{"id":267,"date":"2010-02-04T06:37:20","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T10:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=267"},"modified":"2010-02-04T06:37:20","modified_gmt":"2010-02-04T10:37:20","slug":"avvertimenti-%e2%80%93-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/avvertimenti-%e2%80%93-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Avvertimenti \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my previous blog we had a look at a few of the warning signs that you might encounter when visiting Italy.\u00a0Today\u00a0I\u2019m going to continue with the same\u00a0theme by giving you some useful warning phrases and explain how to use them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s all very well being able to make sense of what a warning sign says but if, for example, you were a passenger in a car driven by an Italian who understood little or no English, and you needed to warn them about an impending disaster, exactly what\u00a0would you say? O.K., so you\u2019d probably just scream\u00a0and flap your hands about hoping they might get the message, but that\u2019s probably not the best method.<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Giving Warnings\u00a0\u2013 1<\/span><\/p>\n

The most direct method of giving a warning is the \u2018look out\u2019 variety. Here are some of the variations you can use:<\/span><\/p>\n

Attenzione!<\/strong> \u2013 Look\/watch\/mind out<\/span><\/p>\n

Attento\/a\/i\/e!<\/strong> \u2013 Look\/watch\/mind out, here\u00a0the ending changes depending on who you are addressing, e.g. Attento, Paolo!<\/strong> (watch out Paolo!), Attente, ragazze!<\/strong> (Watch out girls!).<\/span><\/p>\n

To give a warning about something specific: Michele, attento alla macchina!<\/strong> (Michele, look out for the car!), Ragazzi, attenti alle scale!<\/strong> (Look out\/be careful of the stairs boys!).<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to\u00a0warn a friend against doing something you can use sta\u2019 attento\/a<\/strong> or stai attento\/a<\/strong>, e.g. Sta\u2019 attento a non perderti!<\/strong> (Mind you don\u2019t get lost!), Stai attenta a non dimenticare!<\/strong> (Mind you don\u2019t forget!). <\/span>In formal \u2018lei\u2019<\/strong> situations use the present subjunctive\u00a0\u2018stia\u2019<\/strong>, e.g.\u00a0Signora, stia attenta a non cadere!<\/strong> (Be careful not to fall madam!), and w<\/span>hen speaking to two or more people\u00a0use the normal plural form\u00a0state attenti\/e a non perdervi!<\/strong> (Be careful non to get lost!) <\/span><\/p>\n

A very colloquial way of giving a warning is to use the expression \u2018occhio!\u2019<\/strong> (literally: \u2018eye!\u2019). To be more specific you can say: Occhio alle dita!<\/strong> (Mind your fingers!), Occhio alla curva!<\/strong> (Mind the bend!), and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Giving Warnings\u00a0\u2013 2<\/span><\/p>\n

Another way of giving a warning is by using \u2018non\u2019<\/strong> to\u00a0tell someone not<\/span> to do something:<\/span><\/p>\n

For\u00a0the informal \u2018tu\u2019<\/strong> form you\u00a0should use \u2018non\u2019<\/strong> followed by the infinitive of the appropriate verb, e.g. <\/span>Non andare troppo veloce!<\/strong> (Don\u2019t go\u00a0too fast!), Non toccare!<\/strong> (Don\u2019t touch!), and so on. For a reflexive verb such as avvicinarsi<\/strong> (to go close to) you\u00a0can use either of the following forms; Non ti avvicinare ai binari!<\/strong> or Non avvicinarti ai binari!<\/strong> (Don\u2019t go close to the railway tracks!),\u00a0note that if you choose to put\u00a0the reflexive\u00a0pronoun\u00a0after the verb,\u00a0you must take the \u2018e\u2019<\/strong> off the end of the\u00a0infinitive and\u00a0substitute it with\u00a0\u2018ti\u2019<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

To say\u00a0\u2018don\u2019t\u2019 to more than one person add \u2018non\u2019<\/strong> in front of the normal plural form of the verb, e.g. Ragazzi, non andate troppo veloce<\/strong>! (Boys, don\u2019t go too fast!), and for the polite, \u2018lei\u2019<\/strong> form use the subjunctive, e.g. Signora, non vada troppo forte!<\/strong> (Don\u2019t go too fast madam!).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my previous blog we had a look at a few of the warning signs that you might encounter when visiting Italy.\u00a0Today\u00a0I\u2019m going to continue with the same\u00a0theme by giving you some useful warning phrases and explain how to use them. Now it\u2019s all very well being able to make sense of what a warning…<\/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":[6,619],"tags":[633,757],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","category-italian-language","tag-avvertimenti","tag-italian-warning-signs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267","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=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}