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Fluent Before You Fly:
How to Learn Italian FAST in Just 8

hours
No Memorisation. Homework. No Exercises!
By Michele Frolla
michele@FluentBeforeYouFly.com
www.fluentbeforeyoufly.com
www.theintrepidguide.com
Fluent Before You Fly: How to Learn Italian FAST in 8 hours - No
Memorisation. No Homework. No Exercises! Copyright © 2015 by
Michele Frolla. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in
writing from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews.
Disclaimer and FTC Notice
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying or
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, or
transmitted by email without permission in writing from the publisher.
While all attempts have been made to verify the information provided in
this publication, neither the author nor the publisher assumes any
responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretations of the subject
matter herein.
This book is for educational purposes only. The views expressed are those
of the author alone, and should not be taken as expert instruction or
commands. The reader is responsible for his or her own actions.
Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, including international,
federal, state, and local governing professional licensing, business practices,
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any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader.
Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility or liability
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Any perceived slight of any individual or organisation is purely
unintentional.
Your Free Gift

As a way of saying thanks for your purchase, I’m offering a free
downloadable travel phrase guide exclusive to my readers.
Speaking Italian has been my passion for the past 10 years. As such, I’ve
learned a lot about what it takes to learn to speak Italian fluently.
If you’re interested in improving your Italian skills, then I recommend
getting your hands on the Essential Guide to Italian Travel Phrases
which is packed with key phrases that will enhance your trip to Italy.
Want your copy? If you liked this book then simply write a 5-star review on
Amazon. Email me at michele@fluentbeforeyoufly.com with a copy of
your review to receive access to your free travel phrase guide. That’s it!
michele@FluentBeforeYouFly.com
How to Learn Italian in 8 Hours!

Are you struggling to learn Italian? Want to learn faster and smarter?
Looking to speak Italian on your next trip?
This book shows you how to do all three!
What you’re about to discover is my step-by-step system for how to learn
and speak Italian in 8 hours. Moreover, I’ll teach you how to construct your
own sentences without memorisation or homework.
Unlike traditional travel phrasebooks that force you to memorise lengthy
sentences without any understanding of the backbone of the language, what
you’ll get is a blueprint that’s both realistic and achievable.
Let’s face it…we’re all busy people.
Like most people, you probably have a full-time job, a loving family,
assorted hobbies, and 101 other obligations. You DON’T have time to
spend 40 hours in a single week to learn a language. What you need (and
what I’ll supply) is a plan that can fit into any hectic schedule.
I’ve broken down the learning process into a paint-by-numbers system. All
you have to do is follow along, do what I recommend, and you’ll be
speaking Italian in a matter of hours!
Each chapter is organised in order of increasing complexity focusing on the
essential components of the language to get you talking fast . Grammatical
accuracy, knowledge and vocabulary are emphasized in each chapter.
Information on communication skills and Italian culture is punctuated
throughout.
You’ll discover a plan for learning Italian in a total of 8 hours . This works
out to just 30 minutes a day over 16 days. So you’ll focus on learning
Italian thirty minutes a day – with maybe the occasional day off.
Furthermore, each step in the process is clearly labeled with an approximate
timeframe. That way you’ll know how much time to dedicate to that action
item.
Obviously, results may differ. The process depends on your ability to absorb
and retain new information and how much time you have each day. You’ll
get the blueprint. But the rest is up to you!
There are two ways you can use this book. You can start at the beginning
and go straight through. Or, you can jump around, using the Table of
Contents to pick and choose the grammar points you want to focus on. At
the back of the book there is a mini dictionary. Plus, don't forget to
download your free guide of essential travel phrases as mentioned earlier.
It is recommended that you repeat aloud new material as this will speed up
your learning. Don’t rush. Give your mind time to absorb the material. This
system is organised allowing you to absorb each concept of the language in
small pieces thus building a strong foundation of basic Italian.
Who Am I?
How am I qualified to teach people how to learn Italian fast?
My name is Michele Frolla. I have been speaking and studying the Italian
language since 2006. I lived in Italy for three years where I worked for an
Italian company.
I think I’m uniquely qualified to talk about learning Italian fast because I’m
not a natural linguist. It took me forever to find my rhythm in learning my
first foreign language. So I know what it’s like to have the desire to learn a
language and not have enough time and let the lack of confidence in my
abilities hold me back.
On the other hand, I’m pretty good at ‘systematising’ processes. Which is
what this book will give you.
My point? I know what it’s like to learn a language when it seems like the
whole world is conspiring against you.
Learning basic Italian in 8 hours is doable for anyone who is willing to
work hard for a short amount of time.
Don’t think it’s possible?
Well, here’s what you’ll get:
1. Your Free Gift - Essential Guide to Italian Travel
Phrases
2. Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Learn Italian
3. 10 Interesting Facts About Italian
4. Step 1: 4 Habits of a Successful Language Learner (15
minutes)
5. Step 2: Unlock 17 Ways to Italianise Words (1 hour)
a. How to Use Cognates
b. Avoiding “False Friends”
6. Step 3: How to Sound Like a Natural Italiano (1 hour)
a. Alphabet
b. Vowels
c. Consonants
d. Pronunciation and Accent
7. Step 4: How to Simplify and Use Verbs (75 minutes)
a. Introduction
b. The Present Indicative Tense
c. Subject Pronouns
d. Verb Families
e. Identifying the Infinitive and the Stem
f. Regular and Irregular Verbs
8. Step 5: How to Master the Verbs ‘be’ and ‘have’ (1
hour)
a. The verb Avere
b. The verb Essere
9. Step 6: How to Cheat Your Way Through Fluency with
Modal Verbs ( 1 hour)
a. Potere
b. Dovere
c. Volere
10. Step 7: How to Address Someone Correctly (30 minutes)
a. Formal and Informal
11. Step 8: How to Ask Questions with Ease (1 hour)
a. C’e / ci sono
b. Interrogative Words
i. Come
ii. Dove
iii. Che
iv. Chi
v. Quale/Quali
vi. Perché
vii. Quanto
viii. Quanti
ix. Quando
12. Step 9: How to Build Your Vocabulary with Nouns (1
hour)
a. Nouns
b. Adjectives
c. Definate and Indefinite Articles
13. BONUS #1: 18 Popular Expressions Italians Love
Saying
14. BONUS #2: 39 Everyday Italian Idiomatic Expressions
15. BONUS #3: Top 100 Common Italian Verbs
16. Learn Italian FAST in Just 8 hours - Starting Now!
17. Would You Like to Know More?
18. Thank You
19. Appendix 1: Italian - English Dictionary
20. Appendix 2: English - Italian Dictionary
Learning a foreign language is fun and exciting, so above all else, enjoy
yourself! I’d say in bocca al lupo! (Good luck!), but you don’t need it.
All you need is a plan. Fortunately, I have one that’s right for you.
Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Learn Italian

If you’ve downloaded this book you’re probably already determined to
learn Italian. But, here are 10 reasons why you should stick to your plan.
1 . It’s Romantic
Italian is the most romantic of the Romance languages. Thanks to most
words ending in a vowel and a cadenced sentence structure, it has a
musicality that makes it quite a simple language to comprehend and to
speak.
2. Deeper Understanding of the Culture
According to UNESCO (the cultural and educational agency for the United
Nations) most of the world’s cultural heritage sites are in Italy. With almost
60% of the world’s arts treasures located in Italy, speaking the language
opens you up to a richer experience and understanding of its art and history.
Italian film director Federico Fellini once said, “A different language is a
different vision of life. ” Speaking the language will give you a greater
understanding of the country and its culture.
3 . Job Opportunities
In spite of the current economic situation, according to the United Nations
ranking of the world's’ wealthiest countries, Italy is consistently ranked
within the top ten, making it an ideal country for overseas investment.
Many employers are seeking people who speak both Italian and English. An
estimated 7,500 American companies do business with Italy and more than
1,000 U.S. firms have offices in Italy, including Chrysler, IBM, General
Electric, Motorola, Citibank. Many Italian firms also have offices in the
U.S.
4. Travel Smart
Whether it’s ordering food in a restaurant in Naples, or haggling in one of
Milan’s street markets, having a working knowledge of the language not
only enriches your holiday experience, but could save you a few euros.
5. Increase Your Brainpower
Speaking a foreign language improves the functionality of your brain,
boosting your problem solving abilities and improving your memory. Some
studies have concluded that adults who are multilingual can reduce the first
signs of dementia by on average 4.1 years!
6. It’s Easy
No joke! With Italian, si legge come si scrive (you read it how it’s written)
meaning it looks similar to how it sounds. Pronunciation is clear with every
vowel distinctly enunciated which also makes sounds easier to understand.
7. Make New Friends
Speaking another language is a great way to meet new people. Being able to
communicate with local people while you are in Italy can open you up to
friendships you’d have missed out on previously.
8. Stepping Stone
Knowing Italian will help you learn other languages. Being one of the
Romance languages, Italian shares a similar grammatical structure and there
are often similarities in vocabulary. You’ll find that some words are very
similar to Portuguese and Spanish. In fact, it’s said that Italians can get by
in Brazil, Argentina and Spain speaking only Italian!
9. Improve Your English
Italian is the closest to Latin, the common ancestor of all Romance
languages. Italian developed from Latin and an estimated 60 percent of the
English vocabulary also comes from Latin. Knowing Italian may help
improve your English.
10. Boost Your Confidence
Learning a foreign language is an incredibly rewarding experience and a
serious confidence booster. You’ll overcome some of your fears and doubts,
learn more about yourself, meet new people, and perhaps travel to places
you would’ve never dared to visit before. Plus, the constant positive
feedback from native speakers and their encouragement is always a
motivation and ego booster.
10 Interesting Facts About Italian

1. Dates Back to the 900s
The Italian language has been around since the 900s. The first known
written text resembling what we now recognize as the Italian language was
a legal document regarding a dispute over land ownership between southern
Italian monasteries. Known as the Placiti Cassinesi , the documents date
back to the years 963-960.
2. Dante Alighieri is the Italian Shakespeare
The Italian language didn’t become standardized until the time of Dante
Alighieri, the most famous Italian writer of all time. Dante Alighieri penned
La Divina Commedia ( The Divine Comedy), which was completed in
1320, a year before his death.
In the late Middle Ages, the vast majority of poetry and literary works were
written in Latin, but Dante was a proponent of vernacular literature that
used the common language of the people. He wrote The Divine Comedy in
the Tuscan dialect, a highly unorthodox choice that would set the standard
for Italian literature and position Tuscan Italian as the language of high
culture and the basis for the ‘standard’ Italian spoken today.
Dante is often referred to as the “father of the Italian language” for his role
in establishing modern Italian.
3. Dialects are Independent Languages

The dialects of Italy are each their own independent languages. Before Italy
united in 1861 to what we now know as Italy today, it was made up of
several independent states, each with their own regional language.
Though some of these dialects — including those spoken in and around the
cities of Naples and Venice and on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia —
share their Latin roots with Tuscan Italian, they are recognized as unique
Romance languages that developed entirely independently of Italian.
In fact, they differ quite a lot from standard Italian in sound, syntax, and
vocabulary. Regional dialects coexist with standard Italian in most cities in
Italy, with an estimated 60 percent of the population claiming proficiency in
their local language. Over 30 of these dialects are classified as endangered
languages by UNESCO.
4. Modern Italian Spread in the late 1800s
It was not until the 19th century that the language spoken by educated
Tuscans spread to become the language of a new nation. The unification of
Italy in 1861 had a profound impact not only on the political scene but also
resulted in a significant social, economical, and cultural transformation.
With mandatory schooling, the literacy rate increased, and many speakers
abandoned their native dialect in favours of the national language.
5. The Longest Word Has 29 Letters
If you ask Italians, they would probably tell you that the longest Italian
word is precipitevolissimevolmente , meaning “extremely quickly”, with
26 letters. However, according to recent research though, the longest Italian
word has 29 letters: esofagodermatodigiunoplastica, refering to surgery
following the removal of the stomach and oesophagus.
6. The Toughest Tongue Twister
Arguably this is the most difficult tongue twister in Italian:
Trentatré trentini entrarono a Trento tutti e trentatré trotterellando
(Thirty three people from Trento entered the city, all thirty three waddling)
7 . The Alphabet Has 21 Letters
Italian uses the same Roman characters as the English language minus five
of them. The letters j, k, w, x, and y do not exist in Italian, so if you happen
to see them used in an Italian text, that means the word is borrowed from
another language!
8. The Language of Classical Music
Anyone who has studied or played music will be familiar with terms like
crescendo , forte , soprano , alto , and a tempo . What you might not know
is that those are all Italian words!
This is because Italian is used universally as the language of classical
music.
Musical notation became commonplace during the Renaissance and
Baroque periods, and as many of the most important composers of that time
were Italian, the Italian language became the standard for musicians around
the globe. In fact, Mozart composed most of his operas in Italian rather than
in German!
9. Over 85 Million Speakers Worldwide
Italian is the first language of 65 million people, and the second language of
a further 15 million people. In addition to being the national language of
Italy, Italian is one of the national languages of Switzerland, with which it
shares its northern border, as well as San Marino and Vatican City.
It is also the second most spoken language in Argentina, where it is
estimated that over half the population is of Italian descent, making Italians
the largest ethnic group in the country.
10. The 5th Most Studied Language in the United States
Italian has been a widely spoken language in the U.S. for over one hundred
years due to the large-scale migrations of the late 19th century. It is
currently spoken by over 700,000 Americans, the majority of whom reside
in New York and New Jersey, and is the fifth most studied language in U.S.
schools (preceded by Spanish, French, American Sign Language, and
German).
Step 1: 4 Habits of a Successful Language Learner

Learning Time: 15 minutes
1 . Repeat Everything Aloud
This might sound silly, but hear me out.
In a 2015 study conducted at the University of Montreal in Canada,
researchers found that by repeating aloud something that you’ve just
learned to another person produces the highest verbal memory recall. While
repeating in your head is associated with the lowest recall.
Think about this when you’re reading through these pages. It’s not enough
to just see the words, you must read them aloud and give them life so that
the information is better retained in your memory.
Ok, so maybe you can’t repeat everything aloud as you read this book
(especially if you’re reading this on the bus, instead try whispering), but
find someone who can quiz you afterwards, or start speaking Italian to your
cat! Find what works for you.
As you work through the pages of this book, make it a habit to repeat aloud
what you have learned even if it’s to yourself to begin with.
2. Commit to the Learning Process

It’s not enough to say you speak Italian. You have to get off your butt and
actually do it!
I know what it’s like. You start to do something (like learning a foreign
language). At first, you’re motivated and ready to attack the world. Then
life gets in the way. You miss a day or two. Then you miss four in a row.
And finally you walk away from a project because “you just don’t have the
time .”
What I love about the ‘Learn Italian FAST in just 8 hours ’ model is it’s an
achievable outcome. The finish line is always in sight! Just work really hard
for a few hours and you’ll be rewarded by being a confident Italian speaker.
It’s not hard to do in 8 hours. Sure you might have to skip Dexter or The
Real Housewives of wherever for a few weeks. Just remember it’s a
temporary sacrifice because it doesn’t take long to start speaking Italian.
3. Immerse Yourself at Home

Your viaggio (trip) to learning Italian begins with immersion. Before you
fly, think about how you can surround yourself with all things Italian.
Enjoy cooking? Then download recipes in Italian.
Enjoy watching the evening news? Switch to the Italian channel and watch
RAI Italian news.
Love fashion? Buy your next issue of Vogue in Italian.
It all starts with small shifts in behaviour.
Visit your local library and start reading easy learner or dual language
books. Children’s books are also great. You don’t need to understand every
word. Start with understanding the context and only look up words that are
repeatedly used. This will ensure that you keep progressing..
Whip out your favourite DVD’s and start watching movies with Italian
subtitles. I love this approach because you already know the plot and you
can concentrate more on how things are being said. Take notes and start
building up your vocabulary.
When you’re feeling more confident, start renting Italian movies. Watch the
actors. Italians are famous for communicating with their hands. Try to
mimic them. Make it a ritual to watch at least one movie each week.
4. Flush Out the Negative Thoughts Holding You Back
There are two soul destroying reasons why most people are afraid to learn a
foreign language.
The most common is fear and lack of confidence. The biggest obstacle for
the adult is the emotional factor. Adults have bought into the myth that they
just cannot do it. They are afraid of making fools of themselves.
I have often thought this is the reason children seem to learn languages
faster than adults do. They simply are not afraid of making mistakes and are
not embarrassed when they do make mistakes.
The second reason is age.
A lot of people think they are too old. However, there is no credible
evidence to show that the older one becomes, the more difficult it is to learn
a foreign language.
This belief stemmed from the theory on "brain development" in the 1960's
that taught that there was a "crucial period" (ie. before puberty) an
individual had before the brain lost its "plasticity," making learning a
second language too difficult. (Lenneberg, 1967).
In fact, modern studies have shown that even though there are some
differences between how a child and an adult learns a second language, the
older learner has many distinct advantages.
Did you hear that? You have the advantage!
First, an adults maturely developed brain has the superior ability to
understand the relationship between semantics and grammar.
Second, the adults brain is more mature in its ability to absorb vocabulary,
grammatical structures, and to make more generalisations and associations.
Third, an adult learner's better-developed brain is better at putting together
all the pieces with a more developed long-term memory.
Still not convinced?
To be successful you must have a positive mindset. Dwelling on the
negative thoughts as mentioned above will only set you up for failure.
Essentially what you’re doing is failing before you even begin.
Start by changing your attitude. Do this by focusing on your end goal.
Address your negative concerns by writing each of them down. Alongside
each one, write down why that negative thought isn’t true. For example,
you might say “I’m too old ”, to which you would argue saying “My brain
is better developed which enables me to absorb the complexities of
grammatical structure s ” or “If Michele, can do it then so can I”.
Don’t feel intimidated. Don’t forget that Italians are amongst the warmest,
most hospitable, easygoing, and open-minded people you will ever meet.
Your attempt to speak Italian will only make you more endearing and you’ll
be praised for your efforts.
Step 2: Unlock 17 Ways to Italianise English
Words
Learning Time: 1 Hour
Step Overview
Instead of jumping right into the deep end of the large pool of Italian words,
first we’re going to dip our toes in.
In this step you are going to learn some Italian words that won’t seem
completely foreign to you because they are exactly the same in English.
Hurray!
We will move on to learn how to apply 17 simple rules to start Italianising
English words you already know. Plus learn a few common false friends to
avoid.
Andiamo! (aan-dee-yah-moh ) Let’s go!
Popular Loan Words

Although Italians are very proud of their language, they have allowed some
English words to creep in. Generally they are pronounced the same way as
in English with a couple of exceptions. You'll be able to identify these
nuances in pronunciation in Step 3 .
They say, for example, words such as gadgets , jogging , feeling and shock
. You’ll even hear them use the word okay .
Since computers have entered their lives, they say cliccare sul mous e
(kleek-kah-reh soohl mouse ), meaning ‘to click (on) the mouse’.
Finally, there’s lo zapping (loh zahp-ping ), which means changing TV
channels with the remote.
Consider the following list of words. Each is shown with the appropriate
Italian definite article or better knows as the word ‘the’ which we will learn
more about later.
la radio (lah rah-dee-oh)
l’autobus (laho-toh-boos)
l’antenna (laan-tehn-nah)
l’hotel (loh-tell)
l’area (lah-reh-ah)
l’idea (lee-deh-ah)
l’hamburger (laam-bur-gerh)
il cocktail (eel kok-tail)
il jazz (eel jazz)
il cinema (eel chee-neh-mah)
il computer (eel kom-poo-ter)
il bar (eel bar)
il blues (eel blues)
il film (eel film)
il rock and roll (eel rock and roll)
il weekend (eel weekend)
il camping (eel camp-ing)
i jeans (ee jeans)
lo snob (loh snob)
lo shock (loh shock)
lo shopping (loh shop-ping)
lo sport (loh sport)
lo shampoo (loh sham-poo)
lo zoo (loh zoh)
These are only a few of many English words that have entered the Italian
language. In the same way, many Italian words are used in English-
speaking countries including:
la pizza (peet-tsah )
la pasta (pahs-tah )
gli spaghetti (spah-geht-tee )
i tortellini (tohr-tehl-lee-nee )
la mozzarella (moht-tsah-rehl-lah )
l’espresso (ehs-prehs-soh )
il cappuccino (kahp-pooh-chee-noh )
il panino (pah-nee-noh ) - a sandwich
i panini (pah-nee-nee ) - sandwiches
i biscotti (bees-koht-tee ) - cookies
il biscotto (bees-koht-toh ) - cookie
il tiramisù (tee-rah-mee-sooh )
Incidentally, did you know that tiramisù literally means “pull me up”? This
refers to the fact that this sweet dessert is made with strong Italian espresso
effectively giving you an energy boost.
Cognates
In addition to the words that have crept into the language directly, Italian
and English have many cognates.
A cognate is a word in one language that has the same origin as a word in
another one and may sound similar.
Here are some examples:
airport
l’aeroporto
(lah-eh-roh-pohr-toh )
attention
l’attenzione
(laht-tehn-tsyoh-neh )
communication
la comunicazione
(lah koh-mooh-nee-kah-tsyoh-neh)
important
l’importante (leem-pohr-tahn-teh )
incredible
l’incredibile (leen-kreh-dee-bee-leh )
Fortunately, there are some rules that you can apply to Italianise words you
already know.
Here are a few tips that will help you recognize and use cognates.
Italianising Nouns
Now that we’re starting to look at the grammar let’s brush up on some
grammatical terms. Don’t stress. We’re going to keep this really simple.
Don’t know what a noun is? To identify a noun ask yourself this easy
question. Can I place either ‘the’, ‘a’ or ‘an’ in front of the word? If the
answer is yes, then you’ve got yourself a noun!
For example, the word pizza is a noun because when we say “a pizza” or
“the pizza” it makes sense. However, saying “the delicious” or “a delicious
” on it’s own doesn’t make sense.
With that in mind, here are a few rules to help build up your vocabulary of
nouns.
Rule #1
Nouns in English ending in -y become -ia in Italian.

biology
la biologia
(lah buy-oh-loh-jee-yah )
philosophy
la filosofia
(lah fee-loh-soh-fee-yah )
sociology
la sociologia
(lah so-shee-oh-loh-jee-yah )
anatomy
l’anatomia
(lann-ah-toh-mee-yah )
Rule #2
Nouns in English ending in -ic(s) become -ica in Italian.
music
la musica
(lah moo-zee-kah )
politics
politica
(la poh-lee-tee-kah )
republic
repubblica
(la reh-poob-blee-kah )
mathematic
matematica
(la ma-teh-mah-tee-kah )
Rule #3
Nouns in English ending in -ty become -tà in Italian.
city
la cit t à
(lah chee-tah )
identity
l’identità
(leyy-den-tee-tah )
society
la società
(la soh-see-eh-tah )
university
l’università
(loo-knee-ver-see-tah )
Rule #4
Nouns in English ending in -ce become -za in Italian.

Importance
l’importanza
(lem-porh-taan-zah )
elegance
l’eleganza
(leh-leh-gaan-zah )
violence
la violenza
(lah vee-oh-len-zah )
patience
la pazienza
(lah pah-zee-en-zah )
Rule #5
Nouns in English ending in -tion become -zione in Italian.

nation
la nazione
(lah nah-zee-oh-neh )
attention
l’attenzione
(lah-ten-zee-oh-neh )
education
l’educazione
(leh-doo-cah-zee-oh-neh )
situation
la situazione
(lah see-chew-ah-zee-oh-neh )
Rule #6
Nouns in English ending in -or become -ore in Italian.
actor
l’attore
(laht-toh-reh )
doctor
il dottore
(eel doht-tor-reh )
professor
il professore
(eel proh-fes-sor-reh )
motor
il motore
(eel moh-tor-reh )
Rule #7
Nouns in English ending in -ary become -ario in Italian
secretary
il segretario
(eel seh-greh-tah-ree-oh )
vocabulary
il vocabolario
(eel voh-kah-boh-lah-ree-oh )
salary
lo salario
(loh sah-lah-ree-oh )
functionary
il funzionario
(eel foon-zee-on-ah-ree-oh )
Rule #8
Nouns in English ending in -ist become -ista in Italian
artist
artista
(ah-tee-stah )
violinist
violinista
(vee-oh-leh-knee-stah )
pianist
pianista
(pee-ah-knee-stah )
optimist
ottimista
(opt-tee-mee-stah )
Italianising Adjectives
Earlier we spoken about nouns in our pizza example. Let’s take this
example one step further and add an adjective to it.
Adjectives can be identified by placing ‘is’ in front of a word. For example,
“the pizza is delicious”, or “the coffee is hot”.
Here are some rules to help you build up your vocabulary of adjectives.
Rule #9
Adjectives in English ending in -al become -ale in Italian.
special
speciale
(speh-chee-ah-leh)
personal
personale
(per-son-ah-leh)
original
originale
(oh-ree-gee-nah-leh)
sentimental
sentimentale
(sen-tee-men-tah-leh)
Rule #10
Adjectives in English ending in -ect become -etto in Italian.

perfect
perfetto
(perh-feht-toh )
correct
corretto
(koh-reh-toh )
erect
eretto
(eh-reh-toh )
direct
diretto
(dee-reh-toh )
Rule #11
Adjectives in English ending in -ical become - ico in Italian.

typical
tipico
(tee-pee-koh )
classical
classico
(klas-see-koh )
political
politico
(poh-lee-tee-koh)
geographical
geografico
(gee-oh-grah-fee-koh )
Rule #12
Adjectives in English ending in -ous become -oso in Italian.
generous
generoso
(jeh-neh-roh-zoh )
curious
curioso
(koo-ree-oh-zoh )
nervous
Nervoso
(nerr-voh-zoh )
ambitious
ambizioso
(aam-bit-zee-oh-zoh )
Rule #13
Adjectives in English ending in -able or -ible become -abile and -ibile in
Italian.
possible
possibile
(pos-see-bee-leh )
visible
visibile
(vee-zee-bee-leh )
terrible
terribile
(teh-ree-bee-leh )
responsible
r e sponsable
(rehs-pohn-sah-bee-le h )
adorable
adorabile
(ah-dorh-rah-bee-leh )
Italianising Verbs
Last but not least, we have the all important verbs.
Verbs form the backbone of any language. This term alone might induce
fear but just as we’ve done before we are going to keep things really simple.
A verb can be identified by adding ‘to ’ in front of a word. For example, to
do, to eat, to cook, to travel . These are all verbs. It’s that easy!
It’s important that you recognise verbs as they will help you form sentences
with ease. We will explore this in Step 4 .
It’s worth noting that In Italian, the ‘to’ part of any verb is already included
as part of the word and is identified by the last three letters. There are only
three different verb endings, they are:
-ere
-ire
-are
For example, the verb for to eat is mangiare , therefore the ‘to’ part is the -
are ending. You’ll be able to identify these ending in the following rules.
Rule #14
Verbs in English ending in -cate become -care in Italian.
to educate
educare
(eh-doo-ka-reh )
to indicate
indicare
(en-dee-ka-reh )
to complicate
complicare
(kom-plee-ka-reh )
to imply, implicate
implicare
(em-plee-ka-reh )
Rule #15
Verbs in English ending in -ize become -izzare in Italian.
to organize
organizzare
(or-gan-eedz-zah-reh )
to sympathize
simpatizzare
(seem-pah-teedz-zah-reh )
to analyze
analizzare
(ah-nah-leedz-zah-reh )
to minimize
minimizzare
(mee-nee-meedz-zah-reh )
Rule #16
Verbs in English ending in - ish become -ire in Italian.
to finish
finire
(fee-nee-reh )
to abolish
abolire
(ah-boh-lee-reh )
to punish
punire
(poo-nee-reh )
to establish
stabilire
(stah-bee-lee-reh )
Italianising Adverbs
Kindly , slowly , here , often , and very are all examples of adverbs. Adverbs
modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. By modify we mean to add to or
change the meaning of a word.
In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the verb that it
modifies is in italics .
John speaks loudly . (How does John speak?)
Afterwards she smoked a cigarette. (When did she smoke?)
Mary lives locally . (Where does Mary live?)
But adverbs can also modify adjectives. Look at these examples:
Modify an adjective:
He is really handsome . (How handsome is he?)
That was extremely kind of you.
Modify another adverb:
- She drives incredibly slowly . (How slowly does she drive?)

- He drives extremely fast .
Now that we know what an adverb is let’s look at the next set of rules.
Rule #17
Adverbs in English ending in -ably and -ibly become - abilmente and -
ibilmente in Italian.
probably
probababilmente
(proh-bah-beel-mehn-teh )
possibly
possibilmente
(pos-see-beel-mehn-teh)
Creating Sentences
Even with these few basic rules you can start to create simple sentences.
To say “it is ” or “is” in Italian is è (eh ) . That little accent on top is called
a grave accent, which means that it is a stressed and short sound.
Just by applying Rule #13 we can say the following:
Repeat aloud
it is possible
è possibile
( eh pos-see-bee-leh)
it is visible
è visibile
(eh vi-see-bee-leh)
it is compatible
è compatibile
( eh com-pah-tee-bee-leh)
it is terrible
è terribile
( eh teh-ree-bee-leh)
To add a negation to a phrase such as “not ”, we say non (nohn ) and place
it at the start of the sentence.
Repeat aloud
it is not
non è
( nohn eh)
it is not possible
non è possibile
(nohn eh pos-sEE-bee-leh)
Let’s step this up a notch and take a look at the following in English:
The political and economical situation is extraordinary
By applying the rules 5, 7, and 11 we can already transform 60% of this
sentence into Italian!
Rule #5 Nouns in English ending in -tion become -zione in Italian
Rule #7 Nouns in English in ending -ary become -ario in Italian
Rule #11 Adjectives in English ending in -icalL become -ico in Italian
After taking the underlined words in the example our sentences will look
like this:
The politico and economico situazione è extraordinario
To make this sentence grammatically correct in Italian we need to place our
adjectives (political , economical ) after the noun it describes (situazione ).
The situazione politico and economico è extraordinario.
Now, let’s swap out ‘and’ for the Italian e pronounced eeh.
In Step 9 we will learn more about gender nouns, but for now just
remember that nouns ending in -zione are feminine and require the use of la
in place of the English ‘the’. All adjectives must also agree with the noun
they describe. So our sentence will look like this.
La situazione politica ed economica è extraordinaria.
Note: The letter ‘d’ is added after e for phonetics. Which also makes it
easier to pronounce.
Avoid “False Friends”

A false friend is a cognate or Italian word that looks and sounds like an
English word but means something totally different. Luckily, there aren’t
many false cognates in Italian.
Rather than attempting to memorise each false cognate, it will be more
effective to learn by experience.
There will always be instances where English speakers use the wrong
Italian word, occasionally leading to embarrassment or laughter,
(sometimes both) but those are usually the lessons that stick.
It's having the courage and creativity to make mistakes that leads to a
greater understanding of the nuances of the Italian language.
After all, the only way to make friends (of any sort) is to take the initiative
and put yourself out there.
Here are a few false cognates to look out for.
candido
(kahn-dee-doh)
clean, spotless, innocent NOT candid
i confetti
(eel kohn-fet-tee )
sugar-coated almonds presented at weddings NOT small pieces or streamers
of colored paper that are scattered around
crudo (krew-doh )
uncooked NOT crude
la camera
(lah kah-meh-rah )
room NOT a device for taking photographs
il fastidio
(eel fah-stee-dee-oh)
annoyance, inconvenience NOT fastidious
gli genitori
(lyee jeh-neh-toh-ree)
parents NOT genitals
la libreria
(lah leeb-rah-ree-yah )
bookstore NOT library
il magazzino
(eel mah-gahz-zee-noh )
store, warehouse NOT magazine
il parente
(eel pah-rehn-teh )
relative NOT parent
l’ape
(lah-peh)
bee NOT ape
lunatico
(loo-nah-tee-koh )
moody NOT lunatic
l’argomento
(larh-goh-men-toh )
issue NOT argument
marrone
(mah-roh-neh )
brown NOT a dark brownish red colour
come
(ko-meh )
how NOT to come
morbido
(morh-bee-doh )
soft NOT morbid
con
(kohn )
with NOT con
pesante
(peh-zan-teh )
heavy NOT a peasant
la commozione
(lah koh-moz-zee-oh-neh )
emotion NOT commotion
il rumore
(eel roo-morh-reh )
noise NOT a rumour
la fabbrica
(lah fab-bree-kah )
factory NOT fabric
sano
(sah-noh )
healthy NOT sane
la fattoria
(lah fat-tor-ree-ah )
farm NOT factory
sensibile
(sen-see-bee-leh )
sensitive NOT sensible
sensato
(sen-sah-toh )
sensible
la firma
(lah fir-mah )
signature NOT firm
la stampa
(lah stahm-pah )
press NOT a stamp
grosso
(grohs-soh )
large NOT gross
la testa
(lah tes-tah )
head NOT test
l’accidenti!
(lah-chee-den-tee )
good heavens! NOT accident
l’incidente
(leen-chee-den-teh )
accident
l’attualmente
(laht-too-al-mehn-teh )
at present NOT actually
veramente
(veh-rah-mehn-teh )
actually
bravo
(brah-voh )
good, clever NOT brave
il coraggioso
(eel koh-rah-joh-zoh )
brave, courageous
il congresso
(eel kohn-greh-soh )
conference NOT congress
la conferenza
(lah kohn-feh-ren-zah )
lecture, conference
la lettura
(lah leht-too-rah )
reading NOT literature
l’educato
(leh-doo-kah-toh )
polite NOT educated
colto (kol-toh), istruito (is-troo-ee-toh)
educated
il ginnasio
(eel geen-nah-see-oh )
high school NOT gymnasium
la palestra
(lah pah-leh-strah )
gymnasium
largo
(larh-goh)
wide NOT large
grande (grahn-deh )
large
succedere
(su-chee-derh-reh )
happen, occur NOT succeed
False Friends Amongst Verbs

Not only are there false cognates found in nouns and adjectives, but they
also exist in verbs.
First let’s take a look at some cognates which carry the same meaning in
Italian as their English counterparts.
List of Italian Verb Cognates
accompagnare
(ah-kom-pang-yah-reh )
to accompany
creare
(kreh-ah-reh )
to create
dividere
(dee-vee-deh-reh )
to divide
studiare
(stoo-dee-yah-reh )
to study
telefonare
(teh-leh-foh-nah-reh )
to telephone
Here is a list of Italian Verb False Cognates.
assistere
(ah-see-steh-reh)
to be present NOT to assist
attendere
(ah-ten-derh-reh)
to wait for NOT to attend / to attend to
confrontare
(kohn-fron-tah-reh)
to compare NOT to confront
intendere
(een-ten-derh-reh)
to understand, hear, want NOT to intend to
tastare
(tah-stah-reh)
to touch, to feel NOT to taste
Step Summary
Let’s take a look at what you’ve learned in this step.
A cognate is a word in one language that has the same origin as a word in
another one and may sound similar. For example, airport is aeroporto (ah-
eh-roh-pohr-toh )
English word but means something completely different. For example,
attendere doesn’t NOT mean ‘to attend’ or ‘to attend to’’ (ah-eh-roh-pohr-
toh ). You will learn these are you use the language.
To build up your vocabulary use the following rules to help you use and
identify words.
Nouns
A noun is a word you can place either ‘the’, ‘a’ or ‘an’ in front of.
Rule #1 Nouns in English ending in -Y become -IA in Italian
Rule #2 Nouns in English ending in -IC(S) become -ICA in Italian
Rule #3 Nouns in English ending in -TY become -TÀ in Italian
Rule #4 Nouns in English ending in -CE become -ZA in Italian
Rule #5 Nouns in English ending in -TION become -ZIONE in Italian
Rule #6 Nouns in English ending in -OR become -ORE in Italian
Rule #7 Nouns in English ending -ARY become -ARIO in Italian
Rule #8 Nouns in English ending -IST become -ISTA in Italian
Adjectives
An adjective is a word you can place ‘is’ in front of.
Rule #9 Adjectives in English ending in -AL become -ALE in Italian

Rule #10 Adjectives in English ending in -ECT become -ETTO in Italian
Rule #11 Adjectives in English ending in -ICAL become -ICO in Italian
Rule #12 Adjectives in English ending in -OUS become -OSO in Italian

Rule #13 Adjectives in English ending in -ABLE or -IBLE become -
ABILE and -IBILE in Italian.
Verbs
A verb is a word you can place ‘to’ in front of. There are only three verb
endings -ERE , -IRE and
-ARE each representing the ‘to ’ part of the verb.
Rule #14 Verbs in English ending in -CATE become -CARE in Italian
Rule #15 Verbs in English ending in -IZE become -IZZARE in Italian
Rule #16 Verbs in English ending in -IRE become -ISH in Italian
Adverbs
An adverb modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. It tells us the manner,
place, time, or degree (e.g. gently, here, now, very).
Rule #17 Adverbs in English ending in -ABLY and -IBLY become -

ABILMENTE and -IBILMENTE in Italian.
False Friends
English word but means something totally different. You will learn these by
experience.
Step 3: How to Sound Like A Natural Italiano

Learning Time: 1 Hour
Alphabet
As mentioned earlier, Italian is pronounced as it is written. This makes it
easier to learn how to say the new words.
The words are pronounced by adding together the sound of each individual
letter. There are only twenty-one letters in the Italian alphabet
The letters j , k , w , x , and y are not part of the Italian alphabet having
been adopted from foreign words. Luckily, they are pronounced the same as
in English.
Below is the Italian alphabet with the Italian names of each letter.
Letter/ Italian Name / Pronunciation
A a (ah )
B b (bee )
C ci ( chee )
D di (dee )
E e (eh )
F effe (ef-fay )
G gi (jee )
H acca (ahk-kah)
I i (ee)
J jay /i lunga (ee loon-gah)
K kappa (kah-pah)
L elle (eh-leh )
M emme (em-meh)
N enne (en-neh)
O o (oh)
P p i (pee)
Q q u (coo)
R erre (air-reh)
S ess e (es-seh)
T t i (tee)
U u (oo)
V vu (vi) (voo or vee)
W doppia v u (dohp-pyah voo)
X ic s (eex)
Y ipsilo n (eep-see-lohn)
Z zeta (zeh-tah)
Some examples of adopted words include:

J
jogging, junior, jeans
K
okay, ketchup, killer
W
whisky, windsurf, wafer
X
xenofobia (xenophobia)
(kseh-noh-foh-bee-ah)
xilofono (xylophone)
(ksee-loh-foh-noh )
Y
yogurt, hobby, yacht
Vowels
Vowels show up a lot in Italian giving the language it its sing-song sound.
Italian vowels are always pronounced in a sharp or clear way regardless of
stress. They are never slurred or pronounced weakly.
Just remember that:
a is pronounced like the ‘a’ in father,
e has two sounds: e (open) sounds like the e in “set,” while e (closed)
sounds like the a in “say.”
i like the ‘ee’ in greet
o has two sounds: ‘o’ (open) sounds like the ‘o’ in pot, while the ‘o’
(closed) sounds like the ‘o’ in post.
u like the ‘u’ in rule.
Consonants
Many consonants sound like their English equivalent. Some most important
exceptions are:
c before i or e is pronounced like a “ch”
c before h, o, u, a, and consonants is pronounced like a “ch”
g before an i or e is pronounced like the g in “general,”
h is always silent eg. hotel (oh-tel)
r is almost always rolled
z is pronounced like the “ds” in ‘lads’ at the beginning of the sentence, or
like the “ts” in ‘sets’ in all other cases.
Double Consonants
Double consonant s can be a bit tricky, but here are some rules to
remember:
c h sounds like the “c” in “car”
gl i sounds like the “ll” in million
g n sounds like the “ny” in “canyon”
sc sounds like the “sh” in “shush” before i and e , and like “sk” in “skip” in
all other cases.
Pronunciation
Knowing how to pronounce words in Italian can be a big help—if only to,
say, order items off a menu, tell a taxi driver your hotel address or ask a
local what the next metro stop is… and be correctly understood!
Italian words can be rather long, but here are some helpful tips for
pronouncing them.
Rule #1
Stress falls on the very last syllabl e when marked by an accent. The
accent is placed above the letter and can be either grave (`) or acute (´).
Remember, only vowels can have accents.
i l caffè (eel kahf-feh ) coffee
l a città (lah cheet-TAH ) city
i l lunedì (looh-neh-DEE ) Monday
perché (pur-KEH ) why
però (peh-ROH ) but
l’università (looh-nee-vehr-see-TAH ) university
l a virtù (lah veer-TOOH ) virtue
Rule #2
If there’s no accent in the word, then a general tip is to stress the second-to-
last syllable . This rule is applied for all three-syllable words.
Venezia (veh-NEH-zy a )
Venice
i l castello (eel cas-TEL-lo h )
castle
If you remember nothing else then remember rules #1 and #2.
Below are further tips on how to correctly stress syllables.
Rule #3
For words with two syllables words, stress the first syllable . This does not
usually affect the pronunciation.
i l fame (eel FAH-me h ) hunger
Rule #4
Three-syllable words have their natural stress on the second-to-last syllabl
e .
domani (doh-MAH-ne e ) tomorrow
Rule #5
Words of four or more syllables usually have their natural accent on the
third-to-last syllabl e .
attraversare (aht-trah-VERH-sah-re h ) to cross
Rule #6
If a one-syllable word has a written accent, it means that there is another
Italian word that has the same spelling but a different meaning.
a has
à at, to
e and
è is
Step Summary
Let’s take a look at what you’ve learned in this step.
Alphabet
There are only twenty-one letters in the Italian alphabet. The letters j , k , w
, x , and y are not part of the Italian alphabet since they derive from foreign
words and are pronounced the same way.
Vowels
Italian vowels are always pronounced in a sharp or clear way regardless of
stress. They are never slurred or pronounced weakly.
Pronunciation
Rule #1
Stress falls on the very last syllable when marked by an accent.
Eg. caffè (kahf-FE H ) coffee
Rule #2
If there’s no accent in the word, then a general tip is to stress the second-to-
last syllabl e .
Eg. Venezia (veh-NEH-zy a ) Venice
Rule #3
For words with two syllables words, stress the first syllable.
Eg. fame (FAH-me h ) hunger
Rule #4
Three-syllable words have their natural stress on the second-to-last syllabl
e .
Eg. domani (doh-MAH-ne e ) tomorrow
Rule #5
Words of four or more syllables usually have their natural accent on the
third-to-last syllabl e .
Eg. attraversare (aht-trah-VERH-sah-re h ) to cross
Rule #6
If a one-syllable word has an accent, it means that there is another Italian
word that has the same spelling but a different meaning.
Eg. a has , à at, to
Step 4: How to Simplify and Use Verbs
Learning Time: 75 Minutes
An Introduction to Verbs
Now it’s time to start to pulling together what you have learned in previous
steps and start constructing your own sentences!
Are you excited? You should be!
Without a doubt this step is the most important and powerful in the learning
process.
In order to be able to form sentences there is one key missing element that
you have yet to learn, and that’s verbs!
Verbs are where the action is and are the skeleton of any language. Without
verbs, nothing would get done; nothing could happen. Verbs are what move
us, shape us, and allow us to convey messages.
Let’s refresh our memory of what a verb is. Back in Step 2 we learned that a
verb is a word you can place ‘to’ in front of, like ‘to travel’, viaggiare
(veeah-jeehah-reh ) or ‘to eat’, mangiare (mahn-jaarh-reh ).
These examples are shown in their full form which is called the infinitive .
The infinitive form of a verb is the unconjugated verb . What’s unique
about the infinitive is that it doesn’t tell us who is doing the action.
Every time you speak, you change verbs to reflect the subject of the verb.
The process of changing verbs is called conjugating .
For example, if you say “She’s eating a pizza”, then she is the subject. She
is the person conducting the action.
Therefore, in Italian you couldn’t simply say mangiare una pizza because
this means “eating a pizza”. Instead, you have to conjugate the verb
mangiare and say le i mangia una pizza , “She’s eating a pizza”.
It is important to be able to recognize verb infinitives as this is how they are
organised in your dictionary.
Talking About The Present

In this step you will learn how to conjugate verbs in the present tense. In
grammatical terms it’s called the present indicative tense .
The indicative tense or mood is used to express or indicate facts. It is the
most commonly used mood in everyday conversation. For this reason we
will focus solely on this mood in this book.
The present indicative, as its name implies, is used to form statements and
questions in the present tense.
It’s important to note that in English the present tense can be expressed in
three different ways:
1. The simple present: “I eat.”
2. The present progressive: “I am eating.”
3. The emphatic present: “I do eat.”
While in Italian we can express all three of these meanings just by saying
mangio (mahn-joh) .
Just remember that there is no am -ing, is -ing or are -ing.
Subject pronouns
In order to conjugate we must first familiarise ourselves with subject
pronouns.
Subject pronouns in English are - I, you (singular), he/she, we, you (plural),
and they.
Here they are in Italian:
io (ee-oh ) - I
tu (tew) - you (informal)
Lei/lui/lei (lay/loo-ee/lay) - you (formal), he, she
noi (noy) - we
voi (voy) - you (plural)
loro (lorh-roh) - they
You’re probably wondering what the informal and formal subject pronoun
are. Don’t worry about this too much for now, we’ll cover this in Step 7 -
How to Address Someone Correctly .
In Italian, subject pronouns come before the conjugated verb but their use
differs from English. Subject pronouns are only used to add emphasis to the
subject or for clarification.
As you will soon in the examples, the subject is already part of the verb
conjugation and is represented by the final letters .
To add a similar emphasis in English we simply stress the pronoun by
increasing our voice slightly.
Verb Families
Most of the time Italian verbs follow certain rules. We call these regular
verbs. We’ll get to irregular verbs later.
All verbs in Italian belong to one of three families which can be easily
identified by their endings, -ere , -ire and -are. These endings represent the
‘to ’ of the verb as are always found in the infinitive. This is how you’ll be
able to identify the infinitive.
The rules are the same for each family, so after you’ve learned the pattern
for one verb, you’ll know how to conjugate all the verbs in that family and
start creating sentences!
The first type of conjugation is the -are family which is the largest and most
regular.
eg. parlare (par-lah-reh) to speak
The second type of conjugation is the -ere family which has its own set of
rules .
eg. rispondere (ree-spon-deh-reh) to respond
The third type of conjugation is the -ire family which has two methods of
conjugation
eg. capire (kah-pee-reh) to understand
Using the Stem to Conjugate Verbs

If -ere , -ire and -ire are the infinitive ending, then what is left is called the
stem .
By using the stem you can start to conjugate verbs! Piece of cake!
To conjugate any regular verb in the present tense all you need to do is keep
the stem, drop the infinitive ending, and replace it with the appropriate
conjugation.
Here is how to obtain the stem (underlined):

parlare → parl - are ( to speak)
rispondere → rispond - er e (to respond)
partire → part - ir e (to depart)
Once you have the stem you can add the following endings.
-ARE verb endings

- o (oh)
- i (ee)
- a (ah)
-iam o (ee-yah-moh)
-at e (ah-teh)
-ano (ah-noh)
Let’s conjugate the verb parlare (pah-lah-reh) (to speak).
io parlo (ee-oh parh-loh) – I speak
tu parli (tooh parh-lee) – you speak
Lei/lui/lei (lay/loo-ee/lay parh-lah) – You (formal)/he/she speak/s
noi parliamo (noy parh-leeyah-moh) – we speak
voi parlate (voy parh-lee-ah-teh) – you speak
loro parlano (lor-roh parh-lah-noh) – they speak
-ERE verb endings
-o (oh)
-i (ee)
-e (eh)
-iamo (ee-yah-moh)
-ete (eh-teh)
-ono (oh-noh)
Let’s conjugate the verb vendere (vawn-deh-reh) (to sell).
io vendo (ee-oh ven-doh) – I sell

tu vendi (tooh ven-dee) – you sell
Lei/lui/lei vende (lay/loo-ee/lay ven-deh) – You (formal)/he/she sell/s
noi vendiamo (noy ven-deeyah-moh) – we sell
voi vendete (voy ven-deh-teh) – you sell
loro vendono (lor-roh ven-doh-noh) – they sell
-IRE verb endings

There are two sets of endings for –ire verbs . The first set takes the
following endings:
- isco (ee-skoh)
- isci (ee-shee)
- isce (ee-sheh)
- iamo (ee-yah-moh)
- ite (ee-teh)
- iscono (ees-koh-noh)
So the conjugation of finire (fee-nee-reh) (to finish) is:
io finisco (ee-oh fee-nee-skoh) – I finish
tu finisci (tooh fee-nee-shee) – you finish
Lei/lui/lei finisce (lay/loo-ee/lay fee-nee-sheh) – You (formal)/he/she
finish/es
noi finiamo (noy feenyah-moh) – we finish
voi finite (voy feen-ee-teh) – you finish
loro finiscono (lor-roh fee-nee-skoh-noh) – they finish
These endings sound difficult to pronounce but they are not too bad when
you get used to them.
The other type of -ire verb is easier, with the endings:

- o (oh)
- i (ee)
- e (eh)
- iamo (ee-yah-moh)
- ite (ee-teh)
- ono (oh-noh)
Therefore, the conjugation of partire (par-tee-reh) (to depart, leave) is:
io parto (ee-oh par-toh) – I depart
tu parti (tooh par-tee) – you depart
Lei/lui/lei parte (lay/loo-ee/lay par-teh) – You (formal)/he/she depart/s
noi partiamo (noy par-teeyah-moh) – we depart
voi partite (voy par-tee-teh) – you depart
loro partono (lor-roh par-toh-noh) – they depart
So, how do you know which set of endings a verb takes? A good dictionary
should give you an indication if the verb goes like finire .
Other than that, as with everything else, you learn as you go along!
Irregular verbs
In irregular verbs, the stem may change form once it has been conjugated.
This is called a stem-changing verb, as with the verb bere (beh-reh)
meaning ‘to drink’, whose stem changes to bev- when conjugated.
Each conjugation has its own set of endings that replaces the ending of the
infinitive.
Irregular -ARE Verb Endings

The endings of the irregular -are verbs are the same as those you have
learned for the regular verbs.
There are only four irregular -are verbs which you will use often so it’s
important to familiarise yourself with them.
Besides changing the stem of these four irregular -are verbs you also
double the consonant n in the third-person plural.
The verbs are:
1. a ndare (aahn-dah-reh) to go
2. dare (dah-reh) to give
3. fare (fah-reh) to do/make
4. stare (stah-reh) to stay, remain
The conjugation of andare (ahn-dah-reh ) (to go) is:
io vado (ee-oh var-doh) – I go
tu vai (tooh vaiee) – you go
Lei/lui/lei va (lay/loo-ee/lay vah) – You (formal)/he/she go/es
noi andiamo (noy aahn-deeyah-moh) – we go
voi andate (voy aahn-dah-teh) – you go
loro va nn o (lor-roh vahn-noh) – they go
The conjugation of dare (darh-reh) (to give) is:

io do (ee-oh doh) – I give
tu dai (tooh daiee – you give
Lei/lui/lei dà (lay/loo-ee/lay dah) – You (formal)/he/she give/s
noi diamo (noy deeyah-moh) – we give
voi date (voy dah-teh) – you give
loro da nn o (lor-roh dahn-noh) – they give
The conjugation of fare (fah-reh) (to do, make) is:
io faccio (ee-oh fah-chee-yoh) – I do
tu fai (tooh faiee) – you do
Lei/lui/lei fa (lay/loo-ee/lay fah) – You (formal)/he/she do/es
noi facciamo (noy fah-cheeyah-moh) – we do
voi fate (voy fah-teh) – you do
loro fa nn o (lor-roh fahn-noh) – they do
The conjugation of stare (stah-reh) (to stay) is:
io sto (ee-oh stoh) – I stay
tu stai (tooh staiee) – you stay
Lei/lui/lei sta (lay/loo-ee/lay stah) – You (formal)/he/she stay/s
noi stiamo (noy steeyah-moh) – we stay
voi state (voy stah-teh) – you stay
loro sta nn o (lor-roh stahn-noh) – they stay
For berbs ending in -care (such as cercare , to search) and -gare (including
pagare , to pay), add an -h- immediately after the stem if the endings start
with -e- or -i- . We do this to maintain the hard c or g sound.
So the conjugation of cercare (cher-kah-reh) (to look for, search) is:
io cerco (ee-oh cher-koh) – I search
tu cerc h i (tooh cher-kee) – you search
Lei/lui/lei cerca (lay/loo-ee/lay cher-kah) – You (formal)/he/she search/es
noi cerc h iamo (noy cher-keeyah-moh) – we search
voi cercate (voy cher-kah-teh) – you search
loro cercano (lor-roh cher-kah-noh) – they search
The conjugation of pagare (pah-gar-reh) (to pay) is:
io pago (ee-oh pah-goh) – I pay

tu pag h i (tooh pah-ghee) – you pay
Lei/lui/lei paga (lay/loo-ee/lay pah-gah) – You (formal)/he/she pay/s
noi pag h iamo (noy pah-gheeyah-moh) – we pay
voi pagate (voy pah-gah-teh) – you pay
loro pagano (lor-roh pah-goh-noh) – they pay
Irregular -ERE Verb Endings

There are many irregular verbs that end in -ere . The following are some of
the most common.
The conjugation of bere (bear-reh) (to drink) is:
io bevo (ee-oh beh-voh) – I drink
tu bevi (tooh beh-vee) – you drink
Lei/lui/lei beve (lay/loo-ee/lay beh-veh) – You (formal)/he/she drink/s
noi beviamo (noy beh-veeyah-moh) – we drink
voi bevete (voy beh-veh-teh) – you drink
loro bevono (lor-roh beh-voh-noh) – they drink
The conjugation of dovere (doh-veh-reh) (must, have to) is:
io devo (ee-oh deh-voh) – I must

tu devi (tooh deh-vee) – you must
Lei/lui/lei deve (lay/loo-ee/lay deh-veh) – You (formal)/he/she must
noi dobbiamo (noy doh-beeyah-moh) – we must
voi dovete (voy doh-veh-teh) – you must
loro devono (lor-roh deh-voh-noh) – they must
The conjugation of potere (poh-teh-reh) (to be able, can) is:

io posso (ee-oh poh-soh) – I can
tu puoi (tooh pwohee) – you can
Lei/lui/lei può (lay/loo-ee/lay pwoh) – You (formal)/he/she can
noi possiamo (noy poh-seeyah-moh) – we can
voi potete (voy poh-teh-teh) – you can
loro possono (lor-roh pohs-soh-noh) – they can
The conjugation of rimanere (ree-mah-neh-reh) (to stay, remain) is:
io rimango (ee-oh ree-mahn-goh) – I remain
tu rimani (tooh ree-mah-nee) – you remain
Lei/lui/lei rimane (lay/loo-ee/lay ree-mah-neh) – You (formal)/he/she
remain/s
noi rimaniamo (noy ree-mahn-yah-moh) – we remain
voi rimanete (voy ree-mah-neh-teh) – you remain
loro rimangono (lor-roh ree-mahn-goh-noh) – they remain
The conjugation of sapere (sah-peh-reh) (to know) is;
io so (ee-oh soh) – I know
tu sai (tooh sai) – you know
Lei/lui/lei sa (lay/loo-ee/lay sah) – You (formal)/he/she know/s
noi sappiamo (noy sap-pyah-moh) – we know
voi sapete (voy sah-peh-teh) – you know
loro sanno (lor-roh sahn-noh) – they know
The conjugation of spegnere (spehn-yeh-reh) (to turn off) is:
io spengo (ee-oh spehn-goh) – I turn off
tu spegni (tooh spehn-yee) – you turn off
Lei/lui/lei spegne (lay/loo-ee/lay spehn-yeh) – You (formal)/he/she turn/s
off
noi spegniamo (noy spehn-yah-moh) – we turn off
voi spegnete (voy spehn-yeh-teh) – you turn off
loro spengono (lor-roh spehn-goh-noh) – they turn off
The conjugation of tenere (tehn-yeh-reh) (to keep) is:
io tengo (ee-oh tehn-goh) – I keep
tu tieni (tooh teeyeh-nee) – you keep
Lei/lui/lei tiene (lay/loo-ee/lay teeyeh-neh) – You (formal)/he/she keep/s
noi teniamo (noy tehn-yah-moh) – we keep
voi tenete (voy teh-neh-teh) – you keep
loro tengono (lor-roh ten-goh-noh) – they keep
The conjugation of volere (voh-leh-reh) (to want) is:
io voglio (ee-oh vohl-yoh) – I want
tu vuoi (tooh vuohee) – you keep
Lei/lui/lei vuole (lay/loo-ee/lay voo-oh-leh) – You (formal)/he/she want/s
noi vogliamo (noy vohl-yah-moh) – we want
voi volete (voy voh-leh-teh) – you want
loro vogliono (lor-roh vohl-yoh-noh) – they want
Irregular -IRE Verb Endings

The most common irregular -ire verbs are dire (to say, tell), morire (to
die), salire (to go up), uscire (to go out), and venire (to come).
The conjugation of dire (dee-reh) (to say, tell) is:
io di c o (ee-oh dee-koh) – I say
tu di c i (tooh dee-chee) – you say
Lei/lui/lei di c e (lay/loo-ee/lay dee-cheh) – You (formal)/he/she say/s
noi diciamo (noy dee-cheeyah-moh) – we say
voi dite (voy dee-teh) – you say
loro dicono (lor-roh dee-koh-noh) – they say
Dire originates from the Latin dicere and many people consider it to be an
irregular -ere verb. This explains the addition of -c- in its conjugation.
The conjugation of morire (moh-ree-reh) (to die) is:
io muoio (ee-oh mwohee-yoh) – I die

tu muori (tooh mwoh-ree) – you die
Lei/lui/lei muore (lay/loo-ee/lay mwoh-reh) – You (formal)/he/she die/s
noi moriamo (noy moh-ree-yah-moh) – we die
voi morite (voy moh-ree-teh) – you die
loro muoiono (lor-roh mwohee-yoh-noh) – they die
Some other irregular verbs ending in -ire add -g- in the first-person singular
and the third-person plural and add a vowel change in the second and third-
persons singular (venire , to come) or only add a -g- in the first-person
singular and the third-person plural (salire , to ascend, to go up, to climb).
The conjugation of salir e (sah-lee-reh ) (to ascend, go up, climb) is:
io sal g o (ee-oh sahl-goh) – I go up
tu sali (tooh sah-lee) – you go up
Lei/lui/lei sale (lay/loo-ee/lay sah-leh) – You (formal)/he/she go/es up
noi saliamo (noy sahl-yah-moh) – we go up
voi salite (voy sah-lee-teh) – you go up
loro sal g ono (lor-roh sahl-goh-noh) – they go up
The conjugation of venire (veh-nee-reh) (to come) is:
io ven g o (ee-oh vehn-goh) – I come
tu v i eni (tooh vee-eh-nee) – you come
Lei/lui/lei vi e ne (lay/loo-ee/lay vee-eh-neh) – You (formal)/he/she come/s
noi veniamo (no y vehn-yah-mo h ) – we come
voi venite (voy veh-nee-teh) – you come
loro ven g ono (lor-roh vehn-goh-noh) – they come
With the verb uscire (to go out) change the -u- into -e- in the first three
persons singular and in the third-person plural.
The conjugation of uscire (oo-shee-reh) (to go out, leave, exit) is:
io e sco (ee-oh ehs-koh) – I
tu e sci (tooh eh-shee) – you go out
Lei/lui/lei e sce (lay/loo-ee/lay eh-sheh) – You (formal)/he/she go/es out
noi usciamo (noy oo-sheeyah-moh) – we go out
voi uscite (voy oo-shee-teh) – you go out
loro e scono (lor-roh ehs-koh-noh) – they go out
For more verbs, see BONUS #3: Top 100 Common Italian Verbs.
Now let's look at building sentences with what you've just learned.
Creating Sentences
Becoming a fluent speaker of a foreign language takes a lot of work.
Simply communicating or making yourself understood in another language
is much easier. Even if you only know a few words, you can usually
communicate successfully in common situations such as at a restaurant or
hotel.
Forming simple sentences is, well, simple. The basic sentence structure of
Italian is subject-verb-object — the same as in English. In the following
examples, you can see how this structure works:
Repeat aloud
Carla speaks English
Carla parla inglese
(kahr-lah par-lah een-gleh-zeh)
I leave tomorrow night
Parto domani sera
(parh-toh doh-mah-nee seh-rah)
Pietro is buying a car today
Pietro compra una macchina oggi
(pee-eh-troh cohm-prah ooh-nah mahk-kee-nah oh-jee)
Italy is a beautiful country
L’Italia è un bel paese
(lee-tahl-ee-ah eh oohn behl pah-eh-zeh)
He goes to the market
Lui va al mercato
(loo-ee vah al merh-kah-toh)
To ask a question, simply add an inflection at the end.
Does he go to the market?
Lui va al mercato?
(loo-ee vah al merh-kah-toh?)
Word Order
Word order in English and Italian is basically the same. This permits your
Italian sentence to follow the conjugated verb with an infinitive in a similar
sequence.
Repeat aloud
He does not want to study
Lui non vuole studiare
(loo-ee deh-veh stoo-dee-ah-reh)
They want to go to the movies
Lor o voglion o andare al cinema
(lor-ro h vohl-yoh-no h ahn-dah-reh ahl chee-nee-mah)
We know how to ice-skate
Noi sappiamo pattinare sul ghiaccio
(noy sap-pyah-moh paht-teen-nah-reh sool gyah-cheeyo)
Marco wants to travel a lot
Roberto vuole viaggiare molto
(Roh-berh-toh vwah-leh vee-ahj-jah-reh mohl-toh)
Step Summary
A verb is a word you can place ‘to’ in front of like ‘to travel’, viaggiare
(vee-ahj-jah-reh ).
The infinitive form of a verb is the unconjugated verb. It doesn’t tell us
who is doing the action.
The process of changing verbs is called conjugating .
The present tense can be expressed in three different ways: I eat, I am
eating, I do eat. In Italian, there is only one way, Mangio (I eat). There is no
am -ing, is -ing or are -ing.
Subject pronouns in Italian are only used to add emphasis to the subject or
for clarification. They are: io, tu, Lei/lui/lei, noi, voi, loro .
All verbs in Italian belong to one of three families identifiable by their
endings, -ere , -ire and -are. The remainder of the verb is called the stem
and is used to conjugate verbs.
To conjugate any regular verb in the present tense: keep the stem, drop the
infinitive ending, and replace it with the appropriate conjugation.
Eg. parlare → parl - ar e → io p arlo I speak
Regular Verbs
-ARE verbs such as parlare (pah-lah-reh) (to speak) end in:
-o (oh)
-i (ee)
-a (ah)
-iamo (ee-yah-moh)
-ate (ah-teh)
-ano (ah-noh)
-ERE verbs such as vendere (vawn-deh-reh) (to sell) end in:
-o, -i (ee)
-e (eh)
-iamo (ee-yah-moh)
-ete (eh-teh)
-ono (oh-noh)
-IRE verbs have two sets of endings. The first set, which includes verbs
like finire (fee-nee-reh) (to finish) takes the following endings:
- isco (ee-skoh)
- isci (ee-shee)
- isce (ee-sheh)
- iamo (ee-yah-moh)
- ite (ee-teh)
- iscono (ees-koh-noh)
The other type of -ire verbs including partire (par-tee-reh) (to depart,
leave) end with:
- o (oh)
- i (ee)
- e (eh)
- iamo (ee-yah-moh)
- ite (ee-teh)
- ono (oh-noh)
Irregular -ARE Verb Endings

There are only four irregular -are verbs. The are:
andare (to go)
io vado, tu vai, Lei/lui/lei va , noi andiamo, voi andate, loro vanno
dare (to give)
io do , tu dai, Lei/lui/lei, dà , noi diamo , voi date, loro danno
fare ( to do/make)
io faccio , tu fai, Lei/lui/lei fa , noi facciamo, voi fate , loro fanno
stare ( to stay, remain)
io sto, tu stai , Lei/lui/lei sta , noi stiamo, voi state, loro stanno
Irregular -ERE Verb Endings
There are many irregular –ere verbs including:
bere (to drink)
io bevo, tu bevi, Lei/lui/lei beve, noi beviamo, voi bevete, loro bevono
rimanere (to stay, remain)
io rimango, tu rimani, Lei/lui/lei rimane, noi rimaniamo, voi rimanete,
loro rimangono
sapere (to know)
io so, tu sai, Lei/lui/lei sa, noi sappiamo, voi sapete, loro sanno
Irregular -IRE Verb Endings

The most common irregular -ire verbs are:
dire (to say, tell)
io dico, tu dici, Lei/lui/lei dice, noi diciamo , voi dite, loro dicono
salire (to ascend, go up, climb)
io salgo, tu sali, Lei/lui/lei sale, noi saliamo , voi salite, loro salgono
venire (to come)
io vengo , tu vieni, Lei/lui/lei. viene, noi veniamo, voi venite , loro
vengono
uscire (to go out, leave, exit)
io esco, tu esci , Lei/lui/lei esce, noi usciamo, voi uscite, loro escono
The basic sentence structure of Italian is subject-verb-object — the same as
in English.
Step 5: How to Master the Verbs ‘be’ and ‘have’

Learning Time: 1 hour
The two most important verbs you will learn and need to master are avere
(ah-veh-reh) (to have) and essere (es-ser-reh) (to be).
Both are irregular verbs and have their own unique conjugations.
Let’s look at avere first.
Conjugating Avere
Avere means ‘to have’ and is used a lot in Italian. Learning the tenses and
uses of this verb is crucial to learning the Italian language. Just like in
English, avere is an irregular verb and does not follow a predictable pattern.
Let’s take a look at the conjugation of avere ( ah-veh-re h ) (to have):
io ho (ee-oh oh) – I have
tu hai (tooh aiee) – you have
Lei/lui/lei ha (lay/loo-ee/lay ah) – You (formal)/he/she have/has
noi abbiamo (noy ahb-byah-moh) – we have
voi avete (voy ah-veh-teh) – you have
loro hanno (lor-roh ahn-noh) – they have
As you might recall, the h is not pronounced in Italian. It remains silent.
This distinguishes the written verb from other words with the same
pronunciation but different meanings such as ho (I have) and o (or) or ha
(he/she has) and a (at, to).
How to Use Avere

Avere is used just like in English. Let's create a couple of sentences with
some of the vocabulary you have already learned.
Repeat Aloud
Lei non ha pazienza
(lay nohn ah patz-ee-en-zah)
She does not have patience
Ho un segretario
(oh oon seh-greh-tah-ree-oh)
I have a secretary
Avere is often used in Italian in situations where ‘to be’ would be used in
English.
For example, avere is used instead of essere to indicate age. So it looks like
this: avere + number + anni .
Repeat Aloud
Quanti anni hai?
(qwahn-tee ah-nee aiee)
How old are you?
Ho trent’anni
(oh trehnt ah-nee)
I am thirty years old
Note: We drop the final ‘a’ in trenta because it ends in a vowel and anni
starts with a vowel. This is to assist in pronunciation so it rolls off the
tongue.
Avere in Idiomatic Expressions
Avere is used in many idiomatic expressions that convey feelings or

physical sensations. They are formed with avere + noun.
While the equivalent English expressions are usually formed with ‘to be’ +
adjective.
Repeat Aloud
avere bisogno di.. to need, have need of
(ah-veh-reh bee-zohn-yoh dee)
avere caldo to be warm, hot
(ah-veh-reh kahl-doh)
avere colpa to be guilty
(ah-veh-reh kohl-pah)
avere fame to be hungry
(ah-veh-reh faah-meh)
avere fortuna to be lucky
(ah-veh-reh foorh-too-nah)
avere freddo to be cold
(ah-veh-reh frehd-doh)
avere fretta to be in a hurry
(ah-veh-reh freht-tah)
avere invidia to be envious
(ah-veh-reh een-vee-deyah)
avere paura to be afraid
(ah-veh-reh pah-oo-rah)
avere rabbia to be in a rage
(ah-veh-reh rahb-byah.)
avere ragione to be right
(ah-veh-reh rah-jeeyoh-neh)
avere sete to be thirsty
(ah-veh-reh seh-teh)
avere sonno to be sleepy, tired
(ah-veh-reh sohn-noh)
avere torto to be wrong
(ah-veh-reh torh-toh)
avere un desiderio to have a wish
(ah-veh-reh oon deh-see-deh-ree-oh)
avere vergogna to be ashamed
(ah-veh-reh verh-gohn-yah)
avere voglia di to want; to feel like
(ah-veh-reh vohl-yah dee)
Using the above, here are some example sentences:
Repeat Aloud
Abbiamo bisogno di bere
(ahb-byah-moh bee-zohn-yoh dee beh-reh)
We need to drink some water dell’acqua.
Lui ha sempre fretta
(loo-ee ah sehm-preh freh-tah)
He is always in a rush.
La mamma ha sempre ragione
(lah mahm-mah ah sehm-preh rah-jeeyoh-neh)
Mother is always right
Ho voglio di andare in vacanza
(oh vohl-yoh dee ahn-dah-reh een vah-kahn-zah)
I want to go on holiday
Conjugating Essere
Now, it’s time to learn the verb essere (es-ser-reh) (to be).
Arguably this is most used verb in any language as it is used to express
relationships, physical characteristics, personal traits, the date and time,
professions, nationality, mood, physical status, colours, and location.
Essere is also used to describe where someone or something is located, and
indicates that the person or thing may not stay there.
It is also used to indicate point of origin, the material something is made
from, possession, and where an event takes place.
The conjugation of essere (to be) is:
io sono (ee-oh sohn-noh) – I am
tu sei (tooh sey) – you have
lui/lei è (lay/loo-ee/lay eh) – You (formal)/he/she are/is
noi siamo (noy see-yah-moh) – we are
voi siete (voy seeyeh-teh) – you are
loro sono (lor-roh sohn-noh) – they are
How to Use Essere
Below are some examples of how essere is used to express various states.
Repeat Aloud
Relationships
Lui è mio marito
(loo-ee eh mee-oh mah-ree-toh)
He is my husband
Loro sono i miei amici
(lor-roh sohn-noh ee meeyay ah-mee-chee)
They are my friends
Physical Characteristics
Maria è alta
(Mah-ree-yah eh ahl-tah)
Maria is tall
Voi siete magri
(voy seeyeh-teh mah-gree)
You (pl.) are thin
Personal Traits
Lei è una brava dottoressa
(lay eh oo-nah brah-vah doht-torh-rehs-sah)
She is a good doctor
I bambini sono educati
(ee bahm-bee-nee sohn-noh eh-doo-kah-tee)
The children are polite
Date and Time

Sono le dieci di mattina
(sohn-noh leh deychee dee maht-tee-nah)
It is ten in the morning
Domani è lunedì
(doh-mah-nee eh loo-nah-dee)
Tomorrow is Monday
Professions
Lui è ingegnere
(looee eh een-jehn-yeh-reh)
He is an engineer
Marta è una manager
(Marh-tah eh oo-nah mahn-ah-jerh)
Maria is a manager
Nationality
Loro sono italiani
(lor-roh sohn-noh ee-tah-lee-ah-nee)
They are Italian
Margaret è inglese
(Mah-garh-ret eh een-gleh-zeh)
Margaret is English
Mood
Chiara è allegra
(Kee-yah-rah eh ahl-leh-grah)
Chiara is happy
Tu sei molto serio
(tooh sey mohl-toh seh-ree-oh)
You are very serious
Step Summary
Avere
Avere means ‘to have’ and follows an irregular verb conjugation.
avere (to have)
io ho, tu hai , Lei/lui/lei ha, noi abbiamo, voi avete, loro hanno
When talking about age use the formula: avere + number + anni .
Eg. io ho quarant’anni (I am 40 years old)
When avere is used in idiomatic expressions use the formular: avere +
noun.
Eg. Noi abbiamo sete (We are thirsty)
Essere
Essere means ‘to be’ and also follows irregular verb conjugation.
essere (to be)
io sono, tu sei , lui/lei è , noi siamo, voi siete , loro sono
Essere is in same way as in English to express things like relationships,
physical characteristics, personal traits, date and time, profession,
nationality, and mood.
Examples:
Lei è mia amica (She is my friend)

Lui è magro (He is thin)
Tu sei un bravo studente (You are a good student)
Voi siete gentile (You are kind)
È tardi (It’s late)
Loro sono insegnanti (They are teachers)
Io sono Australiana (I am Australian)
Silvia è arrabbiata (Silvia is angry)
Step 6: How to Cheat Your Way Through Fluency
with Modal Verbs
Want and even quicker way to construct sentences without conjugating all
those regular and irregular verbs?
Well, I'm about to show you how!
This is where the magic happens! By following this method you’ll be
speaking Italian even more quickly.
All you need to do is learn how to conjugate three very powerful and
versatile verbs, known as modal verbs .
The Formula
Modal verbs allow you to create a phrase by placing an infinitive verb after
any one of the three modal verbs. This means you won’t have to worry
about remembering the correct conjugations of hundreds of other verbs.
Amazing right?
The formula looks like this:
Conjugated Modal Verb + Infinitive Verb
Modal Verbs
The three modal verbs are:
potere (poh-teh-reh) can, be able to, may
volere (voh-leh-reh) to want, to want to
dovere (doh-veh-reh) must, have to, owe
All three modal verbs have irregularities so you will have to learn them
individually. The following shows the present indicative conjugation of
each of these verbs:
Potere
The conjugation of potere (poh-teh-reh) ‘ to be able to’, ‘can’, ‘may’ is:
io posso (ee-oh pohs-soh) – I can
tu puoi (to o h pwoi) – you can
Lei/lui/lei pu ò (looh-ee/ley pwoh) – You (formal)/he/she can
noi possiamo (noyh pohs-syah-moh) – we can
voi potete (voyh poh-teh-teh) – you can
loro possono (loh-roh pohs-soh-noh) – they can
How to Use Potere
By using the modal verb formula Conjugated Modal Verb + Infinitive
Verb you can create the following sentences.
- Puoi venire al cinema stasera?
(pwoi veh-nee-reh ahl chee-nee-mah stah-seh-rah)
Can you come to the cinema tonight?
- No, non posso venire / No, non posso
(noh, nohn pohs-soh veh-nee-reh / noh, nohn pohs-soh)
No, I can’t come / No, I can’t
Notice how the person in question is not expressing the idea that they don’t
want to go to the cinema but instead that they are unable to.
Potere can also be used to politely ask a question:
Posso avere un bicchiere d’acqua, per favore?
(pohs-soh ah-veh-reh oon bik-kyeh-reh dahq-qwah perh fah-vor-reh)
May I have a glass of water. please?
Mi p uo i aiutare ?
(mee pwoi ay-oo-tarh-reh)
Could you help me?
Notice how in these cases potere mean may or could .
Furthermore, it can also be used to ask permission.
By pointing to a seat you can simply ask: Posso ? (May I?) meaning ‘May
I please sit here?’
Posso usare la tua macchina stasera?
(pohs-soh oo-zah-reh lah too-ah mahk-keen-nah stah-seh-rah)
May I use your car tonight?
Le possiamo offrire qualcosa da bere?
(leh pohs-syah-moh off-ree-reh qwal-koh-zah dah beh-reh)
May we offer you (formal) something to drink?
Volere
Volere (voh-leh-reh) means ‘want’, or ‘want to’ and is conjugated as
follows:
io voglio (io vohl-yoh ) – I want
tu vuoi (tooh vwoi) – you want
Lei/lui/lei vuole (looh-ee/ley vwoh-leh) – You (formal)/he/she want/s
noi vogliamo (noyh vohl-yah-moh) – we want
voi volete (voyh voh-leh-teh) – you want
loro vogliono (loh-roh vohl-yoh-noh ) – they want
How to Use Volere

Volere can be used on its own as either a question or declaration:
Voglio un caffè
(volh-yoh oon kaf-feh)
I want a coffee
Volete un cornetto?
(voh-leh-teh oon kor-new-toh)
Do you want a croissant?
Or it can be followed by an infinitive to express a desire:
Voglio andare alla spiaggia!
(vohl-yoh ahn-dah-reh al-lah chee-nee-mah)
I want to go to the beach!
Vogliamo vivere su un’isola
(vohl-yah-moh vee-ver-reh soo oon-eez-zoh-lah)
We want to live on an island
Dovere
Last but not least we have the verb d overe (doh-veh-reh) meaning ‘ to
have to’, ‘ought to’, or ‘must’ . It can also mean ‘to owe’. This verb is
conjugated as follows:
Repeat Aloud
io devo (io dey-voh) – I must
tu devi (tooh dey-vee) – you must
Lei/lui/lei deve (loo-ee/ley dey-veh) – You (formal)/he/she must
noi dobbiam o (noyh dohb-byah-moh) – we must
voi dovete (voyh doh-veh-teh) – you must
loro devono (loh-roh deh-voh-noh ) – they must
How to Use Dovere

The verb dovere can be used on its own to express a sense of owing
something to someone, for example:
Repeat Aloud
Ti devo un caffè
(tee deh-voh oon kaf-feh))
I owe you a coffee
Luca mi deve dei soldi
(loo-kah mee dey-veh day sol-dee)
Luca owes me money
Alternatively, by using the verb restituire (give back, pay back, return) you
can say:
Luca mi deve restituire dei soldi
(loo-kah mee dey-veh reh-stee-too-ee-reh day sol-dee)
Luca must pay me back the money
In order to express a requirement such as ‘must’, and ‘have to’, dovere is
followed by the infinitive verb.
Repeat Aloud
Dobbiamo andare all’aeroporto
(noyh dohb-byah-moh)
We have to go to the airport
Dovete studiare
(doh-veh-teh stooh-deeyah-reh)
You must study
It can all express an obligation such as:
Repeat Aloud
Devi rispettare le leggi
(dey-vee ree-speht-tah-reh leh leh-jee)
You must respect/abide by the laws
To give advice or suggestions:
Per dimagrire devi fare esercizio fisico
(perh dee-mah-greer-reh dey-vee fah-reh ez-er-chee-zyo fee-zee-koh)
In order lose weight you have to do physical exercise
Negative Sentences
As we learned in an early step, in negative phrases we place the non (don't)
at the start of the sentence. This rule also applies to modal verbs:
Repeat Aloud
Non voglio discutere
(nohn vohl-yah-moh dee-skoo-teh-reh)
I don't want to argue
Non possiamo venire
(nohn poss-eeyah-moh veh-nee-reh)
We can’t come
Non dovete aspettare
(nohn doh-veh-teh as-speh-tah-reh)
You don’t have to wait
For more verbs, see BONUS #3: Top 100 Common Italian Verbs.
Step Summary
Modal verbs help you in forming sentences quickly as they do not require
you to learn the conjugations of all Italian verbs. The three modal verbs are:
potere (poh-teh-reh) can, be able to, may
io posso, tu puoi, Lei/lui/lei può, noi possiamo, voi potete , loro possono
volere (voh-leh-reh) to want, to want to
io voglio, tu vuoi, Lei/lui/lei vuole , noi vogliamo, voi volete, loro
vogliono
dovere (doh-veh-reh) must, have to, owe
io devo , tu devi, Lei/lui/lei deve, noi dobbiamo, voi dovete, loro devono
The formula for creating sentences is:
Conjugated Modal Verb + Infinitive Verb
For negative phrases we place the non (don't) at the start of the sentence.
Eg. Non voglio
Step 7: How to Address Someone Correctly

Learning Time: 30 minutes
Formal and Informal
In Italian there are two different ways of addressing people: formally and
informally.
English speakers often lose their confidence totally when they have to say
“you” in a language which uses more than one subject pronoun to address
people. But don’t worry. It’s not as complicated in Italian as it used to be,
and people don’t get offended any more if you make a mistake!
Basically there are two forms that you need to learn:
1. Informal Tense
Tu (for one person, male or female) and its plural voi are the informal
tense and is used to talk to your family, friends, all children and, of course,
to pets!
Repeat Aloud
(tu) Sei un buon amico

(tooh say oon bwon ah-mee-koh)
You are a good friend
(tu) Sei un buon amico
(tooh say oon bwon ah-mee-koh)
You are a good friend
2. Formal Tense
Lei (for one person, male or female) and its plural Loro are used in more
formal situations and to talk to someone you don’t know well, someone in
a higher or respected position such as your boss, doctor or a lawyer.
Take note that Lei and Loro are always written with a capital L. This is to
distinguish them from lei (she) and loro (they).
Repeat Aloud
(Lei) Come sta , signore?
(lay koh-meh stah seen-yoh-reh)
How are you, Sir?
(Loro) Come stanno Signori?
(lor-roh koh-meh stahn-noh seen-yoh-reh)
How are you, Sirs/Gentleman?
What is important is to use the right ending of the verb because in Italian
this is what tells you who is speaking or who they are talking to. Subject
pronouns are only used for emphasis.
There are other forms but these are the most commonly used and the ones
you need for everyday conversation.
Deciding Between Formal or Friendly

To avoid offending someone you almost always want to begin a
conversation with a stranger in the polite formal form of address. This gives
you a chance to warm up to someone and then switch into the tu once a
relationship has been established.
An Italian will often propose: Possiamo darci del tu? (pohs-syah-moh
darh-chee dehl too ) which figuratively means "May we switch to the tu
form?" after a relationship progresses. Such a request is hardly ever refused.
When you reply to a greeting in English, you often say “How are you?” as a
way of saying “Hello” — but you don’t always expect an answer. In Italian,
however, this is not the case; you respond with an answer.
The following are common ways to reply to particular greetings.
Let’s take a look at a formal conversation.
Repeat Aloud
Buongiorno signora, come sta?
(bwohn-johr-noh seen-yoh-rah koh-meh stah)
Hello, ma’am, how are you?
Benissimo, grazie, e Lei?
(beh-nees-see-moh grah-tsee-eh eh ley)
Very well, thank you, and you?
Now for an informal conversation.
Repeat Aloud
Ciao, Roberto, come stai?
(chaow roh-behr-toh koh-meh stahee)
Hi, Roberto, how are you?
Bene, grazie, e tu?
(beh-neh grah-tsee-eh eh tooh)
Fine, thanks, and you?
Here is a another typical informal, greeting and reply.

Come va?
(koh-me vah)
How are things?
Non c’è male
(nohn cheh mah-leh)
Not bad.
Step Summary
There are two ways to address someone: formally and informally.
1 . Informal tense
Tu (for one person) and voi (plural) is the informal tense is used to talk to
your family, friends, children, and pets.
2. Formal tense
Lei (for one person) and Loro (plural) are used in more formal situations.
Use this when speaking to someone you don’t know well, someone in a
higher or respected position such as your boss, doctor or a lawyer.
Lei and Loro are always written with a capital L.
Begin your conversations in the polite form and wait until the other person
to ask Possiamo darci del tu? before switching to the informal tense.
Step 8: How to Ask Questions with Ease

1. Use ‘C’è’ and ‘Ci sono’ to say ‘There is’ and
‘There are’
The word ci (chee) states the existence or presence of something or
someone, or in simpler terms it means ‘there’.
Ci is used with the third person of essere to indicate “there is” and “there
are.”
When ci is used with the third-person singular è (eh) , the contraction c’è
(cheh) is created:
Repeat Aloud
ci + è → c’è
(cheh)
There is
ci sono
(chee sohn-noh)
There are
Let’s take a look of how this looks in a sentence
Repeat Aloud
C’è tempo
(cheh tehm-poh)
There is time
Non c’è fretta
(nohn cheh freht-tah)
There is no hurry
Ci sono molti turisti a Roma
(chee sohn-noh mohl-tee too-rees-tee ah roh-mah)
There are many tourists in Rome
Asking Questions
When asking a question, intonation is everything. When using c’è and ci
sono in a question, the word order stays the same. Like in English, you
should raise your voice slightly at the end of the sentence.
Repeat Aloud
C’è una banca?
(cheh oo-nah bahn-kah)
Is there a bank?
Ci sono letti?
(chee sohn-noh leht-tee)
Are there beds?
To make negative statements, simply add the word non in front of the
sentence:
Repeat Aloud
Non c’è problema
(nohn cheh proh-bleh-mah)
There is no problem / No problem / Not a problem
Non ci sono letti

(nohn chee sohn-noh leht-tee)
There are no beds
Interrogative Words
In addition to the above there are nine interrogative words in Italian that
you can use to ask a question. They are:
1. Come? (koh-meh) - How? What?
2. Dove? (doh-veh) Where?
3. Che? Che cosa? (keh) (keh koh-zah) - What?
4. Chi? (kee) - Who?
5. Quale? Quali? (kwah-leh) (kwah-lee) - Which one? Which ones?
6. Perchè? (pur-keh) - Why?
7. Quanto? (qwahn-toh) - How much?
8. Quanti? Quante? (qwahn-tee) (qwahn-teh) - How many?
9. Quando? (qwahn-doh) - When?
1. Use ‘Come’ to ask ‘How’

Come is used with all forms of essere in order to find out what people or
things are like.
The formula is:
Come + essere
Repeat Aloud
Com’è la sua casa?
(kohm-eh lah soo-ah kah-zah)
What is his/her house like?
Com’è la pizza?
(kohm-eh lah peez-zah)
How is the pizza?
Come sono le caramelle?
(koh-meh sohn-noh leh kah-rah-mel-leh)
How are the candies?
Come can also be used in exclamations:
Repeat Aloud
Come sono buoni questi spaghetti!
(koh-meh sohn-noh bwoh-nee qwes-tee spah-geht-tee)
How good is this spaghetti!
The plural is used here to agree with the plural spaghetti .
Com’è buono il gelato italiano!
(kohm-eh bwoh-noh eel jeh-lah-toh ee-tah-lee-ah-noh)
How good is Italian ice cream!
Notice the word order: come + verb + adjective . The subject, when
expressed, is at the end of the exclamation. Exclamations of this kind are
used much more frequently in Italian than in English.
Repeat Aloud
Com’è grande questa casa!
How large this house is!
Come sei bella!

How beautiful you are!
Come siamo stanchi!
How tired we are!
Come + stare is used to inquire about someone’s health.
Repeat Aloud
Come stai?
(koh-meh stahee)
How are you?
Come stanno i tuoi genitori?
(koh-meh stahn-noh ee twohee jehn-ee-tor-ree)
How are your parents?
Come + chiamarsi is used to ask someone’s name.
Repeat Aloud
Come ti chiami?
(koh-meh tee kyah-mee)
What is your name?
Come si chiamano i tuoi figli?

(kohm-eh see kyah-mah-noh ee twohee fee-lyeeh )
What are your kids’ names?
2. Use ‘Dove’ to ask ‘Where’

Repeat Aloud
Dove sono i ristoranti?
(doh-veh sohn-noh ee rees-tor-rahn-tee)
Where are the restaurants?
Dov’è (dove è) la tua macchina?
(dohv-eh lah too-ah mah-kee-nah)
Where is your car?
3. Use ‘Che’ and ‘Che Cosa’ to ask ‘What’
Che giorno è oggi?

(keh jeor-noh eh oj-jee)
What day is today?
Che cosa c’è da mangiare al ristorante?
(keh koh-zah cheh dah mahn-jar-reh ahl rees-tor-rahn-teh)
What is there to eat at the restaurant?
Che cos’è questo?
(keh kohz-eh qwe-stoh)
What is this?
4. Use ‘Chi’ to ask ‘Who’

Chi sono questi ragazzi?
(kee sohn-noh qwe-stee rah-gahz-zee)
Who are these boys?
Chi è al telefono?
(kee eh ahl teh-leh-foh-noh)
Who is on the telephone?
Chi è la ragazza con Giovanni?
(kee eh lah rah-gahz-zah kon jeoh-vah-nee)
Who is the girl with Giovanni?
5. Use ‘Quale’ and ‘Quali’ to ask ‘Which one’ and
‘Which ones’
Qual’è la capitale d’Italia?
(Qwah-leh lah kah-pee-tah-leh dee-tah-lee-ah)
What (which city) is the capital of Italy?
Quali sono i tuoi biglietti?
(Qwah-lee sohn-noh ee twohee beel-leeyeh-tee)
Which ones are your tickets?
6. Use ‘Perchè’ to ask ‘Why’

Perchè ridi?
(perh-keh ree-dee)
Why are you laughing?
Perchè andate in Italia?

(perh-keh ahn-dah-teh ee ee-tah-lee-ah)
Why are you going to Italy?
Perchè is also used to answer a question when it means ‘because’ .
Perchè studi?
(perh-keh stoo-dee)
Why are you studying?
Perchè mi piace imparare
(perh-keh mee pyah-cheh eem-pah-rah-reh)
Because I like to learn
7. Use ‘Quanto’ to ask ‘How much’

Quanto costa?
(qwahn-toh koh-stah)
How much does it cost?
Quant’è (Quanto è)?
(qwahnt-teh)
How much is it?
8. Use ‘Quanti/e’ to ask ‘How many

Quanti figli avete?
(qwahn-tee fee-lyee ah-veh-teh)
How many kids do you have?
Quante cugine hai?
(qwahn-teh koo-jee-neh aiee)
How many cousins do you have?
9. Use ‘Quando’ to ask ‘When’

Quand’è (Quando è) il concerto?
(qwahn-doh eh eel kon-cherh-toh)
When is the concert?
Quand’è (Quando è) l’esame?
(qwahn-doh eh leh-zah-meh)
When is the test?
Step Summary
There are ten ways to ask a question:
1. C’è, Ci sono - There is, There are
Ci is used with the third person of essere to indicate “there is” and “there
are.”
Eg. C’è un ristorante - There is a restaurant
2. Come? - How? What?
Eg. Come stai? – How are you?
3. Dove? Where?
Eg. Dov’è l’hotel? – Where is the hotel?
4. Che? Che cosa? - What?
Eg. Che cos’è questo? – What is this?
5. Chi? - Who?
Eg. Chi sa? – Who knows?
6. Quale? Quali? - Which one? Which ones?
Eg. Qual’è la strada giusta? – Which one is the right road?
7. Perchè? - Why?
Eg. Perchè parti? – Why are you leaving?
8. Quanto? - How much?
Eg. Quanto ti devo? – How much do I owe you?
9. Quanti? Quante? - How many?
Eg. Quante gelaterie ci sono? – How many ice-cream shops are there?
10. Quando? - When?
Eg. Quando chiudete ? – When do you close?
Step 9: How to Build Your Vocabulary with Nouns

A noun is a word that labels persons, animals, places, things, or concepts.
Even more simply, it is a word we can place the words ‘a,’ or ‘the’ in front
of.
In Italian all nouns are classified as masculine or feminine even when they
do not refer to people. It could be a place, thing, or idea. This is called
grammatical gender.
Masculine or Feminine
The reason why a particular noun is masculine or feminine is not always
obvious. Determining a nouns gender, however, is quite easy in Italian. The
clue is in the endings.
Most Italian nouns end in a vowel. Nouns that end in a consonant are of
foreign origin.
Whether a noun is masculine or feminine, the endings are almost always
consistent. There are exceptions, of course.
Just remember this basic rule of thumb:
Nouns ending in –o (libro , ragazzo , gatto ) are generally masculine
singular.
Nouns ending in –a (casa , scuola , pizza ) are feminine singular.
Occasionally, you will come across a word that does not conform to this
rule (animale , cane , computer ), making memorisation necessary, but
even then, the article (‘the’) preceding the noun will often indicate its
gender.
It is essential to learn the gender of nouns as soon as you encounter them,
because that will determine which article and adjective you’re going to use
with them. They are all interconnected.
By learning some very simple rules you can then plug them in anywhere
ensuring your sentences are always grammatically correct.
The more you commit these to memory, the easier it will be to create
sentences.
Gender Agreement
The gender of a noun affects its relationship with other words in a phrase.
The key word here is agreement . Articles, nouns and adjectives must all
always agree .
There are two kinds of articles; definite (the) and indefinite (a).
The Definite Article

In English, the definite article has only one form: the.
In Italian, it has different forms according to the gender, number, and first
letter of the noun or
adjective it precedes.
Here are five rules for using definite articles:
Rule #1
Lo (plural gli ) is used before masculine nouns beginning with s +
consonant, z , ps , and gn .
Example: lo specchio - the mirror, gli specchi - the mirrors
Rule #2
Il (plural i ) is used before masculine nouns beginning with all other
consonants.
Example: il libro - the book, i libri - the books
Rule #3
La (plural le ) is used before feminine nouns beginning with a consonant.
Example: la finestra - the window, le finestre - the windows
Rule #4
L’ (plural gli ) is used before masculine nouns beginning with a vowel.
Example: l’amico - the friend, gli amici - the friends
Rule #5
L’ (plural le ) is used before feminine nouns beginning with a vowel.
Example: l’autostrada - the highway, le autostrade - the highways
The Indefinite Article

The Italian indefinite article corresponds to the English ‘a’ and ‘an’ and is
used with singular nouns. It also corresponds to the number one.
Here are five rules to apply:
Rule #1
Uno is used in front of masculine words beginning with z or s + consonant
, ps , or gn .
Example: uno zaino - a backpack
Rule #2
Un is used in front of all other masculine words beginning with any other
consonant or vowel.
Example: un aeroplano - an airplane
Rule #3
Una is used in front of feminine words beginning with a consonant.
Example: una stazione - a station
Rule #4
Un’ is used in front of feminine words beginning with a vowel.
Example: un’automobile a car
As you encounter new words you will be able to recognise and remember
these rules. There are simply too many words to cover them all here, but in
the BONUS #4 - Essential Travel Phrase Guide you will begin to pick up
travel related words in context.
Step Summary
A noun is a word that we can place the words ‘a,’ or ‘the’ in front of.
In Italian all nouns are classified as masculine or feminine even when they
do not refer to people. This is called grammatical gender.
As a general rule, the endings of nouns will help you determine its gender.
Nouns ending in –o are generally masculine singular.
Nouns ending in –a are feminine singular.
Learning a nouns gender is important as articles, nouns and adjectives must
all always agree .
There are two kinds of articles; definite (the) and indefinite (a, an).
Definite Articles
There are five rules for using definite articles:
Rule #1
Lo (plural gli ) is used before masculine nouns beginning with s +
consonant, z , ps , and gn .
Rule #2
Il (plural i ) is used before masculine nouns beginning with all other
consonants.
Rule #3
La (plural le ) is used before feminine nouns beginning with a consonant.
Rule #4
L’ (plural gli ) is used before masculine nouns beginning with a vowel.
Rule #5
L’ (plural le ) is used before feminine nouns beginning with a vowel.
Indefinite Articles
There are five rules for using indefinite articles:
Rule #1
Uno is used in front of masculine words beginning with z or s + consonant
, ps , or gn .
Rule #2
Un is used in front of all other masculine words beginning with any other
consonant or vowel.
Rule #3
Una is used in front of feminine words beginning with a consonant.
Rule #4
Un’ is used in front of feminine words beginning with a vowel.
BONUS #1: 18 Popular Expressions Italians Love

Saying
Every language has expressions that you use so often that they almost
become routine. For example, when you give something to somebody and
he or she says, “Thank you,” you automatically reply, “You’re welcome!”
This type of popular expression is an inseparable part of every language.
When you know these expressions and how to use them, you’re on the way
to really speaking Italian.
The following are some of the most common popular expressions in Italian:
1. Allora!
Perhaps one of the most popular Italian words, allora is a great way to
transition between sentences. It can also be used to start a sentence or
question like “so…”, “well…” or “therefore…” and as a reference to a time
in the past.
2. Dai!
This exclamation is short, but holds a lot of meaning. Can be used for
exclamations like “come on!” or disbelief, like “really?!”.
3. Bello!
Literally means “beautiful”, but can also be used to say something is nice,
like a dress for example. Ciao Bello! (for males) and Ciao bella (for
females) is commonly used as a salutation between friends and
acquaintances.
4. Buon appetito!
Enjoy your meal! (Said almost always said when a meal is served)
5. Buon viaggio!
Have a nice trip!
6. Accidenti!
Wow! Darn it!
7. Andiamo!
Let’s go!
8. Che c’è?
What’s up? What’s wrong?
9. D’accordo? D’accordo!
Agreed? Agreed!
10. E chi se ne importa?

Who cares?
11. È lo stesso
It’s all the same. It doesn’t matter.
12 . Fantastico!
Fantastic!
13. Mamma mia!

Goodness gracious! Oh dear!
14. Non fa niente

Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter.
You say “Non fa niente ” when someone apologises to you for something.
15. Non c’è di che

You’re welcome. Think nothing of it,
16. Permesso?
May I come in? Italians use this expression every time they cross a
threshold entering a house or when passing through a crowd.
17. Stupendo!
Wonderful!, Fabulous!
18. Va bene!
Okay!
BONUS #2: 39 Everyday Italian Idiomatic

Expressions
In Italian, to wish someone luck, we say in bocca al lupo (in the mouth of
the wolf). Anyone familiar with the expression would respond Crepi! (May
he die!) This idiomatic sampler is just the tip of the iceberg.
Whether lonely dogs, hungry wolves or depressed potatoes, Italian
possesses thousands of idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms.
The English translation is offered with its idiomatic equivalent as well.
1. Al settimo cielo
Literally: In seventh heaven
2. Andare all’altro mondo

Literally: To go to the other world
Meaning: To go to the other side
3. Prendere in giro
Literally: To take a spin
Meaning: to tease, to joke with, pull someone’s leg
4. Avere una fame da lupo

Literally: To be hungry as a wolf
Meaning: To be so hungry you could eat a horse
5. Basta!
Literally: That’s enough!
6. Che cavolata!
Literally: What cabbage!
Meaning: What bull! What nonsense!
7. Che cretino!
Literally: What a cretin!
Meaning: What an idiot! How stupid!
8. Chi dorme non piglia pesci

Literally: Those that sleep won’t catch fish.
The early bird gets the worm.
9. Come mamma l’ha fatto

Literally: Like mamma made him
Meaning: Naked as the day he/she was born
10. Costare un occhio della testa

Literally: To cost an eye from your head
Meaning: To cost an arm and a leg
11. Dare una mano

Literally: To give a hand
12. Di mamma c’è n’è una sola

Literally: Of mothers, there is only one.
13. Due gocce d’acqua

Literally: Two drops of water
Meaning: Two peas in a pod
14. Essere nei guai

Literally: To be in trouble
15. Essere nelle nuvole

Literally: To be in the clouds
Meaning: To have your head in the clouds
16. Essere solo come un cane

Literally: To be alone as a dog
Meaning: To be without a soul in the world
17. Essere un pesce fuor d’acqua

Literally: To be a fish out of water
18. Fa un freddo cane
Literally: It’s dog cold
Meaning: It’s freezing out
19. Fare alla Romana

Literally: To go Roman
Meaning: To go Dutch
20. Fare finta

Literally: To pretend
Meaning: To fake
21. Fare il furbo

Literally: To be clever, sly, cunning
23. Fare le ore piccole

Literally: To do the wee hours
Meaning: To burn the midnight oil
24. Fare lo spiritoso

Literally: To be spirited
Meaning: To be a wise-guy
25. Fare una vita da cani

Meaning: To live like a dog
26. Fumare come un turco

Literally: To smoke like a Turk
Meaning: To smoke like a chimney
27. Fuori moda

Literally: Out of fashion
Meaning: Out of style
28. Fare girare la testa
Literally: To turn the head
Meaning: To make one’s head spin
29. Le bugie hanno le gambe corte

Literally: Lies have short legs
Meaning: Lies always catch up to you
30. Avere le braccia corte

Literally: To have short arms
Meaning: to have short arms and deep pockets
31. Mangiare come una bestia

Literally: To eat like a beast
Meaning: To eat like a pig
32. Non sapere nulla di nulla

Literally: To know nothing about nothing
33. Nudo e crudo

Literally: Nude and crude
Meaning: The plain truth
34. Santo cielo!

Literally: Holy heaven!
Meaning: Good heavens!
35. Sfumare nel nulla

Literally: To fade into nothing
Meaning: To go up in smoke
36. Sogni d’oro

Literally: Dreams of gold
Meaning: Sweet dreams
37. Stanco da morire
Literally: Dead tired
38. Toccare ferro

Literally: To touch iron
Meaning: To knock on wood
39. Volere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca

Literally: To want the bottle full and the wife drunk
Meaning: To have your cake and eat it too
BONUS #3 - Top 100 Common Italian Verbs

To make things easier, I’ve collated the top 100 Italian verbs that you will
use more than any other verbs, especially in your early development.
1. Essere - to be
2. Avere - to have
3. Fare - to make, do
4. Andare - to go
5. Potere - to be able to
6. Dare - to give
7. Volere - to want
8. Venire - to come
9. Dovere - to have to
10. Stare - to be, stay
11. Dire - to say
12. Sapere - to know (how)
13. Vedere - to see
14. Mangiare - to eat
15. Parlare - to talk
16. Uscire - to go out, exit
17. Prendere - to take
18. Piacere - to like
19. Leggere - to read
20. Amare - to love
21. Bere - to drink
22. Finire - to finish
23. Capire - to understand
24. Arrivare - to arrive
25. Scrivere - to write
26. Partire - to leave, depart
27. Mettere - to put, place, set
28. Rimanere - to remain
29. Dormire - to sleep
30. Vivere - to live
31. Conoscere - to know
32. Sentire - to feel, sense, hear
33. Cucinare - to cook
34. Studiare - to study
35. Giocare - to play
36. Chiedere - to ask, demand
37. Trovare - to find
38. Credere - to believe
39. Aprire - to open
40. Lavorare - to work
41. Pensare - to think
42. Correre - to run
43. Tenere - to keep
44. Guardare - to watch
45. Chiamare - to call
46. Tornare - to return
47. Salire - to go up
48. Preferire - to prefer
49. Morire - to die
50. Aspettare - to wait
51. Comprare - to buy
52. Nascere - to be born
53. Cercare - to search
54. Perdere - to lose
55. Cantare - to sing
56. Passare - to pass
57. Cominciare - to start
58. Ascoltare - to listen
59. Riuscire - to succeed
60. Decidere - to decide
61. Abitare - to live
62. Cadere - to fall
63. Chiudere - to close
64. Lasciare - to leave
65. Scegliere - to choose
66. Portare - to carry
67. Ricevere - to receive
68. Lavare - to wash
69. Rispondere - to answer
70. Sedere - to sit
71. Vincere - to win
72. Pagare - to pay
73. Alzare - to raise, lift
74. Ridere - to laugh
75. Scendere - to go down
76. Incontrare - to encounter
77. Offrire - to offer
78. Imparare - to learn
79. Dimenticare - to forget
80. Svegliare - to wake up
81. Crescere - to grow
82. Vendere - to sell
83. Divertire - to have fun
84. Diventare - to become
85. Porre, mettere - to place, put
86. Entrare - to enter
87. Temere - to fear
88. Pulire - to clean
89. Vestire - to dress
90. Seguire - to follow
91. Restare - to stay, remain
92. Cambiare - to change
93. Viaggiare - to travel
94. Spegnere - to turn off
95. Ricordare - to remember
96. Apparire - to appear
97. Aiutare - to help
98. Tacere - to be quiet
99. Spedire - to send, ship
100. Preparare - to prepare
Learn Italian FAST in Just 8 hours - Starting

Now!
There you go!
That’s my 8-hour plan for learning Italian FAST. Just follow this plan and
you can start speaking Italian confidently.
So now it’s time to start learning …
1. Implement the 4 Habits of a Successful

Language Learner (15 minutes)
Set yourself up for success by repeating everything aloud, committing to
the learning process, immersing yourself at in the language wherever you
are, and flushing out the negative thoughts holding you back.
2. Apply the 17 Rules to Italianise English Words

(1 hour)
Build up your vocabulary by applying the 17 rules for transforming English
words into Italian. Familiarise yourself with common false friends.
3. Perfect Your Pronunciation (1 hour)

Know how to pronounce each letter of the alphabet and where to place the
stress in words. A general tip is to place the stress on the second-to-last
syllable.
4. Simplify and Use Verbs (75 minutes)
Recognise conjugated verbs and verbs in their infinitive in order to
correctly identify who is doing the action.
5. Master the Verbs ‘be’ and ‘have’ (1 hour)

Master the conjugations of the two most important Italian verbs avere (to
have) and essere (to be).
6. Cheat Your Way Through Fluency with Modal

Verbs (1 hour)
To unlock and endless array of phrases, memorise the formula: Conjugated
Modal Verb + Infinitive Verb. Use the three modal verbs potere , volere,
dovere whenever you struggle with conjugations.
7. Address Your Audience Correctly (30 minutes)

Avoid offending someone by beginning a conversation with a stranger in
the polite form of address before asking Possiamo darci del tu? after the
relationship progresses.
Use tu and its plural voi when speaking to your family, friends, all children
and pets. Use Lei and its plural Loro for all other situations.
8. Craft Questions with Ease (1 hour)

Start asking questions using c’e / ci sono and the 9 interrogative words,
come, dove, che, chi, quale/quali, perché, quanto, quanti, and quando.
9. Expand Your Vocabulary with Nouns (1 hour)

Identify the gender of nouns to correctly determine which definite (the) and
indefinite (a, an) articles they require.
Articles, nouns and adjectives must all always agree .
This checklist is broken down into an easy-to-manage process. Take it one

step at a time and it won’t be long until you’ll be speaking Italian.
All you have to do is take action.
Yes, you’ll need to work hard. But this effort will be rewarded with the
ability to understand,and speak Italian confidently.
In closing, I’d like to finish with a quote “The scariest moment is always
just before you start.”
I know what it’s like to feel nervous before beginning a long-term project.
The important thing is to accept this fear and take action despite it.
Get started by going to Step 1 and implementing the 4 habits of a successful
learner.
Next thing you know you’ll be speaking Italian!
You have the plan.
All you need is the courage to get started.
Take Action. Get Results.
Michele
www.fluentbeforeyoufly.com
Would You Like to Know More?

You now have a working knowledge of the Italian language that’s ready for
the world to hear. So how do you apply it during your travels? Truth is,
there are a variety of travel phrasebooks that can assist you in your travels,
but none of them come for free!
In the FREE Essential Guide to Italian Travel Phrases you’ll discover
and learn all the common and useful for phrases and words that you’ll need
for any travel related situation.
Want your copy? Then simply write a 5-star review on Amazon. Email me
at michele@fluentbeforeyoufly.com with a copy of your review to receive
access to your free travel phrase guide. That’s it!
Thank You
Before you go, I’d like to say “thank you” for purchasing my step-by-step
guide to learning Italian FAST .
I know you could have picked from dozens of books on writing books. But
you took a chance with my system.
So a big thanks for downloading this book and reading all the way to the
end. If you liked what you’ve read then I need your help! Please take a
moment to leave a review for this book on Amazon . This feedback will
help me continue to write the kind of Kindle books that helps you get
results. And if you love it, then please let me know :-)
Don’t hesitate to show your support by following me on:
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This will allow you to keep in touch with me and receive more tips and
tricks. With all the encouragement in the world, I wish you success!
Appendix 1: Italian to English Mini Dictionary

A
a destra /ah dehs -trah/(on the) right
a domani /ah doh-mah -nee/see you tomorrow
a dopo /ah doh -poh/see you later
a sinistra /ah see-nees -trah/(on the) left
abitare /ah-bee-tah -reh/to live
abito /m/ah -bee-toh/suit
acqua /f/ahk -kwah/water
aereo /m/ah-eh -reh-oh/airplane
aeroporto /m/ah-eh-roh-pohr -toh/airport
affittare (v.) /ahf-feet-tah -reh/to rent
agosto /ah-gohs -toh/August
albergo /m/ahl-behr -goh/hotel
amare (v.) /ah-mah -reh/to love
americana /f/americano /m (v.)/ ah-meh-ree-kah -nah/ah-meh- ree-kah -
noh/American
amica /f/amico /m/ ah-mee -kah/ ah-mee -koh/friend
amore /m/ah-moh -reh/love
anche /ahn -keh/also
andare (v.) /ahn-dah -reh/to go
andata /f/ahn-dah -tah/one-way (ticket)
andata /f/e ritorno /m/ahn-dah -tah eh ree-tohr -noh/round trip
anno /m/ahn -noh/year
antipasti /m/ahn-tee-pahs -tee/appetizers
anziana /f/anziano /m/ahn-tsee-ah -nah/ahn-tsee-ah -noh/old (for persons)
appartamento /m/ahp-par-tah-mehn - toh/apartment
aprile /ah-pree -leh/April
architetto /m/ahr-kee-teht -toh/architect
arrivare /ahr-ree-vah -reh/to arrive
arrivederci /ahr-ree-veh-dehr-chee/ see you; good-bye
assegno /m/ahs-seh -nyoh/check
autobus /m/ou-toh-boohs/bus
automobile /f/ou -toh-moh -bee-leh/car
avere (v.) /ah-veh -reh/to have
avvocato /m/ahv-voh-kah -toh/lawyer
B
bambina /f/bambino /m/bahm-bee -nah/ bahm-bee -noh/child
banca /f/bahn -kah/bank
bella /f/bello /m/behl -lah/behl -loh/beautiful
bene /beh -neh/well, good (adverb)
bere (v.) /beh -reh/to drink
bianca /f/bianco /m/byahn -kah/byahn -koh/white
bicchiere /m/beek-kyeh -reh/glass
bicicletta /f/bee-chee-kleht -tah/bicycle
biglietto /m/bee-lyeht -toh/ticket
birra /f/beer -rah/beer
blu /f/m/blooh/blue
borsa /f/bohr -sah/bag, hand-bag
bottiglia /f/boht-tee -lyah/bottle
braccio /m/brahch -choh/arm
buona /f/buono /m/bwoh -nah/bwoh -noh/good
buonanotte /bwoh -nah-noht -teh/ good-night
buonasera /bwoh -nah-seh -rah/ good evening
buongiorno /bwohn-johr -noh/ good morning; good day
C
c’è /cheh/there is
caffè /m/kahf -feh/coffee calcio /m/kahl -choh/soccer
calda /f/caldo /m/kahl -dah/kahl -doh/ warm; hot
cambiare /kahm-bee-ah -reh/to change
cameriera /f/cameriere /m/kah-meh-ryeh - rah/kah-meh-ryeh -
reh/waitress/waiter
camicia /f/kah-mee -chah/shirt
campagna /f/kahm-pah -nyah/country(countryside)
canadese /f/m/kah-nah-deh -zeh/Canadian
cane /m/kah -neh/dog
capelli /m.pl./kah-pehl -lee/hair
cappello /m/kahp-pehl -loh/hat
cappotto /m/kahp-poht -toh/coat
cara /f/caro /m/kah -rah/kah -roh/dear; expensive
carina /f/carino /m/kah-ree -nah/ kah-ree -noh/nice
carta di credito /f/kahr -tah dee kreh -dee-toh/credit card
casa /f/kah -zah/house; home
cassa /f/kahs -sah/cash register
cavallo /m/kah-vahl -loh/horse
cena /f/cheh -nah/dinner
cento /chehn -toh/hundred
chi /kee/who
chiara /f/chiaro /m/kyah -rah/kyah -roh/ light-colored (clear)
ci sono /chee soh -noh/there are
ciao /chaow/hello; good-bye
cinema /m/chee -neh-mah/cinema
cinquanta /cheen-kwahn -tah/fifty
cinque /cheen -kweh/five
cioccolata /f/choh-koh-lah -tah/chocolate
città /f/cheet-tah /city, town
codice postale /m/koh -dee-cheh pohs-tah -leh/zip code
colazione /f/koh-lah-tsyoh -neh/breakfast
collo /m/kohl -loh/neck
colore /m/koh-loh -reh/color
come /koh -meh/how
commessa /f/commesso /m/kohm-mehs - sah/kohm-mehs -soh/sales clerk
comprare (v.) /kohm-prah -reh/to buy
costume da bagno /m/kohs-tooh -meh dah bah -nyoh/bathing suit
cravatta /f/krah-vaht -tah/tie
crema /f/kreh -mah/custard
D
d’accordo /dahk-kohr -doh/all right; okay
dai! /dahy/come on!
dare (v.) /dah -reh/to give
dentista /f/m/dehn-tees -tah/dentist
dicembre /dee-chehm -breh/December
diciannove /dee-chahn-noh -veh/nineteen
diciassette /dee-chahs-seht -teh/seventeen
diciotto /dee-choht -toh/eighteen
dieci /dyeh -chee/ten
dire (v.) /dee -reh/to say
dito /m/dee -toh/finger
dodici /doh -dee-chee/twelve
dolce /f/m/dohl -cheh/sweet
domani /doh-mah -nee/tomorrow
donna /f/dohn -nah/woman
dormire (v.) /dohr-mee -reh/to sleep
dottore /m/doht-toh -reh/doctor
dove /doh -veh/where
dovere (v.) /doh-veh -reh/to have to, must
due /dooh -eh/two
E
emergenza /f/eh-mehr-jehn -tsah/ emergency
entrata /f/ehn-trah -tah/entrance
entrare /ehn-trah -reh/to enter
essere (v.) /ehs -seh-reh/to be
est /m/ehst/east
F
faccia /f/fahch -chah/face
facile (adj)/fah -chee-leh/easy
fame /f/fah -meh/hunger
fare (v.) /fah -reh/to do
febbraio /fehb-brah -yoh/February
felice (adj.) /feh-lee -cheh/happy
festa /f/fehs -tah/party, holiday
figlia /f/fee -lyah/daughter
figlio /m/fee -lyoh/son
fine /f/fee -neh/end
finestra /f/fee-nehs -trah/window
finire /fee-nee -reh/to finish
fiore /m/fyoh -reh/flower
formaggio /m/fohr-mahj -joh/cheese
fragola /f/frah -goh-lah/strawberry
fratello /m/frah-tehl -loh/brother
fredda /f/freddo /m/frehd -dah/frehd -doh/cold
frutta /f/frooht -tah/fruit
G
gatto /m/gaht -toh/cat
gelato /m/jeh-lah -toh/ice cream
gennaio /jehn-nah -yoh/January
gente /f/jehn -teh/people
ghiaccio /m/gyahch -choh/ice
giacca /f/jahk -kah/jacket; blazer
gialla /f/giallo /m/jahl -lah/jahl -loh/yellow
giardino /m/jahr-dee -noh/garden
ginocchio /m/jee-nohk -kyoh/knee
giocare (v.) /joh-kah -reh/to play
gioco /m/joh -koh/game
giornale /m/johr-nah -leh/newspaper
giorno /m/johr -noh/day
giovane /f/m/joh -vah-neh/young
giugno /jooh -nyoh/June
gonna /f/gohn -nah/skirt
grande /f/m/grahn -deh/big; tall; large
grande magazzino /m/grahn -deh mah- gaht-tsee -noh/department store
grazie /grah -tsee-eh/thank you
grigia /f/grigio /m/gree-jah/gree -joh/gray
I
ieri /yeh -ree/yesterday
impermeabile /m/eem-pehr-meh-ah -bee-leh/raincoat
impiegata /f/impiegato /m/eem-pyeh-gah - tah/eem-pyeh-gah -
toh/employee
in ritardo /een ree-tahr -doh/late
indirizzo /m/een-dee-reet -tsoh/address
infermiera /f/een-fehr-myeh -rah/nurse
ingegnere /m/een-jeh-nyeh -reh/engineer
insalata /f/een-sah-lah -tah/salad
invito /m/een-vee -toh/invitation
io /ee- oh/I
italiana /f/italiano /m/ee-tah-lee-ah-nah/ ee-tah-lee-ah -noh/Italian
J
jeans /m/jeenz/jeans
L
lago /m/lah -goh/lake
lana /f/lah -nah/wool
larga /f/largo /m/lahr -gah/lahr -goh/wide
latte /m/laht -teh/milk
lavoro /m/lah-voh -roh/work
lei /ley/she; formal you
libro /m/lee -broh/book
loro /loh -roh/they
luglio /looh -lyoh/July
lui /looh -ee/he
M
ma /mah/but
macchina /f/mahk -kee-nah/car
madre /f/mah -dreh/mother
maggio /mahj -joh/May
mai /mahy/never
malata /f/malato /m/mah-lah -tah/ mah-lah -toh/ill
mamma /f/mahm -mah/mom
mangiare (v.) /mahn-jah -reh/to eat
mano /f/mah -noh/hand
mare /m/mah -reh/sea
marito /m/mah-ree -toh/husband
marrone (adj.) /mahr-roh- neh/brown
marzo /mahr -tsoh/March
me /meh/me
medicina /f/meh-dee-chee -nah/medicine
medico /m/meh -dee-koh/physician
mercato /m/mehr-kah -toh/market
mese /m/meh -zeh/month
metropolitana /f/meh-troh-poh-lee-tah -nah/subway
mettersi /meht -tehr-see/to wear
mezzogiorno /m/medz-zoh-johr -noh/midday
mia /f/mio /m/mee -ah/mee -oh/my
mille /meel -leh/thousand
moglie /f/moh -lyeh/wife
montagna /f/mohn-tah -nyah/mountain
naso /m/nah -zoh/nose

nebbia /f/nehb -byah/fog
negozio /m/neh-goh -tsee-oh/shop
nera /f/
nero /m/neh -rah/neh -roh/black
neve /f/neh -veh/snow
noi /noi/we
noiosa /f/noioso /m/noi-oh -zah/noi-oh -zoh/boring
nome /m/noh- meh/name
nord /m/nohrd/north
nove /noh -veh/nine
novembre /noh-vehm -breh/November
numero /m/nooh -meh-roh/number
nuoto /m/nwoh -toh/swimming
O
occhio /m/ohk -kyoh/eye
orecchio /m/oh-rehk -kyoh/ear
ospedale /m/ohs-peh-dah -leh/hospital
otto /oht -toh/eight
ottobre /oht-toh -breh/October
ovest /m/oh -vehst/west
P
prendere /prehn -deh-reh/to take; to order, such as in a bar or restaurant
padre /m/pah -dreh/father
pagare /pah-gah -reh/to pay
pane /m/pah -neh/bread
panna/f/ pahn -nah/cream
pantaloni /m.pl./pahn-tah-loh -nee/pants
parlare (v.) /par-lah -reh/to talk
partire (v.) /par-tee -reh/to leave
passaporto /m/pahs-sah-pohr -toh/ passport
pasticceria /f/pahs-teech-cheh-ree -ah/ pastry shop
per favore /pehr fah-voh -reh/please
perché /pehr-keh /why; because
pesce /m/peh -sheh/fish
piacere (v.) /pyah-cheh -reh/nice to meet you; to like; pleasure
piazza /f/pyaht -tsah/square
piccola /f/piccolo /m/ peek -koh-lah/peek -koh-loh/small; short
pioggia /f/pyohj -jah/rain
piove /pyoh -veh/it’s raining
polizia /f/poh-lee-tsee -ah/police
potere /poh-teh -reh/can; may
pranzo /m/prahn -zoh/lunch
preferire (v.) /preh-feh-ree -reh/to prefer
prego /preh -goh/you’re welcome
presentare /preh-zehn-tah -reh/to introduce
Q
qualcosa /kwahl-koh -zah/something
quale /kwah -leh/which
quando /kwahn -doh/when
quanti /kwahn -tee/how many
quanto /m/kwahn -toh/how much
quattro /m/kwaht -troh/four
quattordici /m/kwaht-tohr -dee-chee/fourteen
qui /kwee/here
quindici /kween -dee-chee/fifteen
R
ragazza /f/rah-gaht -tsah/girl
ragazzo /m/rah-gaht -tsoh/boy
ridere (v.) /ree -deh-reh/to laugh
riso /m/ree -zoh/rice, laughter
rossa /f/rosso /m/rohs -sah/rohs -soh/red
saldi /m.pl./sahl -dee/sales

sale /m/sah -leh/salt
scarpa /f/skahr -pah/shoe
scura /f/scuro /m/skooh -rah/skoo h-roh/dark
sedici /seh -dee-chee/sixteen
segretaria /f/segretario /m/seh-greh-tah -ree-ah/seh-greh-tah -ree-
oh/secretary
sei /sey/six
sempre /sehm -preh/always
sete /f/seh -teh/thirst
sette /seht -teh/seven
settembre /seht-tehm -breh/September
settimana /f/seht-tee-mah -nah/week
signora/f/ see-nyoh -rah/Mrs.; Ms.; woman
signore /m/see-nyoh -reh/Mr.; a gentleman
soldi /m.pl./sohl -dee/money
sole /m/soh -leh/sun
solo /soh -loh/only, just
sorella /f/soh-rehl -lah/sister
spalla /f/spahl -lah/shoulder
stanca /f/stanco /m/stahn -kah/stahn -koh/tired
stazione /f/stah-tsyoh -neh/station
strada /f/strah -dah/street; road
stretta /f/stretto /m/streht -tah/streht -toh/ tight; narrow
sud /soohd/south
supermercato /m/sooh -pehr-mehr-kah -toh/supermarket
T
tazza /f/taht -tsah/cup
teatro /m/teh-ah -troh/theater
telefono /m/teh-leh -foh-noh/phone
tempo /m/tehm -poh/time; weather
tre /treh/three
tredici /treh -dee-chee/thirteen
treno /m/treh -noh/train
troppo /trohp -poh/too much
tu /tooh/you
tutti /tooht -tee/everybody
tutto /tooht -toh/everything
U
ufficio /m/oohf-fee -choh/office
uno /ooh -noh/one
uscita /f/ooh-shee -tah/exit
uomo/ woh -moh/man
V
vacanza /f/vah-kahn -tsah/vacation
valigia /f/vah-lee -jah/suitcase
vedere /veh-deh -reh/to see
vendere /vehn -deh-reh/to sell
venire /veh-nee -reh/to come
venti /vehn -tee/twenty
verde /f/m/vehr -deh/green
verdura /f/vehr-dooh -rah/vegetables
vestito /m/vehs-tee -toh/dress
via /f/vee -ah/street
viaggiare /vee-ahj-jah -reh/to travel
viaggio /m/vyahj -joh/travel
viale /m/vee-ah -leh/avenue
vino /m/vee -noh/wine
voi /vo i/you
volere /voh-leh -reh/to want
Z
zero /dzeh -roh/zero
zia /f/dzee -ah/ant
zio /m/dzee -oh/uncle
zucchero /m/dzoohk -keh-roh/sugar
Appendix 2: English to Italian Mini Dictionary

A
address/indirizzo /m/een-dee-reet -tsoh
airplane/aereo /m/ah-eh -reh-oh
airport/aeroporto /m/ah-eh-roh-pohr -toh all right;
okay/d’accordo /dahk-kohr -doh
also/anche /ahn -keh always/sempre /sehm -preh
American/americana /f/americano /m/ah-meh-ree-kah -nah/ah-meh-ree-
kah -noh
aunt zia /f/dzee -ah
apartment/appartamento /m/ahp-par-tah-mehn -toh
appetizers/antipasti /m/ahn-tee-pahs -tee
April/aprile /ah-pree -leh
architect/architetto /m/ahr-kee-teht -toh
arm/braccio /m/brahch -choh
arrive (v.)/arrivare /ahr-ree-vah -reh
August/agosto /ah-gohs -toh
avenue/viale /m/vee-ah -leh
B
bad/cattivo /m/cattiva /f/kaht-tee -voh/ kaht-tee -vah
bag/borsa /f/bohr -sah
bakery/pasticceria /f/pahs-teech-cheh-ree -ah
bank/banca /f/bahn -kah
bathing suit/costume da bagno /m/kohs-tooh -meh dah bah -nyoh
be (v.)/essere /ehs -seh-reh
beach/spiaggia /f/spyahj -jah
beautiful/bella /f/bello /m/behl -lah/behl -loh
because/perché /pehr-keh
beer/birra /f/beer -rah
bicycle/bicicletta /f/bee-chee-kleht -tah
big; tall; large/grande /f/m/grahn -deh
black/nera /f/nero /m/neh -rah/neh-roh
blue/blu /f/m/blooh
book/libro /m/lee -broh
boring/noiosa /f/noioso /m/noi-oh -zah/noi-oh -zoh
bottle/bottiglia /f/boht-tee -lyah
boy/ragazzo /m/rah-gaht -tsoh
bread/pane /m/pah -neh
breakfast/colazione /f/koh-lah-tsyoh -neh
brother/fratello /m/frah-tehl -loh
brown/marrone /f/m/mahr-roh -neh
bus/autobus /m/ou -toh-boohs
but/ma /mah
buy (v.)/comprare /kohm-prah -reh
C
can, may (v.)/potere /poh-teh -reh
Canadian/canadese /f/m/kah-nah-deh -zeh
car/automobile /f/ou-toh-moh -bee-leh
car/macchina /mahk -kee-nah cash
register/f/cassa /kahs -sah
cat/gatto /m/gaht -toh
change (v.)/cambiare /kahm-bee-ah -reh
check/assegno /m/ahs-seh -nyoh
cheese/formaggio /m/fohr-mahj -joh
child (female)/bambina /f/bahm-bee -nah
child (male)/bambino /m/bahm-bee -noh
chocolate/cioccolata /f/choh-koh-lah -tah
cinema/cinema /m/chee -neh-mah
city; town/città /f/cheet-tah
coat/cappotto /m/kahp-poht -toh
coffee/caffè /m/kahf -feh
cold/fredda /f/freddo /m/frehd -dah/rehd -doh
color/colore /m/koh-loh -reh
come on/dai /dahy
come (v.)/venire /veh-nee -reh
country/campagna /f/kahm-pah -nyah
cream/panna /f/pah -nah
credit card/carta di credito /f/kahr -tah dee kreh -dee-toh
cup/tazza /f/taht -tsah
custard/crema /f/kreh -mah
D
dark/scura /f/scuro /m/skooh -rah/
skooh -roh daughter/figlia /f/fee -lyah
day/giorno /m/johr -noh
dear/cara /f/caro /m/kah -rah/kah -roh
December/dicembre /dee-chehm -breh d
entist/dentista /f/m/dehn-tees -tah
department store/grande magazzino /m/
grahn -deh mah-gaht-tsee -noh
dessert (sweet)/dolce /m/ dohl -cheh
dinner/cena /f/cheh -nah
doctor/dottore /m/doht-toh -reh
dog/cane /m/kah -neh
dress/vestito /m/vehs-tee -toh
drink (v.)/bere /beh -reh
E
ear/orecchio /m/oh-rehk -kyoh
east/est /m/ehst
easy/facile /f/m/fah -chee-leh
eat (v.)/mangiare /mahn-jah -reh
eight/otto /oht -toh
eighteen/diciotto /dee-choht -toh
eleven/undici /oohn -dee-chee
emergency/emergenza /f/
eh-mehr-jehn -tsah
employee/impiegata /f/impiegato /m/ eem-pyeh-gah -tah/eem-pyeh-gah -
toh
end/fine /f/fee- neh
engineer/ingegnere /m/een-jeh-nyeh -reh
enter (v.)/entrare /ehn-trah -reh entrance/entrata /f/ehn-trah -tah
everybody/tutti /tooht -tee
everything/tutto /tooht -toh
exit/uscita /f/ooh-shee -tah
expensive/cara /f/caro /m/kah -rah/kah -roh
eye/occhio /m/ohk -kyoh
F
face/faccia /f/fahch -chah
father/padre /m/pah -dreh
February/febbraio /fehb-brah -yoh
fifteen/quindici /kween -dee-chee
fifty/cinquanta /cheen-kwahn -tah
finger/dito /m/dee -toh
finish (v.)/finire /fee-nee -reh
fish/pesce /m/peh -sheh
five/cinque /cheen-kweh
flower/fiore /m/fyoh -reh
fog/nebbia /f/nehb -byah
four/quattro /kwaht -troh
fourteen/quattordici /kwaht-tohr -dee-chee
friend/amica /f/amico /m/ah-mee -kah/
ah-mee -koh
fruit/frutta /f/frooht -tah
G
garden/giardino /m/jahr-dee -noh
girl/ragazza /f/rah-gaht -tsah
give (v.)/dare /dah -reh
glass/bicchiere /m/beek-kyeh -reh
go/andare /ahn-dah -reh
good/buona /f/buono /m/bwoh -nah/bwoh -noh
good-bye/ciao /chou
good evening/buonasera /
bwoh -nah-seh -rah
good morning;
good day/buongiorno / bwohn-johr -noh
good-night/buonanotte /
bwoh -nah-noht -teh
green/verde /f/m/vehr -deh
gray/grigia /f/grigio /m/gree -jah/gree -joh
here/qui /kwee
horse/cavallo /m/kah-vahl -loh
hospital/ospedale /m/ohs-peh-dah -leh
hot/calda /f/caldo /m/kahl -dah/kahl -doh
hotel/albergo /m/ahl-behr -goh
house; home/casa /f/kah -sah
how/come /koh -meh
how many/quanti /kwahn -tee
how much/quanto /kwahn -toh
hundred/cento /chehn -toh
hunger/fame /f/fah -meh
husband/marito /m/mah-ree -toh
I
I/io /ee -oh
ice/ghiaccio /m/gyahch -choh
ice cream/gelato /m/jeh-lah -toh
ill/malata /f/malato /m/mah-lah -tah/ mah-lah -toh
introduce (v.)/presentare / preh-zehn-tah -reh
invitation/invito /m/een-vee -toh
Italian/italiana /f/italiano /m/ee-tah-lee-ah -nah/ee-tah-lee-ah -noh
H
hair/capelli /m/kah-pehl -lee(plural)
hand/mano /f/mah -noh
happy/felice /feh-lee -cheh
hat/cappello /m/kahp-pehl -loh
have (v.)/avere /ah-veh -reh
have, take (bar, restaurant) (v.)/prendere / prehn -deh-reh
have to (v.)/dovere /doh-veh -reh
he/lui /looh -ee
hello/ciao /chaow
help/aiuto /ah-yooh -toh
J
jacket; blazer/f/giacca /jahk -kah
January/gennaio /jehn-nah -yoh
jeans/jeans /m/jeenz
July/luglio /looh -lyoh
June/giugno /jooh -nyoh
K
knee/ginocchio /m/jee-nohk -kyoh
knife/coltello /m/kohl-tehl -loh
L
lake/lago /m/lah -goh
large/larga /f/largo /m/lahr -gah/lahr -goh
late/in ritardo /een ree-tahr -doh
laugh (v.)/ridere /ree -deh-reh
lawyer/avvocato /m/ahv-voh-kah -toh
leave (v.)/partire /par-tee -reh
(on the) left/a sinistra /ah see-nees -trah
light-colored/chiara /f/chiaro /m/kyah -rah/kyah -roh
live (v.)/abitare /ah-bee-tah -reh
love (v.)/amare /ah-mah -reh
love/amore /m/ah-moh -reh
lunch/pranzo /m/prahn -tsoh
M
man/uomo /woh -moh
March/marzo /mahr -tsoh
market/mercato /m/mehr-kah-toh
May/maggio /mahj -joh
me/me /meh
meat/carne /f/kahr -neh
medicine/medicina /f/meh-dee-chee -nah
midday/mezzogiorno /m/medz-zoh-johr -noh
milk/latte /m/laht -teh
mom/mamma /f/mahm -mah
money/soldi /m/sohl -dee
month/mese /m/meh -zeh
mother/madre /f/mah -dreh
mountain/montagna /f/mohn-tah -nyah
Mr./signore /m/see-nyoh -reh
Mrs./signora /f/see-nyoh -rah
my/mia /f/mio /m/mee -ah/mee -oh
N
name/nome /m/noh -meh neck/collo /m/kohl -loh
never/mai /mahy
newspaper/giornale /m/johr-nah -leh
nice/carina /f/carino /m/kah-ree -nah/ kah-ree -noh
nice to meet you/piacere /pyah-cheh -reh
nine/nove /noh -veh
nineteen/diciannove /dee-chahn-noh -veh
north/nord /m/nohrd
nose/naso /m/nah -zoh
November/novembre /noh-vehm -breh
number/numero /m/nooh-meh -roh
nurse/infermiera /f/een-fehr-myeh -rah
O
October/ottobre /oht-toh -breh
office/ufficio /m/oohf-fee -choh
old (for persons)/anziana /f/anziano /m/ ahn-tsee-ah -nah/ahn-tsee-ah -noh
one/uno /ooh -noh
one-way (ticket)/andata /f/ahn-dah -tah
only; just/solo /soh -loh
P
party; holiday/festa /f/fehs -tah
passport/passaporto /m/pahs-sah-pohr -toh
pay (v.)/pagare /pah-gah -reh
people/gente /f/jehn -teh
phone/telefono /m/teh-leh -foh-noh
physician/medico /m/meh -dee-koh
play (v.)/giocare /joh-kah -reh
play/gioco /m/joh -koh
please/per favore /pehr fah-voh -reh
police/polizia /f/poh-lee-tsee -ah
prefer (v.)/preferire /preh-feh-ree -reh
R
rain/pioggia /f/pyohj -jah
raincoat/impermeabile /m/eem-pehr-meh-ah -bee-leh
red/rossa /f/rosso /m/rohs -sah/rohs -soh
rent (v.)/affittare /ahf-feet-tah -reh
(on the) right/a destra /ah dehs -trah
rice/riso /m/ree -zoh
round trip/andata /f/e ritorno /m/ ahn-dah -tah eh ree-tohr -noh
S
sixteen/sedici /seh -dee-chee
skirt/gonna /f/gohn -nah
salad/insalata /f/een-sah-lah -tah
sales/saldi /m.pl./sahl -dee
sales clerk/commessa /f/commesso /m/ kohm-mehs -sah/kohm-mehs -soh
salt/sale /m/sah -leh
say (v.)/dire /dee -reh
sea/mare /m/mah -reh
secretary/segretaria /f/segretario /m/seh-greh-tah -ree-ah/seh-greh-tah -
ree-oh
see (v.)/vedere /veh -deh-reh see you;
good-bye/arrivederci /ahr-ree-veh-dehr -chee
see you later/a dopo /ah doh -poh
see you tomorrow/a domani /ah doh-mah -nee
sell (v.)/vendere /vehn -deh-reh
September/settembre /seht-tehm -breh
seven/sette /seht -teh
seventeen/diciassette /dee-chahs-seht -teh
she/lei /ley
shirt/camicia /f/kah-mee -chah
shoe/scarpa /f/skahr -pah
shop/negozio /m/neh-goh -tsee-oh
shoulder/spalla /f/spahl -lah
sister/sorella /f/soh-rehl -lah
six/sei /sey
sleep (v.)/dormire /dohr-mee -reh small;

short/piccola /f/piccolo /m/peek -koh-lah/peek -koh-loh
snow/neve /f/neh -veh
soccer/calcio /m/kahl -choh
something/qualcosa /kwahl-koh -zah
son/figlio /m/fee -lyoh
south/sud /m/soohd
square/piazza /f/pyaht -tsah
station/stazione /f/stah-tsee-oh -neh
strawberry/fragola /f/frah-goh -lah street;
road/strada /f/strah -dah or via/f/vee -ah
subway/metropolitana /f/ meh-troh-poh-lee-tah -nah
sugar/zucchero /m/dzook -keh-roh
suit/abito /m/ah -bee-toh
suitcase/valigia /f/vah-lee -jah
sun/sole /m/soh -leh
supermarket/supermercato /m/
sooh-pehr-mehr-kah -toh
sweet/dolce /f/m/dohl -cheh
swimming/nuoto /m/nwoh -toh
T
take (v.)/prendere /prehn -deh-reh
talk (v.)/parlare /par-lah -reh
tax/dazio /m/dah -tsee-oh
telephone/telefono /m/teh-leh -foh-noh
ten/dieci /dyeh -chee
thank you/grazie /grah -tsee-eh
theater/teatro /m/teh-ah -troh
there are/ci sono /chee soh -noh
there is/c’è /cheh
they/loro /loh -roh
thirst/sete /f/seh -teh
thirteen/tredici /treh -dee-chee
thousand/mille /meel -leh three/tre /treh
ticket/biglietto /m/bee-lyeht -toh
tie/cravatta /f/krah-vaht -tah
tight; narrow/stretta /f/stretto /m/streht - tah/streht -toh
time; weather/tempo /m/tehm -poh
tired/stanca /f/stanco /m/stahn -kah/stahn -koh
today/oggi /ohj -jee
tomorrow/domani /doh-mah -nee too
much/troppo /trohp -poh train/treno /m/treh -noh
travel (v.)/viaggiare /vee-ahj-jah -reh
travel/viaggio /m/vee-ahj -joh
trousers/pantaloni /m/pahn-tah-loh -nee
twelve/dodici /doh -dee-chee
twenty/venti /vehn -tee
two/due /dooh -eh
U
uncle/zio /m/dzee -oh
V
vacation/vacanza /f/vah-kahn -tsah
vegetables/verdura /f/vehr-dooh -rah
W
waitress/waiter/cameriera /f/ cameriere /m/kah-meh-ryeh -rah/ kah-meh-
ryeh -reh
wallet/portafoglio /pohr-tah-foh -lyoh
want (v.)/volere /voh-leh -reh
warm/calda /f/caldo /m/kahl -dah/kahl -doh
water/acqua /f/ah -kwah
we/noi /noi
wear (v.)/mettersi /meht -tehr-see
week/settimana /f/seht-tee-mah -nah
well (adverb)/bene /beh -neh
west/ovest /m/oh -vehst
what/cosa /koh -sah
when/quando /kwahn -doh
where/dove /doh -veh
which/quale /f/m/kwah -leh
white/bianca /f/bianco /m/byahn -kah/byahn -koh
who/chi /kee why/perché /pehr-keh
wife/moglie /f/moh -lyeh
window/finestra /f/fee-nehs -trah
wine/vino /m/vee -noh
woman/donna /f/dohn -nah
wool/lana /f/lah -nah
work/lavoro /m/lah-voh -roh
Y
year/anno /m/ahn -noh
yellow/gialla /f/giallo /m/jahl -lah/jahl -loh
yesterday/ieri /yeh -ree
you (formal)/Lei /ley
you (plural, informal/formal)/voi /voi
you (singular, informal)/tu /tooh
you’re welcome/prego /preh -goh
young/giovane /f/m/joh -vah-neh
Z
zero/zero /dzeh -roh
zip code/codice postale /m/koh -dee-cheh pohs-tah -leh

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Fluent Before You Fly:

How to Learn Italian FAST in Just 8

Your Free Gift

How to Learn Italian in 8 Hours!

Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Learn Italian

10 Interesting Facts About Italian

3. Dialects are Independent Languages

Step 1: 4 Habits of a Successful Language Learner

2. Commit to the Learning Process

3. Immerse Yourself at Home

4. Flush Out the Negative Thoughts Holding You Back

Popular Loan Words

Here are some examples:

Here are some examples:

Here are some examples:

Here are some examples:

Here are some examples:

Here are some examples:

- She drives incredibly slowly . (How slowly does she drive?)

Avoid “False Friends”

False Friends Amongst Verbs

Rule #9 Adjectives in English ending in -AL become -ALE in Italian

Rule #11 Adjectives in English ending in -ICAL become -ICO in Italian

Rule #12 Adjectives in English ending in -OUS become -OSO in Italian

Rule #17 Adverbs in English ending in -ABLY and -IBLY become -

Step 3: How to Sound Like A Natural Italiano

Some examples of adopted words include:

Talking About The Present

Using the Stem to Conjugate Verbs

Here is how to obtain the stem (underlined):

-ARE verb endings

io vendo (ee-oh ven-doh) – I sell

-IRE verb endings

The other type of -ire verb is easier, with the endings:

Irregular -ARE Verb Endings

The conjugation of dare (darh-reh) (to give) is:

io pago (ee-oh pah-goh) – I pay

Irregular -ERE Verb Endings

io devo (ee-oh deh-voh) – I must

The conjugation of potere (poh-teh-reh) (to be able, can) is:

Irregular -IRE Verb Endings

io muoio (ee-oh mwohee-yoh) – I die

Irregular -ARE Verb Endings

Irregular -IRE Verb Endings

Step 5: How to Master the Verbs ‘be’ and ‘have’

How to Use Avere

Avere in Idiomatic Expressions

Avere is used in many idiomatic expressions that convey feelings or

Date and Time

Lei è mia amica (She is my friend)

How to Use Volere

How to Use Dovere

Step 7: How to Address Someone Correctly

(tu) Sei un buon amico

Deciding Between Formal or Friendly

Here is a another typical informal, greeting and reply.

Step 8: How to Ask Questions with Ease

Non ci sono letti

1. Use ‘Come’ to ask ‘How’

Come sei bella!

Come si chiamano i tuoi figli?

2. Use ‘Dove’ to ask ‘Where’

3. Use ‘Che’ and ‘Che Cosa’ to ask ‘What’