🔍 In short. Italian adverbial phrases without mente carry half of everyday speech. Italians prefer con calma over calmamente, in modo strano over stranamente, and alla buona over almost any single-word version. Three patterns do most of the work: con + abstract noun (con calma, con pazienza, con cura), in modo + adjective (in modo … Read more ≫
🔍 In short. In standard Italian you say Lei when you address one person politely. But travel to Napoli, Bari, Palermo or Lecce, walk into a small bakery, and you will hear something different. A young clerk turns to an older customer and says voi. One person, plural pronoun. This is the singular voi, the … Read more ≫
Italian emphasis words mai, diavolo, altro, proprio, davvero. The B1 guide to ‘on earth’, ‘ever’, ‘else’ in Italian questions and statements, with a fresh Padova dialogue.
🔍 In short. Written Italian and spoken Italian are two different beasts. If you only study textbook Italian, you walk into a bar in Bologna and miss half of what your friends say. Words like mica, boh, tipo, cioè, the apostrophe forms ‘sto and ‘sta, the tag no?, and cosa? instead of che cosa? are … Read more ≫
Italian material and contents prepositions at A2: di legno vs in oro for what something is made of, con funghi for ingredients, senza zucchero for what is missing. Comparison table and Lucca jeweler dialogue.
🔍 In short. Italian has five verbs whose tu command shrinks to a single syllable with an apostrophe: di’, fa’, va’, da’, sta’. A2 guide to the five short Italian commands, the doubling trick (dimmi, fammi, vacci, dammi, stammi), the gli exception, and a Lucca kitchen dialogue with mum and son.
🔍 In short. Italian short pronouns mi, ti, lo, la, gli, le, ci, vi hug the verb. Direct vs indirect, position, and elision explained for A1 learners.
Italian has 3 simple question patterns: voice up on a statement (Marco viene?), question word first (Dove vai?), or verb before the name (Viene Marco?). Plus short tags vero?, no?, non è vero?. A2 guide with a Trento-Treviso phone interview dialogue, cheat sheet and FAQ.
Italian from has two prepositions: da for motion (vengo da Trieste, esce dal panificio) and di for permanent origin (sono di Lecce). Plus da dentro and da fuori for ‘from inside’ and ‘from outside’. A2 guide with cheat sheet, mini-tasks, dialogue and FAQ.
Italian a vs per with a person: a marks the recipient (ho dato il libro a Marco), per marks the beneficiary (ho comprato un regalo per Anna). A2 guide with verb lists, table, Verona dialogue, quiz.