Daniela explains three situations in which the remote past may be used and gives us examples of each situation. But don't worry, this tense is not mandatory and Daniela suggests the passato prossimo (present perfect) as a valid alternative. Note: The passato prossimo is constructed like the English present perfect tense (with a helping verb and past participle), but is used more like the English past simple.

We're going to school to learn about The Marches, the only Italian region to have a plural name! Let's find out if Anna has studied this time! Let's see how mean her maestra is today, too.

In this lesson we start looking at the comparative forms of adjectives. Unlike English, where we have a dedicated comparative and superlative form, Italian makes use of adverbs più "more" or meno "less" and the prepositions or conjunctions di (of, than) or che (than, that) in addition to the adjective itself. Daniela shows us how this works.

The teacher has a different look today, as she quizzes Anna about the Piedmont region of Italy. Anna tries to get on the good side of her irritable maestra.

Daniela talks more about when to use che (that, than) or di (of, than) as comparative words.

When two like things are compared, as in the sentence "You are as old as I am," it's called a comparison of equality. Daniela explains how this works in Italian.

Daniela continues with examples of how tanto and quanto are used together in comparisons, as well as the pairing of così and come. She also provides examples involving quantities, where the word sets are not interchangeable.

Daniela explains how adverbs tanto and quanto are always used together in comparisons. Likewise, così and come are always paired together. “Billy is as tall as Tom” would be an equivalent construction in English. She also focuses on adjectives that have 2 comparative forms like buono (good), cattivo (bad, nasty), and grande (big).

Daniela explains how some adverbs, depending on how they are used, will be regular or irregular in the comparative form.

Daniela delves into the absolute superlative for adjectives, and covers the wonderfully fun ending, -issimo.

Anna volunteers to be questioned about Lazio. The teacher seems to be in a good mood, so Anna is encouraged. What grade will she receive?

Daniela illustrates other ways of forming the absolute superlative for adjectives in Italian. These include repeating an adjective twice, the placement of a prefix before an adjective, and a list of words, such as "exceedingly," used in conjunction with an adjective.

Anna knows all about Tuscany, one of her favorite regions. Tuscany was very important for the evolution of the Italian language, and is one of the areas of Italy most frequented by tourists.

Daniela discusses how journalists and the mass media often tack on -issimo to nouns and adverbial expressions, something which is not strictly correct but is prevalent nonetheless.

With the relative superlative, we compare one element with an entire group, as for example, "She is the most beautiful of all." In English we distinguish between "more" and "most," but in Italian, the presence of the article before the noun or before the comparative word is what makes the difference.