Archive by Author
A Big Brush … or a Great Brush? Posted by Serena on Mar 24, 2014
Getting adjectives in the correct position in Italian is very important because in certain cases it can completely change the meaning of the sentence. A great example of this is the classic television advert for Boldrini’s Cinghiale paint brushes. Vigile: “Ma cosa fa con quell’arnese? Ostacola il traffico!” Imbianchino: "Devo dipingere una parete grande e…
The Pursuit of Happiness – Part 3. Posted by Serena on Mar 21, 2014
Here’s a poem by the Italian poetess Ada Negri (1870 – 1945), which reflects the phrase ‘Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero’, ‘seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future’ (Horace, 65 – 8 BC), quoted by Geoff in part 1 of this series. I feel an affinity for the message in…
Una Grande Bellezza? Posted by Serena on Mar 10, 2014
It won an Oscar for best foreign language film of 2014, The Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA, but is really all that good? Let me state right here and now that I haven’t actually seen La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), directed by Paolo Sorrentino. But after it was screened at the Cineforum here…
Come Pulire i Carciofi Posted by Serena on Mar 3, 2014
A couple of days ago on my cousin Federica’s Facebook I dropped in on this typically Italian chat about a photo of a box of globe artichokes: Federica: “Carciofi!!!” (Artichokes!!!) Silvia: “Nooo!!! Ma dove li hai trovati???” (Nooo!!! Where did you find them???) Federica: “Torino ” (Turin) Silvia: “Aaaahhhhh, mi hai illuso!!!!” (Aaaahhhhh, you got…
Diamo i Numeri Posted by Serena on Feb 21, 2014
There are many things that we take for granted in our mother tongue, and it’s not until someone actually points them out to you that you say to yourself “hmmm, that’s interesting”. This happens a lot with me and Geoff. As Italian is Geoff’s second language he tends to spot words and expressions that I…
La Mattina Dopo il Carnevale Posted by Serena on Feb 19, 2014
Febbraio mi riporta sempre con la memoria ad un altro febbraio di tanti anni fa. Frequentavo il quarto anno del Liceo Classico di Lucca, quando, per motivi di famiglia, mi dovetti trasferire a Viareggio. Cominciai la nuova scuola in un freddo lunedì mattina di febbraio: poco prima delle otto entrai nella mia nuova classe che…
To Be or to Have? Part 2 Posted by Serena on Feb 17, 2014
As promised in Part 1 of this blog, today we’re going to look at some more verbs which use both essere and avere in the passato prossimo. Let’s dive straight in: 1. suonare = to play, to ring. This is a transitive verb, so it’s normally built with the verb avere: Giovanni ha suonato la…