HOLY CROSS OF DAVAO COLLEGE

Sta. Ana Avenue, Cor De Guzman Street., Davao City 

Tel. No. 221-9071 to 79 loc. 177

College of Hospitality and Tourism Management Education

 
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
(Italian)
Offering Number : 00771
Course Code : HMP 8
Course Description : Italian
Time Schedule : 9:00-10:00 AM
Topic Coverage : PRELIM AND MIDTERM

Teacher : JOSE DANNY G. BRUNO

Offering Number: 00771
Course Code: HMP 8
Time and Schedule: 800 am.- 9:00am.
Course Description: Foreign Language 1
LESSON 1 AND 2:  ITALIAN NOUNS AND VERBS
OBJECTIVES:
1. Discuss the beginning of Italian Language.
2. Explain the reasons why students in HM need to learn Italian.
3. Identify the effective ways to learn Italian.
4. Compose some sentences to tell time in Italian.
5. Count and identify Italian numbers
6. Tell time in Italian language
7. Identify the Italian nouns.
8. Identify the Italian articles in relation to the nouns.
9. Learn on how to compose a simple Italian sentence

ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND ITS BEGINNING

The Italian language stems directly from Latin, just like other Romance
languages like Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, Romanian and other minority
languages (Occitan, Provençal, Galician, Ladin and Friulan. The Italian language has
developed through a long and gradual process, which began after the Fall of the
Roman Empire in the 5th century. Up until this moment, Latin had spread and had been
imposed across the Empire as the ‘madre franca’, or the shared language. After the fall
of the Empire, vernacular and local forms of the language had an important role in
society and the everyday life of the population.

However, for several centuries, and especially during the Middle Ages, Latin
was the dominant cultural language, used throughout European Universities and in
all the official acts and procedures of the Church.

The Italian language has developed through a long and gradual process, which
began after the Fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. After the fall of the
Empire, vernacular and local forms of the language had an important role in
society and the everyday life of the population.However, for several centuries, and
especially during the Middle Ages, Latin was the dominant cultural language, used
throughout European Universities and in all the official acts and procedures of the
Church.
The foundations of modern Italian

From a historical perspective, it is not wrong to claim that the high, or

cultured, Tuscan dialect, which the three most important poets of the 1300s (Alighieri,
Boccaccio and Petrarch) wrote in can be considered the basis of modern Italian.Yet
despite this, the Italian language as we know it today is the result of a long process of
evolution and debates, which began in the 1600s, over what the correct form of the
language should be. At the end, the question of what Italian to speak remained.
Even though at the end of the 1900s many writers and cultural figures were being
inspired by the Tuscan model, in every aspect of the language, there are several
relevant historical and social factors that need to be considered.Firstly, for centuries up
until the Unification of Italy in 1861, the country was divided into a number of
different states, which were usually under foreign rule. When Italy was united in 1861
the decision was taken to make Tuscan the official language of the country.Within the
Italian population, however, there was and always had been high rates of illiteracy,
and this illiteracy continued predominantly in rural regions until the 1950s.

As a result, dialects were used as the everyday language for centuries, and

anyone who was able to express themselves and communicate in Italian did so using
grammatical, lexical and phonetical aspects influenced by regional and local dialects.

The spreading of standard Italian

In 1950, just as the country was going through a time of complete infrastructural,
economic, social and politic reconstruction, less than 20% of the Italian population
spoke Italian fluently in their day to day to life.Illiteracy and semi-illiteracy were
largely present in various groups of the population. The Italian Constitution, which was
established in 1948, gave everyone the right to a basic education.Yet in certain
situations this right to education was not completely guaranteed. Access to higher
education and university was pretty much only reserved for children from more affluent
families, while children from working class and farming families ended up just being an
economic resource for the family.This meant that many children didn’t even finish
primary school, even though the law demanded they stay in school until they were 18 or
20, before taking part in compulsory military service.Perhaps rather strangely, the event
which had the biggest impact in kickstarting the unification of the language was
the introduction of television.

TV programs began to be broadcast by RAI, the state broadcaster, in 1954 on

just one channel. In the years that followed, up until the economic boom between 1958
and 1962, television did not just become a way to bring people together (as very few
people actually had a TV set), but also a way to broadcast cultural programs and
linguistic models.In fact, between 1960 and 1968 RAI broadcast a show in the late
afternoon which was called Non è mai troppo tardi, or “It’s never too late,” which was
presented by the teacher Alberto Manzi. As a result of this show, many illiterate
people learnt to read and write, and it is estimated that in this period around one and
a half million Italians managed to get their certificate of primary education.And so, the
spreading of a standardised Italian language was aided by economic growth, a better
quality of life, the gradual spread of education and linguistic programmes shown
on TV.

Spoken only in Canton Ticino in Switzerland and in a few communities of Istria

(between Slovenia and Croatia), for almost 40 years Italian interests people of every
age from all over the world. This has led to the birth of numerous Italian
languageschools in Italy and the creation of many courses abroad, in Universities,
language schools and also the Italian Institute of Culture.The main motivation which
leads many foreigners to choose Italian is a love for the country and its culture.

WHY DO HM STUDENTS NEED TO LEARN ITALIAN LANGUAGE?

In the study of Nektaria Tziora TEI of Central Macedoniashows that majority of

hotel managers hesitate to undertake any in service training initiatives, even though
they are not totally satisfied with the degree of efficiency in foreign languages for
tourism of their personnel. Their rationale is the expenditure of time and money,
however foreign languages for tourism competences influence the level of customer
satisfaction, hence raise the company’s long term financial profits. 94% On the other
hand, the significantly high percentage of hospitality management students’speaking
only one foreign language, presumably English, also raises doubts as to which extend
they truly understand the role of multilingualism when pursuing a career in the global
tourism and hospitality industry. Intermediate knowledge of English is not anymore a
competitive advantage to any company that wishes to progress in the current economic
environment. The tendency of youngest people to acquire their first foreign language
certificate early in their teenage years as well as the widely accepted fact that foreign
language teaching in Greece is largely exam- oriented, in contrast to applied
knowledge, further affects the level of foreign language fluency and their ability to
respond to the hospitality market demand for high quality services. The offered type of
foreign language courses inside the framework of the hospitality management studies,
as depicted in the students’ replies, stresses the need to establish a stronger, more
dynamic curriculum and methodology that will aim at producing highly competitive
hospitality managers able to succeed in the flexible and competitive hospitality market.

A UK based research (Leslie & Russel, 2006) demonstrated that 83% of

European tourism administration students were in favor of obligatory foreign language
learning as part of their studies since such linguistic skills are very important in the
tourism sector. The research also indicated that travelling or working abroad and the
high rates of participation to European student exchange programs do help international
students value the importance of foreign language learning; 96% believed that fluency
in more foreign languages offers better job aspects. Current international research by
Ghany & Latif (2012) has brought to light students’ complaints on the content of their
foreign language courses in relation to their future career needs hence underlying the
importance of such courses to be attended independently of the tourism management
program.

In another report of the European Business Forum for multilingualism2 it has

been acknowledged that although the English language will remain the lingua franca, it
is not enough to offer a company and its staff the key to excellence. Furthermore, the
cultural awareness and breaking of stereotypes is promoted when it is enriched by more
cultures than the ones expressed through the person’s first and second language
(Sindik & Božinović, 2013).
 These things therefore are one of the factors why HM students need to learn
Italian, Spanish and French Languages. These three Languages are dominant in the
world and most of the tourists are from these countries. Aside from that, if your
destination to work abroad are in these countries aside from America then this is the
best to learn these languages at least the basic.

THE EFFECTIVE WAYS OF LEARNING ITALIAN

If you can get your hands on this course, it is really useful when you're trying to
build that confidence.

The entire course is largely just virtual, audio recordings and posted lessons are
just the guiding and tools to learn this language thus, students should be updated
always.

As a student, it starts with simple phrases, and quickly build on top of these until
you can say some reasonably complicated sentences. But it's not just about memorizing
phrases: Along the way, it explains important language features, and shows you how to
use the things you've learned in different situations.

You're encouraged to NOT write anything down, and to NOT try to memorize anything.

By the end of the course you won't be completely fluent in Italian, but you'll feel
like this Italian thing is pretty fun and easy. You will probably be able to hold very basic
conversations with Italian-speakers, and understand some of what Italian-speakers are
saying.

And stick to the principles that say: “What you see it and what you hear are what
you get”.

LEARN ON HOW TO COMPOSE A SIMPLE ITALIAN PHRASE ( PLS. SEE THE

VIDEO I HAVE SENT IN THE MESSENGER OF OUR HMP8 GROUP CHAT) This is
the link for the youtubehttps://youtu.be/YgWGAoZ0h7Q
 ITALIAN ALPHABET

Letter Name Example

A A Amore (love)

B Bi Bambino (boy)

C Ci Casa (house)

D Di Deserto (desert)

E E Essere (to be)

F Effe Forza (force / power)

G Gi Gruppo (group)

H Acca Hotel (hotel – ‘h’ is silent)

I I Italia (Italy)

Joystick (joystick)
J* I lungo
Jupiter (the Roman god)

K* Kappa Kiwi (kiwi)

L Elle Limone (Lemon)

M Emme Macchina (car)

N Enne Notte (night)

O O Opera (opera)

P Pi Piazza (square)

Q Qu Questo (this)

R Erre Rosso (red)

 Settimana (week) sounds like ‘s’
S Esse
Rosa (rose) sounds like ‘z’

T Ti Tutto (all)

U U Uscita (exit / escape)

V Vu Via (street)

W* Doppio vu Walter (personal name)

X* Ics Xilografia (xylography)

Y* Ipsilon Yogurt (yoghurt)

Zucchero (sugar) sounds like ‘ts’

Z Zeta
         Zero (zero) sounds like ‘dz’

Combined letters:
 Some letters can have a different pronunciation in Italian depending upon which vocal
or consonant follow them.

Combination Sounds like Example

CA / CO / CU ‘k’ Cucina (kitchen)

CE / CI  ‘tsch’ Cinema (cinema)

CHE / CHI ‘k’ Chiave (key)

GA / GO / GU a hard ‘g’ Gomma (rubber / tyre)

GE / GI ‘dj’ Gelato (ice cream / icy)

GHE / GHI a hard ‘g’ Ghetto (ghetto)

GLI similar to Aglio (garlic)

American
 Spanish ‘ll’ or
Portuguese ‘lh’

GLA / GLE /
‘gl’ Gloria (glory)
 GLO / GLU

Gnocchi (potato
GN Spanish ‘�’
dumplings)

SCA / SCO / SCU ‘sk’ Scuola (school)

SCE / SCI ‘sh’ Scienza (science)

SCHE / SCHI ‘sk’ Schiuma (foam)

( * ) The Italian alphabet does not normally include the letters J, K, W X and Y, but
since there are some words derived from other languages that are normally used
in Italy (as well as personal names), we included these letters in here.
Tips
 We recommend you to learn the Italian alphabet as your first step to learn Italian. It’s
much easier to understand people speaking Italian if you have a good handle of the
sounds in our Italian alphabet
 Also, you need to know well the alphabet because you may frequently need to spell
your name or an address while talking on the phone or during a trip to Italy; so, to learn
how to spell your name in Italian is your first lesson!

ITALIAN NUMBERS

Numeral Cardinal Ordinal

0 zero  

1 uno (m) una (f) primo

2 due secondo

3 tre terzo
4 quattro quarto

5 cinque quinto

6 sei sesto

7 sette settimo

8 otto ottavo

9 nove nono

10 dieci decimo

11 undici undicesimo

12 dodici dodicesimo

13 tredici tredicesimo

14 quattordici quattordicesimo

15 quindici quindicesimo

16 sedici sedicesimo

17 diciassette diciassettesimo

18 diciotto diciottesimo

19 diciannove diciannovesimo

20 venti ventesimo

21 ventuno ventunesimo

22 ventidue ventiduesimo

23 ventitré ventitreesimo

24 ventiquattro ventiquattresimo
25 venticinque venticinquesimo

26 ventisei ventiseiesimo

27 ventisette ventisettesimo

28 ventotto ventottesimo

29 ventinove ventinovesimo

30 trenta trentesimo

40 quaranta quarantesimo

50 cinquanta cinquantesimo

60 sessanta sessantesimo

70 settanta settantesimo

80 ottanta ottantesimo

90 novanta novantesimo

100 cento centesimo

200 duecento duecentesimo

300 trecento trecentesimo

400 quattrocento quattrocentesimo

500 cinquecento cinquecentesimo

600 seicento seicentesimo

700 settecento settecentesimo

800 ottocento ottocentesimo

900 novecento novecentesimo

1.000 mille millesimo

10.000 diecimila diecimillesimo

100.000 centomila centomillesimo

1.000.000 un milione millionesimo

1.000.000.000 un miliardo milliardesimo

To start, let’s see the very first basic phrases you can use to ask for and say
the time in Italian:

 Che ore sono? / Che ora è? 

These literally translate to “What hours are they?” and “What hour it is?”
respectively. They both mean “What time is it?”

This is the easiest way to ask the time in Italian. With this phrase, you don’t
have to worry too much about using formal vs. informal speech, as
adding scusi (“excuse me” – formal) or scusa (“excuse me” – informal) at the
beginning of the sentence can make it more formal or informal.

 Potrebbe/Potresti dirmi l’ora? 

This translates to “Could you (formal/informal) tell me the time?” 

This is a more complex form of asking for the time in Italian. It can be used
both formally and informally as long as you change the person (2nd vs. 3rd) of
the subject accordingly.

 A che ora è…? /A che ora comincia…? 

These translate to “At what time is…” and “At what time starts …?”
respectively. This is the Italian formula for asking when something (a meeting,
a show, etc.) is going to start.

Did you notice that in Italian we say ore, literally meaning “hours,” when we
talk about time? If you look up ora (“hour” in the singular) in an Italian
dictionary, you’ll find that it means both “hour” and “now.” While the literal
translation of “time” is tempo, in Italian, we use this word just in the sense of
the concept of time—never to represent the passing of time on a clock.
Interesting, right?

Che ore sono? Uffa*… il tempo non passa mai… (“What time is it? Geez…
time never passes…”)

*Uffa is an untranslatable word that makes life so much more interesting!

Depending on the context, it can be translated as “geez/gosh!”, “damn”
(angry), “come on!” (impatient), “phew” (generic), or “oh, hum” (bored).

2. Italian Hours

When you say the time in Italian, it’s more common to use the twelve-hour
clock, unless it’s in written official communication. In order to avoid confusion
or ambiguity, you’ll often hear Italians say the time with the twelve-hour clock,
adding di mattina, del pomeriggio, di sera, or di notte (“in the morning, in the
afternoon, in the evening, at night”)

There’s no equivalent for “o’clock” in Italian. You simply say the time, and if
you want to be very precise, you add in punto. You’ll only use this if you want
to remark that it just turned exactly that time: Ci vediamo alle tre in
punto! (“We meet at three o’clock (sharp)!”).

To state what time it is, you use the verb essere (“to be”), in the singular è, for
midnight (mezzanotte), midday (mezzogiorno), and one o’clock (l’una). The
rest of the time, you use the plural sono and the number  equivalent to the
hour.
But if you want to say what time something happens, you use a/alle and the
time, like this: a mezzanotte (“At midnight”), alle tre (“at three”). Remember
that alle = a + le. Do you need to brush up on compound prepositions? Follow
me!

È mezzanotte / A mezzanotte  “It’s midnight” / “At midnight”

È l’una (di notte) / All’una (di notte)  “It’s one AM” / “At one AM”

Sono le due (di notte) / Allle due (di notte)  “It’s two AM” / “At two AM”

Sono le tre (di notte) / Alle tre (di notte)  “It’s three AM” / “At three AM”

Sono le quattro (di notte) / Alle quattro (di notte)  “It’s four AM” / “At four AM”

Sono le cinque (di mattina) / Alle cinque (di mattina)  “It’s five AM” / “At five AM”

Sono le sei (di mattina) / Alle sei (di mattina)  “It’s six AM” / “At six AM”

Sono le sette (di mattina) / Alle sette (di mattina)  “It’s seven AM” / “At seven AM”

Sono le otto (di mattina) / Alle otto (di mattina)  “It’s eight AM” / “At eight AM”

Sono le nove (di mattina) / Alle nove (di mattina)  “It’s nine AM” / “At nine AM”

Sono le dieci (di mattina) / Alle dieci (di mattina)  “It’s ten AM” / “At ten AM”`

Sono le undici (di mattina) / Alle undici (di mattina)  “It’s eleven AM” / “At eleven AM”
È mezzogiorno / A mezzogiorno  “It’s noon” / “At noon”

È l’una / All’una  “It’s one PM” / “At one PM”

Sono le due (di pomeriggio) / Alle due (di pomeriggio)  “It’s two PM” / “At two PM”

Sono le tre (di pomeriggio) / Alle tre (di pomeriggio)  “It’s three PM” / “At three PM”

Sono le quattro (di pomeriggio) / Alle quattro (di pomeriggio)  “It’s four PM” / “At four PM”

Sono le cinque (di pomeriggio) / Alle cinque (di pomeriggio)  “It’s five PM” / “At five PM”

Sono le sei (di pomeriggio) / Alle sei (di pomeriggio)  “It’s six PM” / “At six PM”

Sono le sette (di sera) / Alle sette (di sera)  “It’s seven PM” / “At seven PM”

Sono le otto (di sera) / Alle otto (di sera)  “It’s eight PM” / “At eight PM”

Sono le nove (di sera) / Alle nove (di sera)  “It’s nine PM” / “At nine PM”

Sono le dieci (di sera) / Alle dieci (di sera)  “It’s ten PM” / “At ten PM”

Sono le undici (di sera) / Alle undici (di sera)  “It’s eleven PM” / “At eleven PM”

How to Divide Hours into Minutes in Italian

When the digital watches came around, a lot of people started telling time like
robots:

 Che ore sono? (“What time is it?”)

 Sono le 17 e 27. (“It’s 17: 27.”)

But luckily, people soon realized it was too ugly and stopped doing that. The
normal behavior now is to round up the minutes to halves, quarters, and fives.
Much better!
  mezz’ora (“half an hour”) 

Notice how in front of ora, the word mezza drops the last letter, a, and adds
an apostrophe (‘), becoming mezz’ora. But whenever you need to put it after
the hour, to mean “half past…” then you use the complete word,
either mezzo or mezza.

 … e mezza/mezzo  (“half past…”)

In this case, telling time in Italian is much simpler than in English. You just
need to put together the hour and the half hour with the conjunction e. Notice
how both mezzo and mezza are correct.

 un quarto d’ora (“a quarter of an hour”)

Notice how here, too, we drop a letter and add an apostrophe, so that un
quarto di ora becomes much nicer to hear and pronounce: un quarto d’ora.

 … e un quarto (“a quarter past …”)

To add just a quarter of an hour, you also need to put the conjunction e +
un (indefinite article).

 Just like in English, an easy way to tell time is by fractions of five

minutes, as in:

 le … e cinque (“five past …” or “… oh five”)

 le … e dieci (“ten past …” or “… ten”)
 le … e quindici (“fifteen past …” or “… fifteen”)

le … e venti (“twenty past …” or “… twenty”)

  le … e venticinque (“twenty-five past …” or “… twenty-five”)
 le … e trenta (“thirty past …” or “… thirty”)
 le … e trentacinque (“thirty-five past …” or “… thirty-five”)
 le … e quaranta (“forty past …” or “… forty”)
 le … e quarantacinque (“forty-five past …” or “… forty-five”)
 le … e cinquanta (“fifty past …” or “… fifty”)
 le … e cinquantacinque (“fifty-five past …” or “… fifty-five”)

 meno… 

After half past thirty-five, normally in Italian you start saying the following hour
“minus” the minutes needed to get to the top of the hour. For example: 

 10:40 = le undici meno venti (literally “eleven minus twenty”)  

 11:45 = le dodici/mezzogiorno meno un quarto (“twelve/noon minus a
quarter”)
 15:50 = le quattro meno dieci (“four minus ten”)
 19:55 = le otto meno cinque  (“eight minus five”)

NOUNS.

Nouns (i nomi) are names of people, places or things. Unlike in the English

language, Italian nouns have genders. They can either be masculine or feminine.
Now, don’t get your nose out of joint over this one. Grammatical “gender” is really just a
way of classifying nouns. And by following some simple rules, you can learn to classify
the great majority of Italian nouns. Italian nouns almost always end with a vowel. (Those
that don’t are most probably foreign in origin.) In order to know the gender of a noun,
you only have to check its ending.

1. Nouns that end in “o” are generally masculine.

Words like libro (book), albero (tree) and tavolo (table) and are all masculine.

2. Nouns that end in “a” are generally feminine.

Words like casa (house), scuola (school) and scarpa (shoe) are feminine.

3. There are, of course, exceptions to rules 1 and 2.

Nouns that end in “a” can be masculine,like: tema (theme), programma

(program) and clima (climate). On the other hand, there are also nouns that end in “o”
that are feminine. Mano (hand) and radio (radio) belong to this group. Words like foto
(photograph) and moto (motorbike) seem like they’re masculine at first glance, but
they’re actually feminine because their long forms, fotografia and motocicletta, both end
in “a.”

4. Nouns that end in “e” can either be masculine or feminine.

Colore (color), giornale (newspaper) and mare (sea) are masculine. On the other

hand, words like televisione (television), luce (light) and notte (night) are feminine.
Familiarity with the words is key here. There isn’t really any way to learn the genders of
these nouns except by immersing yourself in the language and eventually memorizing
which word goes with which article.

How to Form Plural Italian Nouns

Nouns, because they refer to people, places and things, have a number. So we
need to learn how to form their plurals. In English, we either add “s” or “es” at the end of
the word. In Italian, we have comparable rules to follow:

1. Masculine nouns that end in “o”: change the “o” into an “i”

So, libro (book) becomes libri (books),
albero (tree) becomes alberi (trees)
and tavolo (table) becomes tavoli (tables).

2. Feminine nouns that end in “a”: change the “a” into an “e”

So, casa (house) becomes case (houses),
scuola (school) becomes scuole (schools)
and scarpa (shoe) becomes scarpe (shoes).

3. Nouns that end in “e” (both masculine and feminine): change the “e” into an “i”

So, colore (color) becomes colori (colors),
giornale (newspaper) becomes giornali (newspapers)
and mare (sea) becomes mari (seas).
There are, again, exceptions to these rules—like the masculine dito (finger)
which pluralizes into dita (instead of diti). Continuous exposure to the language really
helps. English beginners often initially mistake “wifes” as the plural of “wife” or “gooses”
as the plural of “goose.” But with enough exposure, these errors slowly get weeded
out. The important thing is to get solid on the basics, so that when the exceptions
do come, you’ll be able to recognize them as exceptions and file them away in your
memory.

How to Use Italian Articles

 We’ve slowly built Italian nouns—from knowing their gender, to learning about
their plural forms. Knowing those two, we can finally tag their appropriate articles.
Definite articles are the equivalent of the English “the.” Depending on number and
gender, there are eight ways to say “the” in Italian.

Masculine “the”

1. Use il for singular masculine nouns:

il libro (the book)
il tavolo (the table)

2. Use l’ for singular masculine nouns that begin with a vowel:

l’albero (the tree)
l’oro (the gold)

3. Use lo for nouns that start with “z,” “y,” “pn,” “gn” and “s + consonant”:
lo zelo (the zeal)
lo yen (the yen)
lo pneumatico (the tire)
lo gnomo (the gnome)
lo sbaglio (the mistake)

4. Use i for plural nouns:

i libri (the books)
i tavoli (the tables)

5. Use gli as the plural equivalent of the “lo” nouns:

gli gnomi (the gnomes)
gli pneumatici (the tires)
gli sbagli (the mistakes)
Phew! Still with me? We’re halfway there.

Feminine “the”
1. Use la for singular feminine nouns that begin with a consonant:
la casa (the house)
la scuola (the school)
la scarpa (the shoe)

2. Use l’ for singular feminine nouns that begin with a vowel:

l’arancia (the orange)
l’alleanza (the alliance)

3. Use le for plural feminine nouns:

le case (the houses)
le scuole (the schools)
le scarpe (the shoes)

Indefinite Articles

English has two: “a” and “an.” There are three indefinite articles in Italian. They
are:

Un: used for singular masculine nouns.

un progetto (a project)
un edificio (a building)
un nome (a name)

Uno: used for singular masculine nouns that start with “z,” “ps,” “pn,” “x,” “y,”
“gn” and “s + consonant.”
uno pneumatico (a tire)
uno sbaglio (a mistake)

Una: used for singular feminine nouns. (If the noun starts with a vowel, the “a”
in una is dropped.)
una casa (a house)
una banca (a bank)
un’ora (an hour)
un’attività (an activity)

Okay, we’ve quickly gone through a mouthful of grammar. Now, let’s get started
learning the nouns that every Italian language student should know.

Here are food-related nouns you should know:

il cibo (food) la colazione (breakfast) il pranzo (lunch)

la cena (dinner) il pane (bread) il formaggio (cheese)
il vino (wine) il caffè (espresso coffee) il latte (milk)
il tè (tea) la torta (cake) il panino (sandwich)
la carne (meat) la bistecca (steak) l’insalata (salad)
il sale (salt) il burro (butter) la frutta (fruit)
la verdura (vegetable) il piatto (plate) il cucchiaio (spoon)
la forchetta (fork) il coltello (knife) il bicchiere (glass)
il tavolo (table)
Fashion and Shopping Nouns

a banca (bank) i contanti (cash) i soldi (money)

la carta di credito (credit card) la firma (signature) il negozio (store)
il mercato (market) la maglietta (t-shirt) i pantaloni (pants)
le scarpe (shoes) la borsa (bag) il cappello (hat)
il cappotto (coat) l’abito (suit) il vestito (dress)
l’accessorio (accessory) la cintura (belt) la collana (necklace)
l’anello (ring) gli orecchini (earrings) il braccialetto (bracelet)

Entertainment and Hobby-related Nouns

i passatempi (hobbies) lo sport (sport) il calcio (soccer)

la pallavolo (volleyball) la pallacanestro (basketball) il ciclismo (cycling)
lo sci (skiing) il tennis (tennis) la spiaggia (beach)
il libro (book) il film (movie) l’attore (actor)
l’attrice (actress) la musica (music)

Things Around the House

la casa (house) la camera da letto (bedroom) la cucina (kitchen)

il bagno (bathroom)
la scala (stairs)
il letto (bed)
la coperta (blanket)
l’asciugamano (towel)
il frigo (fridge)
la porta (door) la finestra (window)
il soffitto (ceiling) il tetto (roof)
il orologio (clock) il cuscino (pillow)
il sapone (soap) lo specchio (mirror)
la scopa (broom) il ferro da stiro (iron)
la lavatrice (washing machine)

Transportation Words

l’automobile (car) l’autobus (bus) la bicicletta (bike)

il treno (train) il camion (truck) l’aeroplano (airplane)
la barca (boat)

Work-related Nouns

l’ufficio (office) la fabbrica (factory) l’azienda (company)

l’officina (workshop) il collega (colleague) il superiore (superior)
il computer (computer) il portatile (laptop) lo schermo (monitor)
il mouse (mouse) la tastiera (keyboard) la stampante (printer)

Activity:

1. Compose simple sentences using nouns as a subject and a verb essere at least 10
sentences.
 Ex. La bistecca ě molto buono.

Activity I. Make the English numbers into Italian and vice versa

English Italian
One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Thirty

Forty

Fifty

Sixty

Seventy

Eighty

Ninety

One Hundred
 
References:

Mazzoni, C., (2013). Italian Made Simple: An effective, fun way quickly and easily
masters the Italian language. New York: Three Rivers Press, Random House Inc.

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/italian/italian-nouns/

https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/italian-easy-learning/the-present-simple-tense

https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/latic/article/viewFile/10353/10456.pdf

https://www.theitalianexperiment.com/review/best-way-to-learn-italian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjw6PSC9x9o

http://www.oneworlditaliano.com/english/italian/italian_first_conjugation_verbs.htm

https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/latic/article/viewFile/10353/10456.pdf

https://www.theitalianexperiment.com/review/best-way-to-learn-italian