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I Trovatelli – Part 2 Posted by Serena on Feb 7, 2017
Part 2 of I Trovatelli follows the same formula as Part 1, the text is Italian only. We’ll publish the English translation at the end of the week. I Trovatelli: la storia di come abbiamo trovato ognuno dei nostri gatti. Jennifer L’anno seguente la mamma dei tre gattini, Gigia, Smokie e Bella, soddisfatta del risultato…
I Trovatelli Posted by Serena on Feb 1, 2017
Here’s a chance for you to test your Italian comprehension … without a safety net! Don’t worry though, we’ll publish the full translation at the end of the week. Tip: you may find it useful to refer to the following articles: Il Passato Remoto–part 1 and Il Passato remoto–part 2 I Trovatelli: la storia di…
Lasagne Bastarde Posted by Serena on Jan 27, 2017
Lasagne Bastarde (Bastard Lasagne). This not very poetic name refers to a type of home made pasta typical of northern Tuscany, particularly the Lunigiana and Garfagnana area, where sweet chestnuts were once the staple food from late autumn to the end of spring. This recipe came about as a way of saving precious wheat flour…
How To Use Venire In The Passive Form Posted by Serena on Jan 25, 2017
Strange how after all these years of writing this blog I suddenly discover that we’ve never written about an important grammatical point: the use of the verb venire (to come) in the passive conjugation. Let’s begin with the passive conjugation: We use the passive conjugation when we want to put the emphasis on the person…
Il Congiuntivo Dell’Onorevole Posted by Serena on Jan 19, 2017
We all know that il congiuntivo (the subjunctive) is a tricky verbal form to use in Italian, and this is true not only for foreigners, but also for mother tongue Italian speakers. For this reason one’s ability to use the subjunctive or not is a real social class divider, here in Italy. We Italians really…
Il Treno A Vapore Posted by Serena on Jan 13, 2017
Here’s a challenge for you: today’s blog is entirely in Italian. I’ll publish the English translation next Monday, which gives you the whole weekend to work on it! Un vero treno a vapore, e per di più a Pontremoli! Non potevo credere ai miei occhi quando la mia amica Clara mi ha mandato una mail…
The Italian Adjective Bello Posted by Serena on Jan 9, 2017
In today’s exercise, we’re going to focus on the aggettivo ‘bello’ (adjective ‘beautiful, nice‘). As with the preposizioni articolate, the Italian adjective bello models its ending on the definite articles il, lo, la, i, gli, and le (the) when followed by a noun (see links to articles about the preposizioni articolate at the end of…