Yabla Italian
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586 lessons found

Italian words beginning with a followed by a double letter

verb mettere (to put) and the preposition a (to, at). See this lesson about ammettere.  Però devi ammettere che ha agito...

Using the infinitive to give a command

there is another common way to form an imperative in certain circumstances. When a command is directed at the public in general, not a specific...

Che è meglio adds a little something to a command

Che è meglio is usually something you say at the end for effect, often accompanied with an appropriate facial expression and gesture.  ...

Words with a superfluous S prefix

classical dictionaries are way behind. Let's look at a word that has cropped up in a...

Turning over a new leaf with voltare pagina

Did you ever wonder if there is an equivalent expression in Italian for turning over a new leaf? There is! It's voltare pagina...

Fidanzato: Engaged or having a boy/girlfriend?

have," where as essere is not. Here is an example from another crime-show interview about a murder. This time the detective used the...

A descriptive expression: tutto d'un pezzo

we translate the expression literally, we obtain "all of a piece." It only partially makes sense. We...

A short-lived province in Tuscany: Apuania

bene (so far so good), a movie about a group of friends that just graduated from...

What's a fumetto?

the second fumetto featured in "Fumettology" is aimed at a general audience, and is an Italian take on the American Wild West....

Urgente: a cognate with a little-used verb

toast to...) Ci vuole assolutamente un brindisi (there's an absolute need for a toast)   The use of urgere makes it...

Il carro: a noun that pulls its weight

jalopy.    La carrozza  Here, we are talking about a carriage, such as a stagecoach, but carrozza...

A tale of 2 related adverbs: a malapena and appena

public prosecutor of the city of Matera, is at a dinner party at the home of one of...

Lo scarpariello (A Humble Pasta Dish Fit for a King)

long word ending in ello, there is a good chance it's an elaboration of a pre-existing word. Can you detect...

Let's Explain the Expression andare incontro a

lesson: Close Encounters with Incontro.     In addition, in is a preposition all on its own meaning "to" or "in."...

Cognates Featuring à in Italian and "y" in English

too much. These end in à, an A with an accent. In all these cases, that accented à is replaced...

Poi: A Short Word That Carries a Big Punch

visto - film  Play Caption   Speaking of expressions, another one that's used a lot is d'ora in poi from now on:...

Farcela: a pronominal verb to have in your toolkit

out this lesson. This time, let's look at a pronominal verb people use all the time: farcela. It's about succeeding, managing, being able, making it — or...

Baracca: a colorful way to talk about lots of different things

word is baracca. It's a humble word about a humble place, but Italians use the word...

Fare (to do, to make), a top Italian verb

from a conversation. This next one is from an interview. It's a bit trickier and uses the subjunctive after che (that). Questo rapporto ha fatto sì...

Innanzitutto (a long word that is no big deal)

used in literature and formal speech quite a bit. It's another way to say davanti (in front of)...

Svolgere: a useful but mysterious verb

The reflexive form svolgersi, is extremely common, but not all that easy to guess at, since it's not a cognate... or is it? If we look...

Per conto mio: a double meaning

We've talked various times about the noun il conto. It can refer...

Verso: a word with too many meanings to count

manuscripts had leaves, not pages: If you look at a medieval manuscript, for example, and think of...

Ways to say "a lot" in Italian

meaning.   In a future lesson, we'll talk about ways to say "a lot," when it's used as an adverb. ...
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