The impersonal ‘you’ is used in English when not directly referring to the person or people in front of you, but people in general - eg ‘How do you get to the centre?’ or ‘You buy bread at the baker’s’.
In Italian ‘you’ express this idea using the pronoun ’si’ and the third person singular form [...]
Here are some basic verbs and examples on how to use them in a simple sentence:
Click here for grammar rules
‘Can’ seems a very simple word in English, but it actually has a number of different meanings which are expressed differently in Italian:
Permission:
use the verb potere
posso aprire la finestra? (can I open the window?)
lei non puo’ venire (she can’t come)
loro possono arrivare alle 8 (they can arrive at 8pm)
Ability
use the verb sapere (to [...]
Italian consonants are relatively easy to pronounce as they follow simple rules and there are no irregularities in spelling as there are in English.
The following consonants are pronounced as you would expect them to be:
b, d, f, l, m, n, p, s, q, t, v, x
However, these consonants are a little different:
c - is pronounced [...]
L’inverno (Winter) doesn’t officially arrive in Italy until the 15th December, although its presence can be felt a lot earlier than that. In many parts of the country nevica (it snows) as early as November, a great start for those who want to sciare (ski) but not so great for motorists stuck on the motorway [...]
Sai?
la gente è strana
Prima si odia e
poi si ama
Cambia idea
improvvisamente
Prima la verità poi
Mentirà lui
Senza serietà
come fosse niente.
Sai
la gente è matta
Forse troppo insoddisfatta
Segue il mondo ciecamente
Quando la moda cambia
Lei pure cambia
Continuamente
scioccamente
Tu, tu che sei diverso
Almeno tu nell’universo
Un punto sei
che non ruota mai
Intorno a me
Un sole che splende
per me soltanto
Come un diamante
in mezzo al cuore, tu..
Sai
la gente [...]
The continuous form is used to express an action in progress at a specified time, either in the past, present and future. Examples in English are:
When the phone rang I was watching the TV
At the moment I’m having dinner
This time tomorrow I’ll be sitting on the train.
Italian works more or less in exactly the same [...]
The verb andare (to go) is probably one of the most common you will use when speaking. It is an irregular verb, but it is definitely worth learning how to conjugate it in different tenses:
Present simple: (io) vado, (tu) vai, (lui/lei) va, (noi) andiamo, (voi) andate, (loro) vanno
Present continuous: verb stare + andando, eg sto [...]
The Italian present simple is quite a handy tense to know as not only is it used in the same way as the English tense, but it can also substitute the near future and the present continuous.
eg. I make the tea (faccio il te)
I’ll make the tea (faccio il te)
I’m making the tea (faccio il [...]
Where English uses a universal verb ‘to be’, Italian has two verbs: essere and stare. It also uses the verb avere (have) in some cases.
Essere is used as a main verb to express simple ideas such as ‘the grass is green’- ‘L’erba è verde’ or ‘I’m Italian’ - sono italiano.
It is also used as an [...]
