How to master the Italian Imperfetto
How to master the Italian Imperfetto For starters… WHAT’S THE IMPERFETTO? The imperfetto is a tense, a past tense. We use the imperfect tense to talk about past actions that happened as a habit, to describe the context of past actions or events, and in a few other cases. As the name says, the action […]
My podcast: 7 minutes in slow Italian
I HAVE LAUNCHED A PODCAST SERIES FOR ITALIAN LEANERS! WHY I CREATED 7 MINUTES IN SLOW ITALIAN As a Language Coach, working with a large number of students, I have realized there is a shortage of content for listening comprehension for Italian beginners or intermediate learners. As an avid language learner, the biggest obstacle […]
5 common mistakes beginners make when speaking Italian
6 common mistakes learners make when speaking Italian While coaching my students over the years, there are some mistakes that I keep hearing all the time, despite the Italian level of my students. If it is true that “one learns, by making mistakes”, it is also true repeating all the time the same errors might […]
The use of FARE and with an INFINITIVE verb
How to use FARE + infinitive verb Faccio riparare il frigo a mio fratello or mi faccio riparare il frigo da mio fratello (I will have the fridge repaired by my brother) Your keen eye might spot the interesting usage of the verb fare and an infinitive that you have ever seen before. FARE […]
5 ways to use the Italian word PROPRIO
5 ways to use the Italian word PROPRIO 1. Proprio as an adverb (really, just) As ad adverb, proprio, meaning really Quello studente è proprio bravo! Mi piace proprio il nuovo film di Sorrentino Sometimes proprio means ‘just’, especially when combined with the adverbs of time (adesso, ora ) or a numeral adjective Ho finito […]
The Italian connectors: how to learn them
The Italian connectors: how to learn them Italians are quite wordy and love stringing together long sentences. To put them together they use connectors (or conjugations) A connector in Italian is a small word that joins information together within a sentence. I am sure you have already eavesdropped on many of them without being too […]
The mysterious combination of the pronoun ci and the verb avere
Everybody agrees that the pronoun ci is, probably, one of the most mysterious word in Italian, and thus, I thought it would be great to discuss in the post, the use of ci when occurring with the forms of the verb avere. 1.Ce l’hai? Ce l’ho! Non ce l’ho! I am sure you might already […]
5 tips on how to use the Italian possessives
5 THINGS ABOUT THE ITALIAN POSSESSIVES 1. The key differences between English and Italian The Italian possessive adjectives are always accompanied by articles (except for some cases I will touch upon below). In English, possessives are never used with articles. The possessive adjectives and the articles preceding them agree in terms of gender and number with […]