Archive for February, 2014
February Quiz Posted by Geoff on Feb 28, 2014
Our quizzes always seem to be popular, and we get lots of requests for more, so here’s one to finish off February with. All of the answers, or clues can be found in blogs that we’ve written this month. Okay now … concentrate … 1. Eclisse del Cuore: in her version of the classic 80’s…
Our First Date Posted by Geoff on Feb 26, 2014
It’s all very well studying those grammar books but, as I’m sure you’ll know, having a conversation in Italian is another matter entirely. Here’s a blog in which Serena and myself have fun pretending that we’re out on our first date together, and we’re each trying to discover what the other likes to do in…
Favourite Italian Pastimes Posted by Geoff on Feb 25, 2014
Quali sono i passatempi preferiti degli Italiani? What are the Italians’ favourite pastimes? Well, out of curiosity I’ve been doing a bit of research on the net and reading articles published by FITeL (Federazione Italiana Tempo Libero), Istat (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica), and Consumatore News. Here are a few excerpts taken from various publications dealing…
Diamo i Numeri Posted by Serena on Feb 21, 2014
There are many things that we take for granted in our mother tongue, and it’s not until someone actually points them out to you that you say to yourself “hmmm, that’s interesting”. This happens a lot with me and Geoff. As Italian is Geoff’s second language he tends to spot words and expressions that I…
La Mattina Dopo il Carnevale Posted by Serena on Feb 19, 2014
Febbraio mi riporta sempre con la memoria ad un altro febbraio di tanti anni fa. Frequentavo il quarto anno del Liceo Classico di Lucca, quando, per motivi di famiglia, mi dovetti trasferire a Viareggio. Cominciai la nuova scuola in un freddo lunedì mattina di febbraio: poco prima delle otto entrai nella mia nuova classe che…
To Be or to Have? Part 2 Posted by Serena on Feb 17, 2014
As promised in Part 1 of this blog, today we’re going to look at some more verbs which use both essere and avere in the passato prossimo. Let’s dive straight in: 1. suonare = to play, to ring. This is a transitive verb, so it’s normally built with the verb avere: Giovanni ha suonato la…
A Romantic Italian Poem for St. Valentine’s Day Posted by Serena on Feb 14, 2014
Today is San Valentino, la Festa degli Innamorati (Saint Valentine’s day), and to celebrate it what better way than reading a beautiful love poem by Francesco Petrarca. Born in Arezzo (Tuscany) on the 20th of July 1304, from Florentine parents, Petrarca is considered one of the fathers of the Italian language, alongside Dante and Boccaccio…