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Italian verb piacere and a bunch of pronouns – PODCAST
“Mipiace”iswhatyoucanreadontheItalianfacebook”like”button,butitdoesn’ttranslateintoastraight”Ilikeit”.LearntheItalianverbpiacere andothersimilarverbs.Listentothepodcast. Mipiace,isoneofthefirstthingsyoulearninItalian.Andasithappensveryoften,whenyoustarttolearnaforeignlanguage,youjustmemorizesentencesbefore gettingintodetailsandstructures.Nowit’stimetohaveasecondlook.Let’sthinkaboutthissimplesentence: Mipiaceilgelato=(Ilgelatopiaceame) NativeEnglishspeakerstranslateitinto”Ilikeice-cream”,andthemeaningisjustright.Butifyoureaditcarefully,theItaliansentenceisactually”ice-creamispleasingtome”,whereGelato isinfactthesubject,andnot Mi,whichinsteadisanindirectpronoun. ThestructureinEnglishis”AlikesB” ThestructureinItalianis”ToA,Bispleasing” …where”toA” isanindirectpronounand”B”istherealsubject. Difficult?No,justdifferent.Let’sfirstdefinealltheItalianindirectpronouns: tome->ame ->MI toyou ->ate ->TI tohim ->alui ->GLI toher ->alei ->LE tous ->anoi ->CI toyou ->avoi ->VI tothem ->aloro ->GLI InItalian,conjugationschangewiththesubject.ItbecomesmoreclearthatBistherealsubjectwithpluralnouns.SoifIsay”Ilikespaghetti”, piacere changesbecausethesubjectspaghetti(loro-they)isplural: Mipiaccionogli spaghetti=(glispaghettipiaccionoame) WeusetheItalianverbpiacere verymuchincombinationwithinfinitiveverbs,whenwelikeanaction, exactly as youdoinEnglishwiththegerund.Ifiwanttosay “Ilikeswimming“inItalian… Mipiace nuotare Swimmingispleasingtome.IfIwanttosaythatswimming”ispleasingtoyou”Igo”tipiacenuotare”,ispleasingtohim”glipiacenuotare”,ispleasingtous,”cipiacenuotare”andsoon.Ifyouthoughtthatthelatterperhapsshouldbe”cipiacciononuotare”or”cipiacciamonuotare”(I’mprettysureyouhaveconsideredthoseoptions…)becausenoi-us isplural,gobacktothebeginningofthispostandreaditagain… Therearesomeotherimportantverbshavingthesamestructureofpiacere,notably: interessare (tobeofinterest,tocareof), servire (toneed),sembrare (toseem),succedere (tohappen).Let’sseesomeexamplesandlistentothepodcast: interessare (tobe ofinterest,tocareof) …
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Conversational Italian: Mica and Manco
Mica and Manco: Popular Colloquial Words in Spoken Italian Mica and Manco are widely used expressions in spoken Italian, often characterized as colloquial. However, …
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Common Italian irregular verbs – Presente Indicativo
Listen and solve the quiz – Italian irregular verbs – 40 sentences As a beginner, you should learn the present tense of some important …
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Bel or Bello? A special Italian adjective
The adjective “bello” is one of the most known Italian words. It follows a special rule, which you should learn and remember if you …
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Italian Imperfetto tense, modal verbs – PODCAST
Let’s have a look at the Italian imperfetto tense of the modal verbs dovere, potere, volere and sapere. Listen to the podcast. We …
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Are you a “quaquaraquà”? Strange Italian people – PODCAST
SomeusefulconversationalItalianexpressionsfordefiningweird,unusualorstrangepeople.Listentothepodcast. Weirdosareeverywhere,includingItaly.ButhowcanyoudescribeapersonhavingastrangeorunusualattitudeinItalian? Itseemsthatwhenitcomestostrangeorunusualpeople,allthelanguagesagreeonstereotypesandcommonexpressions. Fuoriditesta-Outofyourmind Mattocomeuncavallo-Crazylikeahorse Viveresuunaltropianeta-Belivingonanotherplanet Testardocomeunmulo- Beasstubbornasamule Unbuonoanulla-Agoodfornothing Unquaquaraquà- A squealer Cervellodigallina-Hen’sbrain Glimancaunvenerdì-HemissesaFriday(he’snot100%) Averelatestatralenuvole- Headintheclouds Loscemodelvillaggio-Everybody’sfool Thanksforlistening.Ifyouhavequestionsorknowmore,pleasecommentthispostandshare.
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Interrompere qualcuno – Interrupt someone, PODCAST
IfyouspeaksomeItalianbutyouarenotfluentenoughforjumpingintoaconversationandinterruptsomeoneappropriately,hereyoucanfindsomehelp. Therearedifferentapproachesforinterruptingsomeone(interromperequalcuno)dependingonthesituationandthepersonyouaretalkingto.Wecouldtakeforexample3levels:formale,normale,informale.Noneedtotranslatethese3wordsinEnglishright?Wearegoingtogiveyoufourexamplesforeachlevel. Havealookandrepeatafterthepodcastforlearningthecorrectpronunciation.Enjoy! FORMALE NORMALE INFORMALE InthefirstcaseweusedtheformalLei, verypolite; inthesecondtheinformalTuwithsomepoliteformulas(e.g.senontidispiace); inthethirdgroupweusedaverydirectsetofexamples,somethingyouwoulduseonlywithpeopleyoureallyknow. WehopeyoucouldusesomeofthesesentencestointeractproperlywithanativeItalianspeaker.Ofcoursewewouldlovetoteachyoumore.Pleasevisitourhomepage,youcanbookafreetrialItalianlessononSkype(tm).Thanksforlistening,civediamo!
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Andare in bicicletta – Cycling in Italian
Spending a nice holiday cycling in Italy is a wonderful experience. Learn basic words related to cycling and bicycles. “Andare in bicicletta” means cycling …
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