Archive for 'Grammar'
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…
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…
Il Verbo Venire Posted by Geoff on Mar 23, 2012
A short while ago I wrote a couple of blogs about il verbo andare (to go). Let’s have a look now at its companion venire (to come), beginning with the common conjugations. Il presente (The present tense): io vengo = I come tu vieni = you (informal) come lui/lei/Lei viene = he/she/you formal comes noi…
Il Verbo Andare – Part 2 Posted by Geoff on Mar 16, 2012
In part 1. we looked at the most common conjugations of the verb andare (to go). Let’s take a look now at some of the many different ways in which we use this verb: – andarsene (to go away) a slightly more emphatic form of andare via: adesso me ne vado, ciao (I’m off…
Il Verbo Andare – Part 1 Posted by Geoff on Mar 12, 2012
Andare (to go) is one of the most frequently used Italian verbs, and it’s very important to master its use. It’s an irregular verb, and has many idiomatic uses. So let’s start with the basics and take a look at its most common uses: 1. Talking about the present il presente (the present tense): io…
Si Impersonale – Part 3 Posted by Serena on Mar 7, 2012
In this third part of my blog dedicated to the si impersonale, I’ll discuss its use when combined with other pronouns. Let’s start with ‘ne’ (of it /them, about it /them), that nasty little word that I discussed some time ago in this blog: Ne 1. Si impersonale + ne The impersonal pronoun si always…
Si Impersonale – Part 2 Posted by Serena on Feb 29, 2012
A few days ago I wrote about the impersonal pronoun ‘si’: Si Impersonale – part 1 Today I’ll continue by looking at some other aspects of the si impersonale. 1. Verbi Riflessivi (Reflexive Verbs) Let’s see how the si impersonale is used with reflexive verbs. Take for example the reflexive verb riposarsi (to rest oneself)…