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First, I want to point out that the sentence structure of Italian is something that you should be grateful for as an Italian language learner, especially if this is your first foray into foreign language learning.
For the most part, it’s pretty straightforward.
HOWEVER, Italian is known to have a fluid sentence structure.
I’ll go over the basics first and then toward the end, I’ll describe what having a fluid sentence structure really means.
Here are your four guidelines for creating sentences in Italian
1.) The basic form is: subject (whoever the sentence is about) + verb (the action that’s happening) + object (not the subject)
Esempi:
– Lucia ha paura. – Lucia has fear.
– (io) ho una mela. – I have an apple.
– (io) parlo inglese – I speak English.
TIP: The subject ‘io’ is often dropped because ‘Parlo’ is already conjugated to show that it’s ‘I’. So you can just say ‘Parlo Inglese.’
If you’re into geeky linguistics like me, the above tip means that Italian has a ‘null subject parameter.’ Gasp. So fascinating.
2.) Some adjectives go before whatever they’re describing.
Esempi:
– Una bella ragazza cammina per strada – A beautiful girl walks down the street
– Il passato è una brutta bestia – The past is an ugly beast. (Popular Italian saying!)
– È la stessa cosa – It’s the same thing.
– Luca è un bravo ragazzo. – Luca is a good guy.
Other adjectives that typically go before whatever they’re describing are:
– buono (good)
– caro (dear)
– cattivo (bad)
– giovane (young)
– grande (large)
– lungo (long)
– vero (true)
– vecchio (old)
– piccolo (small)
3.) But most adjectives go after whatever they’re describing.
Esempi:
– il bambino biondo – the blond boy
– la bambina bionda – the blonde girl
– il romanzo italiano – the Italian romance novel
– le ragazze intelligenti – the intelligent girls
– il vestito rosa – the pink dress
4.) Nouns agree with adjectives.
If you’ve noticed, the ends of the adjective change when the ends of the thing they’re describing change. So unlike me and a Voldemort-like Italian ex-boyfriend, nouns actually agree with adjectives.
This is because Italian has masculine/feminine and singular/plural nouns.
Need to know more about those? Open up this article.
Need to know more about what it means for adjectives, nouns, and verbs to agree? Read this article.
Esempi:
– ragazzo italiano – Italian boy
– piazza italiana – Italian piazza
– gelati italiani – Italian gelatos
– macchine italiane – Italian cars
Fluid Sentence Structure
So a lot of people come to me complaining about how the sentence structure confuses them because they imagine it as being similar to English and are pleased when it is, but then confused when suddenly the verb is at the beginning of the sentence and no longer after the subject.
For example, a sentence in English might say:
Rosa is coming.
We would never say “Coming is Rosa” or just “Is coming.”
But in Italian, you can.
In Italian, this example would look like:
– Rosa arriva.
– Arriva Rosa.
– Arriva.*
*You would use this one if it was clear who you were speaking about.
All three are perfectly acceptable sentence structures, and you’ll often find that you just have to get a feel for what native speakers use.
Other Differences from English
Here is a short list of some other notable sentence structure differences from English to Italian
– You’ll often find that you create sentences from English and you use the wrong prepositions. This is because prepositions are used in a variety of different ways in Italian and because prepositional phrases are common in Italian – meaning that certain phrases with prepositions come set in stone and paired with specific verbs.
Want to know the right ways to use prepositions? Check this article out.
– Indirect object pronouns and direct object pronouns – meaning to her/to him or it – can go at the beginning of the sentence or tack onto the end of verbs.
Not sure what I’m talking about when I say all of that pronoun nonsense? Go here to figure it out.
Questions/comments? Drop ’em in the comments below.
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Sono Sarah, e studio l’italiano! Tu sei molto buffa… i.e. “So unlike me and a Voldemort-like Italian ex-boyfriend”… Grazie mille per le informazioni. Italiano e difficile. Ciao ciao!
Haha. Grazie per le belle parole. In the future, it’s best to use ‘divertente’ with the word ‘funny’ and ‘buffo/a’ for more comically unintelligent actions. I used to get that mixed up all the time!
Sono Lauren, e studio l’italiano
“La vestita rosa” is wrong. The pink dress is “il vestito rosa”, since “vestito” is a masculine noun.
You can say “guarda quella ragazza vestita di rosa” (look at the girl dressed in pink”) but “vestita” in such case is a past participle.
Also, “Rosa viene” is fine, but “Viene” without the subject can be for example a reply to a question, such as “Rosa c’è?” “Sì, viene”.
If you say “viene” without a subject, it’s not like we can always understand what/who we are talking about…
One last thing: Luca è un bravo ragazzo just means he’s a good guy. Usually it’s used to describe a person (not necessarily a boyfriend) who is, for example, educated, doesn’t do drugs, is a simple person and so on. Usually that sentence doesn’t imply a particular talent.
You’re so right! I haven’t had a chance to go back and edit these articles from way back when yet. Thanks!
I’m in Italy right now and taking classes with a native speaker. These pod casts do a great job filling in the blanks from class! Thank you so much for doing these wonderful podcasts and notes.
So glad you’re enjoying them. Enjoy Italy!
Learn persian. It is the sweetest language you have ever encountered!
It’s on my list!
Why “Iceberg”?
Because they’re neat. 🙂 Scherzo…actually, The Iceberg Project is based on the theory that most of what you learn about culture when visiting a new country without speaking the language is just the tip of the iceberg.
You see what they wear, what they eat, and the environment of their most touristy attractions, but it isn’t until you speak the language that you can get to the bottom of the iceberg, that huge mass where you can discover what it truly means to speak, think & live like an Italian.
Hi Cher,
Thank you for so much information that is informative and relevant and your relaxed style. I have found that you pretty much cover most of what we need to know.
But here’s a query: the use of ‘venire’ when one might have expected to use ‘essere’. Is this colloquial/regional?
Buonissimo Nuovo Anno!
Kathy
Hi Kathy, Not sure what you mean. Can you give me an example? Venire is “to come” and essere is “to be” and they aren’t really used interchangeably.
Hello, how would I say or write “meet me in heaven” in Italian. I’m not sure I understand how to put this verbiage together based upon your tips.
Ciao Renee,
You can say, “incontriamoci in cielo.” Hope that helps!
Really i understand everything
Thanx a lot of
Ciao bella, grazie per il questo articolo (e questo sito!!). Sono Ingelse, ma ora vivo in Italia (sono stato corteggiò da un Italiano, naturalmente xD). L’Italiano è bellissimo, ma difficile veramente!
But really, thanks 🙂 These articles are really clear and useful. I’m all signed up and ready to improve 😀
And just to confess, I live close to Naples, I’m guilty of “grahtz” (and various other dialect misdemeanors!).
Alla grande! Sono contenta che sia utile! 🙂
That’s what i’m looking for (ie basic sentence structure in italian language.
I’m reading this article on sentence structure and tried to go to the 2 articles mentioned on prepositions and pronouns and both links are broken. How can I read them? I’m so excited to have found your site and I want to read everything.
Ciao Sandy,
We updated the links (sorry they weren’t working, thanks for pointing that out!) but here are the two articles: http://icebergproject.co/italian/2016/08/the-grand-difference-between-direct-indirect-objects-yes-you-have-to-know-them/
http://icebergproject.co/italian/2015/07/simple-prepositions-in-italian/
What is the order of the article verb and noun?
Have a look here: https://www.rocketlanguages.com/forum/italian-grammar/verb-and-noun-placements/
What is rule for where an article is placed in a sentence
Ciao MJ – Feel free to search our archives, we have tons of articles on all types of things like this. For now here is another link to check out: https://www.rocketlanguages.com/italian/grammar/italian-articles hope it helps!