Archive for 'Italian Language'
Take a seat Posted by Serena on May 24, 2010
Take a seat…but where? Here is a useful list of some of the most common things that we sit on: la sedia the chair la sedia a sdraio the deck-chair la sedia a dondolo the rocking chair la sedia a rotelle the wheelchair il sedile the seat, e.g. in a car, bus, train, etc. il…
Una Mela al Giorno Posted by Serena on May 16, 2010
A couple of days ago Geoff (mio marito) was chatting with some of his friends in the piazza about sayings (detti) and proverbs (proverbi). They ended up by trying to make a list of Italian equivalents for well known English sayings and vice versa. Here, for your entertainment, is the list so far: una mela…
Mattina o Mattino? Posted by Serena on Apr 29, 2010
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to explain the difference between the words mattina and mattino, which both mean "morning" in English. The two words are often interchangeable, although mattino (masculine singular) is less common than mattina (feminine singular). Here are a few examples in which either word may be used: era una…
Bureaucratic Italian part 2, I tuoi Doveri Posted by Serena on Apr 14, 2010
In the first part of this blog I explored some of the bureaucratic language found in a ‘health and safety at work’ leaflet. If you’ve studied that blog you will all be familiar with ‘I Tuoi Diritti’ (Your Rights), but, of course, as an employee you also have ‘I Tuoi Doveri’ (Your Duties). Let’s find…
Bureaucratic Italian part 1, Conosci i tuoi Diritti? Posted by Serena on Apr 11, 2010
Every now and then I write a blog about ‘colloquial Italian’, explaining everyday language and expressions that you don’t normally find in grammar books and language classes. At the other end of the spectrum we have ‘bureaucratic Italian’, and although it won’t help you much if you want to fare due chiacchiere (have a chat)…
Che Stanchezza! part 2 Posted by Serena on Apr 7, 2010
In part 1 of this blog I looked at some of the expressions that we use to describe physical tiredness. Now let’s have a look at how we express mental tiredness. Listed below are four common ways of expressing mental tiredness, the familiar sensation that we get when our brain is beginning to grow numb…
Che Stanchezza! part 1. Posted by Serena on Apr 1, 2010
Now that the winter is drawing to a close (teniamo le dita incrociate -let’s keep our fingers crossed) all the plants are coming out of hibernation and are having a competition to see who can grow the fastest. So far l’erbaccia (the weeds) appear to be winning, in fact some of them are managing to…