by Serena | Dec 6, 2023 | Italian grammar
Essere and stare can both translate as “to be,” and that’s exactly why they confuse learners (Spanish speakers, I’m looking at you!). In Italian the rule is simpler than in Spanish: essere is the default “to be,” while stare is used...
by Serena | Dec 6, 2023 | beginners, Italian grammar
What’s the present tense in Italian? The Italian present tense (presente indicativo) has four main uses: To describe actions happening right now: Marco mangia una pizza. (Marco is eating a pizza.) To express general truths or habits: Gli...
by Serena | Dec 6, 2023 | Italian grammar, beginners
What’s an irregular verb? An irregular verb in Italian is one that doesn’t follow standard conjugation rules, like verbs ending in -are, -ere, or -ire in Italian. Every language has them, with examples like “to be,” “can,” or...
by Serena | Dec 6, 2023 | Italian grammar, beginners, intermediate
What’s the difference between “sapere” and “conoscere”? Although both “sapere” and “conoscere” translate to “to know” in English, in Italian they have distinct meanings and are rarely...
by Serena | Dec 6, 2023 | intermediate, Italian grammar
The imperfetto is the tense my students fall in love with once they get it, because it’s the tense of memories: childhood summers, old habits, the way things used to be. It’s also very regular, so the hard part is not the endings but knowing when to use...
by Serena | Dec 6, 2023 | Italian grammar, intermediate
How do you say “I should” in Italian? With the conditional of dovere: dovrei. And “I should have done it”? With avrei dovuto (or sarei dovuto/a). Here’s how both work, with plenty of examples. In short Should = dovrei, dovresti, dovrebbe…...
