Ormai (already, by now, at this point, by this time) is a wonderful word Italians use all the time. However, its definition isn't always easy to pin down. Daniela tells us about three nuances of the word and gives us a host of examples.

This wonderful word may be one of the first ones you learn while traveling in Italy. It's incredibly useful as a one-word answer and in many cases, very easy to use. Daniela explains everything we need to know. See also this lesson in English about magari.

Just as infatti (in fact) has become one word made up of in and fatti, so also has affatti (totally) succumbed to the same fate. But here, there's a catch. It can have two opposing meanings, so you have to be careful. Daniela explains.

If you're not sure how to write a letter to your new Italian friend, Daniela is here to help. She tells us the parts of a letter and some options for the greeting and the salutation.

Even informal letters have a certain form. The words we choose to open and close the letter set the tone. Daniela gives us some examples of how to open and close a friendly letter.

Knowing how to write a formal letter is very important, especially if we are looking for a job, making a complaint, or even just trying to get some information. Daniela shows us how.

As you shall see, Italian has a range of salutations at the beginning of formal or business letters, where various adjectives are used in place of "dear." Not only that! They also have curious abbreviations to be familiar with.

What do we call the people we are writing to if they are professionals? Daniela gives us some answers. And she gives us some practical examples about how to actually begin writing the body of the letter.

Daniela gives us various examples of how to close a formal letter as well as the complimentary closing that precedes the signature. As you will see, these are quite different from the ones in English letters. We then recap the parts of a formal letter.

Are you ready for the passive voice? In many ways, the Italian passive works as it does in English. If we have a subject, a transitive verb and a direct object, we can form either an active phrase or a passive one. But there are some rules, and Daniela sets out to explain them.

After summing up about the passive voice, Daniela goes on to talk about some other related constructions. It's important to remember that the passive is formed with transitive verbs only. But when we don't have a named subject or agent, we have a few other ways to make a sentence passive-like. One way uses the famous particella (particle) si. Si is used for so many things in Italian that it is bound to create confusion for learners, even advanced learners. Don't worry, part 3 of the lesson will explain further. Another way uses the verb andare (to go) to indicate something that must be done. Here too, the stress is on the action, not the subject or agent.

Although the si passivante (passivizing si) is a kind of si impersonale, it has some very specific differences. Daniela explains them and provides some examples.

In a sentence, the main clause can stand on its own, but there can also be a subordinate or dependent clause. Today's lesson addresses the causal subordinate clause, which gives the reason for the action in the main clause. Conjunctions such as perché (because) dato che (given that) are used to join the two clauses.

Daniela talks about explicit and implicit causal subordinate clauses.

Another kind of subordinate clause is the temporal subordinate. One way we introduce it is with conjunctions having to do with time, such as "while," "when," and "as long as." There are other ways to form a temporal subordinate clause, and Daniela explains them.