Daily Italian For Beginners

Daily Italian For Beginners
How To Easily Speak Italian With Only 10 Minutes Of

Practice A Day
By
Bruno Palermo
Table of Contents
Introduction
Day 1: How To Make Sense Of Italian
The Alphabet, Spelling, And Pronunciation
Day 2: The Accent
Day 3: Greetings In Italian
Day 4: Meeting Someone For The First Time Or Fare La Conoscenza Di
Qualcuno
Day 5: The Sentence Structure In Italian
To Recap
Day 6: To Be Or Not To Be?
The Verb Essere Or To Be
Day 7: Phrases Containing The Verb Essere
Day 8: The Conjugations
Day 9: Nouns And Articles
The Noun
Gender: Masculine And Feminine
Day 10: Exceptions In The Grammatical Gender
Heads Up! Grammatical And Natural Gender
Day 11: The Grammatical Number: Singular And Plural
Day 12: Article 1
Indefinite Articles: Un/ Uno/ Una
Day 13: Article 2
Definite Articles: Il, Lo, La / I, Gli, Le
Day 14: Vocabulary: Jobs, Sports, And Athletes
Names Of Jobs
Names Of Sports
Athletes Of These Sports
Day 15: Adjectives 1
Qualifying Adjectives
Day 16: Adjectives We Use To Describe Things
Day 17: Adjectives We Use To Describe People
The Inflection
Day 19: Conjunctions 1
The Conjunctions E, O, And Ma
Day 20: The Verb To Have
Day 21: Numbers
Cardinal Numbers
Day 22: Asking Questions: The Interrogative Pronouns Quanto? And Quale?
Heads-Up! Exclamations
Classifying Adjectives
Day 24: Saying People’s Nationality
Day 25: Quanto?
Day 26: Demonstratives
Demonstrative Adjectives And Pronouns
Day 27: Pronouns
Subject And Object Pronouns
Day 28: Possessive Adjectives
Day 29: Possessive Pronouns
Heads-Up!
Day 30: What Time Is It?
Che Ore Sono?
Day 31: The Verb
Day 32: The Present Indicative
Day 33: Irregular Indicative
Day 34: Prepositions
Day 35: Typical Expressions That Use Prepositions
Day 36: Use Of The Present Indicative
Day 37: Days And Months > Dates
Day 38: The Present Tense For Scientific And Historical Facts
Day 39: Verbs For Sports, School, Business And Free Time
Sports
School
Business
Day 40: Talking About Ongoing Actions: The Gerund
Day 41: Prepositions + Articles > Articulated Prepositions
Day 42: Talking About The Past: Actions That Have Taken Place In A
Recent Past
Day 43: Past Participle
False Friends: Passato Prossimo And Present Perfect
Day 44: Verbs With An Irregular Past Participle
Day 45: Talking About The Past: Continuous Actions
Addition And Clarification
Cause And Correlation
Day 48: The Subjunctive Mood
Day 49: Irregular Subjunctive
Day 50: Present Conditional For Requests
Day 51: Irregular Conditional
Conclusion
Disclaimer
Introduction
You have picked up a book to learn a new language. This time you have
chosen Italian: maybe the Colosseum encouraged you, or the possibility of
taking a romantic gondola ride through the canals of Venice and going to the
Opera. Learning a new language is never easy, and takes time, effort as well
as a lot of practice. Italian is no exception; in fact, it appears to native
speakers of English as having seemingly overwhelming difficulties: the
sentences that change according to gender and grammatical number, the
many moods and verbal tenses used, its vast vocabulary and so on.
In this book, I am going to show you a way to familiarize yourself with

Italian and successfully master the basics of the language for everyday
communication while devoting only 10 minutes each day to studying.
I studied foreign languages and linguistics myself as part of my academic

subjects as I was driven by curiosity and the chance of traveling and working
in a country where the languages I studied were spoken. As a result, I can
affirm that the time that I spent studying books has no doubt made it easier
for me to interact with people and have a grasp of what they were saying
without having to use a dictionary to look up every single word.
I wished I could work near those monuments and that culture that I had
studied and I eventually managed to find a job in a tourist office in the
historic center of one of the most beautiful cities in Italy for me, Naples.
This book was borne out of the desire to share the experience and knowledge
I acquired, and is designed for those who do not have much time to devote to
a more traditional and longer study. By reading this book, you can find all the
grammar alongside the most common and interesting expressions Italians
widely use, organized in convenient daily lessons. It will take only 10
minutes a day to learn Italian: not only abstractly, but aiming at making it
possible for those who take advantage of what is written in this book to use
the language for practical everyday communication.
In return for the time you spend reading and studying this book, you will
achieve the necessary skills to understand and use one of the most beautiful
and sophisticated languages in the world. Whether for tourism, business or
study: from now on, you will have no problem with the language of the “Bel
Paese”.
Do not delay, or else you will also have to postpone all the possibilities that a
new language has for you: travelling, working, learning a new culture,
making new friends. Let’s get started on speaking Italian RIGHT NOW!
The method used in this book has proven results. Each chapter provides new
insights that will help you get a solid grasp of the language AND, little by
little, get to master more complex grammar and language structures. If you
follow the book in its unfolding, we reveal you a number of hints and tips
that will most likely come in handy to enjoy learning Italian without any
particular difficulties.
Day 1: How To Make Sense Of Italian
The Alphabet, Spelling, And Pronunciation

Before you get to the heart of the language, you need to know how to read
and pronounce the words correctly in Italian.
Currently, the Italian alphabet consists of 26 letters. These comprise 21

traditional letters plus 5 letters only recently added in order to write foreign
words, especially English words.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T U, V, W, X, Y, Z
The Italian alphabet is a phonetic alphabet, with each letter representing a

sound as you pronounce it when reading words.
The alphabet, however, does not represent all the sounds of the Italian
pronunciation. In particular:
The vowels “e” and “o” have two distinct pronunciations:

1. / ɛ / as in earth and in Italian bene, centro, lento, è (third-person
singular of the verb essere/to be) > this is the most common
pronunciation and is sometimes indicated by an accent traced
from top left to the bottom right, called grave. In Italian, we call
this pronunciation aperta (open).
2. /e/ as in energy or let and in Italian bere, fede, pera > In Italian,
we refer to this pronunciation as chiusa (closed) and is
sometimes denoted by the acute accent, which is drawn starting
from the bottom left and going up to the right as in the following
words: poiché, benché.
3. / ɔ / as in wall, war or short and in Italian moda, nove > again

this is the aperta pronunciation of the letter –o
4. /o/ as in oat, so and go in American English and in Italian sole,

botte > pronunciation chiusa
As for the consonants:

1. – gn > we never pronounce this like in recognize, but always
like in gnocchi. For example, gnomo (dwarf)
2. – gl > we pronounce this like in yell or yellow
3. – sc > we pronounce this like in shell and in Italian sciolto,

scelto, sciocco > we don’t pronounce the –i in this case.
4. –g is pronounced as in gather and get when followed by –a, –o, –

u or –h and -e or –i. However, when –e or –i without the letter –h
following it, then we will pronounce it as in gentleman or in jib.
For example, gelo, getto, gita
5. –c > we pronounce like in cat when followed by –a, –o and –u,

e.g. cane, casa, cotto, colla. On the contrary, we pronounce the –
c sound like in child or in chair when –e or –i follows it — for
example, cena, cento.
Exercise: Pronounce the following words paying attention to correct
vowel pronunciation.
- è: bene, centro, lento, presto, remo, servizio, zero
- é: bere, fede, pera, mela, selvatico, seta, sera
- ò: bosco, bomba, grosso, moda, novanta, notte
- ó: errore, borsa, corsa, forza, ora, orologio
Can you write the right accent on the stressed syllable?

Day 2: The Accent
We have talked about acute and grave accents when indicating the correct
pronunciation of a vowel, but you may have noticed that in Italian not all
vowels are marked with an accent.
Unlike English, where the stressed vowel is never marked with an accent, in
Italian, the latter could be virtually on any vowel within the word, but we
only write it if it occurs on the last syllable and the word is not a
monosyllable. Words consisting of a single syllable are not marked with an
accent unless there are other monosyllables written in the same way but with
different meanings. It is, therefore, a way of distinguishing them.
Interestingly, in contemporary Italian, regional varieties very often affect the

pronunciation of words as well as the position of the accents. If you have any
doubts about this, all you have to do is to consult a good dictionary.
Dictionaries, in fact, always show the accent of each word.
Day 3: Greetings In Italian
The first word that comes to mind when we think about Italian is definitely
Ciao. This greeting, actually quite informal, by now has become very
popular, but English native speakers use it mainly as a farewell greeting, as
another way of saying, “see you later”.
In Italy, you can say ciao both when you see someone you know and when
you say goodbye or you are leaving a place. It is, however, a very informal
greeting, which we can translate as hello or bye-bye.
For example, if you visit Italy for the first time and, walking down the street,
a shop window attracts your attention, when you enter to ask if you can try
that hat to cover yourself from the sun, you will say:
Buongiorno, vorrei provare quel cappello esposto in vetrina. (Good morning,

I would like to try on that hat displayed in the shop window).
Buongiorno, which means good morning, is the most used Italian greeting
both to say hello to somebody you have just met for the first time and to
friends and acquaintances. We use it from morning until late afternoon, when
we replace it with buonasera, which is good evening. In the afternoon, you
can also say buon pomeriggio, that is, good afternoon, but this greeting is
slowly falling into disuse.
Let’s see, then, the main greetings in Italian:

- Buongiorno > good morning (from 8am to 6pm)
- Buon pomeriggio > good afternoon (from about 2 pm until 6 pm, but it is
less and less used)
- Buonasera (for the evening after 6 pm)
- Salve > a generic greeting with an average degree of formality. We use it
mainly when meeting someone and in letters, including e-mails,
especially if we do not know the name of the recipient.
- Arrivederci > we use this to say goodbye to someone with whom there is
little familiarity or when you have to be formal. For example, we will use
this greeting on leaving a shop.
If we want to be more formal, we could say arrivederla, but nowadays we

tend to use it almost only in very formal communications within institutions,
such as schools, hospitals, and courts.
- A presto! > like arrivederci but less formal

- Ci vediamo! > when you leave someone who you will see again. As in
English, you can then add a day or other time when you will see each
other again, for instance. See you tomorrow > Ci vediamo domani or,
more briefly, A domani.
- Ci sentiamo! > like ci vediamo! However, it means that we will talk by
phone
- Pronto? > we say this when answering the phone
- Come va? > to which you usually reply “tutto bene, grazie”.
Day 4: Meeting Someone For The First Time Or
Fare La Conoscenza Di Qualcuno
In Italian the expression “to meet someone” translates as conoscere or fare la
conoscenza di qualcuno (“to know someone”), using a verb, conoscere,
which means “to know”. You get to know someone even if it is the first time
you have met him or her.
A: Buongiorno/buonasera/Salve, sono (or mi chiamo) Luca, piacere (di

conoscerti/conoscerla).
A: Good morning/good evening/ hello, I am (or my name is) Luca, nice to
meet you.
B: (Io sono) Anna, piacere mio.
B: (I am) Anna, nice to meet you too.
In a more informal situation:

A: Piacere, Luca (A: Nice to meet you, Luca).
B: Anna, piacere mio (B: Anna, nice to meet you too).
Now, if we want to get to know more, then we will ask:

Cosa fai nella vita? (What do you do?)
Cosa studi? / Che lavoro fai?

(What do you study? / What is your job?)
“Cosa” at the beginning of the sentence means “what”, although it would be

correct to write Che cosa...? However, you will notice that very often, in
colloquial and faster speeches, people would simply say che...? Thus, leaving
out “cosa”.
Da dove vieni/di dove sei? > Where do you come/are you from?
- Da > from
- Dove > where
- Vieni > (you) come
- Sei > (you) are
Quanti anni hai? > How old are you?

- Quanti > how many
- Anni > years
- Hai > (do you) have
Warning! False Friends!

Do not mistake the verb “to introduce”, which means to introduce someone
or to introduce oneself, for the Italian verb introdurre! The latter in fact
means to let something or someone in some place:
Introduci la chiave nella serratura, e poi… (Insert the key into the lock, and
then...)
In Italian, we use the verb presentare (followed by an object, since it is a

transitive verb) or presentarsi (meaning that you make a self-introduction).
Domani Andrea vuole presentare la sua ragazza ai genitori.

- Domani > tomorrow
- vuole > he/she wants
- presentare > to introduce
- la sua ragazza > his girlfriend
- ai > to
- suoi > his/her
- genitori > parents
Day 5: The Sentence Structure In Italian
Though the sentence structure in Italian may seem similar to the one in
English, there are some important exceptions.
In positive sentences, the subject may very often be omitted > you do not
even have to write the first-person personal pronoun since the ending of the
verb indicates quite clearly who is performing an action in most cases.
- Mangio una mela > Io (the first-person pronoun is implicit) + mangio >
verb to eat, first person singular, present tense + una mela (an apple) >
object
I eat an apple > I > subject + eat > verb + an apple > object
- Bevo sempre caffè a colazione. > I always drink coffee for breakfast. >
Here as well the subject of the verb is implicit.
In negative sentences, you simply place “non” before the verb. We do not use
a negative auxiliary, but we conjugate the verb as in the positive sentences.
- Non mangio mele. > I don’t eat (or better I’m not eating) apples.
- Il Rosa non è il mio colore preferito. > Pink is not my favorite color.
Even when asking a question in Italian, we do not use any auxiliaries, such as
do before the subject of the English sentences. Rather, what is fundamental is
the intonation of the sentence. In spoken Italian, the pitch of a sentence is the
element that sets a statement apart from a question (and is very often the most
misunderstood thing when talking!). When writing, however, you have to use
a question mark at the end of the sentence.
Viaggi mai da solo? > Do you ever travel on your own?

- Viaggi > verb, second person singular to travel, present tense
- Mai > ever (in questions)
- Da solo > on your own.
In this sentence, there is no need to express the subject because the verb
already lets us know to whom we are addressing our question. At the same
time, if we did not write a question mark at the end of the question, the
sentence would still make sense, but, actually, we would be making a true
statement.
- Esci il sabato sera? > Do you go out on Saturday night?

- Esci il sabato sera. > you go out on Saturday night.
To Recap
1. The Italian alphabet is a phonetic alphabet: each letter has its own
pronunciation when you read the words, with some exceptions.
2. It is compulsory to write the accent only when the stressed syllable

is the last one.
3. You do not have to write always the subject of the sentence, but you
may want to write it when you want to emphasize who has
performed a certain action.
4. When asking questions in Italian, it is essential that you remember to

write the question mark at the end of the sentence and to be careful
to use the right intonation.
Day 6: To Be Or Not To Be?
The Verb Essere Or To Be

It is a sunny day, there is a gentle breeze, if you take a walk in one of Italy’s
many big historical city centers, you may hear: Oggi è una bella giornata! >
Today is a beautiful day! In this sentence, “è”, written with the grave accent,
is the third person singular of the verb to be, in Italian, essere.
We use the verb essere (with the stress on the first syllable, èssere) when we
want to express the condition of something or the way they are:
- Il cane è in giardino. > The dog is in the garden.
- La sedia è scomoda. > The chair is uncomfortable.
- Enrica è molto brava in matematica. > Enrica is very good at math.
- Sono in biblioteca per fare una ricerca. > I’m in the library to carry out a
research.
The verb essere, as the ending –ere shows, is a second conjugation verb, but
its flexion is irregular.
The present tense of the Indicative mood is:

- Io sono (I am)
- Tu sei (you are)
- Egli/ella è (he/she is)
- Noi siamo (we are)
- Voi siete (you are)
- Essi sono (they are)
We use the indicative mood in order to make statements, ask questions or

express opinions.
In the conjugation above, you can also see the Italian personal pronouns:
- “I” is Io
- “You” (singular) is Tu
- “He” is Egli (or lui in informal/colloquial language)
- “She” is Ella (or lei in informal/colloquial language)
There is no “it” pronoun in Italian, as all the nouns are either masculine or
feminine.
- “We” is Noi
- “You” (plural) is Voi
- “They” is Essi (or loro in informal/colloquial language)
Day 7: Phrases Containing The Verb Essere
Essere bravo a +infinitive/ in or nel + nouns > to be good at
Marta è brava a cantare. / Marco è bravo in chimica. > Marta is good at
singing. / Marco is good at chemistry.
A synonym for “essere bravi a” is essere portati per > having a flair for
something.
- Essere al settimo cielo > to be very happy, elated, on cloud nine

- Esserci > to reach your goal, to succeed in something: Ci sono! I made
it!
- Essere una buona forchetta > (literally to be a good fork…) to be a
person who enjoys eating
- Quant’è? > How much is it?
- Essere la pecora nera > (literally “to be the black sheep” in a group)
means to be the one that stands out from the crowd because of its
different behavior, which does not conform to habits or traditions, and is
generally judged to be a bad thing.
- Essere un peccato > (to be a pity) It refers typically to something that
goes to waste, to a missed opportunity, and so on. E.g. È un peccato che
non sei potuto restare alla festa > it is a pity you could not stay at the
party.
- Essere puntuale > to be on time
- Essere in ritardo > to be late
- Essere felice > to be happy
- Essere triste > to be sad
- Essere malato > to be ill
- Essere gentile con qualcuno > to be kind to someone
- È tardi > it is late
Exercise: Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the
verb essere.
1. Gianluca non … mai puntuale
2. Dopo un bagno, il mio cane … sempre al settimo cielo!
3. Sono una persona puntuale - non … mai in ritardo!
4. Non … mai troppo tardi per imparare l’italiano
5. Fai sempre le cose a modo tuo, … la pecora … del gruppo.
6. Marco e Sandra … i nostri migliori amici
Answers on the next page.

Answers to previous exercise:
1. È
2. È
3. Sono
4. È
5. Sei, nera
6. Sono
Day 8: The Conjugations
When you look up verbs in the dictionary, you will find them in the infinitive
form, which in Italian has three different endings, also called conjugations.
In order to make it easier to pronounce the words correctly, you will find here
the accents on the stressed syllables even within the words, but please bear in
mind that, as a rule, you have to write the accent only when it occurs on the
last syllable.
–are, the first conjugation:

- Amare > to love
- Saltare > to jump
- Guardare > to watch
- Studiare > to study
- Lavorare > to work
- Scivolare > to slip
- Dimenticare > to forget
- Ricordare > to remember
–ere, the second conjugation:

- Bere > to drink
- Sedere > to sit
- Vedere > to see
- Lèggere > to read
- Correre > to run
- Scrivere > to write
- Cuocere > to cook
- Scegliere > to choose
–ire, the third conjugation:

- Dormire > to sleep
- Sentire > to hear
- Apparire > to appear
- Aprire > to open
- Bollire > to boil
- Capire > to understand
- Distribuire > to give out
Knowing the conjugation is important, because it will give you a leading hint
on how the verb will be in different moods and tenses. In Italian, although
there are many tenses, most verbs are regular and follow the same pattern.
Day 9: Nouns And Articles
The Noun
The noun is the element of the sentence that designates a living being (people
or animals) or inanimate objects (including places, ideas and so on) and it
may be the subject or the object of the sentence. In Italian, the noun is a
variable part of speech, because its ending expresses gender and number, and
therefore changes according to whether the name is masculine or feminine as
well as if it is singular or plural.
It is very important to know the gender and number of the noun, since in
Italian other parts of speech, including articles, adjectives, and verbs, must be
in agreement with it.
Gender: Masculine And Feminine

The ending of nouns, in their singular form, can be the element that identifies
the gender, but there are some exceptions.
Generally, masculine nouns are:

- Most nouns ending in –o, such as casco (helmet), pollo (chicken), divano
(couch), mento (chin), faro (lighthouse), quadro (painting).
- Many of the nouns ending in –e, such as cane (dog), cantiere (worksite),
gettone (token), monte (mount), odore (smell), paniere (basket), portiere
(doorman).
- Some nouns ending in –i, such as brindisi (toast > drink), taxi (taxi)
Generally, feminine nouns are:

- Most nouns ending in –a, such as rosa (rose), stanza (room), calma
(quiet), posta (mail), marca (brand), sedia (chair), camicia (shirt),
finestra (window).
- All nouns ending in –tà or in –tù, such as virtù (virtue), onestà (honesty),
verità (truth).
- Some nouns ending in –e, such as pensione (pension), gestione
(management), assunzione (hiring), sorgente (source), gente (people),
canzone (song), corrente (current), televisione (television).
- Some nouns ending in –i, such as crisi (crisis), ipotesi (hypothesis),
analisi (analysis).
Foreign words that have become part of the everyday language can be either
masculine or feminine. For example:
Day 10: Exceptions In The Grammatical Gender
Some nouns, whose endings are in –a, belong, nevertheless, to the masculine
gender:
- Poeta > poet
- Cinema > cinema
- Pigiama > pajamas
- Problema > problem
- Panorama > landscape
In addition to these, there are a number of other names that we usually call
“mobili”, movable, since it is possible to pass from the masculine form to the
feminine one by changing the final ending:
- ragazzo (masculine > boy) /ragazza (feminine > girl)

- alunno (boy pupil) / alunna (girl pupil)
- lupo (wolf)/lupa (she-wolf)
- studente (schoolboy)/studentessa (schoolgirl)
- dottore (doctor)/dottoressa (a female doctor)
- signore (gentleman)/signora (lady)
Heads Up! Grammatical And Natural Gender

The grammatical gender of a noun does not always correspond to the natural
gender, that is, not always nouns that grammatically have masculine endings
refer to animals or people of the masculine gender, but they can also refer to
people and animals of the feminine gender and vice versa.
For example:
- Spia (spy) is a feminine name, but both a man and a woman can be a spy.
- Soprano and contralto (alto) are nouns that refer to different types of
female singers within the Opera, but the grammatical gender of these
nouns is masculine.
Day 11: The Grammatical Number: Singular And
Plural
For the most part, in Italian, we create the plural form of a noun by changing
the final ending.
If masculine:
- singular ending –a > plural –i. For example, panorama
(landscape)/panorami (landscapes)
- singular ending –o > plural –i. For example, posto (place)/posti (places)
- singular ending –e > plural –i. For example, mare (sea)/mari (seas)
If feminine:
- the singular ending –a > plural –e > casa (house) /case (houses)
- singular ending in –e > plural –i > fronte (forehead)/fronti (foreheads)
The nouns that have endings –i in the singular, whether masculine or

feminine, have the same endings in the plural, so they do not change. These
nouns are part of a larger group of nouns defined as “invariable” because they
have the same form in the singular and in the plural. In this case, decisive for
the understanding of a sentence or a text is the other parts of speech that
concord morphologically with the noun: namely verbs, adjectives, but above
all the articles.
Day 12: Article 1
Unlike English, in Italian the article is a variable part of speech. It precedes
the noun or the adjective that modifies the noun and its usage is so
widespread that there we virtually use no noun without an article.
The articles differentiate into definite and indefinite ones, as in English, but
in addition to this subdivision, there is also the subdivision into singular and
plural, masculine and feminine. Thus, we have:
Indefinite Articles: Un/ Uno/ Una

We use indefinite articles for people or things that have appeared for the first
time in a text or that we have mentioned for the first time. Alternatively,
when there is no need to specify the things we are talking about.
Since only the singular form exists, they only concord with the gender of the
nouns.
“Uno” comes before masculine nouns beginning with s + consonants, z, x,

gn, pn, ps.
- Uno stagno (a pond)
- Uno gnu (a wildebeest)
- Uno scoiattolo (a squirrel)
- Uno psicologo (a psychologist)
“Un” comes before all the other singular masculine nouns.

- Un giorno (a day)
- Un calendario (a calendar)
- Un albero (a tree)
- Un bambino (a child)
“Una” comes before all the feminine nouns and elides before the ones
beginning with a vowel.
- Un’amica (a girlfriend)
- Una banda (a band)
Day 13: Article 2
Definite Articles: Il, Lo, La / I, Gli, Le

They come before a thing or a person already known to the speaker or to the
listener, or before something that we already mentioned in a text.
It agrees in gender and grammatical number, so it has both singular and

plural forms for the masculine and the feminine.
“Lo” comes before nouns beginning with s + consonants, z, x, gn, pn, ps,
(like for the indefinite article “one”)
- Lo stagno (The pond)
- Lo gnu (the wildebeest)
- Lo scoiattolo (the squirrel)
The “o” is elided before masculine nouns beginning with a vowel. For
example, L’uomo (the man)
Plural > “Gli” > Gli scoiattoli (the squirrels)

Gli stagni (the ponds)
“Il” comes before masculine nouns beginning with all other consonants. > Il
vestito (the dress)
The plural is > “I” > I vestiti (the clothes)
“La” comes before all singular feminine nouns beginning with one or more
consonants, while it becomes “l’” with the “a” elided before all feminine
nouns beginning with a vowel.
- La madre (the mother)
“Le” is the plural of “La”, but the “e” is never elided before a vowel!
- Le madri (the mothers)
Exercise: Complete the sentences with the correct word (name, article,
and verb). Consult a dictionary if needed.
1. Vado al cinema per vedere … nuovo film.
Hint: I’m going to the cinema to see… new film.

2. La sera, leggo sempre … libro per addormentarmi.
Hint: In the evening, I always read … to get to sleep.

3. (Proverbio) … mela al giorno, toglie il medico di torno.
Hint: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

4. Piove! Non … proprio … giornata giusta per uscire.
Hint: It’s raining, it just …. the right day to go out.

5. Purtroppo … telefonino nuovo … ha … fotocamera avanzatissima.
Hint: Unfortunately, … new mobile phone…does not have … innovative

camera.
6. … cani ... i migliori … dell’uomo.
Hint: Dogs … men’s best friends.

Answers to the previous exercise:
1. Il
2. Un
3. Una
4. È/la
5. Il/non/una
6. I/sono/amici
Day 14: Vocabulary: Jobs, Sports, And Athletes
Names Of Jobs
- Dottore > Doctor
- Ragioniere > account manager
- Avvocato > lawyer
- Giudice > judge
- Professore > teacher (high school) or professor (university)
- Contabile > accountant
- Direttore (di un’azienda) > general director (of a company)
- Preside > principal
- Ricercatore > researcher
- Scienziato > scientist
- Cameriere > waiter
- Cuoco > cook
- Infermiere > nurse
- Segretario > secretary
- Tirocinante > trainee or intern
Names Of Sports
- Calcio > football
- Pallavolo > volleyball
- Nuoto > swimming
- Atletica > athletics
- Ciclismo > cycling
- Pallanuoto > water polo
- Pallacanestro > basketball
- Golf > golf
- Rugby > rugby
- Tennis > tennis
- Culturismo > bodybuilding
Athletes Of These Sports
- Calciatore > footballer
- Pallavolista > volleyball player
- Nuotatore > swimmer
- Atleta > athlete
- Ciclista > cyclist
- Pallanuotista > water polo player
- Cestista > basketball player
- Golfista > golfer
- Rugbista > rugby player
- Tennista > tennis player
- Culturista > bodybuilder
Qualifying Adjectives
In Italian, the adjective is a variable part of speech that goes with the noun to
describe its characteristics and quality. Qualifying adjectives can express the
appearance, shape, color of things, but also moral qualities of a person, as the
following underlined words:
- Un cielo blu > a blue sky
- Un ampio giardino > a wide garden
- Una donna intraprendente > an enterprising woman
Qualifying adjectives, like all adjectives, agree with the name to which they
refer as regards gender and grammatical number.
For example, we say un lungo viaggio (a long journey), but una giornata
noiosa (a boring day).
Viaggio, as the ending shows, is a masculine noun; therefore, the ending of

the adjective will be the masculine –o. On the contrary, giornata is a
feminine noun and will need a feminine adjective, with ending in –a.
You will find here the adjectives written like this: lungo/a, in order to
indicate that there is both a masculine and a feminine form for the adjective.
Nevertheless, note that the dictionary shows the qualifying adjectives in their
masculine singular form and then goes on to provide information about their
inflection.
Lungo/a means long, both when talking about distances and length of
something. The adjectives carrying the opposite meanings then will be
corto/a (short) or breve/e (brief, referring to the length). To describe people,
we will say alto/a (tall) or basso/a (short).
Day 16: Adjectives We Use To Describe Things
- Caldo/a > warm or hot
- Freddo/a > cold
- Duro/a > hard
- Morbido/a > soft
- Asciutto/a > dry
- Bagnato/a > wet
- Spazioso/a > wide
- Stretto/a > narrow or cramped
- Pulito/a > clean
- Sporco/a > dirty
- Comodo/a > comfortable
- Scomodo/a > uncomfortable
- Costoso/a > expensive
- Economico/a > cheap
- Interessante/e > interesting
- Noioso/a > boring
- Grande/e > big
- Piccolo/a > small
- Vivace/e > lively
- Deprimente/e > depressing
- Semplice/e > simple
- Complicato/a > complicated
- Facile/e > easy
- Difficile/e > difficult
- Piacevole/e > pleasant
- Sgradevole/e > unpleasant
- Buono/a > good, tasty
Day 17: Adjectives We Use To Describe People
- Intelligente/e > clever
- Stupido/a > silly
- Magro/a > slim
- Grasso/a > fat
- Sportivo/a > sporty
- Pigro/a > lazy
- Felice/e > happy
- Triste/e > sad
- Solare/e > cheerful
- Malinconico/a > gloomy
- Determinato/a > strong-willed
- Indeciso/a > indecisive
- Scuro/a > dark. This word is also used to indicate a person with dark skin
(carnagione scura in Italian)
- Chiaro/a > clear. This word is also used to indicate a person with fair
skin (carnagione chiara in Italian)
The Inflection
According to the inflection, the adjectives are divided into three classes:
Class I: adjectives with masculine singular ending in –o and feminine

singular ending in –a form the plural with the masculine ending –i and
feminine ending –e. For instance: caldo/calda > caldi/calde. Le castagne
crude non sono calde (Raw chestnuts aren’t warm).
Class II: adjectives with both masculine and feminine singular ending in –e
have the plural ending in –i for both grammatical genders. For instance:
dolce/dolce (sweet) > dolci/dolci. Un caffè dolce (a sweet coffee), biscotti
dolci (sweet cookies), but also canzoni dolci (sweet songs).
Class III: adjectives with masculine and feminine singular ending in –a >
masculine plural in –i, feminine plural in –e. For instance: egoista
(masculine) > egoisti; egoista (feminine) > egoiste. Un uomo egoista (a
selfish man), but also gli uomini sono egoisti (men are selfish). For the
feminine: anche le ragazze sono egoiste (girls too are selfish).
There are some exceptions:
Adjectives ending in –co/ca, which have the accent on the syllable before the
last one, form the plural with the ending –chi/–che (for example, the adjective
tired > stanco/stanca > stanchi/stanche). On the other hand, if the accent is
on the second syllable before the last one, the plural ending will be –ci/–che.
For instance, the adjective pathetic > patetico/patetica > patetici/ patetiche.
Adjectives ending in –go/ga have a plural ending in –ghi/–ghe, as in

lungo/lunga > lunghi/lunghe.
The adjectives ending in –io/–ia (with the stress on –i) in the plural become –
ii /–ie, while, if the –i in the singular is not stressed, then the masculine plural
ending will be –i and the feminine plural ending will be either –ie or –e.
For example:
1st case: resti(ì)o/ resti(ì)a > restii/restie (reluctant)
2nd case: saggio/saggia > saggi/sagge (wise)
Finally, some adjectives are invariable, that is, they have the same form both
for the masculine and the feminine and in the singular and in the plural:
Pari (equal/even), dispari (odd) and some colors that are derived from
names, such as rosa (pink), viola (violet) and blu (blue).
Exercise: Complete with the correct form. Look up the adjective in the
dictionary, then complete the sentences.
1. La Luna stasera è …(bright)
2. Il curry è …(spicy)
3. Il pane è …(stale)
4. Il film è … (interesting)
5. Sandra è una persona … (cheerful)

1. Luminosa (Luna is a feminine noun)
2. Piccante (curry is a masculine noun)
3. Stantio (pane is a masculine noun)
4. Interessante (film is a loanword from English which has become a
masculine noun in Italian)
5. Vivace or solare are both valid answers (Sandra is a proper name for
a woman)
The Conjunctions E, O, And Ma

In Italian, conjunctions are invariable parts of speech whose function is to
link two or more elements of a sentence or to connect two sentences.
Suppose we want to point out two features of a thing, we will say:

- La borsa è vecchia e rotta. (The bag is old and broken.)
- La maestra è severa ma giusta. (The teacher is strict but fair.)
- Il nuovo computer è fisso o portatile? (Is the new computer a desktop or
a laptop?)
In the previous sentences, we call the words in bold “coordinating

conjunctions”. Coordinating conjunctions combine elements that have the
same logical function: two adjectives, two nouns or two sentences.
“E” is a copulative conjunction > it combines words and phrases that contain
similar ideas in a positive or even negative way (in this case, we will find “e
non”, that means “and not”).
La borsa è rossa e non rosa. (The bag is red and not pink.)
“O” is a disjunctive conjunction > it separates the elements by exclusion:

either you have a certain quality or you do not have it.
I capelli della mamma sono ricci o lisci? (Is mum’s hair curly or straight?)
“Ma” is an adversative conjunction > it contrasts two words or two

adjectives.
Questi dolci sono brutti ma buoni. (These sweets are ugly looking but tasty.)
Exercise: Among the following sentences, identify the ones that are
wrong and correct them. Use a dictionary to find out what the new
words mean.
1. Il cappello è nuovo ma bello.
2. Le forbici sono grandi e affilate.
3. Gli elefanti sono grandi o grigi.
4. Lavorare è faticoso ma necessario.
5. Fare sport è facoltativo o obbligatorio?

1. Wrong, the two adjectives have the same positive meaning. > nuovo
e bello.
2. Right
3. Wrong, grandi (big) and grigi (grey) are both features belonging to
elephants, so the correct conjunction is e.
4. Right
5. Right
Day 20: The Verb To Have
The main meaning of the verb to have is to own something or to possess a
quality. It is an irregular verb as we change its root when we conjugate it.
Specifically, in the present tense of the indicative mood:
- Io ho (I have)
- Tu hai (you have)
- Egli/ella ha (he/she has)
- Noi abbiamo (we have)
- Voi avete (you have)
- Essi hanno (they have)
Note: remember that the “h” is always silent in Italian and just allows us to
distinguish between two words pronounced the same way, but which
otherwise would also have the same spelling: Hanno > they have and anno >
year.
In addition to the concrete meaning of possessing, as in Anita ha gli occhi blu

(Anita has blue eyes), the verb to have is also used to express a number of
abstract qualities. In English, we often formulate the same expressions with
the verb to be:
- Avere fame > to be hungry
- Avere sete > to be thirsty
- Avere caldo > to be hot
- Avere freddo > to be cold
- Avere sonno > to be sleepy
- Avere da fare > to be busy
- Avere ragione > to be right
- Avere torto > to be wrong
- Avere fretta > to be in a hurry / in a rush
- Avere diciott’anni > to be eighteen
In Italian, we use the verb avere in order to say how old a person is.
Day 21: Numbers
Cardinal Numbers
In Italian, cardinal numbers are:
- Uno > 1
- Due > 2
- Tre > 3
- Quattro > 4
- Cinque > 5
- Sei > 6
- Sette > 7
- Otto > 8
- Nove > 9
- Dieci > 10
- Undici > 11
- Dodici > 12
- Tredici > 13
- Quattordici > 14
- Quindici > 15
- Sedici > 16
- Diciassette > 17
- Diciotto > 18
- Diciannove > 19
- Venti > 20
- Ventuno > 21
- Ventidue > 22
…and so on adding the units up to trenta (30), and again trentuno 31,
trentadue 32, trentatré 33... Quaranta 40, cinquanta 50, sessanta 60, settanta
70, ottanta 80, novanta 90 e cento 100. From here on, we form new numbers
by adding the digits from the largest to the smallest one, like in
centoventicinque > 125 (100 + 20 +5).
Grammatically, the numbers are invariable numeral adjectives, except for the
number uno, which has the feminine una, and mille, which becomes –mila in
compounds, such as duemila (2000).
We write numbers made up of several digits as one word, for example, 53 >
cinquantatré. In the case of a compound number ending in –tre, we always
write it with the acute accent on the final –e. In some expressions, however,
we can write the numbers made up of several digits even separately and
joined by the conjunction e, such as mille e duecento (1200).
Note: we write 21, 28, and all the other multi-digit numbers ending with
either one or eight leaving out the last vowel before the number uno and otto.
For example, ventuno, ventotto, and likewise trentuno and trentotto, and so
forth...
Recap exercise 1: Complete the sentences with the correct word.

1. Il gatto miagola, …. Fame! > the cat is meowing.
2. Il cane ha il pelo nero. … sporco!
3. È tardi, non … sonno?
4. Ho un libro interessante … lungo. Non lo finirò mai! > I will never
get to the end of it!
5. Non puoi comprare la birra, … diciassette anni. > You can’t buy
beer.
6. A casa ho 2 computer*, ma … (1) sola tastiera. > At home/only
* Computer is a loanword in Italian, and as such, we use it as an invariable

noun. Therefore, even though in the previous sentence we were talking about
two computers, we didn’t add the –s of English plural nouns.
Exercise 2: Write the word for each number

1. 21 >
2. 104 >
3. 271 >
4. 888 >
5. 5143 >
6. 6200 >
7. 3067 >
Exercise 3: Write the number for each word

1. Trecentodiciotto >
2. Trentuno >
3. Millenovecentosei >
4. Cinquecento sessantanove >
5. Quattrocentottantaquattro >
6. Duecentonovantasei >
7. Settemilanovecentocinquantuno >

Answers to the previous exercises:
Exercise 1
1. Ha
2. È
3. Hai (avere sonno > to be sleepy)
4. Ma
5. Hai
6. Una
Exercise 2
1. Ventuno
2. Centoquattro
3. Duecentosettantuno
4. Ottocentottantotto
5. Cinquemilacentoquarantatré
6. Seimila e duecento
7. Tremilasessantasette
Exercise 3
1. 318
2. 31
3. 1906
4. 569
5. 484
6. 296
7. 7951
Day 22: Asking Questions: The Interrogative
Pronouns Quanto? And Quale?
In order to ask a question, we use pronouns or adjectives called interrogative.
They vary according to the information we would like to ask for:
Quale? Identical in both masculine and feminine singular, but in the plural
quali? We use this to refer to both people and things when we ask for
information about their quality or identity. We can translate it as “which” or
“what” depending on the context. The singular form is quale: if before a
word that begins with a vowel, undergoes clipping and becomes qual, with no
apostrophe. For example, Qual è il tuo colore preferito? (What is your
favorite color?).
Che has the same meaning and use as quale, but we use it more often in
speaking than in writing. Unlike quale, it is invariable and remains che,
regardless of the gender and the grammatical number of the noun to which it
refers. Be careful that, while as an adjective we can also use it to refer to
people, if we use it as a pronoun, we can only use it in reference to objects.
When asking questions about people, the corresponding pronoun is chi,

which is an invariable pronoun that we can translate as “who” or “whom”
depending on the context.
Quanto (masculine), quanta (feminine) and, respectively, in the plural

quanti/quante, indicates a request for information on the number of people or
objects. For example, Quanti anni hai? (How old are you?).
Heads-Up! Exclamations
In Italian, in order to write an exclamation sentence, we use the same
pronouns and adjectives as for questions, but, instead of a question mark, we
end the sentence with an exclamation mark. Thus, in terms of the structure of
the sentence, it is very easy to make an exclamation, but then the intonation
will be decisive to express moods such as anger, happiness, disappointment,
approval, etc.
Exercise: Complete the sentence with the missing word in the correct
form.
1. … sei alto? 1,87m
2. Marisa: Ho un nuovo profumo. Eleonora: … marca è?
3. Piero: Questa festa è fantastica, … l’ha organizzata?
4. Sono pieno, … ho mangiato!
5. … cosa hai in valigia?
6. La tua libreria è grandissima! … libri hai? Luigi: penso 100!

1. Quanto
2. Quale/che
3. Chi
4. Quanto
5. Che
6. Quanti
Classifying Adjectives
The adjective, expressing the quality and the characteristics of a noun,
expands its meaning. In some cases, the adjective becomes an essential part
of the meaning of the noun. In other words, it distinguishes one thing from
another. We call this function classifying.
- Ho una macchina elettrica. (I have an electric car.) > My car is an

electric one.
- Qual è il tuo cellulare? È quello rosso. (Which is your mobile phone?
The red one.) > My mobile phone is red.
One more way to use the adjective, which helps to avoid repetition, is to use
it as a noun. In fact, if preceded by an article, either definite or indefinite, the
adjective will acquire the function of a noun, thereby making the oral
expression more straightforward and immediate.
Some very common examples are:

- Il rosso è il mio vino preferito. > Il rosso > Il vino rosso (literally: The
red one is my favorite wine.)
- Beccare il rosso > hitting a red light
- Marco e Arianna sono gemelli, ma i due non sono simili. (Marco e
Arianna are twins, but the two are not very similar.)
We use the substantive adjective when we want to express an abstract

concept, for example, il giusto (the right), il falso (the false), il vero (the
true), il bello (the beautiful), or when it indicates the name of the people.
Some adjectives have become actual nouns and continue to be widely used: il
quotidiano (the daily, that is the newspaper that is published every day), il
mensile (the monthly), il settimanale (the weekly), and la Metropolitana,
from la ferrovia Metropolitana (the metropolitan railway).
Day 24: Saying People’s Nationality
The substantive adjective is also the form we use to express people’s
nationality:
Italiano, qualifying adjectives like in lingua italiana > un italiano, a person
from Italy.
Other nationalities include (country > nationality):

- Australia > australiano
- Austria > austriaco
- Algeria > algerino
- Brasile (Brazil) > brasiliano
- Bulgaria > bulgaro
- Croazia (Croatia) > croato
- Cina (China) > cinese
- Giappone (Japan) > giapponese
- Germania (Germany) > tedesco
- India > indiano
- Ucraina (Ukraine) > ucraino
- Polonia (Poland) > polacco
- Russia > russo
- Svezia (Sweden) > svedese
- Regno Unito (United Kingdom) > britannico and inglese from
Inghilterra (England), scozzese from Scozia (Scotland), gallese from
Galles (Wales) and irlandese from Irlanda (Ireland).
Day 25: Quanto?
Quanto (quanto/a – quanti/e) = How much (how much - how many) is used to
ask for information about the quantity. In particular, we use it with certain
verbs:
Costare, misurare or essere alto, lungo, etc., and pesare, conjugated in the
third person singular.
- Quanto pesa una confezione di insalata? (How much does a pack of

salad weigh?)
- Quanto sei alto? (How tall are you?)
- Quanti anni ha il tuo cane? (How old is your dog?)
- Quanto è lunga questa strada? (How long is this road?)
- Quanto costa la torta? (How much does the cake cost?)
- Quanto costa un kilo di pasta fresca? (How much does a kilo of fresh
pasta cost?)
- Quanto misura la nuova nave? (How big is the new ship?)
Note: In order to ask about the distance between two cities or more generally
two points, we use more often Quale than quanto: Qual è la distanza tra
Napoli e Roma? (What is the distance between Naples and Rome?); Qual è la
distanza Terra-Luna? (What is the distance between the Earth and the
Moon?)
Alternatively, we can use the verb distare: Quanto dista Napoli da Roma?
(How far is Naples from Rome?); Quanto dista la Luna dalla Terra? (How
far is the Moon from Earth?). This is, however, a more formal use.
In Italian, the units of measurement to indicate the quantities are:
Length/Distance > metro, which has submultiples: decimetro, centimetro,

millimetro, and multiples: kilometro, that is 1000 meters, is the most widely
used for distances between places and cities.
Weight > grammo, kilo/kg (1000 grams) quintale (100 kg), tonnellata (1000
kg)
Price > In Italian, the name of the currency is Euro (which, unlike English,
stays the same in both the singular and the plural). Sterling pound becomes
Sterlina, female noun (in the plural Sterline) and US dollar is simply Dollaro
(masculine, in the plural Dollari). Then, there is the Franco (in the plural
Franchi) for the Swiss currency and lo Yen (Japanese currency), which is
masculine, but in the plural Yen stays the same.
Day 26: Demonstratives
Demonstrative Adjectives And Pronouns

Demonstratives are adjectives and pronouns that define the noun to which
they refer, by expressing the position in space and time with respect to the
speaker or to the listener. They all vary in gender and grammatical number.
Questo/questa (This), questi/queste (These): indicates something that is

close to the speaker, either in space or in time: Questo libro (This book),
questo piatto (this dish), questa mattina (this morning). The singular forms
questo/questa, when the noun that follows begins with a vowel, have their
last vowel elided: for example, quest’albero (this tree, instead of questo
albero), quest’autostrada (this highway, instead of questa autostrada).
In colloquial language, the use of abbreviated forms sto/sta, sti/ste is very

common: Quanto sono stanco stamattina! (How tired I am this morning!),
Sta cosa è impossibile! (This is impossible!).
Quello/quella (That), quei-quegli/quelle (Those): indicates something that is

far from both the speaker and the listener, either in space or in time. Quella
montagna è alta 3000 metri. (That mountain is 3000 meters high.). Quel
momento è indimenticabile. (That moment is unforgettable.)
As for questo/a, in the singular masculine and feminine form, when the
following noun begins with by a vowel, we leave out the last syllable >
quell’albero, quell’autostrada.
The singular masculine form quel is used before all the nouns that require the
definite article il. We use the singular masculine form quello in front of all
the nouns that require the definite article lo. Quegli, masculine and plural
form, is used before all those names that require the definite article gli.
Codesto/codesta, codesti/codeste: this demonstrative indicates something that
is close to the listener but far from the speaker. There is no direct equivalent
in English, but even in Italian today its use is very limited in both written and
spoken language. Nowadays, we use it only in a very formal style, such as in
legal texts. For example, (as a formula addressed to an office to make a
request) Prego codesto ufficio di... Which roughly translates as “I entreat this
office to...”
As for pronouns, demonstratives have the same form and meaning as

adjectives, but we use them without the noun to which they refer.
Some typical expressions:

- Stamattina/stasera/stanotte (This morning/this evening/tonight) > when
we refer to times of the day.
- In quel momento: then, at that moment.
- A questo punto: by now, at this point.
Day 27: Pronouns
Subject And Object Pronouns

The pronoun is the variable part of speech we use as a substitute for a noun,
adjective, another pronoun or a whole sentence. This function is fundamental
both in written and oral communication because it allows avoiding
monotonous and redundant repetitions, making the communication more
streamlined and effective.
Personal pronouns indicate the one who speaks (io/noi, or first person
singular/plural); the person to whom we speak (tu/voi, second person
singular/plural); the person or animal or thing we speak about (egli, ella,
essa, esso, essi, esse - third person singular/plural).
Personal pronouns vary in grammatical number and for the third person in
gender as well and can have the function of both subject and complement
(object pronouns).
Subject Pronoun > Object Pronoun

- Io > Me, mi
- Tu > Te, ti
- Egli, Lei, esso > Lui, gli, sé
- Ella, Lei, essa > Lei, le, sé
- Noi > Noi, ci
- Voi > Voi, vi
- Essi, esse, Loro > Essi, esse, loro, sé
The use of the subject personal pronouns is rather limited for the first and
second person, io and tu, as the endings of the verbs clearly indicate who
performs the action. We use them, instead, when we want to give them a
particular emphasis.
On the contrary, the pronoun of the third person has more widespread use as
subject: the masculine one egli (or lui, colloquially) refers to people, esso
refers to animals or things. As for the feminine, Ella or lei (more colloquial)
if we are talking about people, essa if we are referring to animals or things. In
the plural, essi is masculine and esse is feminine. Loro is invariable and we
use it both as a masculine and as a feminine pronoun.
Exercise: What kind of adjective/ pronoun is…?

1. Quanto
2. Chi
3. Loro
4. Sé
5. Quale
6. Che
7. Voi

1. Interrogative adjective or pronoun
2. Interrogative pronoun
3. 3rd person plural object pronoun
4. 3rd person singular object pronoun
5. Interrogative pronoun
6. Interrogative pronoun, colloquial form for quale
7. 2nd person plural subject pronoun
Day 28: Possessive Adjectives
Possessive adjectives indicate who a thing, an animal, also a thought, or a
feeling belong to. These adjectives are in agreement with the gender and the
grammatical number of the thing they specify the possession of but are also
closely related to the personal pronouns. In fact, the adjectives (and
possessive pronouns as well) also express the first, second and third singular
and plural person.
All possessive adjectives are variable in gender and number according to the
inflection of first class of the qualifying adjectives (–o/–a; –i/–e), except for
the possessive adjective of 3rd person plural, loro, which is invariable.
The possessive adjectives are in six forms, three with reference to the three
singular personal pronouns, plus three with reference to the three plural ones.
Mio/mia, miei/mie (my): it refers to the first singular person (Io) and
indicates that the owner is the one who is speaking > Il mio quaderno (my
notebook).
Tuo/tua, tuoi/tue (your): it refers to the second singular person (tu) and
indicates that the possessor is the one to whom we are speaking > Il tuo
lavoro (your job).
Suo/sua, suoi/sue (his/her/its): it refers to the third singular person (egli or

ella) and indicates that the possessor is the one we are talking about > suo
figlio (his or her son).
Nostro/nostra, nostri/nostre (our): it refers to the first plural person (noi)

and indicates that the owners are those who are speaking > I nostri biglietti
(our tickets).
Vostro/vostra, vostri/vostre (yours): it refers to the second plural person (voi)
and indicates that the owners are those to whom we are speaking > I vostri
bagagli (your luggage).
Loro (their): it refers to the third plural person (essi) and indicates that the
possessors are the ones we are talking about > Oggi è il loro giorno libero.
(today is their day off.)
An article, which can be either definite or indefinite, usually precedes

possessive adjectives, except in some cases:
- When the possessive adjective is in agreement with a singular noun that
indicates kinship: mio fratello, mia sorella, mia madre, mio padre (my
brother, my sister, my mother, my father).
- When the possessive adjective comes after the noun: il libro nostro,
l’opinione nostra (his book, our opinion).
Moreover, we can leave out possessive adjectives if the context of the

sentence already explicitly shows who the owner is: Dopo il lavoro, vado
immediatamente a casa. > a casa mia (After work, I go home immediately. >
that is, to my home).
Exercise: Correct the following sentences:

1. La mia cane è un Doberman
2. Hai un mouse nuovo? La sua è vecchio
3. La mia bottiglia è sporca. Ne hai un pulita?
4. Il vostro macchina è molto comoda.
5. Il nostro obiettivo è diverso dal vostra.

1. Il mio cane > cane is a masculine noun
2. Il suo > mouse is an English loanword but in Italian is a masculine
noun
3. Una >bottiglia is a feminine noun
4. La vostra > macchina is feminine (car)
5. Dal vostro > it refers to “obiettivo”, a masculine noun
Day 29: Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns are the same as adjectives in form, the only difference
being that a definite article always precedes them.
- Il tuo motorino è rumoroso, il mio, invece, è silenzioso. (Your scooter is

noisy, while mine is quiet.)
- Ho già un paio di occhiali da sole, ma i vostri sono molto belli. (I
already have a pair of sunglasses, but yours are very nice – in a shop, for
example).
- Il mio computer è vecchio ma funzionante. Il tuo è nuovo ma lento. (My
computer is old but working. Yours is new but slow.)
Heads-Up!
When speaking, sometimes we use the possessive adjectives as nouns. That
is, they stand for nouns that are left out because they are easily recognizable
from the context. This occurs in some expressions, such as i miei, in place of
i miei genitori (my parents).
Another time this happens is when we leave out the word opinione (opinion)
from the expression la mia/tua/sua/nostra/vostra/loro opinione, for example,
“Dite la vostra” (Say your opinion).
Day 30: What Time Is It?
Che Ore Sono?

In Italian, to say the time, we use the feminine definite article and the
numerals: l’una, le due, le tre, as abbreviations of “l’ora una, le ore due, le
ore tre” etc.
Unlike English, we can use either a cardinal number up to twenty-four, or get

to twelve and start again from one.
Le quattordici e venti or le due e venti del pomeriggio (2.20 p.m.)
We do not say a.m. or p.m., but instead, we divide the clock into four parts by
six hours each:
- From 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. > le sei, le sette and so forth di mattina
- From 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. > l’una, le due and so forth di pomeriggio
- From 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. > le sei, le sette and so forth di sera
- From 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. > l’una, le due and so forth di notte
Le dodici della mattina is also mezzogiorno (midday), while le dodici di notte

is also mezzanotte (midnight).
To express the minutes, we will say the numerals for the hours and for the
minutes united by the conjunction e.
However:
- After fifteen minutes we will say e quindici or e un quarto;
- After thirty minutes we will say e mezza or e trenta;
- From 20 minutes to the next hour, we will say meno and venti (twenty
to…), un quarto (a quarter to), dieci (ten to…), cinque (five to...)
The right question to ask for the time in Italian is Che ore sono? (But also,
che ora è?).
Exercise 1: Write the word that matches the time shown in the numbers
below.
1. 14.35
2. 7.45
3. 8.15
4. 9.30
5. 17.00
6. 20.25
7. 19.55
8. 21.00
9. 22.50
10. 12.00
11. 10.40
Exercise 2: Write the corresponding numbers for the words below:

1. L’una e venti della notte >
2. Le tre e diciotto del pomeriggio >
3. Le sei meno un quarto della sera >
4. Le undici e mezza della mattina >
5. Mezzogiorno e trentacinque >
6. Le diciannove e dieci >
7. Le ventidue >
8. Mezzanotte >
9. Le sette e un quarto di mattina >

Exercise 1:
1. Le due e trentacinque del pomeriggio or le quattordici e trentacinque
2. Le otto meno un quarto or le sette e quarantacinque
3. Le otto e un quarto
4. Le nove e mezza or le nove e trenta
5. Le cinque del pomeriggio
6. Le venti e venticinque or le otto e venticinque di sera
7. Le otto meno cinque di sera
8. Le ventuno or le nove di sera
9. Le undici meno dieci di sera
10. Mezzogiorno
11. Le undici meno venti di mattina or le dieci e quaranta
Exercise 2:
1. 1.20
2. 15.18
3. 17.45
4. 11.30
5. 12.35
6. 19.10
7. 22.00
8. 24.00
9. 7.15
Day 31: The Verb
In Italian, the verb is the variable part of speech that conveys information
about the actions involving the grammatical subject of the sentence, and that
specifies the period during which they occur and in which manner.
Among the variable parts of speech, the verb is the one that undergoes the
largest number of structural changes, being the one that inflects the most. The
verbal root, in fact, expands with the thematic vowel, which indicates the
conjugation, and with the ending, which indicates the grammatical person
and number (singular or plural). Furthermore, we can find suffixes between
the root and the ending to indicate the tense (past, present, and future) and
mood.
With reference to the thematic vowel, namely the typical vowel that separates
the root from the endings, we can define three verbal conjugations:
- First conjugation: thematic vowel –a > infinitive –are (nuotare > to
swim)
- Second conjugation: thematic vowel –e > infinitive –ere (vedere > to see)
- Third conjugation: thematic vowel –i > infinitive –ire (sentire > to hear)
In Italian, the infinitive is one of three non-finite moods, along with the
participle and the gerund. These moods do not use different forms in
accordance with the grammatical subject; therefore, they do not conjugate.
However, the participle mood is in concord with the noun to which it refers
as regards the grammatical gender and number: una relazione
scritta/relazioni scritte (a written relation/written relations).
In the other moods, called finite moods (indicative, conjunctive, conditional

and imperative), the verb has different forms according to the mood, the tense
and the grammatical person.
Nevertheless, within the framework of the different conjugations, the

behavior of the verbs, as far as inflection is concerned, is generally
consistent: all you need to do, therefore, is to observe a verbal pattern to
know and identify the whole conjugation.
Day 32: The Present Indicative
The verbal mood we use when we talk about objective actions and describe
things, people or situations is Indicative. In the present tense:
First conjugation: nuotare (to swim)

- Io nuoto
- Tu nuoti
- Egli/ella nuota
- Noi nuotiamo
- Voi nuotate
- Essi nuotano
Second conjugation: vedere (to see)

- Io vedo
- Tu vedi
- Egli/ella vede
- Noi vediamo
- Voi vedete
- Essi vedono
Third conjugation: sentire (to hear)

- Io sento
- Tu senti
- Egli/ella sente
- Noi sentiamo
- Voi sentite
- Essi sentono
Day 33: Irregular Indicative
A number of verbs are irregular, that is, they have a different inflection from
the one of conjugation to which they belong in certain moods and tenses.
They include andare (to go), bere (to drink), dare (to give), uscire (to go out)
and venire (to come). In the present indicative:
Andare
- Io vado
- Tu vai
- Egli/Ella va
- Noi andiamo
- Voi andate
- Essi vanno
Bere
- Io bevo
- Tu bevi
- Egli/Ella beve
- Noi beviamo
- Voi bevete
- Essi bevono
Dare
- Io do
- Tu dai
- Egli/Ella dà
- Noi diamo
- Voi date
- Essi danno
Uscire
- Io esco
- Tu esci
- Egli/Ella esce
- Noi usciamo
- Voi uscite
- Essi escono
Venire
- Io vengo
- Tu vieni
- Egli/Ella viene
- Noi veniamo
- Voi venite
- Essi vengono
Day 34: Prepositions
In Italian, prepositions are the part of speech that comes before another
element of the sentence, whether a name, a pronoun, an adjective or a verb in
the infinitive, an adverb, and so on, in order to connect it to or put it in
relation with another element of the sentence.
While in Italian there are various words that act as prepositions, nine words
only have this function and from these nine we construct the others: di, a, da,
in, con, su, per, tra, fra.
They are monosyllabic and invariable; thus, they remain the same in front of
other parts of speech, regardless of whether they are masculine, feminine,
singular or plural.
Di > it refers to the idea of specification, as regards the possession, the

material and/or the quality a person or something has. For example, I capelli
di Marzia sono biondi. (Marzia’s hair is blond.) Gli esami di matematica
sono difficili. (Math exams are difficult.)
A > it allows setting the result of an action in time and space, in terms of state
and motion. Sono a casa. (I am at home.), a lavoro (at work).
Da > it carries the idea of provenance and departure. Vengo da Roma, dalla
campagna, dalla città. (I come from Rome, from the countryside, from the
city.)
In > it shows the collocation in time and space conveying the idea of state or
motion: Sto in casa tutto il giorno. (I stay at home all day long.) Questo
pomeriggio sono in ufficio. (This afternoon I am in the office.)
Con > it shows conjunction, with respect to the idea of union, means, and
manner: Marta e Michela sono alla festa con amici. (Marta and Michela are
at the party with friends.)
Su > it places something in space and time, with the idea of state or motion:
Il gatto è su un divano. (The cat is on a sofa.)
Per > it indicates passage through space and time, as well as means and
purpose: Una guerra per la pace (A war for peace) Una ricerca per una tesi
di dottorato (A research for a doctoral thesis).
Tra and fra define an intermediate position in space and time: Le valli tra il
mare e le montagne sono verde smeraldo. (The valleys between the sea and
the mountains are emerald green.)
Day 35: Typical Expressions That Use Prepositions
A che ora? > At what time? We use it to ask the hour at which a certain
action takes place.
Di dove sei/ da dove vieni? > Where are you from? > used to ask where
somebody comes from.
Adverbs + Prepositions:
- Insieme con or Insieme a > together with
- Avanti/davanti a > before something
- Di fronte a > in front of
- Accanto a > next to
- Attorno/intorno > around …
- Dietro a/di > behind
- Fuori di > out of
- Dentro a > inside
- Lontano da > far from
- Vicino a > near
- Secondo … > according to …
Day 36: Use Of The Present Indicative
The present tense indicates a state or an action occurring or true at the time of
enunciation.
- Giada vive a Milano. > Jade lives in Milan.

- Finisco I compiti e poi scendo. > I finish my homework and then I’m off.
In the last sentence, we have two present indicatives: the first, “finisco”, tells
us that the one who performs the action is the one who speaks and that now is
completing his or her homework. The second verb, “scendo”, preceded by “e
poi”, which means “then”, refers to an event which has not yet taken place,
but which will take place shortly. Talking about the near future is another
function of the present, which we use above all when speaking.
The present indicative can also express a habitual action occurring over a
period:
Marco trascorre le vacanze in Sicilia. > Marco spends his holidays in Sicily.
In particular, we use the following adverbs to talk about habitual actions:

sempre (always), di solito or solitamente (usually), spesso (often), qualche
volta or talvolta (sometimes), raramente, (rarely), mai (never). It is also
possible to add a nuance reinforcing or softening the meaning of these
adverbs by putting molto before spesso or raramente and quasi before sempre
or mai.
- Molto spesso a casa da solo mi annoio. > Very often at home alone, I get
bored.
- Il sabato sera esco quasi sempre. > I go out most nights on Saturdays.
- Non bevo quasi mai birra o alcolici. > I hardly ever drink beer or spirits.
- Pranzo quasi sempre all’una di pomeriggio. > I usually have lunch at
one o’clock in the afternoon.
Day 37: Days And Months > Dates
In Italian, the names of the days of the week are:
- Lunedì > Monday
- Martedì > Tuesday
- Mercoledì > Wednesday
- Giovedì > Thursday
- Venerdì > Friday
- Sabato > Saturday
- Domenica > Sunday
The names of the months are:

- Gennaio > January
- Febbraio > February
- Marzo > March
- Aprile > April
- Maggio > May
- Giugno > June
- Luglio > July
- Agosto > August
- Settembre > September
- Ottobre > October
- Novembre > November
- Dicembre > December
The four seasons are:

- Autunno > autumn
- Inverno > winter
- Primavera > spring
- Estate >summer
In order to say that we are in a particular season, we will use the preposition
in > in autunno / in inverno.
When we want to say the date, we will say:
Il 25 (venticinque) di maggio > the 25th of May
However, for the first day of a month, we will use the ordinal number,
exactly like in English:
> il primo Aprile (the 1st of April)
Day 38: The Present Tense For Scientific And
Historical Facts
We use the present tense to describe objective and always valid facts and
situations, such as scientific laws and truths:
- Il Po sfocia nel mar Adriatico. > the Po flows into the Adriatic Sea.
- La luce viaggia a 299 792 458 m/s. > Light travels at 299 792 458 m/s.
We can also use the present tense to talk about a past event as a way of
making the event more remarkable:
- L’Italia raggiunge la sua unità e indipendenza nel 1861. > Italy reached
its unity and independence in 1861.
- Dante nasce a Firenze nel 1265. > Dante was born in Florence in 1265.
Exercise: complete the sentences with the correct form of the following
verbs:
Parlare, sembrare, uscire, mangiare, guidare, bere
1. Alessandra è pigra, non … quasi mai!

2. Gerardo … inglese molto bene, … un madrelingua.
3. Nicola e Stefano non …. gli spiedini di pollo, sono vegetariani.
4. Stasera … Maria, e non … alcool.
5. La mattina, io e mia moglie … sempre un caffè

1. Esce
2. Parla, sembra
3. Mangiano
4. Guida, beve
5. Beviamo
Day 39: Verbs For Sports, School, Business And
Free Time
Sports
- Giocare > to play a match
- Nuotare > to swim
- Praticare (uno sport) > to play a sport on a regular basis
- Scalare (una montagna) > to climb (a mountain)
- Arbitrare > (to referee)
- Correre > to run /to do jogging (it is also possible to say fare jogging)
- Andare in bici > to ride a bike > cycle/to do cycling
- Partecipare > to take part in
- Competere > to race for/against
School
- Studiare > to study
- Leggere (un libro) > to read (a book)
- Scrivere (un saggio) > to write (an essay)
- Frequentare (un corso/un seminario) > to attend (a class, a seminar)
- Fare (una ricerca, i compiti) > to do (a research, homework)
- Dare (un esame) > to do an exam
- Discutere (la tesi) > to discuss a thesis
Business
- Fare (un viaggio di lavoro) > to go on a business trip
- Fare (una riunione) > to have a meeting
- Seguire (un corso di aggiornamento) > to take a refresher course
- Assumere > to hire
- Fare un tirocinio > to take part in an internship
- Dare (le dimissioni) > to hand in one’s notice
- Ricevere (una promozione) > to get a promotion
Day 40: Talking About Ongoing Actions: The
Gerund
The gerund mood conveys the meaning of the verb while linking it to the
information of another finite mood verb; it therefore expands and more
accurately defines the meaning of another verb.
Grammatically, it is a non-finite mood, which, therefore, does not change in

terms of grammatical gender and number. We form the gerund by adding the
ending –ndo to the thematic vowel of the verb. For the third conjugation,
however, the thematic vowel changes to –e, like for the second conjugation.
- 1st conjugation: nuotare > nuotando

- 2nd conjugation: vedere > vedendo
- 3rd conjugation: sentire > sentendo
In Italian, the gerund has a different function from the one of the English
gerund, and it corresponds, rather, to the English present participle. It is not
possible, in fact, to use it as a name, but we can use it in a very similar way to
what happens with the –ing progressive form. The gerund verb that follows
the verb stare indicates that the action expressed by the verb is currently
developing > Cosa stai facendo? (What are you doing?)
For example, if we want to say that at this moment Serena is watching TV,
we will say: Serena sta guardando la tv > Sta is the third singular person of
the present indicative of the verb stare and guardando is the present gerund
of the verb guardare, which, as the thematic vowel shows, is part of the 1st
conjugation. The present tense, on the other hand, tells us that the action is
contemporary to when we speak.
The verb stare:

- Io sto
- Tu stai
- Egli/ella sta
- Noi stiamo
- Voi state
- Essi stanno
Exercise 1: Write the gerund mood of the following verbs:

1. Mangiare >
2. Ridere >
3. Vivere >
4. Essere >
5. Avere >
6. Leggere >
7. Studiare >
8. Uscire >
9. Andare >
Exercise 2: Read the following sentences and correct the ones that are
wrong.
1. Marco sta andando in palestra ogni giorno > hint: ogni giorno >
everyday
2. A: Cosa sta facendo tua sorella?
B: Letizia ascolta musica nella sua stanza.

3. A: Leggi mai il giornale?
B: Lo sto leggendo ogni mattina.

Exercise 1:
1. Mangiando
2. Ridendo
3. Vivendo
4. Essendo
5. Avendo
6. Leggendo
7. Studiando
8. Uscendo
9. Andando
Exercise 2:
1. Marco va in palestra ogni giorno > not “sta andando”, because it is
a habitual action.
2. Ascolta, which is the present indicative, is not wrong, but sta

ascoltando is more appropriate.
In Italian, we use the present simple indicative also when we talk about
actions that are happening at the time of speaking, while the form stare +
gerund emphasizes the condition of progression of action.
3. Lo leggo instead of lo sto leggendo because it is a habitual action.

Day 41: Prepositions + Articles > Articulated
Prepositions
Some prepositions before definite articles merge and form new prepositions,
defined “articulated”, that convey both the meaning of the prepositions
themselves and that of the definite articles, that is, to indicate something that
we have already mentioned before or a specific element.
Formed in this way, the new articulated prepositions are, in fact, variable and
have different forms depending on whether the word they precede is
masculine, feminine, singular or plural.
Di + articles becomes:
- Di + il > Del
- Di + lo/la > Dello/a
- Di + l’ > Dell’
- Di + i > Dei
- Di + gli > Degli
- Di + le > Delle
A + articles becomes:
- A + il > Al
- A + lo/la > Allo/alla
- A + l’ > All’
- A + i > Ai
- A + gli > Agli
- A + le > Alle
Da + articles becomes:
- Da + l >Dal
- Da + lo/la > Dallo/dalla
- Da + l’ > Dall’
- Da + i > Dai
- Da + gli > Dagli
- Da + le > Dalle
In + articles becomes:
- In + il >nel
- In + lo/la > nello/nella
- In + l’> nell’
- In + i > nei
- In + gli > negli
- In + le > nelle
Su + articles becomes:
- Su + il > sul
- Su + lo/la > sullo/sulla
- Su + l’> sull’
- Su + i > sui
- Su + gli > sugli
- Su + le > sulle
The other prepositions, in the present-day Italian, even when there is a

definite article following them, remain distinct.
Exercise: Complete the following sentences and correct the underlined

prepositions.
1. Il gatto è saltato su il ramo … un albero.
2. … estate, vado sempre a il mare.
3. Susanna viene … Roma.

1. Sul, di
2. In (estate), al
3. a
Day 42: Talking About The Past: Actions That
Have Taken Place In A Recent Past
In Italian, we use different verbal tenses when talking about events that
happened in the past, depending on their distance from the present and on the
time relations between them.
The verbal tense that we use when we want to talk about a fairly recent event
or even about events that happened a long time ago, but which are still
relevant to the present, is the Passato prossimo (literally near past) of the
indicative mood.
The Passato prossimo is a compound verb: we form the compound verbs

with an auxiliary, that is, the verb essere (if the verb is intransitive) or avere
(if the verb is transitive) and the past participle of the verb. Therefore, we
form the Passato prossimo with the present indicative of the auxiliary (essere
or avere) and the past participle of the verb expressing the action we are
describing.
Transitive verb sentire:

- Io ho sentito
- Tu hai sentito
- Egli/ella ha sentito
- Noi abbiamo sentito
- Voi avete sentito
- Essi hanno sentito
Intransitive verb andare:

- Io sono andato
- Tu sei andato
- Egli/ella è andato/a
- Noi siamo andati
- Voi siete andati
- Essi sono andati
In Italian, the past participle, when used with the verb to be, is in agreement
with the noun or pronoun to which it refers as regards the grammatical gender
and number. In fact, it assumes the same behavior as an adjective, even
though it is a verbal form.
As you can see from the conjugations above, the endings of the third person
singular change according to the masculine or feminine gender
(“andato/andata”), and the endings of the plural persons are different from
those of the singular (“andati”).
Day 43: Past Participle
For all verbs, we create the past participle by adding to the thematic vowel
the suffix –to, except for the verbs of the second conjugation, that replace the
thematic vowel –e with the vowel –u:
- Nuotare > nuotato
- Volere > voluto
- Sentire > sentito
- Ieri, ho sentito il nuovo CD di Beethoven. > Yesterday I listened to the

new Beethoven’s CD.
- Non ho sentito il terremoto l’altro ieri. > I didn’t feel the earthquake the
day before yesterday.
- Hai già fatto colazione? > Have you already had breakfast?
False Friends: Passato Prossimo And Present Perfect

Although the passato prossimo and the present perfect are similar in the
construction, you may have noticed from the previous sentences that, in
Italian, we use with the passato prossimo also adverbs of time that in English
require exclusively the past simple, such as ieri (yesterday). In fact, what is
decisive in Italian is not the adverb of time, but rather the perception that the
event of the past is still close or relevant to us when we tell about it; in other
words, the perception that it still has some effects on the present.
Exercise: Complete the sentences with the verb in the correct form:
vendere (to sell), guadagnare (to earn), essere (to be), avere (to have),
giocare (to play), partecipare (to participate), fare (to do), comprare (to buy)
1. Ho…. 200 bottiglie di vino, e ho …. 30.000€

2. Hai … al nuovo videogioco?
3. Alla festa, abbiamo … in 15, ma non abbiamo … rumore.
4. …. andato a fare shopping, ma … … cose inutili.

1. Venduto, guadagnato
2. Giocato
3. Partecipato, fatto
4. Sono, ho comprato
Day 44: Verbs With An Irregular Past Participle
A large number of Italian verbs, especially from the second conjugation, have
an irregular past participle, which, instead of simply changing the thematic
vowel with the –u, consists of completely different forms.
Let’s see some of these verbs:

- Apparire (to appear) > apparso
- Scomparire (to disappear) > scomparso
- Aprire (to open) > aperto
- Assumere (to hire) > assunto
- Bere (to drink) > bevuto
- Chiedere (to ask) > chiesto
- Chiudere (to close) > chiuso
- Produrre, introdurre (to make, to put in) > prodotto, introdotto
- Conoscere (to know) > conosciuto
- Crescere (to grow) > cresciuto
- Costruire (to build) > costruito
- Cuocere (to cook) > cotto
- Discutere (to discuss) > discusso
- Fare (to do or to make) > fatto
- Dipingere (to draw) > dipinto
- Leggere (to read) > letto
- Mettere (to put) > messo
- Perdere (to lose) > perso o perduto
- Prendere (to take) > preso
- Scrivere (to write) > scritto
Exercise: Can you write the infinitive form of the past participles
underlined in the sentences below?
1. Sullo schermo è apparso un messaggio di errore.
2. Non trovo le chiavi, sono scomparse.
3. Ho aperto la porta e il gatto è scappato.
4. Lina è contenta, l’azienda l’ha assunta!
5. Alla festa di Matteo non abbiamo bevuto nulla.
6. Mamma ha chiesto a papà cosa ha cucinato a pranzo.
7. Non ho chiuso la porta e il gatto è scappato.
8. Quanto sono cresciuti i tuoi figli!

1. Apparire
2. Scomparire
3. Aprire, scappare
4. Assumere
5. Bere
6. Chiedere, cucinare
7. Chiudere
8. Crescere
Day 45: Talking About The Past: Continuous
Actions
In Italian, to talk about a past and lasting action, showing it in its
development, we use the “imperfect” tense of the indicative mood.
Depending on the grammatical person, we form the imperfect tense by
adding the endings –vo, –vi, –va, –vamo, –vate, –vano to the thematic vowel:
- For the first conjugation: nuotare > nuotavo, nuotavi, nuotava,

nuotavamo, nuotavate, nuotavano.
- For the second conjugation: vedere > vedevo, vedevi, vedeva, vedevamo,
vedevate, vedevano.
- For the third conjugation: sentire > sentivo, sentivi, sentiva, sentivamo,
sentivate, sentivano.
For its function, we use the imperfect mainly:

- As a narrative tense > for example, at the beginning of fairy tales in the
typical introductory formula C’era una volta (once upon a time)
- As a descriptive past tense (storytelling): la città era pulita e luminosa, le
strade larghe e i palazzi bassi… (the city was clean and bright, the streets
wide and the buildings low...).
- To express a habitual action in the past: due anni fa, uscivo ogni fine
settimana. (two years ago, I went out every weekend).
Exercise: Turn the following sentences to the past converting the present
tense into the imperfect one:
1. Non è la prima volta.
2. Marta dorme sul divano.
3. Corrado ha la febbre.
4. Emanuela sta scrivendo la sua tesi di laurea.
5. La biblioteca non è piccola, ma ha libri ovunque e sembra stretta.
6. Gino vede un film e subito si addormenta.
1. È > era
2. Dorme > dormiva
3. Ha > aveva
4. Sta > stava
5. È > era, ha > aveva, sembra > sembrava
6. Vede > vedeva // (si) addormenta could also be in the passato
prossimo, (si) è addormentato, since it is more an instantaneous
action than a progressive one.
Addition And Clarification

Conjunctions allow us to combine two elements of the sentence in a specific
logical order. The ability to recognize and use them is, therefore, important if
you want to learn how to use a language as effectively as possible since it
will help you to express yourself clearly and avoid repetitions that could
make it difficult for others to understand you.
Depending on the logical function they indicate, the conjunctions may be:
Conjunctions of addition: their function is to add an element or a concept to

another > anche and inoltre are the most common:
- Ho mangiato un gelato e anche i biscotti. > I ate an ice cream and also
the biscuits.
- Ho pulito la mia camera e, inoltre, ho fatto la lavatrice. > I cleaned my
room and, besides, I did the washing machine.
Conjunctions of restatement: we use these conjunctions to introduce

explanations and clarifications on previous words or phrases: cioè (that is),
ossia or ovvero (namely), infatti (in fact):
- Teresa parla il persiano, cioè la lingua dell’Iran. > Teresa speaks
Persian, that is, the language of Iran.
- Seguo una dieta ferrea. Infatti, non sto mangiando pane e pasta.> I
follow a strict diet. Indeed, I am not eating pasta and bread.
Cause And Correlation

Conjunctions of cause indicate that there is a consequential relationship
between two sentences or they introduce the conclusion of reasoning: perciò
(therefore, for this reason), pertanto (therefore, as a result), quindi (so,
consequently):
- Ho finito di lavorare, quindi vado in palestra.> I have finished working,
so I’ll go to the gym.
- Mirko ha superato l’esame di maturità, perciò ha preso il diploma. >
Mirko has passed his high school graduation exam, therefore he has
received his diploma.
Finally, conjunctions can have a correlative function, that is, to put two
elements of a sentence or two sentences in relation to each other. For
example, e...e, o...o, or sia...sia with a positive meaning and né...né with a
negative meaning:
- Simone ha sia un computer fisso che un portatile.> Simone has both a
desktop computer and a laptop.
- Massimo è disoccupato: non va né a scuola né a lavoro. > Massimo is
unemployed: he goes neither to school nor to work.
Note that when the intransitive verb requires a preposition, we will have to
write the latter after the conjunction.
Exercise: Add the right conjunctions.

1. Antonella e Domenico in estate restano in città: non vanno … al
mare … in montagna.
2. Irene non ha l’auto, va a lavoro … in autobus … in metro.
3. Io e Sergio non abbiamo superato l’esame, … stiamo studiando di
nuovo
4. Sono iscritto al corso di traduzione specialistica, … traduzione di
testi di argomenti specifici.
5. Maria e Anna sono amiche d’infanzia e sono …. andate
all’università insieme.

1. Né, né
2. O, o
3. Quindi (or perciò, pertanto)
4. Cioè (or ovvero, ossia)
5. Anche
Day 48: The Subjunctive Mood
In Italian, the subjunctive mood or congiuntivo is clearly distinct from the
indicative mood as regards both form and function: while, in fact, the
indicative expresses objectivity and we use it in order to describe places and
tell facts, the subjunctive mood is the mood of subjectivity, of possibility, of
doubt and of uncertainty.
A verb in the subjunctive is required in all the situations in which we want to

express in particular the point of view of someone.
For the three different conjugations, we form the present subjunctive by

putting che before the following forms (the typical ending is underlined):
1st conjugation: nuotare

- Che io nuoti
- Che tu nuoti
- Che egli/ella nuoti
- Che noi nuotiamo
- Che voi nuotiate
- Che essi nuotino
2nd conjugation: vedere

- Che io veda
- Che tu veda
- Che egli/ella veda
- Che noi vediamo
- Che voi vediate
- Che essi vedano
3rd conjugation: sentire

- Che io senta
- Che tu senta
- Che egli/ella senta
- Che noi sentiamo
- Che voi sentiate
- Che essi sentano
“Che” is a conjunction we add after verbs such as: pensare (to think), credere
(to believe), sembrare (to seem), sostenere (to maintain), aspettare (to
expect), desiderare (to wish), chiedere and richiedere (to ask), dubitare (to
doubt), preferire (to prefer), and volere (to want) and before the subjunctive
mood in order to introduce various kinds of subordinate clauses in which we
express:
A desire:
- Preferisco che la bistecca sia ben cotta. (I prefer the steak to be well
done).
A personal opinion, doubt or the way something appears to be:

- Sembra che il progetto sia finite. (It seems that the project is over).
Day 49: Irregular Subjunctive
As it is the case with the other moods and tenses, a number of verbs are
atypical, in fact they do not follow the same pattern as the other verbs when
forming the subjunctive present. The most important ones are:
The verb essere (to be):

- Che io sia
- Che tu sia
- Che egli/ella sia
- Che noi siamo
- Che voi siate
- Che essi siano
The verb avere (to have):

- Che io abbia
- Che tu abbia
- Che egli/ella abbia
- Che noi abbiamo
- Che voi abbiate
- Che essi abbiano
The verb andare (to go):

- Che io vada
- Che tu vada
- Che egli/ella vada
- Che noi andiamo
- Che voi andiate
- Che essi vadano
The verb uscire (to go out)

- Che io esca
- Che tu esca
- Che egli/ella esca
- Che noi usciamo
- Che voi usciate
- Che essi escano
The verb venire (to come)

- Che io venga
- Che tu venga
- Che egli/ella venga
- Che noi veniamo
- Che voi veniate
- Che essi vengano
The verb fare (to do/to make)

- Che io faccia
- Che tu faccia
- Che egli/ella faccia
- Che noi facciamo
- Che voi facciate
- Che essi facciano
Exercise: Replace the verb in brackets with the correct form of the
present subjunctive.
1. Pare che Eliana e Mirko (andare) in Trentino per le vacanze estive.
Pare > synonym of sembrare

2. Milena spera che (noi – uscire) più spesso.
Più spesso > more often

3. Veronica non crede che il suo fidanzato le (fare) un regalo per il suo
compleanno.
4. Voglio che i miei genitori (venire) a casa mia per Pasqua.
Answers of the previous exercise:
1. Vadano
2. Noi usciamo
3. Faccia
4. Vengano
Day 50: Present Conditional For Requests
In Italian, the conditional mood is the conditioned possibility mood: we
represent events as possibilities that can only occur if certain conditions are
met.
More often than not, however, when speaking every day, we leave out the
conditions and use the present conditional to express:
A request: Stamperesti questi documenti per me, per favore? > Would you
print these documents for me, please?
The conditional is a way that shows that you have a particular courtesy, and
the formula “per favore” helps to reinforce the sense of politeness that you
want to convey by formulating the question in this way.
A wish: Vorrei un bitter analcolico. > I would like a non-alcoholic bitter.
This is, for example, a polite manner of ordering at a restaurant or bar.
A lessened personal opinion or a doubt: Quell’azienda è molto selettiva,

non supererei un colloquio con loro. > That company is very selective, I
would not pass an interview with them.
Forming the conditional:

1st conjugation: nuotare (to swim) > we replace the thematic vowel –a with –
e, then we add for each grammatical person the endings underlined below:
- Io nuoterei > I would swim
- Tu nuoteresti > you would swim
- Egli/ella nuoterebbe > he/she would swim
- Noi nuoteremmo > we would swim
- Voi nuotereste > you would swim
- Essi nuoterebbero > they would swim
2nd conjugation: conoscere (to know) > we add the same endings as for the
first conjugation:
- io conoscerei > I would know
- tu conosceresti > you would know
- egli/ella conoscerebbe > he/she would know
- noi conosceremmo > we would know
- voi conoscereste > you would know
- essi conoscerebbero > they would know
3rd conjugation: sentire (to hear) > the same as for the second conjugation,
we add the typical endings of the conditional:
- io sentirei > I would hear
- tu sentiresti > you would hear
- egli/ella sentirebbe > he/she would hear
- noi sentiremmo > we would hear
- voi sentireste > you would hear
- essi sentirebbero > they would hear
Day 51: Irregular Conditional
As in other tenses, some verbs have irregular forms in the conditional as well.
These verbs change completely, so they should be committed to memory. In
particular:
The verb essere (to be):

- Io sarei
- Tu saresti
- Egli/ella sarebbe
- Noi saremmo
- Voi sareste
- Essi sarebbero
The verb avere (to have):

- Io avrei
- Tu avresti
- Egli avrebbe
- Noi avremmo
- Voi avreste
- Essi avrebbero
The verb stare (the same that we use with the gerund):
- Io starei
- Tu staresti
- Egli/ella starebbe
- Noi staremmo
- Voi stareste
- Essi starebbero
The verb andare (to go):

- Io andrei
- Tu andresti
- Egli/ella andrebbe
- Noi andremmo
- Voi andreste
- Essi andrebbero
The verb venire (to come):

- Io verrei
- Tu verresti
- Egli/ella verrebbe
- Noi verremmo
- Voi verreste
- Essi verrebbero
The verb dare (to give):

- Io darei
- Tu daresti
- Egli/ella darebbe
- Noi daremmo
- Voi dareste
- Essi darebbero
The verb fare (to do/make):

- Io farei
- Tu faresti
- Egli/ella farebbe
- Noi faremmo
- Voi fareste
- Essi farebbero
Conclusion
Now that you have reached the end of the book following the course of the
lessons, you have learned one step at a time all the basic grammar rules,
pronunciation and some of the most common expressions of Italian.
As a result, you will be able to speak Italian in those situations that require
more spontaneity: you have the skills to read a news article, to describe a
place with the appropriate adjectives and to talk about an event using the
right tenses. In addition, you know how to express your doubts, to make
observations or requests without seeming impolite.
More than sixty million people living in various countries of the world speak
Italian, which is, therefore, a living and ever-changing language. In fact, the
same native speakers increasingly need to refresh themselves to keep up with
the new languages of television, newspapers, cinema, TV series and songs.
While this may seem like a challenging task, it was our goal to provide
students with all the fundamental knowledge of Italian.
We made an effort in order to cover all the bases and make them
independent-users, who are not only able to learn how to use the language in
a practical way but also to have fun and grasp the linguistic nuances so that
they can be creative with the new language.
In lessons that only take 10 minutes a day, we have committed ourselves to

achieve our goal: from being absolute beginners to being users of Italian with
competence and awareness of the rules of the language.
If you do not feel confident enough about your knowledge, you can always
go back to the previous chapters of this book. Otherwise, if you feel confident
and curious to know more about the Italian language, well, then we can’t help
but encourage you to go on with your studies... trying to give you some
advice:
- To improve your reading and expand your vocabulary, you may have
already heard that the best way is to read as much as possible, whether it
is newspapers, novels or magazines. Learning a language through
language immersion is a tried and tested method.
- Moreover, if you aim at learning a more specific vocabulary, you can set
the language of applications or websites to Italian: you can do it with
Facebook or Google, for example, and it is a tip that teachers also give to
students of English in Italy.
- As for the listening, podcasts or YouTube channels can really help:

online you can find literally anything, but it is best to give priority to so
to speak official channels, in order to avoid getting used to hearing
regional varieties instead of national or standard ones.
- Finally, to improve your speaking skills, there is no better way than

going on a trip to Italy to meet the locals face to face and learn firsthand
many expressions that will help you to be more fluent and clearer.
Never let the fear of not being able to pronounce the words perfectly or of
mistaking a verb stop you: mistakes of this kind are also common among
native speakers of many languages. On the contrary, learning a new language
can be an invaluable stepping-stone to new opportunities in the future, both
on a personal and a professional level.
Put into practice the knowledge gained from this book and overcome all the
obstacles you may be facing when studying the language at a more advanced
level.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this book and its components, is meant to serve
as a comprehensive collection of strategies that the author of this book has
done research about. Summaries, strategies, tips and tricks are only
recommendations by the author, and reading this book will not guarantee that
one’s results will exactly mirror the author’s results.
The author of this book has made all reasonable efforts to provide current and
accurate information for the readers of this book. The author and its
associates will not be held liable for any unintentional errors or omissions
that may be found.
The material in the book may include information by third-parties. Third-

party materials comprise of opinions expressed by their owners. As such, the
author of this book does not assume responsibility or liability for any third-
party material or opinions.
The publication of third-party material does not constitute the author’s

guarantee of any information, products, services, or opinions contained
within third-party material. Use of third-party material does not guarantee
that your results will mirror our results. Publication of such third-party
material is simply a recommendation and expression of the author’s own
opinion of that material.
Whether because of the progression of the Internet, or the unforeseen changes

in company policy and editorial submission guidelines, what is stated as fact
at the time of this writing may become outdated or inapplicable later.
This book is copyright © 2019 by Bruno Palermo with all rights reserved. It
is illegal to redistribute, copy, or create derivative works from this book
whole or in parts. No parts of this report may be reproduced or retransmitted
in any forms whatsoever without the written expressed and signed permission
from the author.

Daily Italian For Beginners

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Daily Italian For Beginners

How To Easily Speak Italian With Only 10 Minutes Of

In this book, I am going to show you a way to familiarize yourself with

I studied foreign languages and linguistics myself as part of my academic

The Alphabet, Spelling, And Pronunciation

Currently, the Italian alphabet consists of 26 letters. These comprise 21

The Italian alphabet is a phonetic alphabet, with each letter representing a

The vowels “e” and “o” have two distinct pronunciations:

3. / ɔ / as in wall, war or short and in Italian moda, nove > again

4. /o/ as in oat, so and go in American English and in Italian sole,

As for the consonants:

2. – gl > we pronounce this like in yell or yellow

3. – sc > we pronounce this like in shell and in Italian sciolto,

4. –g is pronounced as in gather and get when followed by –a, –o, –

5. –c > we pronounce like in cat when followed by –a, –o and –u,

Can you write the right accent on the stressed syllable?

Interestingly, in contemporary Italian, regional varieties very often affect the

Buongiorno, vorrei provare quel cappello esposto in vetrina. (Good morning,

Let’s see, then, the main greetings in Italian:

If we want to be more formal, we could say arrivederla, but nowadays we

- A presto! > like arrivederci but less formal

A: Buongiorno/buonasera/Salve, sono (or mi chiamo) Luca, piacere (di

In a more informal situation:

Now, if we want to get to know more, then we will ask:

Cosa studi? / Che lavoro fai?

“Cosa” at the beginning of the sentence means “what”, although it would be

Quanti anni hai? > How old are you?

Warning! False Friends!

In Italian, we use the verb presentare (followed by an object, since it is a

Domani Andrea vuole presentare la sua ragazza ai genitori.

Viaggi mai da solo? > Do you ever travel on your own?

- Esci il sabato sera? > Do you go out on Saturday night?

2. It is compulsory to write the accent only when the stressed syllable

4. When asking questions in Italian, it is essential that you remember to

The Verb Essere Or To Be

The present tense of the Indicative mood is:

We use the indicative mood in order to make statements, ask questions or

- Essere al settimo cielo > to be very happy, elated, on cloud nine

Answers on the next page.

–are, the first conjugation:

–ere, the second conjugation:

–ire, the third conjugation:

Gender: Masculine And Feminine

Generally, masculine nouns are:

Generally, feminine nouns are:

- ragazzo (masculine > boy) /ragazza (feminine > girl)

Heads Up! Grammatical And Natural Gender

The nouns that have endings –i in the singular, whether masculine or

Indefinite Articles: Un/ Uno/ Una

“Uno” comes before masculine nouns beginning with s + consonants, z, x,

“Un” comes before all the other singular masculine nouns.

Definite Articles: Il, Lo, La / I, Gli, Le

It agrees in gender and grammatical number, so it has both singular and

Plural > “Gli” > Gli scoiattoli (the squirrels)

Hint: I’m going to the cinema to see… new film.

Hint: In the evening, I always read … to get to sleep.

Hint: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Hint: It’s raining, it just …. the right day to go out.

Hint: Unfortunately, … new mobile phone…does not have … innovative

Hint: Dogs … men’s best friends.

Answers on the next page.

Viaggio, as the ending shows, is a masculine noun; therefore, the ending of

Class I: adjectives with masculine singular ending in –o and feminine