Archive for 'Grammar'
If I could have … Posted by Serena on Jun 3, 2009
There is an old popular Italian song from 1939 called ‘Mille Lire al Mese’, which somehow seems very appropriate given the present economic climate. The first verse goes: Che disperazione, che delusione dover campar, sempre in disdetta, sempre in bolletta! Ma se un posticino domani cara io trovero’, di gemme d’oro ti copriro’! Se potessi…
Meta’ or Mezza? Posted by Serena on May 10, 2009
They say that two halves make a whole, but that’s not necessarily true. Let me explain: in Italian we have two words, meta’ and mezza, which both mean “half” in English. This can be very confusing, and students of Italian often find it difficult to know which of the two to use. Hmm, let’s see…
Ombrello, ombrellino, ombrellone Posted by Serena on May 4, 2009
Ideas for blogs come in all shapes and sizes. This blog, which deals with nomi alterati (altered nouns) was inspired by a short filastrocca (nursery rhyme) by Luigi Grossi: L’ombrello Se il tempo e’ piu’ brutto che bello, c’e’ chi porta l’ombrello. Se pero’ chi lo porta e’ un bambino, l’ombrello e’ un ombrellino. Se invece…
Un po’ di giardinaggio Posted by Serena on Apr 16, 2009
Oggi facciamo un po’ di giardinaggio (today we are going to do a bit of gardening). At this time of year we are very busy working on the orto (vegetable garden). I wouldn’t say that we are big gardening experts, but we have had an orto for many years now and we manage to be self sufficient…
Meglio o Migliore? Posted by Serena on Apr 2, 2009
I recently received an interesting e.mail from a reader saying that he had never realized that “adverbs can also function as adjectives and nouns” and he asked me to focus in particular on “bene, meglio, male e peggio in comparison with buono, migliore, cattivo e peggiore”. I must admit that I had a few moments of panic…
Il Riccio e’ … Posted by Serena on Mar 14, 2009
Firstly, well done everyone who had a go at my little competition. Here is the translation of the clues together with the answers: 1. Il primo si trova sulla testa di chi non ha i capelli lisci, assomiglia a una molla. 1. The first is found on the head of someone who hasn’t got straight…
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Posted by Serena on Mar 13, 2009
A reader has asked me to explain the difference between verbi transitivi (transitive verbs) and verbi intransitivi (intransitive verbs), so I’ll try my best. This is always a difficult but, none the less, important topic in Italian grammar. OK, let’s start. Transitivo comes from Latin transire meaning ‘to pass’, ‘to cross’, ‘to go beyond’, therefore it describes…