Daniela teaches Italian in a classroom, complete with blackboard, chalk, eraser, and students. Her lessons are very popular and people love her spontaneity and teaching style. She addresses grammatical topics one by one, geared to both beginning and intermediate level students.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Here are three more indefinite adjectives. The third one altro (another, next, last, different) is very common and can mean several things, so context is key.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
Here is the last group of indefinite adjectives: qualunque, qualsiasi, and qualsivoglia (whichever, any). Luckily for us, they are generally interchangeable and invariable.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
It's time to talk about particelle (particles). These short, two or three-letter words, such as ci and ne have many functions as well as meanings, and can even represent an indirect object pronoun plus its preposition. Particles can be freestanding or attached to a verb, depending on how the verb is conjugated (or not). Let's see how they work.
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.
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
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
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 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 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
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
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
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: Intermediate
Italy
Daniela explains what are called "indefinite modes." They are indefinite because they don't refer directly to a person or object. They commonly occur in a subordinate clause, and we need the context of the main clause to give us that information. There are three forms: the infinitive, the past participle, and the gerund.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
In Italian, there's not only a past participle, as in English, there is also a present participle. Many nouns and adjectives we use every day come from this tense, as well as from the past participle.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
In this segment, Daniela talks about the gerund. As you will see, in Italian, the gerund is often used by itself, whereas in English we need an extra word before it — a conjunction or preposition. We are on more familiar ground when Daniela talks about using a gerund with the verb stare (to be) to form what we call the present continuous or present progressive.
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