Archive for 'Grammar'
Presente o Futuro? Posted by Serena on Nov 17, 2010
Some time ago I wrote an article dealing with the future tense I Propositi per l’Anno Nuovo. However, as I often receive comments from readers asking why we use the present tense a lot in Italian when we are talking about the future, I’m going to explain in this blog how to know when to…
Making Comparisons: di or che? Posted by Serena on Nov 11, 2010
When learning how to make comparisons students of Italian are normally taught to use either più (more) or meno (less) in front of the adjective and use di to translate ‘than’, e.g.: Milano è più grande di Genova Milan is bigger than Genoa La mia borsa è meno pesante della tua My bag is less…
Quanti Anni Hai? Posted by Serena on Sep 13, 2010
‘Quanti anni hai?’ (How old are you?). This, and the corresponding reply ‘Ho dodici anni’ (I am twelve years old) is something that students of Italian learn within their first few lessons. The first thing to note is that we use the verb avere (to have) instead of essere (to be), i.e. ‘Ho dodici anni’…
Should, Could, Would ? – part 2 Posted by Serena on Aug 31, 2010
I wrote the first part of this blog in reply to a question from Jeannet about the use of the conditional: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/should-could-would/ Here is another reader’s question that follows the same theme. I think that once again the reply will be useful to share with everyone: Hi Serena, My name is Ureder and I’m a…
Qualcuno, Qualcosa, Alcuni, Nessuno Posted by Serena on Aug 28, 2010
Recently I wrote an article about the indefinite adjectives qualche, alcuni, and dei, meaning ‘some’ or ‘any’: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/qualche-alcuni-o-dei/. Today we are going to look at the indefinite pronouns. Qualcuno Qualcuno means ‘someone’ or ‘somebody’, e.g.: Ieri ho incontrato qualcuno che ti conosce Yesterday I met somebody who knows you C’è qualcuno al telefono che vuole…
Should, Could, Would ? Posted by Serena on Aug 18, 2010
I recently received the following comment/question from one of my regular readers: Salve Serena, Profoundly busy with grammar italiano I need some help in order to prevent myself keeping in mind the wrong statements(being Dutch)-I want to be sure about. In the ‘condizionale’ how to translate in italiano: ..I should be… ..I should have been……
Qualche, alcuni o dei? Posted by Serena on Aug 4, 2010
When talking about unspecified quantities we can use several forms. The most common indefinite adjective is qualche, which means ‘some’, ‘any’, or ‘a few’. The problem with qualche is that it is invariable, and always singular, but expresses the idea of plurality. Let’s look at the way we use it: Ho comprato qualche pianta al…