Grammar

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

The name or (substantive) sostantivo is the variable part of the speech that indicates a person, a thing, or animal.

Gender of the Nouns (Genere dei Nomi)
- As in the other modern Romance languages, the nouns in Italian are either of masculine or of feminine gender.
Usually, the nouns in -o are masculine and those in -a (-tà) are feminine, cf.:

Masculines in -o Feminines in -a (-tà)
tavolo table
sviluppo development
organismo organism
casa house
rosa rose
città city

Idioms with the verb "Fare"

Friday, November 6th, 2009

An idiom is an expression that can not be translated litteraly from English to Italian or vice versa. For example the expression "faccio il biglietto" litteraly translated from Italian to English would read: "I do the ticket". However, what the person is really trying to say is: I am buying a ticket. I Do the ticket makes no sense in English!

Below are some common idioms with the verb "fare" which means to do or make.

fare i compiti to do one's homework

Italian pronouns Ci vs Ne

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Both "ci" and "ne" are pronouns which means that they take the place of nouns.

"Ci" is ofen times used in order to say "there". It often times replaces phrases with the word "a" in them.

Vado alla scuola = I go to the school.

BUT

Ci vado = I go there. Ci replaced "a" and "la scuola" (they are now gone)

Vai in Italia = you go to Italy.

BUT

Ci vai = you go there.

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Ne is used with quantities or how many of something you have. It many times can mean "of them"

Ho due computer = I have two computers.

BUT

Ne ho due = I have two of them. Ne replaces "computers" (which are now gone)

Numbers in Italian

Numbers in Italian - Numeri in Italiano

Italian vowels test

Italian vowels VIDEO test

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Italian Pronouns 2

ITALIAN PRONOUNS (pronomi) – Part 2

2. OBJECT PRONOUNS

Object pronouns are used as object of the verb and can be direct or indirect.

Direct object pronouns answer the questions “Chi?” or “Che cosa?” (“Whom?” or “What?”).

Italian Pronouns

ITALIAN PRONOUNS (pronomi)

THE PRONOUNS in ITALIAN

Pronouns are used, above all, to replace a noun as a way to avoid repetitions, but they can also replace adjectives, verbs, other pronouns and even whole phrases.

Examples:

Grammar: Adjectives 2

ADJECTIVES (aggettivi)

THE COMPARATIVE DEGREE

With the comparative degree we intend to describe a noun, a pronoun, or a verb by comparing it to another one.

Articles in Italian

Learn Italian : ARTICLES (Articoli)

In Italian, as in English, there are definite articles (articoli determinativi) and indefinite articles (articoli indeterminativi). There is also a third type of articles called partitive articles (articoli partitivi).

All articles agree in gender and number with the substantive they refer to.

Note: In Italian there are only two genders: the masculine and the feminine. For more information see the lesson: “The nouns”.

DEFINITE ARTICLE

The definite article is used to introduce nouns which refer to specific items.

Adjectives in Italian

ADJECTIVES (aggettivi)

Adjectives are the part of speech that is added to a noun to describe it or to determine it more precisely. Adjectives have not an independent existence, but must always be used together with the noun to which they refer.

The adjective, in relation to the noun to which it refers, has two basic functions:

Nouns and Gender

NOUNS IN ITALIAN (i nomi / sostantivi)

Nouns are the labels we attach to people, animals, things, abstract concepts, actions or facts and that let us distinguish a person, an animal, a thing, etc. from another one.

THE GENDER OF NOUNS IN ITALIAN

All nouns have a Gender. In Italian there are only 2 genders: masculine and feminine. There is no a neuter gender.

Human beings and common domestic animals have a masculine noun if they are male or a feminine one if they are female.

The gender of the rest of the nouns can be often established by ending or by meaning but, as there are so many exceptions, the best thing to do is to learn the noun with the definite article.