Abbiamo già incontrato il congiuntivo nelle frasi secondarie (o subordinate) dove è usato con più frequenza. In questo tipo di frase la difficoltà maggiore, che dà qualche problema anche ai madrelingua, è la possibilità di scelta fra indicativo e congiuntivo in quelle frasi in cui più comunemente si usa l’indicativo, ma l’eventuale scelta del congiuntivo implica sfumature di significato. Un esempio tipico è quello delle frasi temporali con valore di eventualità: quando/qualora decidessi di tornare, chiamami! (nell’eventualità/nel caso che tu tornassi) In realtà il congiuntivo può essere impiegato sia nelle subordinate sia in proposizioni indipendenti dando alla frase valori molto precisi. Nelle proposizioni indipendenti, il congiuntivo può avere valore:
– esortativo (al posto dell’imperativo): … ma la smetta!
– concessivo (segnalando un’adesione, anche forzata, a qualcosa): venga pure a spiegarmi le sue ragioni
– dubitativo: che sia un ladro? ( si può usare anche l’indicativo futuro: sarà un ladro?; l’infinito: che fare?; il condizionale: io cosa avrei fatto?);
– ottativo (per esprimere un augurio, una speranza, ma anche un timore): fosse vero!;
– esclamativo: sapessi quanto è bello!
I CASI PIU’ FREQUENTI DI CONGIUNTIVO NELLE FRASI INDIPENDENTI SONO:
Il telefono del vicino continua a squillare. Che sia successo qualcosa?
Why when I try to speak Italian, Italian people can’t understand me?
You need some help, so today I give you some quick hints to learn Italian pronunciation.
First of all in Italian we pronounce the most of the letter exactly because Italian is a phonetic language, which means that it is spoken the way it is written 😉
Italian and English share the Latin alphabet, but the sounds represented by the letters often are very different in the two languages.
All Italian vowels have a clear and defined sound, and when two or three vowels meet, they maintain their distinct sound, like in “ciao“ or “aiuto (=help)”: they are never slurred.
In addition to this, remember: Italian words end in a vowel and you must pronounce them according to the International Phonetic Alphabet!
Moreover, in Italian all consonants except “h” can be doubled. Double consonants are pronounced much more strongly than single consonants.
Some very important difference:
“C” is pronounced /t∫ / when it comes before “i” and “e” but /k/ when it comes before “a”; “o”; “u”
So, “C” before “a”, “o”, “u” and before consonants has a sound similar to the English k (-> Caffè; Coca cola; cuore; crema), but “C” before “e” and “i” has a sound similar to the English ch as in church instead (-> Ciao; cena).
“H ” is very important after “c” and “g”, but is silent at the begin of a word instead.
“G” is pronounced /dʒ / when it comes before “i” and “e” (-> Gelato; Germania; giorno), but /g/ when it comes before “a”; “o”; “u” (-> gatto; golf; gusto)
So “G” before “a”, “o”, and “u” and before consonants has a sound like the g in good; but before “e” and “i” has a sound like the g in general.
“Gli” is like lj or ll in million and
“Gn” is like the ny in canyon so, I like “gli gnocchi”
“R” is very different from the English r; it is always pronounced with one flip of the tongue against the gums of the upper teeth (the alveolar ridge): this is the famous Italian trilled r with vibrations.
Now listen to the Italian songs on this page [go]: enjoy these songs with karaoke 😉
Remember: listen to and sing Italian songs in this way you can develop your listening and comprehension skills!
Italian Courses in Italy – Italian language in Rome – Italian instruction – tutor online
In Italian, superlatives (express the quality in a higher grade) are usually formed by adding the suffix –issimo (or –issima; -issimi; -issime) to an adjective. As you know adjectives in Italian must agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun.
An other way to express the absolute are terms like “molto” , “assai” (very) or “estremamente” (extremely), but they are used before the unchanged adjective:
bello = beautiful: bellissimo/a/i/e or molto bello (very beautiful)
veloce = fast: velocissimo/a/i/e or molto/estremamente veloce (very fast)
utile = useful: utilissimo/a/i/e or molto/estremamente utile(extremely useful)
Moreover this can be expressed in several ways:
a realy nice way is repeating the adjective (or the adverb). Watch Beningni’s movie :-):
Other ways are:
By using the prefix arci-; stra-; super-; extra-; mega-; ultra- or maxi
By using expressions such as “stanco morto” (dead tired); “ricco sfondato” (filthy rich) and “ubriaco fradicio” (very drunk); …
If you need Italian language tuition in Rome, email me!
How must I use Italian subjunctive tenses and how do subordinate (=dependent) clauses work?
A dependent clause is a clause which adds more information to a sentence and in Italianusually is after the conjunction “che”.
The subjunctive mood is generally used in subordinate clauses, when we don’t speak about real facts, but we express personal opinions, personal wishes, personal willingness or orders etc…
Which tense must I use? It depends on the verb of the main (= independent) clause!
We have received 495 nominations for The Top 100 Language Blogs 2010 competition. For each of the four categories we have admitted 100 blogs into the voting phase. Your blog ‘Learn Italian Language’ (https://ciaoitaliablog.wordpress.com/) is included for voting in the ‘Language Learning’ category. Congratulations!
As stated in our language blog Lexiophiles, 50% of the final score will be based on user votes. You can promote your blog by embedding the following voting button in your page. Simply add the code below to a blog post (similar to embedding a YouTube video) so that your readers can vote for you directly:
The voting phase starts today, May 12th, and ends on May 24th. Winners will be announced May 28th.
Good luck!
Priscila
So, if you like this Italian learning blog, you could vote it 😉
Italian language teacher with many years of experience here for your Italian lessons.
Some students have a lot of troubles with the Italian “CI” and “NE”. Today I’ll tell you about “NE”. To understand the “CI” look at here!
What does the Italian “NE” mean? Can I omit it?
In Italian it has several different meanings. The “NE” is absolutely necessary and I cannot omit it!
First of all, as you probably know, “NE” is a pronoun and we used it with quantities (“some”, “any”, “a little” or a number and can also mean “of that or of them”). Careful: we use it to avoid repeating the name that we have already mentioned therefore you cannot leave it.
E.g.
Avete degli amici italiani? = Have you got any Italian friends?
No, non ne abbiamo = No, we haven’t (of them). Ne replaces “of friends”
Vorrei un bottiglia d’acqua … ne ha una più piccola? = I’d like a bottle of water, do you have a smaller one (of it)? Ne replaces “one/a bottle”
Luca ha un cane = Luca has a dog
Io ne ho due = I have two of them. Ne replaces “two dogs”
Le forchette non bastano, dammene delle altre = There aren’t enough forks, give me some more (of them). Ne replaces “more forks”
Vorrei del prosciutto crudo = I’d like some prosciutto
Mi dispiace, non ce n’è più = I’m sorry, there isn’t any left (of it)
Ho una nuova macchina = I’ve a new car
Ne vorrei una anch’io! = I’d like a new one too (a/onecar) [read more]
Cheryl wrote me: “I am recently taking a class of italian. Yes, I do recognise some words. but the point is that my speaking and listening skill are still bad. Could you kindly advise me how to improve my speaking and listening. Thanks & regards!”
This is my reply:
To learn a language, you have to live in the everyday situations so you will be able to communicate in a few time.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to spend an amount of time abroad.
If you are studying Italian in your country and you are not be able to improve your ability, try a different approach: speak Italian with a native speaker in a natural way (Italian people are almost everywhere).
The purpose is to communicate, not just to do some academic exercises and you need to have conversation in Italian, listen to spoken Italian and Italian songs. I suggest downloading mp3 files that you can listen to on your mp3 every day.
Yes, I suggest that you spend some time every day listening to Italian songs to improve your listening skills and your confidence in Italian language. I am sure: slowly but definitely, your confidence will grow up.
If you really need to improve your listening skills, you should be quiet and do not be distracted by only one part of the meaning (and therefore miss the important part): you have to try to understand the general meaning (and guess the other section).
When you find a piece you have difficulty with, ask to your teacher to repeat it and then listen to and try it again until it becomes clear.
But remember: the main focus is “to practise“!
You can also improve your vocabulary and comprehension reading magazines or simple books, but remember that many Italian words look like English words and have the same or similar meanings.
E.g. idea/idea (but with a different pronunciation) penna/pen, stazione/station, museo/museum, professore/professor, difficile/difficult, intelligente/intelligent, stupido/stupid, but avoid the temptation to make absolute comparisons between Italian and English: it is impossible!
learn Italian with an Italian teacher speaking Italian
Ciao a tutti, ieri mattina ho fatto una lezione sugli stereotipi o “luoghi comuni”. Lo scopo di questo tipo di attività è sempre quello di ridere su come gli altri ci vedono, ma soprattutto di far nascere il dubbio che forse gli stereotipi sono solo generalizzazioni dovute alla poca conoscenza che tutti noi abbiamo degli altri popoli.
Ho cominciato la lezione parlando io stessa e raccontando come gli altri ci vedono: ho quindi iniziato col dire che spesso ci dicono che noi italiani mangiamo solo pizza e pasta (prima ci dicevano “mangiaspaghetti” o “maccheroni”), che siamo tutti “griffati”, che siamo mammoni e mafiosi. Naturalmente questo elenco non piace a nessun italiano, ma soprattutto questi sono veramente degli stereotipi e non aiutano a conoscerci. A questo punto faccio un elenco di come noi italiani ci consideriamo (con grande stupore degli studenti che spesso sorridono increduli), mettendo in evidenza che la percezione interna e quella esterna sono spesso molto differenti.
Il vantaggio di proporre questi elenchi di luoghi comuni è che questo mi permette poi di chiedere elenchi simili ai francesi sui francesi, agli americani sugli amercani, ai polacchi sui polacchi, etc. In questo modo tutti possono finalmente riconoscere i preconcetti che loro stessi hanno sugli altri popoli e che esistono sui loro paesi.
Naturalmente questo tipo di lezione deve essere fatta con molta ironia, autoironia e gioco (per evitare di urtare la sensibilità di ogni partecipante). A tal proposito vi consiglio di vedere questa divertente animazione di Bruno Bozzetto che con grande spirito prende in giro, esagerandole, alcune cattive abitudini nostrane, senza per questo creare tensioni: l’autoironia è una grande qualità!
Gustatevi l’animazione, ma per favore non generalizzate: non tutti gli italiani guidano in quel modo e la burocrazia è molto migliorata (anche se a Roma una decina d’anni fa era probabilmente come la descrive Bozzetto).
learn Italian language 