Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Double negatives are, in fact, allowed in Italian. And Daniela shows us how there can be multiple negations in one phrase. In English, where double negatives are not allowed, we have extra words to get around this rule. We use, for example, "it's not anything" or" not ever," instead of the incorrect "not nothing" or "not never." But it's important to be able to manage all these negatives in perfect tenses where we have a conjugated auxiliary verb and a past participle, and that is what Daniela explains in this lesson.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
In Matera, various epochs shake hands, as Alberto Angela put it. Matera continues to amaze us with what's hidden underneath the piazza of the Baroque quarter: Il Piano.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
As luck would have it, Adriano has a chance encounter with a young woman who has a problem he is uniquely capable of solving. Teresa and her daughter Maria have an unexpected caller.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The girls are in big trouble, and Gina is sleeping. It's hard to see how they will get out of this unscathed. But help comes in an unexpected way.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
It's time for the baptismal ceremony. Manara has reason to believe there's something going on between Marta and Fabrizio, and Toscani and Sardi have a tense moment before going into the church.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
There are a couple of words in particular that Italians like to repeat over and over again to forcefully encourage an action. Marika talks about these and other repeated words in the Commissioner Manara series.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Even though he is no longer leading the company, Adriano is as active as ever. Events come together that motivate him to put his theories into practice.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Tizzone, owner of the beauty center, enjoys his tanning session, providing Eva and her friends with the opportunity to carry out their plan. But as usual, they can't plan for everything!
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Sardi and Toscani are nervous about choosing the godparents for little Valeria's baptism. Later, Toscani gets lucky about finding some evidence. When speaking to Raimondi about it, he almost comes out with a colloquial expression but thinks better of it. The complete idiomatic expression would have been una botta di culo [a stroke of the butt]. Culo [ass] is often used to mean "luck," either good or bad. So he had a stroke of luck, or, in modern language, "he got lucky."
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Adriano decides to leave running the factory to Marcello and goes off on his own to work on his other projects. But country roads are dangerous in the pouring rain...
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Eva hides at the beauty center in order to spy on Biagini. In the meantime, Lorenzo and Dante have a man-to-man talk.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
They still don't really have a lead, but Manara is convinced the two murders — Viazzi and Ponti — are connected. They have to look into Ponti's past.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
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).
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
We enter a fascinating church carved right into the rock: the Church of the Madonna di Idris. There are some surprising discoveries awaiting us.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Adriano is very happy with how things have been going for the new Olivetti portable typewriter, but his siblings and partners in the business are not so happy. For one thing, they don't like not seeing any of the profits.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Eva's friends can see right away that she is feeling different. It's written all over her face. But she also has an idea for their next caper. At the restaurant, Eva and Dante talk about the previous night, and about whether Lorenzo knows or not.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
The episode revolves around little Valeria's coming baptism. Sardi is able to change Luca's dark mood with a DVD. Ada tries to figure out who sent her flowers, and she also reveals some information obtained while shopping for a baptism gift.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Here are some more idiomatic expressions from La Ladra. They involve music, horses, and sweets.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
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.
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