I’ve Got a Cold Posted by Serena on Mar 23, 2016
Ogni medaglia ha il suo rovescio, every cloud has a silver lining. The cloud is my miserable cold, and the silver lining is that you get to learn some useful vocabulary. So, now you can moan about how bad you feel in both English and Italian … lucky you …. etciù!!! Suona il telefono. Serena…
Does It Suit Me – Does It Fit Me? Posted by Geoff on Mar 21, 2016
Here’s a little point of grammar that can easily trip up the unwary: In Italian, when we talk about things fitting, we usually use the form starci (from the verb stare = to be/stay/remain and ci = there). Let’s take a look at some examples: Mi puoi mettere questa valigia in bagagliaio? – Purtroppo non…
An Italian Poem for Father’s Day Posted by Serena on Mar 18, 2016
Here in Italy, the 19th of March is La Festa del Papà (Father’s day). Here’s a beautiful poem written by Camillo Sbarbaro (1888 – 1967) and published in 1914 in the collection Pianissimo. The poem takes its title from the first line: Padre, se anche tu non fossi il mio padre (Father, even if you…
Idiomatic Expressions With The Italian Verb Fare – Part 2 Posted by Geoff on Mar 16, 2016
Well, I did warn you that there are a lot of idiomatic expression with the verb fare! If you missed part 1 of this post you can find it HERE. 1. idiomatic weather expressions with fare: fare caldo/freddo = to be hot/cold: oggi fa proprio freddo! = it’s really cold today! fare bel/brutto/cattivo tempo =…
Idiomatic Expressions With The Italian Verb Fare – Part 1 Posted by Geoff on Mar 14, 2016
Last week I published a post showing that the verb avere has many idiomatic meanings apart from the standard translation of ‘to have’. If you haven’t already read it, you can find it here. Today we’ll take a look at the verb fare … which, as we all know, means ‘to make’ or ‘to do’…
Idiomatic Expressions With The Italian Verb Avere Posted by Geoff on Mar 11, 2016
Avere means ‘to have’ … simple, right? Well, unfortunately not! You’ll frequently find the Italian verb for ‘to have’ (avere) used where we would use ‘to be’ (essere) in English, e.g. ‘I am thirsty’ translates as ‘ho sete’ (literally: I have thirst), and ‘they are right’ translates as ‘hanno ragione’ (literally: they have reason) Here’s a list of the…
An Inspiring Italian Teacher Posted by Serena on Mar 8, 2016
Oggi, 8 marzo, è la Festa della Donna e voglio dedicarlo ad una donna speciale per me. Non la mamma, che ovviamente è sempre la donna più speciale, ma una maestra. Eravamo a Bengasi dove, dopo la rivoluzione del 1969 che aveva portato al regime Gheddafi, il Console italiano aveva concesso alcune stanze del consolato…