Archive for 'Grammar'
A Bit More Italian Back-to-frontness Posted by Geoff on Jul 1, 2015
Now why on earth won’t my spell checker recognise the word back-to-frontness? It seems perfectly valid to me! In my last blog, Learning Italian: The Back To Front Language! I touched upon the seemingly superfluous articles il, la, i, and le, in phrases such as la mia bici (the my bike): Hai visto la mia…
Pluralise! Answers And Analysis Posted by Geoff on Jun 25, 2015
Firstly, well done all of you who had a go at our Pluralise! quiz. In today’s article we’ll give you the correct answers together with an explanation and analysis. Singular: my grandfather had a cow and a sheep = mio nonno aveva una mucca e una pecora Plural: my grandfather had two cows and three sheep…
Italian Quiz: Pluralise! Posted by Geoff on Jun 22, 2015
So, how are your plurals? Well today we’re going to find out with a little quiz. But firstly, let’s just go over a few simple rules for pluralising in Italian: Masculine words generally end with an ‘o’ in the singular, and an ‘i’ in the plural Feminine words generally end with an ‘a’ in the…
To Be Or To Be? Posted by Geoff on Jun 18, 2015
Stare or essere? …. that is the question … so often asked by students of Italian. If English is your mother tongue, the concept of two different verbs both meaning ‘to be’ can be pretty confusing. We’ve already covered this topic in depth here. But today I’m going to focus on an important, but easily…
Remember! Posted by Geoff on May 28, 2015
In my previous post we touched upon forgetfulness, a subject which is increasingly close to my heart as I become ‘less young’ (sounds better than older, doesn’t it?). So, what am I doing sitting here in front of the computer … oh yes, an article about … wait, don’t tell me, it’s on the tip…
Forget Me Not Posted by Geoff on May 26, 2015
Do you have problems remembering all those convoluted and seemingly arbitrary rules of Italian grammar? I’ve often found that simple mnemonic devices can really help. Here’s a nice easy one in the form of a flower: the humble Forget me not. It’s difficult to trace the exact origins of the forget-me-not’s slightly nostalgic name. Its Latin…
Back To The Future Posted by Geoff on May 20, 2015
Expressing the future in the past is an aspect of Italian grammar that causes perennial consternation amongst students. But what exactly does ‘the future in the past’ mean? The future in the past (il condizionale passato) is used to express the idea that in the past you thought something would happen in the future. For…