Archive for the year 2012
Le Pulizie di Pasqua – un po’ di grammatica Posted by Geoff on Apr 4, 2012
Several readers found our last blog quite a challenge to translate … well sometimes that’s not a bad thing! However, in order to help you out a bit, here is part of the blog again, except that this time I have highlighted some points of grammar rather than vocabulary. Le grandi pulizie che si fanno…
Le Pulizie di Pasqua Posted by Serena on Apr 2, 2012
I’ve had several requests recently for more articles in Italian. Well of course it’s always a pleasure for me to write in my mother tongue, so here we go! I’ll give you a short vocabulary with some keywords and idiomatic expressions at the end of the post. If you have any problems please ask for…
Verbi di Movimento – Part 1 Posted by Serena on Mar 30, 2012
To follow on from our series of articles on the verbs ‘andare’ and ‘venire’, I thought it would be good to take a look at the most common verbs that describe movement, and to find out when to use essere and when to use avere to construct the passato prossimo (present perfect). Let’s start with…
Le Scarpine di Valentino Posted by Serena on Mar 28, 2012
It’s March, and there’s blossom all around us. A couple of days ago we were going for a walk down in the valley when I saw a beautiful bush of biancospino (hawthorn) covered in white flowers. Without thinking I started reciting a poem from my childhood: “Oh! Valentino vestito di nuovo, come le brocche dei…
In Cucina Posted by Serena on Mar 26, 2012
In Italian we have two verbs that both mean ‘to cook’, cucinare and cuocere. Cucinare refers to the work done by il cuoco/la cuoca (the cook), i.e. the process of cooking/making food, e.g oggi cucino le lasagne (today I’m cooking/making lasagne), Maria sa cucinare tutti i piatti tradizionali della zona (Maria knows how to cook/make…
Il Verbo Venire Posted by Geoff on Mar 23, 2012
A short while ago I wrote a couple of blogs about il verbo andare (to go). Let’s have a look now at its companion venire (to come), beginning with the common conjugations. Il presente (The present tense): io vengo = I come tu vieni = you (informal) come lui/lei/Lei viene = he/she/you formal comes noi…
La Quaresima Posted by Serena on Mar 21, 2012
A few days ago I met my friend Cecilia, an inexhaustible source of Italian traditions who, knowing about my blogging job, stopped me in the street saying: “Tu che sei sempre alla ricerca di tradizioni, me n’è venuta in mente una sulla Quaresima che si usava un tempo dalle mie parti, giù nel Sud Italia”…