Archive for 'Grammar'
The Modal Verbs Volere, Dovere, and Potere Posted by Serena on Oct 5, 2011
The passato prossimo, as we saw in the last blog, makes use of the auxiliary verbs essere = to be, and avere = to have, in order to express an event that happened in the past, e.g.: sono andato/a = I went, ho mangiato = I ate, siamo venuti/e = we came, abbiamo visto =…
Passato Prossimo – Le Soluzioni Posted by Serena on Sep 30, 2011
Here are the solutions and translations for Wednesday’s exercise about the Passato Prossimo. I have also given an explanation of how to conjugate the key verbs used in the passato prossimo 1. Lo scorso fine settimana io e Geoff siamo andati a Siena, una delle nostre gite preferite. Per prima cosa abbiamo passeggiato per il…
Passato Prossimo: un Ripasso Posted by Serena on Sep 28, 2011
In a recent blog I looked at the difference in use between the two most common types of past tenses: Passato Prossimo (Present Perfect) and Imperfetto (Imperfect tense). Today I’m going to focus on the Passato Prossimo with a little exercise. Fill in the gaps in the following two short paragraphs with the correct form…
Quanto Spesso? Posted by Serena on Sep 12, 2011
In my last blog Quanto Tempo I explained the use of two important expressions that we use when we talk about how long things take. Today, I’m going to continue with the ‘time’ theme by looking at possible replies to the question quanto spesso? – how often? spesso – often: vado spesso a Bergamo per lavoro…
Quanto Tempo? Posted by Serena on Sep 9, 2011
Let’s have a look at a couple of useful expressions that we use when we’re discussing time: 1. quanto tempo ci vuole? – This common expression is used in an impersonal sense to mean ‘how much time is needed?’ e.g.: quanto tempo ci vuole per fare il pane in casa? – how much time is…
Mia Mamma o La Mia Mamma? Posted by Serena on Sep 7, 2011
As promised in Wednesday’s blog, ‘La Famiglia – Part 2’, this article will explain when we use the articolo determinativo – definite article (the), i.e. il, lo, la, i, gli, le, when talking about family members. The first thing to remember is that in Italian we always use the article before the possessive adjective (my…
Imperfetto e Passato Prossimo – Quale Devo Usare? Posted by Serena on Aug 8, 2011
Occasionally students of Italian tell me that they are confused about whether to use the passato prossimo (present perfect) or the imperfetto (imperfect tense), and don’t really understand the difference between the two. A while ago I wrote a blog on the subject which you can find here: passato prossimo e imperfetto, but I think…