Archive for October, 2012
Grammar Quiz–Using ‘Ci’ Posted by Geoff on Oct 31, 2012
Here are some short sentences for you to translate into Italian, each of which requires the use of ci. Before you have a go at it you may need to check out this post: Tricky Little Words – Ci A. Ci is commonly used as un avverbio (an adverb) with the meaning of ‘here’ or…
Facciamo le operazioni in Italiano – Let’s do some sums in Italian Posted by Serena on Oct 29, 2012
Last week, Transparent Language published a blog called Italian Numbers 1-20 Today I’m going to follow that up by looking at what we call le quattro operazioni (the four operations): addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Here are a few simple examples. l’addizione (addition): due più due fa quattro (two plus two equals/makes four) quindici più tre…
Le Conserve Pugliesi Posted by Geoff on Oct 26, 2012
Here’s another nice blog from our friend Mattia in Foggia, Puglia. Today he’s going to explain how to make traditional Italian sun dried tomatoes. Eccomi dopo un brusco ritorno alla vita scolastica! Sono riuscito a trovare del tempo libero per parlarvi di particolari metodi di "conservazione" dei cibi, in particolare di specialità Pugliesi. Oggi voglio…
Alla Sera di Ugo Foscolo Posted by Serena on Oct 24, 2012
Ugo Foscolo, Italian poet, writer, and essayist, was born in 1778 on the Greek island of Zante (Zakynthos), which at that time was part of the Venetian republic. Following his father’s death in 1788, he moved to Venice with his mother and brothers, leaving Zante for ever. Besides being a poet and writer, Foscolo was…
Italian Numbers 1 – 20 Posted by Transparent Language on Oct 23, 2012
Below is a simple table of Italian numbers from 1 to 20 for students just starting out in Italian. We’ve also included a video with voice pronunciation. Listen to it a few times, and make sure to practice saying the words out loud too; it can be the hardest part of language learning, but this will really help…
La Leggenda di Lucida Mansi Posted by Geoff on Oct 22, 2012
It seems that every town in Italy has more than its fair share of legends, and Lucca is no exception. Here’s one of my favourites. Like all legends, it has several popular variations. My version contains an amalgam of the most common elements. The Legend of Lucida Mansi Lucida Samminiati, figlia di nobili Lucchesi (daughter…
Grammar Quiz: Trapassato Prossimo e Passato Prossimo – the solutions Posted by Geoff on Oct 19, 2012
Here are the solutions to our quiz about the use of the Trapassato Prossimo and the Passato Prossimo as explained in our recent blogs Trapassato Prossimo e Passato Prossimo and e finì tutto a tarallucci e vino I asked you to complete the following sentences using either the trapassato prossimo or the passato prossimo. Let’s…