Archive for October, 2012
Grammar Quiz: Trapassato Prossimo e Passato Prossimo Posted by Geoff on Oct 17, 2012
Here’s a quiz to help you check your knowledge of the use of the Trapassato Prossimo and the Passato Prossimo. If you haven’t already done so you should read our recent blogs Trapassato Prossimo e Passato Prossimo and e finì tutto a tarallucci e vino Complete the following sentences using either the trapassato prossimo or…
e finì tutto a tarallucci e vino Posted by Serena on Oct 16, 2012
In our previous blog we wrote about il Trapassato Prossimo and il Passato . Here’s a little story recounting an event that happened a few days ago. I have highlighted il Trapassato Prossimo in blue, and il Passato Prossimo in red. Sabato mattina dovevamo andare giù a Pontremoli a fare un po’ di spesa, e…
Trapassato Prossimo e Passato Prossimo Posted by Serena on Oct 12, 2012
Il trapassato prossimo (the pluperfect or past perfect tense) describes something that had happened or we had done in the past, for example: era partito (he had left), non ti avevo sentito (I hadn’t heard you). Technically speaking, as you can see from the examples, it’s constructed using the auxiliary verbs essere (to be) or…
Annalisa Posted by Geoff on Oct 9, 2012
Regular readers of our blog will probably have realised that I have una predilezione per le cantanti Italiane (a predilection for Italian female singers). Here’s a great singer that I discovered recently: Annalisa Scarrone, better known simply as Annalisa. Annalisa, who was born in Savona, Liguria, in 1985, became well known last year following her…
Grammar Quiz: Ne, The Answers Posted by Geoff on Oct 8, 2012
Here, as promised are the answers to last week’s quiz about ‘ne’, with a few explanatory notes. Ne used as a substitute for ‘of it’ or ‘of them’, in order to avoid repetition when talking about the quantity of something which has already been mentioned in the conversation. 1. Quante banane vuoi? (Give me…
Grammar Quiz: Ne Posted by Geoff on Oct 5, 2012
To follow up on our recent blogs about ‘ne’, here’s a little quiz to help reinforce the concept. Read the questions below and translate the responses, which I’ve given in English, into Italian. I’ve completed the first one for you as an example. Ne used as a substitute for ‘of it’ or ‘of them’, in…
La Rosa dei Venti Posted by Serena on Oct 3, 2012
If you read or listen to the weather forecast here in Italy you’re quite likely to come across expressions such as: vento di libeccio (wind from libeccio) meaning vento provenienete da sud ovest (wind coming from South West) or vento di tramontana (wind from tramontane) meaning vento proveniente dal nord (wind coming from the North)…