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Tricky little words: Ne Posted by Serena on Aug 23, 2009
In my previous ‘Tricky Little Words’ article I dealt with the dreaded ‘ci’. Now it’s time to get to grips with that other ubiquitous two letter word that can be such a nightmare for learners of Italian: ne! Firstly though I want to clarify the distinction between the congiunzione ‘né … né’ (note the accent…
Ancora una nuova legge da dimenticare! Posted by Serena on Aug 20, 2009
Recently my English sister in law, who lives with her family in France, came to stay with us for a week here in Italy. Having bravely driven right across France in a car packed with herself, her French husband, her three young children and all the paraphernalia necessary for a family holiday, she had the…
Adjectives and their position Posted by Serena on Aug 17, 2009
A few weeks ago in my blog Esprimiti – part 1 I wrote: Siamo entusiasti della nostra nuova casa (we are delighted with our new house), which prompted the following question from Vince: “‘nuova casa’. That’s how we say it in English. Do Italians now put adjectives in front of nouns with there being no change in meaning? Is there a…
Challenging the Stereotype! Posted by Serena on Aug 14, 2009
Every country seems to have its own simplistic interpretation of stranieri (foreigners), reducing them to a limited set of stereotypes. For example, most Italians that I have met since I returned to Italy a couple of years ago seem to see London as synonymous with England, although when pressed they will concede that there is a…
San Lorenzo Posted by Serena on Aug 11, 2009
Ieri era San Lorenzo (yesterday it was San Lorenzo’s day) and questa notte (last night), as is traditional here in Italy, I went out looking for una stella cadente (a shooting star). In fact la notte di San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo’s night) is also known as la notte delle stelle cadenti (the night of the…
Ricette Italiane col Basilico Posted by Serena on Aug 8, 2009
As promised, here are a couple of essential Italian recipes that contain il basilico (basil). The first one is the famous Pesto, which takes about 15 minutes to prepare. The quantities given below should make enough pesto for four to six (Italian!) people. You will need: 100g di foglie di basilico (100 grams of basil…
Tricky little words: “Ci” – part 2 Posted by Serena on Aug 5, 2009
Last week I wrote a post in which I explained as best as I could the many ways in which we use that tricky little word called ci. If you missed it you can read it here: Ci – part 1 . Well done those of you who had a go at translating my two silly sentences…