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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…
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)…
Adagio Posted by Geoff on Jun 10, 2015
I love exploring youtube in search of inspirational musicians, and every now and then I find one that I can’t believe I’ve never heard of before. Just a few days ago, for example, I noticed a video entitled Lara Fabian – Adagio. Okay, let’s have a listen and see what she’s like … mamma mia…
Italian Identikit Posted by Geoff on Jun 8, 2015
Dear Readers, are you tall or short? What colour are your eyes? Do you have straight or curly hair? How well would you be able to describe yourselves in Italian? Here are a few examples of simple descriptions of a couple of my friends. Michele: è di media altezza e grasso. Ha il viso tondo, gli…
How To Describe People In Italian Posted by Geoff on Jun 4, 2015
So far this week, we’ve had two family orientated articles: La Famiglia Italiana and La Casa Della Strega. Today, as an introduction to some of the vocabulary that we use when describing people, Serena and I have decided to write about members of our family who have passed away in recent years. I’ll begin by…
La Famiglia Italiana Posted by Geoff on Jun 1, 2015
“Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family…Ever” (Al Pacino – The Godfather). La famiglia is an absolutely fundamental element of Italian culture, and if you spend any amount of time here you’ll soon find yourself being ‘interrogated’ about ‘la tua famiglia’. But how do you describe the family hierarchy, and what if you want to…
Remember! Posted by Geoff on May 28, 2015
In my previous post we touched upon forgetfulness, a subject which is increasingly close to my heart as I become ‘less young’ (sounds better than older, doesn’t it?). So, what am I doing sitting here in front of the computer … oh yes, an article about … wait, don’t tell me, it’s on the tip…