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Idiomatic Expressions With The Italian Verb Fare – Part 1 Posted by Geoff on Mar 14, 2016
Last week I published a post showing that the verb avere has many idiomatic meanings apart from the standard translation of ‘to have’. If you haven’t already read it, you can find it here. Today we’ll take a look at the verb fare … which, as we all know, means ‘to make’ or ‘to do’…
Idiomatic Expressions With The Italian Verb Avere Posted by Geoff on Mar 11, 2016
Avere means ‘to have’ … simple, right? Well, unfortunately not! You’ll frequently find the Italian verb for ‘to have’ (avere) used where we would use ‘to be’ (essere) in English, e.g. ‘I am thirsty’ translates as ‘ho sete’ (literally: I have thirst), and ‘they are right’ translates as ‘hanno ragione’ (literally: they have reason) Here’s a list of the…
Gigantic Octopus Saves Italian Village Posted by Geoff on Mar 7, 2016
Given its ancient and varied history it almost goes without saying that the Italian Peninsula abounds in fascinating myths and legends. We unknowingly stumbled upon one of these a few years back whilst exploring what has since become our favourite location on the nearby Ligurian coast, the picturesque, but isolated village of Tellaro and its…
Chi Sono Io? – A Quiz Posted by Geoff on Mar 2, 2016
Who Am I? Comincio il mio viaggio in Piemonte a Crissolo (provincia di Cuneo), sulle Alpi Cozie. Il mio percorso è tortuoso all’inizio, regolare e lineare vicino alla fine. Il mio viaggio è lungo 652 Km. Attraverso le regioni di Piemonte, Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna e Veneto. Nel mio corso in pianura mi divido spesso. Sulle mie…
Intendere and Intendersi: The Solutions Posted by Geoff on Feb 26, 2016
Here are the solutions to the exercises in our two previous blogs: Using The Italian Verb Intendere and Ci Siamo Intesi? 1. Using The Italian Verb Intendere: You were asked to complete the following sentences referring to the examples given (n.b. some had two possible solutions). Here are the answers: 1. Lucia ha frainteso/inteso male quello…
Using The Italian Verb Intendere Posted by Geoff on Feb 22, 2016
The verb intendere has two main meanings. The first is fairly obvious as it closely resembles its English counterpart, ‘to intend/mean’. Let’s have a look at a few simple examples of this first meaning: Intendere = to intend/mean scusi, non intendevo offenderla = sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you (formal) intendo andare a Lucca giovedì =…
Born Again After 42 Minutes Underwater! Posted by Geoff on Feb 17, 2016
How long can someone survive underwater without breathing, 5 minutes, 10 minutes? Did you know that the world record for the “longest time breath held” is an astounding 20 minutes? Makes me feel breathless just thinking about it. Equally amazing, however, is the 42 minutes spent underwater without breathing experienced by a 15 year old…