To express negation, the adverb non (not) can precede not only nouns, but verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, and adverbs, as well. Daniela shows us how.

Living conditions were so different at the time of the cave dwellings. Imagine having a mule and rabbits running around the house! The government eventually put a stop to this type of dwelling, and much was gained, but much was lost. On the other hand, people had to live somewhere. The Civita, the oldest part of Matera, filled up quickly around the imposing cathedral, and there was no more room for building houses.

The popular TV series Commissioner Manara takes place in Tuscany, so in this video, Marika explains some of the peculiarities of Tuscan speech. She also gives some important tips about using articles when referring to family members.

In the last lesson we learned to place non (not) before the verb in a negative sentence, but when there are other words involved, it gets a bit more complicated, especially when we have object pronouns in the mix.

We see the inside of house built into the rock. It is fascinating to learn how families coped with the problems of water, humidity, and cramped quarters.

Daniela explains how to turn a positive statement into a negative one, and how to form a negative question and its negative answer. The magic word is non (not).

We enter a fascinating church carved right into the rock: the Church of the Madonna di Idris. There are some surprising discoveries awaiting us.

Here are some more idiomatic expressions from La Ladra. They involve music, horses, and sweets.

Matera is all about caves and grottoes. There were many natural caves that were expanded to be used as dwellings and churches, and other man-made grottoes as well.

To finish up about relative pronouns, Daniela illustrates how we can use the adverb dove (where) to replace the relative pronoun in cui or nel quale, both of which mean "in which."

Idiomatic expressions are often difficult to translate or to find in a dictionary. Marika helps us out, using clips from La Ladra already present in Yabla's library.

Alberto Angela us takes back in time, to a city that came about in a totally different way: splendid Matera in Basilicata. It's definitely worth a trip.

These relative pronouns can be very tricky for English speakers. Daniela gives us some good reasons (with examples) to prefer the more difficult, but more specific il quale, la quale, i quali and le quali, which can all mean "that, "which," "who," or "whom," depending on the context.

Anna tells us about the different varieties of rice found in Italy, and Marika completes the cooking of the risotto.

Dubbing has all sorts of uses, but certainly one of the most fascinating ones is making us believe an actor is speaking our language when we go to see a foreign film. Arianna takes us through the basic phases.