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Verbi di Movimento – Part 2 Posted by Serena on Apr 11, 2012
In Part 1 of this post I looked at which verbs of movement use the auxiliary essere and which use avere to form the passato prossimo. In Part 2 we’ll be looking at movement verbs that can use either essere or avere in the passato prossimo. Most of these verbs use essere when followed by…
Cura Ricostituente di Primavera Posted by Serena on Apr 6, 2012
È primavera, e le galline si sono rimesse a deporre le uova. Abitando in un piccolo paese, molte famiglie intorno a noi hanno il pollaio e così, in questo periodo dell’anno, capita spesso che qualcuno ci regali delle uova fresche. Pertanto mi è tornato in mente una cosa che mi raccontava mia madre: da bambina…
Le Pulizie di Pasqua Posted by Serena on Apr 2, 2012
I’ve had several requests recently for more articles in Italian. Well of course it’s always a pleasure for me to write in my mother tongue, so here we go! I’ll give you a short vocabulary with some keywords and idiomatic expressions at the end of the post. If you have any problems please ask for…
Verbi di Movimento – Part 1 Posted by Serena on Mar 30, 2012
To follow on from our series of articles on the verbs ‘andare’ and ‘venire’, I thought it would be good to take a look at the most common verbs that describe movement, and to find out when to use essere and when to use avere to construct the passato prossimo (present perfect). Let’s start with…
Le Scarpine di Valentino Posted by Serena on Mar 28, 2012
It’s March, and there’s blossom all around us. A couple of days ago we were going for a walk down in the valley when I saw a beautiful bush of biancospino (hawthorn) covered in white flowers. Without thinking I started reciting a poem from my childhood: “Oh! Valentino vestito di nuovo, come le brocche dei…
In Cucina Posted by Serena on Mar 26, 2012
In Italian we have two verbs that both mean ‘to cook’, cucinare and cuocere. Cucinare refers to the work done by il cuoco/la cuoca (the cook), i.e. the process of cooking/making food, e.g oggi cucino le lasagne (today I’m cooking/making lasagne), Maria sa cucinare tutti i piatti tradizionali della zona (Maria knows how to cook/make…
La Quaresima Posted by Serena on Mar 21, 2012
A few days ago I met my friend Cecilia, an inexhaustible source of Italian traditions who, knowing about my blogging job, stopped me in the street saying: “Tu che sei sempre alla ricerca di tradizioni, me n’è venuta in mente una sulla Quaresima che si usava un tempo dalle mie parti, giù nel Sud Italia”…