Let’s practice the passato prossimo. Quick review and quiz This is just a review, so I am assuming you are already familiar with the passato prossimo regolare. The quiz at the bottom of this page is a basic review with some new vocabulary. Look up the words and verbs you don’t know. In a nutshell, the Passato … Read more ≫
Imperfetto means “imperfect”, not finished. It’s an Italian past tense. A complete guide, quiz and audio examples Imperfetto “non perfetto”, is an important Italian past tense. It’s part of the indicativo mood, a group of tenses that describe real facts, objects, events. The imperfetto describes a situation or a frequent action in the past. It always needs … Read more ≫
Learn Italian comparatives and superlatives. Solve the quiz. Premium podcast for members. Italian comparatives and superlatives modify the value of adverbs and adjectives. Today we talk about adjectives. Italian aggettivi can express the quality of a noun in three degrees (gradi). Grado positivo. That’s the regular value of any adjective. Maria è alta. She’s tall, that’s … Read more ≫
We can use the ubiquitous Italian word “si” to build impersonal sentences. Learn the “si impersonale” and solve the quiz. In Italia si mangia bene. This sentence means that in Italy people, one, everyone, eat well. There is no precise subject and there is no object. We can build this type of sentencers using the word “si” … Read more ≫
Learn different ways to express bisogno e desiderio: need and desire in Italian. Solve the quiz Level, A2 / B1 Bisogna – Avere bisogno – C’è bisogno di… – Servire Bisogna This is an “impersonal” verb, meaning that, in general, it is necessary, convenient, useful, to do something. Bisogna, is very common in the spoken language. … Read more ≫
Tiziano – Ritratto di Isabella d’Este
🔍 Cosa impareremo oggi The Italian partitive article is just di + definite article, fused into one word: del, dello, dell’, della, dei, degli, delle. You use it to say some or a bit of something, with both uncountable nouns (del pane) and countable plurals (dei libri). You drop it in negative sentences (non ho … Read more ≫
Learn how to express availability, existence and occurrence in Italian with a quiz and audio examples When we want to say that somethings is there, exists in Italian, we use CI and ESSERE combined together. For example: Io ci sono. Tu ci sei? “Venite al concerto domani?”- “Sì, ci saremo”. Ieri al mercato c’erano un … Read more ≫
Christmas,ilNatale,isallaboutfamily,eatingandchattingtogetherwithfamilyandfriends. Italianslovetoeat andtheItalianlanguageispackedwithproverbsandidiomsrelatedtofood.LearnthemostfamousoneslistentotheaudioandsurpriseyourfriendswithsomefunnyItaliansentences. Alcontadinonondevifarsaperequantoèbuonoilformaggioconlepere Don’ttellthefarmerhowgoodischeesewithpears.Don’ttellpeoplehowgoodareyourideas,someonewilltakeadvantageofit. Atavolanons’invecchia Youdon’tgetoldatthetable.Initially,thisproverbmeantthatwhoeatstoomuch,diesyoung.Nowadays,themeaningistotallydifferent.Enjoyinggoodtimeatthetablekeepsyouyoung. Bacco,tabaccoeVenere,riduconol’uomoincenere Bacco(Romangodofwine),tabaccoandVenus(women)turnmenintoashes.Liveabalancedlife. Bisognamangiarepervivere,nonviverepermangiare Eatforliving,don’tliveforeating.Don’tmesswithfood,it’sdangerous.ThissentencedatesbacktoCicero,thefamousRomanlawyerandphilosopher. Chimangiadasolosistrozzainsolitudine Whoeatsalonedieschockingalone.Don’tbegreedy. …comeilcaciosuimaccheroni …likecheeseonpasta.Somethinghappensattherighttimeandaddsvaluetoasituation. Chic’hailpanenonc’haidenti,chic’haidentinonc’hailpane Thosewhohavebreaddon’thaveteeth,thosewhohaveteethdon’thavebread.Sometimesgoodopportunitiescometopeopleunabletohandlethem. Chilaseranoncena,tuttalanottesidimena Whodoesn’teatintheevening,can’tsleepatnight. Chinonbeveincompagniaoèladroofalaspia Whodoesn’tdrinksociallyisathieforaspy.Distrustpeoplewhodrinkalone. C’entracomeicavoliamerenda It’sappropriatelikeeatingcabbageatteatime.So,it’snotappropriate. Dopoiconfetti,siscopronoidifetti Afterthewedding,couplesfindoutflaws.ConfettiinItalianaretypicalweddingcandieswithalmond.WhatpeoplecallconfettiinEnglish,inItalianarecoriandoli.Learnmoreabout falsefriends,wordswiththesameoriginbutdifferentmeaninginItalianandEnglish. E’megliounuovooggicheunagallinadomani Betteraneggtodaythanahentomorrow.Don’twasteopportunitiesforemptypromises. Èinutilepiangeresullatteversato Don’tcryoverspiltmilk.SameasinEnglish. Finisce tuttoataralluccievino Itallendswithtarallucci(Italiansavorybiscuits)andwine.Acomplicateddisputeissolvedfriendly. Gallinavecchiafabuonbrodo Oldhenmakesgoodstock.Experiencepaysoff. Glizuccherininonsonofattiperisomari Don’tgivesugartodonkeys.Don’twasteenergyandresourceswithpeoplewhocan’tappreciateit. Ilvinoècomel’amore,scaldalatestaeilcuore Wineislikelove,warmsupheadandheart. Ilvinoèillattedeivecchi … Read more ≫
The Italian present subjunctive (il congiuntivo presente) is used to express, uncertainty, needs, doubts, and emotions. At the beginning of your Italian classes, you probably learned the verbs of the indicativo mood. We can simplify and say that the indicativo is the mood of reality; the congiuntivo is the mood of possibility, uncertainty and … Read more ≫