Daniela and Marika show us the basics of making conversation between 2 people who know each other as well as between strangers, or people of different ages.

In this segment, Daniela talks about the gerund. As you will see, in Italian, the gerund is often used by itself, whereas in English we need an extra word before it — a conjunction or preposition. We are on more familiar ground when Daniela talks about using a gerund with the verb stare (to be) to form what we call the present continuous or present progressive.

In Italian, there's not only a past participle, as in English, there is also a present participle. Many nouns and adjectives we use every day come from this tense, as well as from the past participle.

Daniela explains what are called "indefinite modes." They are indefinite because they don't refer directly to a person or object. They commonly occur in a subordinate clause, and we need the context of the main clause to give us that information. There are three forms: the infinitive, the past participle, and the gerund.

Today, Anna is playing with fire because she has to describe the very region her teacher is from. Anna knows her subject pretty well, but so does her teacher. Who will triumph?

The concept of liking and loving is nuanced in a particular way in Italian. Really grasping it takes time, practice, and experience, but this lesson should help to avoid embarrassing mistakes and misunderstandings when talking about relationships in Italian.

There are two ways to use an indirect object pronoun with the verb piacere (to please, to be pleasing, to like). Daniela shows us how they work.

Sometimes the subject of a sentence can be a verb in the infinitive or an entire clause. Let's see how the verb piacere works in these cases, in both simple and perfect tenses.

Daniela tackles a verb that is tricky for English speakers: piacere (to delight, to please). Although when someone says mi piace, he or she is, in essence, saying "I like [it/him/her/them]," the verb piacere doesn't strictly mean "to like." Since, as you will see, this verb works so differently than "to like," we have used the verb "to delight" as a translation in some cases, not for its exact meaning, but in order to match the construction with that of piacere.

Marika talks about how one can contract coronavirus, the symptoms, and the guidelines to avoid getting infected.

Everyone is talking about coronavirus. Marika addresses frequently asked questions about this recent, ongoing phenomenon.

Daniela gives us plenty of examples of how to use ne and ci, those tricky little particles that mean so many different things and which can be quite a challenge for English speakers.

Daniela gives us some more examples of how the particle ci is used. Lots of times it's superfluous and could technically be omitted but hardly ever is.

Daniela talks about an unusual but common way we use the particle ci. In this segment she discusses volerci (to need, to take) and metterci (to employ, to put in). In English we use "it takes" and "it takes me/you/us/him/her/them" with an impersonal "it," so translating might very well create more problems than it solves. To help you understand how these particular verbs work, we have attempted, where possible, to use alternate translations to illustrate the grammatical structure of the sentences Daniela uses as examples.

We learn even more about the particle ci. This short word can stand for a preposition (such as "on," "about," "with," or "to") + an indirect object.