Archive for 'Grammar'
The Italian Subjunctive – 3. Perfect Tense Posted by Geoff on May 24, 2017
So far in this series on the Italian subjunctive we’ve covered the Present Tense, and Irregular Verbs. Today we’re going to move on to the slightly more complex congiuntivo passato (perfect subjunctive). Constructing the congiuntivo passato: We construct the congiuntivo passato by using use the present subjunctive of the auxiliary verbs essere (to be) or…
Il Congiuntivo Presente – An Exercise Posted by Serena on May 10, 2017
Here’s an exercise to help you practice the use of the Italian present subjunctive. You can revise the conjugation of the present subjunctive in these two recent posts: Italian Present Subjunctive and Present Subjunctive of Irregular Verbs. At the end of each of these Italian sentences we’ve given the infinitive of the verb that needs…
The Italian Subjunctive – 2. Irregular Verbs Posted by Geoff on May 3, 2017
In our previous article about the Italian subjunctive, The Italian Subjunctive – 1. Present Tense, we looked at il congiuntivo presente. Today, we’re going to examine le forme irregolari (irregular forms), once again in the present tense. These irregular verbs also happen to be the most important and frequently used. Here they are with practical examples…
The Italian Subjunctive – 1. Present Tense Posted by Geoff on Apr 28, 2017
The congiuntivo (subjunctive) is one of the more challenging forms to learn in Italian, especially as it is rarely used in English. The complexity of Italian grammar is also its beauty as it allows for many subtle shades of expression and a wealth of creative possibilities. This is part of the pleasure of mastering the…
Congiuntivo o Infinito? Posted by Serena on Apr 10, 2017
When learning Italian, students are taught that verbs expressing desires, wishes, worries, doubts, opinions, and beliefs are followed by the subjunctive. If this is the case, then why do we say “spero di finire questo lavoro entro stasera” (“I hope to finish this job by this evening” infinitive) instead of “spero che io finisca questo…
Aspettare or Aspettarsi? Posted by Serena on Apr 5, 2017
“Ma quello che ci aspettava non era quello che ci aspettavamo” (“But that which awaited us wasn’t what we expected”) wrote Geoff at the end of his post about Verona. Confusing? In fact, that line contains two easily confused forms: aspettare and aspettarsi So, what is the difference between them? Let’s have a look at…
Spot The Mistake Posted by Serena on Mar 27, 2017
This article was inspired by a recent linguistic scandal in which an Italian politician misspelt the simple preposition ‘a‘ (to) and wrote ‘ha‘ (he/she/it has) instead. Now, you can do better than that, can’t you dear readers? Let’s find out ……. Below I’ve written a series of sentences containing some of the most common spelling…