected part the 'ending' which identifies the person, the tense, the mood, and other features. The regular conjugation patterns are shown in the verb tables below 2. Traditionally we distinguish three conjugations defined by the form that the verb takes in the infinitive the infinitive is the form used in dictionary entries: Both patterns, however, are considered as belonging to the same conju- gation, because of the -ire ending of the infinitive.

Moods and tenses Moods The different forms and uses of Italian verbs are traditionally grouped in seven moods. These convey the different characteristics of the actions or facts that the speaker or writer wants to communicate: The ways in which moods are used to express distinct communicative functions and mean- ings are illustrated in Part B. Tenses The word tense denotes the different verb forms that indicate the relationship between the action or event referred to and the time of speaking or writing or other refer- ence point in time.

There is a range of different tenses for each mood of verbs except the imperative. In Italian, different tenses are sometimes used to distinguish features of verbs other than time relationships. For example, perfect and imperfect tenses can express the aspect of the action see Chapter 13 , while different subjunctive and conditional tenses can express different degrees of doubt, possibility, politeness, etc.

Simple and compound tenses Many tenses of Italian verbs are formed using the past participle of the main verb along with either avere or essere as the auxiliary verb. These are called compound tenses. One major area of difficulty for students of Italian is knowing which verbs use avere in compound tenses and which use essere. In order to be able to do this, it is useful to understand the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs see 2. All passive forms of verbs see 2.

There may be a direct object as in: Lucia scrive una lettera. Lucia writes a letter. We look for a house. Here the action of the verb can be completed by answering the question che cosa? The direct object of the verb is the noun that can answer this question without the use of a preposition in this case una lettera and una casa: Che cosa scrive Lucia? What is Lucia writing? Lucia is writing a letter. What are we looking for? We're looking for a house. But some Italian verbs cannot be completed by a direct object and the question che cosa?

II treno per Napoli e partito alle 6. The train to Naples left at 6. Because it determines their different uses, especially in the compound tenses, knowing whether verbs are transitive or intransitive is very important. Check by either looking in a dictionary or seeing whether you can ask and answer the question che cosa? In dictionaries all verb entries carry the following indications: Problems arise also from the fact that many English verbs used transitively and intransitively have an Italian counterpart that can only be used intransitively.

Below we show some examples of English phrases that cannot be translated directly into Italian, since the verbs camminare, volare, guidare and viaggiare are not gener- ally used transitively: I'm going to walk the dog. Can you drive me home? Travel the world with Airmiles! Verbs that can be used both transitively and intransitively Some verbs can be used both transitively with a direct object and intransitively without a direct object , for example aumentare, cambiare, cominciare, crescere, diminuire, finire and passare.

In the first two examples that follow, the subjects of these actions - beginning and finishing - are people and the verbs have direct objects 'the lesson', 'the holidays'. II professore comincia la lezione alle The teacher begins the lesson at Finiamo le vacanze in agosto. We finish our holidays in August. In the next two examples below , the same verbs this time with 'the lesson' and 'the holidays' as subject cannot have a direct object: Lucia ha scritto una lettera.

Abbiamo cercato una casa. Lucia wrote a letter.

We looked for a house. Andiamo in ufficio alle 9. II treno per Napoli parte alle 6. Siamo andate in ufficio alle 9. We go to the office at 9. The train to Naples leaves at 6. We went to the office at 9. La lezione comincia alle The lesson begins at The holidays finish in August. In simple tenses, the forms of the verbs are identical, whether transitive or intran- sitive. But the compound tenses, such as the past, vary according to whether they are used transitively or intransitively: II professore ha cominciato la lezione.

The teacher began the lesson. La lezione e cominciata alle The lesson began at Abbiamo finito le vacanze in agosto. We finished the holidays in August. Le vacanze sono finite in agosto. The holidays finished in August. When used transitively, verbs such as correre 'to run', saltare 'to jump', vivere to live' take avere: Hanno corso un grosso rischio.

They ran a great risk. Oggi ho saltato il pranzo. Today I skipped lunch. Ho vissuto una vita d'inferno. I have lived a life of hell. I lived in London for 10 years. The children jumped down from the bed. Verbs like these are marked in dictionaries as v. Verbs using the auxiliary avere even when used intransitively Generally Italian transitive verbs use the auxiliary avere, while intransitive verbs use the auxiliary essere in the compound tenses. However, there are quite a few verbs that use the auxiliary avere even when used intransitively. Here are the most common: I walked for two hours.

General features of verbs Come hai dormito? How did you sleep? Avete giocato a carte? Did you play cards? The different voices or relationships are: II meccanico ripara la macchina. The mechanic repairs the car. Luisa e guardata da Gianni. Luisa is watched by Gianni. La macchina e riparata dal meccanico. The car is repaired by the mechanic. In the second example, the agent of the action is clearly the mechanic the one who repairs the car , but the grammatical subject of the passive verb is the car.

Gianni si guarda alio specchio. Gianni looks at himself in the mirror. There are other verb forms that are not strictly speaking reflexive but are similar in form. The passive form The passive of Italian verbs is formed by the use of the past participle and the auxil- iary essere, using the same tense as the corresponding active form. The passive conjugation of verbs is shown in the verb tables in 2. The passive can also be formed using venire or andare as auxiliary instead of essere see Only transitive verbs can have a passive form see 2. Passive sentences sentences based on a passive verb are used when we want to focus on the action itself or the object of an action, rather than on the agent of an action.

For more examples on the use of the passive, see VERBS The reflexive and pronominal form Reflexive verb forms Reflexive verbs are active verb forms accompanied by a reflexive pronoun see 3. Look at these two examples: Franchi sta lavando la macchina. Mr Franchi is washing the car. Franchi si sta lavando. Mr Franchi is washing himself. In the first example above, the direct object of the action of washing is the car. It is separate from the person who is doing it the subject of the action.

In the second example, the subject and the object of the action are the same person II Sig. This is the reflexive form, in which the reflexive pronoun refers to the person carrying out the action, but at the same time is also the object of it. The position of the reflexive pronoun is the same as that of all other unstressed personal pronouns see 3. Please, have a seat make yourself comfortable. In genere i giovani italiani si vestono alia moda. In general young people in Italy dress fashionably.

Dovete prepararvi ad uscire. You must prepare yourselves to go out. Get yourself ready to go out! In the compound tenses, reflexive verbs are conjugated with the verb essere, even though the verbs are transitive cf. The past participle has to agree with the subject: Stamattina i bambini si sono alzati alle 6.

This morning the children got themselves up at 6. Mi sono vestita con calma. I got dressed slowly. Pronominal verb forms Pronominal verb forms are verb forms which use the reflexive pronoun. In Italian they are used much more frequently than in English because we can use them not only in a true reflexive pattern, but also in many other ways.

In true reflexives see above , the subject and object of the verb are one and the same. Although this is not the case with pronominal verb forms, they still embody the concept of 'reci- procal' or 'reflexive' action an action relating or reflecting back to the subject. The different uses of the pronominal verb form will become clear from the examples below. Against all odds, this "idiot" rose up to become Roman Emperor, making a fool of everyone. The fact is, you're not an idiot, or you wouldn't be reading this book.

Amazingly, you learned how to speak long before you under- stood what a noun was. This book will show you how to speak Italian using what you already know. The average English speaker knows about 50, words. Your brain is a living computer, and whenever it hears a foreign word, it goes to the foreign language section and pulls out whatever "comes to mind. Grammar Isn't Fun, but It Helps This book outlines the most important aspects of grammar and idiomatic expressions.

Using real-life situations, it guides you through the various elements of the Italian language, compar- ing and contrasting English and Italian with clear, idiot-proof explanations. Alas, one cannot live on grammar alone. You need to hear Italian every chance you get. Eat, breathe, drink, sleep, laugh, love, listen, sing, scream, and dance Italian. You'll learn a lot faster if you're enjoying yourself. As your studies progress, why not reward yourself with a monthly or weekly night out in an authentic Italian restaurant?

If you're plugged in, try doing an online search and subscribe to an Italian language bulletin. Visit a music library and listen to Rigoletto sung by five different artists. Start a collection of children's books. Tuck it into your backpack, briefcase, or bag, and bring it with you everywhere you go. Contrary to what you were taught, this author encourages you to write in the margins, dog-ear the pages, and scribble on the cover.

Shopping, computer, pillole, ancora una e poi smetto! by Green Anna

Read it from front to back and back to front. Exposure and repetition are essential to learning the language. By the time you have thoroughly gone through this book utilizing the helpful suggestions offered , you will be able to speak Italian. What You'll Find in These Pages Part 1, "The Basics," lays the foundation of your Italian-language learning experience, bringing you in-depth definitions and explanations of key grammatical forms, verbs, and parts of speech.

You'll learn about cognates a foreign word that retains the same sound and meaning and how to connect the dots between Latin, Italian, and English. You'll get examples of the spoken poetry of slang and a few idiomatic expressions. You'll learn your manners — per favore, grazie, mi scusi — and how to properly address strangers in Italian.

Part 2, "You're Off and Running," should be sipped slowly and savored as though it were a glass of red wine. Here you'll learn about the marvels of conjugating verbs, the parts of speech that get you moving. You'll also get a lot of how-tos: Skip through the chapters that don't grip you, but continue to come back to the material until you have mastered it. In Part 3, "Fun and Games," you'll be given keys to the Fiat and handed a map. If you love to hunt for treasure or want to pick up a pair of beautifully tailored trousers, you'll find all the terms you need.

You'll learn how to order in a ristorante, choose a wine, and pick a super movie for your Italian serata. You'll also hear about the artists and composers that move you. Part 4, "Getting Down to Business," prepares you for the inevitable challenges that are a part of the human experience. You'll learn how to describe the different aches and pains in your body to a dottore, where to go to get your glasses fixed, and how to find a good dry cleaner. You'll also learn how to make a phone call and deal with the post office — two things that can bring the most sane person to the edge.

Included in this part are practical money and banking terms. Appendix A, "Answer Key," gives you the answers to the exercises offered throughout the book. Find out how intelligente you really are. Appendix B, "Glossary," has been updated and improved, with the addition of hundreds of help- ful vocabulary words. Nouns have been marked with the appropriate definite articles.

To aid you, irregular plurals and participles are given. In addition, you'll find cultural references and ex- clamations used by the Italians. Extras As an extra perk, featured throughout the book are interesting sidebars highlighting relevant as- pects of the Italian language and culture. You'll see the following sidebars: These boxes highlight particularly ambiguous or irregular elements of the Italian language.

La Bella Lingua These are notes on dialect, idioms, and helpful vocabulary, which may or may not pertain directly to the lesson. Acknowledgments This book is dedicated to my great aunt Clara Kaye, who at the time of printing is 87 years old and remembers everything.

To the team that made this book happen: A big grazie to my friend and technical editor Stefano Spadoni, my Jiminy Cricket. A special welcome aboard to Michael San Filippo, who kindly shared his enthusiasm and knowledge of everything Italian. Grazie to John and Marie Cataneo at ciaonewyork. Warm thanks to Cristina Melotti for her eyes and contributions to the book, my life, and my spirit. A special thanks to Dr. Glenn Chiarello for taking such good care of my smile. Thanks to all the people, my students and friends, both old and new, past and present, that have given their love and support so freely over the years: There can be no greater privilege than to be able to put words to print.

I thank the heavens and the stars for listening. Special Thanks to the Technical Reviewer The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Italian, Second Edition, was reviewed by an expert who double-checked the accuracy of what you'll learn here, to help us ensure that this book gives you everything you need to know about learning the Italian language.

Special thanks are ex- tended to Stefano Spadoni for his expertise on this subject. Trademarks All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Pearson Education cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this hook should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. You've purchased this book and have taken the first step to learning Italian. There's no better time than the present to begin your study, and whether it takes you five months or five years, remember: It's the journey that counts.

To accompany you on this trip, Part 1 gives you the fundamentals of Italian, focusing on im- portant elements of grammar, verbs, and pronunciation. In Chapter 2, "Immerse Yourself," you'll be given a mini grammar review to help prime your brain for the upcoming lessons. You'll also be offered suggestions on how you can begin practic- ing your new skills immediately. Chapter 3, "Sound Like an Italian," gets you rolling your R's with an easy-to-read pronuncia- tion guide to assist you.

Chapter 5, "Expressively Yours, " offers you a few basic greetings and salutations along with a sampling of idioms and idiomatic expressions used in Italian. You'll discover several different ways to express the incredible, amazing individual that is you in Chapter 7, "What's the Subject? Interact with the pages; let your mind visit the places mentioned. Later, come back and read through the book with more attention to detail. When you undertake learning a new language, you are like a child again — so much to learn!

Get your ego out of the way and play! It's the la bella lingua of Italian, and there's nothing quite like it. You've always wanted to learn Italiano, but until now, it's been something you wished you could do but never dared. Maybe you took a high school Italian class and remem- ber the word spaghetti but not much else.

Perhaps you come from an Italian famiglia and feel a desire to satisfy a primordial urge. You get weak-kneed when you hear an opera. You're an incurable romantic and want to murmur sweet nothings to your amante in Italian. You love traveling and want to follow in the tradizione of the great writers, from Shakespeare to Henry James to Goethe. Could it be that you want to learn la lingua because it will connect you to something wonderfully misterioso, an- cient, and rich?

Whatever your reason, that small peninsula in the center of the Mediterraneo has been affecting the lives of people, both great and ordinary, for as long as our calendario has existed and then some, and you want to be a part of it. If you still need to ask "Why learn Italian? You sense this as soon as you pull it off the shelf. You can feel it almost vibrate with potential. Si, this time you're going to stick to your promessa to learn Italian. You're not going to procrastinate any longer; you've been wanting this for a very long time and la vita is too short to spend wishing you had done something fully within your powers to do.

The time is right, the momento is now, and with this libro, you will be one large step closer to making a dream come true. Remember, every great accomplishment starts as an idea. Immagina the realta of speaking Italian. You'll be able to. Didn't you always want one? Italy's population has grown to almost 58 million.

According to one myth, a vestal virgin gave birth to twin boys, Remus and Romulus. Saved from drowning by a she-wolf who suckled the children until they were old enough to go out on their own, Romulus later killed his brother and, sometime around B. Another myth involves the Trojan Aeneas, who came to Italy after escaping Troy.

The great Latin poet Virgil used this as the basis for the Aeneid, unquestionably the single greatest epic poem of classical literature. So far, the closest you've actually been to the mas- terpieces is the slide projector in the back of the auditorium. You're thinking of spending a semestre in Firenze to study the works of the great Renaissance artisti — including Botticelli, Raffaello, Caravaggio, Pisano, Masaccio, and Ghirlandaio — and you want to follow the lectures offered in the local universita.

You've found an adorable cooking school tucked away in the Tuscan countryside among the silvery leaves of the olive trees. You're ready to take the next step and learn the terms. You can sample a different vino every day while discussing the variables that contribute to the fine art of juicing a grape. Visit the formal Renaissance giardino of the Villa Lante di Bagnaia near Viterbo and learn how the pros have been doing it for centuries. If you're not afraid of dark, moldy tunnels and love the sound of bats, Italy has an assortment of bones, skulls, and preserved body parts that can be viewed at a church near you.

Just don't get lost in the labirinto of secret passages and cham- bers that once held the remains of early Christian martyrs. Imagine motoring along the Amalfi coast in a cherry-red Ferrari. Sunlight sparkles off the emerald waters, and the legendary Franco Corelli is sitting beside you singing a private performance of Puccini's exotic Turandot. Okay, so it's only the stereo. You understand that life is as much about the journey as it is the destination. You want to amble through the winding vie of Siena, stroll past the limpid waters of Venice's canals, hike along the Appian way, and mean- der the ruins of Pompeii, where, in 79 a.

Vesuvius buried 2, people under a layer of dust, lava, and stone. You'll walk so much you won't feel a twinge of guilt when the delicious food starts coming, and you'll say si to dessert every time. You won't believe how something so stinky the hot springs often smell like sulfur could make your body feel so vivo, so fresco, so puro!

What better place to take pictures than Italy? Where else than Italy should you spend your honey- moon? Getting Wet Whatever your reason is for wanting to learn la bella lingua of Italian, you need to begin somewhere. You'll never learn to swim if you don't get wet; the same principle applies to learning a language.

Before you even get to Italy, your viaggio begins with your intent. You've already made a great start by picking up this libro. However, you also might want to consider some of the following tips. The key is to familiarize yourself with the language by reading it. When you buy books of Italian poesia or a copy of Pirandello's plays, for example, buy the versions where the Italian traduzione is given alongside the English so that your eyes can move back and forth between the two.

This saves you the effort of looking up every parola you don't understand and gives you a general idea of what is being communicated. Absorb the significance of a parola by looking at the words surround- ing it. Speaking of the power of words, inspiration often comes from the unexpected. Go to your bookstore and leaf through several books in the Italian language section. See what interests you. Barrons has a terrific book that concentrates exclusively on verbs, aptly called Italian Verbs.

Children's books are another fun way of building vo- cabolario. If you're in Italy, visit the libreria bookstore and pick up a few. Italian publications, especially magazines, are usually quite entertaining, full of glossy, color ads and interesting facts. The elegant world of la moda fashion , il viag- gio travel , and la cucina food are three popular topics. Pick up a copy and figure out the contents by studying the titles. Also, the next time a friend takes a trip to Italy, ask him or her to bring back the in-flight magazine if it has both Italian and English.

Alitalia pro- duces a wonderful publication that has the Italian and the English side by side. You'll be surprised at how much you can pick up. Become a Class Act Call your local universitd and investigate whether it has an Italian department. Find out if it has a mailing list for events, and make a point of meeting other "Italophiles. Every week, make it a ritual to sit in front of your televisione for educational purposes, naturally. Needless to say, you want the subtitled versions stay away from anything dubbed — a character is his voice. Listen to the actors and mimic them, or simply read the translations and enjoy.

You will absorb far more if you are relaxed and having fun. Try to make out the different words within each frase. Isolate words that are repeated. Make it a challenge and see how many words you understand. Get the Right Tools Invest in a good bilingual dictionary, preferably one printed in Italia that offers vari- ous features, such as stress accentuation many dictionaries will indicate irregularly stressed syllables and parts of speech. Bigger is not necessarily better — choose a dizionario that isn't too cumbersome so you'll be more likely to bring it with you.

Don't skimp on price here — a good dictionary is something you'll keep for a long time. Flash cards are also a good resource. You can pick up a box of flash cards at any book- store, or you can make your own. That unused box of business cards from your old job, or unused pages from your last address book are perfetto. Punch holes in them and put 10 or 20 on a key ring so you can put them in your pocket or bag for "study quickies. Find out what station has Italian news. RAI, the Italian television and radio network, airs programs every day.

Even though it will sound as though they are speaking a mil- lion miles a minuto, exposing your ears to the lingua will evolve into understanding it. Read the Fine Print Keep the owner's manual to any appliances, electronics, or cameras that include mul- tilingual instructions. This is a great way to learn technical terms — and, once more, you don't need to pick up a dictionary; the English translation is probably already there.

BUY ON AMAZON'S NEVER EASY

Find Birds of a Feather Study the lingua with a friend. There's nothing like having a partner to keep you motivated and on your toes. Practice together, and maybe invest in a private tutor to meet with you every couple of weeks. The costo is usually reasonable considering the kind of attenzione you will receive, and it will be good incentive to keep up with your studies. There's nothing like a good conversazione or quarrel to hone your skills. Play It Again, Salvatore Make tapes of yourself speaking Italian, and then play these tapes to a native Italian speaker your new friends, the waiter in the local ristorante, your nonna, or anyone who will listen.

Ask them to evaluate your linguistic strengths and weaknesses. There's Nothing to Stop You Learning la bella lingua will not occur overnight. Many people find that, as with all new projects, they are hard-working and organized for the first few lessons, but then life gets in the way. Even if it's for only five minutes a day, be committed.

You can learn Italian; I've taught hundreds of people and know from esperienza it does not have to remain a dream. There is nothing to stop you from obtaining this goal. At times, your progresso will be obvious; other times, you will wonder what, if anything, is being accomplished. Remember, it's the viaggio that counts, not just the destinazione. The following lista outlines a few things to keep in mind that will make your journey a little easier: Whether you devote 10 rninuti a day every giorno, or two hours a week on Sundays, stick to your programma. If you can't do it one week, no guilt trips.

Make it up the next week. Grammar is simply a tool for learning a language. You figured out how to communicate your needs and understand what your mamma was telling you long before you could identify an adjective, noun, or verb. It probably started with a simple word, such as "cookie," which you mis- pronounced as coo-coo. As you matured, you began expressing your likes and dislikes with words such as "No! Grammar is simply the vocabolario, as any trade will have, used in language learning.

You never know what mistake might end up being a discovery. Would we recognize Christopher Columbus if he had made it to India? As the result of a major wrong turn, he stumbled upon the Americas. The Italians are among the most warm, hospitable, easy- going, open-minded people you will ever meet. Say buon giorno good day every time you walk into an establishment, and watch the response.

They are listening to what you are trying to express, not what mistakes you may have made. It's another story to master this rich, complicated tongue, but you can cross that ponte when you come to it. You start at the beginning. One foot in front of the other, an entire continente can be traversed, step by step.

Now, as a fun exercise, go back through this chapter and count how many new Italian words you learned just for showing up here — and without even trying! Remember that la lingua is simply a means to communicate your thoughts to another persona. If you can learn to speak one language, you can learn to speak another. Whether it takes you three months or three years, one step in front of the other is the way you will achieve your goals. Italian ristoranti specializing in different regional tastes have cropped up in just about every villaggio and citta. Italian films have made us laugh so hard our sides hurt, yet we can never escape the teatro without having dabbed at the corners of our eyes at least once.

Advertisers have hooked into the enormous appeal that Vltalia has for almost every prodotto imaginable, and there is more than one commercial using the Italian language to make its point. Italian lingo ciao , bravo, ancora! This chapter offers you a different eye on the Italian language and compares it with English. It also gives a summary of different parts of grammatica and attempts to take away some of the intimidation factor that often accompanies learning a new lingua.

Within the Italian peninsula lived the Estrucans giving Tuscany its name , Faliscans, Oscans, Umbrians, and a slew of other tribes. These Italic languages all contributed to the eventual development of the language we now recognize as Italian. It is not clear when Italian became a distinct language from Latin, since no Italian text has been recorded before the tenth century; however, we do know that by the fourth century, St Jerome had translated the Bible from Latin into the language spoken by the common people.

Latin Lovers The history of the Italian language spans centuries and begins with classical Latin, the literary language of ancient Roma and the language used principally by the upper classes, the educated, and later the clergy — hence the term Romance languages from which French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Rumanian are also derived.

These languages were all offshoots, or dialects. Italian is the Romance language closest to Latin. La Bella Lingua Set aside a predetermined amount of study time that you can realis- tically commit toward your goal of learning Italian. Whether it's eight minuti a day or un'ora twice a week, stick to it Languages are like seeds that drift from one area into another, germinating wherever there is ripe soil.

Latin made its way into English during the seventh century as England was converting to Christianity, and later during a revival in classical scholarship stemming from the Renaissance Rinascimento , literally meaning "rebirth". During the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies, hundreds of Latin words were incorporated into English, resulting in much of today's legal and medical terminologia.

As a result, many small words in modern English have their origins in Latin, a hop from Italian. Chapter 4, "You Know More Than You Think," presents you with a more thorough listing of those similar words, or cog- nates. Keep in mind that English is a much broader language than Italian in terms of the sheer number of words it possesses. By adding the ending -ino to the word gatto, we create the word gattino.

A commonly used superlative in English is -est which is attached to adjectives to describe the smallest, biggest, or best. In Italian, this would be expressed with the ending -issimo, as in the adjec- tive bellissimo very beautiful, gorgeous. In spite of the fact that Italian has fewer words than English, Italians have no difficulty expressing themselves, as you will find out for yourself. How Do You Say?

Dialect A dialect is a variation of a language, usually particular to a region and often quite different from the standard spoken vernacular. Due to its shape and long history of outside influences, Italy has hundreds of different dialects, many of which are still used today. Some dialects are virtually identical to Italian, but with particular collo- quialisms and idiomatic expressions understood only by those familiar with the di- alect.

Other dialects are like different languages. For example, up north in Lombardia, you'll hear a specifically German accent and a softening of the R's, a result of the district's rule by Austria at one time. In the Piedmont region, you can hear the French influ- ence. Down south near Napoli, you can hear Spanish and French, whereas in Cala- bria, certain expessions are quite clearly Greek kalimera means literally "Good day" in modern Greek or Albanian in nature. The islands of Sardegna and Sicilia also have their own languages.

Many Italian immigrants brought their dialects to the United States, where they were further influenced by factors such as culture, English, and other dialects. This partly explains why the Italian spoken by many immigrants often differs greatly from the Italian presented in this book — and why you may still have difficulty communicating with your grandmother after having mastered the basics.

Many variations or dialects of Italian are spoken around the world today, in such places as Switzerland and many parts of South America. What's What A diminutive is a suffix, or end- ing, that denotes smallness, youth, or familiarity, such as caro dear and carino cute , ragazzo boy and ragazzino small boy.

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• Full text of "SBI. TJSDKASI. DSAJDAL. JIAPLDLE. NACG. 1";
• Lamps and Lampshade Making - Including the Pedestal Table Lamp, Pendant Ceiling Light, Bracket Wall Fixture, Portable Floor Lamp, and Fifty Lamps and Shades.
• Fatherly Reflections.
• The Prize (Full Length Novel).

A superlative expresses the ex- treme, or highest degree of some- thing, such as bello beautiful and bellissimo gorgeous. It was his poetry that legitimized the Italian language as we know it today, since all his predecessors wrote exclusively in Latin. His most famous work. La Divina Commedia, is an epic poem depicting an imaginary journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.

That work was actually influenced by another of the world's greatest poets, Virgilio Virgil , who served as Dante's guide both literally, as a writer, and figuratively, in the story itself. Tuscan Italian In modern Italy, the standard language taught in schools and spoken on television is Tuscan Italian, primarily because this was the regional dialect used by the great me- dieval writers Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio, all of whom used what was then only a spoken language. Modern Italian is often quite different from the Italian used during the Middle Ages, but, as when you compare modern English to Old English, there are also striking similarities.

Look at this excerpt from Dante's Inferno: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, che la diritta via era smarrita. In the middle of our life's journey I found myself in a dark wood, out of which the straight way was lost. The Italian has a wonderful rhyme quality — the word vita working with the word smarrita. Although the translation to English loses some of the flow and meaning of the poem, you can still get a sense of what is being communicated; and you certainly can gain an understanding of the musicality of the language. It's like looking at a photograph of a bright, sunny day where you can see the colori but you can't feel the warmth of the sun, experience the expanse of blue sky, or hear the vento rustle the leaves in the trees.

Rent a house

As an early Humanist, Petrarca 's Ideas focused more on love and other earthly concerns, making him very popular during the Renaissance. Giovanni Boccaccio has been rated one of the greatest literary figures of Italy. A contemporary of Petrarca, he is most known for The Decameron. Written around the time of the Black Death of , The Decameron is a collection of novellas, many comic, some bawdy, a few tragic— and all captivating and engaging.

So What's Your Story? By using your powers of deduction, it's often possibile to figure out a word's significato simply by looking at its root. Per es- empio, the word pomodoro means "tomato" in Italian. Coming from the Latin words pomum "apple" or "fruit" and oro signifying "gold" , the word derives from the Latin aurum connected to the word aurora, meaning "dawn" or "redness". Thus the word pomodoro breaks down to literally mean "golden apple. In Italian, the word for the season spring is primavera, virtually meaning "first green.

Think verb, or in Latin, verbum, meaning "word. Rather than memorizing a list of words, try creating associations with words you already know. Sometimes it's as semplice as adding a vowel here and there, or tacking on an Italian ending. Your cog- nitive abilita to make sense will do the rest. Once you have an understanding of how the endings change from English to Italian, you'll be able to switch from one lingua to the other in no time at all. Understanding what your motives are for learning Italian is key to accomplishing your goals.

Having a destination will help you map out the journey. It will help you to gloss over certain lezioni lessons that may be less relevant to your purpose, while concentrating on those elements of the language more suited to fit your needs. Here are some examples: Instead, you should focus on verbs and their tenses, nouns, and adjectives. Here, pronunciation is essential, and a knowledge of some common idiomatic expressions is helpful to break the ice. Devel- oping a sizable repertoire of words related to your interests will make your viag- gio to Italy that much more interesting as you seek new ristoranti and hidden treasures.

It's good to know a few verb infinitives just to get you pointed in the right direction, but it might not be necessario to spend too much time on the many tenses. The point is to be able to meet your needs and express your thoughts. Use the street signs as opportunities to gain insight about Italy and its rich culture. La Bella Lingua Having a good bilingual dizionario is essential to learn- ing a new language, whatever your purpose may be. Use your dictionary as an adventurer would use a map.

Keep it handy, somewhere where you do most of your studying so that you don't have far to reach every time a new word pops up. You'll be amazed at how often you'll use it if you're not climbing a ladder to get to the top shelf of your bookcase whenever a need arises. You should understand the significance of the abbreviations used in the defi- nitions. The following table lists a few of them.

Singular feminine noun — m. Singular masculine noun s. Transitive verb — v. There is often a handy summary of the language tucked away somewhere in the front or back pages. Read the small print. Speak Easy Some of you may not remember seventh-grade grammar as well as you would like. After all, at the time, you could see no practical purpose; you never envisioned that you would actually choose to learn a language on your own, and you were much too busy writing notes to your best friend to pay attention to your teacher.

You're older now, your hormones are in check, and you're a little wiser, so take a trip down memory lane and review some of those parts of speech. Person , Place , or Pasta Nouns are people, places, things, and ideas. Poet, Pompei, pasta, and principle are all nouns. In Italian, all nouns have a gender: They are either masculine m.

In addition, all nouns in Italian indicate number: They are either singular s. La Bella Lingua If an explanation given in this book still leaves you confused, refer to that same topic in a grammar book such as Italian Verbs and Essentials of Grammar, by Carlo Graziano Passport Books. Sometimes it takes two different explanations to fully grasp a new concept.

They are big, little, pretty, ugly, and all the colors of the rainbow. Unlike English, Italian adjectives agree in number and gender sex with the nouns they modify. For example, if the noun is singular and masculine, as in il vino the wine , then the adjective must also be singular and masculine, as in il vino rosso the red wine. In Italian, the adjective is almost always placed after the noun it modifies, as in la casa bianca the house white , but exceptions exist, as in il bravo ragazzo the good boy.

You'll get a much clearer idea of how adjectives work in a little while. Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They move us quickly and hap- pily toward our goal of learning Italian. Most adverbs in English end in -ly. In Italian, many adverbs end in -mente, such as rapidamente and allegramente. Pronouns substitute for nouns and refer to a person, place, thing, or idea. We ate a lot of food in the restaurant, and it the food cost quite a penny. In Italian, pronouns are a little more complicated because they must, like nouns, reflect sex and number.

There is no neuter it in Italian. There are several kinds of pronouns, of which the most important to remember are subject pronouns he, she, and so on , direct object pronouns, and indirect object pronouns it. It's All Relative Prepositions are words such as above, along, beyond, before, through, in, on, at, to, for, and so on that are placed before nouns to indicate a relationship to other words in a sentence.

Prepositions are best learned in connection with the expressions in which they are used. For example, you may think about someone, but you can also think of going on vacation. Where the Action Is Verbs indicate action. An infinitive verb is a verb that has not been conjugated, as in to be, to eat, or to travel.

A conjugated verb is simply a form of the verb that agrees with the subject. You conjugate verbs in English all the time when you say "I am," "you are," and "he is. Intransitive verbs can stand alone, without a direct object, as "sing" does in the sen- tence "I sing. Transitive verbs can be followed by a direct object or require a reflexive pronoun, as in "We kissed one another," or "Robert is going to the party.

It's important to remember how versatile words can be, and you do that by looking at the entire sentence. This is essential to extrapo- lating the meaning of the text or even a word that you don't recognize. Look at the word inside. Watch how the meaning changes in the following sentences: The plane should arrive inside of an hour, adverb The inside walls of the church are covered with art. If there's more than one translation listed in your dictionary for a given word, it's impor- tant to take your time and skim through the list After you have found your word, if you are still not sure of whether it is the appropriate translation, look up the word you just chose in its opposite language.

For example, if you are looking up the word mean, ask yourself whether you want the adjective mean as in nasty or the verb to mean as in "to signify". Practice Makes Perfetto Using the Italian definitions just given, figure out the part of speech for "inside" in each of the following sentences, and complete the translated sentences in Italian: We live inside the walls of the city. Abitiamo le mura della citta.

The woman's insides hurt. Alla donna fa male lo. We will arrive home inside an hour. Arriviamo a casa un'ora. He has inside information on the Palio. Lui ha sul Palio. The inside of the church is dark. L' della chiesa e scuro. You can improve your Italian without having to read a thing.

Some titles include these: Okay, let's go back to the seventh grade again. The sun is shining outside the school windows, and the teacher is droning on about objects and subjects. As she's speaking, you're on the verge of falling asleep. The room is too hot, you're bored, and you're thinking, "I'm never going to need this to do anything! But you still aren't quite sure what an ob- ject is, unless it's something unidentified and coming from parts unknown. Use a sentence from your first-grade book to look at what an object is Jack throws Jane a ball.

Take a minuto to find the verbo in this sentence. Remember, verbs are where the action is. Did you figure out it was the verb "to throw"? You're on your way. Who threw the ball? Jack did, that's who — and he is your subject. The million-Zzre question now is, what did Jack throw? That's the di- rect object. A direct object is the recipient of the verb's action. In sentences with two nouns following the verb, the first is generally the indirect object, the word that tells to whom or for whom the action was done Jane.

Let's continue with Jack and Jane. Jane, never one to say no to a challenge, decides to keep the ball rolling. Analyze the next sentence for its subject and object pronouns: She throws it back to him. Did you figure out that "she" is the subject pro- noun substituting for "Jane" and "it" substitut- ing for "ball" is the object pronoun? So you see, there's nothing to worry about. You know every- thing you need to get this ball rolling and learn the language you've always dreamed of knowing. Drawing from Esperienza Have you ever studied another lingua?

Perhaps you took spagnolo when you were in high school. At the urging of your parents, you might have studied Latino, and after three semesters of it, all you can remember are the words veni, vedi, vici came, saw, conquered. Whatever the last language was that you studied, whether it was francese, russo, ebreo Hebrew , or cinese, it will be the first lingua to come out of your mouth La Bella Lingua Make a list of 10 topics you would like to be able to talk about in Italian.

Put the list at the front of your notebook so that you're reminded of your goals. If your frase comes out one-third itaLiano, one-third francese, and one-third inglese, it's still better than nothing. La Bella Lingua Pull out your old notes from the last time you studied a foreign Lingua. If you've been out of scuoLa for a while, they will be a good reminder. You may be sur- prised to see that you actually learned something back then, even if your heart wasn't in it As you wallow in nostalgic longing for those years, remind yourself that there's no time like the pre- sente to begin something new.

It's naturale — your brain retains everything, although some of the informazione ends up stored away until you decide to dust off the cobwebs and reopen the files. Your pronunciation may initially reflect those first lan- guage classes, but you'll soon be rounding your R's and wooing your partner Italian-style in no time flat. If you have studied another Romance language, you'll already be familiar with the basic struttura of Italian. Let's take a look at some of those basic regole rules: Per esem- pio, if a noun is feminine singular, its adjective must also be feminine singular, as in la lingua italiana.

The familiar form, tu, is used with friends and children. Your body will remember in ways your mind will not. Studying aloud will get your mouth into the habit of helping you to ricordare. If you read the words, write them down, and read aloud, you'll be speaking in no time. Understanding the differ- ent parts of speech takes away the mystery of learning a second language. At first, it's all just a jumble of sounds and letters and words, but slowly, almost imperceptibly, your confusione is replaced with comprensione as a clear picture emerges.

Italian Pronunciation Initially, it seems as though anyone speaking Italian is singing. There is a continuity and fluidity that reminds you of a beautifully sustained note. This has a great deal to do with the fact that almost all Italian words end in a vowel and are often pro- nounced as if joined together. With few exceptions, Italian pronunciation is very easy to learn.

As a phonetic lan- guage, what you see is what you say — at least most of the time. Once you learn how to read the music, you'll be able to play along with anyone. The key is to understand the basic differences between the English and Italian rules of pronunciation. When pronouncing Italian words, keep your tongue and mouth alert Emphasize double conso- nants without overstressing letters or syllables; otherwise you'll end up sounding like someone trying a little too hard. The same d is used in the word ciao.

Nonetheless, after some time even these sounds will come easily to the atten- tive listener. Italian requires clean diction with clearly pronounced vowels and s. Double consonants in words such as anno year , birra beer , and gatto cat should be em- phasized. Avoid sounding overly nasal or guttural. You will see less of the pronunciation in later chapters. Flip back to this chapter if you are not sure of how a word should be pronounced. As you read, you'll discover that the spelling of Italian words follows a logical pattern.

Italian uses the grave accent ' , pronounced grav, on words where the stress falls on the final syllable: Don't be surprised to find conflict- ing examples. The written accent is also used to distinguish several Italian words from others that have the same spelling but a different meaning. I'animale instead of lo animate d'ltalia instead of di Italia dov'e instead of dove e Don't Get Stressed Out As a rule, most Italian words are stressed on the next-to-last syllable, such signorina see-nyoh-ree - nah , and minestrone mee-neh-stroh-neh.

Exceptions exist, making rules rather difficult to follow. Some words are stressed on the third-to-last syllable, such as automobile ow-toh-moh-bee-leh and dialogo dee-ah-loh-goh. Other words — mostly verb forms — are stressed on the fourth-to-last syllable, such as studiano stoo - dee-ah-noh , and telefonano teh-leh-foh-nah-noh.

Finally, stress should be placed on the last syllable when you see an accent mark at the end of a word, such as citta chee-tah , universita oo-nee-ver-see-ta , and virtu veer-too. I've indicated in the early chapters where to put the stress in words of three syllables or more, and in words of two syllables with an accented and thus stressed syllable. In the future, consult a good dictionary when you are unclear about which sylla- ble should be emphasized. Generally, you will see either an accent placed above, or a dot placed below the stressed vowel.

Some Italian letter combinations are seldom found in English. These sounds include the gl com- bination in words such as figlio son pronounced fee-lyoh ; the word gli the pronounced ylee, like the ll in the English word million ; and the gn combination, seen in words such as gnocchi potato dumplings pronounced nyoh-kee , and bagno bathroom pronounced bah-nyoh, like the ny sound in canyon or the ni sound in onion.

Always remember to enunciate vowels clearly and not to slur your words. Say what you see. Double RR's should be held and emphasized when trilled. Double consonants should always be emphasized— but never as separate sounds. They should be joined and slide into one another, as in the word pizza pee-tsah. Rolling Your R's There are a few sounds in Italian that are not found in English, the most obvious being the rolled R. Now curl the tip of your tongue and exhale.

You should get the beginning trill of a rolled R. Once you get it, be subtle — a little trill will do. The Long and the Short of It: Vowels The Italian word for "vowel" — vocale — is almost the same as the English word "vocal," a good reminder that Italian vowels should always be pronounced clearly. If you can master the vowels, you're already halfway to the point of sounding Italian. The follow- ing table shows how the vowels are pronounced. Read aloud to practice. Consonants The following table contains a list of consonants and includes letters recognized in foreign languages.

Once you get the hang of it, Italian is so easy to pronounce that it would be just as simple to read the words without the pronunciation guide. Most Italian consonants are pronounced like the English ones. It's the different letter combi- nations that take a little study. La Bella Lingua The best way to remember how a particular letter combination should be pronounced i's to simply recall a word that you already know. Per esempio, the word ciao is pronounced with the soft c, as in "chow. The word Chianti is pronounced with a hard c, as in kee-ahn-tee.

When you come across other words such as chi and perche with this combination, you'll know just how they're pronounced. A Say ah, as in "father": The rules change depending on what vowel is connected to what consonant. By remembering even one word's pronunciation that follows a given rule, you can always fall back on that word as a way of checking yourself. The following examples illustrate many letter combinations you'll find in Italian.

You know more than you think! It's important to see how much Italian and English share. Remember that a lot of English derives from Latin. It helps to make associations with familiar words. Each time you do this, you are creating a bridge from one shore to another. For example, the word luna moon comes from Latin, as we see in the English word "lunatic. A11 sorts of associations can be made to "illumi- nate" in Italian, illuminare these connections.

Dipthongs No, a dipthong is not a teeny-weeny bikini. The term "diphthong" refers to any pair of vowels that begins with one vowel sound and ends with a different vowel sound within the same syllable. Keep in mind that not all pairs of vowels form dipthongs. Double Consonants Anytime you see a double consonant in a word, such as birra beer or anno year , it is important to emphasize that consonant, or you may be misunderstood.

Take a look at a few words whose meanings change when there is a double consonant.

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As you will see, in some cases you definitely want to emphasize those double consonants: I am anno ahn-noh: A double ss is pronounced like the s in the English word "tassel" and the Italian word passo pass. A single z is pronounced like the z in the word "zebra. Double consonants will not be highlighted in the pronunciation. It's up to you to emphasize them. Practice pronouncing the following words, remembering to slide the syllables together: The word zia zee-ah maintains two distinct, separate sounds and consequently does not produce a diphthong.

On the other hand, the word Italia ee-tahl-yah does produce a diphthong. Keep in mind that diphthongs are always pronounced as one sound. A Is for Ancona When spelling out words, rather than using proper names like you do in English T as in Tom , Italians often use the names of Italian cities. A practical way of remembering the alphabet is to learn how to spell your name in Italian. The name of the Italian letter is given beside the letter. The stressed syllable is in bold. Examples of foreign letters are given with commonly used nouns.

The best way to learn how to speak another language is to spend time listening to it. If you don't have live entertainment, some suggestions include these: Visit your local biblioteca library or libreria bookstore to see what they have on hand. Audio cassettes are excellent for developing listening skills. You may want to see if your local universita has a language lab you can use.

La Bella Lingua Expand your vocabulary. Play the Italian name game with friends interested in learning Italian. Using the letters of a famous Italian name, see how many Italian words you can come up with. Keep your Italian dictionary close by. There are many wonderful sites now offering audio samples. Listen to the Italian radio station or invest in some music you've never heard before. Aside from opera, you'll find Italian hip-hop, rock and roll, and traditional folk songs, often with lyrics. Listen to the different dialects.

Patience and Practice Pay Off Anyone who has ever studied — or even heard someone studying — a new musical in- strument knows that the first time you pick up a violin, you're not going to sound like a virtuoso yet another Italian word. Fortunately, learning Italian is much easier than playing a violino. With a dash of pazienza, a dollop of dedication, and a pinch of pratica, you'll be rolling your R's and sounding like a true Italian speaker in no time.

Keep renting films, listening to musica, and getting out there. Tickle a single R, but rrrrrrroll your double RR's. Rev them like an engine, purr like a cat, or growl like a bear. Slide those syllables together! What if you were told that you were already halfway to speaking Italian? The fact is, you are. Remember that English, although a Germanic language, contains many words of Latin origin. The list of Italian words you already know is longer than you can imagine. Some are virtually the same, whereas most are easily identified by their similarity to English.

Telefono, attenzione, universita, automobile, studente — the list goes on and on. Cognates show how seemingly different languages are connected. Any words that are similar to and look the same as other words in a foreign language are called cognates, or, in Italian, parole simili literally, "similar words". By the end of this chapter, you will be in the know for one of the mysteries of language learning — and with this key, many doors will be opened.

False cognates can be misleading; in Italian, the word parenti means "relatives," not "parents," as one might think. A Little Fantasia You get off the aeroplano in Roma and push your way through la dogana — no, you're not declaring anything. You hail a tassi and tell the driver you want to go to centro, where an adorable pensione that a friend recom- mended awaits your arrivo.

As you race away from the chaos of the aeroporto and onto the autostrada, you are amazed by how veloce the automobili travel; everyone seems to be in such a hurry! The driver of the tassi asks E la Sua prima volta in Italia? You smile and nod your head: You saw the word primo from the last time you ordered a plate of pasta in your local Italian ristorante and remember that it means "first," like the word "primary.

It's a strange sensazione, but you feel as though you've been here before. How could that be? Italian has several definite articles, all of which indicate gender masculine or feminine and number singular or plural.