Struttura basilare Flashcards
Translate the following two sentences:
- I eat apples.
- I eat red apples.
Translation:
- Mangio le mele. (no need to put “io” it’s implied with Mangio)
- Mangio le mele rosse.
“Rosse” the adjective, follows the noun.
Translate these two sentences:
- Tomorrow, i’m going to work.
- I’m going to work tomorrow.
- Domani vado a lavorro.
- Vado a lavorro domani.
Like English, Italian lets users choose how they want to ask questions, depending on where the speaker wants to put the emphasis. There are three ways of conveying the meaning of a question and the desired focus for the answer to that question.
What are the three ways?
1) Use of inflection
2) Use of question phrase
3) Switching subject and verb order
INFLECTION
The easiest way to form a question in Italian doesn’t even require you to change anything other than your inflection. You can say the sentence exactly as you would if you were stating it, then raise your voice at the end to indicate it is a question.
Can you help us? → Puoi aiutarci?
You speak Italian? → Parli italiano?
By allowing your voice to raise at the end you are implying it is question.
Use of Question Phrase
Just like English, adding question words to the beginning of a sentence is a simple way of creating a sentence.
List some of the most common Italian questions words.
- Come → How
- Quanto → How much
- Quanti → How many
- Che Chosa, Che, Che → What
- Che tipo → What kind
- Quando → When
- Dove → Where
- Chi → Who
- Di chi → Whose
- Quale, quali → Which
- Perche → Why
Another way to turn a sentence into a question is adding a question phrase at the end of a sentence. The most common is the phrase “vero?” or “non è vero?”. It’s the same thing as adding in English phrases like “don’t you?”, “haven’t?” or “isn’t it?”.
You speak English, don’t you? → Parli inglese, vero?
This is the right way, isn’t it? → Questo è il modo giusto, vero?
Switching Subject and Verb Order
The last way to form a sentence is switching the order of the subject and verb. Place the verb first, and make the subject second to form a question.
Translate these two sentences:
- Dos your sister arrive?
- Has my father called?
- Does your sister arrive**? → **Arriva tua sorella?
- Has my father called**? → Ha **chiamato mio padre?
Changing Pronouns and Adjectives
Though you may expect it to change, the use of “who” and “whom” does not change based on gender. “Chi” is equivalent to who, which is gender neutral because you don’t know the answer when you ask it.
- Who is there?
- To whom did you give the book?
When you need to ask “whose”, add “è” or “sono” after “chi” to express the possessive form of “who” and “whom”.
- Whose book is that?
- Whose books are these?
Try translating these sentences.
Using who:
- *Who_ is there? → _Chi** è là?
- *To whom** did you give the book? → A chi hai dato il libro?
Using whom:
- *Whose_ book is that? _Di chi** è quel libro?
- *Whose_ books are these? _Di chi** sono questi libri?
Useful phrases to memorize
Some phrases are good to memorize to understand composition and are so common they’ll help get you practising it frequently.
Translate the following:
How much does it cost?
Quanto costo?
Useful phrases to memorize
Some phrases are good to memorize to understand composition and are so common they’ll help get you practising it frequently.
Translate the following:
How do you get to town?
Come si arriva in città?
Useful phrases to memorize
Some phrases are good to memorize to understand composition and are so common they’ll help get you practising it frequently.
Translate the following:
When does the train arrive?
Quando arriva il treno?
Useful phrases to memorize
Some phrases are good to memorize to understand composition and are so common they’ll help get you practising it frequently.
Translate the following:
Why are you upset?
Perchè sei turbato?
Negation (making a negative statement)
The Italian language makes it incredibly easy to form a negative sentence. Adding “non” before a verb in Italian makes the sentence have a negative meaning.
Create the negative sentences for the following:
I want to eat. → Voglio mangiare.
I did walk far. → Ho camminato lontano.
I do not want to eat. → Non voglio mangiare.
I did not walk far. → Non ho camminato lontano.
For sentences where there is a pronoun before the verb, add “non” before the pronoun instead of before the verb.
She didn’t find it. → Non l’ha trovato.
Can’t you call me a taxi? → Non mi può chiamare un taxi?
There are other words in English that can indicate a negative meaning. These tend to be more specialized words, like “never“ and “nobody”. Instead of adding a single specialized word, Italian keeps “non“ and adds another word following the verb or pronoun.
Examples:
- Nothing*
- Never*
- No longer*
- Neither…nor*
Nothing → non… niente
Never → non… mai
No longer → non… più
Neither…nor → non… né… né
There was nothing in the cabinet. → Non c’era niente nell’armadio.
She never came back. → Non è mai tornata.
The cat was no longer inside. → Il gatto non era più dentro.
We visited neither Rome nor Paris. → Non abbiamo visitato né Roma né Parigi.
The exception to creating a negative sentence and not needing to add a “non” is with something like the specialized word “nessuno”, referring to people “nobody” and “no one”. When this word is used as subject you don’t add “non”.
Examples:
No one was in the room.
Nobody came
- *No one_ was in the room. → _Nessuno** era in camera.
- *Nobody_ came. → _Nessuno** è venuto.
