- •Interjections:
- •If a noun is plural, its modifiers will be plural:
- •In nel nello nell' nella nei negli nelle
- •In addition to the
- •Indefinite Pronouns:
- •Vario (various)
- •Improbable:
- •Il negozio, nel quale ho comprato la rivista, era chiuso. (The shop where I bought the magazine was closed.)
- •Insegnare (to teach)
- •Indicative:
- •If you compare these present tense sentences with the past tense sentences below, you notice that the main verb in the past requires the verb in the noun clause to be shifted to the past:
- •In quanto che, per il fatto che, dal momento che, (since)
- •In Italian, The only way to say 1,ioo through 1,900 is millecento, milleduecento, milletrecento, etc. There is no italian equivalent to "thirteen hundred".
- •Italian phone numbers can have from five through ten (or even more) digits.
- •In place of English "have" -- to "Have something done" --
Free Internet Italian Grammar
Tiber Island -- site of first known habitation in Rome (click image for larger view)
By TKWukitsch, Rome, 1999 (Revised, Washington, DC, 2008)
Optimized for horizontal resolution of 1024 or higher.
Alphabet and Pronunciation
Consonant Pairs
Sentences
Conjunctions
Coordinate Conjunctions (e, ma, and o)
Intensified Coordination (both...and, etc.)
Subordinate Conjunctions
Subordinate Clauses
Noun clauses
Sequence of Tenses in Noun Clauses
Direct and Indirect Address
Adverbial Clauses
Adverb Clauses of Time
Cause and Effect
Conditional Clauses
Possibility
Supposition
Comparative Clauses
Hypothetical Clauses: Subjunctive After Se and Impersonal Expressions
Other Clauses
Articles
Definite Article
Preposition-definite Article Contractions
Indefinite Article
Omission of the Article Top of Page
Partitive Construction (Plural Article - "some")
Interjections
Prepositions
Simple Prepositions
Combined Forms/Contractions
"Prepositioni Improprie"
Nouns
Gender and Number
Agreement
Quantity in Nouns
Non Count Nouns
Noun/Adjective Suffixes
Making Diminutives
Making Augmentatives
Making Pejoratives
Other Noun/Adjective Suffixes
Adjectives and Adverbs
Forming Adjectives
Adjective Agreement
Forming Adverbs
Comparison of Adverbs and Adjectives
Cardinal Adjectives: One, Every, Both, Many, Some, A Pair Or, A Few, Etc.
Ordinal Numbers as Adjectives
Indefinite Adjectives
Negative Adjectives
Possessives
Demonstratives Top of Page
Pronouns
Subject Pronouns
Object Pronouns
Disjunctive Pronouns
Relative Pronouns
Indefinite Pronouns
Doubled Pronouns
Imperative with Pronoun
Pronominal and Adverbial Particles: "Ne", "ci", and "vi"
Negation
Verbs
Conjugation: Tense, Person, and Number
First Conjugation (-are)
Third Conjugation (-ire)
Second Conjugation (-ere)
Avere and Essere
Avere
Essere
Indicative Mood
Present Tense
Future Tense
Other Ways of Expressing the Future
Imperfect Tense
Simple Past Tense
Compound or Perfect Tenses
Compound Indicative Top of Page
Compound Subjunctive
Present Perfect Tense
Future Perfect Tense
Pluperfect Tense
Past Anterior or Preterite Perfect Tense
Conditional Mood
Present Conditional
Past Conditional
Subjunctive Mood
Present Subjunctive
Imperfect Subjunctive
Perfect or Past Subjunctive
Pluperfect Subjunctive
Subjunctive Required in Dependent Clauses by Certain Verbs and Expressions
Subjunctive after Se and Impersonal Expressions
Imperatives
Familiar Imperative (tu and voi)
Polite form Imperative
Reflexive Verbs
Passive Voice
Passive Conjugation
Participles
Infinitive
Auxiliary Verbs
Verbs Conjugated with Essere
Irregular Verb List
Polite vs. familiar forms
Verb-Preposition Idioms Top of Page
Questions
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative Adverbs
Punctuation Differences
Periods in Abbreviations
Comma in Expressions of Time
Quotation Marks (le virgolette)
Prefixes and Suffixes
Common Prefixes
Common Suffixes
Numbers
Cardinal Numbers
Formation
Ambiguity: Billions, Trillions, etc.
Collective Numbers (about ten, about twenty, etc., dozen)
Forming Collective Numerals
Mathematics
Fractions
Decimals (Frazione decimale)
Multiplicative numbers (double, triple, etc.)
Telephone numbers
Ordinal Numbers
Degree, Quality, or Position
"To the Nth Power" Top of Page
Time
"What time is it? "
Minutes
Quarter Hours (and Thirds)
"At what time?","When?"
Time Expressions
One Time, Two Times, many times, at times, sometimes, etc
Days, months, seasons, years, dates
Days of the Week
Months
SEASONS
DATES
Centuries
Idiomatic Verb Constructions
Piacere <to be pleasing to/to like>
Fare
Weather
Professions
to "Have something done"
Other Idiomatic Fare Expressions
Avere in "To be hungry, thirsty, etc."
Essere vs. Stare
C'e and Ci sono
Aver bisogno di and Bisognare
Volere
Dare
Andare
Sapere and Conoscere
The Italian Alphabet and pronunciation:
Top of Pagea as in mama
b as in boy
c as in cat, before a consonant or the vowels A, O, U
c like CH in chip, before the vowels I or E
d as in dollar
e (open) as in elbow
e (closed) as in egg
f as in forest
g as in girl, before consonants and the vowels A, O, U
g like J in jump, before the vowels I or E
h is silent
i like the e in the English word ego
j is only used in foreign words
k is only used in foreign words
l as in like
m as in motor
n as in nickel
o (open) as in over
o (closed) as in olive
p as in picture
q as in queen (as in English, followed by u)
r with a slight trill
s as the z in zebra
t as in table
u as in fruit
v as in vine (but sometimes like a w in older words)
w is only used in foreign words (the w sound can also be made, as in Latin, by using an oe combination)
x as in box
y is only used in foreign words
z as in TS combination in pits or the DS combination in pads
Consonant Pairs
Top of PageCH before I or E is pronounced as a ck sound as in click
GH before I or E is pronounced as a hard g sound as in gallop
RR is "trilled" more than a single R
SS is pronounced more like the S in English as in summer
ZZ as in pizza
SCI or
SCE is pronounced as an SH sound as in sheet
SCA, SCU,
SCHI or
SCHE is pronounced as SK in ski
GN almost always has the pronunciation of the NY combination as in vineyard
GU is pronounced like a GW sound as in language
Articles in Italian
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DEFINITE ARTICLE ("articolo determinativo"):
in italian has a number of different forms, depending on whether the noun it accompanies is masculine or feminine, singular or plural. It also changes its form according to the initial letters of the word that follows it.MASCULINE SINGULAR, before:
single consonant: il "il teatro" <the theater>
double consonants: lo "lo specchio" <the mirror>
vowels: l' "l'orso" <the bear>
MASCULINE PLURAL, before:
single consonants: i "i denti" <the teeth>
double consonants: gli "gli stivali" <the boots>
vowels: gli "gli alberghi" <the hotels>
FEMININE SINGULAR, before:
consonants: la "la casa" <the house>
vowels: l' "l' anima" <the soul>
FEMININE PLURAL:
invariably: le "le regole" <the rules>
"Z" and "X" count as double consonants ("DS" and "KS").
"Lo" and "la" elide (lose their vowels and take an apostrophe) before words beginning with a vowel.
Definite articles are used with nouns which are abstract, general or collective:
"la vita" <life>;
"l'oro" <gold>;
"la gente" <people>.
They are used with parts of the body and articles of clothing, where English would use a possessive adjective:
"le mani" <her hands>;
"le scarpe" <his shoes>.
Definite articles are also used with titles preceding a last name, except in direct address:
"Il signor Bianchi è di Firenze." <Mr. Bianchi is from Florence.>
BUT;
"Buon giorno, signor Bianchi" <Hello, Mr. Bianchi>.
Another important use of the definite article is with possessive adjectives:
"Ho perso il mio libro" <I lost my book>.
The INDEFINITE ARTICLES ("articoli indeterminativi")are:
Top of PageMASCULINE, before:
single consonants: un "un teatro" <a theater>
double consonants: uno "uno specchio" <a mirror>
vowels: un "un orso" <a bear>
FEMININE, before:
consonants: una "una casa" <a house>
vowels: un' "un' anima" <a soul>
Omission of the Article:
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The indefinite article is omitted after the verbs essere and diventare before nouns that indicate religion, profession, marital status, or titles:
Mario è dottore e Alfredo è avvocato. (Mario is a doctor and Alfredo is a lawyer.)
Io sono cattolica e lui è protestante. (I am Catholic and he is a Protestant.)
It is also omitted after che in exclamations:
Che bel uomo! (What a handsome man!)
Che peccato! (What a shame!)
The definite article is omitted after in with geographical terms if the terms are feminine and singular and not modified.
L'Emilia-Romagna è in Italia. (Emilia-Romagna is in Italy.)
It is omitted with names of cities.
Conosci Milano? (Do you know Milan?)
Avete mai visto Sorrento? (Have you ever seen Sorrento?)
In some common expressions.
a sinistra (to the left)
a destra (to the right)
in cima (on top)
"Some" or "any" is expressed in Italian in affirmative sentences by the partitive construction of di + the definite article.
Compro del formaggio e del pane. (I buy some cheese and some bread.)
Abbiamo dei parenti in Italia. (We have some relatives in Italy.)
Abbiamo comprato della carne. (We bought some meat.)
Plural Indefinite Articles: The partitive construction:
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can be considered as the plural form of the indefinite article. It is never used in negative sentences and is often omitted in questions.
Non vendono pane qui. (They don't sell bread here.)
Vuole carne o pesce? (Does he want meat or fish?)
The partitive is also expressed with un po' di with singular nouns and alcuni,-ewith plural nouns:
Devo comprare un po'di verdura. (I need to buy some vegetables.)
(I want to buy some apples.)
Interjections:
An interjection is a word or expression often given increased emotive value in the stream of speech. Interjections are rarely used in formal or business writing. In print interjection is usually followed by an exclamation mark or a comma:
suvvia! = alas!
aiuto! = help!
hey! = hey!
oh! = wow!
ahi! = ouch!
bontà mia! = My goodness!
Ahi! Mi sono rotto una gamba! <Ouch! I broke my leg!>
Prepositions:
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Prepositions are invariable connecting words preceding elements in a sentence (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs) that show the relationship between other elements or other sentences:
La bicicletta di Paolo è rotta. <Paolo's bicycle is broken.>
Mettilo sul tavolo. <Put it on the table.>
Dopo averci detto tutto ciò, lui sparì. <After telling us all that, he disappeared.>
Per quello che lei ci disse, cambiammo idea. <Because of what she told us, we changed our mind.>
Simple Prepositions
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In Italian the basic or simple prepositions, are:
di (of)
a (at, to)
da (from)
in (in)
con (with)
su (on)
per (for)
tra (among, between)
fra (among, between)
sotto (under)
sopra (over)
Scrivo a Piero. <I'm writing to Piero.>
Poco lontano da qui, câè un ristorante. <Not too far from here, there is a restaurant.>
Carlo è tra quella folla. <Carlo is among that crowd.>
Some prepositions (a, da, di, in, su) contract and combine with the definite article to form a single word as shown in the chart below. (These are called preposizioni articolate.)
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al ristorante (to the restaurant)
Metti il libro sul tavolo. (Put the book on the table.)
Metti il libro nellâarmadio. (Put the book in the closet.)
Potrò vederti domani dalle 5 alle 7. (I can see you tomorrow, from 5 to 7.)
Saltò giú dal secondo piano. (He jumped from the second floor.) ARTICLE
PREPOSITION IL LO L' LA I GLI LE
A AL ALLO ALL' ALLA AI AGLI ALLE
DI DEL DELLO DELL' DELLA DEI DEGLI DELLE
DA DAL DALLO DALL' DALLA DAI DAGLI DALLE
IN NEL NELLO NELL' NELLA NEI NEGLI NELLE
SU SUL SULLO SULL' SULLA SUI SUGLI SULLE
CON COL COLLO
(ARCHAIC) COLL'
(ARCHAIC) COLLA
(ARCHAIC) COI COGLI
(ARCHAIC) COLLE
(ARCHAIC)
Along with the simple prepositions there is a group words, called preposizioni improprie which are actually adverbs, adjectives or rarely verbs, but often they function as prepositions:
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davanti (in front of)
avanti (in front of)
innanzi (in front of)
dietro (behind)
dentro (inside)
oltre (further)
presso (by)
fuori (outside)
sopra (over)
sotto (under)
su (on)
accanto (near by)
attorno (around)
intorno (around)
prima (before)
dopo (after)
lungo (along)
secondo (in accordance with)
vicino (near, close by)
Examples:
Vai fuori! (Go out!) (adverb)
Starò fuori città per qualche giorno. (I will be out of town for a few days.) (preposition)
Tu stai dietro. (You stay behind.) (adverb)
Lâaltro è dietro la casa. (The other is behind the house.) (preposition)
Mia nonna abita vicino. (My grandmother lives near by.) (adverb)
La casa di mia nonna è vicina. (My grandmother's house is close.) (adjective)
Mia nonna abita vicino a noi. (My grandmother lives near us.) (preposition)
Nouns: Gender and agreement
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Gender and number
NOUNS ("sostantivi") can have two GENDERS ("generi"), masculine and feminine, and two NUMBERS, singular and plural.
Generally speaking, masculine nouns end in "-o" (plural "-i") and feminine nouns end in "-a" (plural "-e"):
"il libro" <the book>, "i libri" <the books>;
"la casa" <the house>, "le case" <the houses>.
There are exceptions:
Some feminine nouns end in "-o". they either form the plural in "-i":
"la mano" <the hand>, "le mani" <the hands>;
or (if foreign loanwords ) remain unchanged,
"la foto" <the photograph>, "le foto" <the photographs>.
Some masculine nouns end in "-a"; they form their plural in "-i":
"il problema" <the problem>, "i problemi" <the problems>.
Some masculine nouns change their gender to feminine in the plural, with a singular-type "-a" ending rather than the usual plural form "-e":
"l'uovo" <the egg> BUT "le uova" <the eggs>;
"il dito" <the finger> BUT "le dita" <the fingers>.
There are also a number of nouns which do not end in "-o" or "-a."
Nouns ending in "-e," whether masculine or feminine, invariably form the plural in "-i":
"il fiore" <the flower>, "I fiori" <the flowers>;
"la lezione" <the lesson>; "le lezioni"<the lessons>.
Nouns ending in "-i" or an accented vowel do not change in the plural:
"la crisi" <the crisis>, "le crisi" <the crises>;
"la virtù" <the virtue>, "le virtù" <the virtues>;
"la città" <the city>, "le città" <the cities>.
The same is true of one-syllable nouns, and of foreign loanwords ending in a consonant:
"il re" <the king>, "i re" <the kings>;
"il film" <the movie>, "i film" <the movies>.
Some nouns ending in "-a" or "-e" can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the gender of the person being named by the noun:
"il pianista" <the male pianist>; "la pianista" <the female pianist>;
"il cantante" <the male singer>, "la cantante" <the female singer>.
Other nouns change their ending according to gender:
"l'attore" <the actor>, "l'attrice" <the actress>;
"il gallo" <the rooster>, "la gallina" <the hen>;
"il cameriere" <the waiter>, "la cameriera" <the waitress>.
There are also nouns that have both genders, but with a different meaning for each:
"il fine" <the purpose>, "la fine" <the conclusion>;
"il tema" <the topic>, "la tema" <fear>.
Agreement:
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A noun and its modifiers have the same gender and have number AGREEMENT. If a noun is feminine, its modifiers will be feminine:
"una antica chiesa" <an old church>.