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I Must Study Italian Posted by Serena on May 2, 2016
Devo studiare l’italiano (I must study Italian), is something that we hear a lot from you, dear readers. We sympathise, trying to learn a foreign language when you don’t live in situ is really tough! We’re also aware that we do quite a lot of high level grammar articles, such as the compound constructions that…
An Italian Quiz For April – The Solutions Posted by Serena on Apr 29, 2016
Here are the answers to our recent quiz. Well done those of you who had a go. Those who didn’t, I shall want to hear your excuses, and they’d better be good. None of that “the cat ate it” nonsense! But seriously, give us some feedback, was it too difficult? Did you not feel confident…
An Italian Quiz For April Posted by Serena on Apr 27, 2016
Monday morning, blog brainstorming, Serena: di cosa scriviamo questa settimana? (what shall we write about this week?) Geoff: beh, secondo me è da un po’ che non facciamo un quiz, e ai nostri cari lettori piace sempre un bel quiz, no? (um, I think it’s been a while since we’ve done a quiz, and our…
Dammi Il Cinque … High Fiving In Italy – Part 2 Posted by Serena on Apr 22, 2016
In my previous post we looked at how we use the irregular verbs dare (to give), dire (to say or tell), and fare (to do/make or let) in their imperative form, second person singular, followed by the direct or indirect object pronouns (you can revise them in part 1). Today we are going to look…
Dammi Il Cinque … High Fiving In Italy Posted by Serena on Apr 21, 2016
Dammi il cinque = gimme five In Italian, just as in English, words often get moulded together to form new, shorter, and more fluent words. The expression gimme five and its Italian equivalent dammi il cinque are good examples of this. Of course, you need to know the underlying grammatical rules if you’re going to…
An Old Italian Springtime Recipe Posted by Serena on Apr 15, 2016
Spring is blooming all around us, re-awakening our senses: the birds are singing from dawn to dusk, the hills are painted in many shades of green, the fields are carpets of flowers, the air smells of mint, thyme and other wild herbs, our skin is caressed by the first warm sun and a fresh breeze…
Buying Clothes in Italy – Part 2 Posted by Serena on Apr 13, 2016
Shopping for clothes, like any other category of activity, has its own specific vocabulary. How do you ask for the right shoe size, or say that the jacket sleeves are too short? What size waist are those jeans, and is that shirt going to fit your neck? Here is some key vocabulary to help you…