Archive for 'Grammar'
Oh No … Not Ne! Posted by Geoff on May 7, 2014
Yes, it’s time to take another look at that annoying little two letter word that makes even the toughest students of Italian tremble at the knees: ne. Ne has a variety of mysterious uses, but the most common is a means of saying ‘of it’, ‘of them’. Used correctly, it will make you sound like…
Grammar and Vocabulary – Brain Fritters Posted by Geoff on Apr 28, 2014
As promised, here is the grammar and vocabulary analysis of last week’s (disgusting) Brain Fritters post. Quando ero bambina non ero vegetariana, tutt’altro ed anzi la carne mi piaceva molto, con l’eccezione del pollo, che detestavo perché lo trovavo troppo stopposo. A casa mia non mangiavamo solo fettine di filetto e bistecche, ma tutto quanto…
Fried Brains – How to use Italian Reflexive Verbs in the Past Tense Posted by Serena on Apr 24, 2014
Knowing how to use double pronouns in Italian is a task that makes you suffer from cervelli fritti (fried brains), as one of our readers so nicely put it. Therefore, it’s important to keep revisiting the topic. Suppose you wanted to reply to the question: “Ti sei ricordato di comperare il pane?” (‘Did you remember…
How to Write a Hotel Booking Letter in Italian Posted by Serena on Apr 14, 2014
Thinking about taking a well deserved holiday in Italy? Perhaps it’s time to start booking that hotel. Last week we looked at how to structure a formal letter in Italian, so let’s expand on that by concentrating on the corpo (content) of a hotel booking letter. The sample letter below contains a range of questions…
How to use Molto Posted by Geoff on Apr 2, 2014
I remember when I was beginning to learn Italian that I frequently experienced moments of confusion over what should have been the simplest of things. Sound familiar? One of those theoretically ‘simple’ things was the use of molto. Let’s have at look at it’s various translations, and some examples of how we use it: 1…
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…
Now, Where Did I Leave My Glasses? Posted by Geoff on Mar 12, 2014
Ho cercato dappertutto, ma non li trovo! I’ve looked everywhere, but I can’t find them! Here’s a list of all the places I’ve looked highlighting the words that describe position: Ho cercato … dentro tutti i cassetti = in all the drawers sotto il divano = under the sofa/couch sopra l’armadio = on top of…