Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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).
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Daniela explains how some adverbs, depending on how they are used, will be regular or irregular in the comparative form.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Daniela delves into the absolute superlative for adjectives, and covers the wonderfully fun ending, -issimo.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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?
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Relative pronouns — such as "who," "that," and "which" — connect a main clause to a subordinate clause, which in this case, is a relative clause. Here, relative pronouns function as pronouns and conjunctions at the same time. In Italian, some relative pronouns vary according to gender and number, and others don't. Daniela guides us through.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Daniela shows us how to use the relative pronoun che. In English this can be translated as either "that," "which," or "who," depending on various English grammatical factors.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Today the lesson is about Lombardy. Anna is well-prepared, but her maestra seems to be affected by la nebbia (the fog). Is it the Milanese climate? Or could it be something else?
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Daniela introduces the relative pronoun "which." It's handy to know because it doesn't change according to gender or number.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Daniela introduces relative pronouns il quale, la quale, i quali and le quali (that, who, which) that are a bit tricky to use because they have to agree with the gender and number of the nouns they refer to. We need them when, otherwise, the sentence would be ambiguous.
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