In short: Italian indefinite adjectives and pronouns (aggettivi e pronomi indefiniti) are the small army of words that talk about unspecified quantities or identities: someone, nobody, every, all, a few, too many, whatever. Some work only as adjectives (ogni, qualche, qualunque, qualsiasi), some only as pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno, chiunque, nulla, niente), and a large family … Read more ≫
Italian essere vs stare: when each verb wins, with the four jobs of stare (location, health, behavior, progressive), past participle stato, and seven traps.
Italian indirect speech (discorso indiretto) is the system for reporting what someone else said or thought without quoting them word for word. In English the tense backshift is light (He said he was tired). In Italian the shift is deeper: verbs, demonstratives, time words, place words, and sometimes even the mood all move together. This … Read more ≫
The stress on Italian words can be on different syllables. Let’s learn different scenarios and rules. Accento piano. (plain stress) The vast majority of Italian words has the stress on the penultimate syllable, hence the musical cadence of our language. If you have doubts on a word and need to guess, that’s the easiest way … Read more ≫
Italian if-clauses (periodo ipotetico, Italian conditional sentences) come in three flavours: real, possible, impossible. Real uses the indicative on both sides. Possible pairs congiuntivo imperfetto with condizionale presente. Impossible pairs congiuntivo trapassato with condizionale passato. Mix past and present on purpose, learn the spoken shortcut real Italians use, and the se-clause stops being a minefield. … Read more ≫
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The tenses of the Italian Indicativo Mood “Indicate”, a Real Situation. Let’s describe and understand them with some examples. We can simplify and say that the indicativo is the mood of reality; the congiuntivo is the mood of possibility, uncertainty, and opinion; the condizionale is the mood of possibility under a certain condition; the imperativo … Read more ≫
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Studi spesso l’italiano? Learn the most common Italian adverbs of frequency Italian adverbs of frequency are part of a bigger family: avverbi di tempo. We can simplify and use the most common ones, as described in this chart. Mai and Sempre, never and always, are the extremes of the range. Some examples (without translation…). mai = never -> … Read more ≫