Gigantic Octopus Saves Italian Village Posted by Geoff on Mar 7, 2016
Given its ancient and varied history it almost goes without saying that the Italian Peninsula abounds in fascinating myths and legends. We unknowingly stumbled upon one of these a few years back whilst exploring what has since become our favourite location on the nearby Ligurian coast, the picturesque, but isolated village of Tellaro and its…
How to say Any in Italian Posted by Serena on Mar 4, 2016
We recently received this request from one of our readers: “Trovo il vostro blog molto utile. Ho tanta difficoltà con la parola inglese ‘any’. Potete scrivere un blog su come si dice ‘any’ in italiano? Grazie mille!” In fact, the use of the indefinite adjective ‘any’ is a very complicated subject both in Italian and…
Chi Sono Io? – A Quiz Posted by Geoff on Mar 2, 2016
Who Am I? Comincio il mio viaggio in Piemonte a Crissolo (provincia di Cuneo), sulle Alpi Cozie. Il mio percorso è tortuoso all’inizio, regolare e lineare vicino alla fine. Il mio viaggio è lungo 652 Km. Attraverso le regioni di Piemonte, Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna e Veneto. Nel mio corso in pianura mi divido spesso. Sulle mie…
Can Italian Cats Fly? Posted by Serena on Feb 29, 2016
Mr. Black and the Telephone Pole Sono le tre e mezza di venerdì pomeriggio quando torniamo a casa, stanchi ma soddisfatti, dopo aver trascorso una bella giornata camminando fra uliveti a picco sul mare verde. It’s half past three on Friday afternoon when we get home, tired but satisfied, after having spent a beautiful day…
Intendere and Intendersi: The Solutions Posted by Geoff on Feb 26, 2016
Here are the solutions to the exercises in our two previous blogs: Using The Italian Verb Intendere and Ci Siamo Intesi? 1. Using The Italian Verb Intendere: You were asked to complete the following sentences referring to the examples given (n.b. some had two possible solutions). Here are the answers: 1. Lucia ha frainteso/inteso male quello…
Ci Siamo Intesi? Posted by Serena on Feb 24, 2016
In our previous post we explored the verb intendere. Today we’re going to take a look at its reflexive partner intendersi. The verb intendersi has two main meanings: intendersi = ‘to come to an agreement about’, or ‘to clarify something’, and intendersi di = ‘to be knowledgeable about something’. Below are some everyday examples illustrating…
Using The Italian Verb Intendere Posted by Geoff on Feb 22, 2016
The verb intendere has two main meanings. The first is fairly obvious as it closely resembles its English counterpart, ‘to intend/mean’. Let’s have a look at a few simple examples of this first meaning: Intendere = to intend/mean scusi, non intendevo offenderla = sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you (formal) intendo andare a Lucca giovedì =…