Gigia And The Grape Jam Posted by Serena on Oct 9, 2015
The setting: Geoff and Serena’s kitchen. The characters: Serena and Gigia the cat. Gigia, seduta sul tavolo della cucina mentre osserva Serena al lavoro con pentole, bilancia, colapasta e uva, tanta uva: “Questa è l’uva che tu e Geoff avete raccolto stamattina sull’orto?” Gigia, sitting on the kitchen table whilst observing Serena at work with…
Carmela’s Italian Footwear Obsession – Part 2 Posted by Geoff on Oct 7, 2015
When the train pulled out of La Stazione Di Mantova just before midday, Carmela was still on board. Mantova had been on her list of ‘luoghi da visitare’ along with the name of an expensive shoe shop and a conveniently located bank, but having told the young vigile that silly story about visiting her poorly…
It’s All The Same Posted by Serena on Oct 5, 2015
… è sempre la stessa storia = it’s always the same old story … study, study, study! Yes my friends, but it’s worth it in the end! So, without further ado, here’s something else for you to study: how do we say ‘the same’ in Italian? Well, there are three main ways: 1. stesso/i/a/e: the…
Carmela’s Italian Footwear Obsession – Part 1 Posted by Geoff on Oct 2, 2015
Carmela boarded the 07:21 train bound for Modena. Wearing a Bonnie Parker style beret, an old faded red hoodie and worn out jeans, she blended in like a chameleon with the early morning workers on their way to just another day on the production line. But Carmela’s was a different line of work. It had…
In a Shoe Shop in Italy Posted by Serena on Sep 30, 2015
The setting: It’s the end of the summer, shops are advertising very attractive saldi di fine stagione (end of season sales). A young lady is browsing the windows of a very expensive negozio di calzature (shoe shop), obviously tempted by l’occasionissima (the fantastic bargains). She enters the shop ……. Commessa: “Desidera signora?” Shop assistant: “Can…
“I Like You!” Posted by Geoff on Sep 28, 2015
A reader recently left a comment on my article I Would Have Liked asking for more “curly conjugations”. I was particularly taken by that phrase, and immediately decided to adopt it as a blog theme. So, where better to begin than with one of the curliest of all Italian constructions: piacere. And to keep things nice…
Down On The Farm In Italy – The Solutions Posted by Geoff on Sep 25, 2015
Isn’t it frustrating when something that should be simple turns out to be surprisingly difficult? Farm animals, animal noises, the things that we learn in nursery school in our mother tongue, become illusive. Are we really at the pre-nursery stage in our studies of the Italian language? Not really. The problem, as I so often…