Archive for 'Grammar'
Reflexive Verbs – Part 2 Posted by Geoff on Sep 7, 2018
In part 1, we looked at how reflexive verbs are formed and how we conjugate them in the present tense. Let’s take things to the next level. We’ll work with the important reflexive verb ricordarsi = to remember. Let’s revise the present tense conjugations: io mi ricordo = I remember tu ti ricordi = you…
Reflexive Verbs – Part 1 Posted by Geoff on Sep 4, 2018
You won’t get very far in Italian without reflexive verbs. Many are fundamental to everyday conversation, and not too difficult to grasp, others are more obscure and can be hard to conjugate. Mi chiamo Geoff (my name is Geoff, literally: I call myself Geoff). This is probably one of the first Italian phrases that I…
Idiomatic Verbs Using ‘Ci’ Posted by Geoff on Aug 29, 2018
In my previous article about ‘ci‘, we looked at its use as the personal pronoun ‘us’, ‘each other’, or ‘we’, and as the adverb ‘there’ or ‘here’. Today, things get a bit more complex as we move into the mystic realm of idioms. Ci is used in a number of important idiomatic verbs that can…
‘Ci’ Posted by Geoff on Aug 27, 2018
Like an elusive butterfly, she flutters from sentence to sentence. Just when we think we can grasp her, with a swift beat of tiny wings, ‘ci‘ flies out of reach, only to alight somewhere else totally unexpected. Luckily, I have a special grammatical butterfly net. Let’s capture her and take a closer look at her…
Italian Cognates Posted by Geoff on Jul 25, 2018
Identifying similarities between Italian and English words can be a very useful way of expanding your vocabulary, but it also has its pitfalls. English is a Germanic language which has been heavily influenced by the Romance languages throughout its history. The Renaissance period in particular brought a huge influx of Latin words, and it’s estimated…
How To Use The Imperfetto Posted by Geoff on Jul 2, 2018
Today we’re going to continue exploring the complex topic of using the past tense in Italian. In Using The Passato Prossimo In Italian – Part 1 and Part 2 we looked at how to construct the present perfect tense using the auxiliary verbs essere and avere followed by a past participle. Whereas the passato prossimo…
Using The Passato Prossimo In Italian – Part 2 Posted by Geoff on Jun 25, 2018
In part 1 we looked at how to construct the passato prossimo (present perfect) in its simplest form. Today we’re going to find out what happens when a direct object is replaced by a direct object pronoun in the past tense. Read on and all will be explained. Let’s begin with an example and an…