Last week, in my blog In Che Condizioni E’ I wrote about the importance of developing a vocabulary of descriptive adjectives in Italian. Believe me, I know the frustration of wanting to say something intelligent on a topic and ending up sounding like a complete troglodyte due to having a limited vocabulary. Everything you want to express an opinion on is reduced to being simply bello, buono, brutto, or cattivo … sound familiar?

Of course, even when you have begun to build up a small arsenal of expressive words you still need that absolutely essential ingredient: self confidence!

So, let’s get assertive … let’s give our statements the opening that they deserve in the hope of at least sounding like we know what we’re going to say.

In My Opinion …….

There are various ways of preparing everyone for your words of wisdom, let’s take a look:

secondo me = in my opinion (literally: according to me), example: secondo me oggi sarà molto caldo (in my opinion it’ll be very hot today)
a mio avviso = in my opinion, example: a mio avviso hai sbagliato (in my opinion you’ve made a mistake)
a mio parere = in my opinion, example: a mio parere dovevano piantare qualche albero per creare un po’ d’ombra (in my opinion they should have planted some trees to create a bit of shade)
a mio giudizio = in  my opinion, example: a mio giudizio bisogna  mettere a posto quella casa diroccata al più presto (in my opinion that crumbling house needs sorting out as soon as possible)

Of the above, secondo me is probably the most commonly used in colloquial speech, so if you want to practice using just one of these … secondo me è meglio imparare l’espressione ‘secondo me’ (in my opinion it’s best to learn the expression ‘secondo me’)

When I’m big I’ll make shade for your children … think about it.

I Believe …….

Now here’s where things start to get slightly more complicated because we’re moving into the dreaded territory of the congiuntivo (subjunctive). In the examples below I’ve highlighted the congiuntivo in purple:

credo che = I believe that, example: credo che sia meglio partire presto (I believe that it’s better to leave early)
penso che = I think that, example: penso che abbiano fatto un buon lavoro (I think that they’ve done a good job)
ritengo che = I retain that (n.b. more formal than credo che and penso che), example: ritengo che i politici pensino solo ai propri interessi (I retain that politicians only think about their own interests)

Politicians ….

N.B. verbs that express an opinion, such as credo, penso, and ritengo are followed by che plus the subjunctive. However, if the action takes place in the future you can optionally use the simple future instead of the subjunctive, example: credo che sarà meglio partire presto (I believe that it will be better to leave early)

to say what you don’t believe/think etc. just add a non at the beginning:

non credo che = I don’t believe that …
non penso che = I don’t think that …
non ritengo che = I don’t retain that …

(don’t you just love it when things are that simple?)

Alla Prossima …