Archive by Author
Indovinello Posted by Serena on Sep 15, 2010
Seems to me that it’s time for a little indovinello (quiz). In order to answer most of these questions you’ll need to do a search for the appropriate older blog. Simply copy the search word given for each question (highlighted in blue) and paste it into the box that says ‘enter search terms’ at the…
Quanti Anni Hai? Posted by Serena on Sep 13, 2010
‘Quanti anni hai?’ (How old are you?). This, and the corresponding reply ‘Ho dodici anni’ (I am twelve years old) is something that students of Italian learn within their first few lessons. The first thing to note is that we use the verb avere (to have) instead of essere (to be), i.e. ‘Ho dodici anni’…
Giovinezza Posted by Serena on Sep 9, 2010
Looking through some family photos the other day, I came across one of my father taken in 1930 in which he is proudly wearing the uniform of the Balilla (Opera Nazionale Balilla or ONB, Mussolini’s paramilitary fascist youth group). For more info see this link: Opera Nazionale Balilla My father, who is now 89, remembers…
Buone Notizie Posted by Serena on Sep 6, 2010
I don’t usually spend much time reading the news. We all know that bad things happen, but if we are to believe the media, the world is a pretty evil and dangerous place. I’ve never understood this obsession with brutte notizie (bad news), and when I pick up a giornale (newspaper), or read the news…
Colloquial Italian – 4 Posted by Serena on Sep 3, 2010
It’s been a while since I’ve written one of my colloquial Italian blogs. In these blogs I discuss the meaning of those little expressions or words which we Italians tend to use all the time, but which are rarely learnt in Italian classes. So, without further ado, here is another small collection with, as usual…
Should, Could, Would ? – part 2 Posted by Serena on Aug 31, 2010
I wrote the first part of this blog in reply to a question from Jeannet about the use of the conditional: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/should-could-would/ Here is another reader’s question that follows the same theme. I think that once again the reply will be useful to share with everyone: Hi Serena, My name is Ureder and I’m a…
Qualcuno, Qualcosa, Alcuni, Nessuno Posted by Serena on Aug 28, 2010
Recently I wrote an article about the indefinite adjectives qualche, alcuni, and dei, meaning ‘some’ or ‘any’: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/qualche-alcuni-o-dei/. Today we are going to look at the indefinite pronouns. Qualcuno Qualcuno means ‘someone’ or ‘somebody’, e.g.: Ieri ho incontrato qualcuno che ti conosce Yesterday I met somebody who knows you C’è qualcuno al telefono che vuole…