In English, the difference between "until" and "as long as" is quite distinct, but in Italian, it's a little blurry because the presence of the negative word non (not) might change the meaning of a phrase or it might not. When the meaning is not altered by its presence, the word, in this case non (not), is "pleonastic." We're talking about finché and finche non.

Francesca and her travelling companion have just gotten a flat tire. Learn the steps for changing a tire along with Francesca.

Marika provides more useful expressions involving the head, many of which are also common in English.

Here are some more expressions featuring the verb vedere (to see). For non-native speakers, a few of them might be a little tricky to understand, but others might be very useful to learn and use.

In this lesson, we look at implicit relative subordinate clauses, and how they are introduced. One of their main characteristics is that they use the infinitive of a verb, rather than a conjugated one.

Daniela explains the relative pronouns used in forming a relative subordinate clause. She starts out with the explicit kind.

Daniela talks about two kinds of relative subordinate clauses — restrictive and explanatory — and how we punctuate them differently.

To conclude the lesson on concessive subordinate clauses, we look at those constructed using the past participle of a verb or the gerund and introductory locations such as benché (though) and pure (despite), among others.

Daniela explains further about constructing explicit subordinate clauses and gives some examples to clarify.

Italian has an amazingly long list of conjunctions or locutions that mean "although," "despite," and similar words. Daniela explains what a concession subordinate clause is and gives us several examples.

Don't be scared off by fancy names of clauses and parts of speech. Daniela is just showing us different ways of saying the same thing, but sometimes one way is clearer than the other, especially when the subject changes from main to subordinate clause.

In a sentence, the main clause can stand on its own, but there can also be a subordinate or dependent clause. Today's lesson addresses the causal subordinate clause, which gives the reason for the action in the main clause. Conjunctions such as perché (because) dato che (given that) are used to join the two clauses.

After summing up about the passive voice, Daniela goes on to talk about some other related constructions. It's important to remember that the passive is formed with transitive verbs only. But when we don't have a named subject or agent, we have a few other ways to make a sentence passive-like. One way uses the famous particella (particle) si. Si is used for so many things in Italian that it is bound to create confusion for learners, even advanced learners. Don't worry, part 3 of the lesson will explain further. Another way uses the verb andare (to go) to indicate something that must be done. Here too, the stress is on the action, not the subject or agent.

Adopting an animal is a serious undertaking! Marika is fully aware of that fact and in this final segment, she gets down to the nitty-gritty of keeping cats at home.

Marika shows us a series of items that make it easier to have cats in the house. In order to discourage the cats from destroying the furniture, rugs, and curtains, there are some handy remedies.