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Top 10 Rules You Probably Forgot About Italian

November 2, 2016 By Cher 11 Comments

Top 10 Rules You Probably Forgot About Italian

This episode’s audio doesn’t exist, and we have technology to blame (poof! gone into cyberspace!). Instead of listening to this episode, feel free to use the notes below to learn more about the topic. And if you’re like, “CHER, NO. I NEED THIS EPISODE,” then let me know in the comments below. I’ll put it on my list to record again!

Between life, classes, and too many or not enough dates, it’s easy to forget all of the rules that you learned in your first year or two of Italian.

Fear not though as I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 rules that you might have forgotten but need to remember if you’re going to continue learning it and becoming conversational.

1.)  In Italian, you’re not just hungry, but you have hunger. So you use the expression ‘avere fame’ instead of ‘essere fame’.

Conjugation: Ho fame, hai fame, ha fame, abbiamo fame, avete fame, hanno fame

2.) The majority of nouns that end in -zione, -gione, -sione, -tà, -tù, -udine, -i, and -ie are feminine.*

Per esempio, la stazione, la crisi, l’abitudine, e l’università

3.) Lots of verbs are irregular in the past tense. Some common ones are listed below.

Per esempio, chiudere = chiuso, dire = detto, fare = fatto, leggere = letto, scrivere = scritto, e prendere = preso.

4.) When referring to places/locations, you use ‘a’ with cities  and small islands.

You use ‘in’ when referring to regions, countries, or states.

Per esempio, vivo in Italia. Vivo a Las Vegas.

More detail on this + exceptions are talked about in this post: Pesky Prepositions ‘A’ and ‘In’ (&when the hell do you use them?)

5.) There is a grand difference between direct and indirect objects. Although they often make me upset, they are necessary to understand if you want to sound fluid while speaking Italian.

Read this post if you want to fit in and use direct and indirect objects like the rest of the Italians:  The Grand Difference Between Direct & Indirect Objects (& yes, you have to know them)

6.) When you’re describing a job that you have, you would describe it using the verb ‘fare’ = to do, to make.

So, faccio la segretaria, or using ‘essere’ – sono una segretaria.

7.) La classe is not used to describe a class that you attend or a classroom.

L’aula is used for classroom, and la lezione is used for the class that you’re attending. If you’re taking a class, you can call it il corso. 

8.) The entire trapassato prossimo tense. Like, was I sleeping during this lesson?

Anyway, apparently you use the imperfect tense with ‘avere’ and ‘essere’ and then tack on the past tense of whatever verb has the action.

It’s used when two actions occurred at different points in the past.

Read more about it using this article here.

9.) When nouns begin with ‘z’ or ‘s + consonant’, then the (definite) article will be ‘lo’.

Per esempio, lo zaino o lo studente

Following that, the plural form of ‘lo’ is ‘gli’

Per esempio, gli zaini o gli studenti

With a feminine noun, the article will remain feminine like with la zia, le zie, or la zaffata.

CPF (cocktail party fact): ‘Gli’ has this really interesting throat sound to it.

Make a mini mission of 2-3 days for mastering this sound using this Youtube video as a guide:

10.) You know how usually you would put the article ‘il’ or ‘la’ before showing possession?

Here’s some good news that you might’ve forgotten.

You don’t have to use the article before the word when you’re showing possession with a family member.

Per esempio, mio zio, mia sorella, e mio fratello.

How about you? Do you struggle with any of these things? Have you attempted to conquer them? Let me know in the comments below!

*referenced In Viaggio: Moving Toward Fluency

Filed Under: Grammar, Intermediate Italian, Italian Tagged With: 30 Minute Italian Podcast, intermediate italian, italian, italian grammar, show notes

About Cher

Cher is the founder of The Iceberg Project and a passionate learner of the Italian, Mandarin and Spanish languages. In a little town called Vegas, you can find her searching the Internet for Doctor Who and Parks & Rec memes, drinking bubble tea, or talking about how much she loves grammar.

« Italian Word Speed Dates: In Effetti and Infatti
Italian Present Conditional (or the tense that finally lets you express yourself in Italian) »

Comments

  1. jerome says

    October 1, 2013 at 1:00 am

    when a masculine noun begins with z ecc the definite article becomes lo or gli. With a feminine noun it remains la or le, e.g la zie, le zie

    Reply
    • cherhale says

      October 1, 2013 at 10:22 pm

      Great catch. Thanks! I totally forgot to mention that exception.

      Reply
  2. Bob Weisenberg says

    December 13, 2013 at 7:18 am

    Great article. I love your site. It’s already helping me a lot. Thanks.

    Reply
    • cherhale says

      January 4, 2014 at 5:46 pm

      Grazie!

      Reply
  3. Michelle says

    December 27, 2013 at 5:36 am

    Hi. My question is, when do you use “nel” and when do you use “in”? Why is my luggage “Nella” macchina but I drive “in” macchina? I think?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • cherhale says

      January 4, 2014 at 5:46 pm

      Michelle, the prepositions, like in, in Italian are an ever-annoying topic. Haha. When you start noticing the differences like you are now, you’ll recognize that you’re getting closer to fluency. The idea here is that you use ‘nella macchina’ when referring to your luggage because it’s actually inside of the car. They use ‘in macchina’ because it’s usually a part of an idiomatic expression like ‘salire in macchina’ or ‘entrare in macchina.’ The nuances here are difficult because there are special cases for everything, but I’m actually creating something around prepositions that I hope will help all of us figure out how to master them.

      Reply
  4. Nancy says

    May 4, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    Is there a new YouTube video for the trapassato prossimo? The video on the link above (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd6Zz2kuhYE) no longer exists. Grazie!
    Nancy

    Reply
    • cher says

      May 9, 2015 at 1:01 pm

      Whoops! I’ll do you one better and send you over to an article on the site –> http://icebergproject.co/italian/2014/10/how-to-use-the-trapassato-prossimo-in-italian-or-how-to-talk-about-things-that-happened-in-the-past/

      Reply
  5. Linda Christoffer says

    May 22, 2019 at 9:30 am

    After reading these articles I’m more confused than ever!! I don’t feel I’ll ever be fluent, in fact, I don’t think I’ll ever be understood!

    Reply
    • RachelRachel says

      June 5, 2019 at 8:32 am

      Nooo don’t say that! Take it one day at a time and remember, any progress is still progress! You can do it!

      Reply

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