Italian language course

Just to start

2049-12-27T16:24:00.000-08:00

Right now I am going to teach you four very common expressions:

a
Mattino Morning

Buon giorno Good morning

Pomeriggio Afternoon

Buon Pomeriggio Good afternoon

Sera Evening

Buona sera Good evening

Notte Night

Buona notte Good night

Also, see : Greetings and parting expressions

For now it is all but see you at the next little lesson.

Let's go on!

2049-12-13T10:24:00.000-08:00

Si Yes

Io I

io sono I am

io sono inglese I am English

io sono francese I am French

io sono portoghese I am Portuguese

Drops of grammar

You have to know that in Italian the first person singular "io" (unlike the first person singular in English) has to be written with a small initial letter, exception made when "io" is put at the beginning of a sentence and after:

a full point (.)

a question mark (?)

an exclamation mark (!)

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

The present tense of the verb "essere" "to be"

2049-12-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

At this point let's learn the present tense of the verb "essere" "to be"

Io sono _I am

Tu sei /Lei è _You are

Egli è _He is

Ella è _She is

Esso é _It is

Noi siamo _We are

Voi siete _You are

Essi sono _They are

Drops of grammar

In Italian the second person singular is constituted by two forms: "Tu" and "Lei".

You say "Tu" to:

a member of the family,

a friend,

a young person

a kid.

You say "Lei" to:

a person that you don't know well (acquaintance) or someone older than you.

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

The present tense of the verb "essere" "to be"

2049-11-16T06:08:00.000-08:00

Negative form:

Io non sono I am not

Tu non sei/Lei non è You are not

Egli non è He is not

Ella non è She is not

Esso non è It is not

Noi non siamo We are not

Voi non siete You are not

Essi non sono They are not

Unlike English, in which "not" is put after the forms of "to be", in Italian "non" is placed before the forms of "essere".

Also, see the present tense of the verb "avere" "to have": negative form

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

The present tense of the verb "essere" "to be"

2049-11-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Interrogative form:

Sono io? Am I?

Sei tu?/É lei? Are you?

É lui? Is he?

É lei? Is she?

É esso? Is it?

Siamo noi? Are we?

Siete voi? Are you?

Sono loro? Are they?

Drops of grammar

In the interrogative form, putting the verb before the subject or vece versa after, is the same thing. Then you can also say:

____Io sono?

____Tu sei?/Lei è?

____Lui è?

____Lei é?

____Esso é?

____Noi siamo?

____Voi siete?

____Loro sono?

You have to know that (in general for all the verb conjugations) you can often omit the subject, for example instead of saying "io sono" you can just say "sono", instead of saying "noi siamo" you can just say "siamo", instead of saying "siete voi?" you can just say "siete?" and so on. This can be done, because the form itself of the verb identifies the subject.

Also, see the present tense of "essere" "to be": negative-interrogative form

and the present tense of "avere" "to have": interrogative form

For now that's all, see you at the next litle lesson.

Italian alphabet

2049-10-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

The Italian alphabet is constituted by 21 letters:

A a

B bi

C ci

D di

E e

F effe

G gi

H acca

I i

L elle

M emme

N enne

O o

P pi

Q qu

R erre

S esse

T ti

U u

V vi or vu

Z zeta

There are also 5 more non Italian letters (they integrate the Italian alphabet) used to spell out foreign words:

J i lunga

K cappa

W doppia vi or doppia vu

X ics

Y ipsilon

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

Numbers

2049-10-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Shall we go on?

Let's learn to count from zero to ten.

0	Zero	Zero
1	Uno	One
2	Due	Two
3	Tre	Three
4	Quattro	Four
5	Cinque	Five
6	Sei	Six
7	Sette	Seven
8	Otto	Eight
9	Nove	Nine
10	Dieci	Ten

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

Greetings and parting expressions

2049-09-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

We have already learnt how to greet people and what to say when you leave them (see: Just to start ).

Let's carry on with more greetings and parting expressions.

Ciao! (informal)

Hello! / Hi!

Salve! (formal)

Hello!

Arrivederci! (formal)

Goodbye!

Ciao! (informal)

Goodbye!

A presto!

So long!

A più tardi!

See you later!

Note that "Ciao" is a friendly and informal greeting or parting salutation meaning either "Hello" or " Goodbye".

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson!

The present tense of the verb "essere" "to be"

2049-09-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

Negative-interrogative form:

Io non sono?	Am I not?
Tu non sei? / Lei non è?	Are you not?
Lui non è?	Is he not?
Lei non è?	Is she not?
Esso non è?	Is it not?
Noi non siamo?	Are we not?
Voi non siete?	Are you not?

Essi non sono?

Are they not?

See also the other three forms: affirmative, negative and iterrogative.

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson!

The present tense of the verb "avere" "to have"

2049-08-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

Now here it is the present tense of the verb "avere" "to have"

Affirmative form:

Io ho

I have

Tu hai / Lei ha

You have

Lui ha

He has

Lei ha

She has

Esso ha

It has

Noi abbiamo

We have

Voi avete

You have

Loro hanno

They have

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

The present tense of the verb "avere" "to have"

2049-08-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

Negative form:

Io non ho	I have not
Tu non hai / Lei non ha	You have not
Lui non ha	He has not
Lei non ha	She has not
Esso non ha	It has not
Noi non abbiamo	We have not
Voi non avete	You have not
Loro non hanno	They have not

Remember! Unlike English, in which "not" is placed after the forms of "to have", in Italian "non" is added before the forms of "avere" ( see also the present tense of the verb "to be": negative form ).

In the singular and third person plural the letter "h" is written (but not pronounced) to distinguish:

ho	from	o (or),
hai		ai (to the)
ha		a (to)
hanno		anno (year)

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

The present tense of the verb "avere" "to have"

2049-07-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Interrogative form:

Io ho?

Have I?

Tu hai? / Lei ha?	Have you?
Lui ha?	Has he?
Lei ha?	Has she?
Esso ha?	Has it?
Noi abbiamo?	Have we?
Voi avete?	Have you?

Loro hanno?

Have they?

Also, see the present tense of "essere" " to be": interrogative form.

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

The present tense of the verb "avere" "to have"

2049-07-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

Negative-interrogative form:

Io non ho?	Have I not?
Tu non hai? / Lei non ha?	Have you not?
Lui non ha?	Has he not?
Lei non ha?	Has she not?
Esso non ha?	Has it not?
Noi non abbiamo?	Have we not?
Voi non avete?	Have you not?
Loro non hanno?	Have they not?

Also, take a look at the present tense of "essere" "to be": negative-interrogative form

For now that's all, see you at the next little lesson.

Italian Idioms - Italian idiomatic expressions

2049-07-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

Languages are brimful of typical expressions called "Idioms".

People who speak Italian (or whatever other language) use idioms in their everyday conversations.

Therefore, these expressions are indispensable if you want to learn a language, but a non-native speaker will find them pretty illogical and hard to learn, because their specific meaning doesn't correspond to their literal one.

There is oftentimes no way of supposing the meaning of an idiom merely by looking at the single words it contains.

However, don't worry, because I'm going to write each Italian idiomatic expression together with its literal English translation, its equivalent English idiom and its idiomatic meaning, so that you can learn easily.

Example:

Fare i salti mortali

Literal translation:

To make mortal jumps

Equivalent English idiom:

To bend over backwards

Meaning: To make an extraordinary effort to do something.

From now on, I'm going to add, bit by bit, many Italian idioms to this page.

To start, here there are the first six of them:

A	Literal translation .. .....	Equivalent English idiom
Acqua in bocca!	Water in the mouth!	Mum's the word
Meaning: keep quite, not to say anything.
Acqua passata	Past water	Water under the bridge
Meaning: something belongs to the past and isn't important or disturbing any more.

Essere al verde

To be at the green

To be broke

Meaning:

to have no money; not to have enough money.

Examples

Fare passi da gigante

to make giant steps

to progress by leaps and bounds

Meaning:

to make extraordinary progress in a short period of time.

Examples

Mettere il bastone tra/fra le ruote

To put the stick between the wheels

To throw a monkey wrench (or spanner) in the works

Meaning:

to hinder the carrying out of an activity or plan.

Examples

Perdere le staffe

To lose the stirrups

To fly off the handle

Meaning:

To lose self-control by getting extremely angry.

Examples

That's all; arrivederci!

"Fare passi da gigante" "to progress by leaps and bounds"

2049-06-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

	Literal translation ... ...	English equivalent idiom
Fare passi da gigante	To make giant steps	To progress by leaps and bounds

Meaning: To make extraordinary progress in a short period of time.

Examples:

1)

Tony non conosceva neanche una sola parola d'italiano. Adesso, solo dopo due mesi di corso, sa persino conversare con il suo amico italiano. Tony ha fatto passi da gigante!

Tony didn't even know a single Italian word. Now, after only two months of course, he can even converse with his Italian friend. Tony has progressed by leaps and bounds!

Maria sembrava quasi morta la scorsa settimana dopo il suo intervento chirurgico. Adesso, sorprendentemente, sta migliorando sempre di più, sta facendo passi da gigante!

Maria looked almost dead last week after her surgery. Now, surprisingly, she is getting better and better, she is progressing by leaps and bounds!

Quest' anno, i profitti della mia impresa stanno aumentando considerevolmente. La mia impresa sta assolutamente facendo passi da gigante!

This year, the profits of my enterprise are considerably increasing. My enterprise is absolutely progressing by leaps and bounds!

Back to the Italian idiom list

"Perdere le staffe" "to fly off the handle"

2011-04-29T10:54:00.001-07:00

Literal translation... ..

Equivalent English idiom

Perdere le staffe

To lose the stirrups

To fly off the handle

Meaning: To lose self-control by getting extremely angry.

Examples:

Quando Carlo scoprì che sua moglie l’aveva tradito, perse le staffe gridandole furiosamente contro.

When Carlo found out that his wife had cheated on him, he flew off the handle shouting furiously at her.

Il mio capo perde sempre le staffe per niente! Lavorare con questa terribile atmosfera è così stressante!

My boss always flies off the handle for nothing! Working with this awful atmosphere is so stressful!

Ogni volta che il Dottor David Banner veniva provocato, perdeva le staffe trasformandosi in Hulk, una furiosa creatura verde con una forza sovrumana.

Whenever Dr. David Banner was provoked, he flew off the handle turning into Hulk, a raging green creature with superhuman strength.

Back to the Italian idiom list

"Essere al verde" "to be broke"

2009-12-08T06:12:00.001-08:00

	Literal translation ... ...	English equivalent idiom
Essere al verde	To be at the green	To be broke

Meaning: To have no money; not to have enough money.

Examples:

Il mio migliore amico Marco ha perso il lavoro ed è completamente al verde. Può a malapena permettersi di comprare il cibo e non riesce a pagare le bollette ed il mutuo. Devo aiutarlo!

My best friend Marco has lost his job, and he is flat broke. He can barely afford to buy food and can’t pay his bills and mortgage. I must help him!

Mia cugina si sposerà il prossimo mese, ma io sono al verde! Non ho i soldi per comprarle un regalo decente, per cui non andrò al suo matrimonio.

My cousin is getting married next month, but I am broke! I have no money to buy a decent gift for her, so I am not going to go to her wedding.

Mario si lamenta di essere al verde. Non ha soldi e si domanda perché. Naturalmente è al verde! Spreca i soldi! Compra sempre cose superflue (anche piuttosto costose!) e cena al ristorante quasi ogni sera. Dovrebbe imparare ad usare i suoi soldi saggiamente.

Mario complains about being broke. He has no money, and he wonders why. Of course he is broke! He wastes money! He always buys superfluous things (quite expensive too!) and has dinner at restaurant almost every evening. He should learn to use his money wisely.

Back to the Italian idiom list

"Mettere il bastone tra le ruote" "to throw a monkey wrench in the works"

2009-10-14T10:40:00.001-07:00

Literal translation

English equivalent idiom

Mettere il bastone tra/fra le ruote

To put the stick between the wheels

to throw a monkey wrench (or spanner) in the works

Meaning: To hinder the carrying out of an activity or plan.

Examples:

R o berto, non voglio metterti il bastone tra le ruote, ma rifletti! Sei troppo giovane per pensare al matrimonio. Hai appena compiuto 18 anni!

Roberto, I don’t want to throw a monkey wrench in the works, but think! You’re too young to contemplate marriage. You just turned 18!

Oh no, no! Guarda il cielo! Sembra che stia arrivando un temporale! Proprio quando decido di andare al mare, il tempo mette sempre il bastone fra le ruote!

Oh no, no! Look at the sky! It looks like a storm is coming! Just when I decide to go to the seaside, the weather always throws a spanner in the works!

Ieri Mario aveva un’importantissima riunione di lavoro a Londra alla quale non poteva mancare. Purtroppo, lo sciopero della sua compagnia aerea gli ha messo il bastone tra le ruote impedendogli di partire.

Yesterday, Mario had a very important work meeting in London he couldn’t miss. Unfortunately, the strike of his airline company threw a monkey wrench in the works by preventing him from leaving.

Back to the Italian idiom list