Archive for 'Grammar'
Il Congiuntivo Part 2 – Verbi Irregolari Posted by Serena on Oct 4, 2009
As I promised in part one of this article: il congiuntivo part-1 presente, here is a list of the most useful irregular verbs conjugated in the congiuntivo presente (present subjunctive). Essere (to be): io sia, tu sia, lui/lei sia, noi siamo, voi siate, loro siano Avere (to have): io abbia, tu abbia, lui/lei abbia, noi abbiamo, voi abbiate…
Il Congiuntivo Part 1 – Presente Posted by Serena on Oct 1, 2009
Several readers have asked me to explain how and when to use the congiuntivo (subjunctive), a verb form which is not used very much in English but is quite common in Italian. This is quite a big topic, so in order to make it more ‘digestible’ I have decided to divide it into several “chapters”. Let’s begin with the Congiuntivo Presente (present subjunctive). The…
Mind where you put your adjectives! Posted by Serena on Sep 19, 2009
At the end of my previous blog dealing with adjectives and their positions I said: “Finally, there are some cases in which adjectives change meaning according to their position, but I will save that for a rainy day!” Well il giorno piovoso (the rainy day) has finally arrived after almost two months of siccità (dryness), so…
Pronomi Personali Indiretti part 2: Forme Atone Posted by Serena on Sep 7, 2009
In part 1 of this article I introduced the forme toniche (stressed forms) of the indirect personal pronouns; in this second part we’re going to have a look at the forme atone or ‘unstressed forms’, which are less emphatic than the forme toniche. In more technical terms, the forme atone have the grammatical function of the complemento di termine or dative. Here…
Pronomi Personali Indiretti Part 1: Forme Toniche Posted by Serena on Sep 4, 2009
The topic of pronomi personali indiretti (indirect personal pronouns) is a fairly large one, so I am splitting it into two separate blogs, each dealing with one of the two forms which you will encounter. At the end of part two I will explain how to work out when to use each form. Il pronome personale indiretto is used…
Verbs followed by the preposition ‘Di’ Posted by Serena on Aug 26, 2009
At the end of my previous article ‘Tricky little words: ‘Ne’’ I promised you a list of common verbs that are normally followed by the preposition di, and which can be substituted by the particella pronominale ‘ne’. Several of the verbs in this list are reflexive, therefore when using the ‘ne’ the reflexive pronoun goes…
Tricky little words: Ne Posted by Serena on Aug 23, 2009
In my previous ‘Tricky Little Words’ article I dealt with the dreaded ‘ci’. Now it’s time to get to grips with that other ubiquitous two letter word that can be such a nightmare for learners of Italian: ne! Firstly though I want to clarify the distinction between the congiunzione ‘né … né’ (note the accent…