Sapere and Potere. What’s the difference?
In Italian, ‘potere’ is more commonly used to express possibility or permission, but NOT skill or ability. To express the skill or ability to do something, the verb ‘sapere’ is used, which means ‘to know how to.’ For example,...
Italian Present Progressive
What’s the Italian present progressive? The present progressive tense in Italian is used to describe actions occurring at the moment of speaking. For instance, “sto andando a lavoro” translates to “I am going to work” and indicates the...
How To Use ‘CI’ and ‘NE’ in Italian
Have you been learning Italian for a while? Then, I am sure you have been faced with the quirky usage of the Italian particles ci and ne (also known as particelle pronominali, in Italian). And you’ve been wondering dozens of times...
Italian Indirect Object Pronouns: A Simple Guide
Yes, pronouns are not easy to grasp, but they’re worth mastering. Why? It’s simple. We use them all the time. We use them to avoid repeating things and be concise, typically in a conversation. It’s the same in English and in many other languages....
Mastering Italian: Comprehensive Guide to Conjunctions
Italians are quite wordy and love stringing together long sentences. To put them together they use conjugations (or connectors) A conjunction in Italian is a small word that joins information together within a sentence. I am sure you have already...About
Ciao! I'm Serena, and I'm the creator of Smart Italian Learning. I am the head teacher of a small language school. We offer online, in-person and video courses for Italian learners, with a focus on adult English native speakers. Our courses are based on our passion for teaching and our experience as long-term adult language learners. You can meet us online, or in person in Rome.