{"id":1412,"date":"2012-01-04T14:42:17","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T14:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=1412"},"modified":"2016-07-18T09:51:29","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T07:51:29","slug":"parole-e-accenti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/parole-e-accenti\/","title":{"rendered":"Parole e Accenti"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently wrote a blog about the accent in Italian\u00a0 verbs explaining that there weren\u2019t any fixed rules, and that they had to be learned by heart. In order to show how important it is to get the accent in the right place, let\u2019s have a look at a few words that change their meaning\u00a0 completely depending on where you put the accent. Accents in the examples given below are highlighted<\/span> in<\/span> red<\/span>:<\/p>\n

a<\/span>ncora <\/strong>= anchor (noun): la nave ha gettato l\u2019a<\/span>ncora <\/strong>= the ship has dropped its anchor;<\/p>\n

anco<\/span>ra <\/strong>= still\/some more (adverb): la nave \u00e8 anco<\/span>ra nel porto <\/strong>= the ship is still in the port.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

pe<\/span>ro <\/strong>= pear tree (noun): nel nostro frutteto c\u2019\u00e8 un bel pe<\/span>ro grande <\/strong>= in our orchard there\u2019s a nice big pear tree;<\/p>\n

per\u00f2 <\/span>=<\/strong> but, however (conjunction): le pere sono buone, per\u00f2 <\/span>quest\u2019anno ce ne sono state poche <\/strong>= the pears are good, but this year there weren’t very many.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

le<\/span>ggere <\/strong>= to read (infinitive): mi piace le<\/span>ggere poesie <\/strong>= I like reading poems;<\/p>\n

legge<\/span>re <\/strong>= light, weightless (adjective feminine plural): queste scarpe sono molto comode, sono legge<\/span>re come piume <\/strong>= these shoes are very comfortable, they are as light as feathers.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

ca<\/span>pitano <\/strong>= they happen (third person plural present tense of the verb capita<\/span>re<\/strong> = to happen): sono cose che ca<\/span>pitano <\/strong>= these things happen;<\/p>\n

capita<\/span>no <\/strong>= captain (noun): il capita<\/span>no della nave \u00e8 sul ponte di comando <\/strong>= the ship\u2019s captain is on the bridge.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

pri<\/span>ncipi <\/strong>= princes (noun, masculine plural of pri<\/span>ncipe<\/strong>): i pri<\/span>ncipi<\/strong> William e Harry sono inglesi <\/strong>= princes William and Harry are English;<\/p>\n

princi<\/span>pi <\/strong>= principles (noun, masculine plural of princi<\/span>pio<\/strong>): \u00e8 un uomo senza princi<\/span>pi morali <\/strong>= he\u2019s a man without any moral principles.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

a<\/span>mbito <\/strong>= limits, scope (noun): questo lavoro non rientra nell\u2019a<\/span>mbito delle mie responsabilit\u00e0 <\/strong>= this job doesn\u2019t fall within the scope of my responsibilities;<\/p>\n

ambi<\/span>to <\/strong>= sought-after, coveted (past participle of the verb ambi<\/span>re<\/strong> = to aspire to): questo \u00e8 un lavoro molto ambi<\/span>to <\/strong>= this is a very sought-after job.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Pa<\/span>pa <\/strong>= Pope (noun): il Pa<\/span>pa ha celebrato la messa di Natale <\/strong>= the Pope celebrated Christmas mass;<\/p>\n

pap\u00e0<\/span> <\/strong>= dad (noun): quello \u00e8 il pap\u00e0<\/span> di Mario <\/strong>= that\u2019s Mario\u2019s dad.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

pu<\/span>re <\/strong>= too, also (adverb): \u00e8 venuto pu<\/span>re Giovanni <\/strong>= Giovanni came too;<\/p>\n

pur\u00e8<\/span> <\/strong>= pur\u00e9e (noun): mi piace il pur\u00e8<\/span> di patate <\/strong>= I like mashed potatoes.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

ba<\/span>lia <\/strong>= wet-nurse (noun), nowadays used in a figurative way of speaking: sei un adulto, non hai pi\u00f9 bisogno della ba<\/span>lia <\/strong>= you are an adult, you don\u2019t need a wet-nurse any more;<\/p>\n

essere in<\/em> bali<\/span>a of<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>= to be at the mercy of (noun): durante l\u2019alluvione eravamo in bali<\/span>a della natura <\/strong>= during the flood we were at the mercy of nature.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

re<\/span>tina <\/strong>= retina (noun), \u2018a light-sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye\u2019:<\/span> Fernanda ha avuto il distaccamento della re<\/span>tina <\/strong>= Fernanda suffered from a detached retina;<\/p>\n

reti<\/span>na <\/strong>= hairnet (noun): mia nonna si metteva sempre la reti<\/span>na quando andava a letto <\/strong>= my grandmother always wore her hairnet in bed.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

su<\/span>bito<\/strong> = immediately, straight away (adverb): arrivo su<\/span>bito! <\/strong>= I\u2019ll be there straight away!<\/p>\n

subi<\/span>to <\/strong>= suffered (past participle of the verb subi<\/span>re<\/strong> = to suffer, to endure, to undergo): la macchina ha subi<\/span>to molto danno <\/strong>= the car suffered a lot of damage.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

i<\/span>mpari <\/strong><\/strong>= unequal, uneven, one-sided (adjective): \u00e8 stata una partita i<\/span>mpari <\/strong>= it was an unequal match;<\/p>\n

impa<\/span>ri <\/strong>= you learn (second person singular present tense of the verb impara<\/span>re <\/strong>= to learn): se impa<\/span>ri a guidare sarai pi\u00f9 indipendente <\/strong>= if you learn to drive you\u2019ll be more independent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently wrote a blog about the accent in Italian\u00a0 verbs explaining that there weren\u2019t any fixed rules, and that they had to be learned by heart. In order to show how important it is to get the accent in the right place, let\u2019s have a look at a few words that change their meaning\u00a0…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59091,59090],"class_list":["post-1412","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-homograph-words","tag-parole-omografe"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1412"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12101,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412\/revisions\/12101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}