Archive for June, 2015
Learning Italian: The Back To Front Language! Posted by Geoff on Jun 29, 2015
My mother tongue being English, I can really empathise with the problems encountered by learners of la bella lingua. Let’s face it dear readers, Italian sounds divine … but it’s all back to front, upside down, and inside out, vero? Of course, if you already speak another Latin language your learning experience will probably be…
Pluralise! Answers And Analysis Posted by Geoff on Jun 25, 2015
Firstly, well done all of you who had a go at our Pluralise! quiz. In today’s article we’ll give you the correct answers together with an explanation and analysis. Singular: my grandfather had a cow and a sheep = mio nonno aveva una mucca e una pecora Plural: my grandfather had two cows and three sheep…
My Father’s Old Trade Posted by Serena on Jun 24, 2015
By Serena with English translation by Geoff In questi giorni mio papà vive con noi, cioè con me, Geoff e otto gatti, perché mia mamma non sta bene ed è ricoverata in ospedale. Per tenere tranquillo mio padre e non fargli venire in mente brutti pensieri, ho scoperto un trucco semplice ma molto efficace: gli…
Italian Quiz: Pluralise! Posted by Geoff on Jun 22, 2015
So, how are your plurals? Well today we’re going to find out with a little quiz. But firstly, let’s just go over a few simple rules for pluralising in Italian: Masculine words generally end with an ‘o’ in the singular, and an ‘i’ in the plural Feminine words generally end with an ‘a’ in the…
To Be Or To Be? Posted by Geoff on Jun 18, 2015
Stare or essere? …. that is the question … so often asked by students of Italian. If English is your mother tongue, the concept of two different verbs both meaning ‘to be’ can be pretty confusing. We’ve already covered this topic in depth here. But today I’m going to focus on an important, but easily…
Italian Stereotypes Posted by Serena on Jun 17, 2015
‘Abbiamo fatto l’Italia, ora dobbiamo fare gli Italiani’ (we have made Italy, now we have to make the Italians) said Italian writer and politician Massimo d’Azeglio shortly after the unification of Italy in 1861. Over a century and a half later we still haven’t got ‘standard’ Italians, but rather an eccentric collection of regional cultures…
How Do You Find Yourself? Posted by Geoff on Jun 15, 2015
Trovarsi = to find oneself, is a colloquial way of saying how you find/like something. That ‘something’ may refer to a place, a job, or an object. The easiest way to illustrate how we use trovarsi is through practical examples: Domande = Questions come ti trovi qua in Italia? = how do you (singular informal)…