Archive for the year 2012
Il Gerundio Posted by Serena on Nov 9, 2012
Il gerundio (the gerund) refers to the use of a verb in its –ing form. For example ‘I am writing’, I was thinking, he is talking, etc. In Italian il gerundio (the gerund) is characterised by the following endings: Verbs ending in –are = ando e.g. mangiando (eating) from the verb mangiare (to eat) Verbs…
Il Pettirosso Posted by Geoff on Nov 6, 2012
Rosso arancione contro uno sfondo di verdi, gialli e marroni. È arrivato stamattina, da solo, all’improvviso, una macchia di colore in questi giorni di nuvole grigio acciaio e di piogge che ci assordano col loro trambusto. Qui a casa nostra, quando arrivano i grandi acquazzoni autunnali, quello che fa impressione è più che altro il…
Using ‘Ci’ – The Answers Posted by Geoff on Nov 2, 2012
Here are the answers to our grammar quiz on ‘ci’. Remember that there is often more than one way to translate a sentence. The important thing however is a correct understanding of the usage of ‘ci’. A. Ci is commonly used as un avverbio (an adverb) with the meaning of ‘here’ or ‘there’, e.g. finalmente…
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…