Archive for 'Grammar'
Italian Numbers 1-100 Posted by Serena on Mar 27, 2010
I have had a couple of requests recently for a quick and easy list of numeri Italiani (Italian numbers) from one to one hundred. You can now learn to count in Italian. Allora, eccola (so, here it is): 1 uno 2 due 3 tre 4 quattro 5 cinque 6 sei 7 sette 8 otto 9 nove 10…
Farsi Male Posted by Serena on Feb 10, 2010
My last blog, Una Veduta dall mia Finestra was inspired by the landscape that I see from my window. This blog draws inspiration from a rather different source, my accident prone husband Geoff. Within the last three weeks he has managed to fall from a two meter wall and crack his ribs, remove a patch…
Avvertimenti – Part 2 Posted by Serena on Feb 4, 2010
In my previous blog we had a look at a few of the warning signs that you might encounter when visiting Italy. Today I’m going to continue with the same theme by giving you some useful warning phrases and explain how to use them. Now it’s all very well being able to make sense of what a warning…
Numeri Ordinali Posted by Serena on Jan 20, 2010
Numeri ordinali (ordinal numbers) indicate, as the name suggests, order, succession, or classification. These numbers are regular adjectives, and therefore change gender and pluralize depending on the noun to which they refer. The following list shows the ordinal numbers in their masculine singular form: primo – first secondo – second terzo – third quarto – fourth quinto – fifth sesto –…
Più o di più? Posted by Serena on Jan 17, 2010
Sometimes readers ask me questions which I feel are better answered with a new blog because they deal with important grammatical points. I was recently asked the question: “what is the difference between ‘più’ and ‘di più’?” Probably the best way to illustrate the difference between the two is with a few examples: “Mario ha studiato di…
Irregular Verbs in the Future Tense Posted by Serena on Dec 30, 2009
In my previous blog ‘I Propositi per l’anno Nuovo’ I explained the construction and use of the future tense. Today’s blog will cover some of the most important irregular verbs in this tense. The first group of irregular verbs omits the vowel at the beginning of the future tense suffix, hence –erò, -erai etc. becomes…
I Propositi per l’Anno Nuovo Posted by Serena on Dec 27, 2009
Il 2010 è vicino ed è tempo di pensare ai propositi per l’anno nuovo (2010 is near and it’s time to think about our resolutions for the new year). When we were children sitting around the table eating lunch on new year’s day, my mother used to ask me and my brothers: “Avete fatto i…