Archive for 'Grammar'
Poco Posted by Serena on Apr 25, 2011
Poco – a little word that makes a big difference when used correctly! It can be translated as ‘little’, ‘short’, ‘few’, ‘not much’, ‘not very’. N.B. when used as an adjective it changes gender and number according to the noun, e.g. poco sole – not much sun, pochi giorni – a few days, poca pasta…
Mancare Posted by Serena on Apr 19, 2011
The Italian verb mancare means ‘to be lacking in’ or ‘to be missing’. It is an important and useful verb which is well worth studying because we use it a lot in everyday conversation. 1. ‘to miss’ someone or something’ is expressed in the following way in Italian: mi manca la mia famiglia – I…
Parole Omofone Posted by Serena on Mar 12, 2011
In Italian, the letter ‘h’ is silent. This creates several parole omofone, i.e. words that sound the same even if their meaning, or the way in which they are written is different. Here are the most common: Group 1 ho 1st person singular of verb avere = to have: ho uno zio che abita a…
La famiglia ‘Acqua’ Posted by Serena on Feb 26, 2011
The group of letters ‘-cqu-‘ are used by many words in Italian, the majority of which belong to the ‘acqua’ family. Here is a list of the most common: Acqua Water l’acquaio the kitchen sink, more commonly known as il lavello l’acquedotto the aqueduct acquatico aquatic, e.g. pianta acquatica (aquatic plant) l’acquolina only used in…
‘To’ Posted by Serena on Feb 5, 2011
When you’re learning a language it seems that every answer gives birth to at least two new questions, and my recent blog ‘In’ was no exception. In order to deal with one of the most common questions about the Italian word ‘in’ we need to have a look at the English word ‘to’. ‘To’, with…
In Posted by Serena on Jan 15, 2011
‘In’ is one of those Italian words that seems like a gift from the gods for English speaking students of ‘La Bella Lingua’. Finally a word that is exactly the same in Italian as it is in English! … or is it? In = in There are certainly cases in which the two words coincide…
Whatever! Posted by Serena on Nov 29, 2010
When I lived in Nottingham, England, I worked for a while as a school librarian in one of the city’s most ‘challenging’ schools. Working with teenagers is, of course, a challenge in itself, but when they are teenagers from deprived inner-city backgrounds one needs nerves of steel. Come erano maleducati quei ragazzi! (How rude those…