Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
A student asked Daniela to explain the difference between finché and the adverb fino. In fact, these words are tricky for English speakers to grasp. We're talking about "until" and "as long as," and in questions, "how far" and "how long."
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Marika and Daniela continue their conversation about making conversation in Italian. They even talk a little bit about baby talk, Italian style, including the vezzeggiativo (affectionate) form of adjectives.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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?
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Everyone is talking about coronavirus. Marika addresses frequently asked questions about this recent, ongoing phenomenon.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Marika talks about how one can contract coronavirus, the symptoms, and the guidelines to avoid getting infected.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Ci is such a tiny word, but it has a lot of power. It can replace a direct object pronoun or an indirect pronoun + preposition, and means other things as well. You won't want to miss this lesson.
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