Learn Some Important Adverbs to Help You Discuss Time in Italy
When learning about how to speak about "the time" in Italian we must first look at the adverbs that are linked to such discussions. An adverb is the invariable part of speech that determines, changes or modifies the meaning of the verb, name or adjective to which it refers. The name adverb comes from the Latin "adverbium" which means close to the verb or to the word.
Adverbs of time are used to indicate the period of time in which certain actions take place and they answer the question Quando? - DA quando? (When? Since when?) Here below some adverbs for you to keep in mind:
Adjectives describe, qualify or modify nouns and pronouns. They can also be descriptive when describing the noun in detail by assigning an attribute to that noun. In English adjectives generally come before the noun they modify, in Italian they come after. In Italian the adjective and noun must also have to agree in number and gender. Adjectives precede the noun when the adjectives indicate a valuation, impression or a judgment of the speaker.
Summer is here and many people find themselves travelling from place to place. If you’re trying to describe your movements in Italian then it’s important to know all about prepositions of place. The words listed above are all examples of prepositions in Italian that indicate location—where a person, place or thing is or where the noun is going. When considering these prepositions we have to ask: Dove? Where?
Complements in Italian can be a bit tricky for those learning the language. Several verbs in English that require complements after them don't in Italian and vice versa. Complements are generally used in a sentence to provide additional information to the listener or reader. It is an element of the proposition or sentence that complete or modifies the meaning of other elements, indicating different circumstances. Complements can be used with a verb, noun or adjective. Some examples of complements used in a sentence:
Il contadino coltiva la terra = The farmer tills the soil = Il contadino (subject) + coltiva (verb) + la terra ( complement)
In Italian, as in English, we use an interrogative pronoun to introduce a question. Examples of these are:
About person: CHI? = Who? (invariable, subject and complement)
About things: CHE? = What? (invariable, subject and complement that corresponds to "che cosa?") Note: Often in spoken Italian we only use "cosa" as in "Cosa stai facendo?" or "What are you doing?" rather than "Che cosa stai facendo?"
About quality: QUALE-I? = Which? (For questions relating to quality, identity or to someone or something.)
About quantity: QUANTO-A-E-I? = How much? / How many?
A pronoun is a variable part of speech that replaces a noun. (Noun = a person, place or thing). Pronouns like "he," "which" or "you" are used to make sentences simpler and less repetitive.
An adjective is a variable part of speech used to modify or describe nouns.
Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives indicate or point to a noun or pronoun, relating them in space and time. For example, in English "this" and "these" refer to nouns that are close in time or space while "those" and "that" indicate nouns that are farther away.
Questo (=this/this one) is masculine singular. The plural is questi (=these/these ones).
Read on to find out all about the use of indefinite pronouns and adjectives in Italian. First things first, what is a pronoun? It is a variable word that can take the place of a noun (person, place or thing). And what is an adjective? It is also a variable word, which can modify a noun. Indefinite pronouns or adjectives indicate, in an unspecified manner, a quality or quantity related to the noun they are replacing or accompanying. Examples of indefinite pronouns in English include some, enough, several, many (these are known as quantifiers); all, both, every (known as universals); and any, anyone, either, neither, nobody (paritives).
A preposition is used to join pronouns, nouns and phrases to words in a sentence; the object is the word or phrase introduced by the preposition. Usually a preposition indicates the location of the object it is linking to the rest of the sentence (spacial) or explains when it is taking place (temporal). For example, "The glass is on the table" or "She texted during class."
Common prepositions in English include about, across, after, behind, below, beside, but, despite, during, except, from, in, off, onto, until, up, with and within. A prepositional phrase contains a preposition and its object along with adjectives or adverbs.
Explaining and understanding the use of prepositions in Italian isn't always easy, but today we will begin to delve into the issue by explaining the use of the preposition A. A preposition describes a relationship between words in a sentence. In Italian we normally use the preposition A with cities and islands ("Domani vado a Ischia") or before a direct object ("Io scrivo a Carlo"). It is also used with different verbs (andare a or fermarsi a) or with phrases that have a particular meaning (sedia a rotelle =wheelchair).
It's very important to know the use of special signs in writing to clarify how words are used, so if you want to write well, you must use punctuation correctly. In written, punctuation is vital to clear up the meaning of the sentence. The rules of punctuation vary with language, location and time and are constantly evolving.
Unlike in English, punctuation such as commas and periods are placed outside the quote marks when writing in Italian. For example: "Leggo questo libro da molto tempo". The same sentence in English, though, is written: "I've been reading this book for a long time."
These are the most used punctuation marks in this language:
In both English and Italian suffixes, the end part of a word added to change or alter the word's meaning, can be used to describe the noun in a sentence. In the Italian language the suffix has to be compatible with the noun's gender and number or value. Here you will find an explanation of the different type of suffixes--diminutive, comparative, and superlative forms--that can be used in Italian.
DIMINUTIVE
Diminutive forms are used to indicate a noun is small or, in the case of nicknames, to express intimacy. In Italian the most common diminutive suffixes are -ino, -ina, -etto, -etta, -ello, -ella, - uccio, and -uccia.
In Italian all nouns have what is called gender...that means that they are either masculine or feminine. Most nouns that end in "o" are masculine and most nouns that end in "a" are feminine.
Examples of masculine words: treno, amico, panino
Examples of feminine words: amica, lira, studentessa
If a noun ends in "e" it can be either masculine or feminine and you must memorize the gender of the word.
Examples: The word caffè is masculine but the word notte is feminine.
The adverb is a part of a speech that doesn't change (invariable). The adverb modifies the meaning of an other word (generally a verb). Normally the adverb stays after the verb or before an adjective.
Examples:
Maria mangia molto.( In this case the adverb comes after the verb) Maria è molto bella. ( In this case the adverb comes before the adjective)
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
