DXT DXT

BASIC ITALIANA GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK

Basic Italian A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessiblereference grammar and related exercises in a single volume

This workbook presents 23 individual grammar points in lively andrealistic contexts Each unit consists of jargon-free explanations andcomparisons with English targeting the more common difficulties experi-enced by learners of Italian Grammar points are followed by examplesand exercises selected to make use of contemporary Italian

Basic Italian introduces Italian culture and people through the medium ofthe language used today providing readers with the basic tools toexpress themselves in a wide variety of situations

Features include

bull examples in both Italian and English

bull grammar tables for easy reference

bull full exercise answer key

bull glossary of grammatical terms

Basic Italian is the ideal reference and practice book for beginners andalso for students with some knowledge of the language

Stella Peyronel is a lecturer at the University of Turin Italy She hastaught Italian to foreigners for over 20 years and is the author ofseveral Italian grammars Ian Higgins is Honorary Senior Lecturer at theUniversity of St Andrews and is co-author of Thinking Italian Translation

Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are

Basic CantoneseIntermediate Cantonese

Basic ChineseIntermediate Chinese

Basic GermanIntermediate German

Basic PolishIntermediate Polish

Basic RussianIntermediate Russian

Basic WelshIntermediate Welsh

Titles of related interest published by Routledge

Colloquial Italian Second Editionby Sylvia Lymbery

Modern Italian Grammar A Practical Guide Second Editionby Anna Proudfoot and Francesco Cardo

Modern Italian Grammar Workbook Second Editionby Anna Proudfoot

BASIC ITALIANA GRAMMAR ANDWORKBOOK

Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

First published 2006by Routledge2 Park Square Milton Park Abingdon OX14 4RN UK

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge270 Madison Ave New York NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor amp Francis Group

copy 2006 Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprintedor reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic mechanicalor other means now known or hereafter invented includingphotocopying and recording or in any information storage orretrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataA catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0ndash415ndash34717ndash3

This edition published in the Taylor amp Francis e-Library 2005

ldquoTo purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor amp Francis or Routledgersquoscollection of thousands of eBooks please go to wwweBookstoretandfcoukrdquo

ISBN 0-203-64007-1 Master e-book ISBN

(Print Edition)

CONTENTS

Introduction vii

List of signs and abbreviations viii

1 Nouns gender and number 1

2 Definite and indefinite articles 9

3 Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns 17

4 The present tense of essere and avere 28

5 The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs 36

6 Adverbs 46

7 Direct object pronouns (1) 52

8 Prepositions 57

9 Questions 68

10 Indirect object pronouns (1) 74

11 Piacere and similar verbs 79

12 The present perfect tense 84

13 Direct and indirect object pronouns (2) 94

14 Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms) 99

15 Relative pronouns 104

16 The imperfect tense 111

17 The pronouns ne and ci 120

18 The future tense 129

19 The past perfect tense 137

20 Reflexive pronouns 143

21 The imperative 149

22 The pronoun si 157

23 The present conditional 162

Key to exercises 168

Glossary of technical terms 187

Index 191

vi Contents

INTRODUCTION

If you are an English-speaking learner preparing GCSE Scottish StandardGrade (credit level) or similar examination or simply learning the languagefor everyday use this grammar and workbook is for you You will typically beeither following a course at school college or evening class or teaching your-self from a published course This book is not itself a course but a self-helpreferencerevision grammar with exercises designed to reinforce your graspof the points dealt with unit by unit You will find it a help to have access to agood ItalianndashEnglish dictionary when working through the book

Since this is not a self-contained course the grammar points are usuallygiven on their own out of context Of course this is artificial because ineveryday life when we say or write something it is always in a situation orcontext To compensate for this artificiality the grammar points are illus-trated with abundant examples which are often reused with variationsunder different headings This is partly to strengthen your grasp of grammarand vocabulary but mostly to help you learn how to manipulate the Italianlanguage in a wide range of situations Giving plenty of examples is a moreeffective way of helping you develop the ability to communicate in Italianthan giving you lists of rules with just one or two examples

At the end of each unit there are several sets of exercises If you workthrough these you will find that they consolidate your understanding of thevarious points introduced in the unit and also that they give you the con-fidence to have a go at expressing yourself in a range of situations andcontexts

The aim of the examples and exercises is to strengthen awareness of thespecific points dealt with in the unit they are not intended to cover all thepossible uses of a given word or grammatical structure

At the end of the book there is a key to all the exercises and a glossary ofgrammatical terms with examples

SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

f femininefp feminine pluralfs feminine singularlit literallym masculinemp masculine pluralms masculine singularpl pluralsing singular

Square brackets indicate an explanatory comment attached to an exampleeg

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono Thatrsquos Luisa on the phone[ie she has just rung]Quanto zucchero [ms] vuoi How much sugar do you wantlsquoDovrsquoegrave Annarsquo lsquoNo lo sorsquo lsquoWherersquos Annarsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo

[lit I donrsquot know it]

Round brackets in an example show that the material in brackets is optionaleg

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo lsquoHave you got the booksrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got themrsquo

Ne ho mangiati due I ate two (of them)A chi scrivete Who(m) are you writing to

Round brackets round an entire sentence show that while possible this is aformal form that is not often used eg

( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco) Are you leaving( Mr and MrsBianco)

A slash shows alternative ways of saying something eg

Gli dicoDico loro la veritagrave I tell them the truth (Here gli dico and dicoloro are alternative ways of saying lsquoI tell themrsquo)Non mi sembra giusto It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot think itrsquos fair(Here the English sentences are alternatives to one another)

Signs and abbreviations ix

UNIT ONENouns gender and number

Gender masculine and feminine

1 All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine The best way to remem-ber the gender of a noun is to learn it along with its definite article (ie theword meaning lsquothersquo) In this unit nouns will therefore be given along withtheir definite articles but there will be no discussion of the articles as suchDefinite and indefinite articles are the subject of Unit 2

Most nouns in the singular end in -o -a or -e

2 Italian nouns ending in -o are usually masculine

3 Italian nouns ending in -a are usually feminine

4 Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine Unless anoun ending in -e denotes a person whose gender is defined (eg lsquohusbandrsquolsquowifersquo) there are virtually no rules to determine its gender which must there-fore be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

lrsquouomo [m]il fratello [m]il pomeriggio [m]il treno [m]

manbrotherafternoontrain

la donna [f]la sorella [f]la sera [f]la bicicletta [f]

womansistereveningbicycle

To help you to determine the gender of some nouns ending in -e here is arule nouns ending in -sione or -zione are feminine

Sometimes the gender of a noun ending in -e can be determined by thegender of the person it refers to masculine when it refers to a male femininewhen it refers to a female

5 Some nouns ending in -a and referring to persons are masculine when theyrefer to a male and feminine when they refer to a female

There are some exceptions eg la persona (person) and la guida (touristguide) are always feminine even when they refer to a male while the feminineof il poeta (poet) is la poetessa

6 There are some nouns ending in -a which are masculine and some nounsending in -o which are feminine

Masculineil padreil ristoranteil saleil cognome

fatherrestaurantsaltsurname

Femininela madrela nottela lucela chiave

mothernightlightkey

la televisione [f]la pensione [f]la produzione [f]la stazione [f]

televisionpensionproductionstation

illa cantante [mf]illa cliente [mf]illa parente [mf]lrsquoinglese [mf]

(malefemale) singer(malefemale) customer(malefemale) relativeEnglishmanEnglishwoman

illa collega [mf]lrsquoatleta [mf]illa batterista [mf]illa pianista [mf]

(malefemale) colleague(malefemale) athlete(malefemale) drummer(malefemale) pianist

Masculineil cinemail papagraveil problema

cinemadadproblem

Femininelrsquoautola fotola mano

carphotohand

2 Unit 1

Some nouns of this type are abbreviations and have kept the gender of thefull word cinema stands for cinematografo [m] auto for automobile [f] fotofor fotografia [f] etc Such cases apart there is no rule for determining genderwhich has to be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

7 Some nouns end in -i The vast majority are feminine but there aresome exceptions

Two exceptions are lrsquoalibi (alibi) and lo sci (ski) which are masculine

8 Foreign nouns unless they refer to a female are generally masculine

9 Occasionally the gender of a foreign noun is the same as it is for thecorresponding Italian word

la new wave is feminine because onda (wave) is femininela mail (e-mail message) is feminine because posta (mail) is feminine

10 The following rules can help in determining the gender of nouns

bull All months of the year and days of the week are masculine apart fromdomenica (Sunday) which is feminine

bull All names of towns and cities are feminine apart from Il Cairo [m]bull All names of languages are masculinebull Names of countries are normally feminine when they end in -a and

masculine when they end in any other letter

lrsquoanalisi [f]lrsquoipotesi [f]la crisi [f]

analysishypothesiscrisis

il bar [m]il camion [m]il rock [m]lrsquohostess [f]

barlorryrock (music)stewardess

la Francia [f]la Spagna [f]il Belgio [m]il Paraguay [m]

FranceSpainBelgiumParaguay

Unit 1 3

Number singular and plural

11 Masculine nouns ending in -o and all nouns ending in -e end in -i in theplural

Nouns ending in -ie have only one -i in the plural

12 Nouns ending in -io have only one i in the plural But if the -i is stressed(-io) the plural has two (-ii)

13 Feminine nouns ending in -a take -e in the plural

14 Masculine nouns ending in -a take -i in the plural

15 When a noun ending in -a denotes a person its plural ending depends onwhether it is masculine or feminine If it refers to a male the plural ends in -iif it refers to a female the plural ends in -e

Singularil treno [m]il nome [m]la notte [f]la stazione [f]la pensione [f]illa parente [mf]la moglie [f]

trainnamenounnightstationpensionrelativewife

Plurali trenii nomile nottile stazionile pensioniile parentile mogli

trainsnamesnounsnightsstationspensionsrelativeswives

Singularil bacio [m]il desiderio [m]lrsquoinizio [m]lo zio [m]il mormorio [m]

kisswishbeginningunclemurmur

Plurali bacii desiderigli inizigli ziii mormorii

kisseswishesbeginningsunclesmurmurs

Singularla sorella [f]la lettera [f]la sera [f]

sisterletterevening

Pluralle sorellele letterele sere

sisterslettersevenings

Singularil problema [m]il sistema [m]

problemsystem

Plurali problemii sistemi

problemssystems

4 Unit 1

For an explanation of the -h- in these endings see paragraph 20 below

16 Nouns ending in -i do not change in the plural

17 Foreign nouns and nouns stressed on the last vowel do not change in theplural

18 A number of nouns are irregular in the plural Eg la mano [f] (hand)becomes le mani in the plural lrsquouomo [m] (man) becomes gli uomini in theplural Here are some nouns which do not change in the plural because theyare abbreviations (cf above paragraph 6)

Some nouns are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural Here area few

Singularil pianista [m] (male) pianistla pianista [f] (female) pianistil collega [m] (male) colleaguela collega [f] (female) colleague

Plurali pianisti [m] (male) pianistsle pianiste [f] (female) pianistsi colleghi [m] (male) colleaguesle colleghe [f] (female) colleagues

Singularlrsquoanalisi [f]la crisi [f]

analysiscrisis

Pluralle analisile crisi

analysescrises

Singularil bar [m]lo sport [m]la cittagrave [f]la virtugrave [f]

barsportcityvirtue

Plurali bargli sportle cittagravele virtugrave

barssportscitiesvirtues

Singularlrsquoauto [f]la radio [f]la moto [f]la foto [f]il cinema [m]

carradiomotorbikephotocinema

Pluralle autole radiole motole fotoi cinema

carsradiosmotorbikesphotoscinemas

Singularil dito [m]il centinaio [m]il migliaio [m]il miglio [m]il paio [m]lrsquouovo [m]

finger(about) a hundred(about) a thousandmilepairegg

Pluralle dita [f]le centinaia [f]le migliaia [f]le miglia [f]le paia [f]le uova [f]

fingershundredsthousandsmilespairseggs

Unit 1 5

19 Note that in Italian the masculine form of a noun is also used when thegender is not important A noun in the plural may therefore designate anyone of three different sets of people

Spelling

Care is needed in spelling some plurals

20 Nouns ending in -ca or -ga always add h (-che or -ghe) in order to keepthe hard sound of c and g in the plural We saw the example of illa collega inparagraph 15 Here are some more

21 Nouns ending in -co and -go normally add h (-chi or -ghi) and keep thehard sound but some nouns change the sound of c and g in the plural (-ci or-gi) It is always best to check in a dictionary

gli amici

gli insegnanti

i colleghi

either a specific set of male friends [as in lsquoYour friends(Luigi and Giovanni) have arrivedrsquo]or a specific mixed set of male and female friends [as inlsquoYour friends (Luigi and Anna) have arrivedrsquo]or friends in general [whether male and female does notmatter as in lsquoEverybody needs friendsrsquo]either a specific set of male teachersor a specific mixed set of male and female teachersor teachers in general [regardless of gender]either a specific set of male colleaguesor a specific mixed set of male and female colleaguesor colleagues in general [regardless of gender]

Singularlrsquoamica [f]la tasca [f]la riga [f]

(female) friendpocketline ruler

Pluralle amichele taschele righe

(female) friendspocketslines rulers

Singularil bosco [m]il gioco [m]il parco [m]il lago [m]lrsquoamico [m]il medico [m]il biologo [m]

woodgameparklake(male) frienddoctorbiologist

Plurali boschii giochii parchii laghigli amicii medicii biologi

woodsgamesparkslakes(male) friendsdoctorsbiologists

6 Unit 1

22 Nouns ending in -cia or -gia keep the i in the plural (-cie or -gie) when the iis stressed or when c or g is preceded by a vowel But if -cia or -gia ispreceded by a consonant the i is lost in the plural

Exercise 1

With the help of a dictionary where necessary decide what gender the nounsare and write m f or mf after each one

Examples la notte f illa pianista mf il fratello m

Exercise 2

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the plurals of thenouns

Examples la notte le notti il nome i nomi il treno i trenila sera le sere

Singularla farmacia [f]la bugia [f]la camicia [f]la ciliegia [f]lrsquoarancia [f]la doccia [f]la spiaggia [f]

pharmacylieshirtblousecherryorangeshowerbeach

Pluralle farmaciele bugiele camiciele ciliegiele arancele doccele spiagge

pharmaciesliesshirtsblousescherriesorangesshowersbeaches

1 il giorno mdashmdash2 la sera mdashmdash3 lrsquouomo mdashmdash4 lrsquoinfermiera mdashmdash5 la stanza mdashmdash6 lrsquoorecchio mdashmdash7 il caffegrave mdashmdash8 lo zucchero mdashmdash9 il fiume mdashmdash

10 lrsquoolandese mdashmdash

11 lrsquouovo mdashmdash12 la camicia mdashmdash13 lrsquoatleta mdashmdash14 lrsquoanimale mdashmdash15 la strada mdashmdash16 lrsquoacqua mdashmdash17 lrsquoabitante mdashmdash18 lrsquoocchio mdashmdash19 il sole mdashmdash20 la canzone mdashmdash

Unit 1 7

Exercise 3

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the singulars of thenouns

Examples la casa le case il libro i libri il mese i mesila moglie le mogli

1 il ragazzo2 la marca3 la chiave4 lrsquoabitante5 lo zio6 il fiume7 la stazione8 la ragazza9 lrsquoenergia

10 il pomeriggio

i mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

11 la banca12 il pianista13 la cliente14 lrsquoindirizzo15 lrsquoocchio16 il ristorante17 la televisione18 il calendario19 il francese20 il lago

le mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

1 il mdashmdashmdashmdash2 la mdashmdashmdashmdash3 il mdashmdashmdashmdash4 la mdashmdashmdashmdash5 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash6 il mdashmdashmdashmdash7 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash8 la mdashmdashmdashmdash9 la mdashmdashmdashmdash

10 il mdashmdashmdashmdash

i nomile viei figlile manile opinionii clientigli occhile personele marchei problemi

11 la mdashmdashmdashmdash12 il mdashmdashmdashmdash13 il mdashmdashmdashmdash14 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash15 il mdashmdashmdashmdash16 la mdashmdashmdashmdash17 il mdashmdashmdashmdash18 il mdashmdashmdashmdash19 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash20 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash

le ciliegiei caffegravei medicigli attivistile ginocchiale bugiei tedeschii testgli uominile amiche

8 Unit 1

UNIT TWODefinite and indefinite articles

Definite article

1 In Italian the definite article (English lsquothersquo) has different forms dependingon the gender (masculinefeminine) and number (singularplural) of the fol-lowing word and on the letter (or sound) with which the following wordbegins Here are the forms

2 The feminine forms are used before feminine words la and lrsquo for the singu-lar and le for the plural

la is used before words beginning with a consonantlrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel (a e i o u) or hle is used as the plural for both la and lrsquo

3 There are three different forms for the masculine singular il lo and lrsquo andtwo for the plural i and gli All these forms are used before masculine words

Feminine

Masculine

Singularlalrsquoillolrsquo

Pluralleleigligli

the

Singularla ragazzala casala stanzalrsquoautolrsquoesperienzalrsquohostess

Pluralle ragazzele casele stanzele autole esperienzele hostess

the girl(s)the house(s)the room(s)the car(s)the experience(s)the stewardess(es)

lrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or hlo is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantil is used in all other casesi is used as the plural of ilgli is used as the plural of both lrsquo and lo

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of chef pronounced in Italian asin English (ie lsquoshrsquo)

Lo is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of juventino pronounced asi + vowel (ie like the lsquoyrsquo in English lsquoyouthrsquo)

4 Care is needed in using the article with nouns ending in -e or -a which canrefer both to male or female persons (see Unit 1 paragraphs 4 and 5)

Singularlrsquoarticololrsquouomolrsquohotello ziolo gnomolo psicologolo cheflo spettacololo scioperoil baril ristoranteil senso

Pluralgli articoligli uominigli hotelgli ziigli gnomigli psicologigli chefgli spettacoligli scioperii bari ristorantii sensi

the article(s)the manmenthe hotel(s)the uncle(s)the gnome(s)the psychologist(s)the chef(s)the show(s)the strike(s)the bar(s)the restaurant(s)the sense(s)

Singularlo ionelo yuppielo xenofobolo juventino

Pluralgli ionigli yuppiegli xenofobigli juventini

the ion(s)the yuppie(s)the xenophobe(s)the Juventus fan(s)

Singularil cantante [m]

la cantante [f]

the (male)singer

the (female)singer

Plurali cantanti [m]

le cantanti [f]

the singers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) singers

10 Unit 2

Remember that as we saw in Unit 1 paragraph 19 the masculine plural formcan also denote a class of people in general as well as a group of males or amixed group of males and females eg i cantanti [m] can denote either agroup of male singers or a mixed group of male and female singers or singersin general

Indefinite article

5 Like the definite article the indefinite article (English lsquoaanrsquo) has differentforms depending on the gender of the word it refers to and the letter (orsound) with which the following word begins There is no plural for theindefinite article Here are the forms

6 The feminine forms unrsquo and una are used before feminine words

unrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or huna is used before words beginning with a consonant

Singularlrsquoinsegnante [m]

lrsquoinsegnante [f]

il collega [m]

la collega [f]

lrsquoatleta [m]

lrsquoatleta [f]

the (male)teacher

the (female)teacher

the (male)colleague

the (female)colleague

the (male)athlete

the (female)athlete

Pluralgli insegnanti [m]

le insegnanti [f]

i colleghi [m]

le colleghe [f]

gli atleti [m]

le atlete [f]

the teachers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) teachers

the colleagues [maleor male andfemale mixed]

the (female)colleagues

the athletes [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) athletes

Feminine

Masculine

unrsquounaununo

aan

unrsquoautounrsquoesperienzaunrsquohostess

a caran experiencea stewardess

Unit 2 11

7 The masculine forms uno and un are used before masculine words

uno is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantun is used before all other words

Uno (like lo) is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

8 As with the definite article care is needed in choosing the right article touse with nouns ending in -e or -a which can refer to either male or femalepersons

In the case of nouns starting with a vowel the only difference between thearticles is the apostrophe

una ragazzauna casauna stanza

a girla housea room

uno ziouno gnomouno psicologouno chefuno spettacoloun articoloun uomoun hobbyun barun ristoranteun senso

an unclea gnomea psychologista chefa showan articlea mana hobbya bara restauranta sense

uno ioneuno yuppieuno xenofobouno juventino

an iona yuppiea xenophobea Juventus fan

un cantante [m]una cantante [f]un insegnante [m]unrsquoinsegnante [f]un collega [m]una collega [f]un atleta [m]unrsquoatleta [f]

a singer (male)a singer (female)a teacher (male)a teacher (female)a colleague (male)a colleague (female)an athlete (male)an athlete (female)

12 Unit 2

9 It may be useful to compare the use of the definite and indefinite article intable form

Use of the articles

10 The use of the articles is often the same in Italian as in English but thereare cases (mostly concerning the definite article) where the two languagesdiffer Here are the most common instances

bull In Italian the definite article is used before a noun used in a generalsense

bull Italian uses the definite article before a title followed by a surnameexcept when addressing the person directly

Note that some masculine titles notably Signore Professore and Dottoredrop the final vowel when used before the name of the person becomingSignor Professor Dottor etc

bull The Italian definite article is always used with years eg il 1990 il 2000bull The definite article is normally used in Italian with names of countries

and regions eg lrsquoInghilterra (England) la Toscana (Tuscany) il Porto-gallo (Portugal) lrsquoEuropa (Europe) But the rule may be different whenusing a preposition eg in Italia (in Italy) (see Unit 8 paragraph 14)

Masculineun is used when il and lrsquo are useduno is used when lo is used

Feminineunrsquo is used when lrsquo is useduna is used when la is used

Amo la musica rockle vacanzeLa musica rock egrave popolareLe vacanze sono sempre troppo corteIl tempo volaLe auto inquinano lrsquoambienteLa disoccupazione egrave diffusa

I love rock musicholidaysRock music is popularHolidays are always too shortTime fliesCars pollute the environmentUnemployment is widespread

La Signora Urbani egrave gentileLa Dottoressa Vanni non crsquoegraveIl Dottor Marchi egrave occupatoBuongiorno Signor CarliBuongiorno DottoreScusi Signore

MrsMs Urbani is kindDoctor Vanni isnrsquot hereDoctor Marchi is busyGood morning Mr CarliGood morning DoctorExcuse me( Sir)

Unit 2 13

11 In some cases a definite article is used in Italian where an indefinite article(or a possessive adjective ndash see Unit 3) is used in English Here are someinstances

There are also cases when there is no article in Italian but the definite orindefinite article is used in English

Definite and indefinite article before an adjective

12 As we shall see (Unit 3) a noun can sometimes be preceded by an adjec-tive so that the adjective comes between the article and the noun (eg unabella donna a beautiful woman) In such cases the form of the articledepends on the spelling of the adjective not the noun

Antonio ha il naso lungoHai la patenteAvete lrsquoombrelloHo il raffreddoreDove passi le vacanze di solito

Di pomeriggio faccio il compitoHai il biglietto

Antonio has a long noseHave you got a driving licenceHave you got an umbrellaI have got a coldWhere do you normally spend your

holidaysIn the afternoon I do my homeworkHave you got ayour ticket

Andiamo in montagnaStasera andiamo a teatroAccompagno Anna in aeroportoAndiamo in macchinaCarlo egrave medicoSono studenteNon ha marito

Wersquore going to the mountainsWersquore going to the theatre this eveningIrsquom taking Anna to the airportWersquore going in thea carCarlo is a doctorIrsquom a studentShe hasnrsquot got a husband

la casauna casalrsquoautounrsquoauto

the housea housethe cara car

lrsquoultima casaunrsquoottima casala prima autouna bella auto

the last housean excellent housethe first cara beautiful car

14 Unit 2

Exercise 1

Insert the definite article before the nouns

Examples lrsquoacqua la stanza le esperienze il ristorante lo ziogli uomini

Exercise 2

Insert the indefinite article before the nouns

Examples unrsquoauto una ragazza un articolo uno spettacoloun insegnante [m] unrsquoatleta [f]

1 mdashmdash figlia2 mdashmdash zia3 mdashmdash problema4 mdashmdash mano5 mdashmdash auto6 mdashmdash fratello7 mdashmdash libri8 mdashmdash entrata9 mdashmdash studio

10 mdashmdash zii

11 mdashmdash notti12 mdashmdash sport13 mdashmdash uovo14 mdashmdash xenofobia15 mdashmdash tivugrave16 mdashmdash amici17 mdashmdash pianiste18 mdashmdash dita19 mdashmdash crisi20 mdashmdash inglese

1 mdashmdash sorella2 mdashmdash ciliegia3 mdashmdash amico4 mdashmdash zio5 mdashmdash zia6 mdashmdash aereo7 mdashmdash amica8 mdashmdash cantante [f]9 mdashmdash migliaio

10 mdashmdash specchio

11 mdashmdash arancia12 mdashmdash psichiatra [m]13 mdashmdash sigaretta14 mdashmdash insegnante [f]15 mdashmdash gnu16 mdashmdash artista [m]17 mdashmdash sbaglio18 mdashmdash figlio19 mdashmdash yogurt20 mdashmdash analisi

Unit 2 15

Exercise 3

Insert the correct article in the blank spaces

Example Maria ha una casa (Maria has a house)

1 mdashmdash zio di Maria arriva domani (Mariarsquos uncle arrives tomorrow)2 Paolo scrive mdashmdash lettera (Paolo is writing a letter)3 Hai mdashmdash mani pulite (Have you got clean hands)4 Egrave mdashmdash amica di Patrizia (Shersquos a friend of Patriziarsquos)5 Laura non ha mdashmdash patente (Laura hasnrsquot got a driving licence)6 Crsquoegrave mdashmdash Signor Totti (Is Mr Totti here)7 Egrave mdashmdash insegnante molto capace (Shersquos a very capable teacher)8 mdashmdash inquinamento egrave mdashmdash problema preoccupante (Pollution is a

worrying problem)9 mdashmdash nuovo stadio egrave piugrave grande (The new stadium is bigger)

10 Ho mdashmdash stesso CD (Irsquove got the same CD)

16 Unit 2

UNIT THREEAdjectives possessive and demonstrativepronouns

1 Adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun theyrefer to if the noun is masculine singular the adjective must be masculinesingular if the noun is feminine singular the adjective must be feminine singu-lar etc Adjectives therefore change their forms accordingly But rememberthat when an adjective is listed in a dictionary or a grammar it is given in itsmasculine singular form In the masculine singular most Italian adjectivesend in -o or in -e

2 Adjectives ending in -o have four different forms -o for the masculinesingular (italiano) -a for feminine singular (italiana) -i for the masculineplural (italiani) and -e for the feminine plural (italiane)

3 Adjectives ending in -e have only two forms -e for the masculine andfeminine singular (francese) and -i for the masculine and feminine plural(francesi) With adjectives ending in -e there is thus no difference between themasculine and the feminine form

italianonuovofrancesegrande

ItaliannewFrenchbig

lrsquoarbitro [ms] italianogli arbitri [mp] italianila cameriera [fs] italianale cameriere [fp] italianelo stadio [ms] nuovogli stadi [mp] nuovila casa [fs] nuovale case [fp] nuove

the Italian refereethe Italian refereesthe Italian waitressthe Italian waitressesthe new stadiumthe new stadiastadiumsthe new housethe new houses

4 Some adjectives end in -a like the following

These adjectives have three forms -a for the masculine and feminine singular(ottimista) -i for the masculine plural (ottimisti) and -e for the feminine plural(ottimiste) There is thus only one form for the masculine and femininesingular

For an explanation of the -h- in belghe see paragraph 6 below

5 There are also some invariable adjectives eg blu (dark blue) rosa (pink)dispari (odd) pari (even) which do not change

6 Care is needed in spelling the plural of adjectives ending in -co and -goThere is no fixed rule for the masculine forms which may keep the hard

lrsquoarbitro [ms] francesegli arbitri [mp] francesila cameriera [fs] francesele cameriere [fp] francesilo stadio [ms] grandegli stadi [mp] grandila casa [fs] grandele case [fp] grandi

the French refereethe French refereesthe French waitressthe French waitressesthe big stadiumthe big stadiastadiumsthe big housethe big houses

ottimistapacifistabelgaentusiastaidiota

optimisticpacifistBelgianenthusiasticidiotic

il corteo [ms] pacifistalrsquoidea [fs] pacifistai cortei [mp] pacifistile idee [fp] pacifisteil ragazzo [ms] belgala ragazza [fs] belgai ragazzi [mp] belgile ragazze [fp] belghe

the pacifist rallythe pacifist ideathe pacifist ralliesthe pacifist ideasthe Belgian boythe Belgian girlthe Belgian boysthe Belgian girls

il vestito rosala penna blui numeri disparile pagine pari

the pink garmentdresssuitthe blue penthe odd numbersthe even pages

18 Unit 3

sound of c and g and add h (-chi -ghi) or change the sound of c and g in theplural (-ci -gi) The feminine plural forms always add h (-che -ghe) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g If in doubt check in a dictionary the bestway to remember these sorts of plural is through practice

The adjective belga as we have seen keeps the hard sound of g in the femi-nine plural by adding h (belghe) but it changes the sound in the masculineplural (belgi)

7 As can be seen in the examples the adjective normally comes after thenoun it refers to and (unless it is invariable) it must agree in gender andnumber with the noun It must also agree in gender and number withthe noun even where it is separated from it by another word such as averb

When the adjective refers to two or more nouns which are different in genderit is masculine plural

8 In some cases the adjective can also precede the noun it refers to When theadjective comes before the noun the meaning of the noun becomes differentas in these examples

Masculinesingulargrecopraticopubblicoriccofrescolargo

Masculinepluralgrecipraticipubbliciricchifreschilarghi

Femininesingulargrecapraticapubblicariccafrescalarga

Femininepluralgrechepratichepubblichericchefreschelarghe

Greekpracticalpublicrichfreshwide

Lorenzo egrave italianoLorenzo e Vittorio sono italianiAnna egrave italianaAnna e Claudia sono italiane

Lorenzo is ItalianLorenzo and Vittorio are ItalianAnna is ItalianAnna and Claudia are Italian

Lorenzo Anna e Claudia sonoitaliani

Sabine e Kurt sono tedeschiIl computer e la stampante sono

nuoviIl bagno e la cucina sono piccoli

I pantaloni e la camicia sono nuovi

Lorenzo Anna and Claudia areItalian

Sabine and Kurt are GermanThe computer and the printer are new

The bathroom and the kitchen aresmall

The trousers and the shirt are new

Unit 3 19

9 The demonstrative adjectives questo (this) and quello (that) like theirEnglish counterparts always precede the noun they refer to

For an explanation of the forms of quello see paragraph 10

10 The forms of the adjectives quello and bello (beautifulhandsomenice-fine) change in the same way as the definite article Here are the formsfollowed in brackets by the corresponding forms of the definite article

The feminine singular form bellrsquo is rarely used and bella is preferred evenbefore a vowel

Note that when bello comes after the noun the full form is used lo spettacoloegrave bello unrsquoesperienza bella e interessante etc

un vecchio amicoun amico vecchiola povera donnala donna povera

an old [ie long-standing] friendan oldelderly friend [ie a friend who is old]the poor [ie unfortunate] womanthe poor woman [ie she has no money]

questo ragazzoquesta ragazzaquesti ragazziqueste ragazzequel ragazzoquella ragazzaquei ragazziquelle ragazze

this boythis girlthese boysthese girlsthat boythat girlthose boysthose girls

Masculine

Feminine

Singularquelbelquellobelloquellrsquobellrsquoquellabellaquellrsquobellrsquo

(il)(lo)(lrsquo)(la)(lrsquo)

Pluralqueibeiqueglibegliqueglibegliquellebellequellebelle

(i)(gli)(gli)(le)(le)

quel filmbello spettacoloquellrsquoesempioquella canzonebella esperienzaquel bel film

that filmlovely showthat examplethat songbeautiful experiencethat beautiful film

bei filmquegli spettacolibegli esempibelle canzoniquelle esperienzequei bei film

beautiful filmsthose showsfine examplesbeautiful songsthose experiencesthose beautiful

films

20 Unit 3

11 The forms of the adjective buono (good) when used before a singularnoun change in the same way as the indefinite article

Nowadays the form buona is preferred to buonrsquo

Note that when buono comes after the noun the full form is used questolibro egrave buono il caffegrave egrave buono etc

12 The adjective grande (biggreat) when used before the noun may changeto the invariable form gran or in some expressions to grandrsquo nowadays thefull form grande is preferred in most cases

Note that before plural nouns grande is regular grandi musicisti grandi caseetc

Note also that when grande comes after the noun the full form is alwaysused quel film egrave grande la casa egrave grande etc

13 The adjective santo (saint) is another that has different forms when usedbefore a noun

santo is only used before masculine names starting with s + consonantsan is used before masculine names starting with a consonant (other than

s + consonant)santrsquo is used before masculine or feminine names starting with a vowelsanta is used before feminine names starting with a consonant

Masculine

Feminine

buonbuonobuonrsquobuonabuona

(un)(uno)(unrsquo)(una)

buon librobuon amicobuon caffegravebuono studente

good bookgood friendgood coffeegood student

buona ideabuona esperienzabuona memoria

good ideagood experiencegood memory

grande musicistagrande filmgrande casa

grande amico

grande idea[sometimes] grande

uomo

gran musicistagran filmgran casaGran Bretagna[sometimes] grandrsquoamicogran

amico[sometimes] grandrsquoideagran ideagrandrsquouomo

great musiciangreat filmbig houseGreat Britaingreat friend

great ideagreat man

Unit 3 21

Note that when santo means lsquoholyrsquo or lsquoblessedrsquo it is regular il santo padre(the Holy Father) una santa donna (a holy woman)

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

14 The forms of the possessive adjectives (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquo etc) are asfollows

Note that the masculine plural forms miei tuoi and suoi are irregular Note that loro is invariable and does not change

Possessive adjectives are always used before the noun they refer to Unlike inEnglish they are always preceded by the article and they must agree with theowned object not with the owner

15 When mio tuo suo nostro and vostro (not loro) are used with a noundenoting family relationship (eg fratello (brother) sorella (sister) padre(father) madre (mother) ) in the singular they are not preceded by the definitearticle

Santo StefanoSan FrancescoSan Pietro

Saint StephenSaint FrancisSaint Peter

SantrsquoAntonioSantrsquoAnnaSanta Caterina

Saint AnthonySaint AnneSaint Catherine

Masculinesingularmiotuosuonostrovostroloro

Femininesingularmiatuasuanostravostraloro

Masculinepluralmieituoisuoinostrivostriloro

Femininepluralmietuesuenostrevostreloro

myyourhisheritsouryourtheir

Luisa e i suoi fratelli [mp]Carlo e le sue sorelle [fp]Livia e il suo amico [ms]Ettore e la sua amica [fs]la mia lettera [fs]i tuoi libri [mp]la nostra scuola [fs]le vostre idee [fp]la loro stanza [fs]i loro genitori [mp]

Luisa and her brothersCarlo and his sistersLivia and her (male) friendEttore and his (female) friendmy letteryour booksour schoolyour ideastheir roomtheir parents

22 Unit 3

16 The forms of the possessive pronouns (lsquominersquo lsquoyoursrsquo etc) are the sameas those of the possessive adjectives and are always preceded by the definitearticle

17 As we shall see (Unit 4 paragraph 5) in Italian there is a form used toaddress people formally In the formal way of addressing people the posses-sive adjectives and pronouns used are Suo for the singular and Vostro (orLoro if a higher degree of formality is required) for the plural

mio padretua madretuo fratellosua ziai tuoi fratelli [pl]le sue zie [pl]il loro padre

my fatheryour motheryour brotherhisher auntyour brothershisher auntstheir father

Masculinesingularil mioil tuoil suoil nostroil vostroil loro

Femininesingularla miala tuala suala nostrala vostrala loro

Masculineplurali mieii tuoii suoii nostrii vostrii loro

Femininepluralle miele tuele suele nostrele vostrele loro

mineyourshishersitsoursyourstheirs

La tua casa egrave grande ma la loro egravepiccola

I tuoi CD sono qui i nostri sono ligrave

Your house is big but theirs is small

Your CDs are here ours are there

AdjectivesLa Sua auto egrave pronta Signora FerreroEcco i Suoi libri SignoreSignori Bianco la Vostra stanza egrave

pronta(Signori Bianco la Loro stanza egrave

pronta)

Your carrsquos ready Mrs FerreroHere are your books( Sir)

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) your roomis ready

PronounsLa loro auto egrave in strada ma la Sua egrave

in garage SignoraProfessore questi libri sono i Suoi

Their carrsquos in the street but yoursis in the garage( Madam)

These books are yours( ProfessorSir)

Unit 3 23

Demonstrative pronouns

18 Questo and quello are also used as demonstrative pronouns (this (one)that (one) these (ones) those (ones) ) But note that when quello is used as ademonstrative pronoun its endings are not modelled on the definite article(cf paragraph 10) but are the same as those of questo (ie quello [ms] quella[fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp])

Exercise 1

Complete the phrases by choosing the form of the adjective that agrees withthe noun

Examples le ragazze (italiano) italiane (quello) acqua (caldo) quellrsquocalda

1 un libro (interessante) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 la gonna (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 i vestiti (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 le camicie (rosso) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 gli insegnanti (egoista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 un (bello) albero mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 un collega (razzista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 le situazioni (comico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 le donne (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 i capelli (lungo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Questa stanza egrave la Vostra SignoriBianco

(Questa stanza egrave la Loro SignoriBianco)

This room is yours( Mr and MrsBianco)

(This room is yours Mr and MrsBianco)

Questa egrave AnnaQuesta egrave la tua stanza e quella egrave la

miaQuesti sono gli eserciziQuello egrave il nuovo computerQuelle sono le AlpiQuesti biscotti sono buoni ma

preferisco quelli

This is AnnaThis is my room and that onersquos

yoursThese are the exercisesThat is the new computerThose are the AlpsThese biscuits are nice but I prefer

those

24 Unit 3

11 (quello) ragazzo (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 (questo) esercizi (facile) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 (quello) (bello) specchi mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 (questo) (bello) donne mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 (quello) alberi (morto) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 (questo) amici (inglese)mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 (quello) attiviste (spagnolo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 (quello) (bello) attore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 (quello) uova (fresco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 (quello) turisti (greco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Exercise 2

Choose the right adjective for each noun or pair of nouns

Examples Queste scarpe sono (rossanuovebelli) nuove Anna e Francosono (franceseitalianeitaliani) italiani

1 La casa egrave (vecchionuovigrande) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 Ho un vestito (rosanuovalunghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 Le professoresse sono (intelligentefrancesinoiosa) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 La crisi egrave (serioseviolentigrave) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 I colleghi (italianeottimistapacifisti) arrivano domani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 Queste macchine sono (velocenuovitedesche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 Questo bambino egrave (capricciosepigrobeneducata) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 Quei film sono (inglesedivertentelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 Le cameriere sono (giovanegrecabelghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 Il pianista non egrave (stancabelgavecchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 Ho le dita (pulitisporchelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 Quel signore ha un carattere (simpatichecortesienergico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 Questi blue-jeans sono (resistentipraticheamericana) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 Le maglie sono (vecchioblubianchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 Le cantanti sono (spagnolitedeschiscozzesi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 Il treno e lrsquoauto sono (velociinquinantecomodo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 Paola Claudia e Anna sono (italianibellisimpatiche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 Claudio e Patrizia sono (gentileitalianicontenta) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 Gianfranco Piero e Giorgio sono (feliceottimistiitaliane) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 I signori e le signore sono (soddisfattigrecoaffollate) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Unit 3 25

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences by adding the correct form of the possessive adjectiveand where necessary the article

Examples Conosco Luisa e (suo) fratelli i suoi (Mio) madre egrave bella Mia

1 (Loro) bambini sono cortesi mdashmdashmdash2 (Suo) occhi sono blu mdashmdashmdash3 Questa egrave (mio) bici mdashmdashmdash4 Quanti anni hanno (tuo) sorelle mdashmdashmdash5 (Vostro) macchina egrave nuova mdashmdashmdash6 (Nostro) lavoro egrave interessante mdashmdashmdash7 (Mio) amici sono in vacanza mdashmdashmdash8 (Loro) casa egrave grande mdashmdashmdash9 (Tuo) madre egrave simpatica mdashmdashmdash

10 Grazie per (Suo) lettera Signore mdashmdashmdash

Exercise 4

Answer the questions using possessive pronouns

Example lsquoEgrave la Sua macchina Signor Rossirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave la miarsquo

1 lsquoEgrave il cellulare di Annarsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo2 lsquoEgrave la Vostra casa Signori Zolarsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo3 lsquoSono i miei CDrsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo4 lsquoEgrave il Suo ufficiorsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoSono i suoi librirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoSono le mie letterersquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoEgrave la casa dei tuoi amicirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoSono i nostri vestitirsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo9 lsquoSono le camicie di Paolorsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoSono i vostri bagaglirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

26 Unit 3

Exercise 5

Complete the sentences by choosing the right form of the adjectives andpronouns

Example (Questo) non egrave (tuo) stanza egrave (mio) Questa non egrave la tuastanza egrave la mia

1 (Questo) signori sono (nostro) ospiti (tedesco)2 (Suo) colleghi sono (ottimista) Signora3 (Questo) sono (vostro) stanze4 Io ho (mio) documenti Lei ha (Suo) Signore5 (Questo) sono (mio) CD (quello) sono (tuo)6 (Nostro) professore egrave (entusiasta) comrsquoegrave (vostro)7 (Quello) sono (mio) magliette (questo) sono (tuo)8 (Quello) esercizi sono (divertente) ma (questo) egrave (difficile)9 (Mio) bagagli sono (pesante) ma (vostro) sono (leggero)

10 (Quello) acqua (minerale) egrave (gassato) ma (questo) egrave (liscio)

Unit 3 27

UNIT FOURThe present tense of essere and avere

1 Like their counterparts in many other languages the Italian verbs essere(to be) and avere (to have) are irregular Here are the forms of the presenttense

As shown in the examples it is not usually necessary to use the subject pro-nouns before the verb since the forms for the different persons are different ndashsei can only be second person singular (tu) siete can only be second personplural (voi) etc Even with sono the context always shows whether it means lsquoIamrsquo or lsquothey arersquo

The pronoun is only required for emphasis or to mark a contrast

Essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

To beI amyou [sing] arehesheit iswe areyou [pl] arethey are

Avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo(voi) avete(loro) hanno

To haveI havehave gotyou [sing] havehave gothesheit hashas gotwe havehave gotyou [pl] havehave gotthey havehave got

Sono medicoSiamo cuginiSiete stranieriPaola e Anna sono alteClaudio egrave mio fratelloHo un cellulareHai il mio indirizzoHanno un esameAnna ha una chitarra nuova

Irsquom a doctorWe are cousinsYou are foreignersPaola and Anna are tallClaudio is my brotherIrsquove got a mobile phoneYou have my addressThey have an examAnnarsquos got a new guitar

Io sono medico e lui egrave insegnanteTu hai una bella bici ma io ho una

macchina

Irsquom a doctor and hersquos a teacherYoursquove got a nice bike but Irsquove got a

car

Subject pronouns

2 The Italian subject pronouns are

For the third person the following pronouns can still be found in some textsbut are not normally used in contemporary Italian

Lui (third person singular pronoun) replaces a masculine noun (like the Eng-lish lsquohersquo) lei replaces a feminine noun (like the English lsquoshersquo)

Lui lei and loro are only used to refer to persons In referring to objectsItalian normally avoids using the obsolete forms esso essa essi esse andomits the pronoun altogether

Interrogative form

3 The interrogative is formed by adding a question mark at the end of thesentence

Person1st2nd3rd3rd

1st2nd3rd

SingulariotuluileiPluralnoivoiloro

Iyouheshe

weyouthey

egli [m] esso [m]ella [f] essa [f]essi [m] esse [f]

instead of the singular luiinstead of the singular leiinstead of the plural loro

Lui egrave Paolo lei egrave AnnalsquoCosrsquoegraversquo lsquoEgrave una chiaversquoEgrave la chitarra di AnnaSono i libri di Paolo

He is Paolo she is AnnalsquoWhat is itrsquo lsquoItrsquos a keyrsquoItrsquos Annarsquos guitarThey are Paolorsquos books

Sei prontoSiete stranieriHai il mio indirizzoAvete amici italianiHanno un esame

Are you readyAre you foreignersHave you got my addressHave you any Italian friendsHave they got an exam

Unit 4 29

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non (ie lsquonotrsquo) before the verb

Formal form

5 In Italian there is a formal way of addressing people which is used withpeople we do not know or when some degree of formality is required Whenthe formal form is required the pronoun used for the singular for both menand women is Lei (third person singular) the pronoun used for the plural isnormally Voi but in situations when a high degree of formality is requiredLoro can be used

6 There are some spelling mistakes involving essere and avere which arecommonly made by learners be careful to remember the followingdifferences

Claudio non egrave mio fratelloNon siamo italianiNon siete stranieriNon hai il mio indirizzoNon hanno un esameNon abbiamo amici italianiNon ho la minima idea di cosa

regalare a Paola

Claudio is not my brotherWersquore not ItalianArenrsquot you foreignersHavenrsquot you got my addressThey donrsquot have an examWe havenrsquot got any Italian friendsI havenrsquot the slightest idea what to

give Paola

Lei egrave molto gentile SignoreLei non egrave troppo alta SignoraSignora Belli (Lei) ha la patente

Professore (Lei) ha tempoSignor Neri (Lei) egrave prontoSignori Conti (Voi) siete italiani (Signori Conti Loro sono italiani)

Yoursquore very kind( Sir)Yoursquore not too tall( Madam)Mrs Belli have you got a driving

licenceHave you got time( ProfessorSir)Mr Neri are you ready

Mr and Mrs Conti are you Italian

egrave (hesheit is)ho (I have)hai (you have)ha (hesheit has)hanno (they have)

e (and)o (or)ai (to the)a (to)anno (year)

30 Unit 4

Use of essere and avere

7 The verbs essere and avere are normally used as the verbs lsquoto bersquo and lsquotohaversquo are used in English Essere is usually followed by an adjective or anoun

Avere is normally followed by a noun (or a noun accompanied by anadjective)

8 The verb avere followed by a noun is also used in a number of idiomaticexpressions which correspond to English expressions using lsquoto bersquo followedby an adjective or an adverbial phrase

Siete studenti [noun]Daniela egrave medico [noun]Tu e Anna siete cugini [noun]Siete gentili [adjective]Gli amici di Paul sono italiani

[adjective]

Are you students [noun]Daniela is a doctor [noun]Are you and Anna cousins [noun]You are kind [adjective]Paulrsquos friends are Italian [adjective]

Hai il libroNon ho tempoAbbiamo molti amiciHanno una casa grandePaolo e io abbiamo una macchina

Have you got the bookI havenrsquot timeWe have a lot of friendsThey have a big housePaolo and I have got a car

avere caldoavere fameavere freddoavere pauraavere ragioneavere seteavere sonnoavere tortoavere fretta

to be hotto be hungryto be coldto be afraidto be rightto be thirstyto be sleepyto be wrongto be in a hurry

Abbiamo fameAvete ragioneMarina ha fretta(Lei) ha sete SignoraNon hai freddo Claudia

We are hungryYoursquore rightMarina is in a hurryAre you thirsty( Madam)Arenrsquot you cold Claudia

Unit 4 31

9 Avere is also used in Italian to express age

Crsquoegrave and ci sono

10 The verb essere is used in the expressions crsquoegrave (there is) followed by asingular noun and ci sono (there are) followed by a plural noun

11 Note that crsquoegrave and ci sono are not usually emphatic So in the Englishsentences in paragraph 10 the voice stress does not fall on lsquotherersquo but on thenoun that follows it (ie on lsquoletterrsquo lsquolittleplenty of timersquo lsquoproblemrsquo etc)Thus crsquoegrave and ci sono sometimes do not correspond to lsquothere isrsquo or lsquothere arersquoas in the following examples

12 The interrogative is formed by simply adding a question mark at the endof the sentence or with a lsquoquestion wordrsquo (see Unit 9)

13 The negative is formed by placing non before crsquoegrave or ci sono

Francesca ha 17 anniIl figlio di Gianni ha un annoQuanti anni hai

Francesca is 17 (years old)Giannirsquos son is oneHow old are you

Crsquoegrave una lettera per teCrsquoegrave poco tempoCrsquoegrave molto tempoCrsquoegrave un problemaCi sono due ingressiNel negozio ci sono molti clienti

Therersquos a letter for youTherersquos littlenot much timeTherersquos plenty of timeTherersquos a problemThere are two entrancesThere are a lot of customers in the shop

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono [ie she hasjust rung]

Ci sono i tuoi amici che ti aspettano[ie they have just arrived]

Luisarsquos on the phone [not TherersquosLuisa on the phone]

Your friends are waiting for you[not There are your friendswaiting for you]

Crsquoegrave il Professor Gatti

Crsquoegrave molto trafficoQuanti ingressi ci sono

Is Professor Gatti thereanywherearound[ie Irsquod like to seetalk to Professor Gatti]

Is there a lot of trafficHow many entrances are there

Non crsquoegrave tempoDomani non crsquoegrave lezioneNon ci sono clienti

There is no timeThere is no class tomorrowThere arenrsquot any customers

32 Unit 4

In Italian the double negative is used non + nessuno

14 Note that in negative sentences giving general information it is moreusual to use the plural non ci sono than the singular non crsquoegrave

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of essere

Example Alberto mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash a Roma egrave

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of avere

Example Jenny e John mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash una figlia hanno

Non crsquoegrave tempoNon ci sono clientiNon crsquoegrave nessuno

Is there no timeArenrsquot there any customersThere is nobody

Non ci sono farmacie Non ci sono scuole Non ci sono artisti nella mia

famiglia

There isnrsquot ais no pharmacyThere arenrsquot anyare no pharmaciesThere isnrsquot ais no schoolThere arenrsquot anyare no schoolsThere arenrsquot anyare no artists in my family

1 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash italiani2 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash scozzese3 (io) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash felice4 Gli studenti mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash in

biblioteca5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto gentili6 Lei mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash medico7 La cena mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash pronta8 I libri mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sulla

scrivania9 Tu e Jim mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amici

10 Paolo e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash giovani11 Gli impiegati mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash gentili12 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash simpatici13 Enrico non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash biondo14 Gli italiani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash allegri15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amica di Giulia16 Laura mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash magra17 Lrsquoesercizio mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash difficile18 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash straniero19 Tu e Billy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stranieri20 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stanca Signora

1 (noi) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo2 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash la macchina3 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molti amici

4 I Signori Illy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash due figli5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash i libri6 Sandro mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sempre fretta

Unit 4 33

Exercise 3

Taking the words in the two columns below write negative and interrogativesentences using the verb avere

Example tu fretta Non hai fretta Hai fretta

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative and negativesentences using the verb essere

Example io italiana Sono italiana Non sono italiana

7 Il professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash moltistudenti

8 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il libro9 Marco e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sete

10 Quanti anni (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il biglietto12 Domenico mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un

fratello13 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un esame14 (loro) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash figli

15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash lrsquoindirizzo diLuca

16 Carlo non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash latelevisione

17 I nostri amici mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash deiproblemi

18 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto lavoro19 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash 16 anni20 Professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo

1 io2 il professore3 la Signorina Berti4 Lei [formal]5 voi6 loro7 Carla e Andrea

ragionecaldosetesonnopaurafreddofame

1 io2 tu3 il dottore4 la professoressa5 Lei [formal]6 noi7 voi8 le tue amiche

stancopigragiovanesimpaticaaltomagreintelligenticontente

34 Unit 4

Exercise 5

Imagine the things in the office using all the words in the list write sentencesusing crsquoegrave or ci sono

Examples una scrivania Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una scrivania quattro sedieNellrsquoufficio ci sono quattro sedie

1 una sedia 2 due poltrone 3 tre computer 4 una stampante 5 un tele-fono 6 la fotocopiatrice 7 due radiatori 8 una porta 9 tre finestre

Exercise 6

Imagine what is in the village using all the words in the list make affirmativeor negative sentences paying attention to the negative form (non ci sono +plural noun)

Example tabaccaio tabaccai In questo paese crsquoegrave un tabaccaio ci sonotre tabaccai non ci sono tabaccai

1 museo musei 2 discoteca discoteche 3 panetteria panetterie 4 cinemacinema 5 biblioteca biblioteche 6 scuola scuole 7 ufficio postale ufficipostali 8 libreria librerie 9 giardino pubblico giardini pubblici 10 ris-torante ristoranti

Unit 4 35

UNIT FIVEThe present tense of regular (and someirregular) verbs

Use of the present tense

1 The present tense (or simply lsquothe presentrsquo) is used to state that an action isoccurring at the present time It corresponds basically to the English simplepresent (lsquoI eatrsquo) and present continuous (lsquoI am eatingrsquo)

2 The present can also be used to refer to the future either the near future orone that is considered fairly certain

3 The present is also used to refer to an action which started in the past and isstill going on here it corresponds to the English present perfect

Mio padre lavora per la BBCMio padre lavora in giardinoDi solito guardo la televisioneStasera guardo la televisioneNon guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisioneStasera non guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisione

stasera

My father works for the BBCMy fatherrsquos working in the gardenNormally I watch TVIrsquom watching TV this eveningI donrsquot watch TVWhy donrsquot you watch TVIrsquom not watching TV this eveningWhy arenrsquot you watching TV this

evening

Il treno parte fra cinque minuti

Parto domaniDomani mattina porto Luca alla

stazioneLrsquoestate prossima lavoro con mio

zio

The train leavesis leaving in fiveminutes

I leaveI am leaving tomorrowTomorrow morning Irsquoll takeIrsquom taking-

Irsquom going to take Luca to the stationNext summer Irsquoll workIrsquom working-

going to work with my uncle

Lavoriamo qui da un mese Wersquove been working here for a month

The forms of the present tense

4 Italian verbs are divided into three main groups the conjugations Theconjugation a verb belongs to is determined by the ending of its infinitive

The forms of the present depend on which conjugation the verb belongs toThe present is formed by changing the ending of the infinitive as follows

5 Regular verbs in -are are conjugated as follows

As we saw in Unit 4 the subject pronoun is normally omitted in the conju-gation of Italian verbs

Mio cugino abita a Roma da treanni

Conosco Giulia da tre anniNon vedo Dario da mesi

My cousinrsquos livedbeen living in Rome forthree years

I have known Giulia for three yearsI havenrsquot seen Dario for months

First conjugation-are

Second conjugation-ere

Third conjugation-ire

Person1st2nd3rd

1st2nd3rd

Singular(io)(tu)(luilei)

Plural(noi)(voi)(loro)

Infinitive in -are-o-i-a

-iamo-ate-ano

Infinitive in -ere-o-i-e

-iamo-ete-ono

Infinitive in -ire(-isc)-o(-isc)-i(-isc)-e

-iamo-ite(-isc)-ono

Endings-o-i-a-iamo-ate-ano

Parlare(io) parlo(tu) parli(luilei) parla(noi) parliamo(voi) parlate(loro) parlano

To speaktalkI speakyou speakhesheit speakswe speakyou speakthey speak

Andrea e Carla lavorano in ItaliaParlo italianoParlate moltoAbitiamo a Genova

Andrea and Carla work in ItalyI speak ItalianYou talk a lotWe live in Genoa

Unit 5 37

6 Verbs ending in -care and -gare (first conjugation) add h before the endingsof the second person singular (-i) and the first person plural (-iamo) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g

7 Verbs ending in -iare (first conjugation) normally have only one i in thesecond person singular and the first person plural

8 Regular verbs in -ere are conjugated as follows

Cercare(io) cerco(tu) cerchi(luilei) cerca(noi) cerchiamo(voi) cercate(loro) cercano

To look forI look foryou look forhesheit looks forwe look foryou look forthey look for

Pagare(io) pago(tu) paghi(luilei) paga(noi) paghiamo(voi) pagate(loro) pagano

To payI payyou payhesheit payswe payyou paythey pay

Cerchi MarcoGiochiamo a pallonePercheacute litighi con tuo fratelloPaghiamo sempre il conto

Are you looking for MarcoWe play footballWhy are you arguing with your brotherWe always pay the bill

Cominciare(io) comincio(tu) cominci(luilei) comincia(noi) cominciamo(voi) cominciate(loro) cominciano

To startbeginI startbeginyou startbeginhesheit startsbeginswe startbeginyou startbeginthey startbegin

Mangiare(io) mangio(tu) mangi(luilei) mangia(noi) mangiamo(voi) mangiate(loro) mangiano

To eatI eatyou eathesheit eatswe eatyou eatthey eat

Quando cominci la scuolaCominciamo la partitaMangi troppoStasera mangiamo fuori

When do you start schoolWersquore starting the gameYou eat too muchThis evening wersquore eating out

Endings-o-i-e-iamo-ete-ono

Prendere(io) prendo(tu) prendi(luilei) prende(noi) prendiamo(voi) prendete(loro) prendono

To takegetI takegetyou takegethesheit takesgetswe takegetyou takegetthey takeget

38 Unit 5

9 Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) and -gere (or -ggere) change the sound ofc (or sc) and g (or -gg) which become lsquohardrsquo before the endings of the firstperson singular (-o) and the third person plural (-ono) So care needs to betaken in speaking these verbs

Prendo il prossimo trenoPrendiamo questa stradaAnna scrive una letteraMarco e Martina ridono molto

Irsquom gettingtaking the next trainWe take this roadAnna is writing a letterMarco and Martina laugh a lot

Vincere(io) vinco(tu) vinci(luilei) vince(noi) vinciamo(voi) vincete(loro) vincono

Spoken like Englishkchchchchk

To winI winyou winhesheit winswe winyou winthey win

Conoscere(io) conosco(tu) conosci(luilei) conosce(noi) conosciamo(voi) conoscete(loro) conoscono

Spoken like Englishskshshshshsk

To knowI knowyou knowhesheit knowswe knowyou knowthey know

Leggere(io) leggo(tu) leggi(luilei) legge(noi) leggiamo(voi) leggete(loro) leggono

Spoken like Englishg [as in lsquogorsquo]jjjjg [as in lsquogorsquo]

To readI readyou readhesheit readswe readyou readthey read

Vince sempreNon conosco i tuoi genitoriLeggono il giornaleNon piango mai

Heshe always winsI donrsquot know your parentsTheyrsquore reading the paperI never cry

Unit 5 39

10 Regular verbs in -ire are conjugated as follows

11 Many verbs in -ire (eg capire (to understand) costruire (to build) finire(to finishto end) preferire (to prefer) pulire (to clean) ) follow a slightlydifferent pattern adding -isc- before the singular endings and the thirdperson plural

There is no way of telling which is the right pattern for a verb in -ire otherthan to check in a dictionary

Interrogative form

12 As we saw in Unit 4 the interrogative is formed by adding a questionmark at the end of the sentence

Endings-o-i

Partire(io) parto(tu) parti

To leaveI leaveyou leave

-e-iamo-ite-ono

(luilei) parte(noi) partiamo(voi) partite(loro) partono

hesheit leaveswe leaveyou leavethey leave

Il treno parte alle 800I miei amici partono domaniMia sorella dormeTutte le mattine apriamo le finestre

The train leaves at eightMy friends are leaving tomorrowMy sister is sleepingasleepEvery morning we open the windows

Endings-isc-o-isc-i-isc-e-iamo-ite-isc-ono

Capire(io) capisco(tu) capisci(luilei) capisce(noi) capiamo(voi) capite(loro) capiscono

To understandI understandyou understandhesheit understandswe understandyou understandthey understand

Marina capisce tuttoLa lezione finisce alle 1300Preferisco parlare italiano

Marina understands everythingThe lessonclass finishes at 1 pmI prefer speakingto speak Italian

Carla resta a casaPrendi sempre la macchina fotograficaQuando partiteCapisci tutto

Is Carla staying at homeDo you always take the cameraWhen are you leavingDo you understand everything

40 Unit 5

Negative form

13 The negative is formed by putting non (not) before the verb

Formal form

14 As we saw in Unit 4 the pronouns used for the formal form are Lei for thesingular (for both women and men) and Voi for the plural (the pronoun Lorois much more formal)

Present tense of some irregular verbs

15 In Italian as in most languages there are a number of irregular verbswhose conjugation is best learned by heart and with use Here is the conjuga-tion of some of the more frequently used irregular verbs

Non parlo italianoNon prendiamo la macchina

fotograficaGiulia e Susanna non partonoNon capisce niente

I donrsquot speak ItalianWersquore not taking the camera

Arenrsquot Giulia and Susanna leavingHeshe doesnrsquot understand anything

(Lei) Parla italianoNon prende un taxi Professor

MasiPartite Signori Bianco( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco)

Do you speak ItalianArenrsquot you taking a taxi Professor

MasiAre you leaving( Mr and Mrs

Bianco)

Dare (to give)dogravedaidagravediamodatedanno

Andare (to go)vadovaivaandiamoandatevanno

Stare (to staylivefeel)stostaistastiamostatestanno

Uscire (to go outleave)escoesciesceusciamousciteescono

Sapere (to know)sosaisasappiamosapetesanno

Venire (to come)vengovienivieneveniamovenitevengono

Unit 5 41

The verb riuscire (to succeedmanagebe able to) follows the same pattern asuscire

It is important not to confuse sapere and conoscere (paragraph 9) Bothmean lsquoto knowrsquo but they are not always interchangeable The basic differenceis that sapere generally means lsquoto knowbe aware ofto have knowledge of afactrsquo (but see also paragraph 17 below) whereas conoscere means lsquoto beacquaintedfamiliar withrsquo or sometimes lsquoto meetmake the acquaintance ofrsquo(eg in the expression piacere di conoscerti pleased to meet you) Thus sapereis never used for people and conoscere is never followed by a phrase contain-ing a verb

Dovere (mustto haveto)devodevidevedobbiamodovetedevono

Dire (to saytell)dicodicidicediciamoditedicono

Potere (canmayto beable)possopuoipuogravepossiamopotetepossono

Fare (to domake)facciofaifafacciamofatefanno

Volere (to wishtowant)vogliovuoivuolevogliamovoletevogliono

Bere (to drink)bevobevibevebeviamobevetebevono

Cosa failsquoCome stairsquo lsquoSto bene graziersquoMia zia sta a BolognaVado al cinemaStasera non escoDomani esco prestoNon riesco a capireNon riesco a chiudere la portaAdesso sapete tutto

What are you doinglsquoHow are yoursquo lsquoIrsquom fine thank yoursquoMy aunt lives in BolognaIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom not going out tonightIrsquom leaving early tomorrowI canrsquot understandI canrsquot manage to close the doorNow you know everything

Sappiamo giagrave che crsquoegrave scioperodomani

Sai che ora egraveSai percheacuteNon so che cosa fareConosco le regole del gioco

We already know that there is a striketomorrow

Do you know what time it isDo you know whyI donrsquot know what to doI know the rules of the game

42 Unit 5

16 Dovere potere and volere usually need to be followed by another verb inthe infinitive

17 The verb sapere is another that is often followed by a verb in the infinitiveused in this way it expresses the ability to do something (in the sense of lsquotoknow how torsquo do something)

18 A few verbs end in -urre (like condurre (to leaddrivemanage) tradurre (totranslate) produrre (to produce) etc) all have the following pattern

Exercise 1

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io conoscere) tua mamma conosco

Ho conosciuto il padre di PiaNon conosco il tuo ragazzoConosci questa cittagrave

I (have) met Piarsquos fatherI donrsquot know your boyfriendDo you know this town

Dobbiamo fare gli eserciziPosso parlare con LuigiPuoi telefonare domaniNon vogliono uscire

Wersquove got to do the exercisesMay I talk to LuigiYou can phone tomorrowThey donrsquot want to go out

So nuotarePaolo non sa ballareSai usare quello scanner

I can swim [ie I know how to]Paolo canrsquot dance [ie he doesnrsquot know how to]Can youDo you know how to use that scanner

Endings-uc-o-uc-i-uc-e-uc-iamo-uc-ete-uc-ono

Produrre(io) produco(tu) produci(luilei) produce(noi) produciamo(voi) producete(loro) producono

To produceI produceyou producehesheit produceswe produceyou producethey produce

Questa fabbrica produce automobiliTraducono dal francese

This factory produces carsThey translate from French

1 Claudio (arrivare) con il prossimotreno

2 Anna (vivere) a Roma

3 Non (noi mangiare) spesso fuori4 (tu cercare) casa5 Stasera (voi prendere) lrsquoautobus

Unit 5 43

Exercise 2

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example (io bere) molta acqua bevo

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 You [pl] have got to talk to Marcello2 Wersquore leaving tonight3 Wersquore getting the next bus4 You [polite] can go to the cinema Mr Buchan5 We know how to use those mobile phones6 She always prefers reading the paper7 The babyrsquos asleep8 Irsquom coming to Turin this summer

6 Il treno di Giorgio (partire) alle18

7 Tutti i giorni (noi leggere) ilgiornale

8 (tu pulire) il bagno9 (io conoscere) molti italiani

10 I giochi (finire) sempre alle 1711 Non (noi guidare) lrsquoauto12 Anna e io (giocare) a carte13 Percheacute non (voi tornare) in

Scozia

14 Non (tu capire) nulla15 Giorgio e Paola non (spendere)

molto16 Dove (Lei abitare) Signor Verdi17 (Voi pagare) lrsquoaffitto Signori

Rossi18 (tu viaggiare) molto19 Non (tu ricevere) molte lettere20 Piero e Gianni (lasciare) il cane a

casa

1 Stasera (loro) andare al cinema2 La nostra fabbrica (produrre)

pasta3 Domani (noi dare) una festa4 (tu andare) spesso in spiaggia5 (voi fare) gli esercizi6 Non (noi riuscire) a capire7 (voi venire) a casa8 Non (io potere) uscire oggi9 (loro volere) dormire

10 (tu dire) la veritagrave

11 Tu e Claudia (potere) partire12 (io volere) studiare13 Dove (tu stare) adesso14 Le mie sorelle non (sapere)

nuotare15 Cosa (loro fare) stasera16 I vicini (dovere) rimanere a casa17 (noi tradurre) in italiano18 Luigi (dovere) lavorare19 (voi sapere) cantare20 I nostri amici (venire) a Roma

44 Unit 5

9 They often go out in the evening10 The boys are playing football tomorrow

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Are you going out tonight Mother2 What are we doing tomorrow3 Can you [sing] open that door4 Do you [sing] want a coffee5 Can you play the piano Francesco6 What are you [sing] looking for7 Are you [polite] drinking coffee or mineral water Madam8 Do you [sing] and Jim know my parents9 Are you [sing] well today

10 What are they building

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Donrsquot you [polite] speak English Mrs Vialli2 My German friends canrsquot sing in Italian3 I donrsquot earn a lot4 Isnrsquot she giving a party for her birthday5 Arenrsquot you [sing] working with Giulia6 Theyrsquove not seen Mr Moro for three years7 Why do you never go to Florence Claudio8 I canrsquot manage to shut this window9 Why arenrsquot you [pl] drinking coffee this morning

10 Arenrsquot you [pl] coming tomorrow

Unit 5 45

UNIT SIXAdverbs

1 English adverbs are usually formed by adding lsquo-lyrsquo to an adjective (eglsquothinlyrsquo lsquocleverlyrsquo) Italian adverbs are usually just as easy to form -mente isadded to the feminine singular form of the adjective

When the adjective ends in -le or -re preceded by a vowel the final e isdropped before adding -mente

2 In Italian there are also many adverbs which do not end in -mente Here aresome

lenta + -menterapida + -mentesemplice + -mentefrequente + -mente

lentamenterapidamentesemplicementefrequentemente

slowlyquicklysimplyfrequently

gentile + -menteutile + -mentemaggiore + -menteregolare + -mente

gentilmenteutilmentemaggiormenteregolarmente

kindly politelyusefullymainlyregularly

Il tempo cambia rapidamenteLa nonna cammina lentamenteEnrico risponde sempre gentilmenteFaccio i compiti regolarmente

The weather changes quicklyGranny walks slowlyEnrico always answers politelyI do my homework regularly

abbastanza

ancorabenedavantidentrodietrodopo

enoughfairlyratherquite

stillwellat the frontin frontin(side)at the backbehindlaterafterwards

fortefuorigiagravelontanomalenon ancoranon maipiano

loudlyhardoutoutsidealreadyfar (away)badlynot yetneverslowlyquietly

Note that with non ancora and non mai non is always placed beforethe verb and ancoramai after it

3 Adverbs can qualify verbs adjectives or even other adverbs

4 Some words denoting quantity can be used both as adverbs and as adjec-tives moltotanto (a lot (of)verymany) troppo (too muchtoo many) andpoco (fewlittlenot muchnot very) When used as adverbs they are invariablebut when used as adjectives they agree in gender and number with the nounthey refer to

piugravepiuttostoprestoprima

quasisempre

morerathersoonearlyearlierbeforehand

firstalmostalways

soprasottospessosubitotardivicinovolentieri

aboveupstairsbelowdownstairsoftenimmediatelyright awaylatenear(by)willinglygladly

Questo film egrave abbastanza belloPartiamo tardi dopo le 11Andiamo spesso in discotecaVengo subitoParto prestoParliamo piano perchegrave Carla

dormePuograve parlare piano per favore

Non sono italianoAbita vicino SignoraVai lontanoPiove fortePuoi parlare piugrave forteMangiamo fuori

Egrave ancora estateNon egrave ancora estateNon esco maiLorenzo non telefona mai

This film is rather goodWersquore leaving late after 11We often go to the discoIrsquom coming (immediately)Irsquom leaving earlysoonWersquore talking quietly because Carlarsquos

asleepCould you speak slowly please Irsquom not

ItalianDo you live nearby (Madam)Are you going farItrsquos raining hardCan you speak loudermore loudlyWersquore eating out [eg in a restaurant]

outside [ie in the open]Itrsquos still summerItrsquos not summer yetI never go outLorenzo never phones

Dormo bene [verb + adverb]Dormo molto bene [adverb + adverb]La casa egrave molto piccola [adverb + adjective]

I sleep wellI sleep very wellThe house is very small

Unit 6 47

Adverbial expressions

5 Having a lot of words ending in -mente can often sound heavy To avoidthis Italian sometimes uses adverbial phrases instead of single words Thesedo the same job as one-word adverbs and indeed they do usually correspondto one-word English adverbs in lsquo-lyrsquo These adverbial expressions are mostoften constructed with con (with) sometimes with senza (without) followedby a noun

Adverblavorare moltotantomoltotanto lontanomoltotanto difficilelavorare troppotroppo lontanotroppo difficilelavorare pocopoco lontanopoco difficile

Adjectivemolto (tanto)troppopoco lavoro [ms]molta (tanta)troppapoca acqua [fs]molti (tanti)troppipochi esercizi [mp]molte (tante)troppepoche lettere [fp]

to work a lotvery farvery difficultto work too muchtoo fartoo difficultto work littlenot to work muchnot very farnot very difficult

a lot oftoo muchnot much worka lot oftoo muchnot much watermanytoo manynot many exercisesmanytoo manynot many letters

Mio padre lavora troppo [adverb]Questa musica egrave molto bella [adverb]Luisa dorme poco [adverb]

Dormi troppo poco [adverbs]

Abbiamo molto tempo [adjective]Luisa mangia poca pasta [adjective]

Ho molti amici [adjective]lsquoPercheacute fai questorsquo lsquoCi sono molte

ragionirsquo [adjective]

My father works too muchThis music is very beautifulLuisa sleeps littledoesnrsquot sleep

muchYou sleep too littledonrsquot sleep

enoughWe have a lot of timeLuisa eats little pastadoesnrsquot eat a

lot of pastaI have a lot of friendslsquoWhy are you doing thisrsquo lsquoThere

are many reasonsrsquo

con difficoltagravecon eleganzacon lentezzacon rapiditagravecon semplicitagrave

with difficultyelegantlyslowlyrapidlyquicklysimply

48 Unit 6

There are also a number of adverbial expressions that use other prepositionsthan con Here are some of the most common

Another adverbial expression that is sometimes used is in modoin maniera(ie lsquoin a wayrsquo) followed by an adjective the adjective is masculine when usedwith modo and feminine when used with maniera

Exercise 1

Change the adjectives into adverbs

Example lento lentamente

senza eleganzasenza complicazionisenza dubbio

inelegantlyuncomplicatedlyundoubtedly

a poco a pocoa voltein ritardoin tempodi solitodi sicuro

little by littlesometimeslateon timeusuallysurelycertainly

Anna veste con eleganzaSpieghi tutto senza complicazioni

A volte non capisco quello che dice

Anna dresses elegantlyYou explain everything

uncomplicatedlySometimes I donrsquot understand what

he says

in modo vagoin maniera vagain modo stranoin maniera stranain modo semplicein maniera semplice

vaguelyin a vague waystrangelyin a strange waysimplyin a simple way

Risponde sempre in modo vagoQuel cane cammina in maniera strana

Heshe always answers vaguelyThat dogrsquos walking oddlyin a

strange way

1 dolce2 tranquillo3 semplice4 allegro5 maggiore

6 irregolare7 probabile8 chiaro9 facile

10 veloce

11 lento12 utile13 attento14 rapido15 leggero

Unit 6 49

Exercise 2

Supply the correct form of moltotanto troppo or poco (adverbs or adjectives)

Examples Anna egrave (molto) alta molto Ho (molto) sete molta

Exercise 3

Replace the words in English with the appropriate expression from the list

a volte di sicuro con pazienza senza esitazione in modo nervoso intempo con semplicitagrave di solito con prudenza a poco a poco in manierabrusca con coraggio

Examples (sometimes) non voglio giocare a pallone a volte Laura veste(simply) con semplicitagrave

1 Dobbiamo agire (cautiously)2 Andrea spiega tutto (patiently)3 Paolo guarda i professori (nervously)4 (little by little) Gianni capisce il problema5 Tullio risponde (unhesitatingly)6 (usually) rientra nel pomeriggio7 Lei non fa piugrave (in time) a prendere il treno delle sette8 Esprime (courageously) le sue opinioni9 Domenica vengo (for sure)

10 Il Signor Capello risponde (bluntly) a tutte le nostre domande

1 Claudia mangia (molto) dolci2 Il tuo vestito egrave (molto) bello3 Monica ha (poco) amici4 Tu spendi (troppo)5 In mensa ci sono (troppo)

studenti6 Davanti al cinema crsquoegrave (tanto)

gente7 Mangi (troppo)8 Stefano abita (molto) lontano9 Giulia mangia sempre (poco)

10 Judy ha (molto) amiche italiane

11 Sto (poco) bene12 Abitate in una casa (molto) bella13 Signora egrave (molto) stanca14 Ci sono (poco) biscotti15 Siete (molto) gentili16 Hai (poco) pazienza17 Marco e Luisa hanno (molto)

fame18 Il giardino non egrave (molto) grande19 Non devi invitare (troppo)

persone20 Abbiamo (poco) riviste

50 Unit 6

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sometimes I eat in the canteen2 The swimming pool is quite big3 We often go out with our friends4 Have you [sing] got enough money5 You [sing] have to speak slowly6 Marina never eats cheese7 Francesca always arrives late8 Irsquove been waiting for almost forty minutes9 Carla and Andrea are out

10 Are your [sing] parents well

Unit 6 51

UNIT SEVENDirect object pronouns (1)

1 A direct object is the person or thing that the verb directly impacts onInvito Elena (Irsquom inviting Elena) Uso il computer tutti i giorni (I use thecomputer every day)

A direct object pronoun replaces a noun used as a direct object itmust therefore agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to Directobject pronouns normally come before the verb In the following examplesthe pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the direct object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Elena la invito a cena[la replaces and agrees with Elena (fs)]

Quando vedo Lorenzo lo invito a cena[lo replaces and agrees with Lorenzo(ms)]

Scrivo le cartoline e poi le imbuco[le replaces and agrees with lecartoline (fp)]

Appena compro i biscotti li mangio[li replaces and agrees with i biscotti(mp)]

Prendo il giornale e lo leggo subito[lo replaces and agrees with ilgiornale (ms)]

When I see Elena Irsquoll inviteher to dinner

When I see Lorenzo Irsquoll invitehim to dinner

I write the postcards andthen post them

As soon as I buy biscuits Ieat them

I get the paper and read itimmediately

Subjectiotuluileinoivoiloro

Direct objectmitilo [m]la [f]civili [m]le [f]

meyouhimheritusyouthem

3 We saw in Unit 3 that if an adjective refers to two or more nouns that aredifferent in gender it has the masculine plural form eg Laura e Piero sonoitaliani (Laura and Piero are Italian) The same principle applies to directobject pronouns

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

5 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Note that verbs in -urre drop the second r as well as the final vowel lo devotradurre or devo tradurlo

Giacomo mi invita spesso a cenaSe vuoi ti aiutoLo conosco beneLa vedo tutti i giorniVi invito alla festa

Giacomo often invites me to dinnerIf you want Irsquoll help youI know him wellI see her every dayIrsquom inviting you to the party

lsquoConosci Laura [f] e Piero [m]rsquo lsquoSigraveli [mp] conosco benersquo

lsquoUsi il computer [m] e la stampante[f]rsquo lsquoSigrave li [mp] uso spessorsquo

lsquoDo you know Laura and Pierorsquo lsquoYesI know them wellrsquo

lsquoDo you use the computer and theprinterrsquo lsquoYes I often use themrsquo

Non lo conosco beneNon vi invito alla festaNon li vedo spessoNon ti capisco

I donrsquot know him wellIrsquom not inviting you to the partyI donrsquot often see themI donrsquot understand you

La devo chiamareTi voglio invitareLo puoi prendereLo so fareLo devo tradurre

ororororor

Devo chiamarlaVoglio invitartiPuoi prenderloSo farloDevo tradurlo

I must call herI want to invite youYou can take itI canknow how to do itIrsquove got to translate it

Unit 7 53

6 The pronoun lo [ms] is often used to replace a whole clause

7 When the pronouns lo and la are used with the verb avere they are short-ened to lrsquo and are often preceded by the particle ce

The plural pronouns li and le however are never shortened and are onlyrarely used with ce

Formal form

8 The direct object pronouns used for the formal form are La for the singular(for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronouns Li and Le canalso be used for the masculine and feminine respectively but this is particu-larly formal)

lsquoSai che oggi egrave il compleanno diCarlarsquo lsquoSigrave lo sorsquo [lo = oggi egrave ilcompleanno di Carla]

lsquoDove sono le chiavirsquo lsquoNon lo sorsquo[lo = dove sono le chiavi]

lsquoDevi cambiare la cartucciarsquo lsquoLofaccio subitorsquo [lo = cambiare lacartuccia]

lsquoDo you know that itrsquos Carlarsquosbirthday todayrsquo lsquoYes I dorsquo [lit YesI know it]

lsquoWhere are the keysrsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo[lit I donrsquot know it]

lsquoYoursquove got to replace the cartridgersquolsquoIrsquoll do it straight awayrsquo

lsquoHai la cartucciarsquo lsquoSigrave ce lrsquohorsquo

Non posso leggere il libro di PrimoLevi percheacute non ce lrsquoho

lsquoAvete lrsquoindirizzo di Annarsquo lsquoSigrave celrsquoabbiamorsquo

lsquoHave you got the cartridgersquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot itrsquo

I canrsquot read Primo Levirsquos bookbecause I havenrsquot got it

lsquoHave you got Annarsquos addressrsquo lsquoYeswe haveYes wersquove got itrsquo

lsquoHai le parole di questacanzonersquo lsquoNo non (ce) le horsquo

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo

lsquoHave you got the lyrics of this songrsquolsquoNo I havenrsquot No Irsquove not got themrsquo

lsquoHave you got the booksrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove gotthemYes I haversquo

Professor Masi La accompagno inaeroporto

Signora La accompagno in aeroportoSignori Bianco Vi accompagno in

aeroporto (Signori Bianco Li accompagno in

aeroporto) Signore Vi accompagno in aeroporto (Signore Le accompagno in aeroporto)

Professor Masi Irsquoll take you to theairport

Irsquoll take you to the airport Madam

Mr and Mrs Bianco Irsquoll take you tothe airport

(Ladies) Irsquoll take you to theairport

54 Unit 7

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct directobject pronoun

Example Luigi compra il pane Luigi lo compra

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Lo faccio Non lo faccio

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

1 Anna guarda la televisione2 Invitiamo i nostri amici3 Scrivete le cartoline4 Leggono il giornale5 Suono la chitarra6 Preparo la cena7 Chiamo Roberto8 Faccio gli esercizi9 Invito Maria e Giovanna

10 Chiudete le finestre

11 Lorenzo corregge gli errori12 Prendono il treno13 Porto i CD14 Cerco i miei libri15 Pia beve lrsquoacqua minerale16 Paola finisce il lavoro17 Accompagno Carlo e Anna18 Vedi le tue amiche oggi19 Ascolto la radio20 Luca lava i piatti

1 Le voglio2 Li compriamo3 Ci chiamano4 Silvia li invita5 I Signori Bianchi lo prendono

6 Mi invitate7 Vi aspetto8 La vedo domani9 Ti accompagno alla stazione

10 Lo guardiamo

1 Lo vogliamo vedere2 Non ti posso aiutare3 Mi puoi accompagnare4 La vuoi sentire5 Ci devono chiamare

6 Vi voglio invitare7 Le vuole conoscere8 Non li potete fare9 Mi devi ascoltare

10 Non La posso aiutare Signora

Unit 7 55

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate direct object pronouns

Examples Marco telefona agli amici e mdashmdash invita alla festa li Guido nonsta bene devo chiamarmdashmdash lo

1 Compro il giornale e mdashmdash leggo2 Scrivo le cartoline e mdashmdash spedisco3 Laura fa i panini e poi mdashmdash mangia4 Compro i fiori e mdashmdash metto in un vaso5 Apriamo la finestra e poi mdashmdash chiudiamo6 Non riesco a fare questo esercizio mdashmdash aiuti7 Prendiamo i libri e mdashmdash portiamo a scuola8 Professor Bartoli mdashmdash posso aiutare9 I Signori Pieri partono mdashmdash accompagni in aeroporto

10 Hai molte amiche mdashmdash inviti tutte11 Se non usi la bici mdashmdash prendo io12 Ci sono molti errori mdashmdash dovete correggere13 Claudio telefona a Giulia e mdashmdash invita alla festa14 Partite mdashmdash porto in stazione15 Crsquoegrave un film alla televisione ma non mdashmdash guardiamo16 Alma parte volete salutarmdashmdash17 La sorella di Matteo egrave molto simpatica mdashmdash conosco bene18 Gli esercizi sono difficili ma mdashmdash so fare19 Se vuoi delle caramelle mdashmdash puoi prendere20 lsquoSai che Alessandro suona il sassofono in un grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash sorsquo

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquore inviting you [pl] to the party2 Irsquove got a lot of friends and I often see them3 Signora Fusi can I call you tomorrow4 Are you [sing] helping us next week5 I have to see you [sing]6 Olga and Anna are leaving tomorrow and I want to take them to the

station7 I canrsquot help you [pl]8 lsquoAre you [sing] bringing the guitarrsquo lsquoNo I havenrsquot got itrsquo9 Tullio buys these magazines and reads them

10 Can you [sing] take me to school tomorrow

56 Unit 7

UNIT EIGHTPrepositions

1 The most common Italian prepositions are the following

The meaning of tra and fra is the same

These prepositions often correspond to the English counterparts we givehere However as we shall see each of them also has a number of othermeanings corresponding to other English prepositions

2 The prepositions di a da in and su when used together with a nounpreceded by the definite article always combine with the article

The preposition con normally combines only with il and i as col and coi thisform is common in spoken Italian though con il and con i are often found inthe written language

diadainconsupertrafra

oftofrominwithonforamong between

diadainsu

ildelaldalnelsul

lodelloallodallonellosullo

lrsquodellrsquoallrsquodallrsquonellrsquosullrsquo

ladellaalladallanellasulla

ideiaidaineisui

glidegliaglidaglineglisugli

ledellealledallenellesulle

con con ilcol

con lo(collo)

con lrsquo(collrsquo)

con la(colla)

con icoi

con gli(cogli)

con le(colle)

Using prepositions

3 As in many other languages there is so much variation in how Italianprepositions are used that it is not feasible to give simple rules covering everypossibility To appreciate the problem you only have to look at a few of thepossible uses of the preposition di

Sometimes Italian even has a preposition where English does not here aresome typical examples

Since there is not a simple set of rules governing prepositions in Italian whatwe are going to do is show some typical uses of the common ones listedabove The more you hear and read Italian the more you will encounterdifferent uses of these and other prepositions the best way of mastering themis to learn them and practise them as you go along

4 Di is typically used to express

di + il ragazzoa + lo studenteda + lrsquoalbergoin + la scuolasu + i divanicon + i libricon + le chiaviper + gli insegnantifra + i calciatori

del ragazzoallo studentedallrsquoalbergonella scuolasui divanicoi libricon le chiaviper gli insegnantifra i calciatori

of the boyto the studentfrom the hotelin the schoolon the sofaswith the bookswith the keysfor the teachersamong the footballers

il presidente della repubblica the president of the republicIl libro egrave di Calvino The book is by CalvinoSono di Roma Irsquom from RomeDi pomeriggio fanno sempre la

siestaThey always have a nap in the

afternoon

lrsquoauto di AnnaVuoi della fruttaCi sono alcune migliaia di persone

nella piazzaHo una bella camicia di seta

Annarsquos carDo you want (someany) fruitThere are a few thousand people in

the squareIrsquove got a lovely silk shirt

possessionmaterialtimesubject

La moto di Luca egrave rossauna giacca di pelleDi sera non escouna lezione di storia

Lucarsquos motorbike is reda leather jacketI donrsquot go out in the evening(s)a history lesson

58 Unit 8

The most common uses of di are the ones which correspond to the Englishpossessive (rsquos) and the noun + noun structure

Di is frequently used in partitive constructions ie to express the Englishlsquosomersquo or lsquoanyrsquo in such sentences as lsquoIrsquod like some breadrsquo lsquoHave you anypastarsquo lsquoWersquove got (some) pasta and (some) olivesrsquo

Di is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likecredere (to believe) pensare (to think) dire (to say) sperare (to hope) finire(to finish) smettere (to stop)

5 A is typically used to express

il libro del professorela sorella di Monicail casco di Sebastianola politica del governouna buca delle lettereun racconto di fateil professore di scienzeun panino di formaggio

the teacherrsquos bookMonicarsquos sisterSebastianorsquos helmetthe governmentrsquos policygovernment policya letter boxa fairy talethe science teachera cheese roll

Devo comprare del panePrendo della pastaCrsquoegrave dellrsquoacqua in frigoEsco con degli amiciVuoi dei libri in italianoCi sono delle case sulla collina

Irsquove got to get (some) breadIrsquom getting (some) pastaTherersquos (some) water in the fridgeIrsquom going out with (some) friendsDo you want (some) books in ItalianThere are (some) houses on the hill

Finisco di leggere il giornale e poiesco

Paolo pensa di essere intelligenteAnna crede di riuscire a passare

lrsquoesameLa mamma dice di essere stancaDevo smettere di perdere tempo

I finish reading the paper and then Igo out

Paolo thinks he is intelligentAnna believes she can pass the exam

Mum says shersquos tiredI must stop wasting time

place

time

Abito a LondraVado al cinemaSono a casaLa casa si trova a 100 metri

dal mareParto alle 17Vado in Olanda a luglio

I live in LondonIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom at homeThe house is 100 metres from

the seaIrsquom leaving at 1700Irsquom going to Holland in July

Unit 8 59

A is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likeandare (to go) venire (to come) cominciare (to startbegin) continuare (tocontinue) riuscire (canto be ablemanage)

6 Da is typically used to express

Da is always used to mean lsquoatat the house ofrsquo a person or people

Da is also used followed by an infinitive after molto (a lot) poco (little) niente(nothing) qualcosa (something)

indirect object

quality

meansmanner

Diamo il libro a Silvia

Scrivete ai vostri genitori

Vuoi un gelato al limone

La giacca egrave fatta a manoImpari tutto a memoria

Stasera mangiamo patateal vapore

Wersquore giving the book toSilvia

Do you write to yourparents

Do you want a lemon ice-cream

The jacketrsquos made by handDo you learn everything by

heartWersquore having steamed

potatoes tonight [ietheyrsquore cooked with steam]

lsquoDove vairsquo lsquoVado a lavorarersquoVieni a studiare in bibliotecaComincio a capirePaolo continua a parlareNon riesco a sentire cosa dice

lsquoWhere are you goingrsquo lsquoIrsquom going to workrsquoAre you coming to work in the libraryIrsquom beginning to understandPaolo continueskeeps on talkingI canrsquot hear what hersquos saying

placetime

function

Parto da MilanoStudio italiano da un mese

aperto dalle 9 alle 10Sono scarpe da tennis

Irsquom leaving from MilanI have been studying Italian for a

monthopen (from) 9 to 10 (orsquoclock)Theyrsquore tennis shoes

Abiti da tua ziaLavoro da Anna staseraDevo andare dal dentista

Do you live at your auntrsquosIrsquom working at Annarsquos tonightI have to go to the dentist

Ho molto da fareHa poco da direNon crsquoegrave niente da bereVuoi qualcosa da mangiare

Irsquove got a lot to doHe has littleHersquos not got much to sayTherersquos nothing to drinkDo you want something to eat

60 Unit 8

7 In is typically used to express

NB in piedi means lsquostandingrsquo lsquoon footrsquo is a piedi

8 Con is typically used to express

9 Su is typically used to express

When the preposition su is used with a personal pronoun the pronoun is alsopreceded by di Conto su di lui (Irsquom counting on him)

10 Per is typically used to express

place

time

means

Vivo in campagnaAbbiamo una casa in Francianel 2006nel ventesimo secoloAndiamo in trenoin autoin bici

I live in the countryWe have a house in Francein 2006in the twentieth centuryWersquore going by traincaron

our bikes

company

means

manner

quality

Vado al cinema con LucaParlo con AnnaDevo scrivere con una

penna rossaPago con un assegno

Parla con accento stranieroParla con lentezzauna signora con i capelli

grigi

Irsquom going to the cinema with LucaIrsquom talking towith AnnaIrsquove got to write with a red pen

Irsquom paying with a chequebycheque

He speaks with a foreign accentHe speaks slowlya lady with grey hair

place

subject

I tuoi libri sono sulla scrivaniail ponte sullo stretto di Messina

un libro sul calcio

Your books are on the deskthe bridge over the Strait of

Messinaa book onabout football

placetime

meanscause

aim

price

Partiamo per la montagnaEsco per 10 minutiPer le 11 sono a casaMando il file per emailuna multa per eccesso di velocitagrave

Studio per passare lrsquoesame

per 15 euro

We are leaving for the mountainsIrsquom going out for 10 minutesIrsquoll be home byfor 11Irsquoll send the file by emaila fine for speedingspeeding

fineIrsquom studying (in order) to pass

the examfor 15 euros

Unit 8 61

11 Tra and fra are typically used to express

Prepositions of place

12 Here are some examples of the different prepositions used to denoteplace

Another preposition used to denote place is lungo (along) lungo il fiume(along the river)

13 A is normally used with names of town and villages and with cardinalpoints

14 In is normally used with names of regions and nations with geographicalareas and with shops

With mare (sea) the preposition a is used (al mare lsquoat the seasidersquo)

place

time

tra Milano e Torinofra compagni di classefra due ore

between Milan and Turinamong classmatesin two hourstwo hoursrsquo

time

Sono di FerraraLa domenica vado al cinemaSono a scuolaVengo da FerraraAbito da mia nonnaLuisa egrave in camera suaDevi camminare sul marciapiediil ponte sullrsquoArnoPartite per DublinoNovara egrave fra Torino e MilanoSiamo tra amici

I amcome from FerraraOn Sundays I go to the cinemaIrsquom at schoolIrsquom coming from FerraraI live at my grannyrsquosLuisa is in her roomYou have to walk on the pavementthe bridge over the ArnoAre you leaving for DublinNovara is between Turin and MilanWe are among friends

Vado a PisaAbito a LondraPasso le vacanze a CogneAndiamo a nordCogne egrave a sud di Aosta

Irsquom going to PisaI live in LondonI spend my holidays in CogneWe are going northCogne is south of Aosta

Vado in ToscanaAbito in InghilterraPasso le vacanze in montagnaCompro il pane in panetteria

Irsquom going to TuscanyI live in EnglandI spend my holidays in the mountainsI buy bread at the bakerythe bakerrsquos

62 Unit 8

Prepositions of time

15 Some examples of the different prepositions used to denote time

16 Di is used with the days of the week and parts of the day

In these cases di is always used without the definite article

17 A is used with names of festivities months and hours of the day

18 In is used with years centuries and seasons

Di domenica non lavoroDi sera guardo la tvDonatella arriva alle 7A Natale rimaniamo a casaLa scuola finisce a giugnonel 2000nel diciottesimo secoloIn autunno piove molto

I donrsquot work on SundaysIn the evenings I watch TVDonatella will arrive at sevenAt Christmas we stay at homeSchool ends in Junein 2000in the eighteenth centuryIn autumn it rains a lot

Di lunedigrave andiamo in piscinaDi mattina vado a scuola

On Mondays we go to the swimming poolIn the morning I go to school

A Pasqua Piera va in ItaliaIl museo riapre a marzoIl treno parte alle 12Di solito mangiano a

mezzogiorno

At Easter Piera is going to ItalyThe museum reopenswill reopen in MarchThe train is leaving at 12They normally eat at midday

Sono nato nel 1990Studio il turismo nel XIX secolo

Gli esami sono in primavera

I was born in 1990Irsquom studying tourism in the nineteenth

centuryThe exams arewill be in the spring

Unit 8 63

A or in

19 Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether to use a or in so we listbelow common expressions using these two prepositions

a casaa scuolaa lettoa lezione

(at) homeatto schoolinto bedin classto (onersquos) class

a tavolaa destraa sinistraa norda suda esta ovesta colazionea pranzoa cenaa mezzogiornoa mezzanottea 101112 [etc] annia metagraveallrsquoombraal soleal baral ristorantealla stazione

to the table [ie come and sit down]at table(onto the) rightleft(into the) northsoutheastwestatfor breakfastlunchdinner supper or teaat middaymidnightat teneleventwelve [etc] (years of age)in the middlemid-in the shadein the sunin the baratto the restaurantatinto the station

in pizzeriain discotecain cittagravein centroin chiesain mensain camerain bagnoin classein palestrain casermain prigionein ufficioin piscina

intoat athe pizzeriapizza parlourinto the discointo towninto the city centreinto churchinto the canteeninto the bedroominto the bathroominto the classroominto the gyminto the barracksinto prisoninto the officeatto the swimming bath

64 Unit 8

Compound prepositions

20 Italian also has a number of lsquocompound prepositionsrsquo eg accanto alsquonext tobesidersquo invece di lsquoinstead ofrsquo Some of these are always in the com-pound form others include di only when followed by a personal pronoun Wegive here a list of the most common ones

When these prepositions are used with a personal pronoun the pronoun ispreceded by the preposition di (see Unit 14)

Exercise 1

Combine the prepositions and the definite articles

Example (di) il figlio del figlio

davanti avicino afuori dadiprima dilontano dacontrodentrodietrodopo

in front ofoppositenearnextclose tooutsidebeforefar froma long way fromagainstinsidebehindafter

senzasoprasottoverso

withoutonaboveunderbelowtowards

La farmacia egrave davanti alsupermercato

Abito lontano dal centroLrsquoalbergo egrave vicino alla stazioneNon esco senza di voi

The pharmacy is opposite thesupermarket

I live a long way from the city centreThe hotel is close to the stationIrsquom not going out without you

di1 la mamma2 lo zio3 gli amici4 il parco5 lrsquoauto6 i paesi7 le stanze

a8 il mare9 lo stadio

10 la stazione11 i ragazzi12 gli uomini13 le donne14 lrsquoospedale

da15 la zia16 lo studente17 il dentista18 lrsquoaeroporto19 gli uffici20 le colleghe21 i ministri

in22 lrsquoalbergo23 lo stipendio24 la casa25 gli anni26 i cassetti27 le camere28 il frigo

su29 il tavolo30 la sedia31 lo scaffale32 le spalle33 i libri34 gli alberi35 lrsquoidea

Unit 8 65

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example Vengo mdashmdashmdash (la) stazione dalla

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example I tuoi libri sono mdashmdashmdash (il) tavolo sul

1 Carla abita mdashmdashmdash Budapest2 Parigi egrave mdashmdashmdash Francia3 Mangiate mdashmdashmdash (il) ristorante4 Torniamo mdashmdashmdash unrsquoora5 Hai molto mdashmdashmdash fare6 Devi scrivere mdashmdashmdash (la) nonna7 Esco mdashmdashmdash Massimo8 Filippo va mdashmdashmdash (il) dentista9 Quellrsquoauto egrave mdashmdashmdash (il) padre di

Silvia10 Scrivo una lettera mdashmdashmdash (i) miei

genitori11 Vado mdashmdashmdash Milano mdashmdashmdash treno

12 Vieni mdashmdashmdash (il) cinema mdashmdashmdashme

13 Le chiavi sono mdashmdashmdash (il)cassetto

14 La lezione finisce mdashmdashmdash (le) 1115 Studiamo italiano mdashmdashmdash due

mesi16 Il museo apre mdashmdashmdash (le) 90017 Compro le rose mdashmdashmdash la zia18 Posso parlare mdashmdashmdash Elisa19 Vuoi mdashmdashmdash (il) dolce20 Il mio compleanno egrave mdashmdashmdash

giugno

1 Domani rimango mdashmdashmdash casa2 Sabato andiamo mdashmdashmdash centro3 Vado mdashmdashmdash nuotare mdashmdashmdash

piscina4 Livia egrave mdashmdashmdash letto sta poco

bene5 Puoi comprare una bottiglia

mdashmdashmdash aceto6 Regalo i CD mdashmdashmdash (il) mio

ragazzo7 Napoli egrave mdashmdashmdash sud di Roma8 Domani cominciamo mdashmdashmdash

lavorare9 Parto mdashmdashmdash Roma alle 14 e

arrivo mdashmdashmdash Torino alle 2110 Ho fame crsquoegrave qualcosa mdashmdashmdash

mangiare

11 Imprestate la bici mdashmdashmdashMaurizio

12 Vai a scuola mdashmdashmdash autobus13 Bardonecchia egrave mdashmdashmdash

montagna14 Prendo un gelato mdashmdashmdash (la)

fragola15 Cosa fate mdashmdashmdash Natale16 Piero va mdashmdashmdash (il) supermercato17 Il padre mdashmdashmdash (la) mia amica egrave

avvocato18 mdashmdashmdash pizzeria crsquoegrave sempre molta

gente19 Paola dorme mdashmdashmdash (la) stanza

vicina alla mia20 Leggo un libro mdashmdashmdash

fantascienza

66 Unit 8

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 I finish working at six2 Antoniorsquos leaving for Genoa3 Gemma was born in 20014 Fabia never goes out in the evening5 Mr and Mrs Bancroft live in the country in an old villa6 The libraryrsquos behind the gym7 You [sing] canrsquot go out without me8 Do you [pl] live far from the school9 Isabellarsquos aunt lives in Greve in Tuscany

10 Shersquos got a leather skirt11 Angus is from Edinburgh in Scotland12 You have to turn right after the church( Madam)13 Wersquore eating at a pizzeria tonight14 These flowers are for your [sing] mother15 At Christmas wersquore going skiing in the mountains16 I live near the prison17 Margaretrsquos been living in Turin for five years18 The train for Aosta leaves from platform 719 Wersquore giving Luisa a CD of Russian music20 I always buy the bread at Bellirsquos

Unit 8 67

UNIT NINEQuestions

In this unit we will look at the most common ways of asking questions inItalian We have already seen (Units 4 and 5) that the order of the words inthe sentence does not change in the interrogative form now we need to lookat some Italian lsquoquestion wordsrsquo

1 Chi

Chi means lsquowhowhomrsquo or sometimes lsquowhich ofrsquo and is only used to refer topeople Chi is invariable ndash that is the same form is used for masculine andfeminine singular and plural

When an adjective refers to chi it must be in the masculine singular formunless it refers to an all-female group

Chi egrave quellrsquouomoChi egrave quella ragazzaChi sono i tuoi amiciChi sono quelle ragazzeChi vuole venire al cinema

con meChi viene a cenaCon chi esciA chi scriveteChi ha una pennaChi non va in gita domaniChi non invitiChi di loro parla italiano

Who is that manWho is that girlWho are your friendsWho are those girlsWho wants to come to the cinema with me

Whorsquos coming for dinnerWho(m) are you going out withWho(m) are you writing toWhorsquos got a pen [ie has anyone got a pen]Whorsquos not going on the trip tomorrowWho(m) arenrsquot you invitingWhich of them speaks Italian

Chi egrave prontoChi egrave soddisfattoChi non egrave stancoChi di voi (ragazze) egrave prontaChi di voi (Signori) egrave italiano

Who is readyWho is satisfiedWho isnrsquot tiredWhich of you (girls) is readyWhich of you (gentlemen) is Italian

2 Che cosa Cosa Che

All three mean lsquowhatrsquo and are used when referring to objects Che cosaCosa and Che are invariable in gender and number

Che is also used as an adjective meaning lsquowhat (sorttype of)rsquo

3 Come

Come means lsquohowrsquo

Come can sometimes mean lsquowhatrsquo as in Come dici (What did you say)Comrsquoegrave Edimburgoil nuovo professore (Whatrsquos Edinburghthe new teacherlike)

4 Dove

Dove means lsquowherersquo

Cosrsquoegrave quelloChe cosrsquoegrave quella luceCosa sono quei segniChe sono quelle costruzioniChe succedeChe cosa voleteCosa studiCosa posso fare per LeiA che pensate

Whatrsquos thatWhatrsquos that lightWhat are those marksWhat are those buildingsWhatrsquos happeningWhat do you wantWhat are you studyingdo you studyWhat can I do for youWhat are you thinking about

Che lavoro faiChe musica ascolti di solitoChe film vai a vedereChe auto compra tuo padre

Whatrsquos your job [lit what work do you do]What (sort of) music do you usually listen toWhat film are you going to seeWhat (make of) car is your father going to

buy

Come sta SignoraCome vaCome fate la pizza

How are you MadamHowrsquos it goingHow do you make (a) pizza

Dove abitiDove andateDove sono le chiaviDovrsquoegrave il mio libro

Where do you liveWhere are you goingWhere are the keysWhere is my book

Unit 9 69

5 Quando

Quando means lsquowhenrsquo

6 Percheacute

Percheacute means lsquowhyrsquo

Come mai has a similar meaning corresponding to the English lsquohow comersquo

7 Quanto

Quanto means lsquohow muchrsquo when referring to quantity and lsquohow longrsquo lsquohowfarrsquo lsquohow tallrsquo etc when it refers to time distance height etc

Quanto can also be used as an adjective or pronoun In such cases it agrees ingender and number with the noun it refers to quanto [ms] quanta [fs] (howmuch) quanti [mp] quante [fp] (how many)

Quando partono i tuoi amiciQuando comincia il filmQuando arriva il trenoQuando egrave lo sciopero dei treni

When are your friends leavingWhen does the film startWhen does the train arriveWhenrsquos the railtrain strike

Percheacute ridonoPercheacute Giulia non va a scuolaPercheacute non studi

Why are they laughingWhy isnrsquot Giulia going to schoolWhy donrsquot you study

Come mai non mangiCome mai siete in ritardo

How come yoursquore not eatingHow come you are late

Quanto pesaQuanto costa questa magliettaQuanto dura il filmQuanto egrave alta tua sorellaQuantrsquoegrave

How muchWhat does it weighHow muchWhat does this T-shirt costHow long does the film lastHow tall is your sisterHow much is it

Quanto pane devo comprareQuanta pasta vuoiQuanti esercizi dobbiamo fareQuante ragazze ci sono in classe

tuaQuanto tempo abbiamo

lsquoCi sono molte personersquo lsquoQuantersquolsquoDobbiamo comprare del panersquo

lsquoQuantorsquo

How much bread do I have to buyHow much pasta do you wantHow many exercises have we got to doHow many girls are there in your class

How much time is thereHow longhave we got

lsquoThere are a lot of peoplersquo lsquoHow manyrsquolsquoWe must get (some) breadrsquo lsquoHow

muchrsquo

70 Unit 9

8 Quale

Quale means lsquowhichrsquo (or sometimes lsquowhatrsquo) It is used either as an adjective oras a pronoun and therefore agrees with the noun it refers to quale lsquowhich(one)rsquo quali lsquowhich (ones)rsquo The use of quale rather than che usually impliesthat there is a choice as for example if there are some books lying on thetable Quale libro leggi lsquoWhich book are you readingrsquo

Qual (without an apostrophe) is used before the forms of essere startingwith a vowel used in this way it sometimes means lsquowhatrsquo rather than lsquowhichrsquo

9 As is seen in some of the examples in paragraphs 2 3 4 and 7 cosa checosa come dove and quanto can also be shortened before the forms of esserestarting with a vowel becoming cosrsquo che cosrsquo comrsquo dovrsquo and quantrsquo (all withan apostrophe)

Quale canzone preferisciQuali esercizi facciamoQuali sono i tuoi librilsquoCompro due giornalirsquo lsquoQualirsquoQual egrave la canzone piugrave famosaQual egrave il Suo indirizzonumero di

telefono

Which song do you preferWhich exercises are we doingWhich are your bookslsquoIrsquom buying two papersrsquo lsquoWhich onesrsquoWhichWhat is the best-known songWhatrsquos your addressphone number

Cosrsquoera quel rumoreChe cosrsquoegrave successoComrsquoera lo spettacoloDovrsquoegrave la stazioneQuantrsquoegrave costato

What was that noiseWhat happenedHow was the showWhere is the stationHow much did it cost

Unit 9 71

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with chi or checosache cosa as appropriate

Examples mdashmdashmdash mi cerca chi mdashmdashmdash fate checosache cosa

Exercise 2

Complete the questions with an appropriate word (che come dove quandopercheacute or qualequaliqual)

Examples lsquomdashmdashmdash non esci staserarsquo lsquoDevo studiarersquo percheacute lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave latua bicirsquo lsquoQuellarsquo qual

1 mdashmdashmdash sono quei signori2 mdashmdashmdash di loro egrave tuo cugino3 Con mdashmdashmdash uscite stasera4 mdashmdashmdash posso fare per te5 mdashmdashmdash studiate6 mdashmdashmdash viene con me7 mdashmdashmdash accompagna Luca8 mdashmdashmdash vuoi bere9 Di mdashmdashmdash egrave questo libro

10 mdashmdashmdash succede

11 Per mdashmdashmdash lavori12 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Caffegrave o te13 A mdashmdashmdash telefoni14 mdashmdashmdash viene alla festa15 mdashmdashmdash dici16 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Gianni o Piero17 mdashmdashmdash leggi18 Da mdashmdashmdash vai a cena19 mdashmdashmdash vuoi fare stasera20 mdashmdashmdash apre la porta

1 lsquomdashmdashmdash abitatersquo lsquoA Milanorsquo2 lsquomdashmdashmdash parte lrsquoautobusrsquo lsquoAlle

800rsquo3 lsquomdashmdashmdash non studirsquo lsquoNon sto

benersquo4 lsquomdashmdashmdash sta Professorersquo lsquoBene

graziersquo5 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo compleannorsquo lsquoIl

20 aprilersquo6 lsquomdashmdashmdash lavoro fa tuo padrersquo lsquoIl

medicorsquo7 lsquomdashmdashmdash strada devo prenderersquo

lsquoQuella a destrarsquo8 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave la mensarsquo lsquoDietro la

palestrarsquo9 lsquomdashmdashmdash sei in ritardorsquo lsquoCrsquoegrave

sciopero degli autobusrsquo10 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo indirizzorsquo lsquoVia

Garibaldi 22rsquo

11 lsquomdashmdashmdash genere di musicaascoltatersquo lsquoRockrsquo

12 lsquomdashmdashmdash materia preferiscirsquolsquoScienzersquo

13 lsquomdashmdashmdash ti vesti per la festarsquo lsquoConla gonna lungarsquo

14 lsquomdashmdashmdash metto la bicirsquo lsquoIn garagersquo15 lsquomdashmdashmdash non venite con noirsquo

lsquoAbbiamo sonnorsquo16 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave il parcheggiorsquo lsquoDavanti

al cinemarsquo17 lsquomdashmdashmdash comincia la scuolarsquo lsquoA

settembrersquo18 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave la capitale dellrsquoItaliarsquo

lsquoRomarsquo19 lsquomdashmdashmdash non vai in vacanzarsquo lsquoNon

ho soldirsquo20 lsquomdashmdashmdash libri leggirsquo lsquoRomanzi di

avventurersquo

72 Unit 9

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct form of quanto

Examples mdashmdashmdashmdash anni hai quanti mdashmdashmdashmdash costa questa magliettaquanto

Exercise 4

1 How many rolls do you [pl] want2 Where are you [pl] going for lunch3 Who are those people4 What are you [sing] doing on Sunday5 When are you [pl] going on holiday6 Why isnrsquot Luisa leaving7 Which is your [sing] bike8 What film are you [sing] watching9 Which of them is Italian

10 When does the train arrive

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash persone vengono2 Fra mdashmdashmdashmdash tempo partite3 mdashmdashmdashmdash fratelli ha Luisa4 mdashmdashmdashmdash esercizi fate5 mdashmdashmdashmdash stanze ha la tua casa6 mdashmdashmdashmdash gente inviti7 mdashmdashmdashmdash sei alto8 mdashmdashmdashmdash pagine dobbiamo

studiare9 mdashmdashmdashmdash mesi rimanete in Italia

10 mdashmdashmdashmdash guadagni

11 mdashmdashmdashmdash frutta devo comprare12 mdashmdashmdashmdash costano quei jeans13 mdashmdashmdashmdash autobus devi prendere14 mdashmdashmdashmdash dura il concerto15 Da mdashmdashmdashmdash studiate italiano16 mdashmdashmdashmdash cartoline spedisci17 mdashmdashmdashmdash spendi al mese18 mdashmdashmdashmdash amiche hai19 mdashmdashmdashmdash libri devi leggere20 mdashmdashmdashmdash egrave lontana la discoteca

Unit 9 73

UNIT TENIndirect object pronouns (1)

1 We saw in Unit 7 that a direct object is the person or thing that the verbdirectly impacts on An indirect object is the person or thing that theaction is happening to or for Scrivo a Carla domani (Irsquoll write to Carlatomorrow) Mando cartoline a tutti i miei amici (I send cards to all myfriends) In English the indirect object can usually be preceded by lsquotorsquo orlsquoforrsquo but these are very often omitted compare lsquoI gave the book to Karenrsquoand lsquoI gave Karen the bookrsquo or lsquoIrsquoll pour a glass for Janersquo and lsquoIrsquoll pourJane a glassrsquo

An indirect object pronoun replaces a noun used as an indirect object lsquoIgave the book to herI gave her the bookrsquo lsquoIrsquoll pour her a glassIrsquoll pour a glassfor herrsquo

In Italian an indirect object pronoun replaces a noun preceded by thepreposition a it has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers toIndirect object pronouns normally come before the verb In the followingexamples the pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the indirect object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Maria le racconto tutto[le stands for a Maria (fs)]

Non telefono a Carlo gli scrivo[gli stands for a Carlo (ms)]

Paolo non ci dice mai la veritagrave[ci stands for a noi]

When I see Maria Irsquoll tell hereverything

Irsquom not going to phone Carlo Irsquollwrite to him

Paolo never tells us the truth

mitigli [m]le [f]civigli [m and f]

to meto youto himitherto usto youto them

The third person plural pronoun gli is used for both masculine and feminineFor the third person plural loro can be used instead of gli but it alwaysfollows the verb the meaning is the same but the use of loro is far lessfrequent and is more formal

Negative form

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 When an indirect object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usu-ally after verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Mi mandi una cartolina da Roma

Vi scrivo appena arrivoEgrave il compleanno di Anna le regalo

un CDSe Dario non ha lrsquoauto gli dograve un

passaggioTi impresto i soldilsquoScrivi agli ziirsquo lsquoNo gli telefono

domaniNo telefono loro domanirsquo

Gli dico la veritagraveDico loro la veritagrave

Will you send me a postcard fromRome

Irsquoll write to you as soon as I arriveItrsquos Annarsquos birthday Irsquom giving her a

CDIf Dario hasnrsquot got his car Irsquoll give

him a liftIrsquoll lend you the moneylsquoAre you going to write to your

unclesrsquo lsquoNo Irsquoll phone themtomorrowrsquo

Irsquom going to tell them the truth

Non ti impresto i soldiNon le scrivo le telefonoNon gli rispondo

I wonrsquot lend you the moneyIrsquom not going to write (to her) Irsquoll phone herIrsquom not going to reply toanswer him

Le voglio parlareGli devo scrivereMi potete telefonareMi sai dire quando

orororor

Voglio parlarleDevo scrivergliPotete telefonarmiSai dirmi quando

I want to talk to herI must write to himthemCan you phone meCan you tell me when

Unit 10 75

Formal form

5 The indirect object pronouns used for the formal form are Le for thesingular (for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronoun Loro ndashafter the verb ndash can also be used but this is very formal)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct indirectobject pronoun

Example Scrivete a Luigi Gli scrivete

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Gli scrivo Non gli scrivo

Le rispondo subito Signor ColliLe dograve un passaggio Signora BanfiSignori Bianco Vi telefono domani (Signori Bianco telefono Loro

domani)

Irsquoll answer you immediately Mr ColliIrsquoll give you a lift Mrs Banfi

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) Irsquoll phone youtomorrow

1 Telefoniamo a Carla2 Spedisco le cartoline ai miei amici3 Silvia racconta una storia al

bambino4 Regalo un libro alla zia5 Anna scrive alle amiche

6 Porto i fiori alla nonna7 Scriviamo ai nostri compagni8 Olga e Silvia parlano a Giulia9 La nonna legge un libro ai nipoti

10 Cosa regalate a Marco

1 Le parlo di lavoro2 Mi telefoni3 Vi regalo dei libri4 Gli offrite qualcosa5 Gli amici le offrono un gelato

6 Ci scrivete7 Ti mando una cartolina8 Vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo mi dice la veritagrave

10 Gli spedisco il pacco

76 Unit 10

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate indirect object pronouns

Examples Mauro ha molti amici e mdashmdash telefona spesso gli Livia vuoleparlare con te devi telefonarmdashmdash le

1 lsquoTelefonate a Luisarsquo lsquoNo mdashmdash scriviamo una letterarsquo2 Se mi chiedi qualcosa mdashmdash rispondo3 lsquoCosa regali a tuo padrersquo lsquomdashmdash regalo una cravattarsquo4 Se vedi le mie amiche puoi dirmdashmdash che le aspetto per domani5 Signora posso offrirmdashmdash un caffegrave6 lsquoCi portate un regalo dallrsquoItaliarsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash portiamo un panettonersquo7 lsquoCosa vuoi dirmdashmdashrsquo lsquoVi voglio dire la veritagraversquo8 Gianni mdashmdash presento mia sorella9 lsquoQuando telefoni ai nonnirsquo lsquomdashmdash telefono domani serarsquo

10 Professore mdashmdash devo parlare11 Non so fare questo esercizio mdashmdash dai una mano12 Domani egrave il compleanno di Anna devo farmdashmdash gli auguri13 Paolo dice sempre bugie non mdashmdash dovete credere14 Telefono a Michele e mdashmdash chiedo un prestito15 Se non avete lrsquoauto mdashmdash dograve un passaggio16 Se Carla e Pietro hanno bisogno di soldi mdashmdash posso fare un prestito17 lsquoQuanto ti danno allrsquoorarsquo lsquomdashmdash danno 15 eurorsquo18 Appena vedo Silvia mdashmdash rendo i libri19 Se vuoi mdashmdash impresto la mia bici20 Ettore egrave un buon amico e mdashmdash racconto sempre tutto

1 Le possiamo scrivere2 Ti devo parlare3 Gli voglio regalare una chitarra4 Ci puoi telefonare5 Vi devono offrire qualcosa

6 Mi potete dire tutto7 Le posso parlare Signora8 Non gli dovete scrivere9 Non ti posso rispondere

10 Le voglio credere

Unit 10 77

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Can you [sing] tell Lucia that I want to speak to her2 As soon as I arrive in Rome Irsquoll phone you [pl]3 I have to ask you a favour Madam4 Are you [sing] giving them your phone number5 They always tell us interesting things6 They always send me a card when they go to Italy7 For her birthday Irsquom giving her flowers8 Irsquove got to give you [sing] Lucarsquos books9 If you [pl] want Irsquoll tell you a story

10 Massimo writes to me every week

78 Unit 10

UNIT ELEVENPiacere and similar verbs

1 Piacere corresponds to lsquoto likersquo but it is used in a different way from itsEnglish counterpart In Italian the subject of the verbsentence is the thingor person one likes the person who likes something is denoted by an indirectobject pronoun (see Unit 10)

2 Piacere is an irregular verb mostly used in the third person singular(piace) and plural (piacciono) As can be seen in the examples piace is usedif the thing that one likes is a singular noun or pronoun or the infinitiveof a verb piacciono is used if the things that one likes are a plural noun orpronoun

Singular noun or pronoun

Verb

Mi piace lo sportTi piace ballare

Mi piacciono i gatti

I like sport [lit sport is pleasing to me]Do you like dancing [lit is dancing pleasing to

you]I like cats [lit cats are pleasing to me]

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

la mia cittagravequestoquestail calciola musica rockil tennisquelloquella

I like my home townYou like this (one)Heshe likes footballWe like rock musicYou like tennisThey like that one

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

leggereandare in bicisciareguardare la tvdormireballare

I like to readreadingYou like to cyclecyclingHeshe likes to skiskiingWe like to watchwatching TVYou like to sleepsleepingThey like to dancedancing

Plural noun or pronoun

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 As usual for the polite form in the singular the feminine pronoun (Le) isused for both men and women for the plural Vi is normally used

Loro is a much more formal way of addressing people in the plural it isalways placed after the verb

5 When the person who likes something is denoted not by a pronoun but bya noun the noun must be preceded by the preposition a

6 To mark a contrast the stressed forms of the pronouns (a me a te aluia lei a noi a voi a loro ndash see Unit 14) are used instead of the unstressedforms

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiacciono

questiquestele ciliegiei romanziquelliquellegli scherzile auto veloci

I like theseYou like cherriesHeshe likes novelsWe like thoseYou like practical jokesThey like fast cars

Non mi piace la pizzaNon ti piace questoquestaNon le piace sciareNon ci piacciono i videogiochi

I donrsquot like pizzaDonrsquot you like this (one)She doesnrsquot like skiingWe donrsquot like video games

Le piacciono i funghi SignoraVanni

Le piace leggere Signor VanniNon Le piace quelloquellaNon Le piace sciareSignori Conti Vi piace lrsquoItaliaSignori Conti piace Loro lrsquoItalia

Do you like mushrooms Mrs Vanni

Do you like reading Mr VanniDonrsquot you like that oneDonrsquot you like skiingDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs ContiDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs Conti

A Claudia non piace andare a scuolaAllo zio Davide piace la musica

classicaA Piera non piacciono questiquesteAi miei nonni piace dormireA Franco e Luisa piace viaggiare

Claudia doesnrsquot like going to schoolUncle Davide likes classical music

Piera doesnrsquot like theseMy grandparents like sleepingFranco and Luisa like travelling

80 Unit 11

7 There are other verbs which are used in the same way as piacere mancare(to miss) [lit lsquoto be lackingmissingrsquo] servire (to need) [lit lsquoto be usefulrsquo] bastare(to be enoughsufficient) and sembrare and parere (to seem)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct pronoun

Example A Sara non piace il caffegrave Non le piace il caffegrave

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Mi piace la pioggia Non mi piace la pioggia

A me piace il caffegrave a te piace il teA lui piacciono i gatti a lei noA noi piace il calcio a voi il tennisA loro piace nuotare a noi piace sciareA me piace questoquesta a Lei quello

quella

I like coffee you like teaHe likes cats she doesnrsquotWe like football you like tennisThey like swimming we like skiingI like this one you like that one

Mi manca il mio ragazzo

Non vi mancano i vostri genitori

Ti serve una pennaA Livia servono i tuoi consigliQuestiqueste non ci bastanoA me bastano 10 euro e a te

Il comportamento di Carlo misembrami pare strano

Non mi sembrami pare giusto

I miss my boyfriend [lit my boyfriendis lacking to me]

Donrsquot you miss your parents [lit arenrsquotyour parents lacking to you]

Do you need a penLivia needs your adviceThese arenrsquot enough for us10 euros are sufficient for me ndash are they

for youhow about youCarlorsquos behaviour seems strange to me

It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot thinkitrsquos fair

1 A Federica non piacciono i carciofi2 A Giampiero non piace guidare3 A Massimo piace viaggiare4 A Tullio e Anna piace il mare5 Ai miei amici piace ballare

6 A me e a Marco non piace il pesce7 A te e a Marina piace nuotare8 A Mara piacciono i film francesi9 Alla mamma non piace stirare

10 Allo zio piace andare in moto

Unit 11 81

Exercise 3

Write sentences expressing your taste

Example cavalli (Non) mi piacciono i cavalli

1 la frutta 2 il calcio 3 le fragole 4 giocare a tennis 5 uscire con gli amici6 i gatti 7 la pizza 8 i dolci 9 ballare 10 le vacanze

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative or negativesentences using the verb piacere

Example Maria le patate A Maria (non) piacciono le patate

Exercise 5

Supply the correct form of the verbs in brackets

Example Quei libri mi (sembrare) interessanti sembrano

1 Ci (bastare) questo pane2 Vi (sembrare) bello quel film3 Ci (piacere) le auto sportive4 A Sebastiano (mancare) la mamma5 lsquoVoglio comprare una motorsquo lsquoTi (servire) dei soldirsquo6 A Livio (mancare) i soldi per le vacanze

1 Le piace andare in centro il sabato2 Ti piace la musica classica3 Gli piacciono i funghi4 Vi piace guardare la televisione5 Mi piacciono i film di fantascienza

6 Gli piace la scuola7 Ci piacciono le canzoni italiane8 Le piacciono gli spaghetti9 Mi piace sciare

10 Vi piace la cioccolata al latte

1 Luigi2 il professore3 mia sorella4 i miei cugini5 il primo ministro

il caffegrave senza zuccherole poesie di Leopardiandare al cinemai film di Fellinila politica

82 Unit 11

7 Quello che dici mi (sembrare) interessante8 Mi (servire) delle scarpe nuove9 Quale di quei due libri ti (parere) migliore

10 Non ti (bastare) 20 euro

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian using the verbs piacere sembrare servire mancare orbastare

1 An hour isnrsquot enough for me2 Giovanni needs a pen3 Lynnersquos missing her Italian friends4 Do you [sing] like chocolate5 She doesnrsquot like going to the cinema6 Do you [pl] need a lift7 They need a pen and a notebook8 Do you find the show boring Madam9 Do you [sing] need help

10 I like reading

Unit 11 83

UNIT TWELVEThe present perfect tense

Use of the present perfect

1 The present perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) is one of the two most used pasttenses of the indicative in Italian (the other is the imperfect (lsquoimperfettorsquo) )The present perfect is often used like the English present perfect (eg lsquoI haveseen itrsquo lsquoShe has gone homersquo) to state that an action has happened in the pastbut that its effects are still lasting in the present However in Northern Italyand in the language of the media it is also equivalent to the English simplepast (eg lsquoI saw itrsquo lsquoShe went homersquo) referring to actions which happened in amore distant past and have no immediate consequences in the presentIndeed it more often corresponds to the English simple past than to theEnglish present perfect In other words in Italian the difference betweenpresent perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) and simple past (lsquopassato remotorsquo) is notalways marked and it is always possible to use the former

2 The present perfect is a compound tense and is formed as in English withthe present tense of the auxiliary verb followed by the past participle of theverb

Napoleone egrave morto il 5 maggio 1821Lrsquoestate scorsa siamo andati in

vacanza sul lago di GardaNina egrave nata in RussiaLrsquoanno scorso mi hanno regalato

una mountain bike

Napoleon died on 5 May 1821Last summer we went to Lake Garda

for oura holidayNina was born in RussiaLast year they gave me a mountain

bike

Ho visto un bel filmHa telefonato MarcoSono rimasto a casaAnna egrave uscitaSono andati in piscina

I sawhave seen a lovely filmMarco phonedhas phonedI stayedhave stayed at homeAnna went outhas gone outDid they goHave they gone to the swimming

pool

As the examples confirm the lsquopassato prossimorsquo may correspond to either thesimple past or the present perfect in English But there are also other differ-ences between the Italian and English structures there is only one auxiliaryverb in English (lsquoto haversquo) but in Italian there is a choice of two avere andessere when essere is used the past participle has to agree in gender andnumber with the subject finally whether to use avere or essere is not usually afree choice We will look at all these differences in detail but first we need tolook at the forms of the Italian past participle

Forms of the past participle

3 The regular forms of the past participle are obtained by changing theending of the infinitive as follows

Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) keep the lsquosoftrsquo sound of c (or sc) andtherefore add an i before the -uto ending (-iuto)

The past participle of verbs in -urre ends in -otto

Infinitive in -are-ato

Infinitive in -ere-uto

Infinitive in -ire-ito

Infinitiveparlaremangiarecaderevolerepiacereconoscerepartirecapire

Past participleparlatomangiatocadutovolutopiaciutoconosciutopartitocapito

(to speak) spoken(to eat) eaten(to fall) fallen(to want) wanted(to like) liked(to knowmeet for the first time) knownmet(to leave) left(to understand) understood

Infinitivecondurretradurreprodurre

Past participlecondottotradottoprodotto

(to leaddrivemanage) leddrivenmanaged(to translate) translated(to produce) produced

Unit 12 85

4 In Italian as in most languages many verbs have an irregular past parti-ciple which is best learned by heart and with use Here is a list of the mostfrequently used

Stato is also the past participle of stare The regular forms perduto and veduto are rarely used

The present perfect

5 The present perfect in Italian is formed with the present indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

Infinitiveaccendereaprireberechiederechiuderedecideredireesserefareleggeremettereperdereprendererendererimanererispondereromperescenderescriverespegnerespenderesuccederetoglierevederevenirevincerevivere

Past participleaccesoapertobevutochiestochiusodecisodettostatofattolettomessopersoperdutopresoresorimastorispostorottoscesoscrittospentospesosuccessotoltovistovedutovenutovintovissuto

(to turn onswitch on) turned onswitched on(to open) opened(to drink) drunk(to ask) asked(to close) closed(to decide) decided(to saytell) saidtold(to be) been(to domake) donemade(to read) read(to putput on) putput on(to lose) lost(to take) taken(to returngive back) returnedgiven back(to remainstay) remainedstayed(to answer) answered(to break) broken(to go downdescend) gone downdescended(to write) written(to turn offswitch off) turned offswitched off(to spend) spent(to happen) happened(to take awayoff) taken awayoff(to see) seen(to come) come(to win) won(to live) lived

86 Unit 12

6 As can be seen when the present perfect is formed with avere the pastparticiple does not change but when the present perfect is formed with esserethe past participle behaves like an adjective agreeing in gender and numberwith the subject of the verb Here are some examples

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Present of avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I wrotehave writtenyou wrotehave writtenhesheit wrotehas writtenwe wrotehave written

(voi) avete(loro) hanno

scrittoscritto

you wrotehave writtenthey wrotehave written

Present of essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I wenthave goneyou wenthave gonehesheit wenthas gonewe wenthave goneyou wenthave gonethey wenthave gone

AvereLivia ha guardato la televisioneHai comprato il pane

Ha prenotato Signor Ferro

EssereMonica egrave uscita [fs]Pietro egrave stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia sono rimaste a

casa [fp]Giulia e Sebastiano sono partiti

[mp]Sono andata al cinema [fs]

Siamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando egravearrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando egravearrivata [fs]

Livia (has) watched TVDid you buyHave you bought the

breadDid you bookHave you booked Mr

Ferro

Monica went outMonicarsquos gone outPietrorsquos been illFabia and Silvia (have) stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano (have) left

I wentIrsquove been to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We (have) arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When did you arrive Mr Poli

When did you arrive Mrs Poli

Unit 12 87

Present perfect of avere and essere

7 Avere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary essere

8 Like the present the present perfect of essere can be used with the pronounci (see Unit 4) crsquoegrave statostata (there washas been) ci sono statistate (therewerehave been)

Essere or avere

9 Deciding whether to use essere or avere can be a bit of a problem The onlyfirm rules are those governing transitive verbs (ie verbs which can have adirect object) and reflexive verbs (see Unit 20) Transitive verbs always useavere reflexive verbs always use essere

As for intransitive verbs some use avere and others essere In general it canbe said that verbs of movement (such as andare (to go) venire (to come)partire (to leave) uscire (to go out) entrare (to go income in)) or non-movement (such as rimanere (to remain) restare (to stayremain)) and verbsof state (such as essere diventare (to become) cambiare (to change) crescere(to grow)) use the auxiliary essere However this is not a hard and fast rulethere are intransitive verbs which take avere

ho avutohai avutoha avutoabbiamo avutoavete avutohanno avuto

I hadhave hadyou hadhave hadhesheit hadhas hadwe hadhave hadyou hadhave hadthey hadhave had

sono statostatasei statostataegrave statostatasiamo statistatesiete statistatesono statistate

I washave beenyou werehave beenhesheit washas beenwe werehave beenyou werehave beenthey werehave been

La settimana scorsa abbiamo avuto ospitiTanya ha avuto la varicellaNina egrave stata malataDes egrave stato mio studente

Last week we had guestsTanya has had chickenpoxNina has been illDes was a student of mine

Crsquoegrave stata unrsquoalluvioneCi sono stati troppo incidenti

There washas been a floodThere werehave been too many accidents

88 Unit 12

To help in choosing the right auxiliary here is a list of common verbs whichform the present perfect with essere

These verbs are normally only used in the third person singular and plural

Ho conosciuto i genitori di Gianni[transitive]

Avete spedito le vostre cartoline[transitive]

Quanto hai speso [transitive]Ieri sera siamo andati a un concerto

rock [intransitive]Domenica scorsa siamo rimasti a

casa [intransitive]Il tempo egrave cambiato [intransitive]Ho dormito bene [intransitive]

I (have) met Giannirsquos parents

Did you sendHave you sent yourpostcards

How much did you spendLast night we went to a rock concert

Last Sunday we stayed at home

The weatherrsquos changedI slept well

Infinitiveandarearrivarebastare

costare

crescerediventareentrareesseremorire

nascerepartirepiacere

restarerimanere(ri)tornareriuscire

sembrarestaresuccedere

uscirevenire

Present perfectsono andato-asono arrivato-aegrave bastato-asono bastati-eegrave costato-asono costati-esono cresciuto-asono diventato-asono entrato-asono stato-aegrave morto-asono morti-esono nato-asono partito-aegrave piaciuto-asono piaciuti-esono restato-asono rimasto-asono (ri)tornato-asono riuscito-a

sono sembrato-asono stato-aegrave successo-asono successi-esono uscito-asono venuto-a

I wenthave goneI arrivedhave arrivedit washas been enoughthey werehave been enoughit costhas costthey costhave costI grewhave grownI becamehave becomeI wenthave gone inI enteredhave enteredI washave beenhesheit diedhas died

I was bornI lefthave leftit pleasedhas pleasedthey pleasedhave pleasedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI came backhave come backI succeededmanagedI have succeeded

managedI seemedhave seemedI stoodstayedI have stoodstayedit happenedhas happenedthey happenedhave happenedI went outhave gone outI camehave come

Unit 12 89

Note that succedere is an impersonal verb something or things can happenbut succedere cannot be used like the English lsquoI happened to be in Romersquo etc

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the auxiliary

11 The adverbs ancora (again) mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) and giagrave (already)are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (eg Ho giagrave risposto(Irsquove already replied)) When they are used in the negative ndash non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) (see also Unit 6 paragraph 2) ndash non is placed before theauxiliary

I soldi sono bastatiQuanto egrave costata quella biciLa bici egrave costata piugrave di 900 euroMolti civili sono mortiLe egrave piaciuto il film SignoraDa allora sono succese molte

cose

The money was enoughHow much did that bicycle costThe bike cost over 900 eurosMany civilians diedhave diedDid you like the film( Madam)Since then many things have happened

After that many things happened

Ieri non sono andato a scuolaLisa non egrave riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon hai telefonato a Fabia

I didnrsquot go to school yesterdayLisa didnrsquot managehasnrsquot managed to

finish that jobDidnrsquot you phoneHavenrsquot you phoned

Fabia

Sei ancora andato in biblioteca

Siete mai stati su un ghiacciaioHai piugrave visto i tuoi amiciNon abbiamo ancora preso il

bigliettoPaola non egrave mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non ha piugrave telefonato

Did you goHave you been to the libraryagain

Have you ever been on a glacierHave you (ever) seen your friends againWe havenrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola has never been to VeniceCarlo didnrsquot phonehasnrsquot (ever) phoned

again

90 Unit 12

Dovere potere volere

12 The present perfect of dovere potere and volere is normally formed withthe auxiliary avere but when they are followed by a verb which forms thepresent perfect with essere they may take essere as well if essere is used thepast participle of the verb agrees with the subject

Remember that it is never wrong to use avere

Exercise 1

Supply the correct endings for the past participles ensuring that they agreewith the subject

Example Le mie amiche sono uscitmdash uscite

1 Francesca e Filippo sono restatmdash a casa2 Giulia e Susanna non sono uscitmdash ieri sera3 Nicoletta egrave andatmdash in vacanza4 I miei amici sono arrivatmdash domenica scorsa5 Quando Fabia egrave entratmdash ha visto gli amici6 Pierluigi non egrave riuscitmdash a finire il lavoro7 Professor Rossi quando egrave arrivatmdash8 Ti egrave piaciutmdash la partita9 Quanto sono costatmdash quei libri

10 Quando egrave natmdash tua sorella

I nostri amici hanno dovuto partire I nostri amici sono dovuti partireCecilia non ha potuto andare in Irlanda Cecilia non egrave potuta andare in IrlandaPercheacute non avete voluto uscire Percheacute non siete voluti uscire

Our friends had to leave

Cecilia couldnrsquot go to Ireland

Why didnrsquot you want to go out

Ho dovuto lavorareMaria ha dovuto rimanere a casaElena non ha potuto telefonare

Elena e Sergio non hanno potutoentrare

I (have) had to workMaria (has) had to stay at homeElena couldnrsquothasnrsquot been able to

phoneElena and Sergio couldnrsquothavenrsquot

been able to get in

Unit 12 91

Exercise 2

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Anna (partire) ieri egrave partita

Exercise 3

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Il dottore (uscire) egrave uscito

1 Dove (tu comprare) quellescarpe

2 Ettore (regalare) un portafoglioa Luisa

3 Ieri sera (noi andare) a unconcerto

4 Dove (voi trovare) quei fogli5 (tu spegnere) la luce6 Quanta gente (venire) alla festa7 Signora Depaoli (portare) i

documenti8 (voi prendere) il giornale9 Ieri (io vedere) le mie amiche

10 Non (tu potere) finire il lavoro

11 (io dovere) studiare molto perquesto esame

12 Franco (uscire) tardi e (perdere)lrsquoautobus

13 Chi ti (scrivere) quella lettera14 (noi giocare) a pallone tutto il

pomeriggio15 Federica (cominciare) il nuovo

lavoro16 Lorenzo non (volere) uscire17 Dove (tu mettere) i libri18 (tu potere) parlare col professore19 (voi avere) tempo per fare tutto20 (tu leggere) il giornale di oggi

1 (noi dovere) lavorare tutto ilgiorno

2 Dove (voi mangiare)3 A che ora (tu partire)4 Chi (telefonare)5 Claudia (volere) restare a casa6 (tu conoscere) il fratello di

Piero7 Silvia (dovere) andare in

ospedale8 (voi accompagnare) Lina alla

stazione9 Chi (vincere) il campionato

10 (tu finire) i compiti

11 Non (io capire) nulla12 (tu portare) i libri in biblioteca13 Non (noi riuscire) a finire in

tempo14 Cosa (voi decidere)15 Carla (avere) la febbre16 Ugo e Marina non (venire) a cena

da noi17 Che cosa (voi fare) domenica18 Il treno (partire) con mezzrsquoora di

ritardo19 La nonna (essere) contenta di

vedermi20 Chi (tradurre) questo libro

92 Unit 12

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquove already done this exercise2 I havenrsquot finished reading the paper yet3 Stefanorsquos never been to Rome4 I didnrsquot see Roberto again after the party5 Have you [pl] already paid the bill6 Giulia hasnrsquot started working yet7 Carlo couldnrsquot work any more8 Irsquove never met her parents9 Have you [sing] written the letters already

10 Irsquove never seen that film

Unit 12 93

UNIT THIRTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns (2)

1 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the present perfect (orany other compound tense) the past participle must agree in gender andnumber with the pronoun

Particular care must be taken when the gender is not shown in the pronounas in the last three examples

Note that when the polite form is used the past participle always agreeswith the feminine pronoun La not with the gender of the person beingspoken to

lsquoHai invitato Anna e Sararsquo lsquoSigrave leho invitatersquo

lsquoAvete portato i librirsquo lsquoSigrave liabbiamo portatirsquo

Ho comprato delle rose e leho date a Luisa

lsquoChi ha scritto questa musicarsquolsquoLrsquoha scritta Bob Marleyrsquo

lsquoDove hai comprato quellescarpersquo lsquoLe ho comprate almercatorsquo

Ho 25 compagni di classe e li hoinvitati tutti alla mia festa dicompleanno

Non ci hanno invitati alla festa

Mauro mi ha accompagnata allastazione

Ti hanno invitata

lsquoDid you invite Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYes Iinvited themrsquo

lsquoHave you brought the booksrsquo lsquoYeswersquove brought themrsquo

I bought some roses and gave them toLuisa

lsquoWho wrote this musicrsquo lsquoBob Marleywrote itrsquo

lsquoWhere did you buy those shoesrsquo lsquoIbought them at the marketrsquo

I have 25 classmates and Irsquove invited allof them to my birthday party

They didnrsquot invite us to the party [weare all males or mixed males andfemales]

Mauro took me to the station [thespeaker is female]

Did they invite you [the personaddressed is female]

2 The rule given above does not apply to indirect object pronouns with thesethe past participle of the verb never changes

3 As we saw in Units 7 and 10 when a direct or indirect object pronounoccurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive

In these sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or anyother compound tense) there is no agreement of the past participle even withdirect object pronouns

However when the direct object pronoun is not attached to the infinitive thepast participle must agree with it

Signor Belli chi Lrsquoha invitataDottor Ranieri Lrsquoabbiamo vista

ieri sera alla televisione

Who invited you Mr BelliWe saw you on television last night

Dr Ranieri

lsquoHai telefonato a Anna e SararsquolsquoSigrave gli ho telefonatorsquo

Quando egrave venuta Livia le ho offertoun gelato

Ho parlato con Carla e le ho dettotutto

Non ci hanno scritto

lsquoDid you phone Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYesI phoned themrsquo

When Livia came I offered her an icecream

I spoke to Carla and told hereverything

They didnrsquot write to us

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave hodovuto leggerli tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non ho ancora potutoleggerla

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non ha volutoinvitarle alla festa

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonabbiamo saputo farlirsquo

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave li hodovuti leggere tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non lrsquoho ancora potuta leggere

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non le ha voluteinvitare alla festa

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

Unit 13 95

4 In contemporary spoken Italian (and sometimes in written Italian as well)agreement of the past participle with first and second person direct objectpronouns tends not to be observed this is the case with both singular (mi ti) andplural (ci vi) so quite often you will hear (or read) sentences like the following

However the agreement is always made with the third person pronouns (lola li le)

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the direct object pronouns making sure that thepast participle agrees

Example Ho visto Gianna e mdashmdash ho invitatmdash lrsquoho invitata

1 Ho comprato dei fiori e mdashmdash ho messmdash in un vaso2 La zia egrave partita e mdashmdash ho accompagnatmdashalla stazione3 Ho visto delle belle scarpe e mdashmdashho compratmdash4 Lara ha aperto le finestre ma Luca mdashmdash ha chiusmdash5 Mi hanno regalato dei biscotti e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdash tutti6 Luisa non hai sentito che Claudio mdashmdash ha chiamatmdash7 Gaetano ha preso il giornale e mdashmdashha lettmdash8 lsquoVi hanno invitati alla festarsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash hanno invitatmdashrsquo9 lsquoHai preso i biglietti per il concertorsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho presmdashrsquo

10 Cerchi i libri mdashmdash ho datmdash a Giovanni

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonli abbiamo saputi farersquo

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoSusanna chi ti ha accompagnatorsquo[instead of ti ha accompagnata]

lsquoMi ha accompagnato Sebastianorsquo[instead of mi ha accompagnata]

Ci ha invitato alla festa [instead ofci ha invitati]

Vi ho visto entrare al cinema[instead of vi ho visti]

lsquoSusanna who went withtook yoursquo

lsquoSebastiano went withtook mersquo

HeShe has asked us to the party

I saw you go into the cinema

Lrsquoha accompagnata SebastianoLi ho invitati alla festalsquoQuando hai visto Carla e Liviarsquo

lsquoLe ho viste ierirsquo

Sebastiano went withtook herIrsquove asked them to the partylsquoWhen did you see Carla and Liviarsquo lsquoI

saw them yesterdayrsquo

96 Unit 13

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct direct or indirect object pronounmaking sure that the past participle agrees where necessary

Examples Non ho telefonato a Maria mdashmdashmdash ho scrittmdash le ho scrittoHo comprato una minigonna rossa e mdashho indossatmdash per lafesta lrsquoho indossata

1 Ho incontrato Lina e mdashmdash ho offertmdash un caffegrave2 Cerco Paola e Gianni mdashmdash avete vistmdash3 Non ho la bicicletta perchegrave mdashmdashho imprestatmdash a Filippo4 Non ho scritto a Paola mdashmdash ho telefonatmdash5 Dove sono le chiavi Chi mdashmdash ha presmdash6 Parlo bene lrsquoitaliano e il tedesco percheacute mdashmdash ho studiatmdash per sette anni7 Ieri ho visto Alessandro e mdashmdash ha presentatmdash sua sorella8 Caterina chi mdashmdash ha accompagnatmdash ieri sera9 Oggi egrave il compleanno di Daniela mdashmdash hai mandatmdash gli auguri

10 Gianna egrave una vecchia amica mdashmdashho conosciutmdash otto anni fa11 lsquoDove avete lasciato la bicirsquo lsquomdashmdashabbiamo lasciatmdash in stradarsquo12 Hai telefonato a Giacomo Che cosa mdashmdash hai dettmdash13 lsquoHai comprato i francobollirsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashrsquo14 Signora Lrsquoho cercata ieri ma non mdashmdashho trovatmdash15 Sebastiano ha molte amiche e io mdashmdash ho conosciutmdash tutte16 lsquoCosa hai detto a Matteorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho dettmdash nullarsquo17 lsquoChi ha pagato il contorsquo lsquomdashmdashha pagatmdash mia madrersquo18 lsquoCosa hai raccontato a Giuliarsquo lsquomdashmdash ho raccontatmdash la veritagraversquo19 Professore chi mdashmdashha accompagnatmdash in aeroporto20 Questa egrave una rivista molto interessante mdashmdashho lettmdash tutta

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as shown in the example

Example Ho dovuto comprarle Le ho dovute comprare

1 Non ho saputo farli2 Ho voluto vederli3 Non abbiamo potuto chiamarlo4 Hanno potuto aiutarvi5 Abbiamo dovuto invitarla

6 Non ha saputo tradurle7 Avete dovuto accompagnarle8 Ha voluto mangiarla9 Hai potuto vederli

10 Non hanno voluto farle

Unit 13 97

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sabina hasnrsquot invited me [f]2 Who called you [fs]3 We phoned them yesterday4 I looked for you [mp] but I didnrsquot find you5 Chiara took us to the bus stop6 I sent you [pl] a postcard ndash did you receive it7 My grandparents gave me 100 euros but Irsquove already spent it [Say lsquospent

themrsquo]8 I bought two rolls and ate them9 lsquoHave you [sing] switched the light offrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove switched it offrsquo

10 Carla hasnrsquot been able to help them [f]

98 Unit 13

UNIT FOURTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns(3 stressed forms)

1 Direct and indirect object pronouns do not only have the unstressed (orweak) forms that we saw in Units 7 10 and 13 they also have stressed(or strong) forms

As usual the pronoun Lei (third person singular feminine) and the pronounLoro (third person plural) are used for the formal form

2 The stressed forms of direct object and indirect object pronouns are usedto give emphasis to the pronoun or to stress a contrast unlike unstressedforms they normally come after the verb except when used with the verbspiacere sembrare servire bastare parere and mancare (see Unit 11) Stressedforms always refer to people not objects

Direct object stressed forms Indirect object stressed formsmeteluileiLeinoivoiloroLoro

a mea tea luia leia Leia noia voia loroa Loro

Chiamo voi non loroVedo lei ma non vedo luiAspetto Francesco non teInvito solo teInvito solo Lei Signor PaoliA me non piace il caffegraveA me sembra giustoTelefono a te ma non a loroBilly scrive a noi e non ai suoi

genitoriDevi rendere i soldi a me non a mio

fratello

Irsquom callingphoning you not themI can see her but I canrsquot see himIrsquom waiting for Francesco not youIrsquom only inviting youIrsquom only inviting you Mr PaoliI donrsquot like coffeeI think itrsquos fairIt seems fair to meIrsquoll phone you but not themBilly writes to us and not his parents

Yoursquove got to give me the money notmy brother

Note the difference between the two sentences lsquoNon mi piace il caffegraversquo andlsquoA me non piace il caffegraversquo The first simply states that I donrsquot like coffee whilethe second puts the emphasis on the pronoun lsquomersquo implying that there arepeople who do like coffee but I am not one of them The same applies tothe sentences lsquoMi sembra giustorsquo and lsquoA me sembra giustorsquo the secondsentence stresses the fact that there are other people who donrsquot think itrsquosfair

3 As the above examples suggest stressed direct and indirect object pro-nouns cannot be used to refer to objects When referring to objects the nounhas to be repeated (as is also generally the case in English)

4 The stressed forms of the object pronouns are used after all prepositions(see Unit 8) not just a This is true even when no emphasis is required

When su sopra dopo contro are used with a personal pronoun the pro-noun is preceded by the preposition di (see Unit 8 paragraphs 9 20)

5 The stressed forms are also always used when the verb has two pronoundirect or indirect objects even where no emphasis is required

lsquoPrendi la frutta e il dolcersquo lsquoPrendola frutta ma non il dolcersquo [NotlsquoPrendo lei ma non luirsquo]

lsquoPorti la chitarra e i CDrsquo lsquoPorto iCD ma non la chitarrarsquo [NotlsquoPorto loro ma non leirsquo]

lsquoAre you having the fruit and thesweetrsquo lsquoIrsquom having the fruit butnot the sweetrsquo

lsquoAre you bringing the guitar and theCDsrsquo lsquoIrsquoll bring the CDs but notthe guitarrsquo [or at a pinch lsquoIrsquoll bringthem but not itrsquo]

Vengo con Lei SignoraChi di loro non vuole venirePuoi dormire da me staseraFaccio questo per tePuoi contare su di meDopo di te ci sono ioNon ho nulla contro di voi

Irsquom coming with you( Madam)Which of them doesnrsquot want to comeYou can sleep at my place tonightIrsquom doing this for youYou can count on meAfter you itrsquos memy turnIrsquove got nothing against you

Ho visto te e lui in cittagrave [not Ti e lo hovisto in cittagrave]

Invito voi e loro [not Vi e li invito]Scrive a te e a me [not Ti e mi scrive]Regaliamo fiori a loro e a lei [not

Gli e le regaliamo fiori]

I saw you and him in town

Irsquom inviting you and themHe writes to you and meWersquore giving flowers to them and

her

100 Unit 14

6 Stressed forms are always used after anchepure (also too) neanchenemmenoneppure (not even neither) come (as like) quanto (as much as)eccetto (che)meno (che)tranne (che)salvo (che) (except but)

The forms eccetto chemeno chetranne chesalvo che are used when there is apreposition before the pronoun

7 Note that when the stressed forms of the direct object pronouns are used ina sentence with the verb in a compound tense (see Unit 13 paragraph 1) thepast participle does not agree with the pronoun

Exercise 1

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones

Examples Mario chiama (them) non (you [pl]) loro voi La nonna hadato i soldi a (you [sing]) e non a (me) te me

1 Prima accompagno (her) a scuola poi (you [sing]) in palestra2 Dovete invitare anche (them)3 Non egrave venuto nessuno nemmeno (her)4 Hanno invitato (us) e non (you [pl])5 Allrsquoesame hanno promosso tutti tranne (me)6 Credo a tutti meno che a (him)

Invito anche voiDevi fare come meMaria lavora quanto teDevi chiedere anche a noiNon credo neppure a luiVengono tutti meno lui

Faccio questo per tutti meno cheper lei

Anna telefona a tutti salvo che aloro

Sandro esce con tutti salvo checon noi

Sono tutti contro di noi

Irsquom inviting you as wellYou should do as I dodo it like meMaria works as much as you (do)You have to ask us as wellI donrsquot believe him eitherTheyrsquore all coming except him

Everyone but himrsquos comingIrsquom doingIrsquoll do this for everyone

exceptbut herAnna phones everyone exceptbut

themSandro goes out with everybody

exceptbut usThey are all against us

Ho chiamato voi non loroHo visto lei ma non ho visto luiLucia ha invitato loro ma non lui

I called you not themI saw her but I didnrsquot see himLucia has invited them but not him

Unit 14 101

7 Carla vuole bene a (me) quanto a (you [sing])8 A (you [polite]) credo Professore9 Voglio presentare i miei amici anche a (you [pl])

10 A (her) come a (them) non sembra giusto

Exercise 2

Translate the following sentences where necessary underlining the em-phasised words

Examples Dovete invitare anche me You should invite me as welltoo Ame manca il sole a te no Irsquom missing the sun ndash arenrsquot you orI miss the sun ndash donrsquot you

1 Nessuno suona la batteria come me2 Tutti gli studenti hanno fatto il compito meno lui3 Sergio chiama te non me4 Accompagno anche te5 Capisco quanto te6 Mauro dice la veritagrave a tutti tranne che a me7 Dovete telefonare anche a me8 Claudia impresta i dischi a noi non a voi9 Do il mio indirizzo a tutti salvo che a lei

10 Regalo un libro a lei e un disco a lui

Exercise 3

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones as you did inExercise 1

1 Chi di (you [pl]) non puograve venire alla festa2 Allrsquoesame orale sono passato subito dopo di (him)3 Sopra di (them) abita una signora molto gentile4 Abbiamo deciso fra (us)5 Esci con (her) anche stasera

102 Unit 14

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian using the stressed form of the pronouns

1 Everyonersquos against me2 Are you [sing] coming with me3 Irsquove bought a present for you [sing]4 You [sing] canrsquot count on him5 Can I sleep at your [pl] place tonight

Unit 14 103

UNIT FIFTEENRelative pronouns

1 The Italian relative pronouns correspond to the English lsquowhorsquo lsquowhichrsquolsquothatrsquo lsquowhomrsquo lsquowhosersquo They have two forms invariable (che cui) and vari-able (il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp])

The invariable forms which can replace all nouns (masculine feminine sin-gular plural) are the most frequently used

2 The invariable form che is used for masculine feminine singular and pluralnouns it can be either a subject or a direct object

Il treno che prendo la mattina egravesempre molto affollato

La storia che ho letto egrave stranaLa ragazza chela quale ha tele-

fonato ha bisogno di un favoreGli amici chei quali sono venuti a

trovarmi sono irlandesiHai ancora le chiavi che ti ho dato

Il ragazzo con cuicol quale esci egravemolto simpatico

La ragazza a cuialla quale ho datoi libri egrave una mia amica

The train (that) I get in the morning isalways very crowded

The story (that) Irsquove read is strangeThe girl who phoned needs a favour

The friends who came to see me areIrish

Have you still got the keys (that) I gaveyou

The boy with whom you are going outyoursquore going out with is very nice

The girl to whom I gave the booksIgave the books to is a friend of mine

Il gruppo che [subject ms] suonastasera egrave molto conosciuto

Il cantante che [direct object ms]abbiamo sentito ieri sera non egravemolto bravo

Le scarpe che [direct object fp] hocomprato sono care

The group who are playing tonightare very well known

The singer (whom) we heard last nightisnrsquot very good

The shoes (that) I bought areexpensive

In Italian collective nouns (eg il gruppo lsquothe grouprsquo la squadra lsquothesquadteamrsquo) are always followed by the singular of the verb never the plural

3 When a preposition is needed before the invariable relative pronoun (eg ifit stands for an indirect object) the form used is cui

The preposition a can sometimes be omitted before cui The Italian for lsquothe reasonreasons whyrsquo is always la ragionele ragioni percui never percheacute

4 The variable forms il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp] areused as subject indirect object and ndash very rarely ndash as direct object They mustagree in gender and number with the noun they replace

Non conosco i ragazzi che [subjectmp] sono appena arrivati

I donrsquot know the boys who have justarrived

Lo zio a cui scrivo sempre arrivadomani

La vicina per cui ho fatto la spesami ha invitato a cena

Non conosci la persona (a) cui devotelefonare

Il dentista da cui vado egrave moltobravo

Nella cittagrave in cui abito ci sono molticinema

Gli amici con cui esco sono italianiNon capisco la ragione per cui

Paola non egrave venutaNon ho ancora letto le notizie di cui

parli

The uncle I always write toto whom Ialways write is arriving tomorrow

The neighbour I went shopping forforwhom I went shopping has invitedme to dinner

You donrsquot know the person (that) Ihave to phone

The dentist I go to is very good

There are a lot of cinemas in the townin which I live

The friends I go out with are ItalianI donrsquot understand (the reason) why

Paola didnrsquot comeI havenrsquot read the news yoursquore talking

about yet

Paolo il quale egrave sempre in ritardonon egrave ancora arrivato

Ho parlato con una ragazza la qualemi ha dato tutte le informazioni

Tullio e Anna sono amici i quali miinvitano spesso

Ci sono due signore le quali nonhanno prenotato

Lrsquoamica con la quale sono andatain vacanza si chiama Elisa

Paolo who is always late still hasnrsquotarrived

I spoke to a girl who gave me all theinformation

Tullio and Anna are friends who ofteninvite me round

There are two ladies who havenrsquotbooked

The friend with whom I went onholidayI went away with is calledElisa

Unit 15 105

Remember to combine the definite article with the preposition (see Unit 8paragraph 2) when using the variable forms

5 When a relative pronoun is preceded by in or a and these denote place itis often replaced in contemporary Italian by the adverb dove Da dove or didove can be used when the relative pronoun is preceded by the prepositionda

6 The relative pronouns (both variable and invariable) can be used in con-junction with the demonstrative pronouns colui and quello

Colui can only refer to people It has three forms colui [ms] colei [fs]coloro [mp and fp] these combine with checui or il qualela qualei qualilequali as follows

Quello has four forms quello [ms] quella [fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp]these only combine with checui and can refer to both objects andpeople

The use of quello che etc to refer to a person is rather informal unlike coluichecolui il quale etc which are quite formal

Questa egrave lrsquoamica della quale ti hoparlato

Lrsquoinsegnante al quale ho parlato egravestato molto gentile

This is the friend I told you about

The teacher I spoke to was very kind

Milano egrave la cittagrave dove [for in cui]vive Walter

Questo egrave il negozio dove [for in cui]lavora Pia

La stazione dove [for a cui] deveandare non egrave lontana da qui

La scuola da dovedi dove [for dacui] viene Enrico egrave molto buona

Milan is the city where Walter lives

This is the shop where Pia works

The station hersquos got to go to isnrsquot farfrom here

The school Enrico went to [lit comesfrom] is very good

colui che or colui il qualecolei che or colei la qualecoloro che or coloro i qualicoloro le quali

he whoshe whothose who

quello chequella chequelli chequelle che

that which he who the one whichwhothat which she who the one whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwho

106 Unit 15

7 When referring to people the pronoun chi (who anyone who the personpeople who) is often used instead of the more formal lsquodouble relativersquo (coluicoleicoloro che colui il quale etc) Chi is always used with the verb in thethird person singular past participles and adjectives are always in the mascu-line singular

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples La ragazza mdashmdash ho invitato egrave mia cugina che Il ragazzoa mdashmdash devo telefonare egrave Matteo cui

1 Il film mdashmdash mi hai consigliato egrave molto bello2 La palestra in mdashmdash vado non egrave lontana

Colui che pensa questo sbagliaQuello che pensa questo sbagliaPossono entrare solo coloro che

coloro i quali hanno lrsquoinvitoPossono entrare solo quelli che

hanno lrsquoinvitoColoro a cuiai quali scrivo sono

amici di mio fratelloQuelli a cui scrivo sono amici di

mio fratelloQuelli che sono sul tavolo sono i

libri di TullioCi sono due case quella in cui abita

Giorgio egrave la piugrave grande

He who thinks this is wrongAnyone who thinks this is wrongOnly those who have an invitation

may comego inOnly people with an invitation can

comego inThose Irsquom writing to are friends of my

brother(rsquos)The people Irsquom writing to are friends

of my brother(rsquos)ThoseThe ones (which are) on the

table are Tulliorsquos booksThere are two houses the one Giorgio

lives in is the bigger

Chi pensa questo sbagliaPuograve entrare solo chi ha lrsquoinvito

Non ho visto chi egrave entratoEsco con chi mi invita

Lavoro per chi mi pagaRipeto la spiegazione per chi

non ha capitoHai risposto a chi ti ha scritto

Anyone who thinks this is wrongOnly people who have an invitation can

come ingo inI didnrsquot see who came inwent inIrsquoll go out with anyone who invitesasks

meIrsquoll work for anyone who pays meIrsquoll repeat the explanation for those

anyone who didnrsquot understandHave you replied to the personpeople

who wrote to you

Unit 15 107

3 I bambini mdashmdash sono venuti sono i miei cugini4 Non conosco le persone con mdashmdash esci5 La torta mdashmdash ha fatto tua mamma egrave molto buona6 Quando mi rendi i CD mdashmdash ti ho imprestato7 Lrsquoargomento di mdashmdash parla Paolo non mi interessa8 La ragione per mdashmdash non siamo venuti egrave semplice9 La cittagrave in mdashmdash sono nato non egrave molto grande

10 Come egrave andato lrsquoesame mdashmdash hai dato ieri

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples Hai comprato le cose mdashmdash ti ho chiesto che La discotecain mdashmdash andiamo egrave in centro cui

1 Nella biblioteca in mdashmdash vado a studiare fa sempre freddo2 Gli amici da mdashmdash siamo andati sono molto simpatici3 La stanza in mdashmdash dorme Luigi egrave la piugrave luminosa4 Non mi piace la musica mdashmdash ascolti tu5 Hai giagrave letto il libro mdashmdash ti hanno regalato6 Gli esercizi mdashmdash avete fatto sono tutti giusti7 Quello egrave il muro su mdashmdash vogliamo mettere i poster8 Vuoi leggere la lettera mdashmdash mi ha scritto Angela9 Il medico da mdashmdash vanno i miei genitori egrave molto giovane

10 Di chi egrave la bici con mdashmdash sei arrivato

Exercise 3

Replace che and cui with il quale la quale i quali or le quali (remember tocombine the definite article and the preposition where necessary)

Example Gli amici da cui andiamo in vacanza sono simpatici dai quali

1 Mia madre che egrave infermiera lavora in un ospedale2 Chi egrave la ragazza con cui sei uscito3 Gli esami di cui ha parlato il professore sono a giugno4 Il campeggio in cui siamo stati egrave vicino al mare5 Tutte le ragazze a cui ho telefonato hanno accettato lrsquoinvito6 Franco che egrave un bravo attore ha trovato lavoro in un teatro7 Il parrucchiere da cui vado egrave un amico8 Le cugine di Chiara che abitano vicino a me sono simpatiche

108 Unit 15

9 Le amiche di cui ti ho parlato arrivano domani10 I nostri amici che sono tutti italiani non parlano inglese

Exercise 4

Supply the correct double relative pronoun (coluicoleicoloro che)

Example mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno biglietti possono entrare coloro che

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha scritto questo libro egrave la sorella di Piero2 mdashmdashmdashmdash ci hanno invitati sono amici di Luisa3 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha vinto il premio egrave Antonio4 mdashmdashmdashmdash dagrave le informazioni deve parlare inglese e spagnolo5 mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno parlato sono persone molto importanti

Exercise 5

Complete using the correct pronouns (chi or quelloquellaquelliquelle che)

Examples mdashmdash non ha il biglietto non entra chi mdashmdash hai fatto non sonoerrori gravi quelli che

1 Non conosco mdashmdash ha scritto questa lettera2 La spiegazione egrave mdashmdash ti ho dato3 Il controllore egrave mdashmdash controlla i biglietti4 Vince il premio mdashmdash finisce per primo5 mdashmdash ti ho imprestato sono i libri che devi leggere6 mdashmdash abbiamo comprato egrave unrsquoauto economica7 mdashmdash fa la spesa al mercato spende meno8 mdashmdash abbiamo prenotato egrave un hotel di lusso9 mdashmdash non puograve venire deve telefonare per avvertire

10 mdashmdash ho visto in quel negozio sono scarpe molto belle

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian

1 The book which I want to buy is too expensive2 The lady I spoke to is German3 The people who phoned live in America4 The town I live in isnrsquot very big

Unit 15 109

5 Anyone who wants to go to university must be able to read and write6 Paolo whorsquos lost his mobile is not happy7 I like that song but I prefer the ones we heard last night8 This is Fabiorsquos sister who lent me her bike9 Did you [sing] see who ate the peaches

10 Whorsquos the man you [pl] sold the tickets to

110 Unit 15

UNIT SIXTEENThe imperfect tense

1 The imperfect is together with the present perfect one of the most usedpast tenses in Italian It is called lsquoimperfectrsquo because generally speakingthere is no reference to the beginning or end of the action it expresseseither the length of time the action lasted is not relevant or the action isseen as the background to another action or two actions took place at thesame time and lasted the same length of time Here are some typicalexamples

As you can see from the examples the Italian imperfect corresponds to sev-eral different English forms We will look at the different meanings and usesof this tense but first we will look at its forms

The forms of the imperfect

2 The forms of the imperfect are very regular Here are the endings for thethree conjugations (-are -ere -ire)

Mio nonno lavorava in India

Mia nonna era infermieraMentre io entravo Elena usciva

Quando ho cominciato la scuolaavevo cinque anni

Elena egrave arrivata mentre io uscivoClaudia parlava con unrsquoamica

quando egrave arrivato lrsquoautobusQuando ero al mare nuotavo tutti i

giorni

My grandfather used to work inIndia

My grandmother was a nurseAs I was going in Elena was coming

outWhen I started school I was five

Elena arrived as I was going outClaudia was talking to a friend when

the bus arrivedWhen I was at the seaside I wentused

to go swimming every day

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

The verb avere also follows this same regular pattern

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-avo-avi-ava-avamo-avate-avano

-ere-evo-evi-eva-evamo-evate-evano

-ire-ivo-ivi-iva-ivamo-ivate-ivano

Parlareparlavoparlaviparlavaparlavamoparlavateparlavano

To speakI spokewas speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakhesheit spokewas speakingused to speakwe spokewere speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakthey spokewere speakingused to speak

Prendereprendevoprendeviprendevaprendevamoprendevateprendevano

To takegetI tookwas takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takehesheit tookwas takingused to takewe tookwere takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takethey tookwere takingused to take

avevoaveviavevaavevamoavevateavevano

I hadwas havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havehesheit hadwas havingused to havewe hadwere havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havethey hadwere havingused to have

Partirepartivopartivipartivapartivamo

To leaveI leftwas leavingused to leaveyou leftwere leavingused to leavehesheit leftwas leavingused to leavewe leftwere leavingused to leave

partivatepartivano

you leftwere leavingused to leavethey leftwere leavingused to leave

112 Unit 16

3 Not many verbs are irregular in the imperfect Essere is one

Like the present the imperfect of essere can be used with the pronoun ci (seeUnit 4) crsquoera (there was) crsquoerano (there were)

Other irregular verbs are bere dire and fare

Mio nonno parlava molto benelrsquoitaliano

Mentre prendevamo il caffegrave egravesuonato il telefono

Quando Carla aveva 5 anni abitavaa Roma

Sono arrivato quando il trenopartiva

Mio fratello andava a scuola inautobus

Di solito Gianni e sua sorellaandavano al cinema insieme

Quando Maurizio lavorava in quelsupermercato lo pagavanopochissimo

Mentre Sebastiano leggeva ilgiornale io ho finito i compiti

My grandfather spoke Italian verywell

While we were having coffee thetelephone rang

When Carla was five she lived inRome

I arrived as the train was leaving

My brother used to go to school bybus

Usually Gianni and his sister went tothe cinema together

When Maurizio worked in thatsupermarket they paid him verylittle

While Sebastiano was reading thepaper I finished my homework

eroerieraeravamoeravateerano

I wasused to beyou wereused to behesheit wasused to bewe wereused to beyou wereused to bethey wereused to be

bevevobevevibevevabevevamobevevatebevevano

I drankwas drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkhesheit drankwas drinkingused to drinkwe drankwere drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkthey drankwere drinkingused to drink

dicevodicevi

I saidwas sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to say

dicevadicevamodicevatedicevano

hesheit saidwas sayingused to saywe saidwere sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to saythey saidwere sayingused to say

Unit 16 113

All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

4 The negative is formed as usual by putting non before the verb

facevofacevifacevafacevamofacevatefacevano

I didwas doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dohesheit didwas doingused to dowe didwere doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dothey didwere doingused to do

-ucevo

-ucevi

-uceva

-ucevamo

-ucevate

-ucevano

traducevo

traducevi

traduceva

traducevamo

traducevate

traducevano

I translatedwas translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

hesheit translatedwas translatingused totranslate

we translatedwere translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

they translatedwere translatingused totranslate

Quando ero bambino abitavo aParma

Ieri il tempo era belloAl concerto crsquoerano piugrave di 900

personeMia sorella beveva solo acqua

minerale ora beve anche acquadi rubinetto

Cosa diceviCosa faceva Signora quando non

lavoravaLrsquointerprete traduceva ma nessuno

ascoltava

When I was a child I lived in Parma

Yesterday the weather was lovelyThere were more than 900 people at

the concertMy sister only used to drink mineral

water now she drinks tap water aswell

What were you sayingWhat did you do( Madam) when you

werenrsquot workingdidnrsquot workThe interpreter was translating but

nobody was listening

Di solito la domenica non uscivoQuando hai telefonato non facevo

niente di speciale

I didnrsquot usually go out on SundaysWhen you phoned I wasnrsquot doing

anything special

114 Unit 16

Use of the imperfect

5 The imperfect is used for descriptions of situations in the past when it isnot necessary (or important) to say how long an action lasted This generallyhappens with verbs like essere sembrare and avere and with verbs expressingwill desire or intention possibility or ability but it can happen with otherverbs as well

6 The imperfect is also used to express actions which were habitual or hap-pened repeatedly in the past

7 Since the imperfect is used when it is not relevant how long the actionlasted it is not used when it is stated how many times or for how longsomething happened

Crsquoerano molte persone cheaspettavano il treno

Ieri sera sembravi molto stancoMia nonna era molto alta e aveva i

capelli bianchiFaceva freddo in montagnaCosa voleviDue anni fa abitavo a MilanoSuo padre era medico

There were a lot of people (who were)waiting for the train

You looked very tired last nightMy grandmother was very tall and

had white hairWas it cold in the mountainsWhat did you wantwere you wantingTwo years ago I was living in MilanHis father was a doctor

Lrsquoestate scorsa giocavamo semprea tennis

Quando ero in vacanza andavo alcinema tutti i giorni

Tutte le mattine a colazione Giuliaprendeva solo del caffegrave

Cenavamo alle otto

Last summer we played tennis all thetime

When I was on holiday I went to thecinema every day

Every morning Giulia just had coffeefor breakfast

We used to have dinner at eight

Lrsquoestate scorsa sono andato alcinema 25 volte

Last summer I went to the cinema 25times

Ha fatto molto freddo per due giorniGiulia ha lavorato qui da gennaio a

giugnoHo abitato a Milano per due anniIeri abbiamo lavorato tutto il giornoIeri sono stato in biblioteca dalle

nove alle undici

It was very cold for two daysGiulia worked here from January to

JuneI lived in Milan for two yearsYesterday we worked all dayYesterday I was in the library from

nine till 11

Unit 16 115

8 When a sentence refers to two or more events which happened in the pastit is helpful to think in terms of lsquoforegroundrsquo and lsquobackgroundrsquo as in thesetwo English examples lsquoWhile I was doing the dishes [continuous back-ground] I heard [foreground] the doorbellrsquo lsquoI saw [foreground] Juve a coupleof times when I was [continuous background] in Turinrsquo In Italian in caseslike these the imperfect expresses the continuous lsquobackgroundrsquo action againstwhich the lsquoforegroundrsquo action is seen to occur

Note that mentre (while) in the past is always followed by the imperfect

If the two events happened at the same time and lasted for the same length oftime then both verbs are in the imperfect

Mentre dormivate ho preparato lacolazione

Mia madre ha conosciuto mio padrequando abitava a Firenze

Mauro non ha preso lrsquoombrelloanche se pioveva

Marco ha telefonato quando eravateal cinema

Non sono uscita percheacute pioveva

While you were sleepingasleep Iprepared breakfast

My mother met my father when shewas living in Florence

Mauro didnrsquot take the umbrella eventhough it was raining

Marco phoned when you were at thecinema

I didnrsquot go out because it was raining

Mentre noi facevamo il compito dimatematica Carla ripassavafilosofia

Mentre Alessandro preparava lacena Claudia leggeva il giornale

Quando io lavoravo alsupermercato mia sorellalavorava in un cinema

While we were doing our mathshomework Carla was revisingphilosophy

While Alessandro was preparingdinner Claudia was reading thenewspaper

When I worked in the supermarketmy sister worked in a cinema

Il gatto miagolava percheacute avevafame

The cat was miaowing because it washungry

116 Unit 16

Exercise 1

Supply the imperfect of the verb in brackets

Example Silvio (lavorare) molto lavorava

Exercise 2

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verb in brackets

Examples (io comprare) la macchina due anni fa ho comprato Drsquoestate(noi andare) in spiaggia ogni mattina andavamo

1 Elena a che ora (tu partire) ieri2 Chi (essere) Dante Alighieri3 (io studiare) per due ore4 Di solito (noi mangiare) in mensa5 Claudia (rimanere) in casa tutto il giorno6 Mia nonna (avere) gli occhi azzurri7 Nicoletta e Luigina non (sembrare) sorelle8 Ieri Andrea (spendere) 150 euro9 Signora dove (andare) in vacanza lrsquoanno scorso

10 I loro amici (essere) sempre allegri

1 Il nonno di Piero (parlare) seilingue

2 Laura (passare) sempre lrsquoestateal mare

3 Che lavoro (fare) tua nonna4 Mentre (io studiare) Maria

(riposare)5 Il treno (partire) sempre in

ritardo6 Dove (lavorare) Nicola7 Paolo non (dire) mai la veritagrave8 Ieri (fare) freddo9 Da bambini (noi abitare) in

campagna

10 (voi essere) stanchi ieri sera11 (loro andare) in piscina tutti i

giorni12 Lei (essere) infermiera Signora13 Non (noi uscire) mai di domenica14 (tu sapere) la veritagrave15 (io conoscere) bene suo cugino16 Paolo (amare) Francesca17 (voi dormire) ancora18 I miei amici (essere) studenti19 (tu avere) fame20 (loro dovere) partire

Unit 16 117

Exercise 3

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verbs inbrackets

Example Mentre (noi guardare) la televisione Isabella (ascoltare) laradio guardavamo ascoltava

1 Marco (arrivare) tardi percheacute il treno (essere) in ritardo2 (io conoscere) Susanna quando (io abitare) a Napoli3 Quanti anni (tu avere) quando (tu cominciare) a lavorare4 Sergio (telefonare) proprio mentre (io fare) il bagno5 Anna e Giacomo (venire) a piedi percheacute lrsquoauto (essere) guasta6 Non (loro fare) la spesa percheacute non (loro sapere) cosa comprare7 Cosa (loro dire) quando (loro vedere) Gianni ieri sera8 Massimo non (venire) alla festa percheacute (avere) mal di testa9 (noi arrivare) alla stazione proprio mentre il treno (partire)

10 (io imprestare) la bici a Giulia percheacute la sua (essere) rotta

Exercise 4

Put the text into a past tense changing the verbs in italics to either the presentperfect or the imperfect

Sabato sera in un locale del centro suona un gruppo rock che piace molto aMassimo cosigrave i miei amici e io decidiamo di andare a questo concerto Arrivi-amo davanti al locale con molto anticipo mancano tre ore allrsquoinizio ma cisono giagrave molte persone Massimo egrave molto impaziente Dopo una mezzrsquooramentre aspettiamo sentiamo suonare il cellulare di Massimo e lui rispondeVediamo che Massimo egrave preoccupato e quando finisce di parlare ci spiega Egravesuo padre che lo chiama percheacute ha bisogno di aiuto la sua auto egrave guasta e nonsa come tornare a casa Massimo parte subito per andare a prenderlo eaccompagnarlo a casa anche se ha paura di perdere il concerto Per fortunaperograve Massimo riesce a tornare dopo unrsquoora proprio mentre aprono le porte

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 How long did you [sing] spend in Bologna2 We went to the cinema last night3 You [pl] seemed happy

118 Unit 16

4 Gemmarsquos father was a sailor5 Claudia and Monica didnrsquot come on holiday with us this time6 My parents usually went out at eight7 My father worked in India for three years8 What time did you [pl] get the bus yesterday morning9 Last year we did gym on Monday mornings

10 Where did you [sing] buy those shoes11 I didnrsquot call you [sing] because you were asleep12 When you [pl] were living in London I was living in Paris13 How old was Susanna when she went to university14 While I was watching the television Anna came in and switched it off15 Paolo and Giulia didnrsquot come because Paolo was too tired

Unit 16 119

UNIT SEVENTEENThe pronouns ne and ci

The pronoun ne

1 The pronoun ne is used to refer to a part of a whole corresponding to lsquoof it-themrsquo as in lsquosome of itthemrsquo lsquotwo of themrsquo etc It is normally used togetherwith quantities whether expressed in numbers or in any other way (kiloslitres metres slices cups lsquotoo muchlittlersquo lsquoenoughrsquo etc) it is always placedbefore the verb

Note however that ne is not used in cases where English would say lsquoall of itrsquolsquoall of themrsquo etc Compare the following examples

La torta era molto buona e neho mangiate due fette

lsquoQuanti fratelli hairsquo lsquoNe ho duersquo

lsquoHa degli euro Signor WattrsquolsquoSigrave ne ho 50rsquo

lsquoHai tutti i CD di Frank ZapparsquolsquoNo ne ho solo trersquo

lsquoMangi la fruttarsquo lsquoSigrave ne mangiomoltarsquo

lsquoHai abbastanza soldirsquo lsquoSigrave ne hoabbastanzarsquo

Se crsquoegrave ancora del te ne prendounrsquoaltra tazza

Se compri le mele ne prendi unchilo anche per me

lsquoVolete ancora del cioccolatorsquolsquoNo grazie non ne vogliamopiugraversquo

The cake was very good and I ate twoslices (of it)

lsquoHow many brothers and sisters do youhaversquo lsquoI have two (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got any euros Mr WattrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got 50 (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got all Frank Zapparsquos CDsrsquolsquoNo Irsquove only got three (of them)rsquo

lsquoDo you eat fruitrsquo lsquoYes I eat a lot (ofit)rsquo

lsquoHave you got enough moneyrsquo lsquoYes Ihave enough (of it)rsquo

If therersquos still some tea Irsquoll haveanother cup (of it)

If yoursquore buying apples will you get akilo (of them) for me as well

lsquoDo you want some more chocolatersquolsquoNo thanks we donrsquot want anymore (of it)rsquo

2 The pronoun ne is invariable and can thus replace any noun whethermasculine feminine singular or plural

3 As we have seen ne is used when referring to partial quantities howeverexpressed Some expressions which require the use of ne are the adverbabbastanza (enoughquite) the adjectives molto poco troppo alcunialcune(someany (plural) ) and the pronoun qualcunoqualcuna (someany) which isalways singular

4 Ne is also used in negative expressions such as non affatto (not atall) non nessunonessuna (not anyone) non piugrave (not any more)

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliounorsquo

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoLi vogliotuttirsquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiate duersquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoLeho mangiate tuttersquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want one (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want them allall of themrsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atetwo (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atethem allall of themrsquo

lsquoQuanto zucchero [ms] comprirsquolsquoNe compro due chilirsquo

lsquoQuanta farina [fs] comprirsquo lsquoNecompro solo mezzo chilorsquo

lsquoQuanti amici [mp] invitirsquo lsquoNeinvito trersquo

lsquoQuante mele [fp] vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliotre chilirsquo

lsquoHow much sugar are you buyingrsquolsquoIrsquom getting two kilosrsquo

lsquoHow much flour are you going togetrsquo lsquoIrsquom only getting half a kilorsquo

lsquoHow many friends are you invitingrsquolsquoIrsquom inviting threersquo

lsquoHow many apples do you wantrsquo lsquoIwant three kilosrsquo

Non ho comprato del pane percheacute neho ancora abbastanza

lsquoHai molti CDrsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho moltirsquo

lsquoHai tutti i libri che ti servonorsquo lsquoNone ho solo alcunirsquo

Quei biscotti sono molto buoni neprendo ancora qualcuno

I didnrsquot buy any bread because Irsquovestill got enough

lsquoHave you got many CDsrsquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot a lotrsquo

lsquoHave you got all the books youneedrsquo lsquoNo Irsquove only got a fewrsquo

Those biscuits are very good Irsquoll havesome more

lsquoBevi molto caffegraversquo lsquoNo non ne bevoaffattorsquo

Ho invitato dieci amici ma non neegrave venuto nessuno

lsquoDo you drink much coffeersquo lsquoNo Idonrsquot drink it at allrsquo

I invited ten friends but none of themcame

Unit 17 121

As these examples show the negative is formed by putting non before ne

Agreement of the past participle

When ne is used with a verb in the present perfect (or any other compoundtense) there are certain rules governing the agreement of the pastparticiple

5 When ne is used in a sentence where the quantity is expressed by a numberthe past participle must agree in gender with the noun it replaces and innumber (ie singular or plural) with the quantity of what ne stands for Takethis question

In the answer to this question the ending of comprato will depend on thegender of rivista (feminine) and on whether you bought one magazine(singular) or more than one (plural)

The same applies when ne replaces a masculine noun

Here the ending of fatto must be masculine but whether it is singular orplural will depend on how many exercises have been done

The same rule applies when the quantity is expressed by qualcunoqualcuna(remember that this is always singular) or alcunialcune (plural)

lsquoHai ancora soldirsquo lsquoNo non ne hopiugraversquo

lsquoHave you still got moneyrsquo lsquoNo Irsquovegot none leftrsquo

Quante riviste hai comprato How many magazines did you buy

Ne ho comprata una [fs]Ne ho comprate due [fp]

I bought oneI bought two

Quanti esercizi [m] avete fatto How many exercises haveyou done

Ne abbiamo fatto uno solo [ms]Ne abbiamo fatti quattro [mp]

Wersquove only done oneWersquove done four

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatto solo qualcuno

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatti solo alcuni

I was supposed to do a lot of exercisesbut I only did a few

122 Unit 17

6 When the quantity is expressed by an adverb or an adjective the pastparticiple agrees with the noun replaced by ne

7 When the quantity is expressed by a noun the past participle canagree either with the quantity (this is more usual) or with the noun replacedby ne

8 When ne occurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive Insuch cases when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any other com-pound tense) the past participle does not agree

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprata qualcunarsquo

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprate alcunersquo

lsquoHow many magazines did you buyrsquolsquoI bought a fewrsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza pane [ms]rsquolsquoSigrave ne ho comprato abbastanzarsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza patatine[fp]rsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho comprate abbastanzarsquo

lsquoQuanta pasta [fs] avete mangiatorsquolsquoNe abbiamo mangiata moltarsquo

lsquoQuante persone [fp] hai invitatorsquolsquoNe ho invitate pochersquo

lsquoQuanti esercizi [mp] hai fattorsquolsquoNe ho fatti alcunirsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough breadrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough crispsrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHow much pasta did you eatrsquolsquoWe ate a lotrsquo

lsquoHow many people did you invitersquolsquoI only invited a fewrsquo

lsquoHow many exercises did you dorsquolsquoI did a fewrsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuta una tazza [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave [ms] hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuto una tazzarsquo

lsquoQuanto pane hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiata una fetta [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto pane [ms] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiato una fettarsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiato un pacchetto [ms]rsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle [fp] hai mangiatorsquolsquoNe ho mangiate un pacchettorsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe homangiata una scatola [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti [mp] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiati una scatolarsquo

lsquoHow much coffee did you drinkrsquolsquoI drank a cuprsquo

lsquoHow much bread did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a slicersquo

lsquoHow many sweets did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a packetrsquo

lsquoHow many biscuits did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a boxrsquo

Unit 17 123

However if ne is not attached to the infinitive the past participle must agreein the same way as in the rules given in paragraphs 5ndash7

9 Another use of ne is is to replace a noun (or a pronoun) preceded by thepreposition di (as in Parliamo del libro di Primo Levi lsquoWersquore talking aboutPrimo Levirsquos bookrsquo)

When ne is used in this way the past participle does not agreee

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoHo dovutoleggerne trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ho potutofarne solo alcuni

Il compito era difficile e ho saputofarne solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The homework was difficult and Icould only do part of it

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoNe ho dovutileggere trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ne hopotuti fare solo alcuni

Gli esercizi erano difficili e ne ho saputa fare solo una parte [fs]

Gli esercizi [mp] erano difficili e ne ho saputi fare solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The exercises were difficult and Icould only do part of them

Conosco questo film ieri neparlavano alla radio

Egrave un libro di successo tutti neparlano

Hai visto lo spettacolo Che nepensi

Ha molti problemi ma non neparla mai

I know this film they were talkingabout it on the radio yesterday

Itrsquos a popular book everybodyrsquostalking about it

Did you see the show What do youthink of it

He has a lot of problems but henever talks about them

Marco aveva dei problemi e ne haparlato con Anna

Questi sono libri di successo e tuttine hanno parlato

Marco had problems and talkedabout them with Anna

These are popular books andeverybodyrsquos been talking aboutthem

124 Unit 17

The pronoun ci

10 The pronoun ci is used to replace a noun denoting a place it correspondsto the English lsquotherersquo We have already seen this pronoun used with the verbessere in expressions like crsquoegrave and ci sono (Unit 4) but it can be used with otherverbs always preceding them

As the examples suggest ci is used more often in this kind of sentence thanlsquotherersquo is in English

11 Ci always comes before the verb Like the other unstressed pronounsthough it can be attached to the infinitive of a verb (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere)

Exercise 1

Supply the pronoun ne making sure that the past participle and the adjectiveor pronoun agree where necessary

Examples lsquoQuante lettere hai scrittorsquo lsquo mdashmdash ho scrittmdashmdash alcunmdashmdashrsquo Neho scritte alcune Mi piacciono i biscotti e mdashmdash homangiatmdashmdash moltmdashmdash ne ho mangiati molti lsquoQuanti libri hailettorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo Non ne ho lettonessuno

1 lsquoQuante cartoline hai mandatorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho mandatmdashmdash 12rsquo2 lsquoHai comprato i biscottirsquo lsquo Sigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashmdash una scatolarsquo

lsquoQuando vai in bibliotecarsquo lsquoCi vadooggi pomeriggiorsquo

Conosco bene Bologna ci ho passatodue anni

lsquoOgni quanto va in palestrarsquo lsquoNon civado mairsquo

lsquoWhen are you going to the libraryrsquolsquoIrsquom going (there) this afternoonrsquo

I know Bologna well I spent twoyears there

lsquoHow often do you go to the gymrsquo lsquoInever go (there)rsquo

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non sapevo andarci

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non ci sapevo andare

Vado al mercato vuoi venirci anche tu

Vado al mercato ci vuoi venire anche tu

I had to go to Fiesole but I didnrsquotknow how to get there

Irsquom going to the market would youlike to come (as well)

Unit 17 125

3 lsquoHai fatto i compitirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash la metagraversquo4 lsquoQuante persone sono venutersquo lsquomdashmdash sono venutmdashmdash pochmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoQuanti errori hai fattorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoHai chiuso tutte le finestrersquo lsquoNo mdashmdash ho lasciatmdashmdash una apertmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoQuanti amici hanno invitatorsquo lsquomdashmdash hanno invitatmdashmdash moltmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash duersquo9 lsquoQuanta pasta avete compratorsquo lsquomdashmdash abbiamo compratmdashmdash pocmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdashnessunmdashmdashrsquo

11 lsquoQuanti francobolli hai presorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho presmdashmdash abbastanzarsquo12 Avevo molte riviste e mdashmdash ho datmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash a Luigi13 Ci piacciono i film comici e ieri sera mdashmdash abbiamo vistmdashmdash tre14 Ho fatto una torta e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdash due fette15 La zia ha portato dei cioccolatini ma Piero non mdashmdash ha mangiatmdashmdash

nessunmdashmdash16 Abbiamo molti videogiochi e mdashmdash abbiamo datmdashmdash qualcunmdashmdash a

Michele17 Crsquoerano molti libri interessanti e mdashmdash ho presmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash18 Hanno venduto molti CD e mdashmdash sono rimastmdashmdash solo alcunmdashmdash molto

carmdashmdash19 Crsquoerano molte ragazze ma Marco non mdashmdash ha invitatmdashmdash nessunmdashmdash20 Ho comprato tre magliette e mdashmdash ho regalatmdashmdash due a mio fratello

Exercise 2

Complete with the appropriate pronouns direct object or ne

Examples lsquoQuanti amici hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho moltirsquo ne lsquoQuanti amici invitirsquolsquomdashmdash invito tuttirsquo li

1 lsquoHai fatto tutti gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash ho fatto nessunorsquo2 lsquoQuante sorelle hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho duersquo3 Avevo molti CD dei Beatles ma mdashmdash ho imprestati tutti4 lsquoHai fatto il compitorsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdashho ancora fattorsquo5 lsquoVuoi del dolcersquo lsquoNo grazie non mdashmdash vogliorsquo6 Stamattina ho comprato due riviste e mdashmdash ho lette nel pomeriggio7 lsquoHai fatto molti sbaglirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fatto uno solorsquo8 Il dolce era molto buono e mdashmdash ho mangiate tre fette9 Mi piacciono i film di Fellini e mdashmdash ho visti tutti

10 Ho comprato tre libri ma non mdashmdash ho letto nessuno11 Avevo due biglietti da 10 euro ma mdashmdash ho perso uno12 Ieri ho preso lo stipendio ma mdashmdashho giagrave speso tutto13 Se ci sono ancora dei biscotti mdashmdash prendo due o tre

126 Unit 17

14 Era un argomento interessante e mdashmdash abbiamo parlato molto15 Il film era noioso e mdashmdash abbiamo visto solo metagrave16 Carla parte mdashmdash accompagno alla stazione17 Lo zucchero egrave finito mdashmdash compri tu18 lsquoVuoi dello zucchero nel caffegraversquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash voglio due cucchiainirsquo19 Ho comprato tre brioches e mdashmdash ho mangiate due20 lsquoConoscete tutti i componenti del grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash conosciamo tuttirsquo

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as in the example

Example Ne vuoi prendere ancora Vuoi prenderne ancora

1 Ne dovete parlare col professore2 Ne vuoi fare un altro3 Non ne dobbiamo prendere4 Ne potete mangiare5 Ne devo fare sei6 Non ne possiamo parlare7 Ne posso assaggiare uno8 Non ne deve portare Signora9 Ne vogliono comprare qualcuno

10 Non ne possono bere

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences as in the example Make sure that the past participleagrees where necessary

Example Ha voluto portarne un porsquo [fs] Ne ha voluta portare un porsquo

1 Ho dovuto darne due [m] a Marisa2 Hai potuto comprarne [fp]3 Quante hai dovuto farne4 Non hanno voluto mangiarne [fs]5 Ha dovuto leggerne quattro [mp]6 Non abbiamo potuto prenderne [fp]7 Ho dovuto scriverne due [fp]8 Ho potuto leggerne solo due pagine9 Avete dovuto rifarne molti

10 Non hanno potuto assaggiarne [fs]

Unit 17 127

Exercise 5

Identify the words that can be replaced by the pronoun ci and rewrite thesentences with ci in the right place

Example Vai a Roma in aereo a Roma Ci vai in aereo

1 Abitiamo in questa casa da tre anni2 Stefano lavora al Museo di Storia Naturale da febbraio3 Volete venire alla festa di Marco4 Paola e Livia vanno al cinema due volte alla settimana5 La Signora Bini va sempre al supermercato a piedi6 Rimango in Italia per tre settimane7 Giulia viene sempre a scuola in bici8 Ho passato tre ore in coda allrsquoufficio postale9 Siete andati a cena a casa di Pietro

10 Passiamo le vacanze a Sorrento

128 Unit 17

UNIT EIGHTEENThe future tense

Use of the future

1 The future tense is of course used to refer to events which will happen inthe future as in the following examples

2 The future is also used to express probability or a guess

3 The future can also correspond to the English present progressive (lsquoIrsquomgoing to rsquo etc)

4 In general the future tense is used less in Italian than in English and it isoften possible when talking about something which we are almost sure willhappen to use the present

Venerdigrave andremo in piscinaNon so quando partirograveVerragrave anche lrsquoanno prossimo

Signora

On Friday wersquoll go to the swimming poolI donrsquot know when Irsquoll leaveWill you comebe coming again next

year( Madam)

Anna non risponde saragrave fuori

Saranno le 5La madre di Pietro avragrave 30 anniChi saragrave

Annarsquos not answering she mustshersquoll beout

Itrsquos probablyItrsquoll be about 5 orsquoclockPietrorsquos mother must be around 30Who can that be

Gli parlerograve prestoPorterograve i miei CDGli direte la veritagrave

Irsquom going to talkIrsquoll be talking to them soonIrsquom going to bringIrsquoll be bringing my CDsAre you going to tell him the truth

5 However in certain cases Italian uses the future where English uses thepresent Take this English sentence lsquoWhenIf I earnam earning good moneyIrsquoll buy a carrsquo Here lsquowhenrsquo and lsquoifrsquo actually refer to an action in the future incases like this Italian normally uses the future tense

The forms of the future indicative

6 The future endings for the three conjugations are as follows

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Partono domani

Viene anche lrsquoanno prossimoSignora

Lrsquoanno prossimo sono allrsquouniversitagrave

Theyrsquoll leaveTheyrsquore leavingtomorrow

Will you comebe coming again nextyear( Madam)

Next year Irsquoll be at university

Se guadagnerograve bene comprerograve unamacchina

Quando arriveragrave le mostreremo ilcentro commerciale

If I earnam earning good money Irsquollbuy a car

When she arrives wersquoll show her theshopping mall

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ere-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ire-irograve-irai-iragrave-iremo-irete-iranno

Parlareparlerograveparleraiparleragraveparleremoparlereteparleranno

To speakI will speakyou will speakhesheit will speakwe will speakyou will speakthey will speak

130 Unit 18

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

7 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the future inorder to keep the hard sound of c and g

Prendereprenderograveprenderai

To takegetI will takegetyou will takeget

prenderagraveprenderemoprendereteprenderanno

hesheit will takegetwe will takegetyou will takegetthey will takeget

Partirepartirogravepartiraipartiragravepartiremopartiretepartiranno

To leaveI will leaveyou will leavehesheit will leavewe will leaveyou will leavethey will leave

Dopo un mese in Italia parleraimeglio italiano

Prenderograve il treno delle 8Partiranno domani mattina presto

Domenica prossima finirograve dilavorare verso le 5

After a month in Italy yoursquoll speakItalian better

Irsquoll get the eight orsquoclock trainThey will leave early tomorrow

morningNext Sunday Irsquoll finish work at about

five

Cercarecercherogravecercheraicercheragravecercheremocercheretecercheranno

Pagarepagherogravepagheraipagheragravepagheremopagheretepagheranno

Quando arriveremo a Romacercheremo un albergo economico

Mio padre pagheragrave tutte le spese

When we arrive in Rome wersquoll lookfor a cheap hotel

My father will pay all the expenses

Unit 18 131

8 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the future

Future of some irregular verbs

9 Essere and avere are irregular

10 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

Cominciarecomincerogravecominceraicominceragrave

Mangiaremangerogravemangeraimangeragrave

cominceremocominceretecominceranno

mangeremomangeretemangeranno

Comincerograve a lavorare venerdigraveprossimo

Mangerai in mensa

Irsquoll start work(ing) next Friday

Will you eatbe eating in the canteen

Esseresarogravesaraisaragravesaremosaretesaranno

Avereavrograveavraiavragraveavremoavreteavranno

Se domenica saragrave bello lavoreremoin giardino

Se avrograve tempo ti aiuterograve

If the weather is good on Sunday wersquollwork in the garden

If Irsquove got time Irsquoll help you

Daredarogravedaraidaragravedaremodaretedaranno

Farefarogravefaraifaragravefaremofaretefaranno

Starestarogravestaraistaragravestaremostaretestaranno

132 Unit 18

11 Andare cadere (to fall) dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow thesame pattern as avere

Mia sorella daragrave una festa per ilsuo compleanno

Cosa farai dopo lrsquouniversitagrave

Domani starai meglio

My sister will giveis giving a party forher birthday

What will you doare you doing afteruniversity

Yoursquoll feel better tomorrow

Andareandrograveandraiandragraveandremoandreteandranno

Caderecadrogravecadraicadragravecadremocadretecadranno

Doveredovrogravedovraidovragravedovremodovretedovranno

Poterepotrogravepotraipotragravepotremopotretepotranno

Saperesaprogravesapraisapragravesapremosapretesapranno

Vederevedrogravevedraivedragravevedremovedretevedranno

Viverevivrogravevivraivivragravevivremovivretevivranno

Andremo alla festa solo se ciinviteranno

Il governo egrave impopolare e cadragravepresto

Credo che dovrograve partire prestoNon so se potrograve venire

Non sapremo mai la veritagraveQuando vedrai i tuoi amici

Wersquoll only go to the party if they inviteus

The government is unpopular and willsoon fall

I think Irsquoll have to leave earlyI donrsquot know whether Irsquoll be able to

comeWe will never know the truthWhen will youare you going to see

your friends

Unit 18 133

12 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere (to keephold) have the following pattern

13 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

14 As usual the negative is formed by putting non before the verb

-rrograve-rrai-rragrave

Bereberrograveberraiberragrave

Rimanererimarrograverimarrairimarragrave

Venireverrograveverraiverragrave

Volerevorrogravevorraivorragrave

Tenereterrograveterraiterragrave

-rremo-rrete-rranno

berremoberreteberranno

rimarremorimarreterimarranno

verremoverreteverranno

vorremovorretevorranno

terremoterreteterranno

Sono sicuro che mio fratello nonberragrave mai quella tisana

Quanto tempo rimarrete in ItaliaSignori Boi

Hanno detto che verranno a trovarci

Irsquom sure my brother will never drinkthat herbal tea

How long will youare you going tostay in Italy Mrs and Mr Boi

They said theyrsquoll come and see usNon so se vorrograve andare

allrsquouniversitagrave dopo il liceo

Dove terrai la bici

I donrsquot know whether Irsquoll want to goto university after secondaryschool

Where are you going to keep the bike

-urrograve-urrai-urragrave-urremo-urrete-urranno

Tradurretradurrogravetradurraitradurragravetradurremotradurretetradurranno

Carlo non parla tedesco ma uninterprete tradurragrave tutto per lui

Carlo doesnrsquot speak German but aninterpreter is going towill translateeverything for him

Non andrograve alla festaNon rimarremo moltoNon gli parlerograve mai piugrave

Irsquom not going to the partyWe wonrsquot stay longIrsquoll never speak to him again

134 Unit 18

Exercise 1

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io partire) tanto presto partirograve

Exercise 2

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io dovere) andare a scuola dovrograve

Exercise 3

Change the verbs in italics into the future

Domani mattina esco di casa presto devo prendere il treno per Firenze alle615 Arrivo a Firenze verso ora di pranzo e Lorenzo viene a prendermi alla

1 I miei amici (arrivare) domani2 Quando (voi parlare) con Maria3 (lui telefonare) domani4 Gli (tu dire) tutto5 Domani (io scrivere) ai nonni6 Domenica (io dormire) fino a

tardi7 (noi cominciare) a lavorare

domani8 Quando (tu finire) il compito9 Stasera (io prendere) lrsquoauto

10 Mi (tu chiamare)11 Dove (voi abitare)12 (loro portare) il dolce13 Cosa le (voi dire)14 Chi (tradurre) dal tedesco15 Domani (noi pagare) lrsquoaffitto16 (tu mangiare) con noi17 Mi (Lei scrivere) Signora18 Paul (cercare) casa a Torino19 Che treno (loro prendere)20 Chi (pagare)

1 (io andare) in vacanza2 (noi essere) contenti di vedervi3 Quanto tempo (tu rimanere) a

Roma4 (io venire) appena (io potere)5 (Lei dovere) partire Signora6 (lei venire) quando (lei volere)7 Domani non (noi avere) tempo8 Non so se (io potere) uscire9 Quando (tu vedere) Anna

10 (voi fare) una festa

11 Non (loro stare) a casa mia12 Non lo (lui sapere) mai13 Gli (tu fare) un regalo14 (voi essere) a casa tutto il giorno15 (voi dovere) lavorare domani16 Non (io andare) piugrave in quel bar17 Quando (tu sapere) il risultato18 Quando (tu venire) Maria19 Cosa (voi fare) domenica20 (loro tenere) il cane in giardino

Unit 18 135

stazione Prima andiamo a casa sua dove lascio i bagagli e poi andiamoinsieme a pranzo da Ernestina Nel pomeriggio vediamo Carlo che ci porta avedere la sua nuova casa Torniamo a casa di Lorenzo abbastanza prestopercheacute vengono degli amici a cena e dobbiamo preparare Dopo cena usciamoma anche se facciamo tardi non egrave un problema percheacute possiamo dormire lamattina dopo

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Who will be able to help me2 Next summer wersquoll do an Italian course3 Will you [sing] read all these books4 I wonrsquot go to the library tomorrow5 When will you arrive Signora Pasini6 On Sunday theyrsquoll go out7 What will you [sing] do8 Itrsquoll be about ten orsquoclock9 Will you [sing] bring your CDs for the party

10 Wonrsquot you [pl] come to the cinema with us

136 Unit 18

UNIT NINETEENThe past perfect tense

Use of the past perfect

1 The past perfect (or pluperfect) normally indicates a past event whichhappened before another past event as in the English lsquoI had finished shower-ing when I heard the doorbellrsquo lsquoBy the time it finished I had had enoughrsquo It isthus normally used in sentences where there is another past tense or someother reference to a past event

It is also often used on its own where a more recent event is referred to orimplied in the context

2 Sometimes when the past perfect is used on its own the event nearer to thepresent is purely implicit

Quando sono arrivato [presentperfect] avevano appena finito[past perfect] di cenare

Quel giorno ero [imperfect] moltocontenta percheacute avevo passato[past perfect] lrsquoesame

Prima di imprestare [infinitive]lrsquoauto a Marco avevo fatto[past perfect] il pieno

When I arrived they had just finisheddinner

That day I was very happy because Irsquodpassed the exam

Before lending the car to Marco Irsquodfilled up

Avevo fatto quella torta per te nonper Paolo

Tullio aveva portato i CD

Francesca era uscita

I made that tart for you not for Paolo[eg thatrsquos why Irsquom so annoyed thatPaolorsquos eaten it]

Tullio had brought the CDs [eg theones I told you we were listening to]

Francesca had gone out [eg which iswhy I didnrsquot see her last night]

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto ma prima) non ti avevo visto [ieIrsquove seen you now but I hadnrsquot before]

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito) [ie Ihadnrsquot heard you before but I have now]

Forming the past perfect

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

4 As regards agreement of the past participle the past perfect obeys exactlythe same rules as the present perfect if the auxiliary is avere the past parti-ciple does not change but if it is essere the past participle behaves like anadjective agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb as inthese examples

Scusa non ti avevo visto Egrave moltoche aspetti

Sorry I didnrsquot see you Have you beenwaiting long

Scusa non ti avevo sentito Sorry I didnrsquot hear you

Imperfect of avere(io) avevo(tu) avevi(luilei) aveva(noi) avevamo(voi) avevate(loro) avevano

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I had writtenyou had writtenhesheit had writtenwe had writtenyou had writtenthey had written

Imperfect of essere(io) ero(tu) eri(luilei) era(noi) eravamo(voi) eravate(loro) erano

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I had goneyou had gonehesheit had gonewe had goneyou had gonethey had gone

AvereLivia aveva guardato la televisioneAvevi comprato il paneAveva prenotato Signor Ferro

Livia had watched televisionHad you bought the breadHad you booked Mr Ferro

138 Unit 19

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Past perfect of avere and essere

5 Avere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary essere

EssereMonica era uscita [fs]Pietro era stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia erano rimaste a casa

[fp]Giulia e Sebastiano erano partiti

[mp]Ero andata al cinema [fs]

Eravamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando eraarrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando eraarrivata [fs]

Monica had gone outPietro had been illFabia and Silvia had stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano had left

I had beengone to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We had arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When had you arrived Mr Poli

When had you arrived Mrs Poli

avevo avutoavevi avutoaveva avutoavevamo avutoavevate avutoavevano avuto

I had hadyou had hadhesheit had hadwe had hadyou had hadthey had had

ero statostataeri statostataera statostataeravamo statistateeravate statistateerano statistate

I had beenyou had beenhesheit had beenwe had beenyou had beenthey had been

Non aveva avuto tempo di finire illavoro

Tanya aveva avuto la varicella

He hadnrsquot had time to finish the job

Tanya had had chickenpox

Unit 19 139

Negative form

6 The negative is formed in the same way as for the present perfect byplacing non before the verb

7 As with the present perfect the adverbs mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) andgiagrave (already) are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (egAvevo giagrave risposto lsquoIrsquod already repliedrsquo) With the negatives non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) non is placed before the auxiliary

Exercise 1

Supply the past perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Dove (tu comprare) quelle scarpe avevi comprato

Nina era stata malataDes era stato mio studente

Nina had been illDes had been a student of mine

Non ero andato a scuolaLisa non era riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon avevi telefonato la settimana

prima

I hadnrsquot beengone to schoolLisa hadnrsquot managed to finish that job

Had you not phoned the previousweek

Eravate mai stati su un ghiacciaioAvevi piugrave visto i tuoi amici

Non avevamo ancora preso ilbiglietto

Paola non era mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non aveva piugrave telefonato

Had you ever been on a glacierHad you (ever) seen your friends

againWe hadnrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola had never been to VeniceCarlo hadnrsquot (ever) phoned again

1 Maria (finire) di cenare2 Anna (arrivare) il giorno prima3 Scusi Signora non La (io vedere)4 (tu spegnere) la luce5 (voi prendere) il giornale6 Prima di lavorare in Italia Jim

(lavorare) in Francia

7 Hai perso la lettera che ti(scrivere) Antonio

8 Alessandro non (preparare)lrsquoesame

9 Non (tu riuscire) a finire il lavoro10 Gli (noi chiedere) dei CD11 Caterina (stare) male

140 Unit 19

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct tense of the verb inbrackets (present perfect imperfect or past perfect)

Example Carlo (raccontare) che (lui passare) lrsquoesame ma non (essere)vero Carlo ha raccontato che aveva passato lrsquoesame ma nonera vero

1 Quando (io arrivare) i miei amici (uscire) da poco2 Silvia non (conoscere) la persona che le (telefonare)3 (tu fare) un dolce Ma ti (io dire) che sono a dieta4 Ernestina (essere) stanca percheacute (camminare) molto5 Carlo non (venire) con noi percheacute (dovere) fare un lavoro che gli (loro

dare) la sera prima6 Silvio (essere) molto contento percheacute (vincere) la gara di sci7 Carla (portare) sempre la maglia che le (regalare) suo fratello8 (io comprare) i libri che mi (voi consigliare)9 Mauro (spendere) tutti i soldi che (lui guadagnare)

10 Francesca (invitare) tutti gli amici che (andare) in vacanza con lei lrsquoannoprima

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 Paola still hadnrsquot been to Scotland2 Irsquod finished the job but I was very tired3 The girls had never gone into that church4 Arianna finished the tart her grandmother had made5 lsquoWhat had you [sing] said to Fabiorsquo lsquoI hadnrsquot said anything to himrsquo6 Maria had had to stay at home7 How much had your [pl] car cost

12 (io mangiare) un panino maavevo ancora fame

13 Ti (piacere) la partita14 Cecilia (andare) in vacanza15 Le mie amiche (uscire)16 Non (io capire) nulla

17 Il treno (partire) in orario18 Sergio (rimanere) in ufficio19 Paolo non (volere) lavorare con

noi20 Gina (essere) contenta di vedermi

Unit 19 141

8 Theyrsquod bought the ticket the previous day9 I hadnrsquot got the bike any longer because Irsquod given it to Anna

10 She was born in Russia but shersquod been living in Italy for many yearswhen I met her

142 Unit 19

UNIT TWENTYReflexive pronouns

1 Reflexive pronouns correspond to lsquomyselfrsquo lsquoyourselfrsquo etc in phrases likelsquoyou flatter yourselfrsquo lsquothe catrsquos licking itselfrsquo lsquothe recorderrsquos switched itselfoffrsquo In such cases the subject and the object of the verb are the same personor thing

These examples show how the reflexive pronouns are the direct objects ofthe verbs lavare guardare and vestire and denote the same person as thesubject

There are very many verbs which can be used in the reflexive form in Italianand which do not correspond to English reflexive verbs Here is a list of someof the most common ones

Ti guardi sempre allo specchio

Mi lavoAnna si veste per la festa

You always look at yourself in themirror

I get washed [lit I wash myself]Annarsquos getting dressed for the party

[lit Annarsquos dressing herself]

addormentarsialzarsiannoiarsidimenticarsilavarsioffendersiricordarsiriposarsisbagliarsiscusarsisedersisentirsisvegliarsivestirsi

to fall asleep [lit to send oneself to sleep]to get up [lit to raise oneself]to getbe bored [lit to bore oneself]to forget [lit to forget oneself]to get washed [lit to wash oneself]to take offence [lit to offend oneself]to remember [lit to recall oneself]to rest [lit to rest oneself]to be wrongmistaken [lit to mistake oneself]to apologise [lit to excuse oneself]to sit down [lit to seat oneself]to feel (well ill etc) [lit to feel oneself]to wake up [lit to waken oneself]to get dressed [lit to dress oneself]

2 The forms of the reflexive pronouns are as follows

Note that the third person singular and plural pronoun si is the same formasculine and feminine

As can be seen from the examples reflexive pronouns are always placedbefore the verb

3 The negative is formed as usual by placing non before the pronoun

4 For the formal form the pronoun si (third person singular and plural) isused In the plural however the pronoun vi is most frequently used

5 The plural forms of the reflexive pronouns (ci vi si) are also used asreciprocal pronouns corresponding to the English lsquoeach otherrsquo

6 Reflexive pronouns can also be used in contemporary spoken Italian asindirect objects One such use is to stress that the action expressed by the verb

mitisicivisi

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

A che ora ti alzi la mattina

Paolo si sveglia sempre tardiMaria si annoiaI tuoi amici si sbagliano il

concerto non egrave staseraLe mie amiche si divertono

What time do you get up in themorning

Paolo always wakes up lateMaria is boredYour friends are wrong the concert is

not tonightMy friends are enjoying themselves

Lorenzo non si annoia maiNon ti diverti

Lorenzo never getsis never boredArenrsquot you enjoying yourself

Come si sente SignoraVi divertite Signori Rasi (Si divertono Signori Rasi)

How are you feeling MadamAre you enjoying yourselves( Mr and

Mrs Rasi)

Paolo e io non ci sopportiamoPercheacute vi guardateAlfredo e Pia non si parlano piugrave

Paolo and I canrsquot stand each otherWhy are you looking at each otherAlfredo and Pia donrsquot talk to each

other any more

144 Unit 20

is to the advantage of the subject (cf English lsquoIrsquom making myself a coffeersquo [iea coffee for myself] lsquoTheyrsquore going to have themselves some funrsquo [ie somefun for themselves])

7 Another common use of the Italian reflexive pronoun occurs in cases likethe following where English would use a possessive adjective (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquoetc) rather than a reflexive pronoun

8 When reflexive or reciprocal pronouns occur with a verb in the presentperfect (or any other compound tense) the auxiliary is always essere (even ifthe verb itself would form the past tenses with avere) and the past participlealways agrees with the subject

9 The reflexive pronouns like all unstressed pronouns can be attached tothe infinitive of a verb (mainly after dovere potere volere or sapere) Inthese sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any othercompound tense) the auxiliary is avere and the past participle does notagree

Mi mangio un paninoPercheacute non ci facciamo una partita

a cartePaolo si mangia sempre tutti i

biscotti

Irsquom going to eat a sandwichWhy donrsquot we have a game of cards

Paolo always eats all the biscuits

Mi lavo le maniTi metti il cappottoAnna si lava i capelli tutti i giorni

I wash my handsAre you going to put your coat onAnna washes her hair every day

Paolo si egrave svegliato tardiMaria si egrave annoiataVittorio a che ora ti sei alzatoPaolo e Francesca si sono sposati

Claudio e Anna si sono lavati lemani

Sabina si egrave mangiata un paninoSi sono fatti un caffegrave

Paolo woke up lateMaria got boredVittorio what time did you get upPaolo and Francesca have got

marriedClaudio and Anna washed their

handsSabina ate a sandwichThey made (themselves) a coffee

Devo alzarmi prestoMio fratello non vuole lavarsiPaolo e Francesca hanno voluto

sposarsiNon abbiamo potuto lavarci

Irsquove got to get up earlyMy brother doesnrsquot want to washPaolo and Francesca wanted to get

marriedWe couldnrsquot wash

Unit 20 145

However when the reflexive pronoun is not attached to the infinitive theauxiliary verb must be essere and the past participle does agree

Stressed forms

10 The reflexive pronouns also have stressed forms which are used like thestressed forms of other pronouns for emphasis and after a preposition Theseforms are often reinforced by the adjective stesso

Note that se does not have an accent when it is used with stesso

Exercise 1

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash alzi ti

Paolo e Francesca si sono volutisposare

Non ci siamo potuti lavareVi siete dovuti fermare per la notte

Paolo and Francesca wanted to getmarried

We couldnrsquot washDid you have to stop for the night

me or me stessostessate or te stessostessaseacute or se stessostessanoi or noi stessistessevoi or voi stessistesseseacute or se stessistesse

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Franca ama solo seacutese stessaPensi solo a tete stessoQuei due sono davvero noiosi

parlano solo di segravese stessi

Franca only loves herselfYou only think of yourselfThose two are really boring they only

talk about themselves

1 Quando mdashmdashmdash sposano2 Dove mdashmdashmdash siedo3 Nina non mdashmdashmdash veste mai di

rosso4 Come mdashmdashmdash sentite5 Nina e Bart mdashmdashmdash amano6 Dove mdashmdashmdash incontriamo

7 mdashmdashmdash lavo le mani8 Marina mdashmdashmdash guarda allo

specchio9 Silvano non mdashmdashmdash annoia mai

10 Carlo e Luca non mdashmdashmdashconoscono

11 Come mdashmdashmdash vestite

146 Unit 20

Exercise 2

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash sono alzati si

Exercise 3

Put the verbs into the present perfect

Example (tu [f] alzarsi) tardi ti sei alzata

12 Non mdashmdashmdash diverti13 mdashmdashmdash prendiamo un gelato14 Signora mdashmdashmdash sente bene15 Non mdashmdashmdash ricordate di me16 Livia e Sara mdashmdashmdash riposano

17 Paolo mdashmdashmdash sbaglia18 Come mdashmdashmdash chiami19 mdashmdashmdash scrivete spesso20 mdashmdashmdash offendono facilmente

1 Paolo mdashmdashmdash egrave offeso2 Anna mdashmdashmdash egrave arrabbiata3 Dove mdashmdashmdash siete conosciuti4 mdashmdashmdash sono alzati tardi5 Non mdashmdashmdash sei scusato con loro6 mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti subito7 Carla non mdashmdashmdash egrave messa il

cappotto8 Il bambino mdashmdashmdash egrave

addormentato9 Silvana e io mdashmdashmdash siamo viste

ieri

10 mdashmdashmdash sono mangiato un panino11 mdashmdashmdash siete vestiti molto bene12 Non mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti13 Daniela e Pino mdashmdashmdash odiano14 Quanta acqua mdashmdashmdash sei bevuto15 mdashmdashmdash sono tagliata un dito16 Percheacute mdashmdashmdash sei messo il golf 17 mdashmdashmdash facciamo una passeggiata18 Sergio non mdashmdashmdash egrave ancora

svegliato19 mdashmdashmdash sono sentita male20 mdashmdashmdash siete annoiati alla festa

1 Antonio e Lia (sposarsi)2 (tu [m] sbagliarsi)3 (voi [f] ricordare) il suo

compleanno4 Claudia (farsi) male5 (loro [m] incontrarsi) allo stadio6 (tu [m] perdersi)7 Signora non (divertirsi)8 (noi [m] bersi) un litro di acqua9 Non (io [m] annoiarsi)

10 (noi [f] alzarsi) presto

11 Non (tu [m] lavarsi) le mani12 (io [f] tagliarsi) i capelli13 Il treno (fermarsi)14 I miei zii (separarsi)15 Vittorio non (lamentarsi)16 Il professore (riposarsi)17 La professoressa (stancarsi)18 Non (tu [f] arrabbiarsi)19 (voi [m] offendersi)20 (loro [m] dimenticarsi) di noi

Unit 20 147

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences moving the pronoun and changing the auxiliary

Example Abbiamo dovuto alzarci [m] Ci siamo dovuti alzare

1 Non ho potuto lavarmi [f]2 Sandra e Roberto hanno voluto sposarsi3 Abbiamo dovuto scusarci [m]4 Luigi ha dovuto alzarsi alle sei5 Gianni non ha voluto mettersi il berretto6 Hai potuto curarti [m]7 Avete potuto riposarvi [m]8 Ho dovuto fermarmi [f]9 Percheacute hai voluto tingerti i capelli [m]

10 Non abbiamo potuto spiegarci [m]

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian using reflexivereciprocal pronouns

1 Are you [pl] enjoying yourselves2 Have you [f] washed your hands3 How are you feeling Madam4 You [pl] are wrong5 Where did you [fp] meet6 Why donrsquot you [sing] sit down7 Paolo always talks about himself8 Franca washed her hair9 Carlo apologised

10 I [f] got dressed

148 Unit 20

UNIT TWENTY-ONEThe imperative

1 The imperative is used in Italian as in English to express orders com-mands or strong requests

As well as orders and requests the imperative can also be used to expresswishes invitations encouragement and advice

Forms of the imperative

2 Regular verbs in -are -ere and -ire are conjugated as follows

GuardaEntrateChiedi a tuo padreVenga domani SignoraAndiamoDammi il libro

LookCome inAsk your fatherCome tomorrow MadamLetrsquos goGive me the book

Passa delle buone vacanzeTi ascolto dimmi tuttoNon ti preoccupareHai lrsquoaria stanca vai a letto

Have a good holidayIrsquom listening to you tell me everythingDonrsquot worryYou look tired go to bed

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Parlareparlaparliparliamoparlateparlino

To speakspeakspeaklet us speakspeakspeak

Some verbs ending in -ire add -isc- as in the present indicative (see Unit 5)

In the first person plural the meaning is more that of a suggestion than anorder made to a group of which we are part (cf the English lsquoLetrsquos have acoffeersquo) The third person singular and plural are only used for the politeform

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare keep the hard sound of c and g by addingh before the endings of the third person singular (Lei) and the first and thirdpersons plural (noi and Loro)

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Prendereprendiprendaprendiamoprendeteprendano

To takegettakegettakegetlet us takegettakegettakeget

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Partirepartipartapartiamopartitepartano

To leaveleaveleavelet us leaveleaveleave

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Finirefiniscifiniscafiniamofinitefiniscano

To finishfinishfinishlet us finishfinishfinish

Parlate con i vostri insegnantiPrendi un analgesicoPartiamo subitoFinisci il compitoPrenda la prima (strada) a destra

Speak to your teachersTake a painkillerLetrsquos leave immediatelyFinish your homeworkTake the first (street) on the right

Cercarecercacerchicerchiamocercatecerchino

Pagarepagapaghipaghiamopagatepaghino

150 Unit 21

4 Verbs ending in -iare have only one -i in the second person singular and thefirst and third persons plural

Forms of some irregular verbs

5 Essere and avere are irregular in the imperative

6 There are other verbs with irregular imperatives Here are some of the mostcommon

Cerchiamo casa in questa zonaPaghi il conto per favore Signora

Letrsquos look for a flat in this areaPay the bill please( Madam)

Cominciarecominciacomincicominciamocominciatecomincino

Mangiaremangiamangimangiamomangiatemangino

Cominci a lavorare SignoraMuoio di fame mangiamo qualcosa

Start working( Madam)Irsquom starving letrsquos eat something

Esseresiisiasiamosiatesiano

Avereabbiabbiaabbiamoabbiateabbiano

Siate gentiliAbbi pazienzaSia pronta per le 10 Signora

Be kindBe patient [lit have patience]Be ready by 10( Madam)

Daredaidarsquodiadiamodatediano

Diredirsquodicadiciamoditedicano

Farefaifarsquofacciafacciamofatefacciano

Unit 21 151

The second person singular of these verbs has two forms the form with theapostrophe is normally used with unstressed pronouns (see paragraph 10)

7 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Formal form

8 We have already seen the forms used for the polite form Care must betaken not to confuse imperative and present polite and familiar formsCompare

Starestaistarsquostiastiamostatestiano

Saperesappisappiasappiamosappiatesappiano

Andarevaivarsquovadaandiamoandatevadano

Uscireesciescausciamousciteescano

Venirevienivengaveniamovenitevengano

Berebevibevabeviamobevetebevano

State attentiFaifarsquo il compitoVieni subito quiVenga avanti SignoraSappi che io non sono drsquoaccordo

Dirsquo la veritagrave

Pay attention [lit be attentive]Do your homeworkCome here at onceCome forward( Madam)I want you to know that I donrsquot agree

[lit know that I donrsquot agree]Tell the truth

-uci-uca-uciamo-ucete-ucano

Tradurretraducitraducatraduciamotraducetetraducano

Traduciamo insieme queste frasi

Traduca per favore

Letrsquos translate these sentencestogether

Translate please

152 Unit 21

In the plural as usual the second person is more commonly used than thethird

Negative form

9 For the second person singular the negative is formed with the infinitive ofthe verb preceded by non For the other persons the usual rule applies andnon precedes the form of the imperative As an example here is the negativeconjugation of parlare

familiarformal

(tu)(Lei)

Imperativeparlaparli

Presentparliparla

familiarformalfamiliarformal

(tu)(Lei)(tu)(Lei)

leggileggaescifinisciescafinisca

leggileggeescifinisciescefinisce

Parla col direttore [familiarimperative]

Parli col direttore Signora [formalimperative]

Parli col direttore [familiarpresent]

Parla col direttore Signora [formalpresent]

Speak to the manager

Speak to the manager( Madam)

Are you speaking to the manager

Are you speaking to the manager(Madam)

Parlate col controllore (Parlino col controllore)Abbiate pazienza Signori (Abbiano pazienza Signori)

Speak to the conductor

Be patient (ladies and) gentlemen

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

non parlarenon parlinon parliamonon parlatenon parlino

Non essere scorteseNon dite bugieNon avere fretta

Donrsquot be rudeDonrsquot tell liesDonrsquot rush

Unit 21 153

Position of unstressed pronouns

10 When the imperative is used in an affirmative sentence with an unstressedpronoun (direct object indirect object reflexive ne ci) the pronoun is alwaysattached to the verb if it is in a second person form (tu or voi) or the firstperson plural form (noi)

Note that when an unstressed pronoun is used with the forms darsquo farsquo dirsquo starsquoand varsquo (see paragraph 6) the first consonant of the pronoun (except gli) isdoubled

In negative sentences there is an extra option the pronoun can be placedbefore the verb (and after non)

11 In the polite form (third person singular and plural Lei and Loro) thepronouns are always placed before the verb

Quel libro egrave per te prendiloChiediamole aiutoSe hai dei problemi parlane

Alzatevi ragazziTelefonagli (or Telefona loro ndash see

Unit 10 paragraph 2)

That book is for you take itLetrsquos ask her for helpIf you are having problems talk about

themGet up boysPhone them

Se sai la veritagrave dillaDammi la pennaDanne un porsquo a tuo fratelloFammi un piacereVallo a comprareVacci subitoDille la veritagraveDigli la veritagrave

If you know the truth tell itGive me the penGive some to your brotherDo me a favourGo and buy itGo there at onceTell her the truthTell him the truth

Non lo prendere or Non prenderloNon le chiediamo aiuto or Non

chiediamole aiutoNon ne parlare or Non parlarneNon vi alzate or Non alzatevi

Donrsquot take itLetrsquos not ask her for help

Donrsquot talk about itDonrsquot get up

Quel libro egrave per Lei lo prendaLe scriva una mailNe parlino al controlloreSi alzi Signora

That book is for you take itWrite her an emailSpeak to the conductor about itGet up( Madam)

154 Unit 21

Exercise 1

Supply the imperative of the verb in brackets

Example (tu pagare) il conto paga

Exercise 2

Supply the polite form for these sentences

Example Paga il conto paghi

Exercise 3

Change the imperatives into the negative

Examples Dormi Non dormire Alzati Non alzarti or Non ti alzare

1 (tu comprare) il pane2 (noi uscire) subito3 (Lei stare) tranquilla Signora4 (tu mettere) in ordine5 (voi essere) gentili6 (Lei venire) Professore7 (tu dare) una mano a tuo fratello8 (tu finire) i compiti9 (comprare) questa borsa Signora

10 (noi fare) una pausa

11 (tu avere) fiducia in lei12 (Lei parlare) piugrave forte Signora13 (tu andare) fuori14 (tu dire) tutto quello che sai15 (Lei fare) attenzione Signora16 (voi scrivere) le cartoline17 (tu fare) attenzione18 (Loro entrare) Signori19 (voi aprire) le finestre20 (tu rispondere) al telefono

1 Chiudi la porta per favore2 Vai al terzo piano3 Sorridi4 Dirsquo tutto5 Fai presto

6 Sii paziente7 Traduci per favore8 Accendi la luce9 Stai fermo

10 Entra

1 Partite subito2 Rispondi alla sua domanda3 Andate in discoteca4 Scenda Signora5 Usciamo6 Finisci i biscotti7 Ascolta

8 Prenda quella strada9 Telefona a Giuseppe

10 Dirsquo quello che pensi11 Tagliati i capelli12 Dalle il libro13 Parlagli14 Scrivetemi

Unit 21 155

Exercise 4

Change the imperatives into the affirmative

Examples Non parlate Parlate Non mi guardare Guardami

Exercise 5

Change the verb into the imperative and replace the words in italics with theappropriate pronoun

Example Devi dire la veritagrave Dilla

15 Dillo16 Invitali17 Prendilo

18 Mettiti il berretto19 Portatele dei fiori20 Fallo

1 Non andare in piscina2 Non prendete lrsquoautobus3 Non invitare Giacomo4 Non guardiamo quel film5 Non cominciare6 Non faccia la spesa al mercato7 Non mettano lrsquoauto in garage8 Non fare cosigrave9 Non andare al parco

10 Non stare sul balcone

11 Non mandarmi una cartolina12 Non fatelo13 Non darmi i tuoi libri14 Non mi rispondere15 Non ci andare16 Non lo mangiate17 Non lo leggete18 Non ci aspetti Professore19 Non dirgli il tuo nome20 Non darle il tuo indirizzo

1 Dovete parlare a Laura2 Devi prendere i libri3 Signora deve firmare il foglio4 Dovete parlare del problema5 Dobbiamo andare al

supermercato6 Devi fare gli esercizi7 Dovete restare a scuola8 Dobbiamo chiedere il permesso9 Devi correggere gli sbagli

10 Dovete prendere il treno

11 Signori devono aspettare il tram12 Devi mandare gli auguri13 Dovete comprare la frutta14 Signor Rossi deve portare una

foto15 Dovete aiutare i vostri amici16 Devi rendere il libro17 Dobbiamo chiedere a Lina18 Devi telefonare ai nonni19 Devi bere del caffegrave20 Dovete studiare filosofia

156 Unit 21

UNIT TWENTY-TWOThe pronoun si

The pronoun si is used as an impersonal subject either in sentences without aspecified subject or in sentences with a passive meaning In both it is alwaysput before the verb

Si in sentences where the subject is not specified

1 Si is used as an impersonal subject in sentences where the subject is notspecified It corresponds to the English lsquoonersquo or lsquoyoursquo (as in lsquoOne neverknowsYou never know whatrsquos just round the cornerrsquo) or lsquotheyrsquo meaning anumber of unspecified people (as in lsquoThey eat kangaroo in Australiarsquo)When si is used in this way the verb is always in the third personsingular

As the examples suggest si is often used for rules or general advice

2 With verbs like essere diventare sembrare etc followed by a noun or anadjective si requires the noun to be plural (even though the verb is alwayssingular) and the adjective to be masculine plural

Si esce da questa portalsquoSono stato al marersquo lsquoSi vede sei

abbronzatorsquoSi paga alla cassaCrsquoegrave stato un incidente e non si

passaAllrsquoostello della gioventugrave si spende

menoPer andare al museo si passa da

piazza Garibaldi

You go out by this doorlsquoIrsquove been at the seasidersquo lsquoIt shows [lit

one sees] yoursquove got a tanrsquoYou payOne pays at the tillTherersquos been an accident and you canrsquot

get throughYou spend less in a youth hostel

To get to the museum you go throughpiazza Garibaldi

Si in sentences with a passive meaning

3 Si is also used as an impersonal subject in sentences which have a passivemeaning like this one lsquoIn Nuova Zelanda si parla inglesersquo The correspond-ing sentence in English would have either a passive verb (lsquoEnglish is spoken inNew Zealandrsquo) or an impersonal one (lsquoOne speaksThey speak English inNew Zealandrsquo)

In this type of sentence the verb can be in either the third person singularor the third person plural The singular is used if the noun that accompaniesthe verb is singular

The plural is used when the noun that accompanies the verb is plural

Quando si egrave studenti si egrave poveriSe si mangia troppo si diventa

grassiQuando si egrave malati si rimane a

casaQuando si egrave giovani si egrave ottimistiSe si veste in nero si sembra magri

When one is a student one is poorIf you eat too much you get fat

When you are ill you stay at home

When one is young one is an optimistIf you dress in black you look slim

Il biglietto [sing] si prendeallrsquoingresso

Il sale [sing] si compra intabaccheria

Al mercato si vende la frutta [sing]migliore

Si deve lavare lrsquoinsalata [sing]prima di mangiarla

In biblioteca si puograve leggere ilgiornale [sing]

The ticket is obtainedYou get yourticket at the door

Salt is boughtYou buy salt at thetobacconistrsquos

The best fruit is sold at the market

Lettuce should be washed before youeat itYou should wash lettucebefore eating it

In the library you can read the paperThe paper can be read in the library

Anche le cartoline [pl] si compranoin tabaccheria

I lamponi [pl] si mangiano inestate

In vacanza si fanno molte fotografie[pl]

Si devono comprare i biglietti [pl]in anticipo

In quel Cine Club si possono vederemolti film [pl]

Postcards are also boughtYou alsobuy postcards at the tobacconistrsquos

Raspberries are eaten in summer

A lot of pictures are taken on holidayOn holiday you take a lot ofpictures

Tickets should be purchased inadvance

A lot of films can be seenYou can seea lot of films at that cine club

158 Unit 22

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

Si used with the auxiliary essere

5 When si occurs with a verb in the present perfect (or any compound tense)the auxiliary is essere the past participle must therefore agree with the subjectof the passive verb

The same applies when si is not used in a passive function but purely as animpersonal subject (lsquoonersquo lsquoyoursquo lsquotheyrsquo etc)

Si used with reflexive verbs

6 When si is used with a reflexive verb the reflexive or reciprocal pronoun isci not si the resulting form is thus ci si

Non si fuma in aereo

Non si devono aprire le finestre

Therersquos no smoking [lit one does notsmoke] in planes

The windows mustnrsquot be openedOnemustnrsquot open the windows

Su questo argomento si sono scrittimolti libri

In Piemonte si egrave sempre prodottodel buon vino

In questa scuola si sono semprecominciate le lezioni alle 8

Quando si egrave finita lrsquouniversitagrave sicerca lavoro

Many books have been written on thissubject

In Piedmont good wine has alwaysbeen producedthey have alwaysproduced good wine

In this school lessons have always(been) started at eight orsquoclock

When university has been finishedWhen you have finished universityyou look for a job

Quando non si egrave riusciti a risolvereun problema non si egrave soddisfatti

Dopo che si egrave stati malati si egravesempre deboli

When one hasnrsquot managed to solve aproblem one is dissatisfied

Yoursquore always weak when yoursquove beenill

A volte in vacanza ci si annoiaSe in vacanza ci si egrave annoiati si egrave

contenti di tornare a scuola

Sometimes you get bored on holidayIf yoursquove been bored in the holidays

yoursquore glad to go back to school

Unit 22 159

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb

Examples Dal balcone si (vedere) le montagne vedono A Natale si(mangiare) il panettone mangia

1 Si (fare) attenzione quando si (attraversare) la strada2 In Svizzera si (parlare) tre lingue3 Di domenica non si (lavorare)4 Negli uffici pubblici non si (fumare)5 Si (dovere) aiutare gli anziani6 In quella discoteca non si (entrare) con le scarpe da ginnastica7 Certi segreti non si (potere) mantenere8 Per entrare nel centro della cittagrave si (pagare) un pedaggio9 In quel bosco si (trovare) molti funghi

10 Al mercato si (comprare) la verdura piugrave fresca

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences with the correct form of the verbs and the adjectives ornouns in brackets

Examples Quando si (essere malato) si (andare) a letto Quando si egravemalati si va a letto Quando si (essere studente) si (dovere)studiare Quando si egrave studenti si deve studiare

1 Quando si (avere) freddo (lavorare) male2 Quando si (avere) la febbre si (restare) a casa3 Quando si (cominciare) a studiare una lingua si (fare) degli sbagli4 Quando si (guidare) non si (usare) il cellulare5 Quando si (avere) fame si (mangiare)6 Quando si (essere stanco) si (fare) molti sbagli7 Quando si (essere avvocato) si (conoscere) la legge8 Quando non si (avere) soldi non si (fare) spese inutili9 Quando si (avere) tanti amici si (essere fortunato)

10 Quando si (mangiare) troppi dolci si (ingrassare)

Quando ci si alza presto la giornatasembra troppo lunga

When you get up early the day seemstoo long

160 Unit 22

Exercise 3

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si

Examples Non devi mangiare con le mani Non si mangia con le maniNon devi raccogliere i fiori Non si raccolgono i fiori

1 Non devi mettere i piedi sulla scrivania2 La mattina devi fare colazione3 Dopo pranzo devi lavare i piatti4 Non devi parlare con gli sconosciuti5 Non devi andare in bicicletta sul marciapiedi6 Non devi mangiare durante le lezioni7 Non devi guardarti tanto allo specchio8 In biblioteca devi parlare a bassa voce9 Non devi guardare la televisione tutto il giorno

10 Il giorno prima degli esami devi studiare

Exercise 4

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si Payattention to the use of the past tense

Example QuandoDopo che hai parcheggiato lrsquoauto in salita devimettere il freno a mano QuandoDopo che si egrave parcheggiatalrsquoauto in salita si deve mettere il freno a mano

1 Dopo che hai fatto il bagno in mare fai la doccia2 Dopo che hai superato un esame sei contento3 Dopo che hai finito di lavorare vai a casa4 Dopo che sei salito sullrsquoaereo non puoi usare il cellulare5 Quando sei cresciuto in campagna conosci i nomi di tante piante

Unit 22 161

UNIT TWENTY-THREEThe present conditional

Use of the present conditional

1 The present conditional expresses an action which depends on a conditionas in this English example lsquoIf I could I would go at oncersquo In this example thecondition is expressed with lsquoifrsquo (ie lsquoon condition thatrsquo) The present con-ditional is often used even when the condition is not actually mentioned asin lsquoIrsquom sure she would love a night outrsquo Basically the use of the Italianpresent conditional is similar to the English

The present conditional in Italian can express wishes or intentions opinionsor advice requests in polite form doubts and conjectures

The forms of the present conditional

2 The present conditional is formed in the same way as the future but withdifferent endings

Vorrei ballare tutta la seraMi daresti un passaggioFareste meglio restare a casa

I would like to dance all nightWould you give me a liftYoursquod do better to stay at home

Prenderei un caffegravePotreste andare a piediMi daresti una manoSapresti fare questo lavoroQuesta potrebbe essere la soluzione

Irsquod like a coffeeYou could go on footWouldcould you give me a handWould you know how to do that jobThis could be the solution

Be sure not to confuse the spelling of these endings (all with -emmo) withthe corresponding ones of the future (all with -emo)

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)

-are-erei-eresti

-ere-erei-eresti

-ire-irei-iresti

(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-irebbe-iremmo-ireste-irebbero

Parlareparlereiparlerestiparlerebbeparleremmoparleresteparlerebbero

To speakI would speakyou would speakhesheit would speakwe would speakyou would speakthey would speak

Prendereprendereiprenderestiprenderebbeprenderemmoprenderesteprenderebbero

To takegetI would takeyou would takehesheit would takewe would takeyou would takethey would take

Finirefinireifinirestifinirebbefiniremmofinirestefinirebbero

To finishI would finishyou would finishhesheit would finishwe would finishyou would finishthey would finish

Con Marco parleresti italianoScriverei una cartolina alla ziaFiniremmo questo lavoro prima di

partire

With Marco you would speak ItalianI would write a postcard to my auntWersquod finish this job before leaving

Unit 23 163

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the presentconditional in order to keep the hard sound of c and g

4 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the present conditional

Present conditional of some irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are grouped in the same way as for the future tense

5 Essere and avere are irregular

Cercarecerchereicercheresticercherebbecercheremmocercherestecercherebbero

Pagarepaghereipagherestipagherebbepagheremmopagherestepagherebbero

Al suo posto cercherei un altrolavoro

La Signora pagherebbe il conto

If I were him [lit in his place] Irsquod lookfor another job

The lady would pay the bill

Cominciarecomincereicominceresticomincerebbecominceremmocomincerestecomincerebbero

Mangiaremangereimangerestimangerebbemangeremmomangerestemangerebbero

Senza di lui non cominceremmo lariunione

Mangeresti la carne di canguro

We wouldnrsquot start the meeting withouthim

Would you eat kangaroo meat

Esseresareisarestisarebbesaremmosarestesarebbero

Avereavreiavrestiavrebbeavremmoavresteavrebbero

Sarei contenta di rivedere CarloAvresti un minuto per me

I would be happy to see Carlo againCould you spare me a minute [lit

would you have a minute for me]

164 Unit 23

6 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

7 Andare cadere dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow the samepattern as avere

8 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere have the following pattern

dareidarestidarebbedaremmodarestedarebbero

fareifarestifarebbefaremmofarestefarebbero

stareistarestistarebbestaremmostarestestarebbero

Darei una festaMi faresti un favoreAl posto tuo starei tranquillo

I would give a partyWould you do me a favourI wouldnrsquot worry if I were you [lit in

your place Irsquod be calm]

andreiandrestiandrebbeandremmoandresteandrebbero

cadreicadresticadrebbecadremmocadrestecadrebbero

dovreidovrestidovrebbedovremmodovrestedovrebbero

potreipotrestipotrebbepotremmopotrestepotrebbero

sapreisaprestisaprebbesapremmosaprestesaprebbero

vedreivedrestivedrebbevedremmovedrestevedrebbero

vivreivivrestivivrebbevivremmovivrestevivrebbero

Quando andreste in vacanzaDomenica dovrei lavorarePotresti aiutarmi

When would you go on holidayOn Sunday I ought to workYou could help me [ie why arenrsquot

you helping me]

-rrei-rresti-rrebbe-rremmo-rreste-rrebbero

berreiberrestiberrebbeberremmoberresteberrebbero

rimarreirimarrestirimarrebberimarremmorimarresterimarrebbero

verreiverrestiverrebbeverremmoverresteverrebbero

vorreivorrestivorrebbevorremmovorrestevorrebbero

terreiterrestiterrebbeterremmoterresteterrebbero

Unit 23 165

The present conditional of volere is often used to expresses wishes andrequests in a polite form corresponding to the English lsquowould likersquo

9 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the verb

Exercise 1

Supply the present conditional of the verb in brackets

Example Stasera non (io uscire) uscirei

Rimarrei ancora un porsquo con voi madevo prendere il treno

Verresti al cinema con me

Vorrei un caffegraveVorrei anche un chilo di mele

I would stay with you a bit longer butIrsquove got to get the train

Would you come to the cinema withme

Irsquod like a coffeeIrsquod like a kilo of apples as well

-urrei-urresti-urrebbe-urremmo-urreste-urrebbero

tradurreitradurrestitradurrebbetradurremmotradurrestetradurrebbero

Lrsquointerprete tradurrebbe tutto per te The interpreter would translateeverything for you

Non capiresti nullaNon vorremmo partireNon tradurrei cosigrave

You wouldnrsquot understand a thingWe wouldnrsquot want to leaveI wouldnrsquot translate (it) like that

1 (tu leggere) quel libro di nuovo2 (io potere) aiutarvi3 (voi avere) voglia di uscire4 Mi (tu svegliare)5 (loro volere) venire a cena6 (tu pagare) anche per me

7 Non (io fare) quel lavoro8 (noi dovere) studiare9 (tu sapere) guidare un trattore

10 Claudia (rimanere) a casa11 Al posto tuo non (io aprire) la

porta

166 Unit 23

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences changing the italicised verbs into the presentconditional

Example Veniamo volentieri Verremmo volentieri

1 Voglio due panini2 Dovete studiare di piugrave3 Lucia va in vacanza4 Fate una pausa5 Possiamo parlarti6 Maurizio cambia lavoro7 Mi dai un consiglio8 Vi piace andare a Venezia9 I nostri amici devono arrivare oggi

10 Non esce mai senza permesso

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian using the present conditional

1 Paola could help me2 We would gladly come3 I wouldnrsquot go to the library in the evenings4 When would you start Signora Vialli5 Pietro would like to invite you [sing] to the party6 Wersquod be happy to see you [pl]7 They would keep the dog in the garden8 I would have to leave early9 Irsquod like another biscuit

10 Would you know the result Mr Spadavecchia

12 (tu dovere) telefonare a Pia13 A Liz (piacere) vivere in Italia14 Mi (potere) aspettare Signora15 Mauro (essere) la persona giusta16 Mi (voi dare) un passaggio17 (io bere) volentieri qualcosa

18 Non (loro abitare) mai in una casacome questa

19 Chi (tradurre) dallrsquoarabo20 (tu accompagnare) Silvia alla

stazione

Unit 23 167

KEY TO EXERCISES

UNIT 1

Exercise 1

1 m 2 f 3 m 4 f 5 f 6 m 7 m 8 m 9 m 10 mf 11 m 12 f13 mf 14 m 15 f 16 f 17 mf 18 m 19 m 20 f

Exercise 2

1 ragazzi 2 marche 3 chiavi 4 abitanti 5 zii 6 fiumi 7 stazioni8 ragazze 9 energie 10 pomeriggi 11 banche 12 pianisti 13 clienti14 indirizzi 15 occhi 16 ristoranti 17 televisioni 18 calendari19 francesi 20 laghi

Exercise 3

1 nome 2 via 3 figlio 4 mano 5 opinione 6 cliente 7 occhio 8 per-sona 9 marca 10 problema 11 ciliegia 12 caffegrave 13 medico14 attivista 15 ginocchio 16 bugia 17 tedesco 18 test 19 uomo20 amica

UNIT 2

Exercise 1

1 la 2 la 3 il 4 la 5 lrsquo or le 6 il 7 i 8 lrsquo 9 lo 10 gli 11 le12 lo or gli 13 lrsquo 14 la 15 la or le 16 gli 17 le 18 le 19 la or le20 lrsquo

Exercise 2

1 una 2 una 3 un 4 uno 5 una 6 un 7 unrsquo 8 una 9 un 10 uno

11 unrsquo 12 uno 13 una 14 unrsquo 15 uno 16 un 17 uno 18 un19 uno 20 unrsquo

Exercise 3

1 lo 2 una 3 le 4 unrsquo 5 la 6 il 7 unrsquo 8 lrsquo un 9 il 10 lo

UNIT 3

Exercise 1

1 interessante 2 bianca 3 bianchi 4 rosse 5 egoisti 6 bellrsquo7 razzista 8 comiche 9 simpatiche 10 lunghi 11 quel simpatico12 questi facili 13 quei begli 14 queste belle 15 quegli morti16 questi inglesi 17 quelle spagnole 18 quel bellrsquo 19 quelle fresche20 quei greci

Exercise 2

1 grande 2 rosa 3 francesi 4 grave 5 pacifisti 6 tedesche 7 pigro8 lunghi 9 belghe 10 belga 11 sporche 12 energico 13 resistenti14 blu 15 scozzesi 16 veloci 17 simpatiche 18 italiani 19 ottimisti20 soddisfatti

Exercise 3

1 i loro 2 i suoi 3 la mia 4 le tue 5 la vostra 6 il nostro 7 i miei 8 laloro 9 tua 10 la Sua

Exercise 4

1 il suo 2 la nostra 3 i tuoi 4 il mio 5 i suoi 6 le tue or le Sue 7 laloro 8 i vostri or i Loro 9 le sue 10 i nostri

Exercise 5

1 questi i nostri tedeschi 2 i Suoi ottimisti 3 queste le vostre 4 i miei iSuoi 5 questi i miei quelli i tuoi 6 il nostro entusiasta il vostro7 quelle le mie queste le tue 8 quegli divertenti questo difficile 9 i mieipesanti i vostri leggeri 10 quellrsquo minerale gassata questa liscia

Key to exercises 169

UNIT 4

Exercise 1

1 siamo 2 sei 3 sono 4 sono 5 siete 6 egrave 7 egrave 8 sono 9 siete10 siamo 11 sono 12 siete 13 egrave 14 sono 15 sei 16 egrave 17 egrave18 sono 19 siete 20 egrave

Exercise 2

1 abbiamo 2 ha 3 ho 4 hanno 5 avete 6 ha 7 ha 8 hai9 abbiamo 10 hai 11 avete 12 ha 13 abbiamo 14 hanno 15 hai16 ha 17 hanno 18 hai 19 ho 20 ha

Exercise 3

1 Non ho ragione Ho ragione 2 Il professore non ha caldo Il professoreha caldo 3 La Signorina Berti non ha sete La Signorina Berti ha sete4 Lei non ha sonno Lei ha sonno 5 Non avete paura Avete paura6 Non hanno freddo Hanno freddo 7 Carla e Andrea non hanno fameCarla e Andrea hanno fame

Exercise 4

1 Sono stanco Non sono stanco 2 Sei pigra Non sei pigra 3 Il dottore egravegiovane Il dottore non egrave giovane 4 La professoressa egrave simpatica La profes-soressa non egrave simpatica 5 Lei egrave alto Lei non egrave alto 6 Siamo magre Nonsiamo magre 7 Siete intelligenti Non siete intelligenti 8 Le tue amichesono contente Le tue amiche non sono contente

Exercise 5

1 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una sedia 2 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono due poltrone 3 Nellrsquouf-ficio ci sono tre computer 4 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una stampante 5 Nellrsquoufficiocrsquoegrave un telefono 6 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave la fotocopiatrice 7 Nellrsquoufficio ci sonodue radiatori 8 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una porta 9 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono trefinestre

Exercise 6

1 In questo paese crsquoegrave un museo ci sono tre musei non ci sono musei 2 Inquesto paese crsquoegrave una discoteca ci sono due discoteche non ci sono disco-teche 3 In questo paese crsquoegrave una panetteria ci sono quattro panetterie nonci sono panetterie 4 In questo paese crsquoegrave un cinema ci sono due cinemanon ci sono cinema 5 In questo paese crsquoegrave una biblioteca ci sono due

170 Key to exercises

biblioteche non ci sono biblioteche 6 In questo paese crsquoegrave una scuola cisono due scuole non ci sono scuole 7 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ufficio postaleci sono due uffici postali non ci sono uffici postali 8 In questo paese crsquoegraveuna libreria ci sono quattro librerie non ci sono librerie 9 In questo paesecrsquoegrave un giardino pubblico ci sono tre giardini pubblici non ci sono giardinipubblici 10 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ristorante ci sono sei ristoranti non cisono ristoranti

UNIT 5

Exercise 1

1 arriva 2 vive 3 mangiamo 4 cerchi 5 prendete 6 parte 7 leg-giamo 8 pulisci 9 conosco 10 finiscono 11 guidiamo 12 giochiamo13 tornate 14 capisci 15 spendono 16 abita 17 pagate 18 viaggi19 ricevi 20 lasciano

Exercise 2

1 vanno 2 produce 3 diamo 4 vai 5 fate 6 riusciamo 7 venite8 posso 9 vogliono 10 dici 11 potete 12 voglio 13 stai 14 sanno15 fanno 16 devono 17 traduciamo 18 deve 19 sapete 20 vengono

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlare con Marcello 2 Partiamo stasera 3 Prendiamo il pros-simo autobus 4 (Lei) puograve andare al cinema Signor Buchan 5 Sappiamousare quei cellulari 6 Preferisce sempre leggere il giornale 7 Il bam-bino dorme 8 Vengo a Torino questrsquoestate 9 Escono spesso la sera10 I ragazzi giocano a pallone domani

Exercise 4

1 Esci stasera mamma 2 Cosa facciamo domani 3 Puoi aprire quellaporta 4 Vuoi un caffegrave 5 Sai suonare il piano Francesco 6 Cosa cer-chi 7 (Lei) beve caffegrave o acqua minerale Signora 8 Tu e Jim conoscetei miei genitori 9 Stai bene oggi 10 Cosa costruiscono

Exercise 5

1 (Lei) non parla inglese Signora Vialli 2 I miei amici tedeschi non sannocantare in italiano 3 Non guadagno molto 4 Non dagrave una festa per il suocompleanno 5 Non lavori con Giulia 6 Non vedono il Signor Moro datre anni 7 Percheacute non vai mai a Firenze Claudio 8 Non riesco a chiudere

Key to exercises 171

questa finestra 9 Percheacute non bevete caffegrave stamattina 10 Non venitedomani

UNIT 6

Exercise 1

1 dolcemente 2 tranquillamente 3 semplicemente 4 allegramente5 maggiormente 6 irregolarmente 7 probabilmente 8 chiaramente9 facilmente 10 velocemente 11 lentamente 12 utilmente13 attentamente 14 rapidamente 15 leggermente

Exercise 2

1 molti 2 molto 3 pochi 4 troppo 5 troppi 6 tanta 7 troppo8 molto 9 poco 10 molte 11 poco 12 molto 13 molto 14 pochi15 molto 16 poca 17 molta 18 molto 19 troppe 20 poche

Exercise 3

1 con prudenza 2 con pazienza 3 in modo nervoso 4 a poco a poco5 senza esitazione 6 di solito 7 in tempo 8 con coraggio 9 di sicuro10 in maniera brusca

Exercise 4

1 A volte mangio in mensa 2 La piscina egrave abbastanza grande 3 Usciamospesso con i nostri amici 4 Hai abbastanza soldi 5 Devi parlare lenta-mente or piano 6 Marina non mangia mai (il) formaggio 7 Francescaarriva sempre tardi or in ritardo 8 Aspetto da quasi quaranta minuti9 Carla e Andrea sono fuori 10 I tuoi genitori stanno bene

UNIT 7

Exercise 1

1 Anna la guarda 2 Li invitiamo 3 Le scrivete 4 Lo leggono 5 Lasuono 6 La preparo 7 Lo chiamo 8 Li faccio 9 Le invito 10 Lechiudete 11 Lorenzo li corregge 12 Lo prendono 13 Li porto 14 Licerco 15 Pia la beve 16 Paola lo finisce 17 Li accompagno 18 Le vedioggi 19 La ascolto 20 Luca li lava

172 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 Non le voglio 2 Non li compriamo 3 Non ci chiamano 4 Silvia non liinvita 5 I Signori Bianchi non lo prendono 6 Non mi invitate 7 Non viaspetto 8 Non la vedo domani 9 Non ti accompagno alla stazione10 Non lo guardiamo

Exercise 3

1 Vogliamo vederlo 2 Non posso aiutarti 3 Puoi accompagnarmi4 Vuoi sentirla 5 Devono chiamarci 6 Voglio invitarvi 7 Vuole cono-scerle 8 Non potete farli 9 Devi ascoltarmi 10 Non posso aiutarLaSignora

Exercise 4

1 lo 2 le 3 li 4 li 5 la 6 mi 7 li 8 La 9 li 10 le 11 la 12 li13 la 14 vi 15 lo 16 la 17 la 18 li 19 le 20 lo

Exercise 5

1 Vi invitiamo alla festa 2 Ho molti amici e li vedo spesso 3 Signora FusiLa posso chiamare or posso chiamarLa domani 4 Ci aiuti la settimanaprossima 5 Ti devo vedere or Devo vederti 6 Olga e Anna partono doma-ni e le voglio accompagnareportare or voglio accompagnarleportarle allastazione 7 Non vi posso aiutare or non posso aiutarvi 8 lsquoPorti la chi-tarrarsquo lsquoNo non ce lrsquohorsquo 9 Tullio compra queste riviste e le legge 10 Mipuoi portareaccompagnare or puoi portarmiaccompagnarmi a scuoladomani

UNIT 8

Exercise 1

1 della mamma 2 dello zio 3 degli amici 4 del parco 5 dellrsquoauto 6 deipaesi 7 delle stanze 8 al mare 9 allo stadio 10 alla stazione 11 airagazzi 12 agli uomini 13 alle donne 14 allrsquoospedale 15 dalla zia16 dallo studente 17 dal dentista 18 dallrsquoaeroporto 19 dagli uffici20 dalle colleghe 21 dai ministri 22 nellrsquoalbergo 23 nello stipendio24 nella casa 25 negli anni 26 nei cassetti 27 nelle camere 28 nelfrigo 29 sul tavolo 30 sulla sedia 31 sullo scaffale 32 sulle spalle33 sui libri 34 sugli alberi 35 sullrsquoidea

Key to exercises 173

Exercise 2

1 a 2 in 3 al 4 fra or tra 5 da 6 alla 7 con 8 dal 9 del 10 ai11 a in 12 al con 13 nel 14 alle 15 da 16 alle 17 per 18 con19 del 20 a

Exercise 3

1 a 2 in 3 a in 4 a 5 di 6 al 7 a 8 a 9 da a 10 da 11 a12 in 13 in 14 alla 15 a or per 16 al 17 della 18 in 19 nella 20 di

Exercise 4

1 Finisco di lavorare alle 6 2 Antonio parte per Genova 3 Gemma egrave natanel 2001 4 Fabia non esce mai di sera 5 I Signori Bancroft abitano incampagna in una vecchia villa 6 La biblioteca egrave dietro la palestra 7 Nonpuoi uscire senza di me 8 Abitate lontano dalla scuola 9 La zia di Isa-bella vive a Greve in Toscana 10 Ha una gonna di pelle 11 Angus egrave diEdimburgo in Scozia 12 Deve girare a destra dopo la chiesa( Signora)13 Stasera mangiamo in pizzeria 14 Questi fiori sono per tua madre 15 Aor per Natale andiamo a sciare in montagna 16 Abito vicino alla pri-gione 17 Margaret vive a Torino da cinque anni 18 Il treno per Aostaparte dal binario 7 19 Regaliamo or diamo a Luisa un CD di musicarussa 20 Compro sempre il pane da Belli

UNIT 9

Exercise 1

1 chi 2 chi 3 chi 4 che or cosa or che cosa 5 che or cosa or che cosa6 chi 7 chi 8 che or cosa or che cosa 9 chi 10 che or cosa or che cosa11 chi 12 che or cosa or che cosa 13 chi 14 chi 15 che or cosa or checosa 16 chi 17 che or cosa or che cosa 18 chi 19 che or cosa or checosa 20 chi

Exercise 2

1 dove 2 quando 3 percheacute 4 come 5 quando 6 che 7 che or quale8 dovrsquo 9 percheacute 10 qual 11 che or quale 12 che or quale 13 come14 dove 15 percheacute 16 dovrsquo 17 quando 18 qual 19 percheacute 20 che orquali

174 Key to exercises

Exercise 3

1 quante 2 quanto 3 quanti 4 quanti 5 quante 6 quanta 7 quanto8 quante 9 quanti 10 quanto 11 quanta 12 quanto 13 quanti14 quanto 15 quanto 16 quante 17 quanto 18 quante 19 quanti20 quanto

Exercise 4

1 Quanti panini volete 2 Dove andate a pranzo 3 Chi sono quelle per-sone 4 CheCosaChe cosa fai domenica 5 Quando andate in vacanza6 Percheacute Luisa non parte 7 Qual egrave la tua bici 8 CheQuale film guardi9 Chi di loro egrave italianoitaliana 10 Quando arriva il treno

UNIT 10

Exercise 1

1 Le telefoniamo 2 Gli spedisco or spedisco loro le cartoline 3 Silvia gliracconta una storia 4 Le regalo un libro 5 Anna gli scrive or scrive loro6 Le porto i fiori 7 Gli scriviamo or scriviamo loro 8 Olga e Silvia leparlano 9 Gli legge or legge loro un libro 10 Cosa gli regalate

Exercise 2

1 Non le parlo di lavoro 2 Non mi telefoni 3 Non vi regalo dei libri4 Non gli offrite qualcosa 5 Gli amici non le offrono un gelato 6 Non ciscrivete 7 Non ti mando una cartolina 8 Non vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo non mi dice la veritagrave 10 Non gli spedisco il pacco

Exercise 3

1 Possiamo scriverle 2 Devo parlarti 3 Voglio regalargli una chitarra4 Puoi telefonarci 5 Devono offrirvi qualcosa 6 Potete dirmi tutto7 Posso parlarLe Signora 8 Non dovete scrivergli 9 Non posso rispon-derti 10 Voglio crederle

Exercise 4

1 le 2 ti 3 gli 4 gli 5 Le 6 vi 7 ci 8 ti 9 gli 10 Le 11 mi 12 le13 gli 14 gli 15 vi 16 gli 17 mi 18 le 19 ti 20 gli

Key to exercises 175

Exercise 5

1 Puoi dire a Lucia che le voglio parlare or voglio parlarle 2 Appena arrivoa Roma vi telefono 3 Devo chiederLe or Le devo chiedere un favoreSignora 4 Gli dai il tuo numero di telefono 5 Ci dicono or raccontanosempre (delle) cose interessanti 6 Mi mandano sempre una cartolinaquando vanno in Italia 7 Per il suo compleanno le dograve dei fiori 8 Devodarti or ti devo dare i libri di Luca 9 Se volete vi racconto una storia10 Massimo mi scrive ogni settimana or tutte le settimane

UNIT 11

Exercise 1

1 Non le piacciono i carciofi 2 Non gli piace guidare 3 Gli piace viag-giare 4 Gli piace il mare 5 Gli piace ballare 6 Non ci piace il pesce7 Vi piace nuotare 8 Le piacciono i film francesi 9 Non le piace stirare10 Gli piace andare in moto

Exercise 2

1 Non le piace andare in centro il sabato 2 Non ti piace la musica clas-sica 3 Non gli piacciono i funghi 4 Non vi piace guardare la televi-sione 5 Non mi piacciono i film di fantascienza 6 Non gli piace lascuola 7 Non ci piacciono le canzoni italiane 8 Non le piacciono glispaghetti 9 Non mi piace sciare 10 Non vi piace la cioccolata al latte

Exercise 3

1 (Non) mi piace la frutta 2 (Non) mi piace il calcio 3 (Non) mi piac-ciono le fragole 4 (Non) mi piace giocare a tennis 5 (Non) mi piace uscirecon gli amici 6 (Non) mi piacciono i gatti 7 (Non) mi piace la pizza8 (Non) mi piacciono i dolci 9 (Non) mi piace ballare 10 (Non) mi piac-ciono le vacanze

Exercise 4

1 A Luigi (non) piace il caffegrave senza zucchero 2 Al professore (non) piac-ciono le poesie di Leopardi 3 A mia sorella (non) piace andare al cinema4 Ai miei cugini (non) piacciono i film di Fellini 5 Al primo ministro (non)piace la politica

176 Key to exercises

Exercise 5

1 basta 2 sembra 3 piacciono 4 manca 5 servono 6 mancano7 sembra 8 servono 9 pare 10 bastano

Exercise 6

1 Unrsquoora non mi basta 2 A Giovanni serve una penna 3 A Lynne man-cano gli or i suoi amici italiani 4 Ti piace la cioccolata or il cioccolato5 Non le piace andare al cinema 6 Vi serve un passaggio 7 Gli servonouna penna e un quaderno 8 Le sembra noioso lo spettacolo Signora9 Ti serve aiuto 10 Mi piace leggere

UNIT 12

Exercise 1

1 restati 2 uscite 3 andata 4 arrivati 5 entrata 6 riuscito 7 arrivato8 piaciuta 9 costati 10 nata

Exercise 2

1 hai comprato 2 ha regalato 3 siamo andati or andate 4 avete trovato5 hai spento 6 egrave venuta 7 ha portato 8 avete preso 9 ho visto 10 haipotuto 11 ho dovuto 12 egrave uscito ha perso 13 ha scritto 14 abbiamogiocato 15 ha cominciato 16 ha voluto or egrave voluto 17 hai messo 18 haipotuto 19 avete avuto 20 hai letto

Exercise 3

1 abbiamo dovuto 2 avete mangiato 3 sei partito or partita 4 ha te-lefonato 5 ha voluto or egrave voluta 6 hai conosciuto 7 ha dovuto or egravedovuta 8 avete accompagnato 9 ha vinto 10 hai finito 11 ho capito12 hai portato 13 siamo riusciti or riuscite 14 avete deciso 15 ha avuto16 sono venuti 17 avete fatto 18 egrave partito 19 egrave stata 20 ha tradotto

Exercise 4

1 Abbiamo giagrave fatto questo esercizio 2 Non ho ancora finito di leggere ilgiornale 3 Stefano non egrave mai andato or stato a Roma 4 Non ho piugrave vistoRoberto dopo la festa 5 Avete giagrave pagato il conto 6 Giulia non haancora cominciato a lavorare 7 Carlo non ha piugrave potuto lavorare 8 Nonho mai conosciuto i suoi genitori 9 Hai giagrave scritto le lettere 10 Non homai visto quel film

Key to exercises 177

UNIT 13

Exercise 1

1 li ho messi 2 lrsquoho accompagnata 3 le ho comprate 4 le ha chiuse 5 liho mangiati 6 ti ha chiamata 7 lrsquoha letto 8 ci hanno invitati 9 li hopresi 10 li ho dati

Exercise 2

1 le ho offerto 2 li avete visti 3 lrsquoho imprestata 4 le ho telefonato 5 le haprese 6 li ho studiati 7 mi ha presentato 8 ti ha accompagnata 9 le haimandato 10 lrsquoho conosciuta 11 lrsquoabbiamo lasciata 12 gli hai detto 13 liho comprati 14 Lrsquoho trovata 15 le ho conosciute 16 gli ho detto 17 lrsquohapagato 18 le ho raccontato 19 Lrsquoha accompagnata 20 lrsquoho letta tutta

Exercise 3

1 Non li ho saputi fare 2 Li ho voluti vedere 3 Non lrsquoabbiamo potutochiamare 4 Vi hanno potuti aiutare or potute aiutare 5 Lrsquoabbiamodovuta invitare 6 Non le ha sapute tradurre 7 Le avete dovuteaccompagnare 8 Lrsquoha voluta mangiare 9 Li hai potuti vedere 10 Nonle hanno volute fare

Exercise 4

1 Sabina non mi ha invitata 2 Chi ti ha chiamata 3 Gli abbiamo te-lefonato ieri 4 Vi ho cercati ma non vi ho trovati 5 Chiara ci haaccompagnati or portati alla fermata dellrsquoautobus 6 Vi ho mandato unacartolina lrsquoavete ricevuta 7 I (miei) nonni mi hanno regalato 100 euro mali ho giagrave spesi 8 Ho comprato due panini e li ho mangiati 9 lsquoHai spento lalucersquo lsquoSigrave lrsquoho spentarsquo 10 Carla non ha potuto aiutarle or Carla non le hapotute aiutare

UNIT 14

Exercise 1

1 lei te 2 loro 3 lei 4 noi voi 5 me 6 lui 7 me te 8 Lei 9 voi10 lei loro

Exercise 2

1 Nobody plays drums like me 2 Every student but him did the home-work 3 Sergio calls or phones you not me 4 Irsquoll take or go with or

178 Key to exercises

accompany you as well 5 I understand as much as you do or as much asyou 6 Mauro tells everyone the truth but or except me 7 You should oryou must or you have to phone me as well 8 Claudiarsquos lending us therecords not you 9 Irsquom giving or I give or Irsquoll give my address to everyonebut her 10 Irsquom giving her a book and him a record

Exercise 3

1 voi 2 lui 3 loro 4 noi 5 lei

Exercise 4

1 Tutti sono contro di me 2 Vieni con me 3 Ho comprato un regalo perte 4 Non puoi contare su di lui 5 Posso dormire da voi stasera

UNIT 15

Exercise 1

1 che 2 cui 3 che 4 cui 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 cui 9 cui 10 che

Exercise 2

1 cui 2 cui 3 cui 4 che 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 che 9 cui 10 cui

Exercise 3

1 la quale 2 con la quale 3 dei quali 4 nel quale 5 alle quali 6 ilquale 7 dal quale 8 le quali 9 delle quali 10 i quali

Exercise 4

1 colei che 2 coloro che 3 colui che 4 colui or colei che 5 coloro che

Exercise 5

1 chi 2 quella che 3 chi or quello che 4 chi 5 quelli che 6 quella che7 chi 8 quello che 9 chi 10 quelle che

Exercise 6

1 Il libro che voglio comprare egrave troppo caro 2 La signora con cui or con laquale ho parlato egrave tedesca 3 Le persone che or le quali hanno telefonatovivono or abitano in America 4 La cittagrave dove or in cui or nella quale vivo or

Key to exercises 179

abito non egrave molto grande 5 Colui che or chi vuole andare allrsquouniversitagravedeve sapere leggere e scrivere 6 Paolo che or il quale ha perso il (suo)cellulare non egrave contento or felice 7 Quella canzone mi piace or Mi piacequella canzone ma preferisco quelle che abbiamo sentito ieri sera 8 Questaegrave or Ecco la sorella di Fabio la quale or che mi ha prestato la sua bici 9 Haivisto chi or colui che or colei che ha mangiato le pesche 10 Chi egrave lrsquouomo cuior a cui or al quale avete venduto i biglietti

UNIT 16

Exercise 1

1 parlava 2 passava 3 faceva 4 studiavo riposava 5 partiva 6 lavo-rava 7 diceva 8 faceva 9 abitavamo 10 eravate 11 andavano12 era 13 uscivamo 14 sapevi 15 conoscevo 16 amava 17 dormivate18 erano 19 avevi 20 dovevano

Exercise 2

1 sei partita 2 era 3 ho studiato 4 mangiavamo 5 egrave rimasta 6 aveva7 sembravano 8 ha speso 9 egrave andata 10 erano

Exercise 3

1 egrave arrivato era 2 ho conosciuto abitavo 3 avevi hai cominciato 4 hatelefonato facevo 5 sono venuti era 6 hanno fatto sapevano 7 hannodetto hanno visto 8 egrave venuto aveva 9 siamo arrivati or arrivate partiva10 ho imprestato era

Exercise 4

suonava piaceva abbiamo deciso siamo arrivati mancavano crsquoerano eraaspettavamo abbiamo sentito ha risposto abbiamo visto era ha finitoha spiegato era chiamava aveva era sapeva egrave partito aveva egrave riuscitoaprivano

Exercise 5

1 Quanto tempo hai passato a Bologna 2 Siamo andati or andate alcinema ieri sera 3 Sembravate felici 4 Il padre di Gemma faceva il mari-naio or era marinaio 5 Claudia e Monica non sono venute in vacanza connoi questa volta 6 I miei genitori di solito uscivano alle 8 7 Mio padre halavorato in India per 3 anni 8 A che ora avete preso lrsquoautobus ieri mattina9 Lrsquoanno scorso facevamo ginnastica il or di lunedigrave mattina 10 Dove hai

180 Key to exercises

comprato quelle scarpe 11 Non ti ho chiamato or chiamata percheacute dormivi12 Quando voi abitavate or vivevate a Londra io abitavo or vivevo a Parigi13 Quanti anni aveva Susanna quando egrave andata allrsquouniversitagrave 14 Mentreguardavo la televisione Anna egrave entrata e lrsquoha spenta 15 Paolo e Giulia nonsono venuti percheacute Paolo era troppo stanco

UNIT 17

Exercise 1

1 ne ho mandate 2 ne ho comprata or ne ho comprati 3 ne ho fatti or ne hofatta 4 ne sono venute poche 5 non ne ho fatto nessuno 6 ne ho lasciatauna aperta 7 ne hanno invitati molti 8 ne ho letti 9 ne abbiamo com-prata poca 10 non ne ho mangiata nessuna 11 ne ho presi 12 ne ho datealcune 13 ne abbiamo visti 14 ne ho mangiate 15 non ne ha mangiatonessuno 16 ne abbiamo dato qualcuno 17 ne ho presi alcuni 18 ne sonorimasti alcuni cari 19 non ne ha invitata nessuna 20 ne ho regalate

Exercise 2

1 ne 2 ne 3 li 4 lrsquo 5 ne 6 le 7 ne 8 ne 9 li 10 ne 11 ne 12 lrsquo13 ne 14 ne 15 ne 16 la 17 lo 18 ne 19 ne 20 li

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlarne col professore 2 Vuoi farne un altro 3 Non dobbiamoprenderne 4 Potete mangiarne 5 Devo farne sei 6 Non possiamo par-larne 7 Posso assaggiarne uno 8 Non deve portarne Signora 9 Voglio-no comprarne qualcuno 10 Non possono berne

Exercise 4

1 Ne ho dovuti dare due a Marisa 2 Ne hai potute comprare 3 Quantene hai dovute fare 4 Non ne hanno voluta mangiare 5 Ne ha dovutileggere quattro 6 Non ne abbiamo potute prendere 7 Ne ho dovute scri-vere due 8 Ne ho potute leggere solo due pagine 9 Ne avete dovuti rifaremolti 10 Non ne hanno potuta assaggiare

Exercise 5

1 in questa casa Ci abitiamo da tre anni 2 al Museo di Storia NaturaleStefano ci lavora da febbraio 3 alla festa di Marco Ci volete venire orVolete venirci 4 al cinema Paolo e Livia ci vanno due volte alla set-timana 5 al supermercato La Signora Bini ci va sempre a piedi 6 in

Key to exercises 181

Italia Ci rimango per tre settimane 7 a scuola Giulia ci viene sempre inbici 8 allrsquoufficio postale Ci ho passato tre ore in coda 9 a casa di PietroCi siete andati a cena 10 a Sorrento Ci passiamo le vacanze

UNIT 18

Exercise 1

1 arriveranno 2 parlerete 3 telefoneragrave 4 dirai 5 scriverograve 6 dormirograve7 cominceremo 8 finirai 9 prenderograve 10 chiamerai 11 abiterete12 porteranno 13 direte 14 tradurragrave 15 pagheremo 16 mangerai17 scriveragrave 18 cercheragrave 19 prenderanno 20 pagheragrave

Exercise 2

1 andrograve 2 saremo 3 rimarrai 4 verrograve potrograve 5 dovragrave 6 verragrave vorragrave7 avremo 8 potrograve 9 vedrai 10 farete 11 staranno 12 sapragrave 13 farai14 sarete 15 dovrete 16 andrograve 17 saprai 18 verrai 19 farete20 terranno

Exercise 3

uscirograve dovrograve arriverograve verragrave andremo lascerograve andremo vedremo porteragravetorneremo verranno dovremo usciremo faremo saragrave potremo

Exercise 4

1 Chi potragrave aiutarmi 2 Lrsquoestate prossima faremo un corso di italiano3 Leggerai tutti questi libri 4 Non andrograve in biblioteca domani 5 Quandoarriveragrave Signora Pasini 6 Domenica usciranno 7 Cosa farai8 Saranno le 10 9 Porterai i tuoi CD per la festa 10 Non verrete con noial cinema

UNIT 19

Exercise 1

1 aveva finito 2 era arrivata 3 avevo vista 4 avevi spento 5 avevatepreso 6 aveva lavorato 7 aveva scritto 8 aveva preparato 9 eri riuscitoor riuscita 10 avevamo chiesto 11 era stata 12 avevo mangiato 13 erapiaciuta 14 era andata 15 erano uscite 16 avevo capito 17 era partito18 era rimasto 19 aveva voluto 20 era stata

182 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 sono arrivato or arrivata erano usciti 2 conosceva aveva telefonato3 hai fatto avevo detto 4 era aveva camminato 5 egrave venuto doveva or hadovuto avevano dato 6 era aveva vinto 7 portava aveva regalato 8 hocomprato avevate consigliato 9 ha speso aveva guadagnato 10 ha invi-tato erano andati

Exercise 3

1 Paola non era ancora andata or stata in Scozia 2 Avevo finito il lavoroma ero molto stanco or stanca 3 Le ragazze non erano mai entrate in quellachiesa 4 Arianna ha finito la torta che aveva fatto sua nonna 5 lsquoCosaavevi detto a Fabiorsquo lsquoNon gli avevo detto nullarsquo 6 Maria aveva dovuto orera dovuta rimanere or restare a casa 7 Quanto era costata la vostramacchina or auto 8 Avevano comprato or preso il biglietto il giornoprima 9 Non avevo piugrave la bici percheacute lrsquoavevo data a Anna 10 Era nata inRussia ma abitava da molti anni in Italia quando lrsquoho conosciuta

UNIT 20

Exercise 1

1 si 2 mi 3 si 4 vi 5 si 6 ci 7 mi 8 si 9 si 10 si 11 vi 12 ti13 ci 14 si 15 vi 16 si 17 si 18 ti 19 vi 20 si

Exercise 2

1 si 2 si 3 vi 4 si 5 ti 6 ci 7 si 8 si 9 ci 10 mi 11 vi 12 ci13 si 14 ti 15 mi 16 ti 17 ci 18 si 19 mi 20 vi

Exercise 3

1 si sono sposati 2 ti sei sbagliato 3 vi siete ricordate 4 si egrave fatta 5 sisono incontrati 6 ti sei perso 7 si egrave divertita 8 ci siamo bevuti 9 mi sonoannoiato 10 ci siamo alzate 11 ti sei lavato 12 mi sono tagliata 13 si egravefermato 14 si sono separati 15 si egrave lamentato 16 si egrave riposato 17 si egravestancata 18 ti sei arrabbiata 19 vi siete offesi 20 si sono dimenticati

Exercise 4

1 Non mi sono potuta lavare 2 Sandra e Roberto si sono voluti sposare3 Ci siamo dovuti scusare 4 Luigi si egrave dovuto alzare alle sei 5 Gianni nonsi egrave voluto mettere il berretto 6 Ti sei potuto curare 7 Vi siete potuti

Key to exercises 183

riposare 8 Mi sono dovuta fermare 9 Percheacute ti sei voluto tingere icapelli 10 Non ci siamo potuti spiegare

Exercise 5

1 Vi divertite 2 Ti sei lavata le mani 3 Come si sente Signora 4 Visbagliate 5 Dove vi siete conosciute or incontrate 6 Percheacute non ti siedi7 Paolo parla sempre di segrave or se stesso 8 Franca si egrave lavata i capelli9 Carlo si egrave scusato 10 Mi sono vestita

UNIT 21

Exercise 1

1 compra 2 usciamo 3 stia 4 metti 5 siate 6 venga 7 dai or darsquo8 finisci 9 compri 10 facciamo 11 abbi 12 parli 13 vai or varsquo 14 dirsquo15 faccia 16 scrivete 17 fai or farsquo 18 entrino 19 aprite 20 rispondi

Exercise 2

1 chiuda 2 vada 3 sorrida 4 dica 5 faccia 6 sia 7 traduca8 accenda 9 stia 10 entri

Exercise 3

1 non partite 2 non rispondere 3 non andate 4 non scenda 5 nonusciamo 6 non finire 7 non ascoltare 8 non prenda 9 non telefonare10 non dire 11 non tagliarti or non ti tagliare 12 non darle or non le dare13 non parlargli or non gli parlare 14 non scrivetemi or non mi scrivete15 non dirlo or non lo dire 16 non invitarli or non li invitare 17 nonprenderlo or non lo prendere 18 non metterti or non ti mettere 19 nonportatele or non le portate 20 non farlo or non lo fare

Exercise 4

1 vai or varsquo 2 prendete 3 invita 4 guardiamo 5 comincia 6 faccia7 mettano 8 fai or farsquo 9 vai or varsquo 10 stai or starsquo 11 mandami12 fatelo 13 dammi 14 rispondimi 15 vacci 16 mangiatelo 17 leg-getelo 18 ci aspetti 19 digli 20 dalle

Exercise 5

1 parlatele 2 prendili 3 lo firmi 4 parlatene 5 andiamoci 6 falli7 restateci 8 chiediamolo 9 correggili 10 prendetelo 11 lo aspettino

184 Key to exercises

12 mandali 13 compratela 14 la porti 15 aiutateli 16 rendilo 17 chie-diamole 18 telefonagli or telefona loro 19 bevine 20 studiatela

UNIT 22

Exercise 1

1 fa attraversa 2 parlano 3 lavora 4 fuma 5 devono 6 entra 7 pos-sono 8 paga 9 trovano 10 compra

Exercise 2

1 Quando si ha freddo si lavora male 2 Quando si ha la febbre si resta acasa 3 Quando si comincia a studiare una lingua si fanno degli sbagli4 Quando si guida non si usa il cellulare 5 Quando si ha fame si mangia6 Quando si egrave stanchi si fanno molti sbagli 7 Quando si egrave avvocati si cono-sce la legge 8 Quando non si hanno soldi non si fanno spese inutili9 Quando si hanno tanti amici si egrave fortunati 10 Quando si mangiano troppidolci si ingrassa

Exercise 3

1 Non si mettono i piedi sulla scrivania 2 La mattina si fa colazione3 Dopo pranzo si lavano i piatti 4 Non si parla con gli sconosciuti 5 Nonsi va in bicicletta sul marciapiedi 6 Non si mangia durante le lezioni7 Non ci si guarda tanto allo specchio 8 In biblioteca si parla a bassavoce 9 Non si guarda la televisione tutto il giorno 10 Il giorno primadegli esami si studia

Exercise 4

1 Dopo che si egrave fatto il bagno in mare si fa la doccia 2 Dopo che si egravesuperato un esame si egrave contenti 3 Dopo che si egrave finito di lavorare si va acasa 4 Dopo che si egrave saliti sullrsquoaereo non si puograve usare il cellulare5 Quando si egrave cresciuti in campagna si conoscono i nomi di tante piante

UNIT 23

Exercise 1

1 leggeresti 2 potrei 3 avreste 4 sveglieresti 5 vorrebbero 6 paghe-resti 7 farei 8 dovremmo 9 sapresti 10 rimarrebbe 11 aprirei12 dovresti 13 piacerebbe 14 potrebbe 15 sarebbe 16 dareste 17 ber-rei 18 abiterebbero 19 tradurrebbe 20 accompagneresti

Key to exercises 185

Exercise 2

1 Vorrei due panini 2 Dovreste studiare di piugrave 3 Lucia andrebbe invacanza 4 Fareste una pausa 5 Potremmo parlarti 6 Maurizio cam-bierebbe lavoro 7 Mi daresti un consiglio 8 Vi piacerebbe andare a Ve-nezia 9 I nostri amici dovrebbero arrivare oggi 10 Non uscirebbe maisenza permesso

Exercise 3

1 Paola potrebbe aiutarmi or mi potrebbe aiutare 2 Verremmo volentieri3 Non andrei in biblioteca la or di sera 4 Quando comincerebbe SignoraVialli 5 Pietro vorrebbe invitarti or ti vorrebbe invitare alla festa6 Saremmo contenti or felici di vedervi 7 Terrebbero il cane in giardino8 Dovrei partire presto 9 Vorrei un altro biscotto 10 Saprebbe il risultatoSignor Spadavecchia

186 Key to exercises

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS

adjective a word that describes a noun or pronoun eg the green door itrsquosvery old Johnrsquos skinny shersquos most objectionable

a demonstrative adjective describes something as being pointed out (lsquodem-onstratedrsquo) eg thisthat computer thesethose railings

a possessive adjective describes something as belonging to someone orsomething eg myheritsouryour behaviour is quite normal

adverb a word which gives information about a verb an adjective oranother adverb eg she sang loudly itrsquoll finish soon Irsquove got it somewhere itrsquosincrediblyvery funny she sang incrediblyvery loudly

agreement a feature whereby the form of one word changes depending onthe form of another word it is linked with In English the most obviousexample is in the difference between singular and plural so we say lsquoThis is theroadrsquo and lsquoThese are the roadsrsquo but not eg lsquoThis are the roadsrsquo lsquoThese is theroadsrsquo etc In Italian agreement is far more detailed and widespread than inEnglish

article a word which has no meaning on its own but is placed before anoun to show whether it is specific or non-specific

a definite article shows that the noun refers to a specific thing or person egthe airline the pilot the passengers

an indefinite article shows that the noun does not refer to a specific thingor person eg an airline a pilot passengers [no plural indefinitearticle]

auxiliary verb a verb that helps another verb to make its form eg we havedone it it had been agreed

conjugation a group of verbs which have the same endings as one anotherin all tenses eg in Italian verbs of the first conjugation have an infinitiveending in -are (comprare lsquoto buyrsquo cantare lsquoto singrsquo) and the same endingsin the present (comprano lsquothey buyrsquo cantano lsquothey singrsquo) the imperfect

(compravano lsquothey boughtrsquo cantavano lsquothey sangrsquo) the future (compre-ranno lsquothey will buyrsquo canteranno lsquothey will singrsquo) etc

gender not the same thing as the actual sex of a living creature grammat-ical gender is arbitrary in Italian all nouns are either masculine or feminineeven if they denote inanimate objects eg il libro [m] lsquothe bookrsquo la casa [f]lsquothe housersquo etc

infinitive the form in which verbs are usually given in word lists etc egvendere lsquoto sellrsquo dormire lsquoto sleeprsquo

noun the name of a thing person place animal plant idea eg the greendoor John is skinny love is a wonderful thing I love cats and roses

number a feature of nouns pronouns and any words that agree with them(notably in Italian adjectives articles and verbs) which shows whether thereis just one or more than one of the thing or person in question If there isone then the noun pronoun etc is singular eg the mobile a child Isheheitif there is more than one then the noun pronoun etc is plural eg themobiles the children wethey In Italian the form of the word usually makesit clear whether it is singular or plural but in English it is often impossible totell from the word on its own eg one sheep fifty sheep Jim you are brilliantyou are all brilliant

object the noun or pronoun affected by the action of the verb

a direct object is directly impinged on by the action eg I sent a letter thedog drank its water yoursquove shut the door she cooked it I love him

an indirect object is the thingperson to or for whichwhom the action isperformed eg I sent a letter to Jim I gave her a CD [ie a CD to her] hebuilt a snowman for Catherine I made her a puppet [ie a puppet for her]

participle a form of the verb that lsquoparticipatesrsquo in characteristics of bothverb and adjective ie it both indicates an action and describes something

the present participle in English ends in -ing and is used descriptively evenwith verbs in a past tense eg shersquos running Wayne was shouting

the past participle in English (as in Italian) is mostly used to form thepresent perfect tense eg the frog has jumped in shersquos run away it can alsobe used purely as an adjective eg itrsquos small but perfectly formed thatrsquos atorn handkerchief

passive a passive verb is the opposite to an active one Here is an activeverb lsquoKylie drew that cartoonrsquo in this sentence the thing that has somethingdone to it (the cartoon) is the object of the active verb Now here is the sameidea expressed with a passive verb lsquoThat cartoon was drawn by Kyliersquo in thissentence the thing that has something done to it is actually the subject of thepassive verb Many ideas can be expressed both actively and passively eg

188 Glossary

preposition a word usually placed in front of a noun or pronoun to showthe relation between it and another noun or pronoun eg the cat sat on themat Irsquove shown them to him the doorrsquos opposite the bus stop you just gothrough it

pronoun a word that stands for (lsquoprorsquo) a noun

demonstrative pronouns stand for particular people or things that arelsquopointed torsquo eg thisthat [ie lsquothis onethat onersquo] is a dandelion thesethoseare filthy

interrogative pronouns stand for people or things about which a questionis being asked eg what are you doing which of them did best who wonwho(m) did you vote for

personal pronouns usually stand for people eg she lost her mobile theyare happy we phoned them you gave us a fright

possessive pronouns stand for things mentioned as belonging to someoneeg this tuna sandwich is mine [ie lsquomy onersquo] those are yoursherstheirs etc

reciprocal pronouns stand for two or more people or things whichreciprocate an action eg they like each otherone another we all gave eachotherone another birthday presents

reflexive pronouns stand for people or things that are both the subjectand the object of the verb eg yoursquore wearing yourselves out thedogrsquoll scratch itself the computer switched itself off she bought herselfsomething nice

relative pronouns usually stand for people or things already mentionedeg the idiot who conceded the penalty the DVDs whichthat were on thetable the one politician whom everyone trusts

subject the noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb eg Micksang solo the grass is green you have grown they say it will be easy theallegation was denied he was tripped over

tense the form of a verb that corresponds to a particular segment of timeeg I eat [present] I shall eat [future] I have eaten [present perfect] I ate[simple past] I was eating [past progressive] I had eaten [past perfect]

ActiveJim clapped Tony [object] on the

backShe alone dismissed the idea

[object]They sell wild mushrooms [object]

here

PassiveTony [subject] was clapped on the back

by JimThe idea [subject] was dismissed by her

aloneWild mushrooms [subject] are sold here

(by them)

Glossary 189

verb the word that indicates the performance of an action or the existenceof a state eg she jumped out of her skin I shall get a mobile that is nice theyhave been very happy

190 Glossary

INDEX

a uses of 59ndash60 62 63ndash4adjectives 17ndash22 in -co and -go 18ndash19

with articles 14 definition of 187demonstrative 20 possessive 22ndash3preceding the noun 19ndash20 singularand plural 17ndash19 158

adverbial expressions 48ndash9adverbs 46ndash8 from adjectives 46

definition of 187 with the pastperfect 140 with the present perfect90

agreement of adjectives and nouns 17definition of 187

alcuno 121 122anche 101andare future 133 imperative 152

present 41 present conditional 165articles definite 9ndash11 definition of 187

indefinite 11ndash13 uses of 13ndash14 22ndash3auxiliary verbs definition of 187ndash8 see

also avere essereavere future 132 imperative 151

imperfect 112 present 28 presentconditional 164 present perfect 88used as auxiliary 86ndash7 88ndash90 usesof 31ndash2

bastare 81bello 20bere future 134 imperative 152

imperfect 113 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

buono 21

cadere future 133 present conditional165

crsquoegraveci sono 32ndash3 in imperfect 113 inpresent perfect 88

che (relative pronoun) 104ndash5cheche cosa 69 71chi 68 107ci with avere (ce) 54 with si as an

impersonal pronoun 159ndash60lsquotherersquo 125

coluicoleicoloro 106ndash7come 69 70 71 101compound prepositions 65con uses of 61conditional see present conditionalconjugations 37conoscere 39 vs sapere 42ndash3cosa 69 71cui 104 105

da uses of 36ndash7 60dare future 132 imperative 151 present

41 present conditional 165definite article 9ndash11 13ndash14 with

possessives 22ndash3 with prepositions57ndash8

demonstrative adjectives 20demonstrative pronouns 24 definition of

189di uses of 58ndash9 63dire imperative 151 imperfect 113

past participle 86 present 42direct object definition of 188direct object pronouns 52ndash4 formal form

54 with the imperative 154 with thepresent perfect (or any othercompound tense) 94ndash5 95ndash6stressed forms 99ndash101

dove 69 71 106dovere 43 future 133 present 42

present conditional 165present perfect 91

eccetto (che) 101essere with ci 32ndash3 88 113 as auxiliary

86ndash7 88ndash90 as auxiliary withimpersonal si 159 future 132imperative 151 imperfect 113present 28 present conditional 164present perfect 88 with reflexivepronouns 145 uses of 31

fare future 132 imperative 151imperfect 114 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

formal form 30 41 direct objectpronouns 54 in imperative152ndash3 indirect object pronouns76 with piacere 80 possessiveadjectives and pronouns 23ndash4

future 129ndash34 avere and essere 132 withifwhen 130 irregular verbs 132ndash4negative form 134 verbs in -care-gare and -iare 131ndash2 uses of129ndash30 verbs in -urre 134

gender 1ndash3 6 definition of 188grande 21

lsquohow muchmanyrsquo 70 71lsquohowrsquo 69 71

lsquoifrsquo with future tense 130imperative 149ndash54 essere 151 formal

form 152ndash3 irregular verbs 151ndash2negative form 153 154 withpronouns 154 uses of 149verbs in -urre 152

imperfect 111ndash17 of essere 113negative form 114 uses 115ndash17verbs in -urre 114

impersonal subject pronoun si 157ndash60in uses of 61 62 63 64indefinite article 11ndash13indirect object definition of 188indirect object pronouns 74ndash6

formal form 76 with theimperative 154 negative form 75with the present perfect 95stressed forms 99ndash101

infinitive 37 definition of 188 fornegative imperative 153

interrogative form 29 40interrogative pronouns definition of 189irregular plurals of nouns 5

irregular verbs future 132ndash4 imperative151ndash2 imperfect 113ndash14 pastparticiple 86 present 41ndash3present conditional 164ndash6

lsquoknowingrsquo 42ndash3

Lei Loro and Voi 30 41 see also formalform

mancare 81meno (che) 101mentre 116modomaniera 49molto 47 48 121

ne 120ndash4 negative form 122 with pastparticiple 122ndash4

neanche 101negative form 30 32ndash3 with direct object

pronouns 53 future 134 imperative153 154 imperfect 114 withindirect object pronouns 75 with ne122 past perfect 140 present 41present conditional 166 presentperfect 90 verbs with si 159

nemmeno 101neppure 101non see negative formnon ancoramai 47nouns definition of 188 ending in -ca

-co -ga -go -cia -gia 6ndash7gender 1ndash3 6 singular andplural 4ndash7

number definition of 188 nouns 4ndash7

parere 81partitive constructions with di 59passive definition of 188ndash9 using si 158past participle 85ndash6 definition 188 with

ne 122ndash4past perfect 137ndash40 with avere or essere

as auxiliaries 138 of avere andessere 139 negative form 140 usesof 137ndash8

per uses of 61percheacute 70personal pronouns definition of 189

see also pronounspiacere 79ndash81place see prepositions of placeplurals of adjectives 17ndash19

192 Index

plurals of nouns 4ndash7poco 47 48 121possession with di 58 59possessive adjectives 22ndash3possessive pronouns 23ndash4 definition of

189potere future 133 present 42 43 present

conditional 165 present perfect 91prepositions 57ndash65 compound 65

with definite article 57ndash8 definitionof 189 with pronouns 100 105106

prepositions of place 59 60 61 62prepositions of time 59 60 61 63present conditional 162ndash6 essere 164

irregular verbs 164ndash6 negative form166

present participle definition of 188present perfect 84ndash91 with direct object

pronouns 94ndash5 95ndash6 of avere andessere 88 with indirect objectpronouns 95 with ne 122ndash4negative form 90 potere dovere andvolere 91 of reflexive verbs 145using avere 86ndash7 88ndash9using essere 86ndash7 88ndash90 145uses of 84ndash5

present tense 36ndash43 avere and essere 28irregular verbs 41ndash3 uses of 36ndash7verbs in -are 37 verbs in -care and-gare 38 verbs in -cere and -gere 39verbs in -ere 38ndash9 verbs in -iare 38verbs in -ire 40 verbs with -isc-40 verbs in -urre 43

pronouns definition of 189demonstrative 24 direct object52ndash4 94ndash5 95ndash6 99ndash101 with theimperative 154 indirect object 74ndash696 99ndash101 possessive 23ndash4 afterprepositions 100 reflexive 143ndash6relative 104ndash7 stressed forms99ndash101 subject 28ndash9 see also cine si

pure 101

qualcuno 121 122quale 71(illa) quale (relative pronoun) 104

105ndash6quando 70 130quanto 70 71 101 121 123 124quello 20 24

quello che (relative pronoun) 106questions 29 40 68ndash71questo 20 24

reciprocal pronouns definition of 189reflexive pronouns 143ndash6 stressed form

146reflexive verbs 88 143 with si

(impersonal subject) 159ndash60relative pronouns 104ndash7 definition of

189rimanere future 134 present

conditional 165riuscire 42

salvo (che) 101santo 21ndash2sapere 42ndash3 vs conoscere 42ndash3 future

133 imperative 152 present 41present conditional 165

sembrare 81servire 81si impersonal 157ndash60 with essere as

auxiliary 159 negative form 159with reflexive verbs 159ndash60sentences with a passive meaning158

singular and plural adjectives 17ndash19 158lsquosomesomeonersquo 121 122spelling of adjectives in -co and -go

18ndash19 essere and avere 30 plurals ofnouns in -ca -co -ga -go -cia -gia6ndash7

stare future 132 imperative 152 present41 present conditional 165

stesso 146su uses of 61subject definition of 189subject pronouns 28ndash9

tanto 47 48tenere future 134 present conditional

165tense definition of 189lsquothatrsquo (relative pronoun) 104lsquothatthosersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24lsquothere isarersquo 32ndash3lsquothisthesersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24time see prepositions of timetra and fra uses of 62

Index 193

tranne (che) 101transitive verbs 88troppo 47 48 121

uscire imperative 152 present 41

vedere future 133 present conditional165

venire future 134 imperative 152past participle 86 present 41present conditional 165

verbs conjugations 37 definition of 190future 129ndash34 imperative 149ndash54imperfect 111ndash17 past perfect137ndash40 present 28 36ndash43 presentconditional 162ndash6 present perfect84ndash91 reflexive 143 see alsoirregular verbs

verbs in -urre future 134 imperative 152imperfect 114 past participle 85

present 43 present conditional166

vivere future 133 past participle 86present conditional 165

volere future 134 present 42 43present conditional 165 presentperfect 91

lsquowhatrsquo 69 71lsquowhenrsquo with future tense 130lsquowhenrsquo 70lsquowherersquo as alternative to relative pronoun

106lsquowherersquo 69 71lsquowhichrsquo 71lsquowhilersquo with imperfect tense 116lsquowhorsquo 68lsquowhomrsquo as a lsquoquestion wordrsquo 68 relative

pronoun 105 106lsquowhyrsquo 70

194 Index

• BOOK COVER
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• UNIT ONE Nouns gender and number
• UNIT TWO Definite and indefinite articles
• UNIT THREE Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns
• UNIT FOUR The present tense of essere and avere
• UNIT FIVE The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs
• UNIT SIX Adverbs
• UNIT SEVEN Direct object pronouns (1)
• UNIT EIGHT Prepositions
• UNIT NINE Questions
• UNIT TEN Indirect object pronouns (1)
• UNIT ELEVEN Piacere and similar verbs
• UNIT TWELVE The present perfect tense
• UNIT THIRTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (2)
• UNIT FOURTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms)
• UNIT FIFTEEN Relative pronouns
• UNIT SIXTEEN The imperfect tense
• UNIT SEVENTEEN The pronouns ne and ci
• UNIT EIGHTEEN The future tense
• UNIT NINETEEN The past perfect tense
• UNIT TWENTY Reflexive pronouns
• UNIT TWENTY-ONE The imperative
• UNIT TWENTY-TWO The pronoun si
• UNIT TWENTY-THREE The present conditional
• KEY TO EXERCISES
• GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
• INDEX

BASIC ITALIANA GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK

Basic Italian A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessiblereference grammar and related exercises in a single volume

This workbook presents 23 individual grammar points in lively andrealistic contexts Each unit consists of jargon-free explanations andcomparisons with English targeting the more common difficulties experi-enced by learners of Italian Grammar points are followed by examplesand exercises selected to make use of contemporary Italian

Basic Italian introduces Italian culture and people through the medium ofthe language used today providing readers with the basic tools toexpress themselves in a wide variety of situations

Features include

bull examples in both Italian and English

bull grammar tables for easy reference

bull full exercise answer key

bull glossary of grammatical terms

Basic Italian is the ideal reference and practice book for beginners andalso for students with some knowledge of the language

Stella Peyronel is a lecturer at the University of Turin Italy She hastaught Italian to foreigners for over 20 years and is the author ofseveral Italian grammars Ian Higgins is Honorary Senior Lecturer at theUniversity of St Andrews and is co-author of Thinking Italian Translation

Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are

Basic CantoneseIntermediate Cantonese

Basic ChineseIntermediate Chinese

Basic GermanIntermediate German

Basic PolishIntermediate Polish

Basic RussianIntermediate Russian

Basic WelshIntermediate Welsh

Titles of related interest published by Routledge

Colloquial Italian Second Editionby Sylvia Lymbery

Modern Italian Grammar A Practical Guide Second Editionby Anna Proudfoot and Francesco Cardo

Modern Italian Grammar Workbook Second Editionby Anna Proudfoot

BASIC ITALIANA GRAMMAR ANDWORKBOOK

Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

First published 2006by Routledge2 Park Square Milton Park Abingdon OX14 4RN UK

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge270 Madison Ave New York NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor amp Francis Group

copy 2006 Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprintedor reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic mechanicalor other means now known or hereafter invented includingphotocopying and recording or in any information storage orretrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataA catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0ndash415ndash34717ndash3

This edition published in the Taylor amp Francis e-Library 2005

ldquoTo purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor amp Francis or Routledgersquoscollection of thousands of eBooks please go to wwweBookstoretandfcoukrdquo

ISBN 0-203-64007-1 Master e-book ISBN

(Print Edition)

CONTENTS

Introduction vii

List of signs and abbreviations viii

1 Nouns gender and number 1

2 Definite and indefinite articles 9

3 Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns 17

4 The present tense of essere and avere 28

5 The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs 36

6 Adverbs 46

7 Direct object pronouns (1) 52

8 Prepositions 57

9 Questions 68

10 Indirect object pronouns (1) 74

11 Piacere and similar verbs 79

12 The present perfect tense 84

13 Direct and indirect object pronouns (2) 94

14 Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms) 99

15 Relative pronouns 104

16 The imperfect tense 111

17 The pronouns ne and ci 120

18 The future tense 129

19 The past perfect tense 137

20 Reflexive pronouns 143

21 The imperative 149

22 The pronoun si 157

23 The present conditional 162

Key to exercises 168

Glossary of technical terms 187

Index 191

vi Contents

INTRODUCTION

If you are an English-speaking learner preparing GCSE Scottish StandardGrade (credit level) or similar examination or simply learning the languagefor everyday use this grammar and workbook is for you You will typically beeither following a course at school college or evening class or teaching your-self from a published course This book is not itself a course but a self-helpreferencerevision grammar with exercises designed to reinforce your graspof the points dealt with unit by unit You will find it a help to have access to agood ItalianndashEnglish dictionary when working through the book

Since this is not a self-contained course the grammar points are usuallygiven on their own out of context Of course this is artificial because ineveryday life when we say or write something it is always in a situation orcontext To compensate for this artificiality the grammar points are illus-trated with abundant examples which are often reused with variationsunder different headings This is partly to strengthen your grasp of grammarand vocabulary but mostly to help you learn how to manipulate the Italianlanguage in a wide range of situations Giving plenty of examples is a moreeffective way of helping you develop the ability to communicate in Italianthan giving you lists of rules with just one or two examples

At the end of each unit there are several sets of exercises If you workthrough these you will find that they consolidate your understanding of thevarious points introduced in the unit and also that they give you the con-fidence to have a go at expressing yourself in a range of situations andcontexts

The aim of the examples and exercises is to strengthen awareness of thespecific points dealt with in the unit they are not intended to cover all thepossible uses of a given word or grammatical structure

At the end of the book there is a key to all the exercises and a glossary ofgrammatical terms with examples

SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

f femininefp feminine pluralfs feminine singularlit literallym masculinemp masculine pluralms masculine singularpl pluralsing singular

Square brackets indicate an explanatory comment attached to an exampleeg

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono Thatrsquos Luisa on the phone[ie she has just rung]Quanto zucchero [ms] vuoi How much sugar do you wantlsquoDovrsquoegrave Annarsquo lsquoNo lo sorsquo lsquoWherersquos Annarsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo

[lit I donrsquot know it]

Round brackets in an example show that the material in brackets is optionaleg

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo lsquoHave you got the booksrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got themrsquo

Ne ho mangiati due I ate two (of them)A chi scrivete Who(m) are you writing to

Round brackets round an entire sentence show that while possible this is aformal form that is not often used eg

( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco) Are you leaving( Mr and MrsBianco)

A slash shows alternative ways of saying something eg

Gli dicoDico loro la veritagrave I tell them the truth (Here gli dico and dicoloro are alternative ways of saying lsquoI tell themrsquo)Non mi sembra giusto It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot think itrsquos fair(Here the English sentences are alternatives to one another)

Signs and abbreviations ix

UNIT ONENouns gender and number

Gender masculine and feminine

1 All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine The best way to remem-ber the gender of a noun is to learn it along with its definite article (ie theword meaning lsquothersquo) In this unit nouns will therefore be given along withtheir definite articles but there will be no discussion of the articles as suchDefinite and indefinite articles are the subject of Unit 2

Most nouns in the singular end in -o -a or -e

2 Italian nouns ending in -o are usually masculine

3 Italian nouns ending in -a are usually feminine

4 Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine Unless anoun ending in -e denotes a person whose gender is defined (eg lsquohusbandrsquolsquowifersquo) there are virtually no rules to determine its gender which must there-fore be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

lrsquouomo [m]il fratello [m]il pomeriggio [m]il treno [m]

manbrotherafternoontrain

la donna [f]la sorella [f]la sera [f]la bicicletta [f]

womansistereveningbicycle

To help you to determine the gender of some nouns ending in -e here is arule nouns ending in -sione or -zione are feminine

Sometimes the gender of a noun ending in -e can be determined by thegender of the person it refers to masculine when it refers to a male femininewhen it refers to a female

5 Some nouns ending in -a and referring to persons are masculine when theyrefer to a male and feminine when they refer to a female

There are some exceptions eg la persona (person) and la guida (touristguide) are always feminine even when they refer to a male while the feminineof il poeta (poet) is la poetessa

6 There are some nouns ending in -a which are masculine and some nounsending in -o which are feminine

Masculineil padreil ristoranteil saleil cognome

fatherrestaurantsaltsurname

Femininela madrela nottela lucela chiave

mothernightlightkey

la televisione [f]la pensione [f]la produzione [f]la stazione [f]

televisionpensionproductionstation

illa cantante [mf]illa cliente [mf]illa parente [mf]lrsquoinglese [mf]

(malefemale) singer(malefemale) customer(malefemale) relativeEnglishmanEnglishwoman

illa collega [mf]lrsquoatleta [mf]illa batterista [mf]illa pianista [mf]

(malefemale) colleague(malefemale) athlete(malefemale) drummer(malefemale) pianist

Masculineil cinemail papagraveil problema

cinemadadproblem

Femininelrsquoautola fotola mano

carphotohand

2 Unit 1

Some nouns of this type are abbreviations and have kept the gender of thefull word cinema stands for cinematografo [m] auto for automobile [f] fotofor fotografia [f] etc Such cases apart there is no rule for determining genderwhich has to be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

7 Some nouns end in -i The vast majority are feminine but there aresome exceptions

Two exceptions are lrsquoalibi (alibi) and lo sci (ski) which are masculine

8 Foreign nouns unless they refer to a female are generally masculine

9 Occasionally the gender of a foreign noun is the same as it is for thecorresponding Italian word

la new wave is feminine because onda (wave) is femininela mail (e-mail message) is feminine because posta (mail) is feminine

10 The following rules can help in determining the gender of nouns

bull All months of the year and days of the week are masculine apart fromdomenica (Sunday) which is feminine

bull All names of towns and cities are feminine apart from Il Cairo [m]bull All names of languages are masculinebull Names of countries are normally feminine when they end in -a and

masculine when they end in any other letter

lrsquoanalisi [f]lrsquoipotesi [f]la crisi [f]

analysishypothesiscrisis

il bar [m]il camion [m]il rock [m]lrsquohostess [f]

barlorryrock (music)stewardess

la Francia [f]la Spagna [f]il Belgio [m]il Paraguay [m]

FranceSpainBelgiumParaguay

Unit 1 3

Number singular and plural

11 Masculine nouns ending in -o and all nouns ending in -e end in -i in theplural

Nouns ending in -ie have only one -i in the plural

12 Nouns ending in -io have only one i in the plural But if the -i is stressed(-io) the plural has two (-ii)

13 Feminine nouns ending in -a take -e in the plural

14 Masculine nouns ending in -a take -i in the plural

15 When a noun ending in -a denotes a person its plural ending depends onwhether it is masculine or feminine If it refers to a male the plural ends in -iif it refers to a female the plural ends in -e

Singularil treno [m]il nome [m]la notte [f]la stazione [f]la pensione [f]illa parente [mf]la moglie [f]

trainnamenounnightstationpensionrelativewife

Plurali trenii nomile nottile stazionile pensioniile parentile mogli

trainsnamesnounsnightsstationspensionsrelativeswives

Singularil bacio [m]il desiderio [m]lrsquoinizio [m]lo zio [m]il mormorio [m]

kisswishbeginningunclemurmur

Plurali bacii desiderigli inizigli ziii mormorii

kisseswishesbeginningsunclesmurmurs

Singularla sorella [f]la lettera [f]la sera [f]

sisterletterevening

Pluralle sorellele letterele sere

sisterslettersevenings

Singularil problema [m]il sistema [m]

problemsystem

Plurali problemii sistemi

problemssystems

4 Unit 1

For an explanation of the -h- in these endings see paragraph 20 below

16 Nouns ending in -i do not change in the plural

17 Foreign nouns and nouns stressed on the last vowel do not change in theplural

18 A number of nouns are irregular in the plural Eg la mano [f] (hand)becomes le mani in the plural lrsquouomo [m] (man) becomes gli uomini in theplural Here are some nouns which do not change in the plural because theyare abbreviations (cf above paragraph 6)

Some nouns are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural Here area few

Singularil pianista [m] (male) pianistla pianista [f] (female) pianistil collega [m] (male) colleaguela collega [f] (female) colleague

Plurali pianisti [m] (male) pianistsle pianiste [f] (female) pianistsi colleghi [m] (male) colleaguesle colleghe [f] (female) colleagues

Singularlrsquoanalisi [f]la crisi [f]

analysiscrisis

Pluralle analisile crisi

analysescrises

Singularil bar [m]lo sport [m]la cittagrave [f]la virtugrave [f]

barsportcityvirtue

Plurali bargli sportle cittagravele virtugrave

barssportscitiesvirtues

Singularlrsquoauto [f]la radio [f]la moto [f]la foto [f]il cinema [m]

carradiomotorbikephotocinema

Pluralle autole radiole motole fotoi cinema

carsradiosmotorbikesphotoscinemas

Singularil dito [m]il centinaio [m]il migliaio [m]il miglio [m]il paio [m]lrsquouovo [m]

finger(about) a hundred(about) a thousandmilepairegg

Pluralle dita [f]le centinaia [f]le migliaia [f]le miglia [f]le paia [f]le uova [f]

fingershundredsthousandsmilespairseggs

Unit 1 5

19 Note that in Italian the masculine form of a noun is also used when thegender is not important A noun in the plural may therefore designate anyone of three different sets of people

Spelling

Care is needed in spelling some plurals

20 Nouns ending in -ca or -ga always add h (-che or -ghe) in order to keepthe hard sound of c and g in the plural We saw the example of illa collega inparagraph 15 Here are some more

21 Nouns ending in -co and -go normally add h (-chi or -ghi) and keep thehard sound but some nouns change the sound of c and g in the plural (-ci or-gi) It is always best to check in a dictionary

gli amici

gli insegnanti

i colleghi

either a specific set of male friends [as in lsquoYour friends(Luigi and Giovanni) have arrivedrsquo]or a specific mixed set of male and female friends [as inlsquoYour friends (Luigi and Anna) have arrivedrsquo]or friends in general [whether male and female does notmatter as in lsquoEverybody needs friendsrsquo]either a specific set of male teachersor a specific mixed set of male and female teachersor teachers in general [regardless of gender]either a specific set of male colleaguesor a specific mixed set of male and female colleaguesor colleagues in general [regardless of gender]

Singularlrsquoamica [f]la tasca [f]la riga [f]

(female) friendpocketline ruler

Pluralle amichele taschele righe

(female) friendspocketslines rulers

Singularil bosco [m]il gioco [m]il parco [m]il lago [m]lrsquoamico [m]il medico [m]il biologo [m]

woodgameparklake(male) frienddoctorbiologist

Plurali boschii giochii parchii laghigli amicii medicii biologi

woodsgamesparkslakes(male) friendsdoctorsbiologists

6 Unit 1

22 Nouns ending in -cia or -gia keep the i in the plural (-cie or -gie) when the iis stressed or when c or g is preceded by a vowel But if -cia or -gia ispreceded by a consonant the i is lost in the plural

Exercise 1

With the help of a dictionary where necessary decide what gender the nounsare and write m f or mf after each one

Examples la notte f illa pianista mf il fratello m

Exercise 2

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the plurals of thenouns

Examples la notte le notti il nome i nomi il treno i trenila sera le sere

Singularla farmacia [f]la bugia [f]la camicia [f]la ciliegia [f]lrsquoarancia [f]la doccia [f]la spiaggia [f]

pharmacylieshirtblousecherryorangeshowerbeach

Pluralle farmaciele bugiele camiciele ciliegiele arancele doccele spiagge

pharmaciesliesshirtsblousescherriesorangesshowersbeaches

1 il giorno mdashmdash2 la sera mdashmdash3 lrsquouomo mdashmdash4 lrsquoinfermiera mdashmdash5 la stanza mdashmdash6 lrsquoorecchio mdashmdash7 il caffegrave mdashmdash8 lo zucchero mdashmdash9 il fiume mdashmdash

10 lrsquoolandese mdashmdash

11 lrsquouovo mdashmdash12 la camicia mdashmdash13 lrsquoatleta mdashmdash14 lrsquoanimale mdashmdash15 la strada mdashmdash16 lrsquoacqua mdashmdash17 lrsquoabitante mdashmdash18 lrsquoocchio mdashmdash19 il sole mdashmdash20 la canzone mdashmdash

Unit 1 7

Exercise 3

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the singulars of thenouns

Examples la casa le case il libro i libri il mese i mesila moglie le mogli

1 il ragazzo2 la marca3 la chiave4 lrsquoabitante5 lo zio6 il fiume7 la stazione8 la ragazza9 lrsquoenergia

10 il pomeriggio

i mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

11 la banca12 il pianista13 la cliente14 lrsquoindirizzo15 lrsquoocchio16 il ristorante17 la televisione18 il calendario19 il francese20 il lago

le mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

1 il mdashmdashmdashmdash2 la mdashmdashmdashmdash3 il mdashmdashmdashmdash4 la mdashmdashmdashmdash5 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash6 il mdashmdashmdashmdash7 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash8 la mdashmdashmdashmdash9 la mdashmdashmdashmdash

10 il mdashmdashmdashmdash

i nomile viei figlile manile opinionii clientigli occhile personele marchei problemi

11 la mdashmdashmdashmdash12 il mdashmdashmdashmdash13 il mdashmdashmdashmdash14 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash15 il mdashmdashmdashmdash16 la mdashmdashmdashmdash17 il mdashmdashmdashmdash18 il mdashmdashmdashmdash19 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash20 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash

le ciliegiei caffegravei medicigli attivistile ginocchiale bugiei tedeschii testgli uominile amiche

8 Unit 1

UNIT TWODefinite and indefinite articles

Definite article

1 In Italian the definite article (English lsquothersquo) has different forms dependingon the gender (masculinefeminine) and number (singularplural) of the fol-lowing word and on the letter (or sound) with which the following wordbegins Here are the forms

2 The feminine forms are used before feminine words la and lrsquo for the singu-lar and le for the plural

la is used before words beginning with a consonantlrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel (a e i o u) or hle is used as the plural for both la and lrsquo

3 There are three different forms for the masculine singular il lo and lrsquo andtwo for the plural i and gli All these forms are used before masculine words

Feminine

Masculine

Singularlalrsquoillolrsquo

Pluralleleigligli

the

Singularla ragazzala casala stanzalrsquoautolrsquoesperienzalrsquohostess

Pluralle ragazzele casele stanzele autole esperienzele hostess

the girl(s)the house(s)the room(s)the car(s)the experience(s)the stewardess(es)

lrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or hlo is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantil is used in all other casesi is used as the plural of ilgli is used as the plural of both lrsquo and lo

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of chef pronounced in Italian asin English (ie lsquoshrsquo)

Lo is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of juventino pronounced asi + vowel (ie like the lsquoyrsquo in English lsquoyouthrsquo)

4 Care is needed in using the article with nouns ending in -e or -a which canrefer both to male or female persons (see Unit 1 paragraphs 4 and 5)

Singularlrsquoarticololrsquouomolrsquohotello ziolo gnomolo psicologolo cheflo spettacololo scioperoil baril ristoranteil senso

Pluralgli articoligli uominigli hotelgli ziigli gnomigli psicologigli chefgli spettacoligli scioperii bari ristorantii sensi

the article(s)the manmenthe hotel(s)the uncle(s)the gnome(s)the psychologist(s)the chef(s)the show(s)the strike(s)the bar(s)the restaurant(s)the sense(s)

Singularlo ionelo yuppielo xenofobolo juventino

Pluralgli ionigli yuppiegli xenofobigli juventini

the ion(s)the yuppie(s)the xenophobe(s)the Juventus fan(s)

Singularil cantante [m]

la cantante [f]

the (male)singer

the (female)singer

Plurali cantanti [m]

le cantanti [f]

the singers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) singers

10 Unit 2

Remember that as we saw in Unit 1 paragraph 19 the masculine plural formcan also denote a class of people in general as well as a group of males or amixed group of males and females eg i cantanti [m] can denote either agroup of male singers or a mixed group of male and female singers or singersin general

Indefinite article

5 Like the definite article the indefinite article (English lsquoaanrsquo) has differentforms depending on the gender of the word it refers to and the letter (orsound) with which the following word begins There is no plural for theindefinite article Here are the forms

6 The feminine forms unrsquo and una are used before feminine words

unrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or huna is used before words beginning with a consonant

Singularlrsquoinsegnante [m]

lrsquoinsegnante [f]

il collega [m]

la collega [f]

lrsquoatleta [m]

lrsquoatleta [f]

the (male)teacher

the (female)teacher

the (male)colleague

the (female)colleague

the (male)athlete

the (female)athlete

Pluralgli insegnanti [m]

le insegnanti [f]

i colleghi [m]

le colleghe [f]

gli atleti [m]

le atlete [f]

the teachers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) teachers

the colleagues [maleor male andfemale mixed]

the (female)colleagues

the athletes [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) athletes

Feminine

Masculine

unrsquounaununo

aan

unrsquoautounrsquoesperienzaunrsquohostess

a caran experiencea stewardess

Unit 2 11

7 The masculine forms uno and un are used before masculine words

uno is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantun is used before all other words

Uno (like lo) is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

8 As with the definite article care is needed in choosing the right article touse with nouns ending in -e or -a which can refer to either male or femalepersons

In the case of nouns starting with a vowel the only difference between thearticles is the apostrophe

una ragazzauna casauna stanza

a girla housea room

uno ziouno gnomouno psicologouno chefuno spettacoloun articoloun uomoun hobbyun barun ristoranteun senso

an unclea gnomea psychologista chefa showan articlea mana hobbya bara restauranta sense

uno ioneuno yuppieuno xenofobouno juventino

an iona yuppiea xenophobea Juventus fan

un cantante [m]una cantante [f]un insegnante [m]unrsquoinsegnante [f]un collega [m]una collega [f]un atleta [m]unrsquoatleta [f]

a singer (male)a singer (female)a teacher (male)a teacher (female)a colleague (male)a colleague (female)an athlete (male)an athlete (female)

12 Unit 2

9 It may be useful to compare the use of the definite and indefinite article intable form

Use of the articles

10 The use of the articles is often the same in Italian as in English but thereare cases (mostly concerning the definite article) where the two languagesdiffer Here are the most common instances

bull In Italian the definite article is used before a noun used in a generalsense

bull Italian uses the definite article before a title followed by a surnameexcept when addressing the person directly

Note that some masculine titles notably Signore Professore and Dottoredrop the final vowel when used before the name of the person becomingSignor Professor Dottor etc

bull The Italian definite article is always used with years eg il 1990 il 2000bull The definite article is normally used in Italian with names of countries

and regions eg lrsquoInghilterra (England) la Toscana (Tuscany) il Porto-gallo (Portugal) lrsquoEuropa (Europe) But the rule may be different whenusing a preposition eg in Italia (in Italy) (see Unit 8 paragraph 14)

Masculineun is used when il and lrsquo are useduno is used when lo is used

Feminineunrsquo is used when lrsquo is useduna is used when la is used

Amo la musica rockle vacanzeLa musica rock egrave popolareLe vacanze sono sempre troppo corteIl tempo volaLe auto inquinano lrsquoambienteLa disoccupazione egrave diffusa

I love rock musicholidaysRock music is popularHolidays are always too shortTime fliesCars pollute the environmentUnemployment is widespread

La Signora Urbani egrave gentileLa Dottoressa Vanni non crsquoegraveIl Dottor Marchi egrave occupatoBuongiorno Signor CarliBuongiorno DottoreScusi Signore

MrsMs Urbani is kindDoctor Vanni isnrsquot hereDoctor Marchi is busyGood morning Mr CarliGood morning DoctorExcuse me( Sir)

Unit 2 13

11 In some cases a definite article is used in Italian where an indefinite article(or a possessive adjective ndash see Unit 3) is used in English Here are someinstances

There are also cases when there is no article in Italian but the definite orindefinite article is used in English

Definite and indefinite article before an adjective

12 As we shall see (Unit 3) a noun can sometimes be preceded by an adjec-tive so that the adjective comes between the article and the noun (eg unabella donna a beautiful woman) In such cases the form of the articledepends on the spelling of the adjective not the noun

Antonio ha il naso lungoHai la patenteAvete lrsquoombrelloHo il raffreddoreDove passi le vacanze di solito

Di pomeriggio faccio il compitoHai il biglietto

Antonio has a long noseHave you got a driving licenceHave you got an umbrellaI have got a coldWhere do you normally spend your

holidaysIn the afternoon I do my homeworkHave you got ayour ticket

Andiamo in montagnaStasera andiamo a teatroAccompagno Anna in aeroportoAndiamo in macchinaCarlo egrave medicoSono studenteNon ha marito

Wersquore going to the mountainsWersquore going to the theatre this eveningIrsquom taking Anna to the airportWersquore going in thea carCarlo is a doctorIrsquom a studentShe hasnrsquot got a husband

la casauna casalrsquoautounrsquoauto

the housea housethe cara car

lrsquoultima casaunrsquoottima casala prima autouna bella auto

the last housean excellent housethe first cara beautiful car

14 Unit 2

Exercise 1

Insert the definite article before the nouns

Examples lrsquoacqua la stanza le esperienze il ristorante lo ziogli uomini

Exercise 2

Insert the indefinite article before the nouns

Examples unrsquoauto una ragazza un articolo uno spettacoloun insegnante [m] unrsquoatleta [f]

1 mdashmdash figlia2 mdashmdash zia3 mdashmdash problema4 mdashmdash mano5 mdashmdash auto6 mdashmdash fratello7 mdashmdash libri8 mdashmdash entrata9 mdashmdash studio

10 mdashmdash zii

11 mdashmdash notti12 mdashmdash sport13 mdashmdash uovo14 mdashmdash xenofobia15 mdashmdash tivugrave16 mdashmdash amici17 mdashmdash pianiste18 mdashmdash dita19 mdashmdash crisi20 mdashmdash inglese

1 mdashmdash sorella2 mdashmdash ciliegia3 mdashmdash amico4 mdashmdash zio5 mdashmdash zia6 mdashmdash aereo7 mdashmdash amica8 mdashmdash cantante [f]9 mdashmdash migliaio

10 mdashmdash specchio

11 mdashmdash arancia12 mdashmdash psichiatra [m]13 mdashmdash sigaretta14 mdashmdash insegnante [f]15 mdashmdash gnu16 mdashmdash artista [m]17 mdashmdash sbaglio18 mdashmdash figlio19 mdashmdash yogurt20 mdashmdash analisi

Unit 2 15

Exercise 3

Insert the correct article in the blank spaces

Example Maria ha una casa (Maria has a house)

1 mdashmdash zio di Maria arriva domani (Mariarsquos uncle arrives tomorrow)2 Paolo scrive mdashmdash lettera (Paolo is writing a letter)3 Hai mdashmdash mani pulite (Have you got clean hands)4 Egrave mdashmdash amica di Patrizia (Shersquos a friend of Patriziarsquos)5 Laura non ha mdashmdash patente (Laura hasnrsquot got a driving licence)6 Crsquoegrave mdashmdash Signor Totti (Is Mr Totti here)7 Egrave mdashmdash insegnante molto capace (Shersquos a very capable teacher)8 mdashmdash inquinamento egrave mdashmdash problema preoccupante (Pollution is a

worrying problem)9 mdashmdash nuovo stadio egrave piugrave grande (The new stadium is bigger)

10 Ho mdashmdash stesso CD (Irsquove got the same CD)

16 Unit 2

UNIT THREEAdjectives possessive and demonstrativepronouns

1 Adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun theyrefer to if the noun is masculine singular the adjective must be masculinesingular if the noun is feminine singular the adjective must be feminine singu-lar etc Adjectives therefore change their forms accordingly But rememberthat when an adjective is listed in a dictionary or a grammar it is given in itsmasculine singular form In the masculine singular most Italian adjectivesend in -o or in -e

2 Adjectives ending in -o have four different forms -o for the masculinesingular (italiano) -a for feminine singular (italiana) -i for the masculineplural (italiani) and -e for the feminine plural (italiane)

3 Adjectives ending in -e have only two forms -e for the masculine andfeminine singular (francese) and -i for the masculine and feminine plural(francesi) With adjectives ending in -e there is thus no difference between themasculine and the feminine form

italianonuovofrancesegrande

ItaliannewFrenchbig

lrsquoarbitro [ms] italianogli arbitri [mp] italianila cameriera [fs] italianale cameriere [fp] italianelo stadio [ms] nuovogli stadi [mp] nuovila casa [fs] nuovale case [fp] nuove

the Italian refereethe Italian refereesthe Italian waitressthe Italian waitressesthe new stadiumthe new stadiastadiumsthe new housethe new houses

4 Some adjectives end in -a like the following

These adjectives have three forms -a for the masculine and feminine singular(ottimista) -i for the masculine plural (ottimisti) and -e for the feminine plural(ottimiste) There is thus only one form for the masculine and femininesingular

For an explanation of the -h- in belghe see paragraph 6 below

5 There are also some invariable adjectives eg blu (dark blue) rosa (pink)dispari (odd) pari (even) which do not change

6 Care is needed in spelling the plural of adjectives ending in -co and -goThere is no fixed rule for the masculine forms which may keep the hard

lrsquoarbitro [ms] francesegli arbitri [mp] francesila cameriera [fs] francesele cameriere [fp] francesilo stadio [ms] grandegli stadi [mp] grandila casa [fs] grandele case [fp] grandi

the French refereethe French refereesthe French waitressthe French waitressesthe big stadiumthe big stadiastadiumsthe big housethe big houses

ottimistapacifistabelgaentusiastaidiota

optimisticpacifistBelgianenthusiasticidiotic

il corteo [ms] pacifistalrsquoidea [fs] pacifistai cortei [mp] pacifistile idee [fp] pacifisteil ragazzo [ms] belgala ragazza [fs] belgai ragazzi [mp] belgile ragazze [fp] belghe

the pacifist rallythe pacifist ideathe pacifist ralliesthe pacifist ideasthe Belgian boythe Belgian girlthe Belgian boysthe Belgian girls

il vestito rosala penna blui numeri disparile pagine pari

the pink garmentdresssuitthe blue penthe odd numbersthe even pages

18 Unit 3

sound of c and g and add h (-chi -ghi) or change the sound of c and g in theplural (-ci -gi) The feminine plural forms always add h (-che -ghe) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g If in doubt check in a dictionary the bestway to remember these sorts of plural is through practice

The adjective belga as we have seen keeps the hard sound of g in the femi-nine plural by adding h (belghe) but it changes the sound in the masculineplural (belgi)

7 As can be seen in the examples the adjective normally comes after thenoun it refers to and (unless it is invariable) it must agree in gender andnumber with the noun It must also agree in gender and number withthe noun even where it is separated from it by another word such as averb

When the adjective refers to two or more nouns which are different in genderit is masculine plural

8 In some cases the adjective can also precede the noun it refers to When theadjective comes before the noun the meaning of the noun becomes differentas in these examples

Masculinesingulargrecopraticopubblicoriccofrescolargo

Masculinepluralgrecipraticipubbliciricchifreschilarghi

Femininesingulargrecapraticapubblicariccafrescalarga

Femininepluralgrechepratichepubblichericchefreschelarghe

Greekpracticalpublicrichfreshwide

Lorenzo egrave italianoLorenzo e Vittorio sono italianiAnna egrave italianaAnna e Claudia sono italiane

Lorenzo is ItalianLorenzo and Vittorio are ItalianAnna is ItalianAnna and Claudia are Italian

Lorenzo Anna e Claudia sonoitaliani

Sabine e Kurt sono tedeschiIl computer e la stampante sono

nuoviIl bagno e la cucina sono piccoli

I pantaloni e la camicia sono nuovi

Lorenzo Anna and Claudia areItalian

Sabine and Kurt are GermanThe computer and the printer are new

The bathroom and the kitchen aresmall

The trousers and the shirt are new

Unit 3 19

9 The demonstrative adjectives questo (this) and quello (that) like theirEnglish counterparts always precede the noun they refer to

For an explanation of the forms of quello see paragraph 10

10 The forms of the adjectives quello and bello (beautifulhandsomenice-fine) change in the same way as the definite article Here are the formsfollowed in brackets by the corresponding forms of the definite article

The feminine singular form bellrsquo is rarely used and bella is preferred evenbefore a vowel

Note that when bello comes after the noun the full form is used lo spettacoloegrave bello unrsquoesperienza bella e interessante etc

un vecchio amicoun amico vecchiola povera donnala donna povera

an old [ie long-standing] friendan oldelderly friend [ie a friend who is old]the poor [ie unfortunate] womanthe poor woman [ie she has no money]

questo ragazzoquesta ragazzaquesti ragazziqueste ragazzequel ragazzoquella ragazzaquei ragazziquelle ragazze

this boythis girlthese boysthese girlsthat boythat girlthose boysthose girls

Masculine

Feminine

Singularquelbelquellobelloquellrsquobellrsquoquellabellaquellrsquobellrsquo

(il)(lo)(lrsquo)(la)(lrsquo)

Pluralqueibeiqueglibegliqueglibegliquellebellequellebelle

(i)(gli)(gli)(le)(le)

quel filmbello spettacoloquellrsquoesempioquella canzonebella esperienzaquel bel film

that filmlovely showthat examplethat songbeautiful experiencethat beautiful film

bei filmquegli spettacolibegli esempibelle canzoniquelle esperienzequei bei film

beautiful filmsthose showsfine examplesbeautiful songsthose experiencesthose beautiful

films

20 Unit 3

11 The forms of the adjective buono (good) when used before a singularnoun change in the same way as the indefinite article

Nowadays the form buona is preferred to buonrsquo

Note that when buono comes after the noun the full form is used questolibro egrave buono il caffegrave egrave buono etc

12 The adjective grande (biggreat) when used before the noun may changeto the invariable form gran or in some expressions to grandrsquo nowadays thefull form grande is preferred in most cases

Note that before plural nouns grande is regular grandi musicisti grandi caseetc

Note also that when grande comes after the noun the full form is alwaysused quel film egrave grande la casa egrave grande etc

13 The adjective santo (saint) is another that has different forms when usedbefore a noun

santo is only used before masculine names starting with s + consonantsan is used before masculine names starting with a consonant (other than

s + consonant)santrsquo is used before masculine or feminine names starting with a vowelsanta is used before feminine names starting with a consonant

Masculine

Feminine

buonbuonobuonrsquobuonabuona

(un)(uno)(unrsquo)(una)

buon librobuon amicobuon caffegravebuono studente

good bookgood friendgood coffeegood student

buona ideabuona esperienzabuona memoria

good ideagood experiencegood memory

grande musicistagrande filmgrande casa

grande amico

grande idea[sometimes] grande

uomo

gran musicistagran filmgran casaGran Bretagna[sometimes] grandrsquoamicogran

amico[sometimes] grandrsquoideagran ideagrandrsquouomo

great musiciangreat filmbig houseGreat Britaingreat friend

great ideagreat man

Unit 3 21

Note that when santo means lsquoholyrsquo or lsquoblessedrsquo it is regular il santo padre(the Holy Father) una santa donna (a holy woman)

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

14 The forms of the possessive adjectives (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquo etc) are asfollows

Note that the masculine plural forms miei tuoi and suoi are irregular Note that loro is invariable and does not change

Possessive adjectives are always used before the noun they refer to Unlike inEnglish they are always preceded by the article and they must agree with theowned object not with the owner

15 When mio tuo suo nostro and vostro (not loro) are used with a noundenoting family relationship (eg fratello (brother) sorella (sister) padre(father) madre (mother) ) in the singular they are not preceded by the definitearticle

Santo StefanoSan FrancescoSan Pietro

Saint StephenSaint FrancisSaint Peter

SantrsquoAntonioSantrsquoAnnaSanta Caterina

Saint AnthonySaint AnneSaint Catherine

Masculinesingularmiotuosuonostrovostroloro

Femininesingularmiatuasuanostravostraloro

Masculinepluralmieituoisuoinostrivostriloro

Femininepluralmietuesuenostrevostreloro

myyourhisheritsouryourtheir

Luisa e i suoi fratelli [mp]Carlo e le sue sorelle [fp]Livia e il suo amico [ms]Ettore e la sua amica [fs]la mia lettera [fs]i tuoi libri [mp]la nostra scuola [fs]le vostre idee [fp]la loro stanza [fs]i loro genitori [mp]

Luisa and her brothersCarlo and his sistersLivia and her (male) friendEttore and his (female) friendmy letteryour booksour schoolyour ideastheir roomtheir parents

22 Unit 3

16 The forms of the possessive pronouns (lsquominersquo lsquoyoursrsquo etc) are the sameas those of the possessive adjectives and are always preceded by the definitearticle

17 As we shall see (Unit 4 paragraph 5) in Italian there is a form used toaddress people formally In the formal way of addressing people the posses-sive adjectives and pronouns used are Suo for the singular and Vostro (orLoro if a higher degree of formality is required) for the plural

mio padretua madretuo fratellosua ziai tuoi fratelli [pl]le sue zie [pl]il loro padre

my fatheryour motheryour brotherhisher auntyour brothershisher auntstheir father

Masculinesingularil mioil tuoil suoil nostroil vostroil loro

Femininesingularla miala tuala suala nostrala vostrala loro

Masculineplurali mieii tuoii suoii nostrii vostrii loro

Femininepluralle miele tuele suele nostrele vostrele loro

mineyourshishersitsoursyourstheirs

La tua casa egrave grande ma la loro egravepiccola

I tuoi CD sono qui i nostri sono ligrave

Your house is big but theirs is small

Your CDs are here ours are there

AdjectivesLa Sua auto egrave pronta Signora FerreroEcco i Suoi libri SignoreSignori Bianco la Vostra stanza egrave

pronta(Signori Bianco la Loro stanza egrave

pronta)

Your carrsquos ready Mrs FerreroHere are your books( Sir)

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) your roomis ready

PronounsLa loro auto egrave in strada ma la Sua egrave

in garage SignoraProfessore questi libri sono i Suoi

Their carrsquos in the street but yoursis in the garage( Madam)

These books are yours( ProfessorSir)

Unit 3 23

Demonstrative pronouns

18 Questo and quello are also used as demonstrative pronouns (this (one)that (one) these (ones) those (ones) ) But note that when quello is used as ademonstrative pronoun its endings are not modelled on the definite article(cf paragraph 10) but are the same as those of questo (ie quello [ms] quella[fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp])

Exercise 1

Complete the phrases by choosing the form of the adjective that agrees withthe noun

Examples le ragazze (italiano) italiane (quello) acqua (caldo) quellrsquocalda

1 un libro (interessante) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 la gonna (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 i vestiti (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 le camicie (rosso) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 gli insegnanti (egoista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 un (bello) albero mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 un collega (razzista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 le situazioni (comico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 le donne (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 i capelli (lungo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Questa stanza egrave la Vostra SignoriBianco

(Questa stanza egrave la Loro SignoriBianco)

This room is yours( Mr and MrsBianco)

(This room is yours Mr and MrsBianco)

Questa egrave AnnaQuesta egrave la tua stanza e quella egrave la

miaQuesti sono gli eserciziQuello egrave il nuovo computerQuelle sono le AlpiQuesti biscotti sono buoni ma

preferisco quelli

This is AnnaThis is my room and that onersquos

yoursThese are the exercisesThat is the new computerThose are the AlpsThese biscuits are nice but I prefer

those

24 Unit 3

11 (quello) ragazzo (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 (questo) esercizi (facile) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 (quello) (bello) specchi mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 (questo) (bello) donne mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 (quello) alberi (morto) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 (questo) amici (inglese)mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 (quello) attiviste (spagnolo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 (quello) (bello) attore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 (quello) uova (fresco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 (quello) turisti (greco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Exercise 2

Choose the right adjective for each noun or pair of nouns

Examples Queste scarpe sono (rossanuovebelli) nuove Anna e Francosono (franceseitalianeitaliani) italiani

1 La casa egrave (vecchionuovigrande) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 Ho un vestito (rosanuovalunghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 Le professoresse sono (intelligentefrancesinoiosa) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 La crisi egrave (serioseviolentigrave) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 I colleghi (italianeottimistapacifisti) arrivano domani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 Queste macchine sono (velocenuovitedesche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 Questo bambino egrave (capricciosepigrobeneducata) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 Quei film sono (inglesedivertentelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 Le cameriere sono (giovanegrecabelghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 Il pianista non egrave (stancabelgavecchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 Ho le dita (pulitisporchelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 Quel signore ha un carattere (simpatichecortesienergico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 Questi blue-jeans sono (resistentipraticheamericana) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 Le maglie sono (vecchioblubianchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 Le cantanti sono (spagnolitedeschiscozzesi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 Il treno e lrsquoauto sono (velociinquinantecomodo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 Paola Claudia e Anna sono (italianibellisimpatiche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 Claudio e Patrizia sono (gentileitalianicontenta) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 Gianfranco Piero e Giorgio sono (feliceottimistiitaliane) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 I signori e le signore sono (soddisfattigrecoaffollate) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Unit 3 25

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences by adding the correct form of the possessive adjectiveand where necessary the article

Examples Conosco Luisa e (suo) fratelli i suoi (Mio) madre egrave bella Mia

1 (Loro) bambini sono cortesi mdashmdashmdash2 (Suo) occhi sono blu mdashmdashmdash3 Questa egrave (mio) bici mdashmdashmdash4 Quanti anni hanno (tuo) sorelle mdashmdashmdash5 (Vostro) macchina egrave nuova mdashmdashmdash6 (Nostro) lavoro egrave interessante mdashmdashmdash7 (Mio) amici sono in vacanza mdashmdashmdash8 (Loro) casa egrave grande mdashmdashmdash9 (Tuo) madre egrave simpatica mdashmdashmdash

10 Grazie per (Suo) lettera Signore mdashmdashmdash

Exercise 4

Answer the questions using possessive pronouns

Example lsquoEgrave la Sua macchina Signor Rossirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave la miarsquo

1 lsquoEgrave il cellulare di Annarsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo2 lsquoEgrave la Vostra casa Signori Zolarsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo3 lsquoSono i miei CDrsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo4 lsquoEgrave il Suo ufficiorsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoSono i suoi librirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoSono le mie letterersquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoEgrave la casa dei tuoi amicirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoSono i nostri vestitirsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo9 lsquoSono le camicie di Paolorsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoSono i vostri bagaglirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

26 Unit 3

Exercise 5

Complete the sentences by choosing the right form of the adjectives andpronouns

Example (Questo) non egrave (tuo) stanza egrave (mio) Questa non egrave la tuastanza egrave la mia

1 (Questo) signori sono (nostro) ospiti (tedesco)2 (Suo) colleghi sono (ottimista) Signora3 (Questo) sono (vostro) stanze4 Io ho (mio) documenti Lei ha (Suo) Signore5 (Questo) sono (mio) CD (quello) sono (tuo)6 (Nostro) professore egrave (entusiasta) comrsquoegrave (vostro)7 (Quello) sono (mio) magliette (questo) sono (tuo)8 (Quello) esercizi sono (divertente) ma (questo) egrave (difficile)9 (Mio) bagagli sono (pesante) ma (vostro) sono (leggero)

10 (Quello) acqua (minerale) egrave (gassato) ma (questo) egrave (liscio)

Unit 3 27

UNIT FOURThe present tense of essere and avere

1 Like their counterparts in many other languages the Italian verbs essere(to be) and avere (to have) are irregular Here are the forms of the presenttense

As shown in the examples it is not usually necessary to use the subject pro-nouns before the verb since the forms for the different persons are different ndashsei can only be second person singular (tu) siete can only be second personplural (voi) etc Even with sono the context always shows whether it means lsquoIamrsquo or lsquothey arersquo

The pronoun is only required for emphasis or to mark a contrast

Essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

To beI amyou [sing] arehesheit iswe areyou [pl] arethey are

Avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo(voi) avete(loro) hanno

To haveI havehave gotyou [sing] havehave gothesheit hashas gotwe havehave gotyou [pl] havehave gotthey havehave got

Sono medicoSiamo cuginiSiete stranieriPaola e Anna sono alteClaudio egrave mio fratelloHo un cellulareHai il mio indirizzoHanno un esameAnna ha una chitarra nuova

Irsquom a doctorWe are cousinsYou are foreignersPaola and Anna are tallClaudio is my brotherIrsquove got a mobile phoneYou have my addressThey have an examAnnarsquos got a new guitar

Io sono medico e lui egrave insegnanteTu hai una bella bici ma io ho una

macchina

Irsquom a doctor and hersquos a teacherYoursquove got a nice bike but Irsquove got a

car

Subject pronouns

2 The Italian subject pronouns are

For the third person the following pronouns can still be found in some textsbut are not normally used in contemporary Italian

Lui (third person singular pronoun) replaces a masculine noun (like the Eng-lish lsquohersquo) lei replaces a feminine noun (like the English lsquoshersquo)

Lui lei and loro are only used to refer to persons In referring to objectsItalian normally avoids using the obsolete forms esso essa essi esse andomits the pronoun altogether

Interrogative form

3 The interrogative is formed by adding a question mark at the end of thesentence

Person1st2nd3rd3rd

1st2nd3rd

SingulariotuluileiPluralnoivoiloro

Iyouheshe

weyouthey

egli [m] esso [m]ella [f] essa [f]essi [m] esse [f]

instead of the singular luiinstead of the singular leiinstead of the plural loro

Lui egrave Paolo lei egrave AnnalsquoCosrsquoegraversquo lsquoEgrave una chiaversquoEgrave la chitarra di AnnaSono i libri di Paolo

He is Paolo she is AnnalsquoWhat is itrsquo lsquoItrsquos a keyrsquoItrsquos Annarsquos guitarThey are Paolorsquos books

Sei prontoSiete stranieriHai il mio indirizzoAvete amici italianiHanno un esame

Are you readyAre you foreignersHave you got my addressHave you any Italian friendsHave they got an exam

Unit 4 29

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non (ie lsquonotrsquo) before the verb

Formal form

5 In Italian there is a formal way of addressing people which is used withpeople we do not know or when some degree of formality is required Whenthe formal form is required the pronoun used for the singular for both menand women is Lei (third person singular) the pronoun used for the plural isnormally Voi but in situations when a high degree of formality is requiredLoro can be used

6 There are some spelling mistakes involving essere and avere which arecommonly made by learners be careful to remember the followingdifferences

Claudio non egrave mio fratelloNon siamo italianiNon siete stranieriNon hai il mio indirizzoNon hanno un esameNon abbiamo amici italianiNon ho la minima idea di cosa

regalare a Paola

Claudio is not my brotherWersquore not ItalianArenrsquot you foreignersHavenrsquot you got my addressThey donrsquot have an examWe havenrsquot got any Italian friendsI havenrsquot the slightest idea what to

give Paola

Lei egrave molto gentile SignoreLei non egrave troppo alta SignoraSignora Belli (Lei) ha la patente

Professore (Lei) ha tempoSignor Neri (Lei) egrave prontoSignori Conti (Voi) siete italiani (Signori Conti Loro sono italiani)

Yoursquore very kind( Sir)Yoursquore not too tall( Madam)Mrs Belli have you got a driving

licenceHave you got time( ProfessorSir)Mr Neri are you ready

Mr and Mrs Conti are you Italian

egrave (hesheit is)ho (I have)hai (you have)ha (hesheit has)hanno (they have)

e (and)o (or)ai (to the)a (to)anno (year)

30 Unit 4

Use of essere and avere

7 The verbs essere and avere are normally used as the verbs lsquoto bersquo and lsquotohaversquo are used in English Essere is usually followed by an adjective or anoun

Avere is normally followed by a noun (or a noun accompanied by anadjective)

8 The verb avere followed by a noun is also used in a number of idiomaticexpressions which correspond to English expressions using lsquoto bersquo followedby an adjective or an adverbial phrase

Siete studenti [noun]Daniela egrave medico [noun]Tu e Anna siete cugini [noun]Siete gentili [adjective]Gli amici di Paul sono italiani

[adjective]

Are you students [noun]Daniela is a doctor [noun]Are you and Anna cousins [noun]You are kind [adjective]Paulrsquos friends are Italian [adjective]

Hai il libroNon ho tempoAbbiamo molti amiciHanno una casa grandePaolo e io abbiamo una macchina

Have you got the bookI havenrsquot timeWe have a lot of friendsThey have a big housePaolo and I have got a car

avere caldoavere fameavere freddoavere pauraavere ragioneavere seteavere sonnoavere tortoavere fretta

to be hotto be hungryto be coldto be afraidto be rightto be thirstyto be sleepyto be wrongto be in a hurry

Abbiamo fameAvete ragioneMarina ha fretta(Lei) ha sete SignoraNon hai freddo Claudia

We are hungryYoursquore rightMarina is in a hurryAre you thirsty( Madam)Arenrsquot you cold Claudia

Unit 4 31

9 Avere is also used in Italian to express age

Crsquoegrave and ci sono

10 The verb essere is used in the expressions crsquoegrave (there is) followed by asingular noun and ci sono (there are) followed by a plural noun

11 Note that crsquoegrave and ci sono are not usually emphatic So in the Englishsentences in paragraph 10 the voice stress does not fall on lsquotherersquo but on thenoun that follows it (ie on lsquoletterrsquo lsquolittleplenty of timersquo lsquoproblemrsquo etc)Thus crsquoegrave and ci sono sometimes do not correspond to lsquothere isrsquo or lsquothere arersquoas in the following examples

12 The interrogative is formed by simply adding a question mark at the endof the sentence or with a lsquoquestion wordrsquo (see Unit 9)

13 The negative is formed by placing non before crsquoegrave or ci sono

Francesca ha 17 anniIl figlio di Gianni ha un annoQuanti anni hai

Francesca is 17 (years old)Giannirsquos son is oneHow old are you

Crsquoegrave una lettera per teCrsquoegrave poco tempoCrsquoegrave molto tempoCrsquoegrave un problemaCi sono due ingressiNel negozio ci sono molti clienti

Therersquos a letter for youTherersquos littlenot much timeTherersquos plenty of timeTherersquos a problemThere are two entrancesThere are a lot of customers in the shop

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono [ie she hasjust rung]

Ci sono i tuoi amici che ti aspettano[ie they have just arrived]

Luisarsquos on the phone [not TherersquosLuisa on the phone]

Your friends are waiting for you[not There are your friendswaiting for you]

Crsquoegrave il Professor Gatti

Crsquoegrave molto trafficoQuanti ingressi ci sono

Is Professor Gatti thereanywherearound[ie Irsquod like to seetalk to Professor Gatti]

Is there a lot of trafficHow many entrances are there

Non crsquoegrave tempoDomani non crsquoegrave lezioneNon ci sono clienti

There is no timeThere is no class tomorrowThere arenrsquot any customers

32 Unit 4

In Italian the double negative is used non + nessuno

14 Note that in negative sentences giving general information it is moreusual to use the plural non ci sono than the singular non crsquoegrave

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of essere

Example Alberto mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash a Roma egrave

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of avere

Example Jenny e John mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash una figlia hanno

Non crsquoegrave tempoNon ci sono clientiNon crsquoegrave nessuno

Is there no timeArenrsquot there any customersThere is nobody

Non ci sono farmacie Non ci sono scuole Non ci sono artisti nella mia

famiglia

There isnrsquot ais no pharmacyThere arenrsquot anyare no pharmaciesThere isnrsquot ais no schoolThere arenrsquot anyare no schoolsThere arenrsquot anyare no artists in my family

1 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash italiani2 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash scozzese3 (io) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash felice4 Gli studenti mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash in

biblioteca5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto gentili6 Lei mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash medico7 La cena mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash pronta8 I libri mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sulla

scrivania9 Tu e Jim mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amici

10 Paolo e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash giovani11 Gli impiegati mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash gentili12 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash simpatici13 Enrico non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash biondo14 Gli italiani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash allegri15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amica di Giulia16 Laura mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash magra17 Lrsquoesercizio mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash difficile18 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash straniero19 Tu e Billy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stranieri20 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stanca Signora

1 (noi) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo2 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash la macchina3 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molti amici

4 I Signori Illy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash due figli5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash i libri6 Sandro mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sempre fretta

Unit 4 33

Exercise 3

Taking the words in the two columns below write negative and interrogativesentences using the verb avere

Example tu fretta Non hai fretta Hai fretta

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative and negativesentences using the verb essere

Example io italiana Sono italiana Non sono italiana

7 Il professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash moltistudenti

8 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il libro9 Marco e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sete

10 Quanti anni (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il biglietto12 Domenico mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un

fratello13 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un esame14 (loro) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash figli

15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash lrsquoindirizzo diLuca

16 Carlo non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash latelevisione

17 I nostri amici mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash deiproblemi

18 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto lavoro19 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash 16 anni20 Professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo

1 io2 il professore3 la Signorina Berti4 Lei [formal]5 voi6 loro7 Carla e Andrea

ragionecaldosetesonnopaurafreddofame

1 io2 tu3 il dottore4 la professoressa5 Lei [formal]6 noi7 voi8 le tue amiche

stancopigragiovanesimpaticaaltomagreintelligenticontente

34 Unit 4

Exercise 5

Imagine the things in the office using all the words in the list write sentencesusing crsquoegrave or ci sono

Examples una scrivania Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una scrivania quattro sedieNellrsquoufficio ci sono quattro sedie

1 una sedia 2 due poltrone 3 tre computer 4 una stampante 5 un tele-fono 6 la fotocopiatrice 7 due radiatori 8 una porta 9 tre finestre

Exercise 6

Imagine what is in the village using all the words in the list make affirmativeor negative sentences paying attention to the negative form (non ci sono +plural noun)

Example tabaccaio tabaccai In questo paese crsquoegrave un tabaccaio ci sonotre tabaccai non ci sono tabaccai

1 museo musei 2 discoteca discoteche 3 panetteria panetterie 4 cinemacinema 5 biblioteca biblioteche 6 scuola scuole 7 ufficio postale ufficipostali 8 libreria librerie 9 giardino pubblico giardini pubblici 10 ris-torante ristoranti

Unit 4 35

UNIT FIVEThe present tense of regular (and someirregular) verbs

Use of the present tense

1 The present tense (or simply lsquothe presentrsquo) is used to state that an action isoccurring at the present time It corresponds basically to the English simplepresent (lsquoI eatrsquo) and present continuous (lsquoI am eatingrsquo)

2 The present can also be used to refer to the future either the near future orone that is considered fairly certain

3 The present is also used to refer to an action which started in the past and isstill going on here it corresponds to the English present perfect

Mio padre lavora per la BBCMio padre lavora in giardinoDi solito guardo la televisioneStasera guardo la televisioneNon guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisioneStasera non guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisione

stasera

My father works for the BBCMy fatherrsquos working in the gardenNormally I watch TVIrsquom watching TV this eveningI donrsquot watch TVWhy donrsquot you watch TVIrsquom not watching TV this eveningWhy arenrsquot you watching TV this

evening

Il treno parte fra cinque minuti

Parto domaniDomani mattina porto Luca alla

stazioneLrsquoestate prossima lavoro con mio

zio

The train leavesis leaving in fiveminutes

I leaveI am leaving tomorrowTomorrow morning Irsquoll takeIrsquom taking-

Irsquom going to take Luca to the stationNext summer Irsquoll workIrsquom working-

going to work with my uncle

Lavoriamo qui da un mese Wersquove been working here for a month

The forms of the present tense

4 Italian verbs are divided into three main groups the conjugations Theconjugation a verb belongs to is determined by the ending of its infinitive

The forms of the present depend on which conjugation the verb belongs toThe present is formed by changing the ending of the infinitive as follows

5 Regular verbs in -are are conjugated as follows

As we saw in Unit 4 the subject pronoun is normally omitted in the conju-gation of Italian verbs

Mio cugino abita a Roma da treanni

Conosco Giulia da tre anniNon vedo Dario da mesi

My cousinrsquos livedbeen living in Rome forthree years

I have known Giulia for three yearsI havenrsquot seen Dario for months

First conjugation-are

Second conjugation-ere

Third conjugation-ire

Person1st2nd3rd

1st2nd3rd

Singular(io)(tu)(luilei)

Plural(noi)(voi)(loro)

Infinitive in -are-o-i-a

-iamo-ate-ano

Infinitive in -ere-o-i-e

-iamo-ete-ono

Infinitive in -ire(-isc)-o(-isc)-i(-isc)-e

-iamo-ite(-isc)-ono

Endings-o-i-a-iamo-ate-ano

Parlare(io) parlo(tu) parli(luilei) parla(noi) parliamo(voi) parlate(loro) parlano

To speaktalkI speakyou speakhesheit speakswe speakyou speakthey speak

Andrea e Carla lavorano in ItaliaParlo italianoParlate moltoAbitiamo a Genova

Andrea and Carla work in ItalyI speak ItalianYou talk a lotWe live in Genoa

Unit 5 37

6 Verbs ending in -care and -gare (first conjugation) add h before the endingsof the second person singular (-i) and the first person plural (-iamo) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g

7 Verbs ending in -iare (first conjugation) normally have only one i in thesecond person singular and the first person plural

8 Regular verbs in -ere are conjugated as follows

Cercare(io) cerco(tu) cerchi(luilei) cerca(noi) cerchiamo(voi) cercate(loro) cercano

To look forI look foryou look forhesheit looks forwe look foryou look forthey look for

Pagare(io) pago(tu) paghi(luilei) paga(noi) paghiamo(voi) pagate(loro) pagano

To payI payyou payhesheit payswe payyou paythey pay

Cerchi MarcoGiochiamo a pallonePercheacute litighi con tuo fratelloPaghiamo sempre il conto

Are you looking for MarcoWe play footballWhy are you arguing with your brotherWe always pay the bill

Cominciare(io) comincio(tu) cominci(luilei) comincia(noi) cominciamo(voi) cominciate(loro) cominciano

To startbeginI startbeginyou startbeginhesheit startsbeginswe startbeginyou startbeginthey startbegin

Mangiare(io) mangio(tu) mangi(luilei) mangia(noi) mangiamo(voi) mangiate(loro) mangiano

To eatI eatyou eathesheit eatswe eatyou eatthey eat

Quando cominci la scuolaCominciamo la partitaMangi troppoStasera mangiamo fuori

When do you start schoolWersquore starting the gameYou eat too muchThis evening wersquore eating out

Endings-o-i-e-iamo-ete-ono

Prendere(io) prendo(tu) prendi(luilei) prende(noi) prendiamo(voi) prendete(loro) prendono

To takegetI takegetyou takegethesheit takesgetswe takegetyou takegetthey takeget

38 Unit 5

9 Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) and -gere (or -ggere) change the sound ofc (or sc) and g (or -gg) which become lsquohardrsquo before the endings of the firstperson singular (-o) and the third person plural (-ono) So care needs to betaken in speaking these verbs

Prendo il prossimo trenoPrendiamo questa stradaAnna scrive una letteraMarco e Martina ridono molto

Irsquom gettingtaking the next trainWe take this roadAnna is writing a letterMarco and Martina laugh a lot

Vincere(io) vinco(tu) vinci(luilei) vince(noi) vinciamo(voi) vincete(loro) vincono

Spoken like Englishkchchchchk

To winI winyou winhesheit winswe winyou winthey win

Conoscere(io) conosco(tu) conosci(luilei) conosce(noi) conosciamo(voi) conoscete(loro) conoscono

Spoken like Englishskshshshshsk

To knowI knowyou knowhesheit knowswe knowyou knowthey know

Leggere(io) leggo(tu) leggi(luilei) legge(noi) leggiamo(voi) leggete(loro) leggono

Spoken like Englishg [as in lsquogorsquo]jjjjg [as in lsquogorsquo]

To readI readyou readhesheit readswe readyou readthey read

Vince sempreNon conosco i tuoi genitoriLeggono il giornaleNon piango mai

Heshe always winsI donrsquot know your parentsTheyrsquore reading the paperI never cry

Unit 5 39

10 Regular verbs in -ire are conjugated as follows

11 Many verbs in -ire (eg capire (to understand) costruire (to build) finire(to finishto end) preferire (to prefer) pulire (to clean) ) follow a slightlydifferent pattern adding -isc- before the singular endings and the thirdperson plural

There is no way of telling which is the right pattern for a verb in -ire otherthan to check in a dictionary

Interrogative form

12 As we saw in Unit 4 the interrogative is formed by adding a questionmark at the end of the sentence

Endings-o-i

Partire(io) parto(tu) parti

To leaveI leaveyou leave

-e-iamo-ite-ono

(luilei) parte(noi) partiamo(voi) partite(loro) partono

hesheit leaveswe leaveyou leavethey leave

Il treno parte alle 800I miei amici partono domaniMia sorella dormeTutte le mattine apriamo le finestre

The train leaves at eightMy friends are leaving tomorrowMy sister is sleepingasleepEvery morning we open the windows

Endings-isc-o-isc-i-isc-e-iamo-ite-isc-ono

Capire(io) capisco(tu) capisci(luilei) capisce(noi) capiamo(voi) capite(loro) capiscono

To understandI understandyou understandhesheit understandswe understandyou understandthey understand

Marina capisce tuttoLa lezione finisce alle 1300Preferisco parlare italiano

Marina understands everythingThe lessonclass finishes at 1 pmI prefer speakingto speak Italian

Carla resta a casaPrendi sempre la macchina fotograficaQuando partiteCapisci tutto

Is Carla staying at homeDo you always take the cameraWhen are you leavingDo you understand everything

40 Unit 5

Negative form

13 The negative is formed by putting non (not) before the verb

Formal form

14 As we saw in Unit 4 the pronouns used for the formal form are Lei for thesingular (for both women and men) and Voi for the plural (the pronoun Lorois much more formal)

Present tense of some irregular verbs

15 In Italian as in most languages there are a number of irregular verbswhose conjugation is best learned by heart and with use Here is the conjuga-tion of some of the more frequently used irregular verbs

Non parlo italianoNon prendiamo la macchina

fotograficaGiulia e Susanna non partonoNon capisce niente

I donrsquot speak ItalianWersquore not taking the camera

Arenrsquot Giulia and Susanna leavingHeshe doesnrsquot understand anything

(Lei) Parla italianoNon prende un taxi Professor

MasiPartite Signori Bianco( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco)

Do you speak ItalianArenrsquot you taking a taxi Professor

MasiAre you leaving( Mr and Mrs

Bianco)

Dare (to give)dogravedaidagravediamodatedanno

Andare (to go)vadovaivaandiamoandatevanno

Stare (to staylivefeel)stostaistastiamostatestanno

Uscire (to go outleave)escoesciesceusciamousciteescono

Sapere (to know)sosaisasappiamosapetesanno

Venire (to come)vengovienivieneveniamovenitevengono

Unit 5 41

The verb riuscire (to succeedmanagebe able to) follows the same pattern asuscire

It is important not to confuse sapere and conoscere (paragraph 9) Bothmean lsquoto knowrsquo but they are not always interchangeable The basic differenceis that sapere generally means lsquoto knowbe aware ofto have knowledge of afactrsquo (but see also paragraph 17 below) whereas conoscere means lsquoto beacquaintedfamiliar withrsquo or sometimes lsquoto meetmake the acquaintance ofrsquo(eg in the expression piacere di conoscerti pleased to meet you) Thus sapereis never used for people and conoscere is never followed by a phrase contain-ing a verb

Dovere (mustto haveto)devodevidevedobbiamodovetedevono

Dire (to saytell)dicodicidicediciamoditedicono

Potere (canmayto beable)possopuoipuogravepossiamopotetepossono

Fare (to domake)facciofaifafacciamofatefanno

Volere (to wishtowant)vogliovuoivuolevogliamovoletevogliono

Bere (to drink)bevobevibevebeviamobevetebevono

Cosa failsquoCome stairsquo lsquoSto bene graziersquoMia zia sta a BolognaVado al cinemaStasera non escoDomani esco prestoNon riesco a capireNon riesco a chiudere la portaAdesso sapete tutto

What are you doinglsquoHow are yoursquo lsquoIrsquom fine thank yoursquoMy aunt lives in BolognaIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom not going out tonightIrsquom leaving early tomorrowI canrsquot understandI canrsquot manage to close the doorNow you know everything

Sappiamo giagrave che crsquoegrave scioperodomani

Sai che ora egraveSai percheacuteNon so che cosa fareConosco le regole del gioco

We already know that there is a striketomorrow

Do you know what time it isDo you know whyI donrsquot know what to doI know the rules of the game

42 Unit 5

16 Dovere potere and volere usually need to be followed by another verb inthe infinitive

17 The verb sapere is another that is often followed by a verb in the infinitiveused in this way it expresses the ability to do something (in the sense of lsquotoknow how torsquo do something)

18 A few verbs end in -urre (like condurre (to leaddrivemanage) tradurre (totranslate) produrre (to produce) etc) all have the following pattern

Exercise 1

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io conoscere) tua mamma conosco

Ho conosciuto il padre di PiaNon conosco il tuo ragazzoConosci questa cittagrave

I (have) met Piarsquos fatherI donrsquot know your boyfriendDo you know this town

Dobbiamo fare gli eserciziPosso parlare con LuigiPuoi telefonare domaniNon vogliono uscire

Wersquove got to do the exercisesMay I talk to LuigiYou can phone tomorrowThey donrsquot want to go out

So nuotarePaolo non sa ballareSai usare quello scanner

I can swim [ie I know how to]Paolo canrsquot dance [ie he doesnrsquot know how to]Can youDo you know how to use that scanner

Endings-uc-o-uc-i-uc-e-uc-iamo-uc-ete-uc-ono

Produrre(io) produco(tu) produci(luilei) produce(noi) produciamo(voi) producete(loro) producono

To produceI produceyou producehesheit produceswe produceyou producethey produce

Questa fabbrica produce automobiliTraducono dal francese

This factory produces carsThey translate from French

1 Claudio (arrivare) con il prossimotreno

2 Anna (vivere) a Roma

3 Non (noi mangiare) spesso fuori4 (tu cercare) casa5 Stasera (voi prendere) lrsquoautobus

Unit 5 43

Exercise 2

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example (io bere) molta acqua bevo

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 You [pl] have got to talk to Marcello2 Wersquore leaving tonight3 Wersquore getting the next bus4 You [polite] can go to the cinema Mr Buchan5 We know how to use those mobile phones6 She always prefers reading the paper7 The babyrsquos asleep8 Irsquom coming to Turin this summer

6 Il treno di Giorgio (partire) alle18

7 Tutti i giorni (noi leggere) ilgiornale

8 (tu pulire) il bagno9 (io conoscere) molti italiani

10 I giochi (finire) sempre alle 1711 Non (noi guidare) lrsquoauto12 Anna e io (giocare) a carte13 Percheacute non (voi tornare) in

Scozia

14 Non (tu capire) nulla15 Giorgio e Paola non (spendere)

molto16 Dove (Lei abitare) Signor Verdi17 (Voi pagare) lrsquoaffitto Signori

Rossi18 (tu viaggiare) molto19 Non (tu ricevere) molte lettere20 Piero e Gianni (lasciare) il cane a

casa

1 Stasera (loro) andare al cinema2 La nostra fabbrica (produrre)

pasta3 Domani (noi dare) una festa4 (tu andare) spesso in spiaggia5 (voi fare) gli esercizi6 Non (noi riuscire) a capire7 (voi venire) a casa8 Non (io potere) uscire oggi9 (loro volere) dormire

10 (tu dire) la veritagrave

11 Tu e Claudia (potere) partire12 (io volere) studiare13 Dove (tu stare) adesso14 Le mie sorelle non (sapere)

nuotare15 Cosa (loro fare) stasera16 I vicini (dovere) rimanere a casa17 (noi tradurre) in italiano18 Luigi (dovere) lavorare19 (voi sapere) cantare20 I nostri amici (venire) a Roma

44 Unit 5

9 They often go out in the evening10 The boys are playing football tomorrow

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Are you going out tonight Mother2 What are we doing tomorrow3 Can you [sing] open that door4 Do you [sing] want a coffee5 Can you play the piano Francesco6 What are you [sing] looking for7 Are you [polite] drinking coffee or mineral water Madam8 Do you [sing] and Jim know my parents9 Are you [sing] well today

10 What are they building

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Donrsquot you [polite] speak English Mrs Vialli2 My German friends canrsquot sing in Italian3 I donrsquot earn a lot4 Isnrsquot she giving a party for her birthday5 Arenrsquot you [sing] working with Giulia6 Theyrsquove not seen Mr Moro for three years7 Why do you never go to Florence Claudio8 I canrsquot manage to shut this window9 Why arenrsquot you [pl] drinking coffee this morning

10 Arenrsquot you [pl] coming tomorrow

Unit 5 45

UNIT SIXAdverbs

1 English adverbs are usually formed by adding lsquo-lyrsquo to an adjective (eglsquothinlyrsquo lsquocleverlyrsquo) Italian adverbs are usually just as easy to form -mente isadded to the feminine singular form of the adjective

When the adjective ends in -le or -re preceded by a vowel the final e isdropped before adding -mente

2 In Italian there are also many adverbs which do not end in -mente Here aresome

lenta + -menterapida + -mentesemplice + -mentefrequente + -mente

lentamenterapidamentesemplicementefrequentemente

slowlyquicklysimplyfrequently

gentile + -menteutile + -mentemaggiore + -menteregolare + -mente

gentilmenteutilmentemaggiormenteregolarmente

kindly politelyusefullymainlyregularly

Il tempo cambia rapidamenteLa nonna cammina lentamenteEnrico risponde sempre gentilmenteFaccio i compiti regolarmente

The weather changes quicklyGranny walks slowlyEnrico always answers politelyI do my homework regularly

abbastanza

ancorabenedavantidentrodietrodopo

enoughfairlyratherquite

stillwellat the frontin frontin(side)at the backbehindlaterafterwards

fortefuorigiagravelontanomalenon ancoranon maipiano

loudlyhardoutoutsidealreadyfar (away)badlynot yetneverslowlyquietly

Note that with non ancora and non mai non is always placed beforethe verb and ancoramai after it

3 Adverbs can qualify verbs adjectives or even other adverbs

4 Some words denoting quantity can be used both as adverbs and as adjec-tives moltotanto (a lot (of)verymany) troppo (too muchtoo many) andpoco (fewlittlenot muchnot very) When used as adverbs they are invariablebut when used as adjectives they agree in gender and number with the nounthey refer to

piugravepiuttostoprestoprima

quasisempre

morerathersoonearlyearlierbeforehand

firstalmostalways

soprasottospessosubitotardivicinovolentieri

aboveupstairsbelowdownstairsoftenimmediatelyright awaylatenear(by)willinglygladly

Questo film egrave abbastanza belloPartiamo tardi dopo le 11Andiamo spesso in discotecaVengo subitoParto prestoParliamo piano perchegrave Carla

dormePuograve parlare piano per favore

Non sono italianoAbita vicino SignoraVai lontanoPiove fortePuoi parlare piugrave forteMangiamo fuori

Egrave ancora estateNon egrave ancora estateNon esco maiLorenzo non telefona mai

This film is rather goodWersquore leaving late after 11We often go to the discoIrsquom coming (immediately)Irsquom leaving earlysoonWersquore talking quietly because Carlarsquos

asleepCould you speak slowly please Irsquom not

ItalianDo you live nearby (Madam)Are you going farItrsquos raining hardCan you speak loudermore loudlyWersquore eating out [eg in a restaurant]

outside [ie in the open]Itrsquos still summerItrsquos not summer yetI never go outLorenzo never phones

Dormo bene [verb + adverb]Dormo molto bene [adverb + adverb]La casa egrave molto piccola [adverb + adjective]

I sleep wellI sleep very wellThe house is very small

Unit 6 47

Adverbial expressions

5 Having a lot of words ending in -mente can often sound heavy To avoidthis Italian sometimes uses adverbial phrases instead of single words Thesedo the same job as one-word adverbs and indeed they do usually correspondto one-word English adverbs in lsquo-lyrsquo These adverbial expressions are mostoften constructed with con (with) sometimes with senza (without) followedby a noun

Adverblavorare moltotantomoltotanto lontanomoltotanto difficilelavorare troppotroppo lontanotroppo difficilelavorare pocopoco lontanopoco difficile

Adjectivemolto (tanto)troppopoco lavoro [ms]molta (tanta)troppapoca acqua [fs]molti (tanti)troppipochi esercizi [mp]molte (tante)troppepoche lettere [fp]

to work a lotvery farvery difficultto work too muchtoo fartoo difficultto work littlenot to work muchnot very farnot very difficult

a lot oftoo muchnot much worka lot oftoo muchnot much watermanytoo manynot many exercisesmanytoo manynot many letters

Mio padre lavora troppo [adverb]Questa musica egrave molto bella [adverb]Luisa dorme poco [adverb]

Dormi troppo poco [adverbs]

Abbiamo molto tempo [adjective]Luisa mangia poca pasta [adjective]

Ho molti amici [adjective]lsquoPercheacute fai questorsquo lsquoCi sono molte

ragionirsquo [adjective]

My father works too muchThis music is very beautifulLuisa sleeps littledoesnrsquot sleep

muchYou sleep too littledonrsquot sleep

enoughWe have a lot of timeLuisa eats little pastadoesnrsquot eat a

lot of pastaI have a lot of friendslsquoWhy are you doing thisrsquo lsquoThere

are many reasonsrsquo

con difficoltagravecon eleganzacon lentezzacon rapiditagravecon semplicitagrave

with difficultyelegantlyslowlyrapidlyquicklysimply

48 Unit 6

There are also a number of adverbial expressions that use other prepositionsthan con Here are some of the most common

Another adverbial expression that is sometimes used is in modoin maniera(ie lsquoin a wayrsquo) followed by an adjective the adjective is masculine when usedwith modo and feminine when used with maniera

Exercise 1

Change the adjectives into adverbs

Example lento lentamente

senza eleganzasenza complicazionisenza dubbio

inelegantlyuncomplicatedlyundoubtedly

a poco a pocoa voltein ritardoin tempodi solitodi sicuro

little by littlesometimeslateon timeusuallysurelycertainly

Anna veste con eleganzaSpieghi tutto senza complicazioni

A volte non capisco quello che dice

Anna dresses elegantlyYou explain everything

uncomplicatedlySometimes I donrsquot understand what

he says

in modo vagoin maniera vagain modo stranoin maniera stranain modo semplicein maniera semplice

vaguelyin a vague waystrangelyin a strange waysimplyin a simple way

Risponde sempre in modo vagoQuel cane cammina in maniera strana

Heshe always answers vaguelyThat dogrsquos walking oddlyin a

strange way

1 dolce2 tranquillo3 semplice4 allegro5 maggiore

6 irregolare7 probabile8 chiaro9 facile

10 veloce

11 lento12 utile13 attento14 rapido15 leggero

Unit 6 49

Exercise 2

Supply the correct form of moltotanto troppo or poco (adverbs or adjectives)

Examples Anna egrave (molto) alta molto Ho (molto) sete molta

Exercise 3

Replace the words in English with the appropriate expression from the list

a volte di sicuro con pazienza senza esitazione in modo nervoso intempo con semplicitagrave di solito con prudenza a poco a poco in manierabrusca con coraggio

Examples (sometimes) non voglio giocare a pallone a volte Laura veste(simply) con semplicitagrave

1 Dobbiamo agire (cautiously)2 Andrea spiega tutto (patiently)3 Paolo guarda i professori (nervously)4 (little by little) Gianni capisce il problema5 Tullio risponde (unhesitatingly)6 (usually) rientra nel pomeriggio7 Lei non fa piugrave (in time) a prendere il treno delle sette8 Esprime (courageously) le sue opinioni9 Domenica vengo (for sure)

10 Il Signor Capello risponde (bluntly) a tutte le nostre domande

1 Claudia mangia (molto) dolci2 Il tuo vestito egrave (molto) bello3 Monica ha (poco) amici4 Tu spendi (troppo)5 In mensa ci sono (troppo)

studenti6 Davanti al cinema crsquoegrave (tanto)

gente7 Mangi (troppo)8 Stefano abita (molto) lontano9 Giulia mangia sempre (poco)

10 Judy ha (molto) amiche italiane

11 Sto (poco) bene12 Abitate in una casa (molto) bella13 Signora egrave (molto) stanca14 Ci sono (poco) biscotti15 Siete (molto) gentili16 Hai (poco) pazienza17 Marco e Luisa hanno (molto)

fame18 Il giardino non egrave (molto) grande19 Non devi invitare (troppo)

persone20 Abbiamo (poco) riviste

50 Unit 6

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sometimes I eat in the canteen2 The swimming pool is quite big3 We often go out with our friends4 Have you [sing] got enough money5 You [sing] have to speak slowly6 Marina never eats cheese7 Francesca always arrives late8 Irsquove been waiting for almost forty minutes9 Carla and Andrea are out

10 Are your [sing] parents well

Unit 6 51

UNIT SEVENDirect object pronouns (1)

1 A direct object is the person or thing that the verb directly impacts onInvito Elena (Irsquom inviting Elena) Uso il computer tutti i giorni (I use thecomputer every day)

A direct object pronoun replaces a noun used as a direct object itmust therefore agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to Directobject pronouns normally come before the verb In the following examplesthe pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the direct object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Elena la invito a cena[la replaces and agrees with Elena (fs)]

Quando vedo Lorenzo lo invito a cena[lo replaces and agrees with Lorenzo(ms)]

Scrivo le cartoline e poi le imbuco[le replaces and agrees with lecartoline (fp)]

Appena compro i biscotti li mangio[li replaces and agrees with i biscotti(mp)]

Prendo il giornale e lo leggo subito[lo replaces and agrees with ilgiornale (ms)]

When I see Elena Irsquoll inviteher to dinner

When I see Lorenzo Irsquoll invitehim to dinner

I write the postcards andthen post them

As soon as I buy biscuits Ieat them

I get the paper and read itimmediately

Subjectiotuluileinoivoiloro

Direct objectmitilo [m]la [f]civili [m]le [f]

meyouhimheritusyouthem

3 We saw in Unit 3 that if an adjective refers to two or more nouns that aredifferent in gender it has the masculine plural form eg Laura e Piero sonoitaliani (Laura and Piero are Italian) The same principle applies to directobject pronouns

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

5 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Note that verbs in -urre drop the second r as well as the final vowel lo devotradurre or devo tradurlo

Giacomo mi invita spesso a cenaSe vuoi ti aiutoLo conosco beneLa vedo tutti i giorniVi invito alla festa

Giacomo often invites me to dinnerIf you want Irsquoll help youI know him wellI see her every dayIrsquom inviting you to the party

lsquoConosci Laura [f] e Piero [m]rsquo lsquoSigraveli [mp] conosco benersquo

lsquoUsi il computer [m] e la stampante[f]rsquo lsquoSigrave li [mp] uso spessorsquo

lsquoDo you know Laura and Pierorsquo lsquoYesI know them wellrsquo

lsquoDo you use the computer and theprinterrsquo lsquoYes I often use themrsquo

Non lo conosco beneNon vi invito alla festaNon li vedo spessoNon ti capisco

I donrsquot know him wellIrsquom not inviting you to the partyI donrsquot often see themI donrsquot understand you

La devo chiamareTi voglio invitareLo puoi prendereLo so fareLo devo tradurre

ororororor

Devo chiamarlaVoglio invitartiPuoi prenderloSo farloDevo tradurlo

I must call herI want to invite youYou can take itI canknow how to do itIrsquove got to translate it

Unit 7 53

6 The pronoun lo [ms] is often used to replace a whole clause

7 When the pronouns lo and la are used with the verb avere they are short-ened to lrsquo and are often preceded by the particle ce

The plural pronouns li and le however are never shortened and are onlyrarely used with ce

Formal form

8 The direct object pronouns used for the formal form are La for the singular(for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronouns Li and Le canalso be used for the masculine and feminine respectively but this is particu-larly formal)

lsquoSai che oggi egrave il compleanno diCarlarsquo lsquoSigrave lo sorsquo [lo = oggi egrave ilcompleanno di Carla]

lsquoDove sono le chiavirsquo lsquoNon lo sorsquo[lo = dove sono le chiavi]

lsquoDevi cambiare la cartucciarsquo lsquoLofaccio subitorsquo [lo = cambiare lacartuccia]

lsquoDo you know that itrsquos Carlarsquosbirthday todayrsquo lsquoYes I dorsquo [lit YesI know it]

lsquoWhere are the keysrsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo[lit I donrsquot know it]

lsquoYoursquove got to replace the cartridgersquolsquoIrsquoll do it straight awayrsquo

lsquoHai la cartucciarsquo lsquoSigrave ce lrsquohorsquo

Non posso leggere il libro di PrimoLevi percheacute non ce lrsquoho

lsquoAvete lrsquoindirizzo di Annarsquo lsquoSigrave celrsquoabbiamorsquo

lsquoHave you got the cartridgersquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot itrsquo

I canrsquot read Primo Levirsquos bookbecause I havenrsquot got it

lsquoHave you got Annarsquos addressrsquo lsquoYeswe haveYes wersquove got itrsquo

lsquoHai le parole di questacanzonersquo lsquoNo non (ce) le horsquo

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo

lsquoHave you got the lyrics of this songrsquolsquoNo I havenrsquot No Irsquove not got themrsquo

lsquoHave you got the booksrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove gotthemYes I haversquo

Professor Masi La accompagno inaeroporto

Signora La accompagno in aeroportoSignori Bianco Vi accompagno in

aeroporto (Signori Bianco Li accompagno in

aeroporto) Signore Vi accompagno in aeroporto (Signore Le accompagno in aeroporto)

Professor Masi Irsquoll take you to theairport

Irsquoll take you to the airport Madam

Mr and Mrs Bianco Irsquoll take you tothe airport

(Ladies) Irsquoll take you to theairport

54 Unit 7

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct directobject pronoun

Example Luigi compra il pane Luigi lo compra

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Lo faccio Non lo faccio

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

1 Anna guarda la televisione2 Invitiamo i nostri amici3 Scrivete le cartoline4 Leggono il giornale5 Suono la chitarra6 Preparo la cena7 Chiamo Roberto8 Faccio gli esercizi9 Invito Maria e Giovanna

10 Chiudete le finestre

11 Lorenzo corregge gli errori12 Prendono il treno13 Porto i CD14 Cerco i miei libri15 Pia beve lrsquoacqua minerale16 Paola finisce il lavoro17 Accompagno Carlo e Anna18 Vedi le tue amiche oggi19 Ascolto la radio20 Luca lava i piatti

1 Le voglio2 Li compriamo3 Ci chiamano4 Silvia li invita5 I Signori Bianchi lo prendono

6 Mi invitate7 Vi aspetto8 La vedo domani9 Ti accompagno alla stazione

10 Lo guardiamo

1 Lo vogliamo vedere2 Non ti posso aiutare3 Mi puoi accompagnare4 La vuoi sentire5 Ci devono chiamare

6 Vi voglio invitare7 Le vuole conoscere8 Non li potete fare9 Mi devi ascoltare

10 Non La posso aiutare Signora

Unit 7 55

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate direct object pronouns

Examples Marco telefona agli amici e mdashmdash invita alla festa li Guido nonsta bene devo chiamarmdashmdash lo

1 Compro il giornale e mdashmdash leggo2 Scrivo le cartoline e mdashmdash spedisco3 Laura fa i panini e poi mdashmdash mangia4 Compro i fiori e mdashmdash metto in un vaso5 Apriamo la finestra e poi mdashmdash chiudiamo6 Non riesco a fare questo esercizio mdashmdash aiuti7 Prendiamo i libri e mdashmdash portiamo a scuola8 Professor Bartoli mdashmdash posso aiutare9 I Signori Pieri partono mdashmdash accompagni in aeroporto

10 Hai molte amiche mdashmdash inviti tutte11 Se non usi la bici mdashmdash prendo io12 Ci sono molti errori mdashmdash dovete correggere13 Claudio telefona a Giulia e mdashmdash invita alla festa14 Partite mdashmdash porto in stazione15 Crsquoegrave un film alla televisione ma non mdashmdash guardiamo16 Alma parte volete salutarmdashmdash17 La sorella di Matteo egrave molto simpatica mdashmdash conosco bene18 Gli esercizi sono difficili ma mdashmdash so fare19 Se vuoi delle caramelle mdashmdash puoi prendere20 lsquoSai che Alessandro suona il sassofono in un grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash sorsquo

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquore inviting you [pl] to the party2 Irsquove got a lot of friends and I often see them3 Signora Fusi can I call you tomorrow4 Are you [sing] helping us next week5 I have to see you [sing]6 Olga and Anna are leaving tomorrow and I want to take them to the

station7 I canrsquot help you [pl]8 lsquoAre you [sing] bringing the guitarrsquo lsquoNo I havenrsquot got itrsquo9 Tullio buys these magazines and reads them

10 Can you [sing] take me to school tomorrow

56 Unit 7

UNIT EIGHTPrepositions

1 The most common Italian prepositions are the following

The meaning of tra and fra is the same

These prepositions often correspond to the English counterparts we givehere However as we shall see each of them also has a number of othermeanings corresponding to other English prepositions

2 The prepositions di a da in and su when used together with a nounpreceded by the definite article always combine with the article

The preposition con normally combines only with il and i as col and coi thisform is common in spoken Italian though con il and con i are often found inthe written language

diadainconsupertrafra

oftofrominwithonforamong between

diadainsu

ildelaldalnelsul

lodelloallodallonellosullo

lrsquodellrsquoallrsquodallrsquonellrsquosullrsquo

ladellaalladallanellasulla

ideiaidaineisui

glidegliaglidaglineglisugli

ledellealledallenellesulle

con con ilcol

con lo(collo)

con lrsquo(collrsquo)

con la(colla)

con icoi

con gli(cogli)

con le(colle)

Using prepositions

3 As in many other languages there is so much variation in how Italianprepositions are used that it is not feasible to give simple rules covering everypossibility To appreciate the problem you only have to look at a few of thepossible uses of the preposition di

Sometimes Italian even has a preposition where English does not here aresome typical examples

Since there is not a simple set of rules governing prepositions in Italian whatwe are going to do is show some typical uses of the common ones listedabove The more you hear and read Italian the more you will encounterdifferent uses of these and other prepositions the best way of mastering themis to learn them and practise them as you go along

4 Di is typically used to express

di + il ragazzoa + lo studenteda + lrsquoalbergoin + la scuolasu + i divanicon + i libricon + le chiaviper + gli insegnantifra + i calciatori

del ragazzoallo studentedallrsquoalbergonella scuolasui divanicoi libricon le chiaviper gli insegnantifra i calciatori

of the boyto the studentfrom the hotelin the schoolon the sofaswith the bookswith the keysfor the teachersamong the footballers

il presidente della repubblica the president of the republicIl libro egrave di Calvino The book is by CalvinoSono di Roma Irsquom from RomeDi pomeriggio fanno sempre la

siestaThey always have a nap in the

afternoon

lrsquoauto di AnnaVuoi della fruttaCi sono alcune migliaia di persone

nella piazzaHo una bella camicia di seta

Annarsquos carDo you want (someany) fruitThere are a few thousand people in

the squareIrsquove got a lovely silk shirt

possessionmaterialtimesubject

La moto di Luca egrave rossauna giacca di pelleDi sera non escouna lezione di storia

Lucarsquos motorbike is reda leather jacketI donrsquot go out in the evening(s)a history lesson

58 Unit 8

The most common uses of di are the ones which correspond to the Englishpossessive (rsquos) and the noun + noun structure

Di is frequently used in partitive constructions ie to express the Englishlsquosomersquo or lsquoanyrsquo in such sentences as lsquoIrsquod like some breadrsquo lsquoHave you anypastarsquo lsquoWersquove got (some) pasta and (some) olivesrsquo

Di is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likecredere (to believe) pensare (to think) dire (to say) sperare (to hope) finire(to finish) smettere (to stop)

5 A is typically used to express

il libro del professorela sorella di Monicail casco di Sebastianola politica del governouna buca delle lettereun racconto di fateil professore di scienzeun panino di formaggio

the teacherrsquos bookMonicarsquos sisterSebastianorsquos helmetthe governmentrsquos policygovernment policya letter boxa fairy talethe science teachera cheese roll

Devo comprare del panePrendo della pastaCrsquoegrave dellrsquoacqua in frigoEsco con degli amiciVuoi dei libri in italianoCi sono delle case sulla collina

Irsquove got to get (some) breadIrsquom getting (some) pastaTherersquos (some) water in the fridgeIrsquom going out with (some) friendsDo you want (some) books in ItalianThere are (some) houses on the hill

Finisco di leggere il giornale e poiesco

Paolo pensa di essere intelligenteAnna crede di riuscire a passare

lrsquoesameLa mamma dice di essere stancaDevo smettere di perdere tempo

I finish reading the paper and then Igo out

Paolo thinks he is intelligentAnna believes she can pass the exam

Mum says shersquos tiredI must stop wasting time

place

time

Abito a LondraVado al cinemaSono a casaLa casa si trova a 100 metri

dal mareParto alle 17Vado in Olanda a luglio

I live in LondonIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom at homeThe house is 100 metres from

the seaIrsquom leaving at 1700Irsquom going to Holland in July

Unit 8 59

A is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likeandare (to go) venire (to come) cominciare (to startbegin) continuare (tocontinue) riuscire (canto be ablemanage)

6 Da is typically used to express

Da is always used to mean lsquoatat the house ofrsquo a person or people

Da is also used followed by an infinitive after molto (a lot) poco (little) niente(nothing) qualcosa (something)

indirect object

quality

meansmanner

Diamo il libro a Silvia

Scrivete ai vostri genitori

Vuoi un gelato al limone

La giacca egrave fatta a manoImpari tutto a memoria

Stasera mangiamo patateal vapore

Wersquore giving the book toSilvia

Do you write to yourparents

Do you want a lemon ice-cream

The jacketrsquos made by handDo you learn everything by

heartWersquore having steamed

potatoes tonight [ietheyrsquore cooked with steam]

lsquoDove vairsquo lsquoVado a lavorarersquoVieni a studiare in bibliotecaComincio a capirePaolo continua a parlareNon riesco a sentire cosa dice

lsquoWhere are you goingrsquo lsquoIrsquom going to workrsquoAre you coming to work in the libraryIrsquom beginning to understandPaolo continueskeeps on talkingI canrsquot hear what hersquos saying

placetime

function

Parto da MilanoStudio italiano da un mese

aperto dalle 9 alle 10Sono scarpe da tennis

Irsquom leaving from MilanI have been studying Italian for a

monthopen (from) 9 to 10 (orsquoclock)Theyrsquore tennis shoes

Abiti da tua ziaLavoro da Anna staseraDevo andare dal dentista

Do you live at your auntrsquosIrsquom working at Annarsquos tonightI have to go to the dentist

Ho molto da fareHa poco da direNon crsquoegrave niente da bereVuoi qualcosa da mangiare

Irsquove got a lot to doHe has littleHersquos not got much to sayTherersquos nothing to drinkDo you want something to eat

60 Unit 8

7 In is typically used to express

NB in piedi means lsquostandingrsquo lsquoon footrsquo is a piedi

8 Con is typically used to express

9 Su is typically used to express

When the preposition su is used with a personal pronoun the pronoun is alsopreceded by di Conto su di lui (Irsquom counting on him)

10 Per is typically used to express

place

time

means

Vivo in campagnaAbbiamo una casa in Francianel 2006nel ventesimo secoloAndiamo in trenoin autoin bici

I live in the countryWe have a house in Francein 2006in the twentieth centuryWersquore going by traincaron

our bikes

company

means

manner

quality

Vado al cinema con LucaParlo con AnnaDevo scrivere con una

penna rossaPago con un assegno

Parla con accento stranieroParla con lentezzauna signora con i capelli

grigi

Irsquom going to the cinema with LucaIrsquom talking towith AnnaIrsquove got to write with a red pen

Irsquom paying with a chequebycheque

He speaks with a foreign accentHe speaks slowlya lady with grey hair

place

subject

I tuoi libri sono sulla scrivaniail ponte sullo stretto di Messina

un libro sul calcio

Your books are on the deskthe bridge over the Strait of

Messinaa book onabout football

placetime

meanscause

aim

price

Partiamo per la montagnaEsco per 10 minutiPer le 11 sono a casaMando il file per emailuna multa per eccesso di velocitagrave

Studio per passare lrsquoesame

per 15 euro

We are leaving for the mountainsIrsquom going out for 10 minutesIrsquoll be home byfor 11Irsquoll send the file by emaila fine for speedingspeeding

fineIrsquom studying (in order) to pass

the examfor 15 euros

Unit 8 61

11 Tra and fra are typically used to express

Prepositions of place

12 Here are some examples of the different prepositions used to denoteplace

Another preposition used to denote place is lungo (along) lungo il fiume(along the river)

13 A is normally used with names of town and villages and with cardinalpoints

14 In is normally used with names of regions and nations with geographicalareas and with shops

With mare (sea) the preposition a is used (al mare lsquoat the seasidersquo)

place

time

tra Milano e Torinofra compagni di classefra due ore

between Milan and Turinamong classmatesin two hourstwo hoursrsquo

time

Sono di FerraraLa domenica vado al cinemaSono a scuolaVengo da FerraraAbito da mia nonnaLuisa egrave in camera suaDevi camminare sul marciapiediil ponte sullrsquoArnoPartite per DublinoNovara egrave fra Torino e MilanoSiamo tra amici

I amcome from FerraraOn Sundays I go to the cinemaIrsquom at schoolIrsquom coming from FerraraI live at my grannyrsquosLuisa is in her roomYou have to walk on the pavementthe bridge over the ArnoAre you leaving for DublinNovara is between Turin and MilanWe are among friends

Vado a PisaAbito a LondraPasso le vacanze a CogneAndiamo a nordCogne egrave a sud di Aosta

Irsquom going to PisaI live in LondonI spend my holidays in CogneWe are going northCogne is south of Aosta

Vado in ToscanaAbito in InghilterraPasso le vacanze in montagnaCompro il pane in panetteria

Irsquom going to TuscanyI live in EnglandI spend my holidays in the mountainsI buy bread at the bakerythe bakerrsquos

62 Unit 8

Prepositions of time

15 Some examples of the different prepositions used to denote time

16 Di is used with the days of the week and parts of the day

In these cases di is always used without the definite article

17 A is used with names of festivities months and hours of the day

18 In is used with years centuries and seasons

Di domenica non lavoroDi sera guardo la tvDonatella arriva alle 7A Natale rimaniamo a casaLa scuola finisce a giugnonel 2000nel diciottesimo secoloIn autunno piove molto

I donrsquot work on SundaysIn the evenings I watch TVDonatella will arrive at sevenAt Christmas we stay at homeSchool ends in Junein 2000in the eighteenth centuryIn autumn it rains a lot

Di lunedigrave andiamo in piscinaDi mattina vado a scuola

On Mondays we go to the swimming poolIn the morning I go to school

A Pasqua Piera va in ItaliaIl museo riapre a marzoIl treno parte alle 12Di solito mangiano a

mezzogiorno

At Easter Piera is going to ItalyThe museum reopenswill reopen in MarchThe train is leaving at 12They normally eat at midday

Sono nato nel 1990Studio il turismo nel XIX secolo

Gli esami sono in primavera

I was born in 1990Irsquom studying tourism in the nineteenth

centuryThe exams arewill be in the spring

Unit 8 63

A or in

19 Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether to use a or in so we listbelow common expressions using these two prepositions

a casaa scuolaa lettoa lezione

(at) homeatto schoolinto bedin classto (onersquos) class

a tavolaa destraa sinistraa norda suda esta ovesta colazionea pranzoa cenaa mezzogiornoa mezzanottea 101112 [etc] annia metagraveallrsquoombraal soleal baral ristorantealla stazione

to the table [ie come and sit down]at table(onto the) rightleft(into the) northsoutheastwestatfor breakfastlunchdinner supper or teaat middaymidnightat teneleventwelve [etc] (years of age)in the middlemid-in the shadein the sunin the baratto the restaurantatinto the station

in pizzeriain discotecain cittagravein centroin chiesain mensain camerain bagnoin classein palestrain casermain prigionein ufficioin piscina

intoat athe pizzeriapizza parlourinto the discointo towninto the city centreinto churchinto the canteeninto the bedroominto the bathroominto the classroominto the gyminto the barracksinto prisoninto the officeatto the swimming bath

64 Unit 8

Compound prepositions

20 Italian also has a number of lsquocompound prepositionsrsquo eg accanto alsquonext tobesidersquo invece di lsquoinstead ofrsquo Some of these are always in the com-pound form others include di only when followed by a personal pronoun Wegive here a list of the most common ones

When these prepositions are used with a personal pronoun the pronoun ispreceded by the preposition di (see Unit 14)

Exercise 1

Combine the prepositions and the definite articles

Example (di) il figlio del figlio

davanti avicino afuori dadiprima dilontano dacontrodentrodietrodopo

in front ofoppositenearnextclose tooutsidebeforefar froma long way fromagainstinsidebehindafter

senzasoprasottoverso

withoutonaboveunderbelowtowards

La farmacia egrave davanti alsupermercato

Abito lontano dal centroLrsquoalbergo egrave vicino alla stazioneNon esco senza di voi

The pharmacy is opposite thesupermarket

I live a long way from the city centreThe hotel is close to the stationIrsquom not going out without you

di1 la mamma2 lo zio3 gli amici4 il parco5 lrsquoauto6 i paesi7 le stanze

a8 il mare9 lo stadio

10 la stazione11 i ragazzi12 gli uomini13 le donne14 lrsquoospedale

da15 la zia16 lo studente17 il dentista18 lrsquoaeroporto19 gli uffici20 le colleghe21 i ministri

in22 lrsquoalbergo23 lo stipendio24 la casa25 gli anni26 i cassetti27 le camere28 il frigo

su29 il tavolo30 la sedia31 lo scaffale32 le spalle33 i libri34 gli alberi35 lrsquoidea

Unit 8 65

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example Vengo mdashmdashmdash (la) stazione dalla

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example I tuoi libri sono mdashmdashmdash (il) tavolo sul

1 Carla abita mdashmdashmdash Budapest2 Parigi egrave mdashmdashmdash Francia3 Mangiate mdashmdashmdash (il) ristorante4 Torniamo mdashmdashmdash unrsquoora5 Hai molto mdashmdashmdash fare6 Devi scrivere mdashmdashmdash (la) nonna7 Esco mdashmdashmdash Massimo8 Filippo va mdashmdashmdash (il) dentista9 Quellrsquoauto egrave mdashmdashmdash (il) padre di

Silvia10 Scrivo una lettera mdashmdashmdash (i) miei

genitori11 Vado mdashmdashmdash Milano mdashmdashmdash treno

12 Vieni mdashmdashmdash (il) cinema mdashmdashmdashme

13 Le chiavi sono mdashmdashmdash (il)cassetto

14 La lezione finisce mdashmdashmdash (le) 1115 Studiamo italiano mdashmdashmdash due

mesi16 Il museo apre mdashmdashmdash (le) 90017 Compro le rose mdashmdashmdash la zia18 Posso parlare mdashmdashmdash Elisa19 Vuoi mdashmdashmdash (il) dolce20 Il mio compleanno egrave mdashmdashmdash

giugno

1 Domani rimango mdashmdashmdash casa2 Sabato andiamo mdashmdashmdash centro3 Vado mdashmdashmdash nuotare mdashmdashmdash

piscina4 Livia egrave mdashmdashmdash letto sta poco

bene5 Puoi comprare una bottiglia

mdashmdashmdash aceto6 Regalo i CD mdashmdashmdash (il) mio

ragazzo7 Napoli egrave mdashmdashmdash sud di Roma8 Domani cominciamo mdashmdashmdash

lavorare9 Parto mdashmdashmdash Roma alle 14 e

arrivo mdashmdashmdash Torino alle 2110 Ho fame crsquoegrave qualcosa mdashmdashmdash

mangiare

11 Imprestate la bici mdashmdashmdashMaurizio

12 Vai a scuola mdashmdashmdash autobus13 Bardonecchia egrave mdashmdashmdash

montagna14 Prendo un gelato mdashmdashmdash (la)

fragola15 Cosa fate mdashmdashmdash Natale16 Piero va mdashmdashmdash (il) supermercato17 Il padre mdashmdashmdash (la) mia amica egrave

avvocato18 mdashmdashmdash pizzeria crsquoegrave sempre molta

gente19 Paola dorme mdashmdashmdash (la) stanza

vicina alla mia20 Leggo un libro mdashmdashmdash

fantascienza

66 Unit 8

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 I finish working at six2 Antoniorsquos leaving for Genoa3 Gemma was born in 20014 Fabia never goes out in the evening5 Mr and Mrs Bancroft live in the country in an old villa6 The libraryrsquos behind the gym7 You [sing] canrsquot go out without me8 Do you [pl] live far from the school9 Isabellarsquos aunt lives in Greve in Tuscany

10 Shersquos got a leather skirt11 Angus is from Edinburgh in Scotland12 You have to turn right after the church( Madam)13 Wersquore eating at a pizzeria tonight14 These flowers are for your [sing] mother15 At Christmas wersquore going skiing in the mountains16 I live near the prison17 Margaretrsquos been living in Turin for five years18 The train for Aosta leaves from platform 719 Wersquore giving Luisa a CD of Russian music20 I always buy the bread at Bellirsquos

Unit 8 67

UNIT NINEQuestions

In this unit we will look at the most common ways of asking questions inItalian We have already seen (Units 4 and 5) that the order of the words inthe sentence does not change in the interrogative form now we need to lookat some Italian lsquoquestion wordsrsquo

1 Chi

Chi means lsquowhowhomrsquo or sometimes lsquowhich ofrsquo and is only used to refer topeople Chi is invariable ndash that is the same form is used for masculine andfeminine singular and plural

When an adjective refers to chi it must be in the masculine singular formunless it refers to an all-female group

Chi egrave quellrsquouomoChi egrave quella ragazzaChi sono i tuoi amiciChi sono quelle ragazzeChi vuole venire al cinema

con meChi viene a cenaCon chi esciA chi scriveteChi ha una pennaChi non va in gita domaniChi non invitiChi di loro parla italiano

Who is that manWho is that girlWho are your friendsWho are those girlsWho wants to come to the cinema with me

Whorsquos coming for dinnerWho(m) are you going out withWho(m) are you writing toWhorsquos got a pen [ie has anyone got a pen]Whorsquos not going on the trip tomorrowWho(m) arenrsquot you invitingWhich of them speaks Italian

Chi egrave prontoChi egrave soddisfattoChi non egrave stancoChi di voi (ragazze) egrave prontaChi di voi (Signori) egrave italiano

Who is readyWho is satisfiedWho isnrsquot tiredWhich of you (girls) is readyWhich of you (gentlemen) is Italian

2 Che cosa Cosa Che

All three mean lsquowhatrsquo and are used when referring to objects Che cosaCosa and Che are invariable in gender and number

Che is also used as an adjective meaning lsquowhat (sorttype of)rsquo

3 Come

Come means lsquohowrsquo

Come can sometimes mean lsquowhatrsquo as in Come dici (What did you say)Comrsquoegrave Edimburgoil nuovo professore (Whatrsquos Edinburghthe new teacherlike)

4 Dove

Dove means lsquowherersquo

Cosrsquoegrave quelloChe cosrsquoegrave quella luceCosa sono quei segniChe sono quelle costruzioniChe succedeChe cosa voleteCosa studiCosa posso fare per LeiA che pensate

Whatrsquos thatWhatrsquos that lightWhat are those marksWhat are those buildingsWhatrsquos happeningWhat do you wantWhat are you studyingdo you studyWhat can I do for youWhat are you thinking about

Che lavoro faiChe musica ascolti di solitoChe film vai a vedereChe auto compra tuo padre

Whatrsquos your job [lit what work do you do]What (sort of) music do you usually listen toWhat film are you going to seeWhat (make of) car is your father going to

buy

Come sta SignoraCome vaCome fate la pizza

How are you MadamHowrsquos it goingHow do you make (a) pizza

Dove abitiDove andateDove sono le chiaviDovrsquoegrave il mio libro

Where do you liveWhere are you goingWhere are the keysWhere is my book

Unit 9 69

5 Quando

Quando means lsquowhenrsquo

6 Percheacute

Percheacute means lsquowhyrsquo

Come mai has a similar meaning corresponding to the English lsquohow comersquo

7 Quanto

Quanto means lsquohow muchrsquo when referring to quantity and lsquohow longrsquo lsquohowfarrsquo lsquohow tallrsquo etc when it refers to time distance height etc

Quanto can also be used as an adjective or pronoun In such cases it agrees ingender and number with the noun it refers to quanto [ms] quanta [fs] (howmuch) quanti [mp] quante [fp] (how many)

Quando partono i tuoi amiciQuando comincia il filmQuando arriva il trenoQuando egrave lo sciopero dei treni

When are your friends leavingWhen does the film startWhen does the train arriveWhenrsquos the railtrain strike

Percheacute ridonoPercheacute Giulia non va a scuolaPercheacute non studi

Why are they laughingWhy isnrsquot Giulia going to schoolWhy donrsquot you study

Come mai non mangiCome mai siete in ritardo

How come yoursquore not eatingHow come you are late

Quanto pesaQuanto costa questa magliettaQuanto dura il filmQuanto egrave alta tua sorellaQuantrsquoegrave

How muchWhat does it weighHow muchWhat does this T-shirt costHow long does the film lastHow tall is your sisterHow much is it

Quanto pane devo comprareQuanta pasta vuoiQuanti esercizi dobbiamo fareQuante ragazze ci sono in classe

tuaQuanto tempo abbiamo

lsquoCi sono molte personersquo lsquoQuantersquolsquoDobbiamo comprare del panersquo

lsquoQuantorsquo

How much bread do I have to buyHow much pasta do you wantHow many exercises have we got to doHow many girls are there in your class

How much time is thereHow longhave we got

lsquoThere are a lot of peoplersquo lsquoHow manyrsquolsquoWe must get (some) breadrsquo lsquoHow

muchrsquo

70 Unit 9

8 Quale

Quale means lsquowhichrsquo (or sometimes lsquowhatrsquo) It is used either as an adjective oras a pronoun and therefore agrees with the noun it refers to quale lsquowhich(one)rsquo quali lsquowhich (ones)rsquo The use of quale rather than che usually impliesthat there is a choice as for example if there are some books lying on thetable Quale libro leggi lsquoWhich book are you readingrsquo

Qual (without an apostrophe) is used before the forms of essere startingwith a vowel used in this way it sometimes means lsquowhatrsquo rather than lsquowhichrsquo

9 As is seen in some of the examples in paragraphs 2 3 4 and 7 cosa checosa come dove and quanto can also be shortened before the forms of esserestarting with a vowel becoming cosrsquo che cosrsquo comrsquo dovrsquo and quantrsquo (all withan apostrophe)

Quale canzone preferisciQuali esercizi facciamoQuali sono i tuoi librilsquoCompro due giornalirsquo lsquoQualirsquoQual egrave la canzone piugrave famosaQual egrave il Suo indirizzonumero di

telefono

Which song do you preferWhich exercises are we doingWhich are your bookslsquoIrsquom buying two papersrsquo lsquoWhich onesrsquoWhichWhat is the best-known songWhatrsquos your addressphone number

Cosrsquoera quel rumoreChe cosrsquoegrave successoComrsquoera lo spettacoloDovrsquoegrave la stazioneQuantrsquoegrave costato

What was that noiseWhat happenedHow was the showWhere is the stationHow much did it cost

Unit 9 71

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with chi or checosache cosa as appropriate

Examples mdashmdashmdash mi cerca chi mdashmdashmdash fate checosache cosa

Exercise 2

Complete the questions with an appropriate word (che come dove quandopercheacute or qualequaliqual)

Examples lsquomdashmdashmdash non esci staserarsquo lsquoDevo studiarersquo percheacute lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave latua bicirsquo lsquoQuellarsquo qual

1 mdashmdashmdash sono quei signori2 mdashmdashmdash di loro egrave tuo cugino3 Con mdashmdashmdash uscite stasera4 mdashmdashmdash posso fare per te5 mdashmdashmdash studiate6 mdashmdashmdash viene con me7 mdashmdashmdash accompagna Luca8 mdashmdashmdash vuoi bere9 Di mdashmdashmdash egrave questo libro

10 mdashmdashmdash succede

11 Per mdashmdashmdash lavori12 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Caffegrave o te13 A mdashmdashmdash telefoni14 mdashmdashmdash viene alla festa15 mdashmdashmdash dici16 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Gianni o Piero17 mdashmdashmdash leggi18 Da mdashmdashmdash vai a cena19 mdashmdashmdash vuoi fare stasera20 mdashmdashmdash apre la porta

1 lsquomdashmdashmdash abitatersquo lsquoA Milanorsquo2 lsquomdashmdashmdash parte lrsquoautobusrsquo lsquoAlle

800rsquo3 lsquomdashmdashmdash non studirsquo lsquoNon sto

benersquo4 lsquomdashmdashmdash sta Professorersquo lsquoBene

graziersquo5 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo compleannorsquo lsquoIl

20 aprilersquo6 lsquomdashmdashmdash lavoro fa tuo padrersquo lsquoIl

medicorsquo7 lsquomdashmdashmdash strada devo prenderersquo

lsquoQuella a destrarsquo8 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave la mensarsquo lsquoDietro la

palestrarsquo9 lsquomdashmdashmdash sei in ritardorsquo lsquoCrsquoegrave

sciopero degli autobusrsquo10 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo indirizzorsquo lsquoVia

Garibaldi 22rsquo

11 lsquomdashmdashmdash genere di musicaascoltatersquo lsquoRockrsquo

12 lsquomdashmdashmdash materia preferiscirsquolsquoScienzersquo

13 lsquomdashmdashmdash ti vesti per la festarsquo lsquoConla gonna lungarsquo

14 lsquomdashmdashmdash metto la bicirsquo lsquoIn garagersquo15 lsquomdashmdashmdash non venite con noirsquo

lsquoAbbiamo sonnorsquo16 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave il parcheggiorsquo lsquoDavanti

al cinemarsquo17 lsquomdashmdashmdash comincia la scuolarsquo lsquoA

settembrersquo18 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave la capitale dellrsquoItaliarsquo

lsquoRomarsquo19 lsquomdashmdashmdash non vai in vacanzarsquo lsquoNon

ho soldirsquo20 lsquomdashmdashmdash libri leggirsquo lsquoRomanzi di

avventurersquo

72 Unit 9

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct form of quanto

Examples mdashmdashmdashmdash anni hai quanti mdashmdashmdashmdash costa questa magliettaquanto

Exercise 4

1 How many rolls do you [pl] want2 Where are you [pl] going for lunch3 Who are those people4 What are you [sing] doing on Sunday5 When are you [pl] going on holiday6 Why isnrsquot Luisa leaving7 Which is your [sing] bike8 What film are you [sing] watching9 Which of them is Italian

10 When does the train arrive

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash persone vengono2 Fra mdashmdashmdashmdash tempo partite3 mdashmdashmdashmdash fratelli ha Luisa4 mdashmdashmdashmdash esercizi fate5 mdashmdashmdashmdash stanze ha la tua casa6 mdashmdashmdashmdash gente inviti7 mdashmdashmdashmdash sei alto8 mdashmdashmdashmdash pagine dobbiamo

studiare9 mdashmdashmdashmdash mesi rimanete in Italia

10 mdashmdashmdashmdash guadagni

11 mdashmdashmdashmdash frutta devo comprare12 mdashmdashmdashmdash costano quei jeans13 mdashmdashmdashmdash autobus devi prendere14 mdashmdashmdashmdash dura il concerto15 Da mdashmdashmdashmdash studiate italiano16 mdashmdashmdashmdash cartoline spedisci17 mdashmdashmdashmdash spendi al mese18 mdashmdashmdashmdash amiche hai19 mdashmdashmdashmdash libri devi leggere20 mdashmdashmdashmdash egrave lontana la discoteca

Unit 9 73

UNIT TENIndirect object pronouns (1)

1 We saw in Unit 7 that a direct object is the person or thing that the verbdirectly impacts on An indirect object is the person or thing that theaction is happening to or for Scrivo a Carla domani (Irsquoll write to Carlatomorrow) Mando cartoline a tutti i miei amici (I send cards to all myfriends) In English the indirect object can usually be preceded by lsquotorsquo orlsquoforrsquo but these are very often omitted compare lsquoI gave the book to Karenrsquoand lsquoI gave Karen the bookrsquo or lsquoIrsquoll pour a glass for Janersquo and lsquoIrsquoll pourJane a glassrsquo

An indirect object pronoun replaces a noun used as an indirect object lsquoIgave the book to herI gave her the bookrsquo lsquoIrsquoll pour her a glassIrsquoll pour a glassfor herrsquo

In Italian an indirect object pronoun replaces a noun preceded by thepreposition a it has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers toIndirect object pronouns normally come before the verb In the followingexamples the pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the indirect object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Maria le racconto tutto[le stands for a Maria (fs)]

Non telefono a Carlo gli scrivo[gli stands for a Carlo (ms)]

Paolo non ci dice mai la veritagrave[ci stands for a noi]

When I see Maria Irsquoll tell hereverything

Irsquom not going to phone Carlo Irsquollwrite to him

Paolo never tells us the truth

mitigli [m]le [f]civigli [m and f]

to meto youto himitherto usto youto them

The third person plural pronoun gli is used for both masculine and feminineFor the third person plural loro can be used instead of gli but it alwaysfollows the verb the meaning is the same but the use of loro is far lessfrequent and is more formal

Negative form

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 When an indirect object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usu-ally after verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Mi mandi una cartolina da Roma

Vi scrivo appena arrivoEgrave il compleanno di Anna le regalo

un CDSe Dario non ha lrsquoauto gli dograve un

passaggioTi impresto i soldilsquoScrivi agli ziirsquo lsquoNo gli telefono

domaniNo telefono loro domanirsquo

Gli dico la veritagraveDico loro la veritagrave

Will you send me a postcard fromRome

Irsquoll write to you as soon as I arriveItrsquos Annarsquos birthday Irsquom giving her a

CDIf Dario hasnrsquot got his car Irsquoll give

him a liftIrsquoll lend you the moneylsquoAre you going to write to your

unclesrsquo lsquoNo Irsquoll phone themtomorrowrsquo

Irsquom going to tell them the truth

Non ti impresto i soldiNon le scrivo le telefonoNon gli rispondo

I wonrsquot lend you the moneyIrsquom not going to write (to her) Irsquoll phone herIrsquom not going to reply toanswer him

Le voglio parlareGli devo scrivereMi potete telefonareMi sai dire quando

orororor

Voglio parlarleDevo scrivergliPotete telefonarmiSai dirmi quando

I want to talk to herI must write to himthemCan you phone meCan you tell me when

Unit 10 75

Formal form

5 The indirect object pronouns used for the formal form are Le for thesingular (for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronoun Loro ndashafter the verb ndash can also be used but this is very formal)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct indirectobject pronoun

Example Scrivete a Luigi Gli scrivete

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Gli scrivo Non gli scrivo

Le rispondo subito Signor ColliLe dograve un passaggio Signora BanfiSignori Bianco Vi telefono domani (Signori Bianco telefono Loro

domani)

Irsquoll answer you immediately Mr ColliIrsquoll give you a lift Mrs Banfi

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) Irsquoll phone youtomorrow

1 Telefoniamo a Carla2 Spedisco le cartoline ai miei amici3 Silvia racconta una storia al

bambino4 Regalo un libro alla zia5 Anna scrive alle amiche

6 Porto i fiori alla nonna7 Scriviamo ai nostri compagni8 Olga e Silvia parlano a Giulia9 La nonna legge un libro ai nipoti

10 Cosa regalate a Marco

1 Le parlo di lavoro2 Mi telefoni3 Vi regalo dei libri4 Gli offrite qualcosa5 Gli amici le offrono un gelato

6 Ci scrivete7 Ti mando una cartolina8 Vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo mi dice la veritagrave

10 Gli spedisco il pacco

76 Unit 10

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate indirect object pronouns

Examples Mauro ha molti amici e mdashmdash telefona spesso gli Livia vuoleparlare con te devi telefonarmdashmdash le

1 lsquoTelefonate a Luisarsquo lsquoNo mdashmdash scriviamo una letterarsquo2 Se mi chiedi qualcosa mdashmdash rispondo3 lsquoCosa regali a tuo padrersquo lsquomdashmdash regalo una cravattarsquo4 Se vedi le mie amiche puoi dirmdashmdash che le aspetto per domani5 Signora posso offrirmdashmdash un caffegrave6 lsquoCi portate un regalo dallrsquoItaliarsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash portiamo un panettonersquo7 lsquoCosa vuoi dirmdashmdashrsquo lsquoVi voglio dire la veritagraversquo8 Gianni mdashmdash presento mia sorella9 lsquoQuando telefoni ai nonnirsquo lsquomdashmdash telefono domani serarsquo

10 Professore mdashmdash devo parlare11 Non so fare questo esercizio mdashmdash dai una mano12 Domani egrave il compleanno di Anna devo farmdashmdash gli auguri13 Paolo dice sempre bugie non mdashmdash dovete credere14 Telefono a Michele e mdashmdash chiedo un prestito15 Se non avete lrsquoauto mdashmdash dograve un passaggio16 Se Carla e Pietro hanno bisogno di soldi mdashmdash posso fare un prestito17 lsquoQuanto ti danno allrsquoorarsquo lsquomdashmdash danno 15 eurorsquo18 Appena vedo Silvia mdashmdash rendo i libri19 Se vuoi mdashmdash impresto la mia bici20 Ettore egrave un buon amico e mdashmdash racconto sempre tutto

1 Le possiamo scrivere2 Ti devo parlare3 Gli voglio regalare una chitarra4 Ci puoi telefonare5 Vi devono offrire qualcosa

6 Mi potete dire tutto7 Le posso parlare Signora8 Non gli dovete scrivere9 Non ti posso rispondere

10 Le voglio credere

Unit 10 77

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Can you [sing] tell Lucia that I want to speak to her2 As soon as I arrive in Rome Irsquoll phone you [pl]3 I have to ask you a favour Madam4 Are you [sing] giving them your phone number5 They always tell us interesting things6 They always send me a card when they go to Italy7 For her birthday Irsquom giving her flowers8 Irsquove got to give you [sing] Lucarsquos books9 If you [pl] want Irsquoll tell you a story

10 Massimo writes to me every week

78 Unit 10

UNIT ELEVENPiacere and similar verbs

1 Piacere corresponds to lsquoto likersquo but it is used in a different way from itsEnglish counterpart In Italian the subject of the verbsentence is the thingor person one likes the person who likes something is denoted by an indirectobject pronoun (see Unit 10)

2 Piacere is an irregular verb mostly used in the third person singular(piace) and plural (piacciono) As can be seen in the examples piace is usedif the thing that one likes is a singular noun or pronoun or the infinitiveof a verb piacciono is used if the things that one likes are a plural noun orpronoun

Singular noun or pronoun

Verb

Mi piace lo sportTi piace ballare

Mi piacciono i gatti

I like sport [lit sport is pleasing to me]Do you like dancing [lit is dancing pleasing to

you]I like cats [lit cats are pleasing to me]

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

la mia cittagravequestoquestail calciola musica rockil tennisquelloquella

I like my home townYou like this (one)Heshe likes footballWe like rock musicYou like tennisThey like that one

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

leggereandare in bicisciareguardare la tvdormireballare

I like to readreadingYou like to cyclecyclingHeshe likes to skiskiingWe like to watchwatching TVYou like to sleepsleepingThey like to dancedancing

Plural noun or pronoun

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 As usual for the polite form in the singular the feminine pronoun (Le) isused for both men and women for the plural Vi is normally used

Loro is a much more formal way of addressing people in the plural it isalways placed after the verb

5 When the person who likes something is denoted not by a pronoun but bya noun the noun must be preceded by the preposition a

6 To mark a contrast the stressed forms of the pronouns (a me a te aluia lei a noi a voi a loro ndash see Unit 14) are used instead of the unstressedforms

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiacciono

questiquestele ciliegiei romanziquelliquellegli scherzile auto veloci

I like theseYou like cherriesHeshe likes novelsWe like thoseYou like practical jokesThey like fast cars

Non mi piace la pizzaNon ti piace questoquestaNon le piace sciareNon ci piacciono i videogiochi

I donrsquot like pizzaDonrsquot you like this (one)She doesnrsquot like skiingWe donrsquot like video games

Le piacciono i funghi SignoraVanni

Le piace leggere Signor VanniNon Le piace quelloquellaNon Le piace sciareSignori Conti Vi piace lrsquoItaliaSignori Conti piace Loro lrsquoItalia

Do you like mushrooms Mrs Vanni

Do you like reading Mr VanniDonrsquot you like that oneDonrsquot you like skiingDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs ContiDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs Conti

A Claudia non piace andare a scuolaAllo zio Davide piace la musica

classicaA Piera non piacciono questiquesteAi miei nonni piace dormireA Franco e Luisa piace viaggiare

Claudia doesnrsquot like going to schoolUncle Davide likes classical music

Piera doesnrsquot like theseMy grandparents like sleepingFranco and Luisa like travelling

80 Unit 11

7 There are other verbs which are used in the same way as piacere mancare(to miss) [lit lsquoto be lackingmissingrsquo] servire (to need) [lit lsquoto be usefulrsquo] bastare(to be enoughsufficient) and sembrare and parere (to seem)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct pronoun

Example A Sara non piace il caffegrave Non le piace il caffegrave

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Mi piace la pioggia Non mi piace la pioggia

A me piace il caffegrave a te piace il teA lui piacciono i gatti a lei noA noi piace il calcio a voi il tennisA loro piace nuotare a noi piace sciareA me piace questoquesta a Lei quello

quella

I like coffee you like teaHe likes cats she doesnrsquotWe like football you like tennisThey like swimming we like skiingI like this one you like that one

Mi manca il mio ragazzo

Non vi mancano i vostri genitori

Ti serve una pennaA Livia servono i tuoi consigliQuestiqueste non ci bastanoA me bastano 10 euro e a te

Il comportamento di Carlo misembrami pare strano

Non mi sembrami pare giusto

I miss my boyfriend [lit my boyfriendis lacking to me]

Donrsquot you miss your parents [lit arenrsquotyour parents lacking to you]

Do you need a penLivia needs your adviceThese arenrsquot enough for us10 euros are sufficient for me ndash are they

for youhow about youCarlorsquos behaviour seems strange to me

It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot thinkitrsquos fair

1 A Federica non piacciono i carciofi2 A Giampiero non piace guidare3 A Massimo piace viaggiare4 A Tullio e Anna piace il mare5 Ai miei amici piace ballare

6 A me e a Marco non piace il pesce7 A te e a Marina piace nuotare8 A Mara piacciono i film francesi9 Alla mamma non piace stirare

10 Allo zio piace andare in moto

Unit 11 81

Exercise 3

Write sentences expressing your taste

Example cavalli (Non) mi piacciono i cavalli

1 la frutta 2 il calcio 3 le fragole 4 giocare a tennis 5 uscire con gli amici6 i gatti 7 la pizza 8 i dolci 9 ballare 10 le vacanze

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative or negativesentences using the verb piacere

Example Maria le patate A Maria (non) piacciono le patate

Exercise 5

Supply the correct form of the verbs in brackets

Example Quei libri mi (sembrare) interessanti sembrano

1 Ci (bastare) questo pane2 Vi (sembrare) bello quel film3 Ci (piacere) le auto sportive4 A Sebastiano (mancare) la mamma5 lsquoVoglio comprare una motorsquo lsquoTi (servire) dei soldirsquo6 A Livio (mancare) i soldi per le vacanze

1 Le piace andare in centro il sabato2 Ti piace la musica classica3 Gli piacciono i funghi4 Vi piace guardare la televisione5 Mi piacciono i film di fantascienza

6 Gli piace la scuola7 Ci piacciono le canzoni italiane8 Le piacciono gli spaghetti9 Mi piace sciare

10 Vi piace la cioccolata al latte

1 Luigi2 il professore3 mia sorella4 i miei cugini5 il primo ministro

il caffegrave senza zuccherole poesie di Leopardiandare al cinemai film di Fellinila politica

82 Unit 11

7 Quello che dici mi (sembrare) interessante8 Mi (servire) delle scarpe nuove9 Quale di quei due libri ti (parere) migliore

10 Non ti (bastare) 20 euro

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian using the verbs piacere sembrare servire mancare orbastare

1 An hour isnrsquot enough for me2 Giovanni needs a pen3 Lynnersquos missing her Italian friends4 Do you [sing] like chocolate5 She doesnrsquot like going to the cinema6 Do you [pl] need a lift7 They need a pen and a notebook8 Do you find the show boring Madam9 Do you [sing] need help

10 I like reading

Unit 11 83

UNIT TWELVEThe present perfect tense

Use of the present perfect

1 The present perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) is one of the two most used pasttenses of the indicative in Italian (the other is the imperfect (lsquoimperfettorsquo) )The present perfect is often used like the English present perfect (eg lsquoI haveseen itrsquo lsquoShe has gone homersquo) to state that an action has happened in the pastbut that its effects are still lasting in the present However in Northern Italyand in the language of the media it is also equivalent to the English simplepast (eg lsquoI saw itrsquo lsquoShe went homersquo) referring to actions which happened in amore distant past and have no immediate consequences in the presentIndeed it more often corresponds to the English simple past than to theEnglish present perfect In other words in Italian the difference betweenpresent perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) and simple past (lsquopassato remotorsquo) is notalways marked and it is always possible to use the former

2 The present perfect is a compound tense and is formed as in English withthe present tense of the auxiliary verb followed by the past participle of theverb

Napoleone egrave morto il 5 maggio 1821Lrsquoestate scorsa siamo andati in

vacanza sul lago di GardaNina egrave nata in RussiaLrsquoanno scorso mi hanno regalato

una mountain bike

Napoleon died on 5 May 1821Last summer we went to Lake Garda

for oura holidayNina was born in RussiaLast year they gave me a mountain

bike

Ho visto un bel filmHa telefonato MarcoSono rimasto a casaAnna egrave uscitaSono andati in piscina

I sawhave seen a lovely filmMarco phonedhas phonedI stayedhave stayed at homeAnna went outhas gone outDid they goHave they gone to the swimming

pool

As the examples confirm the lsquopassato prossimorsquo may correspond to either thesimple past or the present perfect in English But there are also other differ-ences between the Italian and English structures there is only one auxiliaryverb in English (lsquoto haversquo) but in Italian there is a choice of two avere andessere when essere is used the past participle has to agree in gender andnumber with the subject finally whether to use avere or essere is not usually afree choice We will look at all these differences in detail but first we need tolook at the forms of the Italian past participle

Forms of the past participle

3 The regular forms of the past participle are obtained by changing theending of the infinitive as follows

Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) keep the lsquosoftrsquo sound of c (or sc) andtherefore add an i before the -uto ending (-iuto)

The past participle of verbs in -urre ends in -otto

Infinitive in -are-ato

Infinitive in -ere-uto

Infinitive in -ire-ito

Infinitiveparlaremangiarecaderevolerepiacereconoscerepartirecapire

Past participleparlatomangiatocadutovolutopiaciutoconosciutopartitocapito

(to speak) spoken(to eat) eaten(to fall) fallen(to want) wanted(to like) liked(to knowmeet for the first time) knownmet(to leave) left(to understand) understood

Infinitivecondurretradurreprodurre

Past participlecondottotradottoprodotto

(to leaddrivemanage) leddrivenmanaged(to translate) translated(to produce) produced

Unit 12 85

4 In Italian as in most languages many verbs have an irregular past parti-ciple which is best learned by heart and with use Here is a list of the mostfrequently used

Stato is also the past participle of stare The regular forms perduto and veduto are rarely used

The present perfect

5 The present perfect in Italian is formed with the present indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

Infinitiveaccendereaprireberechiederechiuderedecideredireesserefareleggeremettereperdereprendererendererimanererispondereromperescenderescriverespegnerespenderesuccederetoglierevederevenirevincerevivere

Past participleaccesoapertobevutochiestochiusodecisodettostatofattolettomessopersoperdutopresoresorimastorispostorottoscesoscrittospentospesosuccessotoltovistovedutovenutovintovissuto

(to turn onswitch on) turned onswitched on(to open) opened(to drink) drunk(to ask) asked(to close) closed(to decide) decided(to saytell) saidtold(to be) been(to domake) donemade(to read) read(to putput on) putput on(to lose) lost(to take) taken(to returngive back) returnedgiven back(to remainstay) remainedstayed(to answer) answered(to break) broken(to go downdescend) gone downdescended(to write) written(to turn offswitch off) turned offswitched off(to spend) spent(to happen) happened(to take awayoff) taken awayoff(to see) seen(to come) come(to win) won(to live) lived

86 Unit 12

6 As can be seen when the present perfect is formed with avere the pastparticiple does not change but when the present perfect is formed with esserethe past participle behaves like an adjective agreeing in gender and numberwith the subject of the verb Here are some examples

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Present of avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I wrotehave writtenyou wrotehave writtenhesheit wrotehas writtenwe wrotehave written

(voi) avete(loro) hanno

scrittoscritto

you wrotehave writtenthey wrotehave written

Present of essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I wenthave goneyou wenthave gonehesheit wenthas gonewe wenthave goneyou wenthave gonethey wenthave gone

AvereLivia ha guardato la televisioneHai comprato il pane

Ha prenotato Signor Ferro

EssereMonica egrave uscita [fs]Pietro egrave stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia sono rimaste a

casa [fp]Giulia e Sebastiano sono partiti

[mp]Sono andata al cinema [fs]

Siamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando egravearrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando egravearrivata [fs]

Livia (has) watched TVDid you buyHave you bought the

breadDid you bookHave you booked Mr

Ferro

Monica went outMonicarsquos gone outPietrorsquos been illFabia and Silvia (have) stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano (have) left

I wentIrsquove been to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We (have) arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When did you arrive Mr Poli

When did you arrive Mrs Poli

Unit 12 87

Present perfect of avere and essere

7 Avere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary essere

8 Like the present the present perfect of essere can be used with the pronounci (see Unit 4) crsquoegrave statostata (there washas been) ci sono statistate (therewerehave been)

Essere or avere

9 Deciding whether to use essere or avere can be a bit of a problem The onlyfirm rules are those governing transitive verbs (ie verbs which can have adirect object) and reflexive verbs (see Unit 20) Transitive verbs always useavere reflexive verbs always use essere

As for intransitive verbs some use avere and others essere In general it canbe said that verbs of movement (such as andare (to go) venire (to come)partire (to leave) uscire (to go out) entrare (to go income in)) or non-movement (such as rimanere (to remain) restare (to stayremain)) and verbsof state (such as essere diventare (to become) cambiare (to change) crescere(to grow)) use the auxiliary essere However this is not a hard and fast rulethere are intransitive verbs which take avere

ho avutohai avutoha avutoabbiamo avutoavete avutohanno avuto

I hadhave hadyou hadhave hadhesheit hadhas hadwe hadhave hadyou hadhave hadthey hadhave had

sono statostatasei statostataegrave statostatasiamo statistatesiete statistatesono statistate

I washave beenyou werehave beenhesheit washas beenwe werehave beenyou werehave beenthey werehave been

La settimana scorsa abbiamo avuto ospitiTanya ha avuto la varicellaNina egrave stata malataDes egrave stato mio studente

Last week we had guestsTanya has had chickenpoxNina has been illDes was a student of mine

Crsquoegrave stata unrsquoalluvioneCi sono stati troppo incidenti

There washas been a floodThere werehave been too many accidents

88 Unit 12

To help in choosing the right auxiliary here is a list of common verbs whichform the present perfect with essere

These verbs are normally only used in the third person singular and plural

Ho conosciuto i genitori di Gianni[transitive]

Avete spedito le vostre cartoline[transitive]

Quanto hai speso [transitive]Ieri sera siamo andati a un concerto

rock [intransitive]Domenica scorsa siamo rimasti a

casa [intransitive]Il tempo egrave cambiato [intransitive]Ho dormito bene [intransitive]

I (have) met Giannirsquos parents

Did you sendHave you sent yourpostcards

How much did you spendLast night we went to a rock concert

Last Sunday we stayed at home

The weatherrsquos changedI slept well

Infinitiveandarearrivarebastare

costare

crescerediventareentrareesseremorire

nascerepartirepiacere

restarerimanere(ri)tornareriuscire

sembrarestaresuccedere

uscirevenire

Present perfectsono andato-asono arrivato-aegrave bastato-asono bastati-eegrave costato-asono costati-esono cresciuto-asono diventato-asono entrato-asono stato-aegrave morto-asono morti-esono nato-asono partito-aegrave piaciuto-asono piaciuti-esono restato-asono rimasto-asono (ri)tornato-asono riuscito-a

sono sembrato-asono stato-aegrave successo-asono successi-esono uscito-asono venuto-a

I wenthave goneI arrivedhave arrivedit washas been enoughthey werehave been enoughit costhas costthey costhave costI grewhave grownI becamehave becomeI wenthave gone inI enteredhave enteredI washave beenhesheit diedhas died

I was bornI lefthave leftit pleasedhas pleasedthey pleasedhave pleasedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI came backhave come backI succeededmanagedI have succeeded

managedI seemedhave seemedI stoodstayedI have stoodstayedit happenedhas happenedthey happenedhave happenedI went outhave gone outI camehave come

Unit 12 89

Note that succedere is an impersonal verb something or things can happenbut succedere cannot be used like the English lsquoI happened to be in Romersquo etc

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the auxiliary

11 The adverbs ancora (again) mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) and giagrave (already)are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (eg Ho giagrave risposto(Irsquove already replied)) When they are used in the negative ndash non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) (see also Unit 6 paragraph 2) ndash non is placed before theauxiliary

I soldi sono bastatiQuanto egrave costata quella biciLa bici egrave costata piugrave di 900 euroMolti civili sono mortiLe egrave piaciuto il film SignoraDa allora sono succese molte

cose

The money was enoughHow much did that bicycle costThe bike cost over 900 eurosMany civilians diedhave diedDid you like the film( Madam)Since then many things have happened

After that many things happened

Ieri non sono andato a scuolaLisa non egrave riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon hai telefonato a Fabia

I didnrsquot go to school yesterdayLisa didnrsquot managehasnrsquot managed to

finish that jobDidnrsquot you phoneHavenrsquot you phoned

Fabia

Sei ancora andato in biblioteca

Siete mai stati su un ghiacciaioHai piugrave visto i tuoi amiciNon abbiamo ancora preso il

bigliettoPaola non egrave mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non ha piugrave telefonato

Did you goHave you been to the libraryagain

Have you ever been on a glacierHave you (ever) seen your friends againWe havenrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola has never been to VeniceCarlo didnrsquot phonehasnrsquot (ever) phoned

again

90 Unit 12

Dovere potere volere

12 The present perfect of dovere potere and volere is normally formed withthe auxiliary avere but when they are followed by a verb which forms thepresent perfect with essere they may take essere as well if essere is used thepast participle of the verb agrees with the subject

Remember that it is never wrong to use avere

Exercise 1

Supply the correct endings for the past participles ensuring that they agreewith the subject

Example Le mie amiche sono uscitmdash uscite

1 Francesca e Filippo sono restatmdash a casa2 Giulia e Susanna non sono uscitmdash ieri sera3 Nicoletta egrave andatmdash in vacanza4 I miei amici sono arrivatmdash domenica scorsa5 Quando Fabia egrave entratmdash ha visto gli amici6 Pierluigi non egrave riuscitmdash a finire il lavoro7 Professor Rossi quando egrave arrivatmdash8 Ti egrave piaciutmdash la partita9 Quanto sono costatmdash quei libri

10 Quando egrave natmdash tua sorella

I nostri amici hanno dovuto partire I nostri amici sono dovuti partireCecilia non ha potuto andare in Irlanda Cecilia non egrave potuta andare in IrlandaPercheacute non avete voluto uscire Percheacute non siete voluti uscire

Our friends had to leave

Cecilia couldnrsquot go to Ireland

Why didnrsquot you want to go out

Ho dovuto lavorareMaria ha dovuto rimanere a casaElena non ha potuto telefonare

Elena e Sergio non hanno potutoentrare

I (have) had to workMaria (has) had to stay at homeElena couldnrsquothasnrsquot been able to

phoneElena and Sergio couldnrsquothavenrsquot

been able to get in

Unit 12 91

Exercise 2

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Anna (partire) ieri egrave partita

Exercise 3

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Il dottore (uscire) egrave uscito

1 Dove (tu comprare) quellescarpe

2 Ettore (regalare) un portafoglioa Luisa

3 Ieri sera (noi andare) a unconcerto

4 Dove (voi trovare) quei fogli5 (tu spegnere) la luce6 Quanta gente (venire) alla festa7 Signora Depaoli (portare) i

documenti8 (voi prendere) il giornale9 Ieri (io vedere) le mie amiche

10 Non (tu potere) finire il lavoro

11 (io dovere) studiare molto perquesto esame

12 Franco (uscire) tardi e (perdere)lrsquoautobus

13 Chi ti (scrivere) quella lettera14 (noi giocare) a pallone tutto il

pomeriggio15 Federica (cominciare) il nuovo

lavoro16 Lorenzo non (volere) uscire17 Dove (tu mettere) i libri18 (tu potere) parlare col professore19 (voi avere) tempo per fare tutto20 (tu leggere) il giornale di oggi

1 (noi dovere) lavorare tutto ilgiorno

2 Dove (voi mangiare)3 A che ora (tu partire)4 Chi (telefonare)5 Claudia (volere) restare a casa6 (tu conoscere) il fratello di

Piero7 Silvia (dovere) andare in

ospedale8 (voi accompagnare) Lina alla

stazione9 Chi (vincere) il campionato

10 (tu finire) i compiti

11 Non (io capire) nulla12 (tu portare) i libri in biblioteca13 Non (noi riuscire) a finire in

tempo14 Cosa (voi decidere)15 Carla (avere) la febbre16 Ugo e Marina non (venire) a cena

da noi17 Che cosa (voi fare) domenica18 Il treno (partire) con mezzrsquoora di

ritardo19 La nonna (essere) contenta di

vedermi20 Chi (tradurre) questo libro

92 Unit 12

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquove already done this exercise2 I havenrsquot finished reading the paper yet3 Stefanorsquos never been to Rome4 I didnrsquot see Roberto again after the party5 Have you [pl] already paid the bill6 Giulia hasnrsquot started working yet7 Carlo couldnrsquot work any more8 Irsquove never met her parents9 Have you [sing] written the letters already

10 Irsquove never seen that film

Unit 12 93

UNIT THIRTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns (2)

1 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the present perfect (orany other compound tense) the past participle must agree in gender andnumber with the pronoun

Particular care must be taken when the gender is not shown in the pronounas in the last three examples

Note that when the polite form is used the past participle always agreeswith the feminine pronoun La not with the gender of the person beingspoken to

lsquoHai invitato Anna e Sararsquo lsquoSigrave leho invitatersquo

lsquoAvete portato i librirsquo lsquoSigrave liabbiamo portatirsquo

Ho comprato delle rose e leho date a Luisa

lsquoChi ha scritto questa musicarsquolsquoLrsquoha scritta Bob Marleyrsquo

lsquoDove hai comprato quellescarpersquo lsquoLe ho comprate almercatorsquo

Ho 25 compagni di classe e li hoinvitati tutti alla mia festa dicompleanno

Non ci hanno invitati alla festa

Mauro mi ha accompagnata allastazione

Ti hanno invitata

lsquoDid you invite Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYes Iinvited themrsquo

lsquoHave you brought the booksrsquo lsquoYeswersquove brought themrsquo

I bought some roses and gave them toLuisa

lsquoWho wrote this musicrsquo lsquoBob Marleywrote itrsquo

lsquoWhere did you buy those shoesrsquo lsquoIbought them at the marketrsquo

I have 25 classmates and Irsquove invited allof them to my birthday party

They didnrsquot invite us to the party [weare all males or mixed males andfemales]

Mauro took me to the station [thespeaker is female]

Did they invite you [the personaddressed is female]

2 The rule given above does not apply to indirect object pronouns with thesethe past participle of the verb never changes

3 As we saw in Units 7 and 10 when a direct or indirect object pronounoccurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive

In these sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or anyother compound tense) there is no agreement of the past participle even withdirect object pronouns

However when the direct object pronoun is not attached to the infinitive thepast participle must agree with it

Signor Belli chi Lrsquoha invitataDottor Ranieri Lrsquoabbiamo vista

ieri sera alla televisione

Who invited you Mr BelliWe saw you on television last night

Dr Ranieri

lsquoHai telefonato a Anna e SararsquolsquoSigrave gli ho telefonatorsquo

Quando egrave venuta Livia le ho offertoun gelato

Ho parlato con Carla e le ho dettotutto

Non ci hanno scritto

lsquoDid you phone Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYesI phoned themrsquo

When Livia came I offered her an icecream

I spoke to Carla and told hereverything

They didnrsquot write to us

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave hodovuto leggerli tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non ho ancora potutoleggerla

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non ha volutoinvitarle alla festa

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonabbiamo saputo farlirsquo

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave li hodovuti leggere tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non lrsquoho ancora potuta leggere

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non le ha voluteinvitare alla festa

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

Unit 13 95

4 In contemporary spoken Italian (and sometimes in written Italian as well)agreement of the past participle with first and second person direct objectpronouns tends not to be observed this is the case with both singular (mi ti) andplural (ci vi) so quite often you will hear (or read) sentences like the following

However the agreement is always made with the third person pronouns (lola li le)

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the direct object pronouns making sure that thepast participle agrees

Example Ho visto Gianna e mdashmdash ho invitatmdash lrsquoho invitata

1 Ho comprato dei fiori e mdashmdash ho messmdash in un vaso2 La zia egrave partita e mdashmdash ho accompagnatmdashalla stazione3 Ho visto delle belle scarpe e mdashmdashho compratmdash4 Lara ha aperto le finestre ma Luca mdashmdash ha chiusmdash5 Mi hanno regalato dei biscotti e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdash tutti6 Luisa non hai sentito che Claudio mdashmdash ha chiamatmdash7 Gaetano ha preso il giornale e mdashmdashha lettmdash8 lsquoVi hanno invitati alla festarsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash hanno invitatmdashrsquo9 lsquoHai preso i biglietti per il concertorsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho presmdashrsquo

10 Cerchi i libri mdashmdash ho datmdash a Giovanni

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonli abbiamo saputi farersquo

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoSusanna chi ti ha accompagnatorsquo[instead of ti ha accompagnata]

lsquoMi ha accompagnato Sebastianorsquo[instead of mi ha accompagnata]

Ci ha invitato alla festa [instead ofci ha invitati]

Vi ho visto entrare al cinema[instead of vi ho visti]

lsquoSusanna who went withtook yoursquo

lsquoSebastiano went withtook mersquo

HeShe has asked us to the party

I saw you go into the cinema

Lrsquoha accompagnata SebastianoLi ho invitati alla festalsquoQuando hai visto Carla e Liviarsquo

lsquoLe ho viste ierirsquo

Sebastiano went withtook herIrsquove asked them to the partylsquoWhen did you see Carla and Liviarsquo lsquoI

saw them yesterdayrsquo

96 Unit 13

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct direct or indirect object pronounmaking sure that the past participle agrees where necessary

Examples Non ho telefonato a Maria mdashmdashmdash ho scrittmdash le ho scrittoHo comprato una minigonna rossa e mdashho indossatmdash per lafesta lrsquoho indossata

1 Ho incontrato Lina e mdashmdash ho offertmdash un caffegrave2 Cerco Paola e Gianni mdashmdash avete vistmdash3 Non ho la bicicletta perchegrave mdashmdashho imprestatmdash a Filippo4 Non ho scritto a Paola mdashmdash ho telefonatmdash5 Dove sono le chiavi Chi mdashmdash ha presmdash6 Parlo bene lrsquoitaliano e il tedesco percheacute mdashmdash ho studiatmdash per sette anni7 Ieri ho visto Alessandro e mdashmdash ha presentatmdash sua sorella8 Caterina chi mdashmdash ha accompagnatmdash ieri sera9 Oggi egrave il compleanno di Daniela mdashmdash hai mandatmdash gli auguri

10 Gianna egrave una vecchia amica mdashmdashho conosciutmdash otto anni fa11 lsquoDove avete lasciato la bicirsquo lsquomdashmdashabbiamo lasciatmdash in stradarsquo12 Hai telefonato a Giacomo Che cosa mdashmdash hai dettmdash13 lsquoHai comprato i francobollirsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashrsquo14 Signora Lrsquoho cercata ieri ma non mdashmdashho trovatmdash15 Sebastiano ha molte amiche e io mdashmdash ho conosciutmdash tutte16 lsquoCosa hai detto a Matteorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho dettmdash nullarsquo17 lsquoChi ha pagato il contorsquo lsquomdashmdashha pagatmdash mia madrersquo18 lsquoCosa hai raccontato a Giuliarsquo lsquomdashmdash ho raccontatmdash la veritagraversquo19 Professore chi mdashmdashha accompagnatmdash in aeroporto20 Questa egrave una rivista molto interessante mdashmdashho lettmdash tutta

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as shown in the example

Example Ho dovuto comprarle Le ho dovute comprare

1 Non ho saputo farli2 Ho voluto vederli3 Non abbiamo potuto chiamarlo4 Hanno potuto aiutarvi5 Abbiamo dovuto invitarla

6 Non ha saputo tradurle7 Avete dovuto accompagnarle8 Ha voluto mangiarla9 Hai potuto vederli

10 Non hanno voluto farle

Unit 13 97

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sabina hasnrsquot invited me [f]2 Who called you [fs]3 We phoned them yesterday4 I looked for you [mp] but I didnrsquot find you5 Chiara took us to the bus stop6 I sent you [pl] a postcard ndash did you receive it7 My grandparents gave me 100 euros but Irsquove already spent it [Say lsquospent

themrsquo]8 I bought two rolls and ate them9 lsquoHave you [sing] switched the light offrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove switched it offrsquo

10 Carla hasnrsquot been able to help them [f]

98 Unit 13

UNIT FOURTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns(3 stressed forms)

1 Direct and indirect object pronouns do not only have the unstressed (orweak) forms that we saw in Units 7 10 and 13 they also have stressed(or strong) forms

As usual the pronoun Lei (third person singular feminine) and the pronounLoro (third person plural) are used for the formal form

2 The stressed forms of direct object and indirect object pronouns are usedto give emphasis to the pronoun or to stress a contrast unlike unstressedforms they normally come after the verb except when used with the verbspiacere sembrare servire bastare parere and mancare (see Unit 11) Stressedforms always refer to people not objects

Direct object stressed forms Indirect object stressed formsmeteluileiLeinoivoiloroLoro

a mea tea luia leia Leia noia voia loroa Loro

Chiamo voi non loroVedo lei ma non vedo luiAspetto Francesco non teInvito solo teInvito solo Lei Signor PaoliA me non piace il caffegraveA me sembra giustoTelefono a te ma non a loroBilly scrive a noi e non ai suoi

genitoriDevi rendere i soldi a me non a mio

fratello

Irsquom callingphoning you not themI can see her but I canrsquot see himIrsquom waiting for Francesco not youIrsquom only inviting youIrsquom only inviting you Mr PaoliI donrsquot like coffeeI think itrsquos fairIt seems fair to meIrsquoll phone you but not themBilly writes to us and not his parents

Yoursquove got to give me the money notmy brother

Note the difference between the two sentences lsquoNon mi piace il caffegraversquo andlsquoA me non piace il caffegraversquo The first simply states that I donrsquot like coffee whilethe second puts the emphasis on the pronoun lsquomersquo implying that there arepeople who do like coffee but I am not one of them The same applies tothe sentences lsquoMi sembra giustorsquo and lsquoA me sembra giustorsquo the secondsentence stresses the fact that there are other people who donrsquot think itrsquosfair

3 As the above examples suggest stressed direct and indirect object pro-nouns cannot be used to refer to objects When referring to objects the nounhas to be repeated (as is also generally the case in English)

4 The stressed forms of the object pronouns are used after all prepositions(see Unit 8) not just a This is true even when no emphasis is required

When su sopra dopo contro are used with a personal pronoun the pro-noun is preceded by the preposition di (see Unit 8 paragraphs 9 20)

5 The stressed forms are also always used when the verb has two pronoundirect or indirect objects even where no emphasis is required

lsquoPrendi la frutta e il dolcersquo lsquoPrendola frutta ma non il dolcersquo [NotlsquoPrendo lei ma non luirsquo]

lsquoPorti la chitarra e i CDrsquo lsquoPorto iCD ma non la chitarrarsquo [NotlsquoPorto loro ma non leirsquo]

lsquoAre you having the fruit and thesweetrsquo lsquoIrsquom having the fruit butnot the sweetrsquo

lsquoAre you bringing the guitar and theCDsrsquo lsquoIrsquoll bring the CDs but notthe guitarrsquo [or at a pinch lsquoIrsquoll bringthem but not itrsquo]

Vengo con Lei SignoraChi di loro non vuole venirePuoi dormire da me staseraFaccio questo per tePuoi contare su di meDopo di te ci sono ioNon ho nulla contro di voi

Irsquom coming with you( Madam)Which of them doesnrsquot want to comeYou can sleep at my place tonightIrsquom doing this for youYou can count on meAfter you itrsquos memy turnIrsquove got nothing against you

Ho visto te e lui in cittagrave [not Ti e lo hovisto in cittagrave]

Invito voi e loro [not Vi e li invito]Scrive a te e a me [not Ti e mi scrive]Regaliamo fiori a loro e a lei [not

Gli e le regaliamo fiori]

I saw you and him in town

Irsquom inviting you and themHe writes to you and meWersquore giving flowers to them and

her

100 Unit 14

6 Stressed forms are always used after anchepure (also too) neanchenemmenoneppure (not even neither) come (as like) quanto (as much as)eccetto (che)meno (che)tranne (che)salvo (che) (except but)

The forms eccetto chemeno chetranne chesalvo che are used when there is apreposition before the pronoun

7 Note that when the stressed forms of the direct object pronouns are used ina sentence with the verb in a compound tense (see Unit 13 paragraph 1) thepast participle does not agree with the pronoun

Exercise 1

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones

Examples Mario chiama (them) non (you [pl]) loro voi La nonna hadato i soldi a (you [sing]) e non a (me) te me

1 Prima accompagno (her) a scuola poi (you [sing]) in palestra2 Dovete invitare anche (them)3 Non egrave venuto nessuno nemmeno (her)4 Hanno invitato (us) e non (you [pl])5 Allrsquoesame hanno promosso tutti tranne (me)6 Credo a tutti meno che a (him)

Invito anche voiDevi fare come meMaria lavora quanto teDevi chiedere anche a noiNon credo neppure a luiVengono tutti meno lui

Faccio questo per tutti meno cheper lei

Anna telefona a tutti salvo che aloro

Sandro esce con tutti salvo checon noi

Sono tutti contro di noi

Irsquom inviting you as wellYou should do as I dodo it like meMaria works as much as you (do)You have to ask us as wellI donrsquot believe him eitherTheyrsquore all coming except him

Everyone but himrsquos comingIrsquom doingIrsquoll do this for everyone

exceptbut herAnna phones everyone exceptbut

themSandro goes out with everybody

exceptbut usThey are all against us

Ho chiamato voi non loroHo visto lei ma non ho visto luiLucia ha invitato loro ma non lui

I called you not themI saw her but I didnrsquot see himLucia has invited them but not him

Unit 14 101

7 Carla vuole bene a (me) quanto a (you [sing])8 A (you [polite]) credo Professore9 Voglio presentare i miei amici anche a (you [pl])

10 A (her) come a (them) non sembra giusto

Exercise 2

Translate the following sentences where necessary underlining the em-phasised words

Examples Dovete invitare anche me You should invite me as welltoo Ame manca il sole a te no Irsquom missing the sun ndash arenrsquot you orI miss the sun ndash donrsquot you

1 Nessuno suona la batteria come me2 Tutti gli studenti hanno fatto il compito meno lui3 Sergio chiama te non me4 Accompagno anche te5 Capisco quanto te6 Mauro dice la veritagrave a tutti tranne che a me7 Dovete telefonare anche a me8 Claudia impresta i dischi a noi non a voi9 Do il mio indirizzo a tutti salvo che a lei

10 Regalo un libro a lei e un disco a lui

Exercise 3

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones as you did inExercise 1

1 Chi di (you [pl]) non puograve venire alla festa2 Allrsquoesame orale sono passato subito dopo di (him)3 Sopra di (them) abita una signora molto gentile4 Abbiamo deciso fra (us)5 Esci con (her) anche stasera

102 Unit 14

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian using the stressed form of the pronouns

1 Everyonersquos against me2 Are you [sing] coming with me3 Irsquove bought a present for you [sing]4 You [sing] canrsquot count on him5 Can I sleep at your [pl] place tonight

Unit 14 103

UNIT FIFTEENRelative pronouns

1 The Italian relative pronouns correspond to the English lsquowhorsquo lsquowhichrsquolsquothatrsquo lsquowhomrsquo lsquowhosersquo They have two forms invariable (che cui) and vari-able (il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp])

The invariable forms which can replace all nouns (masculine feminine sin-gular plural) are the most frequently used

2 The invariable form che is used for masculine feminine singular and pluralnouns it can be either a subject or a direct object

Il treno che prendo la mattina egravesempre molto affollato

La storia che ho letto egrave stranaLa ragazza chela quale ha tele-

fonato ha bisogno di un favoreGli amici chei quali sono venuti a

trovarmi sono irlandesiHai ancora le chiavi che ti ho dato

Il ragazzo con cuicol quale esci egravemolto simpatico

La ragazza a cuialla quale ho datoi libri egrave una mia amica

The train (that) I get in the morning isalways very crowded

The story (that) Irsquove read is strangeThe girl who phoned needs a favour

The friends who came to see me areIrish

Have you still got the keys (that) I gaveyou

The boy with whom you are going outyoursquore going out with is very nice

The girl to whom I gave the booksIgave the books to is a friend of mine

Il gruppo che [subject ms] suonastasera egrave molto conosciuto

Il cantante che [direct object ms]abbiamo sentito ieri sera non egravemolto bravo

Le scarpe che [direct object fp] hocomprato sono care

The group who are playing tonightare very well known

The singer (whom) we heard last nightisnrsquot very good

The shoes (that) I bought areexpensive

In Italian collective nouns (eg il gruppo lsquothe grouprsquo la squadra lsquothesquadteamrsquo) are always followed by the singular of the verb never the plural

3 When a preposition is needed before the invariable relative pronoun (eg ifit stands for an indirect object) the form used is cui

The preposition a can sometimes be omitted before cui The Italian for lsquothe reasonreasons whyrsquo is always la ragionele ragioni percui never percheacute

4 The variable forms il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp] areused as subject indirect object and ndash very rarely ndash as direct object They mustagree in gender and number with the noun they replace

Non conosco i ragazzi che [subjectmp] sono appena arrivati

I donrsquot know the boys who have justarrived

Lo zio a cui scrivo sempre arrivadomani

La vicina per cui ho fatto la spesami ha invitato a cena

Non conosci la persona (a) cui devotelefonare

Il dentista da cui vado egrave moltobravo

Nella cittagrave in cui abito ci sono molticinema

Gli amici con cui esco sono italianiNon capisco la ragione per cui

Paola non egrave venutaNon ho ancora letto le notizie di cui

parli

The uncle I always write toto whom Ialways write is arriving tomorrow

The neighbour I went shopping forforwhom I went shopping has invitedme to dinner

You donrsquot know the person (that) Ihave to phone

The dentist I go to is very good

There are a lot of cinemas in the townin which I live

The friends I go out with are ItalianI donrsquot understand (the reason) why

Paola didnrsquot comeI havenrsquot read the news yoursquore talking

about yet

Paolo il quale egrave sempre in ritardonon egrave ancora arrivato

Ho parlato con una ragazza la qualemi ha dato tutte le informazioni

Tullio e Anna sono amici i quali miinvitano spesso

Ci sono due signore le quali nonhanno prenotato

Lrsquoamica con la quale sono andatain vacanza si chiama Elisa

Paolo who is always late still hasnrsquotarrived

I spoke to a girl who gave me all theinformation

Tullio and Anna are friends who ofteninvite me round

There are two ladies who havenrsquotbooked

The friend with whom I went onholidayI went away with is calledElisa

Unit 15 105

Remember to combine the definite article with the preposition (see Unit 8paragraph 2) when using the variable forms

5 When a relative pronoun is preceded by in or a and these denote place itis often replaced in contemporary Italian by the adverb dove Da dove or didove can be used when the relative pronoun is preceded by the prepositionda

6 The relative pronouns (both variable and invariable) can be used in con-junction with the demonstrative pronouns colui and quello

Colui can only refer to people It has three forms colui [ms] colei [fs]coloro [mp and fp] these combine with checui or il qualela qualei qualilequali as follows

Quello has four forms quello [ms] quella [fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp]these only combine with checui and can refer to both objects andpeople

The use of quello che etc to refer to a person is rather informal unlike coluichecolui il quale etc which are quite formal

Questa egrave lrsquoamica della quale ti hoparlato

Lrsquoinsegnante al quale ho parlato egravestato molto gentile

This is the friend I told you about

The teacher I spoke to was very kind

Milano egrave la cittagrave dove [for in cui]vive Walter

Questo egrave il negozio dove [for in cui]lavora Pia

La stazione dove [for a cui] deveandare non egrave lontana da qui

La scuola da dovedi dove [for dacui] viene Enrico egrave molto buona

Milan is the city where Walter lives

This is the shop where Pia works

The station hersquos got to go to isnrsquot farfrom here

The school Enrico went to [lit comesfrom] is very good

colui che or colui il qualecolei che or colei la qualecoloro che or coloro i qualicoloro le quali

he whoshe whothose who

quello chequella chequelli chequelle che

that which he who the one whichwhothat which she who the one whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwho

106 Unit 15

7 When referring to people the pronoun chi (who anyone who the personpeople who) is often used instead of the more formal lsquodouble relativersquo (coluicoleicoloro che colui il quale etc) Chi is always used with the verb in thethird person singular past participles and adjectives are always in the mascu-line singular

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples La ragazza mdashmdash ho invitato egrave mia cugina che Il ragazzoa mdashmdash devo telefonare egrave Matteo cui

1 Il film mdashmdash mi hai consigliato egrave molto bello2 La palestra in mdashmdash vado non egrave lontana

Colui che pensa questo sbagliaQuello che pensa questo sbagliaPossono entrare solo coloro che

coloro i quali hanno lrsquoinvitoPossono entrare solo quelli che

hanno lrsquoinvitoColoro a cuiai quali scrivo sono

amici di mio fratelloQuelli a cui scrivo sono amici di

mio fratelloQuelli che sono sul tavolo sono i

libri di TullioCi sono due case quella in cui abita

Giorgio egrave la piugrave grande

He who thinks this is wrongAnyone who thinks this is wrongOnly those who have an invitation

may comego inOnly people with an invitation can

comego inThose Irsquom writing to are friends of my

brother(rsquos)The people Irsquom writing to are friends

of my brother(rsquos)ThoseThe ones (which are) on the

table are Tulliorsquos booksThere are two houses the one Giorgio

lives in is the bigger

Chi pensa questo sbagliaPuograve entrare solo chi ha lrsquoinvito

Non ho visto chi egrave entratoEsco con chi mi invita

Lavoro per chi mi pagaRipeto la spiegazione per chi

non ha capitoHai risposto a chi ti ha scritto

Anyone who thinks this is wrongOnly people who have an invitation can

come ingo inI didnrsquot see who came inwent inIrsquoll go out with anyone who invitesasks

meIrsquoll work for anyone who pays meIrsquoll repeat the explanation for those

anyone who didnrsquot understandHave you replied to the personpeople

who wrote to you

Unit 15 107

3 I bambini mdashmdash sono venuti sono i miei cugini4 Non conosco le persone con mdashmdash esci5 La torta mdashmdash ha fatto tua mamma egrave molto buona6 Quando mi rendi i CD mdashmdash ti ho imprestato7 Lrsquoargomento di mdashmdash parla Paolo non mi interessa8 La ragione per mdashmdash non siamo venuti egrave semplice9 La cittagrave in mdashmdash sono nato non egrave molto grande

10 Come egrave andato lrsquoesame mdashmdash hai dato ieri

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples Hai comprato le cose mdashmdash ti ho chiesto che La discotecain mdashmdash andiamo egrave in centro cui

1 Nella biblioteca in mdashmdash vado a studiare fa sempre freddo2 Gli amici da mdashmdash siamo andati sono molto simpatici3 La stanza in mdashmdash dorme Luigi egrave la piugrave luminosa4 Non mi piace la musica mdashmdash ascolti tu5 Hai giagrave letto il libro mdashmdash ti hanno regalato6 Gli esercizi mdashmdash avete fatto sono tutti giusti7 Quello egrave il muro su mdashmdash vogliamo mettere i poster8 Vuoi leggere la lettera mdashmdash mi ha scritto Angela9 Il medico da mdashmdash vanno i miei genitori egrave molto giovane

10 Di chi egrave la bici con mdashmdash sei arrivato

Exercise 3

Replace che and cui with il quale la quale i quali or le quali (remember tocombine the definite article and the preposition where necessary)

Example Gli amici da cui andiamo in vacanza sono simpatici dai quali

1 Mia madre che egrave infermiera lavora in un ospedale2 Chi egrave la ragazza con cui sei uscito3 Gli esami di cui ha parlato il professore sono a giugno4 Il campeggio in cui siamo stati egrave vicino al mare5 Tutte le ragazze a cui ho telefonato hanno accettato lrsquoinvito6 Franco che egrave un bravo attore ha trovato lavoro in un teatro7 Il parrucchiere da cui vado egrave un amico8 Le cugine di Chiara che abitano vicino a me sono simpatiche

108 Unit 15

9 Le amiche di cui ti ho parlato arrivano domani10 I nostri amici che sono tutti italiani non parlano inglese

Exercise 4

Supply the correct double relative pronoun (coluicoleicoloro che)

Example mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno biglietti possono entrare coloro che

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha scritto questo libro egrave la sorella di Piero2 mdashmdashmdashmdash ci hanno invitati sono amici di Luisa3 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha vinto il premio egrave Antonio4 mdashmdashmdashmdash dagrave le informazioni deve parlare inglese e spagnolo5 mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno parlato sono persone molto importanti

Exercise 5

Complete using the correct pronouns (chi or quelloquellaquelliquelle che)

Examples mdashmdash non ha il biglietto non entra chi mdashmdash hai fatto non sonoerrori gravi quelli che

1 Non conosco mdashmdash ha scritto questa lettera2 La spiegazione egrave mdashmdash ti ho dato3 Il controllore egrave mdashmdash controlla i biglietti4 Vince il premio mdashmdash finisce per primo5 mdashmdash ti ho imprestato sono i libri che devi leggere6 mdashmdash abbiamo comprato egrave unrsquoauto economica7 mdashmdash fa la spesa al mercato spende meno8 mdashmdash abbiamo prenotato egrave un hotel di lusso9 mdashmdash non puograve venire deve telefonare per avvertire

10 mdashmdash ho visto in quel negozio sono scarpe molto belle

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian

1 The book which I want to buy is too expensive2 The lady I spoke to is German3 The people who phoned live in America4 The town I live in isnrsquot very big

Unit 15 109

5 Anyone who wants to go to university must be able to read and write6 Paolo whorsquos lost his mobile is not happy7 I like that song but I prefer the ones we heard last night8 This is Fabiorsquos sister who lent me her bike9 Did you [sing] see who ate the peaches

10 Whorsquos the man you [pl] sold the tickets to

110 Unit 15

UNIT SIXTEENThe imperfect tense

1 The imperfect is together with the present perfect one of the most usedpast tenses in Italian It is called lsquoimperfectrsquo because generally speakingthere is no reference to the beginning or end of the action it expresseseither the length of time the action lasted is not relevant or the action isseen as the background to another action or two actions took place at thesame time and lasted the same length of time Here are some typicalexamples

As you can see from the examples the Italian imperfect corresponds to sev-eral different English forms We will look at the different meanings and usesof this tense but first we will look at its forms

The forms of the imperfect

2 The forms of the imperfect are very regular Here are the endings for thethree conjugations (-are -ere -ire)

Mio nonno lavorava in India

Mia nonna era infermieraMentre io entravo Elena usciva

Quando ho cominciato la scuolaavevo cinque anni

Elena egrave arrivata mentre io uscivoClaudia parlava con unrsquoamica

quando egrave arrivato lrsquoautobusQuando ero al mare nuotavo tutti i

giorni

My grandfather used to work inIndia

My grandmother was a nurseAs I was going in Elena was coming

outWhen I started school I was five

Elena arrived as I was going outClaudia was talking to a friend when

the bus arrivedWhen I was at the seaside I wentused

to go swimming every day

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

The verb avere also follows this same regular pattern

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-avo-avi-ava-avamo-avate-avano

-ere-evo-evi-eva-evamo-evate-evano

-ire-ivo-ivi-iva-ivamo-ivate-ivano

Parlareparlavoparlaviparlavaparlavamoparlavateparlavano

To speakI spokewas speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakhesheit spokewas speakingused to speakwe spokewere speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakthey spokewere speakingused to speak

Prendereprendevoprendeviprendevaprendevamoprendevateprendevano

To takegetI tookwas takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takehesheit tookwas takingused to takewe tookwere takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takethey tookwere takingused to take

avevoaveviavevaavevamoavevateavevano

I hadwas havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havehesheit hadwas havingused to havewe hadwere havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havethey hadwere havingused to have

Partirepartivopartivipartivapartivamo

To leaveI leftwas leavingused to leaveyou leftwere leavingused to leavehesheit leftwas leavingused to leavewe leftwere leavingused to leave

partivatepartivano

you leftwere leavingused to leavethey leftwere leavingused to leave

112 Unit 16

3 Not many verbs are irregular in the imperfect Essere is one

Like the present the imperfect of essere can be used with the pronoun ci (seeUnit 4) crsquoera (there was) crsquoerano (there were)

Other irregular verbs are bere dire and fare

Mio nonno parlava molto benelrsquoitaliano

Mentre prendevamo il caffegrave egravesuonato il telefono

Quando Carla aveva 5 anni abitavaa Roma

Sono arrivato quando il trenopartiva

Mio fratello andava a scuola inautobus

Di solito Gianni e sua sorellaandavano al cinema insieme

Quando Maurizio lavorava in quelsupermercato lo pagavanopochissimo

Mentre Sebastiano leggeva ilgiornale io ho finito i compiti

My grandfather spoke Italian verywell

While we were having coffee thetelephone rang

When Carla was five she lived inRome

I arrived as the train was leaving

My brother used to go to school bybus

Usually Gianni and his sister went tothe cinema together

When Maurizio worked in thatsupermarket they paid him verylittle

While Sebastiano was reading thepaper I finished my homework

eroerieraeravamoeravateerano

I wasused to beyou wereused to behesheit wasused to bewe wereused to beyou wereused to bethey wereused to be

bevevobevevibevevabevevamobevevatebevevano

I drankwas drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkhesheit drankwas drinkingused to drinkwe drankwere drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkthey drankwere drinkingused to drink

dicevodicevi

I saidwas sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to say

dicevadicevamodicevatedicevano

hesheit saidwas sayingused to saywe saidwere sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to saythey saidwere sayingused to say

Unit 16 113

All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

4 The negative is formed as usual by putting non before the verb

facevofacevifacevafacevamofacevatefacevano

I didwas doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dohesheit didwas doingused to dowe didwere doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dothey didwere doingused to do

-ucevo

-ucevi

-uceva

-ucevamo

-ucevate

-ucevano

traducevo

traducevi

traduceva

traducevamo

traducevate

traducevano

I translatedwas translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

hesheit translatedwas translatingused totranslate

we translatedwere translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

they translatedwere translatingused totranslate

Quando ero bambino abitavo aParma

Ieri il tempo era belloAl concerto crsquoerano piugrave di 900

personeMia sorella beveva solo acqua

minerale ora beve anche acquadi rubinetto

Cosa diceviCosa faceva Signora quando non

lavoravaLrsquointerprete traduceva ma nessuno

ascoltava

When I was a child I lived in Parma

Yesterday the weather was lovelyThere were more than 900 people at

the concertMy sister only used to drink mineral

water now she drinks tap water aswell

What were you sayingWhat did you do( Madam) when you

werenrsquot workingdidnrsquot workThe interpreter was translating but

nobody was listening

Di solito la domenica non uscivoQuando hai telefonato non facevo

niente di speciale

I didnrsquot usually go out on SundaysWhen you phoned I wasnrsquot doing

anything special

114 Unit 16

Use of the imperfect

5 The imperfect is used for descriptions of situations in the past when it isnot necessary (or important) to say how long an action lasted This generallyhappens with verbs like essere sembrare and avere and with verbs expressingwill desire or intention possibility or ability but it can happen with otherverbs as well

6 The imperfect is also used to express actions which were habitual or hap-pened repeatedly in the past

7 Since the imperfect is used when it is not relevant how long the actionlasted it is not used when it is stated how many times or for how longsomething happened

Crsquoerano molte persone cheaspettavano il treno

Ieri sera sembravi molto stancoMia nonna era molto alta e aveva i

capelli bianchiFaceva freddo in montagnaCosa voleviDue anni fa abitavo a MilanoSuo padre era medico

There were a lot of people (who were)waiting for the train

You looked very tired last nightMy grandmother was very tall and

had white hairWas it cold in the mountainsWhat did you wantwere you wantingTwo years ago I was living in MilanHis father was a doctor

Lrsquoestate scorsa giocavamo semprea tennis

Quando ero in vacanza andavo alcinema tutti i giorni

Tutte le mattine a colazione Giuliaprendeva solo del caffegrave

Cenavamo alle otto

Last summer we played tennis all thetime

When I was on holiday I went to thecinema every day

Every morning Giulia just had coffeefor breakfast

We used to have dinner at eight

Lrsquoestate scorsa sono andato alcinema 25 volte

Last summer I went to the cinema 25times

Ha fatto molto freddo per due giorniGiulia ha lavorato qui da gennaio a

giugnoHo abitato a Milano per due anniIeri abbiamo lavorato tutto il giornoIeri sono stato in biblioteca dalle

nove alle undici

It was very cold for two daysGiulia worked here from January to

JuneI lived in Milan for two yearsYesterday we worked all dayYesterday I was in the library from

nine till 11

Unit 16 115

8 When a sentence refers to two or more events which happened in the pastit is helpful to think in terms of lsquoforegroundrsquo and lsquobackgroundrsquo as in thesetwo English examples lsquoWhile I was doing the dishes [continuous back-ground] I heard [foreground] the doorbellrsquo lsquoI saw [foreground] Juve a coupleof times when I was [continuous background] in Turinrsquo In Italian in caseslike these the imperfect expresses the continuous lsquobackgroundrsquo action againstwhich the lsquoforegroundrsquo action is seen to occur

Note that mentre (while) in the past is always followed by the imperfect

If the two events happened at the same time and lasted for the same length oftime then both verbs are in the imperfect

Mentre dormivate ho preparato lacolazione

Mia madre ha conosciuto mio padrequando abitava a Firenze

Mauro non ha preso lrsquoombrelloanche se pioveva

Marco ha telefonato quando eravateal cinema

Non sono uscita percheacute pioveva

While you were sleepingasleep Iprepared breakfast

My mother met my father when shewas living in Florence

Mauro didnrsquot take the umbrella eventhough it was raining

Marco phoned when you were at thecinema

I didnrsquot go out because it was raining

Mentre noi facevamo il compito dimatematica Carla ripassavafilosofia

Mentre Alessandro preparava lacena Claudia leggeva il giornale

Quando io lavoravo alsupermercato mia sorellalavorava in un cinema

While we were doing our mathshomework Carla was revisingphilosophy

While Alessandro was preparingdinner Claudia was reading thenewspaper

When I worked in the supermarketmy sister worked in a cinema

Il gatto miagolava percheacute avevafame

The cat was miaowing because it washungry

116 Unit 16

Exercise 1

Supply the imperfect of the verb in brackets

Example Silvio (lavorare) molto lavorava

Exercise 2

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verb in brackets

Examples (io comprare) la macchina due anni fa ho comprato Drsquoestate(noi andare) in spiaggia ogni mattina andavamo

1 Elena a che ora (tu partire) ieri2 Chi (essere) Dante Alighieri3 (io studiare) per due ore4 Di solito (noi mangiare) in mensa5 Claudia (rimanere) in casa tutto il giorno6 Mia nonna (avere) gli occhi azzurri7 Nicoletta e Luigina non (sembrare) sorelle8 Ieri Andrea (spendere) 150 euro9 Signora dove (andare) in vacanza lrsquoanno scorso

10 I loro amici (essere) sempre allegri

1 Il nonno di Piero (parlare) seilingue

2 Laura (passare) sempre lrsquoestateal mare

3 Che lavoro (fare) tua nonna4 Mentre (io studiare) Maria

(riposare)5 Il treno (partire) sempre in

ritardo6 Dove (lavorare) Nicola7 Paolo non (dire) mai la veritagrave8 Ieri (fare) freddo9 Da bambini (noi abitare) in

campagna

10 (voi essere) stanchi ieri sera11 (loro andare) in piscina tutti i

giorni12 Lei (essere) infermiera Signora13 Non (noi uscire) mai di domenica14 (tu sapere) la veritagrave15 (io conoscere) bene suo cugino16 Paolo (amare) Francesca17 (voi dormire) ancora18 I miei amici (essere) studenti19 (tu avere) fame20 (loro dovere) partire

Unit 16 117

Exercise 3

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verbs inbrackets

Example Mentre (noi guardare) la televisione Isabella (ascoltare) laradio guardavamo ascoltava

1 Marco (arrivare) tardi percheacute il treno (essere) in ritardo2 (io conoscere) Susanna quando (io abitare) a Napoli3 Quanti anni (tu avere) quando (tu cominciare) a lavorare4 Sergio (telefonare) proprio mentre (io fare) il bagno5 Anna e Giacomo (venire) a piedi percheacute lrsquoauto (essere) guasta6 Non (loro fare) la spesa percheacute non (loro sapere) cosa comprare7 Cosa (loro dire) quando (loro vedere) Gianni ieri sera8 Massimo non (venire) alla festa percheacute (avere) mal di testa9 (noi arrivare) alla stazione proprio mentre il treno (partire)

10 (io imprestare) la bici a Giulia percheacute la sua (essere) rotta

Exercise 4

Put the text into a past tense changing the verbs in italics to either the presentperfect or the imperfect

Sabato sera in un locale del centro suona un gruppo rock che piace molto aMassimo cosigrave i miei amici e io decidiamo di andare a questo concerto Arrivi-amo davanti al locale con molto anticipo mancano tre ore allrsquoinizio ma cisono giagrave molte persone Massimo egrave molto impaziente Dopo una mezzrsquooramentre aspettiamo sentiamo suonare il cellulare di Massimo e lui rispondeVediamo che Massimo egrave preoccupato e quando finisce di parlare ci spiega Egravesuo padre che lo chiama percheacute ha bisogno di aiuto la sua auto egrave guasta e nonsa come tornare a casa Massimo parte subito per andare a prenderlo eaccompagnarlo a casa anche se ha paura di perdere il concerto Per fortunaperograve Massimo riesce a tornare dopo unrsquoora proprio mentre aprono le porte

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 How long did you [sing] spend in Bologna2 We went to the cinema last night3 You [pl] seemed happy

118 Unit 16

4 Gemmarsquos father was a sailor5 Claudia and Monica didnrsquot come on holiday with us this time6 My parents usually went out at eight7 My father worked in India for three years8 What time did you [pl] get the bus yesterday morning9 Last year we did gym on Monday mornings

10 Where did you [sing] buy those shoes11 I didnrsquot call you [sing] because you were asleep12 When you [pl] were living in London I was living in Paris13 How old was Susanna when she went to university14 While I was watching the television Anna came in and switched it off15 Paolo and Giulia didnrsquot come because Paolo was too tired

Unit 16 119

UNIT SEVENTEENThe pronouns ne and ci

The pronoun ne

1 The pronoun ne is used to refer to a part of a whole corresponding to lsquoof it-themrsquo as in lsquosome of itthemrsquo lsquotwo of themrsquo etc It is normally used togetherwith quantities whether expressed in numbers or in any other way (kiloslitres metres slices cups lsquotoo muchlittlersquo lsquoenoughrsquo etc) it is always placedbefore the verb

Note however that ne is not used in cases where English would say lsquoall of itrsquolsquoall of themrsquo etc Compare the following examples

La torta era molto buona e neho mangiate due fette

lsquoQuanti fratelli hairsquo lsquoNe ho duersquo

lsquoHa degli euro Signor WattrsquolsquoSigrave ne ho 50rsquo

lsquoHai tutti i CD di Frank ZapparsquolsquoNo ne ho solo trersquo

lsquoMangi la fruttarsquo lsquoSigrave ne mangiomoltarsquo

lsquoHai abbastanza soldirsquo lsquoSigrave ne hoabbastanzarsquo

Se crsquoegrave ancora del te ne prendounrsquoaltra tazza

Se compri le mele ne prendi unchilo anche per me

lsquoVolete ancora del cioccolatorsquolsquoNo grazie non ne vogliamopiugraversquo

The cake was very good and I ate twoslices (of it)

lsquoHow many brothers and sisters do youhaversquo lsquoI have two (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got any euros Mr WattrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got 50 (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got all Frank Zapparsquos CDsrsquolsquoNo Irsquove only got three (of them)rsquo

lsquoDo you eat fruitrsquo lsquoYes I eat a lot (ofit)rsquo

lsquoHave you got enough moneyrsquo lsquoYes Ihave enough (of it)rsquo

If therersquos still some tea Irsquoll haveanother cup (of it)

If yoursquore buying apples will you get akilo (of them) for me as well

lsquoDo you want some more chocolatersquolsquoNo thanks we donrsquot want anymore (of it)rsquo

2 The pronoun ne is invariable and can thus replace any noun whethermasculine feminine singular or plural

3 As we have seen ne is used when referring to partial quantities howeverexpressed Some expressions which require the use of ne are the adverbabbastanza (enoughquite) the adjectives molto poco troppo alcunialcune(someany (plural) ) and the pronoun qualcunoqualcuna (someany) which isalways singular

4 Ne is also used in negative expressions such as non affatto (not atall) non nessunonessuna (not anyone) non piugrave (not any more)

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliounorsquo

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoLi vogliotuttirsquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiate duersquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoLeho mangiate tuttersquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want one (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want them allall of themrsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atetwo (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atethem allall of themrsquo

lsquoQuanto zucchero [ms] comprirsquolsquoNe compro due chilirsquo

lsquoQuanta farina [fs] comprirsquo lsquoNecompro solo mezzo chilorsquo

lsquoQuanti amici [mp] invitirsquo lsquoNeinvito trersquo

lsquoQuante mele [fp] vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliotre chilirsquo

lsquoHow much sugar are you buyingrsquolsquoIrsquom getting two kilosrsquo

lsquoHow much flour are you going togetrsquo lsquoIrsquom only getting half a kilorsquo

lsquoHow many friends are you invitingrsquolsquoIrsquom inviting threersquo

lsquoHow many apples do you wantrsquo lsquoIwant three kilosrsquo

Non ho comprato del pane percheacute neho ancora abbastanza

lsquoHai molti CDrsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho moltirsquo

lsquoHai tutti i libri che ti servonorsquo lsquoNone ho solo alcunirsquo

Quei biscotti sono molto buoni neprendo ancora qualcuno

I didnrsquot buy any bread because Irsquovestill got enough

lsquoHave you got many CDsrsquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot a lotrsquo

lsquoHave you got all the books youneedrsquo lsquoNo Irsquove only got a fewrsquo

Those biscuits are very good Irsquoll havesome more

lsquoBevi molto caffegraversquo lsquoNo non ne bevoaffattorsquo

Ho invitato dieci amici ma non neegrave venuto nessuno

lsquoDo you drink much coffeersquo lsquoNo Idonrsquot drink it at allrsquo

I invited ten friends but none of themcame

Unit 17 121

As these examples show the negative is formed by putting non before ne

Agreement of the past participle

When ne is used with a verb in the present perfect (or any other compoundtense) there are certain rules governing the agreement of the pastparticiple

5 When ne is used in a sentence where the quantity is expressed by a numberthe past participle must agree in gender with the noun it replaces and innumber (ie singular or plural) with the quantity of what ne stands for Takethis question

In the answer to this question the ending of comprato will depend on thegender of rivista (feminine) and on whether you bought one magazine(singular) or more than one (plural)

The same applies when ne replaces a masculine noun

Here the ending of fatto must be masculine but whether it is singular orplural will depend on how many exercises have been done

The same rule applies when the quantity is expressed by qualcunoqualcuna(remember that this is always singular) or alcunialcune (plural)

lsquoHai ancora soldirsquo lsquoNo non ne hopiugraversquo

lsquoHave you still got moneyrsquo lsquoNo Irsquovegot none leftrsquo

Quante riviste hai comprato How many magazines did you buy

Ne ho comprata una [fs]Ne ho comprate due [fp]

I bought oneI bought two

Quanti esercizi [m] avete fatto How many exercises haveyou done

Ne abbiamo fatto uno solo [ms]Ne abbiamo fatti quattro [mp]

Wersquove only done oneWersquove done four

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatto solo qualcuno

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatti solo alcuni

I was supposed to do a lot of exercisesbut I only did a few

122 Unit 17

6 When the quantity is expressed by an adverb or an adjective the pastparticiple agrees with the noun replaced by ne

7 When the quantity is expressed by a noun the past participle canagree either with the quantity (this is more usual) or with the noun replacedby ne

8 When ne occurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive Insuch cases when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any other com-pound tense) the past participle does not agree

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprata qualcunarsquo

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprate alcunersquo

lsquoHow many magazines did you buyrsquolsquoI bought a fewrsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza pane [ms]rsquolsquoSigrave ne ho comprato abbastanzarsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza patatine[fp]rsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho comprate abbastanzarsquo

lsquoQuanta pasta [fs] avete mangiatorsquolsquoNe abbiamo mangiata moltarsquo

lsquoQuante persone [fp] hai invitatorsquolsquoNe ho invitate pochersquo

lsquoQuanti esercizi [mp] hai fattorsquolsquoNe ho fatti alcunirsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough breadrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough crispsrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHow much pasta did you eatrsquolsquoWe ate a lotrsquo

lsquoHow many people did you invitersquolsquoI only invited a fewrsquo

lsquoHow many exercises did you dorsquolsquoI did a fewrsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuta una tazza [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave [ms] hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuto una tazzarsquo

lsquoQuanto pane hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiata una fetta [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto pane [ms] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiato una fettarsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiato un pacchetto [ms]rsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle [fp] hai mangiatorsquolsquoNe ho mangiate un pacchettorsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe homangiata una scatola [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti [mp] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiati una scatolarsquo

lsquoHow much coffee did you drinkrsquolsquoI drank a cuprsquo

lsquoHow much bread did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a slicersquo

lsquoHow many sweets did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a packetrsquo

lsquoHow many biscuits did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a boxrsquo

Unit 17 123

However if ne is not attached to the infinitive the past participle must agreein the same way as in the rules given in paragraphs 5ndash7

9 Another use of ne is is to replace a noun (or a pronoun) preceded by thepreposition di (as in Parliamo del libro di Primo Levi lsquoWersquore talking aboutPrimo Levirsquos bookrsquo)

When ne is used in this way the past participle does not agreee

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoHo dovutoleggerne trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ho potutofarne solo alcuni

Il compito era difficile e ho saputofarne solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The homework was difficult and Icould only do part of it

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoNe ho dovutileggere trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ne hopotuti fare solo alcuni

Gli esercizi erano difficili e ne ho saputa fare solo una parte [fs]

Gli esercizi [mp] erano difficili e ne ho saputi fare solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The exercises were difficult and Icould only do part of them

Conosco questo film ieri neparlavano alla radio

Egrave un libro di successo tutti neparlano

Hai visto lo spettacolo Che nepensi

Ha molti problemi ma non neparla mai

I know this film they were talkingabout it on the radio yesterday

Itrsquos a popular book everybodyrsquostalking about it

Did you see the show What do youthink of it

He has a lot of problems but henever talks about them

Marco aveva dei problemi e ne haparlato con Anna

Questi sono libri di successo e tuttine hanno parlato

Marco had problems and talkedabout them with Anna

These are popular books andeverybodyrsquos been talking aboutthem

124 Unit 17

The pronoun ci

10 The pronoun ci is used to replace a noun denoting a place it correspondsto the English lsquotherersquo We have already seen this pronoun used with the verbessere in expressions like crsquoegrave and ci sono (Unit 4) but it can be used with otherverbs always preceding them

As the examples suggest ci is used more often in this kind of sentence thanlsquotherersquo is in English

11 Ci always comes before the verb Like the other unstressed pronounsthough it can be attached to the infinitive of a verb (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere)

Exercise 1

Supply the pronoun ne making sure that the past participle and the adjectiveor pronoun agree where necessary

Examples lsquoQuante lettere hai scrittorsquo lsquo mdashmdash ho scrittmdashmdash alcunmdashmdashrsquo Neho scritte alcune Mi piacciono i biscotti e mdashmdash homangiatmdashmdash moltmdashmdash ne ho mangiati molti lsquoQuanti libri hailettorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo Non ne ho lettonessuno

1 lsquoQuante cartoline hai mandatorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho mandatmdashmdash 12rsquo2 lsquoHai comprato i biscottirsquo lsquo Sigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashmdash una scatolarsquo

lsquoQuando vai in bibliotecarsquo lsquoCi vadooggi pomeriggiorsquo

Conosco bene Bologna ci ho passatodue anni

lsquoOgni quanto va in palestrarsquo lsquoNon civado mairsquo

lsquoWhen are you going to the libraryrsquolsquoIrsquom going (there) this afternoonrsquo

I know Bologna well I spent twoyears there

lsquoHow often do you go to the gymrsquo lsquoInever go (there)rsquo

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non sapevo andarci

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non ci sapevo andare

Vado al mercato vuoi venirci anche tu

Vado al mercato ci vuoi venire anche tu

I had to go to Fiesole but I didnrsquotknow how to get there

Irsquom going to the market would youlike to come (as well)

Unit 17 125

3 lsquoHai fatto i compitirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash la metagraversquo4 lsquoQuante persone sono venutersquo lsquomdashmdash sono venutmdashmdash pochmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoQuanti errori hai fattorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoHai chiuso tutte le finestrersquo lsquoNo mdashmdash ho lasciatmdashmdash una apertmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoQuanti amici hanno invitatorsquo lsquomdashmdash hanno invitatmdashmdash moltmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash duersquo9 lsquoQuanta pasta avete compratorsquo lsquomdashmdash abbiamo compratmdashmdash pocmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdashnessunmdashmdashrsquo

11 lsquoQuanti francobolli hai presorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho presmdashmdash abbastanzarsquo12 Avevo molte riviste e mdashmdash ho datmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash a Luigi13 Ci piacciono i film comici e ieri sera mdashmdash abbiamo vistmdashmdash tre14 Ho fatto una torta e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdash due fette15 La zia ha portato dei cioccolatini ma Piero non mdashmdash ha mangiatmdashmdash

nessunmdashmdash16 Abbiamo molti videogiochi e mdashmdash abbiamo datmdashmdash qualcunmdashmdash a

Michele17 Crsquoerano molti libri interessanti e mdashmdash ho presmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash18 Hanno venduto molti CD e mdashmdash sono rimastmdashmdash solo alcunmdashmdash molto

carmdashmdash19 Crsquoerano molte ragazze ma Marco non mdashmdash ha invitatmdashmdash nessunmdashmdash20 Ho comprato tre magliette e mdashmdash ho regalatmdashmdash due a mio fratello

Exercise 2

Complete with the appropriate pronouns direct object or ne

Examples lsquoQuanti amici hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho moltirsquo ne lsquoQuanti amici invitirsquolsquomdashmdash invito tuttirsquo li

1 lsquoHai fatto tutti gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash ho fatto nessunorsquo2 lsquoQuante sorelle hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho duersquo3 Avevo molti CD dei Beatles ma mdashmdash ho imprestati tutti4 lsquoHai fatto il compitorsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdashho ancora fattorsquo5 lsquoVuoi del dolcersquo lsquoNo grazie non mdashmdash vogliorsquo6 Stamattina ho comprato due riviste e mdashmdash ho lette nel pomeriggio7 lsquoHai fatto molti sbaglirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fatto uno solorsquo8 Il dolce era molto buono e mdashmdash ho mangiate tre fette9 Mi piacciono i film di Fellini e mdashmdash ho visti tutti

10 Ho comprato tre libri ma non mdashmdash ho letto nessuno11 Avevo due biglietti da 10 euro ma mdashmdash ho perso uno12 Ieri ho preso lo stipendio ma mdashmdashho giagrave speso tutto13 Se ci sono ancora dei biscotti mdashmdash prendo due o tre

126 Unit 17

14 Era un argomento interessante e mdashmdash abbiamo parlato molto15 Il film era noioso e mdashmdash abbiamo visto solo metagrave16 Carla parte mdashmdash accompagno alla stazione17 Lo zucchero egrave finito mdashmdash compri tu18 lsquoVuoi dello zucchero nel caffegraversquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash voglio due cucchiainirsquo19 Ho comprato tre brioches e mdashmdash ho mangiate due20 lsquoConoscete tutti i componenti del grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash conosciamo tuttirsquo

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as in the example

Example Ne vuoi prendere ancora Vuoi prenderne ancora

1 Ne dovete parlare col professore2 Ne vuoi fare un altro3 Non ne dobbiamo prendere4 Ne potete mangiare5 Ne devo fare sei6 Non ne possiamo parlare7 Ne posso assaggiare uno8 Non ne deve portare Signora9 Ne vogliono comprare qualcuno

10 Non ne possono bere

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences as in the example Make sure that the past participleagrees where necessary

Example Ha voluto portarne un porsquo [fs] Ne ha voluta portare un porsquo

1 Ho dovuto darne due [m] a Marisa2 Hai potuto comprarne [fp]3 Quante hai dovuto farne4 Non hanno voluto mangiarne [fs]5 Ha dovuto leggerne quattro [mp]6 Non abbiamo potuto prenderne [fp]7 Ho dovuto scriverne due [fp]8 Ho potuto leggerne solo due pagine9 Avete dovuto rifarne molti

10 Non hanno potuto assaggiarne [fs]

Unit 17 127

Exercise 5

Identify the words that can be replaced by the pronoun ci and rewrite thesentences with ci in the right place

Example Vai a Roma in aereo a Roma Ci vai in aereo

1 Abitiamo in questa casa da tre anni2 Stefano lavora al Museo di Storia Naturale da febbraio3 Volete venire alla festa di Marco4 Paola e Livia vanno al cinema due volte alla settimana5 La Signora Bini va sempre al supermercato a piedi6 Rimango in Italia per tre settimane7 Giulia viene sempre a scuola in bici8 Ho passato tre ore in coda allrsquoufficio postale9 Siete andati a cena a casa di Pietro

10 Passiamo le vacanze a Sorrento

128 Unit 17

UNIT EIGHTEENThe future tense

Use of the future

1 The future tense is of course used to refer to events which will happen inthe future as in the following examples

2 The future is also used to express probability or a guess

3 The future can also correspond to the English present progressive (lsquoIrsquomgoing to rsquo etc)

4 In general the future tense is used less in Italian than in English and it isoften possible when talking about something which we are almost sure willhappen to use the present

Venerdigrave andremo in piscinaNon so quando partirograveVerragrave anche lrsquoanno prossimo

Signora

On Friday wersquoll go to the swimming poolI donrsquot know when Irsquoll leaveWill you comebe coming again next

year( Madam)

Anna non risponde saragrave fuori

Saranno le 5La madre di Pietro avragrave 30 anniChi saragrave

Annarsquos not answering she mustshersquoll beout

Itrsquos probablyItrsquoll be about 5 orsquoclockPietrorsquos mother must be around 30Who can that be

Gli parlerograve prestoPorterograve i miei CDGli direte la veritagrave

Irsquom going to talkIrsquoll be talking to them soonIrsquom going to bringIrsquoll be bringing my CDsAre you going to tell him the truth

5 However in certain cases Italian uses the future where English uses thepresent Take this English sentence lsquoWhenIf I earnam earning good moneyIrsquoll buy a carrsquo Here lsquowhenrsquo and lsquoifrsquo actually refer to an action in the future incases like this Italian normally uses the future tense

The forms of the future indicative

6 The future endings for the three conjugations are as follows

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Partono domani

Viene anche lrsquoanno prossimoSignora

Lrsquoanno prossimo sono allrsquouniversitagrave

Theyrsquoll leaveTheyrsquore leavingtomorrow

Will you comebe coming again nextyear( Madam)

Next year Irsquoll be at university

Se guadagnerograve bene comprerograve unamacchina

Quando arriveragrave le mostreremo ilcentro commerciale

If I earnam earning good money Irsquollbuy a car

When she arrives wersquoll show her theshopping mall

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ere-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ire-irograve-irai-iragrave-iremo-irete-iranno

Parlareparlerograveparleraiparleragraveparleremoparlereteparleranno

To speakI will speakyou will speakhesheit will speakwe will speakyou will speakthey will speak

130 Unit 18

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

7 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the future inorder to keep the hard sound of c and g

Prendereprenderograveprenderai

To takegetI will takegetyou will takeget

prenderagraveprenderemoprendereteprenderanno

hesheit will takegetwe will takegetyou will takegetthey will takeget

Partirepartirogravepartiraipartiragravepartiremopartiretepartiranno

To leaveI will leaveyou will leavehesheit will leavewe will leaveyou will leavethey will leave

Dopo un mese in Italia parleraimeglio italiano

Prenderograve il treno delle 8Partiranno domani mattina presto

Domenica prossima finirograve dilavorare verso le 5

After a month in Italy yoursquoll speakItalian better

Irsquoll get the eight orsquoclock trainThey will leave early tomorrow

morningNext Sunday Irsquoll finish work at about

five

Cercarecercherogravecercheraicercheragravecercheremocercheretecercheranno

Pagarepagherogravepagheraipagheragravepagheremopagheretepagheranno

Quando arriveremo a Romacercheremo un albergo economico

Mio padre pagheragrave tutte le spese

When we arrive in Rome wersquoll lookfor a cheap hotel

My father will pay all the expenses

Unit 18 131

8 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the future

Future of some irregular verbs

9 Essere and avere are irregular

10 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

Cominciarecomincerogravecominceraicominceragrave

Mangiaremangerogravemangeraimangeragrave

cominceremocominceretecominceranno

mangeremomangeretemangeranno

Comincerograve a lavorare venerdigraveprossimo

Mangerai in mensa

Irsquoll start work(ing) next Friday

Will you eatbe eating in the canteen

Esseresarogravesaraisaragravesaremosaretesaranno

Avereavrograveavraiavragraveavremoavreteavranno

Se domenica saragrave bello lavoreremoin giardino

Se avrograve tempo ti aiuterograve

If the weather is good on Sunday wersquollwork in the garden

If Irsquove got time Irsquoll help you

Daredarogravedaraidaragravedaremodaretedaranno

Farefarogravefaraifaragravefaremofaretefaranno

Starestarogravestaraistaragravestaremostaretestaranno

132 Unit 18

11 Andare cadere (to fall) dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow thesame pattern as avere

Mia sorella daragrave una festa per ilsuo compleanno

Cosa farai dopo lrsquouniversitagrave

Domani starai meglio

My sister will giveis giving a party forher birthday

What will you doare you doing afteruniversity

Yoursquoll feel better tomorrow

Andareandrograveandraiandragraveandremoandreteandranno

Caderecadrogravecadraicadragravecadremocadretecadranno

Doveredovrogravedovraidovragravedovremodovretedovranno

Poterepotrogravepotraipotragravepotremopotretepotranno

Saperesaprogravesapraisapragravesapremosapretesapranno

Vederevedrogravevedraivedragravevedremovedretevedranno

Viverevivrogravevivraivivragravevivremovivretevivranno

Andremo alla festa solo se ciinviteranno

Il governo egrave impopolare e cadragravepresto

Credo che dovrograve partire prestoNon so se potrograve venire

Non sapremo mai la veritagraveQuando vedrai i tuoi amici

Wersquoll only go to the party if they inviteus

The government is unpopular and willsoon fall

I think Irsquoll have to leave earlyI donrsquot know whether Irsquoll be able to

comeWe will never know the truthWhen will youare you going to see

your friends

Unit 18 133

12 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere (to keephold) have the following pattern

13 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

14 As usual the negative is formed by putting non before the verb

-rrograve-rrai-rragrave

Bereberrograveberraiberragrave

Rimanererimarrograverimarrairimarragrave

Venireverrograveverraiverragrave

Volerevorrogravevorraivorragrave

Tenereterrograveterraiterragrave

-rremo-rrete-rranno

berremoberreteberranno

rimarremorimarreterimarranno

verremoverreteverranno

vorremovorretevorranno

terremoterreteterranno

Sono sicuro che mio fratello nonberragrave mai quella tisana

Quanto tempo rimarrete in ItaliaSignori Boi

Hanno detto che verranno a trovarci

Irsquom sure my brother will never drinkthat herbal tea

How long will youare you going tostay in Italy Mrs and Mr Boi

They said theyrsquoll come and see usNon so se vorrograve andare

allrsquouniversitagrave dopo il liceo

Dove terrai la bici

I donrsquot know whether Irsquoll want to goto university after secondaryschool

Where are you going to keep the bike

-urrograve-urrai-urragrave-urremo-urrete-urranno

Tradurretradurrogravetradurraitradurragravetradurremotradurretetradurranno

Carlo non parla tedesco ma uninterprete tradurragrave tutto per lui

Carlo doesnrsquot speak German but aninterpreter is going towill translateeverything for him

Non andrograve alla festaNon rimarremo moltoNon gli parlerograve mai piugrave

Irsquom not going to the partyWe wonrsquot stay longIrsquoll never speak to him again

134 Unit 18

Exercise 1

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io partire) tanto presto partirograve

Exercise 2

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io dovere) andare a scuola dovrograve

Exercise 3

Change the verbs in italics into the future

Domani mattina esco di casa presto devo prendere il treno per Firenze alle615 Arrivo a Firenze verso ora di pranzo e Lorenzo viene a prendermi alla

1 I miei amici (arrivare) domani2 Quando (voi parlare) con Maria3 (lui telefonare) domani4 Gli (tu dire) tutto5 Domani (io scrivere) ai nonni6 Domenica (io dormire) fino a

tardi7 (noi cominciare) a lavorare

domani8 Quando (tu finire) il compito9 Stasera (io prendere) lrsquoauto

10 Mi (tu chiamare)11 Dove (voi abitare)12 (loro portare) il dolce13 Cosa le (voi dire)14 Chi (tradurre) dal tedesco15 Domani (noi pagare) lrsquoaffitto16 (tu mangiare) con noi17 Mi (Lei scrivere) Signora18 Paul (cercare) casa a Torino19 Che treno (loro prendere)20 Chi (pagare)

1 (io andare) in vacanza2 (noi essere) contenti di vedervi3 Quanto tempo (tu rimanere) a

Roma4 (io venire) appena (io potere)5 (Lei dovere) partire Signora6 (lei venire) quando (lei volere)7 Domani non (noi avere) tempo8 Non so se (io potere) uscire9 Quando (tu vedere) Anna

10 (voi fare) una festa

11 Non (loro stare) a casa mia12 Non lo (lui sapere) mai13 Gli (tu fare) un regalo14 (voi essere) a casa tutto il giorno15 (voi dovere) lavorare domani16 Non (io andare) piugrave in quel bar17 Quando (tu sapere) il risultato18 Quando (tu venire) Maria19 Cosa (voi fare) domenica20 (loro tenere) il cane in giardino

Unit 18 135

stazione Prima andiamo a casa sua dove lascio i bagagli e poi andiamoinsieme a pranzo da Ernestina Nel pomeriggio vediamo Carlo che ci porta avedere la sua nuova casa Torniamo a casa di Lorenzo abbastanza prestopercheacute vengono degli amici a cena e dobbiamo preparare Dopo cena usciamoma anche se facciamo tardi non egrave un problema percheacute possiamo dormire lamattina dopo

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Who will be able to help me2 Next summer wersquoll do an Italian course3 Will you [sing] read all these books4 I wonrsquot go to the library tomorrow5 When will you arrive Signora Pasini6 On Sunday theyrsquoll go out7 What will you [sing] do8 Itrsquoll be about ten orsquoclock9 Will you [sing] bring your CDs for the party

10 Wonrsquot you [pl] come to the cinema with us

136 Unit 18

UNIT NINETEENThe past perfect tense

Use of the past perfect

1 The past perfect (or pluperfect) normally indicates a past event whichhappened before another past event as in the English lsquoI had finished shower-ing when I heard the doorbellrsquo lsquoBy the time it finished I had had enoughrsquo It isthus normally used in sentences where there is another past tense or someother reference to a past event

It is also often used on its own where a more recent event is referred to orimplied in the context

2 Sometimes when the past perfect is used on its own the event nearer to thepresent is purely implicit

Quando sono arrivato [presentperfect] avevano appena finito[past perfect] di cenare

Quel giorno ero [imperfect] moltocontenta percheacute avevo passato[past perfect] lrsquoesame

Prima di imprestare [infinitive]lrsquoauto a Marco avevo fatto[past perfect] il pieno

When I arrived they had just finisheddinner

That day I was very happy because Irsquodpassed the exam

Before lending the car to Marco Irsquodfilled up

Avevo fatto quella torta per te nonper Paolo

Tullio aveva portato i CD

Francesca era uscita

I made that tart for you not for Paolo[eg thatrsquos why Irsquom so annoyed thatPaolorsquos eaten it]

Tullio had brought the CDs [eg theones I told you we were listening to]

Francesca had gone out [eg which iswhy I didnrsquot see her last night]

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto ma prima) non ti avevo visto [ieIrsquove seen you now but I hadnrsquot before]

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito) [ie Ihadnrsquot heard you before but I have now]

Forming the past perfect

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

4 As regards agreement of the past participle the past perfect obeys exactlythe same rules as the present perfect if the auxiliary is avere the past parti-ciple does not change but if it is essere the past participle behaves like anadjective agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb as inthese examples

Scusa non ti avevo visto Egrave moltoche aspetti

Sorry I didnrsquot see you Have you beenwaiting long

Scusa non ti avevo sentito Sorry I didnrsquot hear you

Imperfect of avere(io) avevo(tu) avevi(luilei) aveva(noi) avevamo(voi) avevate(loro) avevano

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I had writtenyou had writtenhesheit had writtenwe had writtenyou had writtenthey had written

Imperfect of essere(io) ero(tu) eri(luilei) era(noi) eravamo(voi) eravate(loro) erano

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I had goneyou had gonehesheit had gonewe had goneyou had gonethey had gone

AvereLivia aveva guardato la televisioneAvevi comprato il paneAveva prenotato Signor Ferro

Livia had watched televisionHad you bought the breadHad you booked Mr Ferro

138 Unit 19

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Past perfect of avere and essere

5 Avere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary essere

EssereMonica era uscita [fs]Pietro era stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia erano rimaste a casa

[fp]Giulia e Sebastiano erano partiti

[mp]Ero andata al cinema [fs]

Eravamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando eraarrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando eraarrivata [fs]

Monica had gone outPietro had been illFabia and Silvia had stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano had left

I had beengone to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We had arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When had you arrived Mr Poli

When had you arrived Mrs Poli

avevo avutoavevi avutoaveva avutoavevamo avutoavevate avutoavevano avuto

I had hadyou had hadhesheit had hadwe had hadyou had hadthey had had

ero statostataeri statostataera statostataeravamo statistateeravate statistateerano statistate

I had beenyou had beenhesheit had beenwe had beenyou had beenthey had been

Non aveva avuto tempo di finire illavoro

Tanya aveva avuto la varicella

He hadnrsquot had time to finish the job

Tanya had had chickenpox

Unit 19 139

Negative form

6 The negative is formed in the same way as for the present perfect byplacing non before the verb

7 As with the present perfect the adverbs mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) andgiagrave (already) are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (egAvevo giagrave risposto lsquoIrsquod already repliedrsquo) With the negatives non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) non is placed before the auxiliary

Exercise 1

Supply the past perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Dove (tu comprare) quelle scarpe avevi comprato

Nina era stata malataDes era stato mio studente

Nina had been illDes had been a student of mine

Non ero andato a scuolaLisa non era riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon avevi telefonato la settimana

prima

I hadnrsquot beengone to schoolLisa hadnrsquot managed to finish that job

Had you not phoned the previousweek

Eravate mai stati su un ghiacciaioAvevi piugrave visto i tuoi amici

Non avevamo ancora preso ilbiglietto

Paola non era mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non aveva piugrave telefonato

Had you ever been on a glacierHad you (ever) seen your friends

againWe hadnrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola had never been to VeniceCarlo hadnrsquot (ever) phoned again

1 Maria (finire) di cenare2 Anna (arrivare) il giorno prima3 Scusi Signora non La (io vedere)4 (tu spegnere) la luce5 (voi prendere) il giornale6 Prima di lavorare in Italia Jim

(lavorare) in Francia

7 Hai perso la lettera che ti(scrivere) Antonio

8 Alessandro non (preparare)lrsquoesame

9 Non (tu riuscire) a finire il lavoro10 Gli (noi chiedere) dei CD11 Caterina (stare) male

140 Unit 19

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct tense of the verb inbrackets (present perfect imperfect or past perfect)

Example Carlo (raccontare) che (lui passare) lrsquoesame ma non (essere)vero Carlo ha raccontato che aveva passato lrsquoesame ma nonera vero

1 Quando (io arrivare) i miei amici (uscire) da poco2 Silvia non (conoscere) la persona che le (telefonare)3 (tu fare) un dolce Ma ti (io dire) che sono a dieta4 Ernestina (essere) stanca percheacute (camminare) molto5 Carlo non (venire) con noi percheacute (dovere) fare un lavoro che gli (loro

dare) la sera prima6 Silvio (essere) molto contento percheacute (vincere) la gara di sci7 Carla (portare) sempre la maglia che le (regalare) suo fratello8 (io comprare) i libri che mi (voi consigliare)9 Mauro (spendere) tutti i soldi che (lui guadagnare)

10 Francesca (invitare) tutti gli amici che (andare) in vacanza con lei lrsquoannoprima

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 Paola still hadnrsquot been to Scotland2 Irsquod finished the job but I was very tired3 The girls had never gone into that church4 Arianna finished the tart her grandmother had made5 lsquoWhat had you [sing] said to Fabiorsquo lsquoI hadnrsquot said anything to himrsquo6 Maria had had to stay at home7 How much had your [pl] car cost

12 (io mangiare) un panino maavevo ancora fame

13 Ti (piacere) la partita14 Cecilia (andare) in vacanza15 Le mie amiche (uscire)16 Non (io capire) nulla

17 Il treno (partire) in orario18 Sergio (rimanere) in ufficio19 Paolo non (volere) lavorare con

noi20 Gina (essere) contenta di vedermi

Unit 19 141

8 Theyrsquod bought the ticket the previous day9 I hadnrsquot got the bike any longer because Irsquod given it to Anna

10 She was born in Russia but shersquod been living in Italy for many yearswhen I met her

142 Unit 19

UNIT TWENTYReflexive pronouns

1 Reflexive pronouns correspond to lsquomyselfrsquo lsquoyourselfrsquo etc in phrases likelsquoyou flatter yourselfrsquo lsquothe catrsquos licking itselfrsquo lsquothe recorderrsquos switched itselfoffrsquo In such cases the subject and the object of the verb are the same personor thing

These examples show how the reflexive pronouns are the direct objects ofthe verbs lavare guardare and vestire and denote the same person as thesubject

There are very many verbs which can be used in the reflexive form in Italianand which do not correspond to English reflexive verbs Here is a list of someof the most common ones

Ti guardi sempre allo specchio

Mi lavoAnna si veste per la festa

You always look at yourself in themirror

I get washed [lit I wash myself]Annarsquos getting dressed for the party

[lit Annarsquos dressing herself]

addormentarsialzarsiannoiarsidimenticarsilavarsioffendersiricordarsiriposarsisbagliarsiscusarsisedersisentirsisvegliarsivestirsi

to fall asleep [lit to send oneself to sleep]to get up [lit to raise oneself]to getbe bored [lit to bore oneself]to forget [lit to forget oneself]to get washed [lit to wash oneself]to take offence [lit to offend oneself]to remember [lit to recall oneself]to rest [lit to rest oneself]to be wrongmistaken [lit to mistake oneself]to apologise [lit to excuse oneself]to sit down [lit to seat oneself]to feel (well ill etc) [lit to feel oneself]to wake up [lit to waken oneself]to get dressed [lit to dress oneself]

2 The forms of the reflexive pronouns are as follows

Note that the third person singular and plural pronoun si is the same formasculine and feminine

As can be seen from the examples reflexive pronouns are always placedbefore the verb

3 The negative is formed as usual by placing non before the pronoun

4 For the formal form the pronoun si (third person singular and plural) isused In the plural however the pronoun vi is most frequently used

5 The plural forms of the reflexive pronouns (ci vi si) are also used asreciprocal pronouns corresponding to the English lsquoeach otherrsquo

6 Reflexive pronouns can also be used in contemporary spoken Italian asindirect objects One such use is to stress that the action expressed by the verb

mitisicivisi

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

A che ora ti alzi la mattina

Paolo si sveglia sempre tardiMaria si annoiaI tuoi amici si sbagliano il

concerto non egrave staseraLe mie amiche si divertono

What time do you get up in themorning

Paolo always wakes up lateMaria is boredYour friends are wrong the concert is

not tonightMy friends are enjoying themselves

Lorenzo non si annoia maiNon ti diverti

Lorenzo never getsis never boredArenrsquot you enjoying yourself

Come si sente SignoraVi divertite Signori Rasi (Si divertono Signori Rasi)

How are you feeling MadamAre you enjoying yourselves( Mr and

Mrs Rasi)

Paolo e io non ci sopportiamoPercheacute vi guardateAlfredo e Pia non si parlano piugrave

Paolo and I canrsquot stand each otherWhy are you looking at each otherAlfredo and Pia donrsquot talk to each

other any more

144 Unit 20

is to the advantage of the subject (cf English lsquoIrsquom making myself a coffeersquo [iea coffee for myself] lsquoTheyrsquore going to have themselves some funrsquo [ie somefun for themselves])

7 Another common use of the Italian reflexive pronoun occurs in cases likethe following where English would use a possessive adjective (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquoetc) rather than a reflexive pronoun

8 When reflexive or reciprocal pronouns occur with a verb in the presentperfect (or any other compound tense) the auxiliary is always essere (even ifthe verb itself would form the past tenses with avere) and the past participlealways agrees with the subject

9 The reflexive pronouns like all unstressed pronouns can be attached tothe infinitive of a verb (mainly after dovere potere volere or sapere) Inthese sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any othercompound tense) the auxiliary is avere and the past participle does notagree

Mi mangio un paninoPercheacute non ci facciamo una partita

a cartePaolo si mangia sempre tutti i

biscotti

Irsquom going to eat a sandwichWhy donrsquot we have a game of cards

Paolo always eats all the biscuits

Mi lavo le maniTi metti il cappottoAnna si lava i capelli tutti i giorni

I wash my handsAre you going to put your coat onAnna washes her hair every day

Paolo si egrave svegliato tardiMaria si egrave annoiataVittorio a che ora ti sei alzatoPaolo e Francesca si sono sposati

Claudio e Anna si sono lavati lemani

Sabina si egrave mangiata un paninoSi sono fatti un caffegrave

Paolo woke up lateMaria got boredVittorio what time did you get upPaolo and Francesca have got

marriedClaudio and Anna washed their

handsSabina ate a sandwichThey made (themselves) a coffee

Devo alzarmi prestoMio fratello non vuole lavarsiPaolo e Francesca hanno voluto

sposarsiNon abbiamo potuto lavarci

Irsquove got to get up earlyMy brother doesnrsquot want to washPaolo and Francesca wanted to get

marriedWe couldnrsquot wash

Unit 20 145

However when the reflexive pronoun is not attached to the infinitive theauxiliary verb must be essere and the past participle does agree

Stressed forms

10 The reflexive pronouns also have stressed forms which are used like thestressed forms of other pronouns for emphasis and after a preposition Theseforms are often reinforced by the adjective stesso

Note that se does not have an accent when it is used with stesso

Exercise 1

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash alzi ti

Paolo e Francesca si sono volutisposare

Non ci siamo potuti lavareVi siete dovuti fermare per la notte

Paolo and Francesca wanted to getmarried

We couldnrsquot washDid you have to stop for the night

me or me stessostessate or te stessostessaseacute or se stessostessanoi or noi stessistessevoi or voi stessistesseseacute or se stessistesse

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Franca ama solo seacutese stessaPensi solo a tete stessoQuei due sono davvero noiosi

parlano solo di segravese stessi

Franca only loves herselfYou only think of yourselfThose two are really boring they only

talk about themselves

1 Quando mdashmdashmdash sposano2 Dove mdashmdashmdash siedo3 Nina non mdashmdashmdash veste mai di

rosso4 Come mdashmdashmdash sentite5 Nina e Bart mdashmdashmdash amano6 Dove mdashmdashmdash incontriamo

7 mdashmdashmdash lavo le mani8 Marina mdashmdashmdash guarda allo

specchio9 Silvano non mdashmdashmdash annoia mai

10 Carlo e Luca non mdashmdashmdashconoscono

11 Come mdashmdashmdash vestite

146 Unit 20

Exercise 2

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash sono alzati si

Exercise 3

Put the verbs into the present perfect

Example (tu [f] alzarsi) tardi ti sei alzata

12 Non mdashmdashmdash diverti13 mdashmdashmdash prendiamo un gelato14 Signora mdashmdashmdash sente bene15 Non mdashmdashmdash ricordate di me16 Livia e Sara mdashmdashmdash riposano

17 Paolo mdashmdashmdash sbaglia18 Come mdashmdashmdash chiami19 mdashmdashmdash scrivete spesso20 mdashmdashmdash offendono facilmente

1 Paolo mdashmdashmdash egrave offeso2 Anna mdashmdashmdash egrave arrabbiata3 Dove mdashmdashmdash siete conosciuti4 mdashmdashmdash sono alzati tardi5 Non mdashmdashmdash sei scusato con loro6 mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti subito7 Carla non mdashmdashmdash egrave messa il

cappotto8 Il bambino mdashmdashmdash egrave

addormentato9 Silvana e io mdashmdashmdash siamo viste

ieri

10 mdashmdashmdash sono mangiato un panino11 mdashmdashmdash siete vestiti molto bene12 Non mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti13 Daniela e Pino mdashmdashmdash odiano14 Quanta acqua mdashmdashmdash sei bevuto15 mdashmdashmdash sono tagliata un dito16 Percheacute mdashmdashmdash sei messo il golf 17 mdashmdashmdash facciamo una passeggiata18 Sergio non mdashmdashmdash egrave ancora

svegliato19 mdashmdashmdash sono sentita male20 mdashmdashmdash siete annoiati alla festa

1 Antonio e Lia (sposarsi)2 (tu [m] sbagliarsi)3 (voi [f] ricordare) il suo

compleanno4 Claudia (farsi) male5 (loro [m] incontrarsi) allo stadio6 (tu [m] perdersi)7 Signora non (divertirsi)8 (noi [m] bersi) un litro di acqua9 Non (io [m] annoiarsi)

10 (noi [f] alzarsi) presto

11 Non (tu [m] lavarsi) le mani12 (io [f] tagliarsi) i capelli13 Il treno (fermarsi)14 I miei zii (separarsi)15 Vittorio non (lamentarsi)16 Il professore (riposarsi)17 La professoressa (stancarsi)18 Non (tu [f] arrabbiarsi)19 (voi [m] offendersi)20 (loro [m] dimenticarsi) di noi

Unit 20 147

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences moving the pronoun and changing the auxiliary

Example Abbiamo dovuto alzarci [m] Ci siamo dovuti alzare

1 Non ho potuto lavarmi [f]2 Sandra e Roberto hanno voluto sposarsi3 Abbiamo dovuto scusarci [m]4 Luigi ha dovuto alzarsi alle sei5 Gianni non ha voluto mettersi il berretto6 Hai potuto curarti [m]7 Avete potuto riposarvi [m]8 Ho dovuto fermarmi [f]9 Percheacute hai voluto tingerti i capelli [m]

10 Non abbiamo potuto spiegarci [m]

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian using reflexivereciprocal pronouns

1 Are you [pl] enjoying yourselves2 Have you [f] washed your hands3 How are you feeling Madam4 You [pl] are wrong5 Where did you [fp] meet6 Why donrsquot you [sing] sit down7 Paolo always talks about himself8 Franca washed her hair9 Carlo apologised

10 I [f] got dressed

148 Unit 20

UNIT TWENTY-ONEThe imperative

1 The imperative is used in Italian as in English to express orders com-mands or strong requests

As well as orders and requests the imperative can also be used to expresswishes invitations encouragement and advice

Forms of the imperative

2 Regular verbs in -are -ere and -ire are conjugated as follows

GuardaEntrateChiedi a tuo padreVenga domani SignoraAndiamoDammi il libro

LookCome inAsk your fatherCome tomorrow MadamLetrsquos goGive me the book

Passa delle buone vacanzeTi ascolto dimmi tuttoNon ti preoccupareHai lrsquoaria stanca vai a letto

Have a good holidayIrsquom listening to you tell me everythingDonrsquot worryYou look tired go to bed

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Parlareparlaparliparliamoparlateparlino

To speakspeakspeaklet us speakspeakspeak

Some verbs ending in -ire add -isc- as in the present indicative (see Unit 5)

In the first person plural the meaning is more that of a suggestion than anorder made to a group of which we are part (cf the English lsquoLetrsquos have acoffeersquo) The third person singular and plural are only used for the politeform

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare keep the hard sound of c and g by addingh before the endings of the third person singular (Lei) and the first and thirdpersons plural (noi and Loro)

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Prendereprendiprendaprendiamoprendeteprendano

To takegettakegettakegetlet us takegettakegettakeget

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Partirepartipartapartiamopartitepartano

To leaveleaveleavelet us leaveleaveleave

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Finirefiniscifiniscafiniamofinitefiniscano

To finishfinishfinishlet us finishfinishfinish

Parlate con i vostri insegnantiPrendi un analgesicoPartiamo subitoFinisci il compitoPrenda la prima (strada) a destra

Speak to your teachersTake a painkillerLetrsquos leave immediatelyFinish your homeworkTake the first (street) on the right

Cercarecercacerchicerchiamocercatecerchino

Pagarepagapaghipaghiamopagatepaghino

150 Unit 21

4 Verbs ending in -iare have only one -i in the second person singular and thefirst and third persons plural

Forms of some irregular verbs

5 Essere and avere are irregular in the imperative

6 There are other verbs with irregular imperatives Here are some of the mostcommon

Cerchiamo casa in questa zonaPaghi il conto per favore Signora

Letrsquos look for a flat in this areaPay the bill please( Madam)

Cominciarecominciacomincicominciamocominciatecomincino

Mangiaremangiamangimangiamomangiatemangino

Cominci a lavorare SignoraMuoio di fame mangiamo qualcosa

Start working( Madam)Irsquom starving letrsquos eat something

Esseresiisiasiamosiatesiano

Avereabbiabbiaabbiamoabbiateabbiano

Siate gentiliAbbi pazienzaSia pronta per le 10 Signora

Be kindBe patient [lit have patience]Be ready by 10( Madam)

Daredaidarsquodiadiamodatediano

Diredirsquodicadiciamoditedicano

Farefaifarsquofacciafacciamofatefacciano

Unit 21 151

The second person singular of these verbs has two forms the form with theapostrophe is normally used with unstressed pronouns (see paragraph 10)

7 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Formal form

8 We have already seen the forms used for the polite form Care must betaken not to confuse imperative and present polite and familiar formsCompare

Starestaistarsquostiastiamostatestiano

Saperesappisappiasappiamosappiatesappiano

Andarevaivarsquovadaandiamoandatevadano

Uscireesciescausciamousciteescano

Venirevienivengaveniamovenitevengano

Berebevibevabeviamobevetebevano

State attentiFaifarsquo il compitoVieni subito quiVenga avanti SignoraSappi che io non sono drsquoaccordo

Dirsquo la veritagrave

Pay attention [lit be attentive]Do your homeworkCome here at onceCome forward( Madam)I want you to know that I donrsquot agree

[lit know that I donrsquot agree]Tell the truth

-uci-uca-uciamo-ucete-ucano

Tradurretraducitraducatraduciamotraducetetraducano

Traduciamo insieme queste frasi

Traduca per favore

Letrsquos translate these sentencestogether

Translate please

152 Unit 21

In the plural as usual the second person is more commonly used than thethird

Negative form

9 For the second person singular the negative is formed with the infinitive ofthe verb preceded by non For the other persons the usual rule applies andnon precedes the form of the imperative As an example here is the negativeconjugation of parlare

familiarformal

(tu)(Lei)

Imperativeparlaparli

Presentparliparla

familiarformalfamiliarformal

(tu)(Lei)(tu)(Lei)

leggileggaescifinisciescafinisca

leggileggeescifinisciescefinisce

Parla col direttore [familiarimperative]

Parli col direttore Signora [formalimperative]

Parli col direttore [familiarpresent]

Parla col direttore Signora [formalpresent]

Speak to the manager

Speak to the manager( Madam)

Are you speaking to the manager

Are you speaking to the manager(Madam)

Parlate col controllore (Parlino col controllore)Abbiate pazienza Signori (Abbiano pazienza Signori)

Speak to the conductor

Be patient (ladies and) gentlemen

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

non parlarenon parlinon parliamonon parlatenon parlino

Non essere scorteseNon dite bugieNon avere fretta

Donrsquot be rudeDonrsquot tell liesDonrsquot rush

Unit 21 153

Position of unstressed pronouns

10 When the imperative is used in an affirmative sentence with an unstressedpronoun (direct object indirect object reflexive ne ci) the pronoun is alwaysattached to the verb if it is in a second person form (tu or voi) or the firstperson plural form (noi)

Note that when an unstressed pronoun is used with the forms darsquo farsquo dirsquo starsquoand varsquo (see paragraph 6) the first consonant of the pronoun (except gli) isdoubled

In negative sentences there is an extra option the pronoun can be placedbefore the verb (and after non)

11 In the polite form (third person singular and plural Lei and Loro) thepronouns are always placed before the verb

Quel libro egrave per te prendiloChiediamole aiutoSe hai dei problemi parlane

Alzatevi ragazziTelefonagli (or Telefona loro ndash see

Unit 10 paragraph 2)

That book is for you take itLetrsquos ask her for helpIf you are having problems talk about

themGet up boysPhone them

Se sai la veritagrave dillaDammi la pennaDanne un porsquo a tuo fratelloFammi un piacereVallo a comprareVacci subitoDille la veritagraveDigli la veritagrave

If you know the truth tell itGive me the penGive some to your brotherDo me a favourGo and buy itGo there at onceTell her the truthTell him the truth

Non lo prendere or Non prenderloNon le chiediamo aiuto or Non

chiediamole aiutoNon ne parlare or Non parlarneNon vi alzate or Non alzatevi

Donrsquot take itLetrsquos not ask her for help

Donrsquot talk about itDonrsquot get up

Quel libro egrave per Lei lo prendaLe scriva una mailNe parlino al controlloreSi alzi Signora

That book is for you take itWrite her an emailSpeak to the conductor about itGet up( Madam)

154 Unit 21

Exercise 1

Supply the imperative of the verb in brackets

Example (tu pagare) il conto paga

Exercise 2

Supply the polite form for these sentences

Example Paga il conto paghi

Exercise 3

Change the imperatives into the negative

Examples Dormi Non dormire Alzati Non alzarti or Non ti alzare

1 (tu comprare) il pane2 (noi uscire) subito3 (Lei stare) tranquilla Signora4 (tu mettere) in ordine5 (voi essere) gentili6 (Lei venire) Professore7 (tu dare) una mano a tuo fratello8 (tu finire) i compiti9 (comprare) questa borsa Signora

10 (noi fare) una pausa

11 (tu avere) fiducia in lei12 (Lei parlare) piugrave forte Signora13 (tu andare) fuori14 (tu dire) tutto quello che sai15 (Lei fare) attenzione Signora16 (voi scrivere) le cartoline17 (tu fare) attenzione18 (Loro entrare) Signori19 (voi aprire) le finestre20 (tu rispondere) al telefono

1 Chiudi la porta per favore2 Vai al terzo piano3 Sorridi4 Dirsquo tutto5 Fai presto

6 Sii paziente7 Traduci per favore8 Accendi la luce9 Stai fermo

10 Entra

1 Partite subito2 Rispondi alla sua domanda3 Andate in discoteca4 Scenda Signora5 Usciamo6 Finisci i biscotti7 Ascolta

8 Prenda quella strada9 Telefona a Giuseppe

10 Dirsquo quello che pensi11 Tagliati i capelli12 Dalle il libro13 Parlagli14 Scrivetemi

Unit 21 155

Exercise 4

Change the imperatives into the affirmative

Examples Non parlate Parlate Non mi guardare Guardami

Exercise 5

Change the verb into the imperative and replace the words in italics with theappropriate pronoun

Example Devi dire la veritagrave Dilla

15 Dillo16 Invitali17 Prendilo

18 Mettiti il berretto19 Portatele dei fiori20 Fallo

1 Non andare in piscina2 Non prendete lrsquoautobus3 Non invitare Giacomo4 Non guardiamo quel film5 Non cominciare6 Non faccia la spesa al mercato7 Non mettano lrsquoauto in garage8 Non fare cosigrave9 Non andare al parco

10 Non stare sul balcone

11 Non mandarmi una cartolina12 Non fatelo13 Non darmi i tuoi libri14 Non mi rispondere15 Non ci andare16 Non lo mangiate17 Non lo leggete18 Non ci aspetti Professore19 Non dirgli il tuo nome20 Non darle il tuo indirizzo

1 Dovete parlare a Laura2 Devi prendere i libri3 Signora deve firmare il foglio4 Dovete parlare del problema5 Dobbiamo andare al

supermercato6 Devi fare gli esercizi7 Dovete restare a scuola8 Dobbiamo chiedere il permesso9 Devi correggere gli sbagli

10 Dovete prendere il treno

11 Signori devono aspettare il tram12 Devi mandare gli auguri13 Dovete comprare la frutta14 Signor Rossi deve portare una

foto15 Dovete aiutare i vostri amici16 Devi rendere il libro17 Dobbiamo chiedere a Lina18 Devi telefonare ai nonni19 Devi bere del caffegrave20 Dovete studiare filosofia

156 Unit 21

UNIT TWENTY-TWOThe pronoun si

The pronoun si is used as an impersonal subject either in sentences without aspecified subject or in sentences with a passive meaning In both it is alwaysput before the verb

Si in sentences where the subject is not specified

1 Si is used as an impersonal subject in sentences where the subject is notspecified It corresponds to the English lsquoonersquo or lsquoyoursquo (as in lsquoOne neverknowsYou never know whatrsquos just round the cornerrsquo) or lsquotheyrsquo meaning anumber of unspecified people (as in lsquoThey eat kangaroo in Australiarsquo)When si is used in this way the verb is always in the third personsingular

As the examples suggest si is often used for rules or general advice

2 With verbs like essere diventare sembrare etc followed by a noun or anadjective si requires the noun to be plural (even though the verb is alwayssingular) and the adjective to be masculine plural

Si esce da questa portalsquoSono stato al marersquo lsquoSi vede sei

abbronzatorsquoSi paga alla cassaCrsquoegrave stato un incidente e non si

passaAllrsquoostello della gioventugrave si spende

menoPer andare al museo si passa da

piazza Garibaldi

You go out by this doorlsquoIrsquove been at the seasidersquo lsquoIt shows [lit

one sees] yoursquove got a tanrsquoYou payOne pays at the tillTherersquos been an accident and you canrsquot

get throughYou spend less in a youth hostel

To get to the museum you go throughpiazza Garibaldi

Si in sentences with a passive meaning

3 Si is also used as an impersonal subject in sentences which have a passivemeaning like this one lsquoIn Nuova Zelanda si parla inglesersquo The correspond-ing sentence in English would have either a passive verb (lsquoEnglish is spoken inNew Zealandrsquo) or an impersonal one (lsquoOne speaksThey speak English inNew Zealandrsquo)

In this type of sentence the verb can be in either the third person singularor the third person plural The singular is used if the noun that accompaniesthe verb is singular

The plural is used when the noun that accompanies the verb is plural

Quando si egrave studenti si egrave poveriSe si mangia troppo si diventa

grassiQuando si egrave malati si rimane a

casaQuando si egrave giovani si egrave ottimistiSe si veste in nero si sembra magri

When one is a student one is poorIf you eat too much you get fat

When you are ill you stay at home

When one is young one is an optimistIf you dress in black you look slim

Il biglietto [sing] si prendeallrsquoingresso

Il sale [sing] si compra intabaccheria

Al mercato si vende la frutta [sing]migliore

Si deve lavare lrsquoinsalata [sing]prima di mangiarla

In biblioteca si puograve leggere ilgiornale [sing]

The ticket is obtainedYou get yourticket at the door

Salt is boughtYou buy salt at thetobacconistrsquos

The best fruit is sold at the market

Lettuce should be washed before youeat itYou should wash lettucebefore eating it

In the library you can read the paperThe paper can be read in the library

Anche le cartoline [pl] si compranoin tabaccheria

I lamponi [pl] si mangiano inestate

In vacanza si fanno molte fotografie[pl]

Si devono comprare i biglietti [pl]in anticipo

In quel Cine Club si possono vederemolti film [pl]

Postcards are also boughtYou alsobuy postcards at the tobacconistrsquos

Raspberries are eaten in summer

A lot of pictures are taken on holidayOn holiday you take a lot ofpictures

Tickets should be purchased inadvance

A lot of films can be seenYou can seea lot of films at that cine club

158 Unit 22

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

Si used with the auxiliary essere

5 When si occurs with a verb in the present perfect (or any compound tense)the auxiliary is essere the past participle must therefore agree with the subjectof the passive verb

The same applies when si is not used in a passive function but purely as animpersonal subject (lsquoonersquo lsquoyoursquo lsquotheyrsquo etc)

Si used with reflexive verbs

6 When si is used with a reflexive verb the reflexive or reciprocal pronoun isci not si the resulting form is thus ci si

Non si fuma in aereo

Non si devono aprire le finestre

Therersquos no smoking [lit one does notsmoke] in planes

The windows mustnrsquot be openedOnemustnrsquot open the windows

Su questo argomento si sono scrittimolti libri

In Piemonte si egrave sempre prodottodel buon vino

In questa scuola si sono semprecominciate le lezioni alle 8

Quando si egrave finita lrsquouniversitagrave sicerca lavoro

Many books have been written on thissubject

In Piedmont good wine has alwaysbeen producedthey have alwaysproduced good wine

In this school lessons have always(been) started at eight orsquoclock

When university has been finishedWhen you have finished universityyou look for a job

Quando non si egrave riusciti a risolvereun problema non si egrave soddisfatti

Dopo che si egrave stati malati si egravesempre deboli

When one hasnrsquot managed to solve aproblem one is dissatisfied

Yoursquore always weak when yoursquove beenill

A volte in vacanza ci si annoiaSe in vacanza ci si egrave annoiati si egrave

contenti di tornare a scuola

Sometimes you get bored on holidayIf yoursquove been bored in the holidays

yoursquore glad to go back to school

Unit 22 159

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb

Examples Dal balcone si (vedere) le montagne vedono A Natale si(mangiare) il panettone mangia

1 Si (fare) attenzione quando si (attraversare) la strada2 In Svizzera si (parlare) tre lingue3 Di domenica non si (lavorare)4 Negli uffici pubblici non si (fumare)5 Si (dovere) aiutare gli anziani6 In quella discoteca non si (entrare) con le scarpe da ginnastica7 Certi segreti non si (potere) mantenere8 Per entrare nel centro della cittagrave si (pagare) un pedaggio9 In quel bosco si (trovare) molti funghi

10 Al mercato si (comprare) la verdura piugrave fresca

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences with the correct form of the verbs and the adjectives ornouns in brackets

Examples Quando si (essere malato) si (andare) a letto Quando si egravemalati si va a letto Quando si (essere studente) si (dovere)studiare Quando si egrave studenti si deve studiare

1 Quando si (avere) freddo (lavorare) male2 Quando si (avere) la febbre si (restare) a casa3 Quando si (cominciare) a studiare una lingua si (fare) degli sbagli4 Quando si (guidare) non si (usare) il cellulare5 Quando si (avere) fame si (mangiare)6 Quando si (essere stanco) si (fare) molti sbagli7 Quando si (essere avvocato) si (conoscere) la legge8 Quando non si (avere) soldi non si (fare) spese inutili9 Quando si (avere) tanti amici si (essere fortunato)

10 Quando si (mangiare) troppi dolci si (ingrassare)

Quando ci si alza presto la giornatasembra troppo lunga

When you get up early the day seemstoo long

160 Unit 22

Exercise 3

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si

Examples Non devi mangiare con le mani Non si mangia con le maniNon devi raccogliere i fiori Non si raccolgono i fiori

1 Non devi mettere i piedi sulla scrivania2 La mattina devi fare colazione3 Dopo pranzo devi lavare i piatti4 Non devi parlare con gli sconosciuti5 Non devi andare in bicicletta sul marciapiedi6 Non devi mangiare durante le lezioni7 Non devi guardarti tanto allo specchio8 In biblioteca devi parlare a bassa voce9 Non devi guardare la televisione tutto il giorno

10 Il giorno prima degli esami devi studiare

Exercise 4

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si Payattention to the use of the past tense

Example QuandoDopo che hai parcheggiato lrsquoauto in salita devimettere il freno a mano QuandoDopo che si egrave parcheggiatalrsquoauto in salita si deve mettere il freno a mano

1 Dopo che hai fatto il bagno in mare fai la doccia2 Dopo che hai superato un esame sei contento3 Dopo che hai finito di lavorare vai a casa4 Dopo che sei salito sullrsquoaereo non puoi usare il cellulare5 Quando sei cresciuto in campagna conosci i nomi di tante piante

Unit 22 161

UNIT TWENTY-THREEThe present conditional

Use of the present conditional

1 The present conditional expresses an action which depends on a conditionas in this English example lsquoIf I could I would go at oncersquo In this example thecondition is expressed with lsquoifrsquo (ie lsquoon condition thatrsquo) The present con-ditional is often used even when the condition is not actually mentioned asin lsquoIrsquom sure she would love a night outrsquo Basically the use of the Italianpresent conditional is similar to the English

The present conditional in Italian can express wishes or intentions opinionsor advice requests in polite form doubts and conjectures

The forms of the present conditional

2 The present conditional is formed in the same way as the future but withdifferent endings

Vorrei ballare tutta la seraMi daresti un passaggioFareste meglio restare a casa

I would like to dance all nightWould you give me a liftYoursquod do better to stay at home

Prenderei un caffegravePotreste andare a piediMi daresti una manoSapresti fare questo lavoroQuesta potrebbe essere la soluzione

Irsquod like a coffeeYou could go on footWouldcould you give me a handWould you know how to do that jobThis could be the solution

Be sure not to confuse the spelling of these endings (all with -emmo) withthe corresponding ones of the future (all with -emo)

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)

-are-erei-eresti

-ere-erei-eresti

-ire-irei-iresti

(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-irebbe-iremmo-ireste-irebbero

Parlareparlereiparlerestiparlerebbeparleremmoparleresteparlerebbero

To speakI would speakyou would speakhesheit would speakwe would speakyou would speakthey would speak

Prendereprendereiprenderestiprenderebbeprenderemmoprenderesteprenderebbero

To takegetI would takeyou would takehesheit would takewe would takeyou would takethey would take

Finirefinireifinirestifinirebbefiniremmofinirestefinirebbero

To finishI would finishyou would finishhesheit would finishwe would finishyou would finishthey would finish

Con Marco parleresti italianoScriverei una cartolina alla ziaFiniremmo questo lavoro prima di

partire

With Marco you would speak ItalianI would write a postcard to my auntWersquod finish this job before leaving

Unit 23 163

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the presentconditional in order to keep the hard sound of c and g

4 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the present conditional

Present conditional of some irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are grouped in the same way as for the future tense

5 Essere and avere are irregular

Cercarecerchereicercheresticercherebbecercheremmocercherestecercherebbero

Pagarepaghereipagherestipagherebbepagheremmopagherestepagherebbero

Al suo posto cercherei un altrolavoro

La Signora pagherebbe il conto

If I were him [lit in his place] Irsquod lookfor another job

The lady would pay the bill

Cominciarecomincereicominceresticomincerebbecominceremmocomincerestecomincerebbero

Mangiaremangereimangerestimangerebbemangeremmomangerestemangerebbero

Senza di lui non cominceremmo lariunione

Mangeresti la carne di canguro

We wouldnrsquot start the meeting withouthim

Would you eat kangaroo meat

Esseresareisarestisarebbesaremmosarestesarebbero

Avereavreiavrestiavrebbeavremmoavresteavrebbero

Sarei contenta di rivedere CarloAvresti un minuto per me

I would be happy to see Carlo againCould you spare me a minute [lit

would you have a minute for me]

164 Unit 23

6 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

7 Andare cadere dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow the samepattern as avere

8 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere have the following pattern

dareidarestidarebbedaremmodarestedarebbero

fareifarestifarebbefaremmofarestefarebbero

stareistarestistarebbestaremmostarestestarebbero

Darei una festaMi faresti un favoreAl posto tuo starei tranquillo

I would give a partyWould you do me a favourI wouldnrsquot worry if I were you [lit in

your place Irsquod be calm]

andreiandrestiandrebbeandremmoandresteandrebbero

cadreicadresticadrebbecadremmocadrestecadrebbero

dovreidovrestidovrebbedovremmodovrestedovrebbero

potreipotrestipotrebbepotremmopotrestepotrebbero

sapreisaprestisaprebbesapremmosaprestesaprebbero

vedreivedrestivedrebbevedremmovedrestevedrebbero

vivreivivrestivivrebbevivremmovivrestevivrebbero

Quando andreste in vacanzaDomenica dovrei lavorarePotresti aiutarmi

When would you go on holidayOn Sunday I ought to workYou could help me [ie why arenrsquot

you helping me]

-rrei-rresti-rrebbe-rremmo-rreste-rrebbero

berreiberrestiberrebbeberremmoberresteberrebbero

rimarreirimarrestirimarrebberimarremmorimarresterimarrebbero

verreiverrestiverrebbeverremmoverresteverrebbero

vorreivorrestivorrebbevorremmovorrestevorrebbero

terreiterrestiterrebbeterremmoterresteterrebbero

Unit 23 165

The present conditional of volere is often used to expresses wishes andrequests in a polite form corresponding to the English lsquowould likersquo

9 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the verb

Exercise 1

Supply the present conditional of the verb in brackets

Example Stasera non (io uscire) uscirei

Rimarrei ancora un porsquo con voi madevo prendere il treno

Verresti al cinema con me

Vorrei un caffegraveVorrei anche un chilo di mele

I would stay with you a bit longer butIrsquove got to get the train

Would you come to the cinema withme

Irsquod like a coffeeIrsquod like a kilo of apples as well

-urrei-urresti-urrebbe-urremmo-urreste-urrebbero

tradurreitradurrestitradurrebbetradurremmotradurrestetradurrebbero

Lrsquointerprete tradurrebbe tutto per te The interpreter would translateeverything for you

Non capiresti nullaNon vorremmo partireNon tradurrei cosigrave

You wouldnrsquot understand a thingWe wouldnrsquot want to leaveI wouldnrsquot translate (it) like that

1 (tu leggere) quel libro di nuovo2 (io potere) aiutarvi3 (voi avere) voglia di uscire4 Mi (tu svegliare)5 (loro volere) venire a cena6 (tu pagare) anche per me

7 Non (io fare) quel lavoro8 (noi dovere) studiare9 (tu sapere) guidare un trattore

10 Claudia (rimanere) a casa11 Al posto tuo non (io aprire) la

porta

166 Unit 23

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences changing the italicised verbs into the presentconditional

Example Veniamo volentieri Verremmo volentieri

1 Voglio due panini2 Dovete studiare di piugrave3 Lucia va in vacanza4 Fate una pausa5 Possiamo parlarti6 Maurizio cambia lavoro7 Mi dai un consiglio8 Vi piace andare a Venezia9 I nostri amici devono arrivare oggi

10 Non esce mai senza permesso

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian using the present conditional

1 Paola could help me2 We would gladly come3 I wouldnrsquot go to the library in the evenings4 When would you start Signora Vialli5 Pietro would like to invite you [sing] to the party6 Wersquod be happy to see you [pl]7 They would keep the dog in the garden8 I would have to leave early9 Irsquod like another biscuit

10 Would you know the result Mr Spadavecchia

12 (tu dovere) telefonare a Pia13 A Liz (piacere) vivere in Italia14 Mi (potere) aspettare Signora15 Mauro (essere) la persona giusta16 Mi (voi dare) un passaggio17 (io bere) volentieri qualcosa

18 Non (loro abitare) mai in una casacome questa

19 Chi (tradurre) dallrsquoarabo20 (tu accompagnare) Silvia alla

stazione

Unit 23 167

KEY TO EXERCISES

UNIT 1

Exercise 1

1 m 2 f 3 m 4 f 5 f 6 m 7 m 8 m 9 m 10 mf 11 m 12 f13 mf 14 m 15 f 16 f 17 mf 18 m 19 m 20 f

Exercise 2

1 ragazzi 2 marche 3 chiavi 4 abitanti 5 zii 6 fiumi 7 stazioni8 ragazze 9 energie 10 pomeriggi 11 banche 12 pianisti 13 clienti14 indirizzi 15 occhi 16 ristoranti 17 televisioni 18 calendari19 francesi 20 laghi

Exercise 3

1 nome 2 via 3 figlio 4 mano 5 opinione 6 cliente 7 occhio 8 per-sona 9 marca 10 problema 11 ciliegia 12 caffegrave 13 medico14 attivista 15 ginocchio 16 bugia 17 tedesco 18 test 19 uomo20 amica

UNIT 2

Exercise 1

1 la 2 la 3 il 4 la 5 lrsquo or le 6 il 7 i 8 lrsquo 9 lo 10 gli 11 le12 lo or gli 13 lrsquo 14 la 15 la or le 16 gli 17 le 18 le 19 la or le20 lrsquo

Exercise 2

1 una 2 una 3 un 4 uno 5 una 6 un 7 unrsquo 8 una 9 un 10 uno

11 unrsquo 12 uno 13 una 14 unrsquo 15 uno 16 un 17 uno 18 un19 uno 20 unrsquo

Exercise 3

1 lo 2 una 3 le 4 unrsquo 5 la 6 il 7 unrsquo 8 lrsquo un 9 il 10 lo

UNIT 3

Exercise 1

1 interessante 2 bianca 3 bianchi 4 rosse 5 egoisti 6 bellrsquo7 razzista 8 comiche 9 simpatiche 10 lunghi 11 quel simpatico12 questi facili 13 quei begli 14 queste belle 15 quegli morti16 questi inglesi 17 quelle spagnole 18 quel bellrsquo 19 quelle fresche20 quei greci

Exercise 2

1 grande 2 rosa 3 francesi 4 grave 5 pacifisti 6 tedesche 7 pigro8 lunghi 9 belghe 10 belga 11 sporche 12 energico 13 resistenti14 blu 15 scozzesi 16 veloci 17 simpatiche 18 italiani 19 ottimisti20 soddisfatti

Exercise 3

1 i loro 2 i suoi 3 la mia 4 le tue 5 la vostra 6 il nostro 7 i miei 8 laloro 9 tua 10 la Sua

Exercise 4

1 il suo 2 la nostra 3 i tuoi 4 il mio 5 i suoi 6 le tue or le Sue 7 laloro 8 i vostri or i Loro 9 le sue 10 i nostri

Exercise 5

1 questi i nostri tedeschi 2 i Suoi ottimisti 3 queste le vostre 4 i miei iSuoi 5 questi i miei quelli i tuoi 6 il nostro entusiasta il vostro7 quelle le mie queste le tue 8 quegli divertenti questo difficile 9 i mieipesanti i vostri leggeri 10 quellrsquo minerale gassata questa liscia

Key to exercises 169

UNIT 4

Exercise 1

1 siamo 2 sei 3 sono 4 sono 5 siete 6 egrave 7 egrave 8 sono 9 siete10 siamo 11 sono 12 siete 13 egrave 14 sono 15 sei 16 egrave 17 egrave18 sono 19 siete 20 egrave

Exercise 2

1 abbiamo 2 ha 3 ho 4 hanno 5 avete 6 ha 7 ha 8 hai9 abbiamo 10 hai 11 avete 12 ha 13 abbiamo 14 hanno 15 hai16 ha 17 hanno 18 hai 19 ho 20 ha

Exercise 3

1 Non ho ragione Ho ragione 2 Il professore non ha caldo Il professoreha caldo 3 La Signorina Berti non ha sete La Signorina Berti ha sete4 Lei non ha sonno Lei ha sonno 5 Non avete paura Avete paura6 Non hanno freddo Hanno freddo 7 Carla e Andrea non hanno fameCarla e Andrea hanno fame

Exercise 4

1 Sono stanco Non sono stanco 2 Sei pigra Non sei pigra 3 Il dottore egravegiovane Il dottore non egrave giovane 4 La professoressa egrave simpatica La profes-soressa non egrave simpatica 5 Lei egrave alto Lei non egrave alto 6 Siamo magre Nonsiamo magre 7 Siete intelligenti Non siete intelligenti 8 Le tue amichesono contente Le tue amiche non sono contente

Exercise 5

1 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una sedia 2 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono due poltrone 3 Nellrsquouf-ficio ci sono tre computer 4 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una stampante 5 Nellrsquoufficiocrsquoegrave un telefono 6 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave la fotocopiatrice 7 Nellrsquoufficio ci sonodue radiatori 8 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una porta 9 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono trefinestre

Exercise 6

1 In questo paese crsquoegrave un museo ci sono tre musei non ci sono musei 2 Inquesto paese crsquoegrave una discoteca ci sono due discoteche non ci sono disco-teche 3 In questo paese crsquoegrave una panetteria ci sono quattro panetterie nonci sono panetterie 4 In questo paese crsquoegrave un cinema ci sono due cinemanon ci sono cinema 5 In questo paese crsquoegrave una biblioteca ci sono due

170 Key to exercises

biblioteche non ci sono biblioteche 6 In questo paese crsquoegrave una scuola cisono due scuole non ci sono scuole 7 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ufficio postaleci sono due uffici postali non ci sono uffici postali 8 In questo paese crsquoegraveuna libreria ci sono quattro librerie non ci sono librerie 9 In questo paesecrsquoegrave un giardino pubblico ci sono tre giardini pubblici non ci sono giardinipubblici 10 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ristorante ci sono sei ristoranti non cisono ristoranti

UNIT 5

Exercise 1

1 arriva 2 vive 3 mangiamo 4 cerchi 5 prendete 6 parte 7 leg-giamo 8 pulisci 9 conosco 10 finiscono 11 guidiamo 12 giochiamo13 tornate 14 capisci 15 spendono 16 abita 17 pagate 18 viaggi19 ricevi 20 lasciano

Exercise 2

1 vanno 2 produce 3 diamo 4 vai 5 fate 6 riusciamo 7 venite8 posso 9 vogliono 10 dici 11 potete 12 voglio 13 stai 14 sanno15 fanno 16 devono 17 traduciamo 18 deve 19 sapete 20 vengono

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlare con Marcello 2 Partiamo stasera 3 Prendiamo il pros-simo autobus 4 (Lei) puograve andare al cinema Signor Buchan 5 Sappiamousare quei cellulari 6 Preferisce sempre leggere il giornale 7 Il bam-bino dorme 8 Vengo a Torino questrsquoestate 9 Escono spesso la sera10 I ragazzi giocano a pallone domani

Exercise 4

1 Esci stasera mamma 2 Cosa facciamo domani 3 Puoi aprire quellaporta 4 Vuoi un caffegrave 5 Sai suonare il piano Francesco 6 Cosa cer-chi 7 (Lei) beve caffegrave o acqua minerale Signora 8 Tu e Jim conoscetei miei genitori 9 Stai bene oggi 10 Cosa costruiscono

Exercise 5

1 (Lei) non parla inglese Signora Vialli 2 I miei amici tedeschi non sannocantare in italiano 3 Non guadagno molto 4 Non dagrave una festa per il suocompleanno 5 Non lavori con Giulia 6 Non vedono il Signor Moro datre anni 7 Percheacute non vai mai a Firenze Claudio 8 Non riesco a chiudere

Key to exercises 171

questa finestra 9 Percheacute non bevete caffegrave stamattina 10 Non venitedomani

UNIT 6

Exercise 1

1 dolcemente 2 tranquillamente 3 semplicemente 4 allegramente5 maggiormente 6 irregolarmente 7 probabilmente 8 chiaramente9 facilmente 10 velocemente 11 lentamente 12 utilmente13 attentamente 14 rapidamente 15 leggermente

Exercise 2

1 molti 2 molto 3 pochi 4 troppo 5 troppi 6 tanta 7 troppo8 molto 9 poco 10 molte 11 poco 12 molto 13 molto 14 pochi15 molto 16 poca 17 molta 18 molto 19 troppe 20 poche

Exercise 3

1 con prudenza 2 con pazienza 3 in modo nervoso 4 a poco a poco5 senza esitazione 6 di solito 7 in tempo 8 con coraggio 9 di sicuro10 in maniera brusca

Exercise 4

1 A volte mangio in mensa 2 La piscina egrave abbastanza grande 3 Usciamospesso con i nostri amici 4 Hai abbastanza soldi 5 Devi parlare lenta-mente or piano 6 Marina non mangia mai (il) formaggio 7 Francescaarriva sempre tardi or in ritardo 8 Aspetto da quasi quaranta minuti9 Carla e Andrea sono fuori 10 I tuoi genitori stanno bene

UNIT 7

Exercise 1

1 Anna la guarda 2 Li invitiamo 3 Le scrivete 4 Lo leggono 5 Lasuono 6 La preparo 7 Lo chiamo 8 Li faccio 9 Le invito 10 Lechiudete 11 Lorenzo li corregge 12 Lo prendono 13 Li porto 14 Licerco 15 Pia la beve 16 Paola lo finisce 17 Li accompagno 18 Le vedioggi 19 La ascolto 20 Luca li lava

172 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 Non le voglio 2 Non li compriamo 3 Non ci chiamano 4 Silvia non liinvita 5 I Signori Bianchi non lo prendono 6 Non mi invitate 7 Non viaspetto 8 Non la vedo domani 9 Non ti accompagno alla stazione10 Non lo guardiamo

Exercise 3

1 Vogliamo vederlo 2 Non posso aiutarti 3 Puoi accompagnarmi4 Vuoi sentirla 5 Devono chiamarci 6 Voglio invitarvi 7 Vuole cono-scerle 8 Non potete farli 9 Devi ascoltarmi 10 Non posso aiutarLaSignora

Exercise 4

1 lo 2 le 3 li 4 li 5 la 6 mi 7 li 8 La 9 li 10 le 11 la 12 li13 la 14 vi 15 lo 16 la 17 la 18 li 19 le 20 lo

Exercise 5

1 Vi invitiamo alla festa 2 Ho molti amici e li vedo spesso 3 Signora FusiLa posso chiamare or posso chiamarLa domani 4 Ci aiuti la settimanaprossima 5 Ti devo vedere or Devo vederti 6 Olga e Anna partono doma-ni e le voglio accompagnareportare or voglio accompagnarleportarle allastazione 7 Non vi posso aiutare or non posso aiutarvi 8 lsquoPorti la chi-tarrarsquo lsquoNo non ce lrsquohorsquo 9 Tullio compra queste riviste e le legge 10 Mipuoi portareaccompagnare or puoi portarmiaccompagnarmi a scuoladomani

UNIT 8

Exercise 1

1 della mamma 2 dello zio 3 degli amici 4 del parco 5 dellrsquoauto 6 deipaesi 7 delle stanze 8 al mare 9 allo stadio 10 alla stazione 11 airagazzi 12 agli uomini 13 alle donne 14 allrsquoospedale 15 dalla zia16 dallo studente 17 dal dentista 18 dallrsquoaeroporto 19 dagli uffici20 dalle colleghe 21 dai ministri 22 nellrsquoalbergo 23 nello stipendio24 nella casa 25 negli anni 26 nei cassetti 27 nelle camere 28 nelfrigo 29 sul tavolo 30 sulla sedia 31 sullo scaffale 32 sulle spalle33 sui libri 34 sugli alberi 35 sullrsquoidea

Key to exercises 173

Exercise 2

1 a 2 in 3 al 4 fra or tra 5 da 6 alla 7 con 8 dal 9 del 10 ai11 a in 12 al con 13 nel 14 alle 15 da 16 alle 17 per 18 con19 del 20 a

Exercise 3

1 a 2 in 3 a in 4 a 5 di 6 al 7 a 8 a 9 da a 10 da 11 a12 in 13 in 14 alla 15 a or per 16 al 17 della 18 in 19 nella 20 di

Exercise 4

1 Finisco di lavorare alle 6 2 Antonio parte per Genova 3 Gemma egrave natanel 2001 4 Fabia non esce mai di sera 5 I Signori Bancroft abitano incampagna in una vecchia villa 6 La biblioteca egrave dietro la palestra 7 Nonpuoi uscire senza di me 8 Abitate lontano dalla scuola 9 La zia di Isa-bella vive a Greve in Toscana 10 Ha una gonna di pelle 11 Angus egrave diEdimburgo in Scozia 12 Deve girare a destra dopo la chiesa( Signora)13 Stasera mangiamo in pizzeria 14 Questi fiori sono per tua madre 15 Aor per Natale andiamo a sciare in montagna 16 Abito vicino alla pri-gione 17 Margaret vive a Torino da cinque anni 18 Il treno per Aostaparte dal binario 7 19 Regaliamo or diamo a Luisa un CD di musicarussa 20 Compro sempre il pane da Belli

UNIT 9

Exercise 1

1 chi 2 chi 3 chi 4 che or cosa or che cosa 5 che or cosa or che cosa6 chi 7 chi 8 che or cosa or che cosa 9 chi 10 che or cosa or che cosa11 chi 12 che or cosa or che cosa 13 chi 14 chi 15 che or cosa or checosa 16 chi 17 che or cosa or che cosa 18 chi 19 che or cosa or checosa 20 chi

Exercise 2

1 dove 2 quando 3 percheacute 4 come 5 quando 6 che 7 che or quale8 dovrsquo 9 percheacute 10 qual 11 che or quale 12 che or quale 13 come14 dove 15 percheacute 16 dovrsquo 17 quando 18 qual 19 percheacute 20 che orquali

174 Key to exercises

Exercise 3

1 quante 2 quanto 3 quanti 4 quanti 5 quante 6 quanta 7 quanto8 quante 9 quanti 10 quanto 11 quanta 12 quanto 13 quanti14 quanto 15 quanto 16 quante 17 quanto 18 quante 19 quanti20 quanto

Exercise 4

1 Quanti panini volete 2 Dove andate a pranzo 3 Chi sono quelle per-sone 4 CheCosaChe cosa fai domenica 5 Quando andate in vacanza6 Percheacute Luisa non parte 7 Qual egrave la tua bici 8 CheQuale film guardi9 Chi di loro egrave italianoitaliana 10 Quando arriva il treno

UNIT 10

Exercise 1

1 Le telefoniamo 2 Gli spedisco or spedisco loro le cartoline 3 Silvia gliracconta una storia 4 Le regalo un libro 5 Anna gli scrive or scrive loro6 Le porto i fiori 7 Gli scriviamo or scriviamo loro 8 Olga e Silvia leparlano 9 Gli legge or legge loro un libro 10 Cosa gli regalate

Exercise 2

1 Non le parlo di lavoro 2 Non mi telefoni 3 Non vi regalo dei libri4 Non gli offrite qualcosa 5 Gli amici non le offrono un gelato 6 Non ciscrivete 7 Non ti mando una cartolina 8 Non vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo non mi dice la veritagrave 10 Non gli spedisco il pacco

Exercise 3

1 Possiamo scriverle 2 Devo parlarti 3 Voglio regalargli una chitarra4 Puoi telefonarci 5 Devono offrirvi qualcosa 6 Potete dirmi tutto7 Posso parlarLe Signora 8 Non dovete scrivergli 9 Non posso rispon-derti 10 Voglio crederle

Exercise 4

1 le 2 ti 3 gli 4 gli 5 Le 6 vi 7 ci 8 ti 9 gli 10 Le 11 mi 12 le13 gli 14 gli 15 vi 16 gli 17 mi 18 le 19 ti 20 gli

Key to exercises 175

Exercise 5

1 Puoi dire a Lucia che le voglio parlare or voglio parlarle 2 Appena arrivoa Roma vi telefono 3 Devo chiederLe or Le devo chiedere un favoreSignora 4 Gli dai il tuo numero di telefono 5 Ci dicono or raccontanosempre (delle) cose interessanti 6 Mi mandano sempre una cartolinaquando vanno in Italia 7 Per il suo compleanno le dograve dei fiori 8 Devodarti or ti devo dare i libri di Luca 9 Se volete vi racconto una storia10 Massimo mi scrive ogni settimana or tutte le settimane

UNIT 11

Exercise 1

1 Non le piacciono i carciofi 2 Non gli piace guidare 3 Gli piace viag-giare 4 Gli piace il mare 5 Gli piace ballare 6 Non ci piace il pesce7 Vi piace nuotare 8 Le piacciono i film francesi 9 Non le piace stirare10 Gli piace andare in moto

Exercise 2

1 Non le piace andare in centro il sabato 2 Non ti piace la musica clas-sica 3 Non gli piacciono i funghi 4 Non vi piace guardare la televi-sione 5 Non mi piacciono i film di fantascienza 6 Non gli piace lascuola 7 Non ci piacciono le canzoni italiane 8 Non le piacciono glispaghetti 9 Non mi piace sciare 10 Non vi piace la cioccolata al latte

Exercise 3

1 (Non) mi piace la frutta 2 (Non) mi piace il calcio 3 (Non) mi piac-ciono le fragole 4 (Non) mi piace giocare a tennis 5 (Non) mi piace uscirecon gli amici 6 (Non) mi piacciono i gatti 7 (Non) mi piace la pizza8 (Non) mi piacciono i dolci 9 (Non) mi piace ballare 10 (Non) mi piac-ciono le vacanze

Exercise 4

1 A Luigi (non) piace il caffegrave senza zucchero 2 Al professore (non) piac-ciono le poesie di Leopardi 3 A mia sorella (non) piace andare al cinema4 Ai miei cugini (non) piacciono i film di Fellini 5 Al primo ministro (non)piace la politica

176 Key to exercises

Exercise 5

1 basta 2 sembra 3 piacciono 4 manca 5 servono 6 mancano7 sembra 8 servono 9 pare 10 bastano

Exercise 6

1 Unrsquoora non mi basta 2 A Giovanni serve una penna 3 A Lynne man-cano gli or i suoi amici italiani 4 Ti piace la cioccolata or il cioccolato5 Non le piace andare al cinema 6 Vi serve un passaggio 7 Gli servonouna penna e un quaderno 8 Le sembra noioso lo spettacolo Signora9 Ti serve aiuto 10 Mi piace leggere

UNIT 12

Exercise 1

1 restati 2 uscite 3 andata 4 arrivati 5 entrata 6 riuscito 7 arrivato8 piaciuta 9 costati 10 nata

Exercise 2

1 hai comprato 2 ha regalato 3 siamo andati or andate 4 avete trovato5 hai spento 6 egrave venuta 7 ha portato 8 avete preso 9 ho visto 10 haipotuto 11 ho dovuto 12 egrave uscito ha perso 13 ha scritto 14 abbiamogiocato 15 ha cominciato 16 ha voluto or egrave voluto 17 hai messo 18 haipotuto 19 avete avuto 20 hai letto

Exercise 3

1 abbiamo dovuto 2 avete mangiato 3 sei partito or partita 4 ha te-lefonato 5 ha voluto or egrave voluta 6 hai conosciuto 7 ha dovuto or egravedovuta 8 avete accompagnato 9 ha vinto 10 hai finito 11 ho capito12 hai portato 13 siamo riusciti or riuscite 14 avete deciso 15 ha avuto16 sono venuti 17 avete fatto 18 egrave partito 19 egrave stata 20 ha tradotto

Exercise 4

1 Abbiamo giagrave fatto questo esercizio 2 Non ho ancora finito di leggere ilgiornale 3 Stefano non egrave mai andato or stato a Roma 4 Non ho piugrave vistoRoberto dopo la festa 5 Avete giagrave pagato il conto 6 Giulia non haancora cominciato a lavorare 7 Carlo non ha piugrave potuto lavorare 8 Nonho mai conosciuto i suoi genitori 9 Hai giagrave scritto le lettere 10 Non homai visto quel film

Key to exercises 177

UNIT 13

Exercise 1

1 li ho messi 2 lrsquoho accompagnata 3 le ho comprate 4 le ha chiuse 5 liho mangiati 6 ti ha chiamata 7 lrsquoha letto 8 ci hanno invitati 9 li hopresi 10 li ho dati

Exercise 2

1 le ho offerto 2 li avete visti 3 lrsquoho imprestata 4 le ho telefonato 5 le haprese 6 li ho studiati 7 mi ha presentato 8 ti ha accompagnata 9 le haimandato 10 lrsquoho conosciuta 11 lrsquoabbiamo lasciata 12 gli hai detto 13 liho comprati 14 Lrsquoho trovata 15 le ho conosciute 16 gli ho detto 17 lrsquohapagato 18 le ho raccontato 19 Lrsquoha accompagnata 20 lrsquoho letta tutta

Exercise 3

1 Non li ho saputi fare 2 Li ho voluti vedere 3 Non lrsquoabbiamo potutochiamare 4 Vi hanno potuti aiutare or potute aiutare 5 Lrsquoabbiamodovuta invitare 6 Non le ha sapute tradurre 7 Le avete dovuteaccompagnare 8 Lrsquoha voluta mangiare 9 Li hai potuti vedere 10 Nonle hanno volute fare

Exercise 4

1 Sabina non mi ha invitata 2 Chi ti ha chiamata 3 Gli abbiamo te-lefonato ieri 4 Vi ho cercati ma non vi ho trovati 5 Chiara ci haaccompagnati or portati alla fermata dellrsquoautobus 6 Vi ho mandato unacartolina lrsquoavete ricevuta 7 I (miei) nonni mi hanno regalato 100 euro mali ho giagrave spesi 8 Ho comprato due panini e li ho mangiati 9 lsquoHai spento lalucersquo lsquoSigrave lrsquoho spentarsquo 10 Carla non ha potuto aiutarle or Carla non le hapotute aiutare

UNIT 14

Exercise 1

1 lei te 2 loro 3 lei 4 noi voi 5 me 6 lui 7 me te 8 Lei 9 voi10 lei loro

Exercise 2

1 Nobody plays drums like me 2 Every student but him did the home-work 3 Sergio calls or phones you not me 4 Irsquoll take or go with or

178 Key to exercises

accompany you as well 5 I understand as much as you do or as much asyou 6 Mauro tells everyone the truth but or except me 7 You should oryou must or you have to phone me as well 8 Claudiarsquos lending us therecords not you 9 Irsquom giving or I give or Irsquoll give my address to everyonebut her 10 Irsquom giving her a book and him a record

Exercise 3

1 voi 2 lui 3 loro 4 noi 5 lei

Exercise 4

1 Tutti sono contro di me 2 Vieni con me 3 Ho comprato un regalo perte 4 Non puoi contare su di lui 5 Posso dormire da voi stasera

UNIT 15

Exercise 1

1 che 2 cui 3 che 4 cui 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 cui 9 cui 10 che

Exercise 2

1 cui 2 cui 3 cui 4 che 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 che 9 cui 10 cui

Exercise 3

1 la quale 2 con la quale 3 dei quali 4 nel quale 5 alle quali 6 ilquale 7 dal quale 8 le quali 9 delle quali 10 i quali

Exercise 4

1 colei che 2 coloro che 3 colui che 4 colui or colei che 5 coloro che

Exercise 5

1 chi 2 quella che 3 chi or quello che 4 chi 5 quelli che 6 quella che7 chi 8 quello che 9 chi 10 quelle che

Exercise 6

1 Il libro che voglio comprare egrave troppo caro 2 La signora con cui or con laquale ho parlato egrave tedesca 3 Le persone che or le quali hanno telefonatovivono or abitano in America 4 La cittagrave dove or in cui or nella quale vivo or

Key to exercises 179

abito non egrave molto grande 5 Colui che or chi vuole andare allrsquouniversitagravedeve sapere leggere e scrivere 6 Paolo che or il quale ha perso il (suo)cellulare non egrave contento or felice 7 Quella canzone mi piace or Mi piacequella canzone ma preferisco quelle che abbiamo sentito ieri sera 8 Questaegrave or Ecco la sorella di Fabio la quale or che mi ha prestato la sua bici 9 Haivisto chi or colui che or colei che ha mangiato le pesche 10 Chi egrave lrsquouomo cuior a cui or al quale avete venduto i biglietti

UNIT 16

Exercise 1

1 parlava 2 passava 3 faceva 4 studiavo riposava 5 partiva 6 lavo-rava 7 diceva 8 faceva 9 abitavamo 10 eravate 11 andavano12 era 13 uscivamo 14 sapevi 15 conoscevo 16 amava 17 dormivate18 erano 19 avevi 20 dovevano

Exercise 2

1 sei partita 2 era 3 ho studiato 4 mangiavamo 5 egrave rimasta 6 aveva7 sembravano 8 ha speso 9 egrave andata 10 erano

Exercise 3

1 egrave arrivato era 2 ho conosciuto abitavo 3 avevi hai cominciato 4 hatelefonato facevo 5 sono venuti era 6 hanno fatto sapevano 7 hannodetto hanno visto 8 egrave venuto aveva 9 siamo arrivati or arrivate partiva10 ho imprestato era

Exercise 4

suonava piaceva abbiamo deciso siamo arrivati mancavano crsquoerano eraaspettavamo abbiamo sentito ha risposto abbiamo visto era ha finitoha spiegato era chiamava aveva era sapeva egrave partito aveva egrave riuscitoaprivano

Exercise 5

1 Quanto tempo hai passato a Bologna 2 Siamo andati or andate alcinema ieri sera 3 Sembravate felici 4 Il padre di Gemma faceva il mari-naio or era marinaio 5 Claudia e Monica non sono venute in vacanza connoi questa volta 6 I miei genitori di solito uscivano alle 8 7 Mio padre halavorato in India per 3 anni 8 A che ora avete preso lrsquoautobus ieri mattina9 Lrsquoanno scorso facevamo ginnastica il or di lunedigrave mattina 10 Dove hai

180 Key to exercises

comprato quelle scarpe 11 Non ti ho chiamato or chiamata percheacute dormivi12 Quando voi abitavate or vivevate a Londra io abitavo or vivevo a Parigi13 Quanti anni aveva Susanna quando egrave andata allrsquouniversitagrave 14 Mentreguardavo la televisione Anna egrave entrata e lrsquoha spenta 15 Paolo e Giulia nonsono venuti percheacute Paolo era troppo stanco

UNIT 17

Exercise 1

1 ne ho mandate 2 ne ho comprata or ne ho comprati 3 ne ho fatti or ne hofatta 4 ne sono venute poche 5 non ne ho fatto nessuno 6 ne ho lasciatauna aperta 7 ne hanno invitati molti 8 ne ho letti 9 ne abbiamo com-prata poca 10 non ne ho mangiata nessuna 11 ne ho presi 12 ne ho datealcune 13 ne abbiamo visti 14 ne ho mangiate 15 non ne ha mangiatonessuno 16 ne abbiamo dato qualcuno 17 ne ho presi alcuni 18 ne sonorimasti alcuni cari 19 non ne ha invitata nessuna 20 ne ho regalate

Exercise 2

1 ne 2 ne 3 li 4 lrsquo 5 ne 6 le 7 ne 8 ne 9 li 10 ne 11 ne 12 lrsquo13 ne 14 ne 15 ne 16 la 17 lo 18 ne 19 ne 20 li

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlarne col professore 2 Vuoi farne un altro 3 Non dobbiamoprenderne 4 Potete mangiarne 5 Devo farne sei 6 Non possiamo par-larne 7 Posso assaggiarne uno 8 Non deve portarne Signora 9 Voglio-no comprarne qualcuno 10 Non possono berne

Exercise 4

1 Ne ho dovuti dare due a Marisa 2 Ne hai potute comprare 3 Quantene hai dovute fare 4 Non ne hanno voluta mangiare 5 Ne ha dovutileggere quattro 6 Non ne abbiamo potute prendere 7 Ne ho dovute scri-vere due 8 Ne ho potute leggere solo due pagine 9 Ne avete dovuti rifaremolti 10 Non ne hanno potuta assaggiare

Exercise 5

1 in questa casa Ci abitiamo da tre anni 2 al Museo di Storia NaturaleStefano ci lavora da febbraio 3 alla festa di Marco Ci volete venire orVolete venirci 4 al cinema Paolo e Livia ci vanno due volte alla set-timana 5 al supermercato La Signora Bini ci va sempre a piedi 6 in

Key to exercises 181

Italia Ci rimango per tre settimane 7 a scuola Giulia ci viene sempre inbici 8 allrsquoufficio postale Ci ho passato tre ore in coda 9 a casa di PietroCi siete andati a cena 10 a Sorrento Ci passiamo le vacanze

UNIT 18

Exercise 1

1 arriveranno 2 parlerete 3 telefoneragrave 4 dirai 5 scriverograve 6 dormirograve7 cominceremo 8 finirai 9 prenderograve 10 chiamerai 11 abiterete12 porteranno 13 direte 14 tradurragrave 15 pagheremo 16 mangerai17 scriveragrave 18 cercheragrave 19 prenderanno 20 pagheragrave

Exercise 2

1 andrograve 2 saremo 3 rimarrai 4 verrograve potrograve 5 dovragrave 6 verragrave vorragrave7 avremo 8 potrograve 9 vedrai 10 farete 11 staranno 12 sapragrave 13 farai14 sarete 15 dovrete 16 andrograve 17 saprai 18 verrai 19 farete20 terranno

Exercise 3

uscirograve dovrograve arriverograve verragrave andremo lascerograve andremo vedremo porteragravetorneremo verranno dovremo usciremo faremo saragrave potremo

Exercise 4

1 Chi potragrave aiutarmi 2 Lrsquoestate prossima faremo un corso di italiano3 Leggerai tutti questi libri 4 Non andrograve in biblioteca domani 5 Quandoarriveragrave Signora Pasini 6 Domenica usciranno 7 Cosa farai8 Saranno le 10 9 Porterai i tuoi CD per la festa 10 Non verrete con noial cinema

UNIT 19

Exercise 1

1 aveva finito 2 era arrivata 3 avevo vista 4 avevi spento 5 avevatepreso 6 aveva lavorato 7 aveva scritto 8 aveva preparato 9 eri riuscitoor riuscita 10 avevamo chiesto 11 era stata 12 avevo mangiato 13 erapiaciuta 14 era andata 15 erano uscite 16 avevo capito 17 era partito18 era rimasto 19 aveva voluto 20 era stata

182 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 sono arrivato or arrivata erano usciti 2 conosceva aveva telefonato3 hai fatto avevo detto 4 era aveva camminato 5 egrave venuto doveva or hadovuto avevano dato 6 era aveva vinto 7 portava aveva regalato 8 hocomprato avevate consigliato 9 ha speso aveva guadagnato 10 ha invi-tato erano andati

Exercise 3

1 Paola non era ancora andata or stata in Scozia 2 Avevo finito il lavoroma ero molto stanco or stanca 3 Le ragazze non erano mai entrate in quellachiesa 4 Arianna ha finito la torta che aveva fatto sua nonna 5 lsquoCosaavevi detto a Fabiorsquo lsquoNon gli avevo detto nullarsquo 6 Maria aveva dovuto orera dovuta rimanere or restare a casa 7 Quanto era costata la vostramacchina or auto 8 Avevano comprato or preso il biglietto il giornoprima 9 Non avevo piugrave la bici percheacute lrsquoavevo data a Anna 10 Era nata inRussia ma abitava da molti anni in Italia quando lrsquoho conosciuta

UNIT 20

Exercise 1

1 si 2 mi 3 si 4 vi 5 si 6 ci 7 mi 8 si 9 si 10 si 11 vi 12 ti13 ci 14 si 15 vi 16 si 17 si 18 ti 19 vi 20 si

Exercise 2

1 si 2 si 3 vi 4 si 5 ti 6 ci 7 si 8 si 9 ci 10 mi 11 vi 12 ci13 si 14 ti 15 mi 16 ti 17 ci 18 si 19 mi 20 vi

Exercise 3

1 si sono sposati 2 ti sei sbagliato 3 vi siete ricordate 4 si egrave fatta 5 sisono incontrati 6 ti sei perso 7 si egrave divertita 8 ci siamo bevuti 9 mi sonoannoiato 10 ci siamo alzate 11 ti sei lavato 12 mi sono tagliata 13 si egravefermato 14 si sono separati 15 si egrave lamentato 16 si egrave riposato 17 si egravestancata 18 ti sei arrabbiata 19 vi siete offesi 20 si sono dimenticati

Exercise 4

1 Non mi sono potuta lavare 2 Sandra e Roberto si sono voluti sposare3 Ci siamo dovuti scusare 4 Luigi si egrave dovuto alzare alle sei 5 Gianni nonsi egrave voluto mettere il berretto 6 Ti sei potuto curare 7 Vi siete potuti

Key to exercises 183

riposare 8 Mi sono dovuta fermare 9 Percheacute ti sei voluto tingere icapelli 10 Non ci siamo potuti spiegare

Exercise 5

1 Vi divertite 2 Ti sei lavata le mani 3 Come si sente Signora 4 Visbagliate 5 Dove vi siete conosciute or incontrate 6 Percheacute non ti siedi7 Paolo parla sempre di segrave or se stesso 8 Franca si egrave lavata i capelli9 Carlo si egrave scusato 10 Mi sono vestita

UNIT 21

Exercise 1

1 compra 2 usciamo 3 stia 4 metti 5 siate 6 venga 7 dai or darsquo8 finisci 9 compri 10 facciamo 11 abbi 12 parli 13 vai or varsquo 14 dirsquo15 faccia 16 scrivete 17 fai or farsquo 18 entrino 19 aprite 20 rispondi

Exercise 2

1 chiuda 2 vada 3 sorrida 4 dica 5 faccia 6 sia 7 traduca8 accenda 9 stia 10 entri

Exercise 3

1 non partite 2 non rispondere 3 non andate 4 non scenda 5 nonusciamo 6 non finire 7 non ascoltare 8 non prenda 9 non telefonare10 non dire 11 non tagliarti or non ti tagliare 12 non darle or non le dare13 non parlargli or non gli parlare 14 non scrivetemi or non mi scrivete15 non dirlo or non lo dire 16 non invitarli or non li invitare 17 nonprenderlo or non lo prendere 18 non metterti or non ti mettere 19 nonportatele or non le portate 20 non farlo or non lo fare

Exercise 4

1 vai or varsquo 2 prendete 3 invita 4 guardiamo 5 comincia 6 faccia7 mettano 8 fai or farsquo 9 vai or varsquo 10 stai or starsquo 11 mandami12 fatelo 13 dammi 14 rispondimi 15 vacci 16 mangiatelo 17 leg-getelo 18 ci aspetti 19 digli 20 dalle

Exercise 5

1 parlatele 2 prendili 3 lo firmi 4 parlatene 5 andiamoci 6 falli7 restateci 8 chiediamolo 9 correggili 10 prendetelo 11 lo aspettino

184 Key to exercises

12 mandali 13 compratela 14 la porti 15 aiutateli 16 rendilo 17 chie-diamole 18 telefonagli or telefona loro 19 bevine 20 studiatela

UNIT 22

Exercise 1

1 fa attraversa 2 parlano 3 lavora 4 fuma 5 devono 6 entra 7 pos-sono 8 paga 9 trovano 10 compra

Exercise 2

1 Quando si ha freddo si lavora male 2 Quando si ha la febbre si resta acasa 3 Quando si comincia a studiare una lingua si fanno degli sbagli4 Quando si guida non si usa il cellulare 5 Quando si ha fame si mangia6 Quando si egrave stanchi si fanno molti sbagli 7 Quando si egrave avvocati si cono-sce la legge 8 Quando non si hanno soldi non si fanno spese inutili9 Quando si hanno tanti amici si egrave fortunati 10 Quando si mangiano troppidolci si ingrassa

Exercise 3

1 Non si mettono i piedi sulla scrivania 2 La mattina si fa colazione3 Dopo pranzo si lavano i piatti 4 Non si parla con gli sconosciuti 5 Nonsi va in bicicletta sul marciapiedi 6 Non si mangia durante le lezioni7 Non ci si guarda tanto allo specchio 8 In biblioteca si parla a bassavoce 9 Non si guarda la televisione tutto il giorno 10 Il giorno primadegli esami si studia

Exercise 4

1 Dopo che si egrave fatto il bagno in mare si fa la doccia 2 Dopo che si egravesuperato un esame si egrave contenti 3 Dopo che si egrave finito di lavorare si va acasa 4 Dopo che si egrave saliti sullrsquoaereo non si puograve usare il cellulare5 Quando si egrave cresciuti in campagna si conoscono i nomi di tante piante

UNIT 23

Exercise 1

1 leggeresti 2 potrei 3 avreste 4 sveglieresti 5 vorrebbero 6 paghe-resti 7 farei 8 dovremmo 9 sapresti 10 rimarrebbe 11 aprirei12 dovresti 13 piacerebbe 14 potrebbe 15 sarebbe 16 dareste 17 ber-rei 18 abiterebbero 19 tradurrebbe 20 accompagneresti

Key to exercises 185

Exercise 2

1 Vorrei due panini 2 Dovreste studiare di piugrave 3 Lucia andrebbe invacanza 4 Fareste una pausa 5 Potremmo parlarti 6 Maurizio cam-bierebbe lavoro 7 Mi daresti un consiglio 8 Vi piacerebbe andare a Ve-nezia 9 I nostri amici dovrebbero arrivare oggi 10 Non uscirebbe maisenza permesso

Exercise 3

1 Paola potrebbe aiutarmi or mi potrebbe aiutare 2 Verremmo volentieri3 Non andrei in biblioteca la or di sera 4 Quando comincerebbe SignoraVialli 5 Pietro vorrebbe invitarti or ti vorrebbe invitare alla festa6 Saremmo contenti or felici di vedervi 7 Terrebbero il cane in giardino8 Dovrei partire presto 9 Vorrei un altro biscotto 10 Saprebbe il risultatoSignor Spadavecchia

186 Key to exercises

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS

adjective a word that describes a noun or pronoun eg the green door itrsquosvery old Johnrsquos skinny shersquos most objectionable

a demonstrative adjective describes something as being pointed out (lsquodem-onstratedrsquo) eg thisthat computer thesethose railings

a possessive adjective describes something as belonging to someone orsomething eg myheritsouryour behaviour is quite normal

adverb a word which gives information about a verb an adjective oranother adverb eg she sang loudly itrsquoll finish soon Irsquove got it somewhere itrsquosincrediblyvery funny she sang incrediblyvery loudly

agreement a feature whereby the form of one word changes depending onthe form of another word it is linked with In English the most obviousexample is in the difference between singular and plural so we say lsquoThis is theroadrsquo and lsquoThese are the roadsrsquo but not eg lsquoThis are the roadsrsquo lsquoThese is theroadsrsquo etc In Italian agreement is far more detailed and widespread than inEnglish

article a word which has no meaning on its own but is placed before anoun to show whether it is specific or non-specific

a definite article shows that the noun refers to a specific thing or person egthe airline the pilot the passengers

an indefinite article shows that the noun does not refer to a specific thingor person eg an airline a pilot passengers [no plural indefinitearticle]

auxiliary verb a verb that helps another verb to make its form eg we havedone it it had been agreed

conjugation a group of verbs which have the same endings as one anotherin all tenses eg in Italian verbs of the first conjugation have an infinitiveending in -are (comprare lsquoto buyrsquo cantare lsquoto singrsquo) and the same endingsin the present (comprano lsquothey buyrsquo cantano lsquothey singrsquo) the imperfect

(compravano lsquothey boughtrsquo cantavano lsquothey sangrsquo) the future (compre-ranno lsquothey will buyrsquo canteranno lsquothey will singrsquo) etc

gender not the same thing as the actual sex of a living creature grammat-ical gender is arbitrary in Italian all nouns are either masculine or feminineeven if they denote inanimate objects eg il libro [m] lsquothe bookrsquo la casa [f]lsquothe housersquo etc

infinitive the form in which verbs are usually given in word lists etc egvendere lsquoto sellrsquo dormire lsquoto sleeprsquo

noun the name of a thing person place animal plant idea eg the greendoor John is skinny love is a wonderful thing I love cats and roses

number a feature of nouns pronouns and any words that agree with them(notably in Italian adjectives articles and verbs) which shows whether thereis just one or more than one of the thing or person in question If there isone then the noun pronoun etc is singular eg the mobile a child Isheheitif there is more than one then the noun pronoun etc is plural eg themobiles the children wethey In Italian the form of the word usually makesit clear whether it is singular or plural but in English it is often impossible totell from the word on its own eg one sheep fifty sheep Jim you are brilliantyou are all brilliant

object the noun or pronoun affected by the action of the verb

a direct object is directly impinged on by the action eg I sent a letter thedog drank its water yoursquove shut the door she cooked it I love him

an indirect object is the thingperson to or for whichwhom the action isperformed eg I sent a letter to Jim I gave her a CD [ie a CD to her] hebuilt a snowman for Catherine I made her a puppet [ie a puppet for her]

participle a form of the verb that lsquoparticipatesrsquo in characteristics of bothverb and adjective ie it both indicates an action and describes something

the present participle in English ends in -ing and is used descriptively evenwith verbs in a past tense eg shersquos running Wayne was shouting

the past participle in English (as in Italian) is mostly used to form thepresent perfect tense eg the frog has jumped in shersquos run away it can alsobe used purely as an adjective eg itrsquos small but perfectly formed thatrsquos atorn handkerchief

passive a passive verb is the opposite to an active one Here is an activeverb lsquoKylie drew that cartoonrsquo in this sentence the thing that has somethingdone to it (the cartoon) is the object of the active verb Now here is the sameidea expressed with a passive verb lsquoThat cartoon was drawn by Kyliersquo in thissentence the thing that has something done to it is actually the subject of thepassive verb Many ideas can be expressed both actively and passively eg

188 Glossary

preposition a word usually placed in front of a noun or pronoun to showthe relation between it and another noun or pronoun eg the cat sat on themat Irsquove shown them to him the doorrsquos opposite the bus stop you just gothrough it

pronoun a word that stands for (lsquoprorsquo) a noun

demonstrative pronouns stand for particular people or things that arelsquopointed torsquo eg thisthat [ie lsquothis onethat onersquo] is a dandelion thesethoseare filthy

interrogative pronouns stand for people or things about which a questionis being asked eg what are you doing which of them did best who wonwho(m) did you vote for

personal pronouns usually stand for people eg she lost her mobile theyare happy we phoned them you gave us a fright

possessive pronouns stand for things mentioned as belonging to someoneeg this tuna sandwich is mine [ie lsquomy onersquo] those are yoursherstheirs etc

reciprocal pronouns stand for two or more people or things whichreciprocate an action eg they like each otherone another we all gave eachotherone another birthday presents

reflexive pronouns stand for people or things that are both the subjectand the object of the verb eg yoursquore wearing yourselves out thedogrsquoll scratch itself the computer switched itself off she bought herselfsomething nice

relative pronouns usually stand for people or things already mentionedeg the idiot who conceded the penalty the DVDs whichthat were on thetable the one politician whom everyone trusts

subject the noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb eg Micksang solo the grass is green you have grown they say it will be easy theallegation was denied he was tripped over

tense the form of a verb that corresponds to a particular segment of timeeg I eat [present] I shall eat [future] I have eaten [present perfect] I ate[simple past] I was eating [past progressive] I had eaten [past perfect]

ActiveJim clapped Tony [object] on the

backShe alone dismissed the idea

[object]They sell wild mushrooms [object]

here

PassiveTony [subject] was clapped on the back

by JimThe idea [subject] was dismissed by her

aloneWild mushrooms [subject] are sold here

(by them)

Glossary 189

verb the word that indicates the performance of an action or the existenceof a state eg she jumped out of her skin I shall get a mobile that is nice theyhave been very happy

190 Glossary

INDEX

a uses of 59ndash60 62 63ndash4adjectives 17ndash22 in -co and -go 18ndash19

with articles 14 definition of 187demonstrative 20 possessive 22ndash3preceding the noun 19ndash20 singularand plural 17ndash19 158

adverbial expressions 48ndash9adverbs 46ndash8 from adjectives 46

definition of 187 with the pastperfect 140 with the present perfect90

agreement of adjectives and nouns 17definition of 187

alcuno 121 122anche 101andare future 133 imperative 152

present 41 present conditional 165articles definite 9ndash11 definition of 187

indefinite 11ndash13 uses of 13ndash14 22ndash3auxiliary verbs definition of 187ndash8 see

also avere essereavere future 132 imperative 151

imperfect 112 present 28 presentconditional 164 present perfect 88used as auxiliary 86ndash7 88ndash90 usesof 31ndash2

bastare 81bello 20bere future 134 imperative 152

imperfect 113 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

buono 21

cadere future 133 present conditional165

crsquoegraveci sono 32ndash3 in imperfect 113 inpresent perfect 88

che (relative pronoun) 104ndash5cheche cosa 69 71chi 68 107ci with avere (ce) 54 with si as an

impersonal pronoun 159ndash60lsquotherersquo 125

coluicoleicoloro 106ndash7come 69 70 71 101compound prepositions 65con uses of 61conditional see present conditionalconjugations 37conoscere 39 vs sapere 42ndash3cosa 69 71cui 104 105

da uses of 36ndash7 60dare future 132 imperative 151 present

41 present conditional 165definite article 9ndash11 13ndash14 with

possessives 22ndash3 with prepositions57ndash8

demonstrative adjectives 20demonstrative pronouns 24 definition of

189di uses of 58ndash9 63dire imperative 151 imperfect 113

past participle 86 present 42direct object definition of 188direct object pronouns 52ndash4 formal form

54 with the imperative 154 with thepresent perfect (or any othercompound tense) 94ndash5 95ndash6stressed forms 99ndash101

dove 69 71 106dovere 43 future 133 present 42

present conditional 165present perfect 91

eccetto (che) 101essere with ci 32ndash3 88 113 as auxiliary

86ndash7 88ndash90 as auxiliary withimpersonal si 159 future 132imperative 151 imperfect 113present 28 present conditional 164present perfect 88 with reflexivepronouns 145 uses of 31

fare future 132 imperative 151imperfect 114 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

formal form 30 41 direct objectpronouns 54 in imperative152ndash3 indirect object pronouns76 with piacere 80 possessiveadjectives and pronouns 23ndash4

future 129ndash34 avere and essere 132 withifwhen 130 irregular verbs 132ndash4negative form 134 verbs in -care-gare and -iare 131ndash2 uses of129ndash30 verbs in -urre 134

gender 1ndash3 6 definition of 188grande 21

lsquohow muchmanyrsquo 70 71lsquohowrsquo 69 71

lsquoifrsquo with future tense 130imperative 149ndash54 essere 151 formal

form 152ndash3 irregular verbs 151ndash2negative form 153 154 withpronouns 154 uses of 149verbs in -urre 152

imperfect 111ndash17 of essere 113negative form 114 uses 115ndash17verbs in -urre 114

impersonal subject pronoun si 157ndash60in uses of 61 62 63 64indefinite article 11ndash13indirect object definition of 188indirect object pronouns 74ndash6

formal form 76 with theimperative 154 negative form 75with the present perfect 95stressed forms 99ndash101

infinitive 37 definition of 188 fornegative imperative 153

interrogative form 29 40interrogative pronouns definition of 189irregular plurals of nouns 5

irregular verbs future 132ndash4 imperative151ndash2 imperfect 113ndash14 pastparticiple 86 present 41ndash3present conditional 164ndash6

lsquoknowingrsquo 42ndash3

Lei Loro and Voi 30 41 see also formalform

mancare 81meno (che) 101mentre 116modomaniera 49molto 47 48 121

ne 120ndash4 negative form 122 with pastparticiple 122ndash4

neanche 101negative form 30 32ndash3 with direct object

pronouns 53 future 134 imperative153 154 imperfect 114 withindirect object pronouns 75 with ne122 past perfect 140 present 41present conditional 166 presentperfect 90 verbs with si 159

nemmeno 101neppure 101non see negative formnon ancoramai 47nouns definition of 188 ending in -ca

-co -ga -go -cia -gia 6ndash7gender 1ndash3 6 singular andplural 4ndash7

number definition of 188 nouns 4ndash7

parere 81partitive constructions with di 59passive definition of 188ndash9 using si 158past participle 85ndash6 definition 188 with

ne 122ndash4past perfect 137ndash40 with avere or essere

as auxiliaries 138 of avere andessere 139 negative form 140 usesof 137ndash8

per uses of 61percheacute 70personal pronouns definition of 189

see also pronounspiacere 79ndash81place see prepositions of placeplurals of adjectives 17ndash19

192 Index

plurals of nouns 4ndash7poco 47 48 121possession with di 58 59possessive adjectives 22ndash3possessive pronouns 23ndash4 definition of

189potere future 133 present 42 43 present

conditional 165 present perfect 91prepositions 57ndash65 compound 65

with definite article 57ndash8 definitionof 189 with pronouns 100 105106

prepositions of place 59 60 61 62prepositions of time 59 60 61 63present conditional 162ndash6 essere 164

irregular verbs 164ndash6 negative form166

present participle definition of 188present perfect 84ndash91 with direct object

pronouns 94ndash5 95ndash6 of avere andessere 88 with indirect objectpronouns 95 with ne 122ndash4negative form 90 potere dovere andvolere 91 of reflexive verbs 145using avere 86ndash7 88ndash9using essere 86ndash7 88ndash90 145uses of 84ndash5

present tense 36ndash43 avere and essere 28irregular verbs 41ndash3 uses of 36ndash7verbs in -are 37 verbs in -care and-gare 38 verbs in -cere and -gere 39verbs in -ere 38ndash9 verbs in -iare 38verbs in -ire 40 verbs with -isc-40 verbs in -urre 43

pronouns definition of 189demonstrative 24 direct object52ndash4 94ndash5 95ndash6 99ndash101 with theimperative 154 indirect object 74ndash696 99ndash101 possessive 23ndash4 afterprepositions 100 reflexive 143ndash6relative 104ndash7 stressed forms99ndash101 subject 28ndash9 see also cine si

pure 101

qualcuno 121 122quale 71(illa) quale (relative pronoun) 104

105ndash6quando 70 130quanto 70 71 101 121 123 124quello 20 24

quello che (relative pronoun) 106questions 29 40 68ndash71questo 20 24

reciprocal pronouns definition of 189reflexive pronouns 143ndash6 stressed form

146reflexive verbs 88 143 with si

(impersonal subject) 159ndash60relative pronouns 104ndash7 definition of

189rimanere future 134 present

conditional 165riuscire 42

salvo (che) 101santo 21ndash2sapere 42ndash3 vs conoscere 42ndash3 future

133 imperative 152 present 41present conditional 165

sembrare 81servire 81si impersonal 157ndash60 with essere as

auxiliary 159 negative form 159with reflexive verbs 159ndash60sentences with a passive meaning158

singular and plural adjectives 17ndash19 158lsquosomesomeonersquo 121 122spelling of adjectives in -co and -go

18ndash19 essere and avere 30 plurals ofnouns in -ca -co -ga -go -cia -gia6ndash7

stare future 132 imperative 152 present41 present conditional 165

stesso 146su uses of 61subject definition of 189subject pronouns 28ndash9

tanto 47 48tenere future 134 present conditional

165tense definition of 189lsquothatrsquo (relative pronoun) 104lsquothatthosersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24lsquothere isarersquo 32ndash3lsquothisthesersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24time see prepositions of timetra and fra uses of 62

Index 193

tranne (che) 101transitive verbs 88troppo 47 48 121

uscire imperative 152 present 41

vedere future 133 present conditional165

venire future 134 imperative 152past participle 86 present 41present conditional 165

verbs conjugations 37 definition of 190future 129ndash34 imperative 149ndash54imperfect 111ndash17 past perfect137ndash40 present 28 36ndash43 presentconditional 162ndash6 present perfect84ndash91 reflexive 143 see alsoirregular verbs

verbs in -urre future 134 imperative 152imperfect 114 past participle 85

present 43 present conditional166

vivere future 133 past participle 86present conditional 165

volere future 134 present 42 43present conditional 165 presentperfect 91

lsquowhatrsquo 69 71lsquowhenrsquo with future tense 130lsquowhenrsquo 70lsquowherersquo as alternative to relative pronoun

106lsquowherersquo 69 71lsquowhichrsquo 71lsquowhilersquo with imperfect tense 116lsquowhorsquo 68lsquowhomrsquo as a lsquoquestion wordrsquo 68 relative

pronoun 105 106lsquowhyrsquo 70

194 Index

• BOOK COVER
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• UNIT ONE Nouns gender and number
• UNIT TWO Definite and indefinite articles
• UNIT THREE Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns
• UNIT FOUR The present tense of essere and avere
• UNIT FIVE The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs
• UNIT SIX Adverbs
• UNIT SEVEN Direct object pronouns (1)
• UNIT EIGHT Prepositions
• UNIT NINE Questions
• UNIT TEN Indirect object pronouns (1)
• UNIT ELEVEN Piacere and similar verbs
• UNIT TWELVE The present perfect tense
• UNIT THIRTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (2)
• UNIT FOURTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms)
• UNIT FIFTEEN Relative pronouns
• UNIT SIXTEEN The imperfect tense
• UNIT SEVENTEEN The pronouns ne and ci
• UNIT EIGHTEEN The future tense
• UNIT NINETEEN The past perfect tense
• UNIT TWENTY Reflexive pronouns
• UNIT TWENTY-ONE The imperative
• UNIT TWENTY-TWO The pronoun si
• UNIT TWENTY-THREE The present conditional
• KEY TO EXERCISES
• GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
• INDEX

Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are

Basic CantoneseIntermediate Cantonese

Basic ChineseIntermediate Chinese

Basic GermanIntermediate German

Basic PolishIntermediate Polish

Basic RussianIntermediate Russian

Basic WelshIntermediate Welsh

Titles of related interest published by Routledge

Colloquial Italian Second Editionby Sylvia Lymbery

Modern Italian Grammar A Practical Guide Second Editionby Anna Proudfoot and Francesco Cardo

Modern Italian Grammar Workbook Second Editionby Anna Proudfoot

BASIC ITALIANA GRAMMAR ANDWORKBOOK

Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

First published 2006by Routledge2 Park Square Milton Park Abingdon OX14 4RN UK

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge270 Madison Ave New York NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor amp Francis Group

copy 2006 Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprintedor reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic mechanicalor other means now known or hereafter invented includingphotocopying and recording or in any information storage orretrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataA catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0ndash415ndash34717ndash3

This edition published in the Taylor amp Francis e-Library 2005

ldquoTo purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor amp Francis or Routledgersquoscollection of thousands of eBooks please go to wwweBookstoretandfcoukrdquo

ISBN 0-203-64007-1 Master e-book ISBN

(Print Edition)

CONTENTS

Introduction vii

List of signs and abbreviations viii

1 Nouns gender and number 1

2 Definite and indefinite articles 9

3 Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns 17

4 The present tense of essere and avere 28

5 The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs 36

6 Adverbs 46

7 Direct object pronouns (1) 52

8 Prepositions 57

9 Questions 68

10 Indirect object pronouns (1) 74

11 Piacere and similar verbs 79

12 The present perfect tense 84

13 Direct and indirect object pronouns (2) 94

14 Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms) 99

15 Relative pronouns 104

16 The imperfect tense 111

17 The pronouns ne and ci 120

18 The future tense 129

19 The past perfect tense 137

20 Reflexive pronouns 143

21 The imperative 149

22 The pronoun si 157

23 The present conditional 162

Key to exercises 168

Glossary of technical terms 187

Index 191

vi Contents

INTRODUCTION

If you are an English-speaking learner preparing GCSE Scottish StandardGrade (credit level) or similar examination or simply learning the languagefor everyday use this grammar and workbook is for you You will typically beeither following a course at school college or evening class or teaching your-self from a published course This book is not itself a course but a self-helpreferencerevision grammar with exercises designed to reinforce your graspof the points dealt with unit by unit You will find it a help to have access to agood ItalianndashEnglish dictionary when working through the book

Since this is not a self-contained course the grammar points are usuallygiven on their own out of context Of course this is artificial because ineveryday life when we say or write something it is always in a situation orcontext To compensate for this artificiality the grammar points are illus-trated with abundant examples which are often reused with variationsunder different headings This is partly to strengthen your grasp of grammarand vocabulary but mostly to help you learn how to manipulate the Italianlanguage in a wide range of situations Giving plenty of examples is a moreeffective way of helping you develop the ability to communicate in Italianthan giving you lists of rules with just one or two examples

At the end of each unit there are several sets of exercises If you workthrough these you will find that they consolidate your understanding of thevarious points introduced in the unit and also that they give you the con-fidence to have a go at expressing yourself in a range of situations andcontexts

The aim of the examples and exercises is to strengthen awareness of thespecific points dealt with in the unit they are not intended to cover all thepossible uses of a given word or grammatical structure

At the end of the book there is a key to all the exercises and a glossary ofgrammatical terms with examples

SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

f femininefp feminine pluralfs feminine singularlit literallym masculinemp masculine pluralms masculine singularpl pluralsing singular

Square brackets indicate an explanatory comment attached to an exampleeg

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono Thatrsquos Luisa on the phone[ie she has just rung]Quanto zucchero [ms] vuoi How much sugar do you wantlsquoDovrsquoegrave Annarsquo lsquoNo lo sorsquo lsquoWherersquos Annarsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo

[lit I donrsquot know it]

Round brackets in an example show that the material in brackets is optionaleg

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo lsquoHave you got the booksrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got themrsquo

Ne ho mangiati due I ate two (of them)A chi scrivete Who(m) are you writing to

Round brackets round an entire sentence show that while possible this is aformal form that is not often used eg

( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco) Are you leaving( Mr and MrsBianco)

A slash shows alternative ways of saying something eg

Gli dicoDico loro la veritagrave I tell them the truth (Here gli dico and dicoloro are alternative ways of saying lsquoI tell themrsquo)Non mi sembra giusto It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot think itrsquos fair(Here the English sentences are alternatives to one another)

Signs and abbreviations ix

UNIT ONENouns gender and number

Gender masculine and feminine

1 All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine The best way to remem-ber the gender of a noun is to learn it along with its definite article (ie theword meaning lsquothersquo) In this unit nouns will therefore be given along withtheir definite articles but there will be no discussion of the articles as suchDefinite and indefinite articles are the subject of Unit 2

Most nouns in the singular end in -o -a or -e

2 Italian nouns ending in -o are usually masculine

3 Italian nouns ending in -a are usually feminine

4 Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine Unless anoun ending in -e denotes a person whose gender is defined (eg lsquohusbandrsquolsquowifersquo) there are virtually no rules to determine its gender which must there-fore be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

lrsquouomo [m]il fratello [m]il pomeriggio [m]il treno [m]

manbrotherafternoontrain

la donna [f]la sorella [f]la sera [f]la bicicletta [f]

womansistereveningbicycle

To help you to determine the gender of some nouns ending in -e here is arule nouns ending in -sione or -zione are feminine

Sometimes the gender of a noun ending in -e can be determined by thegender of the person it refers to masculine when it refers to a male femininewhen it refers to a female

5 Some nouns ending in -a and referring to persons are masculine when theyrefer to a male and feminine when they refer to a female

There are some exceptions eg la persona (person) and la guida (touristguide) are always feminine even when they refer to a male while the feminineof il poeta (poet) is la poetessa

6 There are some nouns ending in -a which are masculine and some nounsending in -o which are feminine

Masculineil padreil ristoranteil saleil cognome

fatherrestaurantsaltsurname

Femininela madrela nottela lucela chiave

mothernightlightkey

la televisione [f]la pensione [f]la produzione [f]la stazione [f]

televisionpensionproductionstation

illa cantante [mf]illa cliente [mf]illa parente [mf]lrsquoinglese [mf]

(malefemale) singer(malefemale) customer(malefemale) relativeEnglishmanEnglishwoman

illa collega [mf]lrsquoatleta [mf]illa batterista [mf]illa pianista [mf]

(malefemale) colleague(malefemale) athlete(malefemale) drummer(malefemale) pianist

Masculineil cinemail papagraveil problema

cinemadadproblem

Femininelrsquoautola fotola mano

carphotohand

2 Unit 1

Some nouns of this type are abbreviations and have kept the gender of thefull word cinema stands for cinematografo [m] auto for automobile [f] fotofor fotografia [f] etc Such cases apart there is no rule for determining genderwhich has to be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

7 Some nouns end in -i The vast majority are feminine but there aresome exceptions

Two exceptions are lrsquoalibi (alibi) and lo sci (ski) which are masculine

8 Foreign nouns unless they refer to a female are generally masculine

9 Occasionally the gender of a foreign noun is the same as it is for thecorresponding Italian word

la new wave is feminine because onda (wave) is femininela mail (e-mail message) is feminine because posta (mail) is feminine

10 The following rules can help in determining the gender of nouns

bull All months of the year and days of the week are masculine apart fromdomenica (Sunday) which is feminine

bull All names of towns and cities are feminine apart from Il Cairo [m]bull All names of languages are masculinebull Names of countries are normally feminine when they end in -a and

masculine when they end in any other letter

lrsquoanalisi [f]lrsquoipotesi [f]la crisi [f]

analysishypothesiscrisis

il bar [m]il camion [m]il rock [m]lrsquohostess [f]

barlorryrock (music)stewardess

la Francia [f]la Spagna [f]il Belgio [m]il Paraguay [m]

FranceSpainBelgiumParaguay

Unit 1 3

Number singular and plural

11 Masculine nouns ending in -o and all nouns ending in -e end in -i in theplural

Nouns ending in -ie have only one -i in the plural

12 Nouns ending in -io have only one i in the plural But if the -i is stressed(-io) the plural has two (-ii)

13 Feminine nouns ending in -a take -e in the plural

14 Masculine nouns ending in -a take -i in the plural

15 When a noun ending in -a denotes a person its plural ending depends onwhether it is masculine or feminine If it refers to a male the plural ends in -iif it refers to a female the plural ends in -e

Singularil treno [m]il nome [m]la notte [f]la stazione [f]la pensione [f]illa parente [mf]la moglie [f]

trainnamenounnightstationpensionrelativewife

Plurali trenii nomile nottile stazionile pensioniile parentile mogli

trainsnamesnounsnightsstationspensionsrelativeswives

Singularil bacio [m]il desiderio [m]lrsquoinizio [m]lo zio [m]il mormorio [m]

kisswishbeginningunclemurmur

Plurali bacii desiderigli inizigli ziii mormorii

kisseswishesbeginningsunclesmurmurs

Singularla sorella [f]la lettera [f]la sera [f]

sisterletterevening

Pluralle sorellele letterele sere

sisterslettersevenings

Singularil problema [m]il sistema [m]

problemsystem

Plurali problemii sistemi

problemssystems

4 Unit 1

For an explanation of the -h- in these endings see paragraph 20 below

16 Nouns ending in -i do not change in the plural

17 Foreign nouns and nouns stressed on the last vowel do not change in theplural

18 A number of nouns are irregular in the plural Eg la mano [f] (hand)becomes le mani in the plural lrsquouomo [m] (man) becomes gli uomini in theplural Here are some nouns which do not change in the plural because theyare abbreviations (cf above paragraph 6)

Some nouns are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural Here area few

Singularil pianista [m] (male) pianistla pianista [f] (female) pianistil collega [m] (male) colleaguela collega [f] (female) colleague

Plurali pianisti [m] (male) pianistsle pianiste [f] (female) pianistsi colleghi [m] (male) colleaguesle colleghe [f] (female) colleagues

Singularlrsquoanalisi [f]la crisi [f]

analysiscrisis

Pluralle analisile crisi

analysescrises

Singularil bar [m]lo sport [m]la cittagrave [f]la virtugrave [f]

barsportcityvirtue

Plurali bargli sportle cittagravele virtugrave

barssportscitiesvirtues

Singularlrsquoauto [f]la radio [f]la moto [f]la foto [f]il cinema [m]

carradiomotorbikephotocinema

Pluralle autole radiole motole fotoi cinema

carsradiosmotorbikesphotoscinemas

Singularil dito [m]il centinaio [m]il migliaio [m]il miglio [m]il paio [m]lrsquouovo [m]

finger(about) a hundred(about) a thousandmilepairegg

Pluralle dita [f]le centinaia [f]le migliaia [f]le miglia [f]le paia [f]le uova [f]

fingershundredsthousandsmilespairseggs

Unit 1 5

19 Note that in Italian the masculine form of a noun is also used when thegender is not important A noun in the plural may therefore designate anyone of three different sets of people

Spelling

Care is needed in spelling some plurals

20 Nouns ending in -ca or -ga always add h (-che or -ghe) in order to keepthe hard sound of c and g in the plural We saw the example of illa collega inparagraph 15 Here are some more

21 Nouns ending in -co and -go normally add h (-chi or -ghi) and keep thehard sound but some nouns change the sound of c and g in the plural (-ci or-gi) It is always best to check in a dictionary

gli amici

gli insegnanti

i colleghi

either a specific set of male friends [as in lsquoYour friends(Luigi and Giovanni) have arrivedrsquo]or a specific mixed set of male and female friends [as inlsquoYour friends (Luigi and Anna) have arrivedrsquo]or friends in general [whether male and female does notmatter as in lsquoEverybody needs friendsrsquo]either a specific set of male teachersor a specific mixed set of male and female teachersor teachers in general [regardless of gender]either a specific set of male colleaguesor a specific mixed set of male and female colleaguesor colleagues in general [regardless of gender]

Singularlrsquoamica [f]la tasca [f]la riga [f]

(female) friendpocketline ruler

Pluralle amichele taschele righe

(female) friendspocketslines rulers

Singularil bosco [m]il gioco [m]il parco [m]il lago [m]lrsquoamico [m]il medico [m]il biologo [m]

woodgameparklake(male) frienddoctorbiologist

Plurali boschii giochii parchii laghigli amicii medicii biologi

woodsgamesparkslakes(male) friendsdoctorsbiologists

6 Unit 1

22 Nouns ending in -cia or -gia keep the i in the plural (-cie or -gie) when the iis stressed or when c or g is preceded by a vowel But if -cia or -gia ispreceded by a consonant the i is lost in the plural

Exercise 1

With the help of a dictionary where necessary decide what gender the nounsare and write m f or mf after each one

Examples la notte f illa pianista mf il fratello m

Exercise 2

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the plurals of thenouns

Examples la notte le notti il nome i nomi il treno i trenila sera le sere

Singularla farmacia [f]la bugia [f]la camicia [f]la ciliegia [f]lrsquoarancia [f]la doccia [f]la spiaggia [f]

pharmacylieshirtblousecherryorangeshowerbeach

Pluralle farmaciele bugiele camiciele ciliegiele arancele doccele spiagge

pharmaciesliesshirtsblousescherriesorangesshowersbeaches

1 il giorno mdashmdash2 la sera mdashmdash3 lrsquouomo mdashmdash4 lrsquoinfermiera mdashmdash5 la stanza mdashmdash6 lrsquoorecchio mdashmdash7 il caffegrave mdashmdash8 lo zucchero mdashmdash9 il fiume mdashmdash

10 lrsquoolandese mdashmdash

11 lrsquouovo mdashmdash12 la camicia mdashmdash13 lrsquoatleta mdashmdash14 lrsquoanimale mdashmdash15 la strada mdashmdash16 lrsquoacqua mdashmdash17 lrsquoabitante mdashmdash18 lrsquoocchio mdashmdash19 il sole mdashmdash20 la canzone mdashmdash

Unit 1 7

Exercise 3

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the singulars of thenouns

Examples la casa le case il libro i libri il mese i mesila moglie le mogli

1 il ragazzo2 la marca3 la chiave4 lrsquoabitante5 lo zio6 il fiume7 la stazione8 la ragazza9 lrsquoenergia

10 il pomeriggio

i mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

11 la banca12 il pianista13 la cliente14 lrsquoindirizzo15 lrsquoocchio16 il ristorante17 la televisione18 il calendario19 il francese20 il lago

le mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

1 il mdashmdashmdashmdash2 la mdashmdashmdashmdash3 il mdashmdashmdashmdash4 la mdashmdashmdashmdash5 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash6 il mdashmdashmdashmdash7 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash8 la mdashmdashmdashmdash9 la mdashmdashmdashmdash

10 il mdashmdashmdashmdash

i nomile viei figlile manile opinionii clientigli occhile personele marchei problemi

11 la mdashmdashmdashmdash12 il mdashmdashmdashmdash13 il mdashmdashmdashmdash14 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash15 il mdashmdashmdashmdash16 la mdashmdashmdashmdash17 il mdashmdashmdashmdash18 il mdashmdashmdashmdash19 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash20 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash

le ciliegiei caffegravei medicigli attivistile ginocchiale bugiei tedeschii testgli uominile amiche

8 Unit 1

UNIT TWODefinite and indefinite articles

Definite article

1 In Italian the definite article (English lsquothersquo) has different forms dependingon the gender (masculinefeminine) and number (singularplural) of the fol-lowing word and on the letter (or sound) with which the following wordbegins Here are the forms

2 The feminine forms are used before feminine words la and lrsquo for the singu-lar and le for the plural

la is used before words beginning with a consonantlrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel (a e i o u) or hle is used as the plural for both la and lrsquo

3 There are three different forms for the masculine singular il lo and lrsquo andtwo for the plural i and gli All these forms are used before masculine words

Feminine

Masculine

Singularlalrsquoillolrsquo

Pluralleleigligli

the

Singularla ragazzala casala stanzalrsquoautolrsquoesperienzalrsquohostess

Pluralle ragazzele casele stanzele autole esperienzele hostess

the girl(s)the house(s)the room(s)the car(s)the experience(s)the stewardess(es)

lrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or hlo is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantil is used in all other casesi is used as the plural of ilgli is used as the plural of both lrsquo and lo

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of chef pronounced in Italian asin English (ie lsquoshrsquo)

Lo is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of juventino pronounced asi + vowel (ie like the lsquoyrsquo in English lsquoyouthrsquo)

4 Care is needed in using the article with nouns ending in -e or -a which canrefer both to male or female persons (see Unit 1 paragraphs 4 and 5)

Singularlrsquoarticololrsquouomolrsquohotello ziolo gnomolo psicologolo cheflo spettacololo scioperoil baril ristoranteil senso

Pluralgli articoligli uominigli hotelgli ziigli gnomigli psicologigli chefgli spettacoligli scioperii bari ristorantii sensi

the article(s)the manmenthe hotel(s)the uncle(s)the gnome(s)the psychologist(s)the chef(s)the show(s)the strike(s)the bar(s)the restaurant(s)the sense(s)

Singularlo ionelo yuppielo xenofobolo juventino

Pluralgli ionigli yuppiegli xenofobigli juventini

the ion(s)the yuppie(s)the xenophobe(s)the Juventus fan(s)

Singularil cantante [m]

la cantante [f]

the (male)singer

the (female)singer

Plurali cantanti [m]

le cantanti [f]

the singers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) singers

10 Unit 2

Remember that as we saw in Unit 1 paragraph 19 the masculine plural formcan also denote a class of people in general as well as a group of males or amixed group of males and females eg i cantanti [m] can denote either agroup of male singers or a mixed group of male and female singers or singersin general

Indefinite article

5 Like the definite article the indefinite article (English lsquoaanrsquo) has differentforms depending on the gender of the word it refers to and the letter (orsound) with which the following word begins There is no plural for theindefinite article Here are the forms

6 The feminine forms unrsquo and una are used before feminine words

unrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or huna is used before words beginning with a consonant

Singularlrsquoinsegnante [m]

lrsquoinsegnante [f]

il collega [m]

la collega [f]

lrsquoatleta [m]

lrsquoatleta [f]

the (male)teacher

the (female)teacher

the (male)colleague

the (female)colleague

the (male)athlete

the (female)athlete

Pluralgli insegnanti [m]

le insegnanti [f]

i colleghi [m]

le colleghe [f]

gli atleti [m]

le atlete [f]

the teachers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) teachers

the colleagues [maleor male andfemale mixed]

the (female)colleagues

the athletes [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) athletes

Feminine

Masculine

unrsquounaununo

aan

unrsquoautounrsquoesperienzaunrsquohostess

a caran experiencea stewardess

Unit 2 11

7 The masculine forms uno and un are used before masculine words

uno is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantun is used before all other words

Uno (like lo) is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

8 As with the definite article care is needed in choosing the right article touse with nouns ending in -e or -a which can refer to either male or femalepersons

In the case of nouns starting with a vowel the only difference between thearticles is the apostrophe

una ragazzauna casauna stanza

a girla housea room

uno ziouno gnomouno psicologouno chefuno spettacoloun articoloun uomoun hobbyun barun ristoranteun senso

an unclea gnomea psychologista chefa showan articlea mana hobbya bara restauranta sense

uno ioneuno yuppieuno xenofobouno juventino

an iona yuppiea xenophobea Juventus fan

un cantante [m]una cantante [f]un insegnante [m]unrsquoinsegnante [f]un collega [m]una collega [f]un atleta [m]unrsquoatleta [f]

a singer (male)a singer (female)a teacher (male)a teacher (female)a colleague (male)a colleague (female)an athlete (male)an athlete (female)

12 Unit 2

9 It may be useful to compare the use of the definite and indefinite article intable form

Use of the articles

10 The use of the articles is often the same in Italian as in English but thereare cases (mostly concerning the definite article) where the two languagesdiffer Here are the most common instances

bull In Italian the definite article is used before a noun used in a generalsense

bull Italian uses the definite article before a title followed by a surnameexcept when addressing the person directly

Note that some masculine titles notably Signore Professore and Dottoredrop the final vowel when used before the name of the person becomingSignor Professor Dottor etc

bull The Italian definite article is always used with years eg il 1990 il 2000bull The definite article is normally used in Italian with names of countries

and regions eg lrsquoInghilterra (England) la Toscana (Tuscany) il Porto-gallo (Portugal) lrsquoEuropa (Europe) But the rule may be different whenusing a preposition eg in Italia (in Italy) (see Unit 8 paragraph 14)

Masculineun is used when il and lrsquo are useduno is used when lo is used

Feminineunrsquo is used when lrsquo is useduna is used when la is used

Amo la musica rockle vacanzeLa musica rock egrave popolareLe vacanze sono sempre troppo corteIl tempo volaLe auto inquinano lrsquoambienteLa disoccupazione egrave diffusa

I love rock musicholidaysRock music is popularHolidays are always too shortTime fliesCars pollute the environmentUnemployment is widespread

La Signora Urbani egrave gentileLa Dottoressa Vanni non crsquoegraveIl Dottor Marchi egrave occupatoBuongiorno Signor CarliBuongiorno DottoreScusi Signore

MrsMs Urbani is kindDoctor Vanni isnrsquot hereDoctor Marchi is busyGood morning Mr CarliGood morning DoctorExcuse me( Sir)

Unit 2 13

11 In some cases a definite article is used in Italian where an indefinite article(or a possessive adjective ndash see Unit 3) is used in English Here are someinstances

There are also cases when there is no article in Italian but the definite orindefinite article is used in English

Definite and indefinite article before an adjective

12 As we shall see (Unit 3) a noun can sometimes be preceded by an adjec-tive so that the adjective comes between the article and the noun (eg unabella donna a beautiful woman) In such cases the form of the articledepends on the spelling of the adjective not the noun

Antonio ha il naso lungoHai la patenteAvete lrsquoombrelloHo il raffreddoreDove passi le vacanze di solito

Di pomeriggio faccio il compitoHai il biglietto

Antonio has a long noseHave you got a driving licenceHave you got an umbrellaI have got a coldWhere do you normally spend your

holidaysIn the afternoon I do my homeworkHave you got ayour ticket

Andiamo in montagnaStasera andiamo a teatroAccompagno Anna in aeroportoAndiamo in macchinaCarlo egrave medicoSono studenteNon ha marito

Wersquore going to the mountainsWersquore going to the theatre this eveningIrsquom taking Anna to the airportWersquore going in thea carCarlo is a doctorIrsquom a studentShe hasnrsquot got a husband

la casauna casalrsquoautounrsquoauto

the housea housethe cara car

lrsquoultima casaunrsquoottima casala prima autouna bella auto

the last housean excellent housethe first cara beautiful car

14 Unit 2

Exercise 1

Insert the definite article before the nouns

Examples lrsquoacqua la stanza le esperienze il ristorante lo ziogli uomini

Exercise 2

Insert the indefinite article before the nouns

Examples unrsquoauto una ragazza un articolo uno spettacoloun insegnante [m] unrsquoatleta [f]

1 mdashmdash figlia2 mdashmdash zia3 mdashmdash problema4 mdashmdash mano5 mdashmdash auto6 mdashmdash fratello7 mdashmdash libri8 mdashmdash entrata9 mdashmdash studio

10 mdashmdash zii

11 mdashmdash notti12 mdashmdash sport13 mdashmdash uovo14 mdashmdash xenofobia15 mdashmdash tivugrave16 mdashmdash amici17 mdashmdash pianiste18 mdashmdash dita19 mdashmdash crisi20 mdashmdash inglese

1 mdashmdash sorella2 mdashmdash ciliegia3 mdashmdash amico4 mdashmdash zio5 mdashmdash zia6 mdashmdash aereo7 mdashmdash amica8 mdashmdash cantante [f]9 mdashmdash migliaio

10 mdashmdash specchio

11 mdashmdash arancia12 mdashmdash psichiatra [m]13 mdashmdash sigaretta14 mdashmdash insegnante [f]15 mdashmdash gnu16 mdashmdash artista [m]17 mdashmdash sbaglio18 mdashmdash figlio19 mdashmdash yogurt20 mdashmdash analisi

Unit 2 15

Exercise 3

Insert the correct article in the blank spaces

Example Maria ha una casa (Maria has a house)

1 mdashmdash zio di Maria arriva domani (Mariarsquos uncle arrives tomorrow)2 Paolo scrive mdashmdash lettera (Paolo is writing a letter)3 Hai mdashmdash mani pulite (Have you got clean hands)4 Egrave mdashmdash amica di Patrizia (Shersquos a friend of Patriziarsquos)5 Laura non ha mdashmdash patente (Laura hasnrsquot got a driving licence)6 Crsquoegrave mdashmdash Signor Totti (Is Mr Totti here)7 Egrave mdashmdash insegnante molto capace (Shersquos a very capable teacher)8 mdashmdash inquinamento egrave mdashmdash problema preoccupante (Pollution is a

worrying problem)9 mdashmdash nuovo stadio egrave piugrave grande (The new stadium is bigger)

10 Ho mdashmdash stesso CD (Irsquove got the same CD)

16 Unit 2

UNIT THREEAdjectives possessive and demonstrativepronouns

1 Adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun theyrefer to if the noun is masculine singular the adjective must be masculinesingular if the noun is feminine singular the adjective must be feminine singu-lar etc Adjectives therefore change their forms accordingly But rememberthat when an adjective is listed in a dictionary or a grammar it is given in itsmasculine singular form In the masculine singular most Italian adjectivesend in -o or in -e

2 Adjectives ending in -o have four different forms -o for the masculinesingular (italiano) -a for feminine singular (italiana) -i for the masculineplural (italiani) and -e for the feminine plural (italiane)

3 Adjectives ending in -e have only two forms -e for the masculine andfeminine singular (francese) and -i for the masculine and feminine plural(francesi) With adjectives ending in -e there is thus no difference between themasculine and the feminine form

italianonuovofrancesegrande

ItaliannewFrenchbig

lrsquoarbitro [ms] italianogli arbitri [mp] italianila cameriera [fs] italianale cameriere [fp] italianelo stadio [ms] nuovogli stadi [mp] nuovila casa [fs] nuovale case [fp] nuove

the Italian refereethe Italian refereesthe Italian waitressthe Italian waitressesthe new stadiumthe new stadiastadiumsthe new housethe new houses

4 Some adjectives end in -a like the following

These adjectives have three forms -a for the masculine and feminine singular(ottimista) -i for the masculine plural (ottimisti) and -e for the feminine plural(ottimiste) There is thus only one form for the masculine and femininesingular

For an explanation of the -h- in belghe see paragraph 6 below

5 There are also some invariable adjectives eg blu (dark blue) rosa (pink)dispari (odd) pari (even) which do not change

6 Care is needed in spelling the plural of adjectives ending in -co and -goThere is no fixed rule for the masculine forms which may keep the hard

lrsquoarbitro [ms] francesegli arbitri [mp] francesila cameriera [fs] francesele cameriere [fp] francesilo stadio [ms] grandegli stadi [mp] grandila casa [fs] grandele case [fp] grandi

the French refereethe French refereesthe French waitressthe French waitressesthe big stadiumthe big stadiastadiumsthe big housethe big houses

ottimistapacifistabelgaentusiastaidiota

optimisticpacifistBelgianenthusiasticidiotic

il corteo [ms] pacifistalrsquoidea [fs] pacifistai cortei [mp] pacifistile idee [fp] pacifisteil ragazzo [ms] belgala ragazza [fs] belgai ragazzi [mp] belgile ragazze [fp] belghe

the pacifist rallythe pacifist ideathe pacifist ralliesthe pacifist ideasthe Belgian boythe Belgian girlthe Belgian boysthe Belgian girls

il vestito rosala penna blui numeri disparile pagine pari

the pink garmentdresssuitthe blue penthe odd numbersthe even pages

18 Unit 3

sound of c and g and add h (-chi -ghi) or change the sound of c and g in theplural (-ci -gi) The feminine plural forms always add h (-che -ghe) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g If in doubt check in a dictionary the bestway to remember these sorts of plural is through practice

The adjective belga as we have seen keeps the hard sound of g in the femi-nine plural by adding h (belghe) but it changes the sound in the masculineplural (belgi)

7 As can be seen in the examples the adjective normally comes after thenoun it refers to and (unless it is invariable) it must agree in gender andnumber with the noun It must also agree in gender and number withthe noun even where it is separated from it by another word such as averb

When the adjective refers to two or more nouns which are different in genderit is masculine plural

8 In some cases the adjective can also precede the noun it refers to When theadjective comes before the noun the meaning of the noun becomes differentas in these examples

Masculinesingulargrecopraticopubblicoriccofrescolargo

Masculinepluralgrecipraticipubbliciricchifreschilarghi

Femininesingulargrecapraticapubblicariccafrescalarga

Femininepluralgrechepratichepubblichericchefreschelarghe

Greekpracticalpublicrichfreshwide

Lorenzo egrave italianoLorenzo e Vittorio sono italianiAnna egrave italianaAnna e Claudia sono italiane

Lorenzo is ItalianLorenzo and Vittorio are ItalianAnna is ItalianAnna and Claudia are Italian

Lorenzo Anna e Claudia sonoitaliani

Sabine e Kurt sono tedeschiIl computer e la stampante sono

nuoviIl bagno e la cucina sono piccoli

I pantaloni e la camicia sono nuovi

Lorenzo Anna and Claudia areItalian

Sabine and Kurt are GermanThe computer and the printer are new

The bathroom and the kitchen aresmall

The trousers and the shirt are new

Unit 3 19

9 The demonstrative adjectives questo (this) and quello (that) like theirEnglish counterparts always precede the noun they refer to

For an explanation of the forms of quello see paragraph 10

10 The forms of the adjectives quello and bello (beautifulhandsomenice-fine) change in the same way as the definite article Here are the formsfollowed in brackets by the corresponding forms of the definite article

The feminine singular form bellrsquo is rarely used and bella is preferred evenbefore a vowel

Note that when bello comes after the noun the full form is used lo spettacoloegrave bello unrsquoesperienza bella e interessante etc

un vecchio amicoun amico vecchiola povera donnala donna povera

an old [ie long-standing] friendan oldelderly friend [ie a friend who is old]the poor [ie unfortunate] womanthe poor woman [ie she has no money]

questo ragazzoquesta ragazzaquesti ragazziqueste ragazzequel ragazzoquella ragazzaquei ragazziquelle ragazze

this boythis girlthese boysthese girlsthat boythat girlthose boysthose girls

Masculine

Feminine

Singularquelbelquellobelloquellrsquobellrsquoquellabellaquellrsquobellrsquo

(il)(lo)(lrsquo)(la)(lrsquo)

Pluralqueibeiqueglibegliqueglibegliquellebellequellebelle

(i)(gli)(gli)(le)(le)

quel filmbello spettacoloquellrsquoesempioquella canzonebella esperienzaquel bel film

that filmlovely showthat examplethat songbeautiful experiencethat beautiful film

bei filmquegli spettacolibegli esempibelle canzoniquelle esperienzequei bei film

beautiful filmsthose showsfine examplesbeautiful songsthose experiencesthose beautiful

films

20 Unit 3

11 The forms of the adjective buono (good) when used before a singularnoun change in the same way as the indefinite article

Nowadays the form buona is preferred to buonrsquo

Note that when buono comes after the noun the full form is used questolibro egrave buono il caffegrave egrave buono etc

12 The adjective grande (biggreat) when used before the noun may changeto the invariable form gran or in some expressions to grandrsquo nowadays thefull form grande is preferred in most cases

Note that before plural nouns grande is regular grandi musicisti grandi caseetc

Note also that when grande comes after the noun the full form is alwaysused quel film egrave grande la casa egrave grande etc

13 The adjective santo (saint) is another that has different forms when usedbefore a noun

santo is only used before masculine names starting with s + consonantsan is used before masculine names starting with a consonant (other than

s + consonant)santrsquo is used before masculine or feminine names starting with a vowelsanta is used before feminine names starting with a consonant

Masculine

Feminine

buonbuonobuonrsquobuonabuona

(un)(uno)(unrsquo)(una)

buon librobuon amicobuon caffegravebuono studente

good bookgood friendgood coffeegood student

buona ideabuona esperienzabuona memoria

good ideagood experiencegood memory

grande musicistagrande filmgrande casa

grande amico

grande idea[sometimes] grande

uomo

gran musicistagran filmgran casaGran Bretagna[sometimes] grandrsquoamicogran

amico[sometimes] grandrsquoideagran ideagrandrsquouomo

great musiciangreat filmbig houseGreat Britaingreat friend

great ideagreat man

Unit 3 21

Note that when santo means lsquoholyrsquo or lsquoblessedrsquo it is regular il santo padre(the Holy Father) una santa donna (a holy woman)

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

14 The forms of the possessive adjectives (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquo etc) are asfollows

Note that the masculine plural forms miei tuoi and suoi are irregular Note that loro is invariable and does not change

Possessive adjectives are always used before the noun they refer to Unlike inEnglish they are always preceded by the article and they must agree with theowned object not with the owner

15 When mio tuo suo nostro and vostro (not loro) are used with a noundenoting family relationship (eg fratello (brother) sorella (sister) padre(father) madre (mother) ) in the singular they are not preceded by the definitearticle

Santo StefanoSan FrancescoSan Pietro

Saint StephenSaint FrancisSaint Peter

SantrsquoAntonioSantrsquoAnnaSanta Caterina

Saint AnthonySaint AnneSaint Catherine

Masculinesingularmiotuosuonostrovostroloro

Femininesingularmiatuasuanostravostraloro

Masculinepluralmieituoisuoinostrivostriloro

Femininepluralmietuesuenostrevostreloro

myyourhisheritsouryourtheir

Luisa e i suoi fratelli [mp]Carlo e le sue sorelle [fp]Livia e il suo amico [ms]Ettore e la sua amica [fs]la mia lettera [fs]i tuoi libri [mp]la nostra scuola [fs]le vostre idee [fp]la loro stanza [fs]i loro genitori [mp]

Luisa and her brothersCarlo and his sistersLivia and her (male) friendEttore and his (female) friendmy letteryour booksour schoolyour ideastheir roomtheir parents

22 Unit 3

16 The forms of the possessive pronouns (lsquominersquo lsquoyoursrsquo etc) are the sameas those of the possessive adjectives and are always preceded by the definitearticle

17 As we shall see (Unit 4 paragraph 5) in Italian there is a form used toaddress people formally In the formal way of addressing people the posses-sive adjectives and pronouns used are Suo for the singular and Vostro (orLoro if a higher degree of formality is required) for the plural

mio padretua madretuo fratellosua ziai tuoi fratelli [pl]le sue zie [pl]il loro padre

my fatheryour motheryour brotherhisher auntyour brothershisher auntstheir father

Masculinesingularil mioil tuoil suoil nostroil vostroil loro

Femininesingularla miala tuala suala nostrala vostrala loro

Masculineplurali mieii tuoii suoii nostrii vostrii loro

Femininepluralle miele tuele suele nostrele vostrele loro

mineyourshishersitsoursyourstheirs

La tua casa egrave grande ma la loro egravepiccola

I tuoi CD sono qui i nostri sono ligrave

Your house is big but theirs is small

Your CDs are here ours are there

AdjectivesLa Sua auto egrave pronta Signora FerreroEcco i Suoi libri SignoreSignori Bianco la Vostra stanza egrave

pronta(Signori Bianco la Loro stanza egrave

pronta)

Your carrsquos ready Mrs FerreroHere are your books( Sir)

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) your roomis ready

PronounsLa loro auto egrave in strada ma la Sua egrave

in garage SignoraProfessore questi libri sono i Suoi

Their carrsquos in the street but yoursis in the garage( Madam)

These books are yours( ProfessorSir)

Unit 3 23

Demonstrative pronouns

18 Questo and quello are also used as demonstrative pronouns (this (one)that (one) these (ones) those (ones) ) But note that when quello is used as ademonstrative pronoun its endings are not modelled on the definite article(cf paragraph 10) but are the same as those of questo (ie quello [ms] quella[fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp])

Exercise 1

Complete the phrases by choosing the form of the adjective that agrees withthe noun

Examples le ragazze (italiano) italiane (quello) acqua (caldo) quellrsquocalda

1 un libro (interessante) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 la gonna (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 i vestiti (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 le camicie (rosso) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 gli insegnanti (egoista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 un (bello) albero mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 un collega (razzista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 le situazioni (comico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 le donne (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 i capelli (lungo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Questa stanza egrave la Vostra SignoriBianco

(Questa stanza egrave la Loro SignoriBianco)

This room is yours( Mr and MrsBianco)

(This room is yours Mr and MrsBianco)

Questa egrave AnnaQuesta egrave la tua stanza e quella egrave la

miaQuesti sono gli eserciziQuello egrave il nuovo computerQuelle sono le AlpiQuesti biscotti sono buoni ma

preferisco quelli

This is AnnaThis is my room and that onersquos

yoursThese are the exercisesThat is the new computerThose are the AlpsThese biscuits are nice but I prefer

those

24 Unit 3

11 (quello) ragazzo (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 (questo) esercizi (facile) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 (quello) (bello) specchi mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 (questo) (bello) donne mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 (quello) alberi (morto) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 (questo) amici (inglese)mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 (quello) attiviste (spagnolo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 (quello) (bello) attore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 (quello) uova (fresco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 (quello) turisti (greco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Exercise 2

Choose the right adjective for each noun or pair of nouns

Examples Queste scarpe sono (rossanuovebelli) nuove Anna e Francosono (franceseitalianeitaliani) italiani

1 La casa egrave (vecchionuovigrande) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 Ho un vestito (rosanuovalunghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 Le professoresse sono (intelligentefrancesinoiosa) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 La crisi egrave (serioseviolentigrave) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 I colleghi (italianeottimistapacifisti) arrivano domani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 Queste macchine sono (velocenuovitedesche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 Questo bambino egrave (capricciosepigrobeneducata) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 Quei film sono (inglesedivertentelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 Le cameriere sono (giovanegrecabelghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 Il pianista non egrave (stancabelgavecchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 Ho le dita (pulitisporchelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 Quel signore ha un carattere (simpatichecortesienergico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 Questi blue-jeans sono (resistentipraticheamericana) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 Le maglie sono (vecchioblubianchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 Le cantanti sono (spagnolitedeschiscozzesi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 Il treno e lrsquoauto sono (velociinquinantecomodo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 Paola Claudia e Anna sono (italianibellisimpatiche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 Claudio e Patrizia sono (gentileitalianicontenta) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 Gianfranco Piero e Giorgio sono (feliceottimistiitaliane) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 I signori e le signore sono (soddisfattigrecoaffollate) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Unit 3 25

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences by adding the correct form of the possessive adjectiveand where necessary the article

Examples Conosco Luisa e (suo) fratelli i suoi (Mio) madre egrave bella Mia

1 (Loro) bambini sono cortesi mdashmdashmdash2 (Suo) occhi sono blu mdashmdashmdash3 Questa egrave (mio) bici mdashmdashmdash4 Quanti anni hanno (tuo) sorelle mdashmdashmdash5 (Vostro) macchina egrave nuova mdashmdashmdash6 (Nostro) lavoro egrave interessante mdashmdashmdash7 (Mio) amici sono in vacanza mdashmdashmdash8 (Loro) casa egrave grande mdashmdashmdash9 (Tuo) madre egrave simpatica mdashmdashmdash

10 Grazie per (Suo) lettera Signore mdashmdashmdash

Exercise 4

Answer the questions using possessive pronouns

Example lsquoEgrave la Sua macchina Signor Rossirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave la miarsquo

1 lsquoEgrave il cellulare di Annarsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo2 lsquoEgrave la Vostra casa Signori Zolarsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo3 lsquoSono i miei CDrsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo4 lsquoEgrave il Suo ufficiorsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoSono i suoi librirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoSono le mie letterersquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoEgrave la casa dei tuoi amicirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoSono i nostri vestitirsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo9 lsquoSono le camicie di Paolorsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoSono i vostri bagaglirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

26 Unit 3

Exercise 5

Complete the sentences by choosing the right form of the adjectives andpronouns

Example (Questo) non egrave (tuo) stanza egrave (mio) Questa non egrave la tuastanza egrave la mia

1 (Questo) signori sono (nostro) ospiti (tedesco)2 (Suo) colleghi sono (ottimista) Signora3 (Questo) sono (vostro) stanze4 Io ho (mio) documenti Lei ha (Suo) Signore5 (Questo) sono (mio) CD (quello) sono (tuo)6 (Nostro) professore egrave (entusiasta) comrsquoegrave (vostro)7 (Quello) sono (mio) magliette (questo) sono (tuo)8 (Quello) esercizi sono (divertente) ma (questo) egrave (difficile)9 (Mio) bagagli sono (pesante) ma (vostro) sono (leggero)

10 (Quello) acqua (minerale) egrave (gassato) ma (questo) egrave (liscio)

Unit 3 27

UNIT FOURThe present tense of essere and avere

1 Like their counterparts in many other languages the Italian verbs essere(to be) and avere (to have) are irregular Here are the forms of the presenttense

As shown in the examples it is not usually necessary to use the subject pro-nouns before the verb since the forms for the different persons are different ndashsei can only be second person singular (tu) siete can only be second personplural (voi) etc Even with sono the context always shows whether it means lsquoIamrsquo or lsquothey arersquo

The pronoun is only required for emphasis or to mark a contrast

Essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

To beI amyou [sing] arehesheit iswe areyou [pl] arethey are

Avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo(voi) avete(loro) hanno

To haveI havehave gotyou [sing] havehave gothesheit hashas gotwe havehave gotyou [pl] havehave gotthey havehave got

Sono medicoSiamo cuginiSiete stranieriPaola e Anna sono alteClaudio egrave mio fratelloHo un cellulareHai il mio indirizzoHanno un esameAnna ha una chitarra nuova

Irsquom a doctorWe are cousinsYou are foreignersPaola and Anna are tallClaudio is my brotherIrsquove got a mobile phoneYou have my addressThey have an examAnnarsquos got a new guitar

Io sono medico e lui egrave insegnanteTu hai una bella bici ma io ho una

macchina

Irsquom a doctor and hersquos a teacherYoursquove got a nice bike but Irsquove got a

car

Subject pronouns

2 The Italian subject pronouns are

For the third person the following pronouns can still be found in some textsbut are not normally used in contemporary Italian

Lui (third person singular pronoun) replaces a masculine noun (like the Eng-lish lsquohersquo) lei replaces a feminine noun (like the English lsquoshersquo)

Lui lei and loro are only used to refer to persons In referring to objectsItalian normally avoids using the obsolete forms esso essa essi esse andomits the pronoun altogether

Interrogative form

3 The interrogative is formed by adding a question mark at the end of thesentence

Person1st2nd3rd3rd

1st2nd3rd

SingulariotuluileiPluralnoivoiloro

Iyouheshe

weyouthey

egli [m] esso [m]ella [f] essa [f]essi [m] esse [f]

instead of the singular luiinstead of the singular leiinstead of the plural loro

Lui egrave Paolo lei egrave AnnalsquoCosrsquoegraversquo lsquoEgrave una chiaversquoEgrave la chitarra di AnnaSono i libri di Paolo

He is Paolo she is AnnalsquoWhat is itrsquo lsquoItrsquos a keyrsquoItrsquos Annarsquos guitarThey are Paolorsquos books

Sei prontoSiete stranieriHai il mio indirizzoAvete amici italianiHanno un esame

Are you readyAre you foreignersHave you got my addressHave you any Italian friendsHave they got an exam

Unit 4 29

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non (ie lsquonotrsquo) before the verb

Formal form

5 In Italian there is a formal way of addressing people which is used withpeople we do not know or when some degree of formality is required Whenthe formal form is required the pronoun used for the singular for both menand women is Lei (third person singular) the pronoun used for the plural isnormally Voi but in situations when a high degree of formality is requiredLoro can be used

6 There are some spelling mistakes involving essere and avere which arecommonly made by learners be careful to remember the followingdifferences

Claudio non egrave mio fratelloNon siamo italianiNon siete stranieriNon hai il mio indirizzoNon hanno un esameNon abbiamo amici italianiNon ho la minima idea di cosa

regalare a Paola

Claudio is not my brotherWersquore not ItalianArenrsquot you foreignersHavenrsquot you got my addressThey donrsquot have an examWe havenrsquot got any Italian friendsI havenrsquot the slightest idea what to

give Paola

Lei egrave molto gentile SignoreLei non egrave troppo alta SignoraSignora Belli (Lei) ha la patente

Professore (Lei) ha tempoSignor Neri (Lei) egrave prontoSignori Conti (Voi) siete italiani (Signori Conti Loro sono italiani)

Yoursquore very kind( Sir)Yoursquore not too tall( Madam)Mrs Belli have you got a driving

licenceHave you got time( ProfessorSir)Mr Neri are you ready

Mr and Mrs Conti are you Italian

egrave (hesheit is)ho (I have)hai (you have)ha (hesheit has)hanno (they have)

e (and)o (or)ai (to the)a (to)anno (year)

30 Unit 4

Use of essere and avere

7 The verbs essere and avere are normally used as the verbs lsquoto bersquo and lsquotohaversquo are used in English Essere is usually followed by an adjective or anoun

Avere is normally followed by a noun (or a noun accompanied by anadjective)

8 The verb avere followed by a noun is also used in a number of idiomaticexpressions which correspond to English expressions using lsquoto bersquo followedby an adjective or an adverbial phrase

Siete studenti [noun]Daniela egrave medico [noun]Tu e Anna siete cugini [noun]Siete gentili [adjective]Gli amici di Paul sono italiani

[adjective]

Are you students [noun]Daniela is a doctor [noun]Are you and Anna cousins [noun]You are kind [adjective]Paulrsquos friends are Italian [adjective]

Hai il libroNon ho tempoAbbiamo molti amiciHanno una casa grandePaolo e io abbiamo una macchina

Have you got the bookI havenrsquot timeWe have a lot of friendsThey have a big housePaolo and I have got a car

avere caldoavere fameavere freddoavere pauraavere ragioneavere seteavere sonnoavere tortoavere fretta

to be hotto be hungryto be coldto be afraidto be rightto be thirstyto be sleepyto be wrongto be in a hurry

Abbiamo fameAvete ragioneMarina ha fretta(Lei) ha sete SignoraNon hai freddo Claudia

We are hungryYoursquore rightMarina is in a hurryAre you thirsty( Madam)Arenrsquot you cold Claudia

Unit 4 31

9 Avere is also used in Italian to express age

Crsquoegrave and ci sono

10 The verb essere is used in the expressions crsquoegrave (there is) followed by asingular noun and ci sono (there are) followed by a plural noun

11 Note that crsquoegrave and ci sono are not usually emphatic So in the Englishsentences in paragraph 10 the voice stress does not fall on lsquotherersquo but on thenoun that follows it (ie on lsquoletterrsquo lsquolittleplenty of timersquo lsquoproblemrsquo etc)Thus crsquoegrave and ci sono sometimes do not correspond to lsquothere isrsquo or lsquothere arersquoas in the following examples

12 The interrogative is formed by simply adding a question mark at the endof the sentence or with a lsquoquestion wordrsquo (see Unit 9)

13 The negative is formed by placing non before crsquoegrave or ci sono

Francesca ha 17 anniIl figlio di Gianni ha un annoQuanti anni hai

Francesca is 17 (years old)Giannirsquos son is oneHow old are you

Crsquoegrave una lettera per teCrsquoegrave poco tempoCrsquoegrave molto tempoCrsquoegrave un problemaCi sono due ingressiNel negozio ci sono molti clienti

Therersquos a letter for youTherersquos littlenot much timeTherersquos plenty of timeTherersquos a problemThere are two entrancesThere are a lot of customers in the shop

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono [ie she hasjust rung]

Ci sono i tuoi amici che ti aspettano[ie they have just arrived]

Luisarsquos on the phone [not TherersquosLuisa on the phone]

Your friends are waiting for you[not There are your friendswaiting for you]

Crsquoegrave il Professor Gatti

Crsquoegrave molto trafficoQuanti ingressi ci sono

Is Professor Gatti thereanywherearound[ie Irsquod like to seetalk to Professor Gatti]

Is there a lot of trafficHow many entrances are there

Non crsquoegrave tempoDomani non crsquoegrave lezioneNon ci sono clienti

There is no timeThere is no class tomorrowThere arenrsquot any customers

32 Unit 4

In Italian the double negative is used non + nessuno

14 Note that in negative sentences giving general information it is moreusual to use the plural non ci sono than the singular non crsquoegrave

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of essere

Example Alberto mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash a Roma egrave

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of avere

Example Jenny e John mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash una figlia hanno

Non crsquoegrave tempoNon ci sono clientiNon crsquoegrave nessuno

Is there no timeArenrsquot there any customersThere is nobody

Non ci sono farmacie Non ci sono scuole Non ci sono artisti nella mia

famiglia

There isnrsquot ais no pharmacyThere arenrsquot anyare no pharmaciesThere isnrsquot ais no schoolThere arenrsquot anyare no schoolsThere arenrsquot anyare no artists in my family

1 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash italiani2 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash scozzese3 (io) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash felice4 Gli studenti mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash in

biblioteca5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto gentili6 Lei mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash medico7 La cena mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash pronta8 I libri mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sulla

scrivania9 Tu e Jim mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amici

10 Paolo e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash giovani11 Gli impiegati mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash gentili12 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash simpatici13 Enrico non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash biondo14 Gli italiani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash allegri15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amica di Giulia16 Laura mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash magra17 Lrsquoesercizio mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash difficile18 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash straniero19 Tu e Billy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stranieri20 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stanca Signora

1 (noi) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo2 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash la macchina3 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molti amici

4 I Signori Illy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash due figli5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash i libri6 Sandro mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sempre fretta

Unit 4 33

Exercise 3

Taking the words in the two columns below write negative and interrogativesentences using the verb avere

Example tu fretta Non hai fretta Hai fretta

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative and negativesentences using the verb essere

Example io italiana Sono italiana Non sono italiana

7 Il professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash moltistudenti

8 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il libro9 Marco e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sete

10 Quanti anni (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il biglietto12 Domenico mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un

fratello13 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un esame14 (loro) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash figli

15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash lrsquoindirizzo diLuca

16 Carlo non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash latelevisione

17 I nostri amici mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash deiproblemi

18 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto lavoro19 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash 16 anni20 Professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo

1 io2 il professore3 la Signorina Berti4 Lei [formal]5 voi6 loro7 Carla e Andrea

ragionecaldosetesonnopaurafreddofame

1 io2 tu3 il dottore4 la professoressa5 Lei [formal]6 noi7 voi8 le tue amiche

stancopigragiovanesimpaticaaltomagreintelligenticontente

34 Unit 4

Exercise 5

Imagine the things in the office using all the words in the list write sentencesusing crsquoegrave or ci sono

Examples una scrivania Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una scrivania quattro sedieNellrsquoufficio ci sono quattro sedie

1 una sedia 2 due poltrone 3 tre computer 4 una stampante 5 un tele-fono 6 la fotocopiatrice 7 due radiatori 8 una porta 9 tre finestre

Exercise 6

Imagine what is in the village using all the words in the list make affirmativeor negative sentences paying attention to the negative form (non ci sono +plural noun)

Example tabaccaio tabaccai In questo paese crsquoegrave un tabaccaio ci sonotre tabaccai non ci sono tabaccai

1 museo musei 2 discoteca discoteche 3 panetteria panetterie 4 cinemacinema 5 biblioteca biblioteche 6 scuola scuole 7 ufficio postale ufficipostali 8 libreria librerie 9 giardino pubblico giardini pubblici 10 ris-torante ristoranti

Unit 4 35

UNIT FIVEThe present tense of regular (and someirregular) verbs

Use of the present tense

1 The present tense (or simply lsquothe presentrsquo) is used to state that an action isoccurring at the present time It corresponds basically to the English simplepresent (lsquoI eatrsquo) and present continuous (lsquoI am eatingrsquo)

2 The present can also be used to refer to the future either the near future orone that is considered fairly certain

3 The present is also used to refer to an action which started in the past and isstill going on here it corresponds to the English present perfect

Mio padre lavora per la BBCMio padre lavora in giardinoDi solito guardo la televisioneStasera guardo la televisioneNon guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisioneStasera non guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisione

stasera

My father works for the BBCMy fatherrsquos working in the gardenNormally I watch TVIrsquom watching TV this eveningI donrsquot watch TVWhy donrsquot you watch TVIrsquom not watching TV this eveningWhy arenrsquot you watching TV this

evening

Il treno parte fra cinque minuti

Parto domaniDomani mattina porto Luca alla

stazioneLrsquoestate prossima lavoro con mio

zio

The train leavesis leaving in fiveminutes

I leaveI am leaving tomorrowTomorrow morning Irsquoll takeIrsquom taking-

Irsquom going to take Luca to the stationNext summer Irsquoll workIrsquom working-

going to work with my uncle

Lavoriamo qui da un mese Wersquove been working here for a month

The forms of the present tense

4 Italian verbs are divided into three main groups the conjugations Theconjugation a verb belongs to is determined by the ending of its infinitive

The forms of the present depend on which conjugation the verb belongs toThe present is formed by changing the ending of the infinitive as follows

5 Regular verbs in -are are conjugated as follows

As we saw in Unit 4 the subject pronoun is normally omitted in the conju-gation of Italian verbs

Mio cugino abita a Roma da treanni

Conosco Giulia da tre anniNon vedo Dario da mesi

My cousinrsquos livedbeen living in Rome forthree years

I have known Giulia for three yearsI havenrsquot seen Dario for months

First conjugation-are

Second conjugation-ere

Third conjugation-ire

Person1st2nd3rd

1st2nd3rd

Singular(io)(tu)(luilei)

Plural(noi)(voi)(loro)

Infinitive in -are-o-i-a

-iamo-ate-ano

Infinitive in -ere-o-i-e

-iamo-ete-ono

Infinitive in -ire(-isc)-o(-isc)-i(-isc)-e

-iamo-ite(-isc)-ono

Endings-o-i-a-iamo-ate-ano

Parlare(io) parlo(tu) parli(luilei) parla(noi) parliamo(voi) parlate(loro) parlano

To speaktalkI speakyou speakhesheit speakswe speakyou speakthey speak

Andrea e Carla lavorano in ItaliaParlo italianoParlate moltoAbitiamo a Genova

Andrea and Carla work in ItalyI speak ItalianYou talk a lotWe live in Genoa

Unit 5 37

6 Verbs ending in -care and -gare (first conjugation) add h before the endingsof the second person singular (-i) and the first person plural (-iamo) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g

7 Verbs ending in -iare (first conjugation) normally have only one i in thesecond person singular and the first person plural

8 Regular verbs in -ere are conjugated as follows

Cercare(io) cerco(tu) cerchi(luilei) cerca(noi) cerchiamo(voi) cercate(loro) cercano

To look forI look foryou look forhesheit looks forwe look foryou look forthey look for

Pagare(io) pago(tu) paghi(luilei) paga(noi) paghiamo(voi) pagate(loro) pagano

To payI payyou payhesheit payswe payyou paythey pay

Cerchi MarcoGiochiamo a pallonePercheacute litighi con tuo fratelloPaghiamo sempre il conto

Are you looking for MarcoWe play footballWhy are you arguing with your brotherWe always pay the bill

Cominciare(io) comincio(tu) cominci(luilei) comincia(noi) cominciamo(voi) cominciate(loro) cominciano

To startbeginI startbeginyou startbeginhesheit startsbeginswe startbeginyou startbeginthey startbegin

Mangiare(io) mangio(tu) mangi(luilei) mangia(noi) mangiamo(voi) mangiate(loro) mangiano

To eatI eatyou eathesheit eatswe eatyou eatthey eat

Quando cominci la scuolaCominciamo la partitaMangi troppoStasera mangiamo fuori

When do you start schoolWersquore starting the gameYou eat too muchThis evening wersquore eating out

Endings-o-i-e-iamo-ete-ono

Prendere(io) prendo(tu) prendi(luilei) prende(noi) prendiamo(voi) prendete(loro) prendono

To takegetI takegetyou takegethesheit takesgetswe takegetyou takegetthey takeget

38 Unit 5

9 Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) and -gere (or -ggere) change the sound ofc (or sc) and g (or -gg) which become lsquohardrsquo before the endings of the firstperson singular (-o) and the third person plural (-ono) So care needs to betaken in speaking these verbs

Prendo il prossimo trenoPrendiamo questa stradaAnna scrive una letteraMarco e Martina ridono molto

Irsquom gettingtaking the next trainWe take this roadAnna is writing a letterMarco and Martina laugh a lot

Vincere(io) vinco(tu) vinci(luilei) vince(noi) vinciamo(voi) vincete(loro) vincono

Spoken like Englishkchchchchk

To winI winyou winhesheit winswe winyou winthey win

Conoscere(io) conosco(tu) conosci(luilei) conosce(noi) conosciamo(voi) conoscete(loro) conoscono

Spoken like Englishskshshshshsk

To knowI knowyou knowhesheit knowswe knowyou knowthey know

Leggere(io) leggo(tu) leggi(luilei) legge(noi) leggiamo(voi) leggete(loro) leggono

Spoken like Englishg [as in lsquogorsquo]jjjjg [as in lsquogorsquo]

To readI readyou readhesheit readswe readyou readthey read

Vince sempreNon conosco i tuoi genitoriLeggono il giornaleNon piango mai

Heshe always winsI donrsquot know your parentsTheyrsquore reading the paperI never cry

Unit 5 39

10 Regular verbs in -ire are conjugated as follows

11 Many verbs in -ire (eg capire (to understand) costruire (to build) finire(to finishto end) preferire (to prefer) pulire (to clean) ) follow a slightlydifferent pattern adding -isc- before the singular endings and the thirdperson plural

There is no way of telling which is the right pattern for a verb in -ire otherthan to check in a dictionary

Interrogative form

12 As we saw in Unit 4 the interrogative is formed by adding a questionmark at the end of the sentence

Endings-o-i

Partire(io) parto(tu) parti

To leaveI leaveyou leave

-e-iamo-ite-ono

(luilei) parte(noi) partiamo(voi) partite(loro) partono

hesheit leaveswe leaveyou leavethey leave

Il treno parte alle 800I miei amici partono domaniMia sorella dormeTutte le mattine apriamo le finestre

The train leaves at eightMy friends are leaving tomorrowMy sister is sleepingasleepEvery morning we open the windows

Endings-isc-o-isc-i-isc-e-iamo-ite-isc-ono

Capire(io) capisco(tu) capisci(luilei) capisce(noi) capiamo(voi) capite(loro) capiscono

To understandI understandyou understandhesheit understandswe understandyou understandthey understand

Marina capisce tuttoLa lezione finisce alle 1300Preferisco parlare italiano

Marina understands everythingThe lessonclass finishes at 1 pmI prefer speakingto speak Italian

Carla resta a casaPrendi sempre la macchina fotograficaQuando partiteCapisci tutto

Is Carla staying at homeDo you always take the cameraWhen are you leavingDo you understand everything

40 Unit 5

Negative form

13 The negative is formed by putting non (not) before the verb

Formal form

14 As we saw in Unit 4 the pronouns used for the formal form are Lei for thesingular (for both women and men) and Voi for the plural (the pronoun Lorois much more formal)

Present tense of some irregular verbs

15 In Italian as in most languages there are a number of irregular verbswhose conjugation is best learned by heart and with use Here is the conjuga-tion of some of the more frequently used irregular verbs

Non parlo italianoNon prendiamo la macchina

fotograficaGiulia e Susanna non partonoNon capisce niente

I donrsquot speak ItalianWersquore not taking the camera

Arenrsquot Giulia and Susanna leavingHeshe doesnrsquot understand anything

(Lei) Parla italianoNon prende un taxi Professor

MasiPartite Signori Bianco( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco)

Do you speak ItalianArenrsquot you taking a taxi Professor

MasiAre you leaving( Mr and Mrs

Bianco)

Dare (to give)dogravedaidagravediamodatedanno

Andare (to go)vadovaivaandiamoandatevanno

Stare (to staylivefeel)stostaistastiamostatestanno

Uscire (to go outleave)escoesciesceusciamousciteescono

Sapere (to know)sosaisasappiamosapetesanno

Venire (to come)vengovienivieneveniamovenitevengono

Unit 5 41

The verb riuscire (to succeedmanagebe able to) follows the same pattern asuscire

It is important not to confuse sapere and conoscere (paragraph 9) Bothmean lsquoto knowrsquo but they are not always interchangeable The basic differenceis that sapere generally means lsquoto knowbe aware ofto have knowledge of afactrsquo (but see also paragraph 17 below) whereas conoscere means lsquoto beacquaintedfamiliar withrsquo or sometimes lsquoto meetmake the acquaintance ofrsquo(eg in the expression piacere di conoscerti pleased to meet you) Thus sapereis never used for people and conoscere is never followed by a phrase contain-ing a verb

Dovere (mustto haveto)devodevidevedobbiamodovetedevono

Dire (to saytell)dicodicidicediciamoditedicono

Potere (canmayto beable)possopuoipuogravepossiamopotetepossono

Fare (to domake)facciofaifafacciamofatefanno

Volere (to wishtowant)vogliovuoivuolevogliamovoletevogliono

Bere (to drink)bevobevibevebeviamobevetebevono

Cosa failsquoCome stairsquo lsquoSto bene graziersquoMia zia sta a BolognaVado al cinemaStasera non escoDomani esco prestoNon riesco a capireNon riesco a chiudere la portaAdesso sapete tutto

What are you doinglsquoHow are yoursquo lsquoIrsquom fine thank yoursquoMy aunt lives in BolognaIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom not going out tonightIrsquom leaving early tomorrowI canrsquot understandI canrsquot manage to close the doorNow you know everything

Sappiamo giagrave che crsquoegrave scioperodomani

Sai che ora egraveSai percheacuteNon so che cosa fareConosco le regole del gioco

We already know that there is a striketomorrow

Do you know what time it isDo you know whyI donrsquot know what to doI know the rules of the game

42 Unit 5

16 Dovere potere and volere usually need to be followed by another verb inthe infinitive

17 The verb sapere is another that is often followed by a verb in the infinitiveused in this way it expresses the ability to do something (in the sense of lsquotoknow how torsquo do something)

18 A few verbs end in -urre (like condurre (to leaddrivemanage) tradurre (totranslate) produrre (to produce) etc) all have the following pattern

Exercise 1

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io conoscere) tua mamma conosco

Ho conosciuto il padre di PiaNon conosco il tuo ragazzoConosci questa cittagrave

I (have) met Piarsquos fatherI donrsquot know your boyfriendDo you know this town

Dobbiamo fare gli eserciziPosso parlare con LuigiPuoi telefonare domaniNon vogliono uscire

Wersquove got to do the exercisesMay I talk to LuigiYou can phone tomorrowThey donrsquot want to go out

So nuotarePaolo non sa ballareSai usare quello scanner

I can swim [ie I know how to]Paolo canrsquot dance [ie he doesnrsquot know how to]Can youDo you know how to use that scanner

Endings-uc-o-uc-i-uc-e-uc-iamo-uc-ete-uc-ono

Produrre(io) produco(tu) produci(luilei) produce(noi) produciamo(voi) producete(loro) producono

To produceI produceyou producehesheit produceswe produceyou producethey produce

Questa fabbrica produce automobiliTraducono dal francese

This factory produces carsThey translate from French

1 Claudio (arrivare) con il prossimotreno

2 Anna (vivere) a Roma

3 Non (noi mangiare) spesso fuori4 (tu cercare) casa5 Stasera (voi prendere) lrsquoautobus

Unit 5 43

Exercise 2

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example (io bere) molta acqua bevo

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 You [pl] have got to talk to Marcello2 Wersquore leaving tonight3 Wersquore getting the next bus4 You [polite] can go to the cinema Mr Buchan5 We know how to use those mobile phones6 She always prefers reading the paper7 The babyrsquos asleep8 Irsquom coming to Turin this summer

6 Il treno di Giorgio (partire) alle18

7 Tutti i giorni (noi leggere) ilgiornale

8 (tu pulire) il bagno9 (io conoscere) molti italiani

10 I giochi (finire) sempre alle 1711 Non (noi guidare) lrsquoauto12 Anna e io (giocare) a carte13 Percheacute non (voi tornare) in

Scozia

14 Non (tu capire) nulla15 Giorgio e Paola non (spendere)

molto16 Dove (Lei abitare) Signor Verdi17 (Voi pagare) lrsquoaffitto Signori

Rossi18 (tu viaggiare) molto19 Non (tu ricevere) molte lettere20 Piero e Gianni (lasciare) il cane a

casa

1 Stasera (loro) andare al cinema2 La nostra fabbrica (produrre)

pasta3 Domani (noi dare) una festa4 (tu andare) spesso in spiaggia5 (voi fare) gli esercizi6 Non (noi riuscire) a capire7 (voi venire) a casa8 Non (io potere) uscire oggi9 (loro volere) dormire

10 (tu dire) la veritagrave

11 Tu e Claudia (potere) partire12 (io volere) studiare13 Dove (tu stare) adesso14 Le mie sorelle non (sapere)

nuotare15 Cosa (loro fare) stasera16 I vicini (dovere) rimanere a casa17 (noi tradurre) in italiano18 Luigi (dovere) lavorare19 (voi sapere) cantare20 I nostri amici (venire) a Roma

44 Unit 5

9 They often go out in the evening10 The boys are playing football tomorrow

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Are you going out tonight Mother2 What are we doing tomorrow3 Can you [sing] open that door4 Do you [sing] want a coffee5 Can you play the piano Francesco6 What are you [sing] looking for7 Are you [polite] drinking coffee or mineral water Madam8 Do you [sing] and Jim know my parents9 Are you [sing] well today

10 What are they building

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Donrsquot you [polite] speak English Mrs Vialli2 My German friends canrsquot sing in Italian3 I donrsquot earn a lot4 Isnrsquot she giving a party for her birthday5 Arenrsquot you [sing] working with Giulia6 Theyrsquove not seen Mr Moro for three years7 Why do you never go to Florence Claudio8 I canrsquot manage to shut this window9 Why arenrsquot you [pl] drinking coffee this morning

10 Arenrsquot you [pl] coming tomorrow

Unit 5 45

UNIT SIXAdverbs

1 English adverbs are usually formed by adding lsquo-lyrsquo to an adjective (eglsquothinlyrsquo lsquocleverlyrsquo) Italian adverbs are usually just as easy to form -mente isadded to the feminine singular form of the adjective

When the adjective ends in -le or -re preceded by a vowel the final e isdropped before adding -mente

2 In Italian there are also many adverbs which do not end in -mente Here aresome

lenta + -menterapida + -mentesemplice + -mentefrequente + -mente

lentamenterapidamentesemplicementefrequentemente

slowlyquicklysimplyfrequently

gentile + -menteutile + -mentemaggiore + -menteregolare + -mente

gentilmenteutilmentemaggiormenteregolarmente

kindly politelyusefullymainlyregularly

Il tempo cambia rapidamenteLa nonna cammina lentamenteEnrico risponde sempre gentilmenteFaccio i compiti regolarmente

The weather changes quicklyGranny walks slowlyEnrico always answers politelyI do my homework regularly

abbastanza

ancorabenedavantidentrodietrodopo

enoughfairlyratherquite

stillwellat the frontin frontin(side)at the backbehindlaterafterwards

fortefuorigiagravelontanomalenon ancoranon maipiano

loudlyhardoutoutsidealreadyfar (away)badlynot yetneverslowlyquietly

Note that with non ancora and non mai non is always placed beforethe verb and ancoramai after it

3 Adverbs can qualify verbs adjectives or even other adverbs

4 Some words denoting quantity can be used both as adverbs and as adjec-tives moltotanto (a lot (of)verymany) troppo (too muchtoo many) andpoco (fewlittlenot muchnot very) When used as adverbs they are invariablebut when used as adjectives they agree in gender and number with the nounthey refer to

piugravepiuttostoprestoprima

quasisempre

morerathersoonearlyearlierbeforehand

firstalmostalways

soprasottospessosubitotardivicinovolentieri

aboveupstairsbelowdownstairsoftenimmediatelyright awaylatenear(by)willinglygladly

Questo film egrave abbastanza belloPartiamo tardi dopo le 11Andiamo spesso in discotecaVengo subitoParto prestoParliamo piano perchegrave Carla

dormePuograve parlare piano per favore

Non sono italianoAbita vicino SignoraVai lontanoPiove fortePuoi parlare piugrave forteMangiamo fuori

Egrave ancora estateNon egrave ancora estateNon esco maiLorenzo non telefona mai

This film is rather goodWersquore leaving late after 11We often go to the discoIrsquom coming (immediately)Irsquom leaving earlysoonWersquore talking quietly because Carlarsquos

asleepCould you speak slowly please Irsquom not

ItalianDo you live nearby (Madam)Are you going farItrsquos raining hardCan you speak loudermore loudlyWersquore eating out [eg in a restaurant]

outside [ie in the open]Itrsquos still summerItrsquos not summer yetI never go outLorenzo never phones

Dormo bene [verb + adverb]Dormo molto bene [adverb + adverb]La casa egrave molto piccola [adverb + adjective]

I sleep wellI sleep very wellThe house is very small

Unit 6 47

Adverbial expressions

5 Having a lot of words ending in -mente can often sound heavy To avoidthis Italian sometimes uses adverbial phrases instead of single words Thesedo the same job as one-word adverbs and indeed they do usually correspondto one-word English adverbs in lsquo-lyrsquo These adverbial expressions are mostoften constructed with con (with) sometimes with senza (without) followedby a noun

Adverblavorare moltotantomoltotanto lontanomoltotanto difficilelavorare troppotroppo lontanotroppo difficilelavorare pocopoco lontanopoco difficile

Adjectivemolto (tanto)troppopoco lavoro [ms]molta (tanta)troppapoca acqua [fs]molti (tanti)troppipochi esercizi [mp]molte (tante)troppepoche lettere [fp]

to work a lotvery farvery difficultto work too muchtoo fartoo difficultto work littlenot to work muchnot very farnot very difficult

a lot oftoo muchnot much worka lot oftoo muchnot much watermanytoo manynot many exercisesmanytoo manynot many letters

Mio padre lavora troppo [adverb]Questa musica egrave molto bella [adverb]Luisa dorme poco [adverb]

Dormi troppo poco [adverbs]

Abbiamo molto tempo [adjective]Luisa mangia poca pasta [adjective]

Ho molti amici [adjective]lsquoPercheacute fai questorsquo lsquoCi sono molte

ragionirsquo [adjective]

My father works too muchThis music is very beautifulLuisa sleeps littledoesnrsquot sleep

muchYou sleep too littledonrsquot sleep

enoughWe have a lot of timeLuisa eats little pastadoesnrsquot eat a

lot of pastaI have a lot of friendslsquoWhy are you doing thisrsquo lsquoThere

are many reasonsrsquo

con difficoltagravecon eleganzacon lentezzacon rapiditagravecon semplicitagrave

with difficultyelegantlyslowlyrapidlyquicklysimply

48 Unit 6

There are also a number of adverbial expressions that use other prepositionsthan con Here are some of the most common

Another adverbial expression that is sometimes used is in modoin maniera(ie lsquoin a wayrsquo) followed by an adjective the adjective is masculine when usedwith modo and feminine when used with maniera

Exercise 1

Change the adjectives into adverbs

Example lento lentamente

senza eleganzasenza complicazionisenza dubbio

inelegantlyuncomplicatedlyundoubtedly

a poco a pocoa voltein ritardoin tempodi solitodi sicuro

little by littlesometimeslateon timeusuallysurelycertainly

Anna veste con eleganzaSpieghi tutto senza complicazioni

A volte non capisco quello che dice

Anna dresses elegantlyYou explain everything

uncomplicatedlySometimes I donrsquot understand what

he says

in modo vagoin maniera vagain modo stranoin maniera stranain modo semplicein maniera semplice

vaguelyin a vague waystrangelyin a strange waysimplyin a simple way

Risponde sempre in modo vagoQuel cane cammina in maniera strana

Heshe always answers vaguelyThat dogrsquos walking oddlyin a

strange way

1 dolce2 tranquillo3 semplice4 allegro5 maggiore

6 irregolare7 probabile8 chiaro9 facile

10 veloce

11 lento12 utile13 attento14 rapido15 leggero

Unit 6 49

Exercise 2

Supply the correct form of moltotanto troppo or poco (adverbs or adjectives)

Examples Anna egrave (molto) alta molto Ho (molto) sete molta

Exercise 3

Replace the words in English with the appropriate expression from the list

a volte di sicuro con pazienza senza esitazione in modo nervoso intempo con semplicitagrave di solito con prudenza a poco a poco in manierabrusca con coraggio

Examples (sometimes) non voglio giocare a pallone a volte Laura veste(simply) con semplicitagrave

1 Dobbiamo agire (cautiously)2 Andrea spiega tutto (patiently)3 Paolo guarda i professori (nervously)4 (little by little) Gianni capisce il problema5 Tullio risponde (unhesitatingly)6 (usually) rientra nel pomeriggio7 Lei non fa piugrave (in time) a prendere il treno delle sette8 Esprime (courageously) le sue opinioni9 Domenica vengo (for sure)

10 Il Signor Capello risponde (bluntly) a tutte le nostre domande

1 Claudia mangia (molto) dolci2 Il tuo vestito egrave (molto) bello3 Monica ha (poco) amici4 Tu spendi (troppo)5 In mensa ci sono (troppo)

studenti6 Davanti al cinema crsquoegrave (tanto)

gente7 Mangi (troppo)8 Stefano abita (molto) lontano9 Giulia mangia sempre (poco)

10 Judy ha (molto) amiche italiane

11 Sto (poco) bene12 Abitate in una casa (molto) bella13 Signora egrave (molto) stanca14 Ci sono (poco) biscotti15 Siete (molto) gentili16 Hai (poco) pazienza17 Marco e Luisa hanno (molto)

fame18 Il giardino non egrave (molto) grande19 Non devi invitare (troppo)

persone20 Abbiamo (poco) riviste

50 Unit 6

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sometimes I eat in the canteen2 The swimming pool is quite big3 We often go out with our friends4 Have you [sing] got enough money5 You [sing] have to speak slowly6 Marina never eats cheese7 Francesca always arrives late8 Irsquove been waiting for almost forty minutes9 Carla and Andrea are out

10 Are your [sing] parents well

Unit 6 51

UNIT SEVENDirect object pronouns (1)

1 A direct object is the person or thing that the verb directly impacts onInvito Elena (Irsquom inviting Elena) Uso il computer tutti i giorni (I use thecomputer every day)

A direct object pronoun replaces a noun used as a direct object itmust therefore agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to Directobject pronouns normally come before the verb In the following examplesthe pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the direct object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Elena la invito a cena[la replaces and agrees with Elena (fs)]

Quando vedo Lorenzo lo invito a cena[lo replaces and agrees with Lorenzo(ms)]

Scrivo le cartoline e poi le imbuco[le replaces and agrees with lecartoline (fp)]

Appena compro i biscotti li mangio[li replaces and agrees with i biscotti(mp)]

Prendo il giornale e lo leggo subito[lo replaces and agrees with ilgiornale (ms)]

When I see Elena Irsquoll inviteher to dinner

When I see Lorenzo Irsquoll invitehim to dinner

I write the postcards andthen post them

As soon as I buy biscuits Ieat them

I get the paper and read itimmediately

Subjectiotuluileinoivoiloro

Direct objectmitilo [m]la [f]civili [m]le [f]

meyouhimheritusyouthem

3 We saw in Unit 3 that if an adjective refers to two or more nouns that aredifferent in gender it has the masculine plural form eg Laura e Piero sonoitaliani (Laura and Piero are Italian) The same principle applies to directobject pronouns

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

5 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Note that verbs in -urre drop the second r as well as the final vowel lo devotradurre or devo tradurlo

Giacomo mi invita spesso a cenaSe vuoi ti aiutoLo conosco beneLa vedo tutti i giorniVi invito alla festa

Giacomo often invites me to dinnerIf you want Irsquoll help youI know him wellI see her every dayIrsquom inviting you to the party

lsquoConosci Laura [f] e Piero [m]rsquo lsquoSigraveli [mp] conosco benersquo

lsquoUsi il computer [m] e la stampante[f]rsquo lsquoSigrave li [mp] uso spessorsquo

lsquoDo you know Laura and Pierorsquo lsquoYesI know them wellrsquo

lsquoDo you use the computer and theprinterrsquo lsquoYes I often use themrsquo

Non lo conosco beneNon vi invito alla festaNon li vedo spessoNon ti capisco

I donrsquot know him wellIrsquom not inviting you to the partyI donrsquot often see themI donrsquot understand you

La devo chiamareTi voglio invitareLo puoi prendereLo so fareLo devo tradurre

ororororor

Devo chiamarlaVoglio invitartiPuoi prenderloSo farloDevo tradurlo

I must call herI want to invite youYou can take itI canknow how to do itIrsquove got to translate it

Unit 7 53

6 The pronoun lo [ms] is often used to replace a whole clause

7 When the pronouns lo and la are used with the verb avere they are short-ened to lrsquo and are often preceded by the particle ce

The plural pronouns li and le however are never shortened and are onlyrarely used with ce

Formal form

8 The direct object pronouns used for the formal form are La for the singular(for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronouns Li and Le canalso be used for the masculine and feminine respectively but this is particu-larly formal)

lsquoSai che oggi egrave il compleanno diCarlarsquo lsquoSigrave lo sorsquo [lo = oggi egrave ilcompleanno di Carla]

lsquoDove sono le chiavirsquo lsquoNon lo sorsquo[lo = dove sono le chiavi]

lsquoDevi cambiare la cartucciarsquo lsquoLofaccio subitorsquo [lo = cambiare lacartuccia]

lsquoDo you know that itrsquos Carlarsquosbirthday todayrsquo lsquoYes I dorsquo [lit YesI know it]

lsquoWhere are the keysrsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo[lit I donrsquot know it]

lsquoYoursquove got to replace the cartridgersquolsquoIrsquoll do it straight awayrsquo

lsquoHai la cartucciarsquo lsquoSigrave ce lrsquohorsquo

Non posso leggere il libro di PrimoLevi percheacute non ce lrsquoho

lsquoAvete lrsquoindirizzo di Annarsquo lsquoSigrave celrsquoabbiamorsquo

lsquoHave you got the cartridgersquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot itrsquo

I canrsquot read Primo Levirsquos bookbecause I havenrsquot got it

lsquoHave you got Annarsquos addressrsquo lsquoYeswe haveYes wersquove got itrsquo

lsquoHai le parole di questacanzonersquo lsquoNo non (ce) le horsquo

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo

lsquoHave you got the lyrics of this songrsquolsquoNo I havenrsquot No Irsquove not got themrsquo

lsquoHave you got the booksrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove gotthemYes I haversquo

Professor Masi La accompagno inaeroporto

Signora La accompagno in aeroportoSignori Bianco Vi accompagno in

aeroporto (Signori Bianco Li accompagno in

aeroporto) Signore Vi accompagno in aeroporto (Signore Le accompagno in aeroporto)

Professor Masi Irsquoll take you to theairport

Irsquoll take you to the airport Madam

Mr and Mrs Bianco Irsquoll take you tothe airport

(Ladies) Irsquoll take you to theairport

54 Unit 7

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct directobject pronoun

Example Luigi compra il pane Luigi lo compra

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Lo faccio Non lo faccio

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

1 Anna guarda la televisione2 Invitiamo i nostri amici3 Scrivete le cartoline4 Leggono il giornale5 Suono la chitarra6 Preparo la cena7 Chiamo Roberto8 Faccio gli esercizi9 Invito Maria e Giovanna

10 Chiudete le finestre

11 Lorenzo corregge gli errori12 Prendono il treno13 Porto i CD14 Cerco i miei libri15 Pia beve lrsquoacqua minerale16 Paola finisce il lavoro17 Accompagno Carlo e Anna18 Vedi le tue amiche oggi19 Ascolto la radio20 Luca lava i piatti

1 Le voglio2 Li compriamo3 Ci chiamano4 Silvia li invita5 I Signori Bianchi lo prendono

6 Mi invitate7 Vi aspetto8 La vedo domani9 Ti accompagno alla stazione

10 Lo guardiamo

1 Lo vogliamo vedere2 Non ti posso aiutare3 Mi puoi accompagnare4 La vuoi sentire5 Ci devono chiamare

6 Vi voglio invitare7 Le vuole conoscere8 Non li potete fare9 Mi devi ascoltare

10 Non La posso aiutare Signora

Unit 7 55

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate direct object pronouns

Examples Marco telefona agli amici e mdashmdash invita alla festa li Guido nonsta bene devo chiamarmdashmdash lo

1 Compro il giornale e mdashmdash leggo2 Scrivo le cartoline e mdashmdash spedisco3 Laura fa i panini e poi mdashmdash mangia4 Compro i fiori e mdashmdash metto in un vaso5 Apriamo la finestra e poi mdashmdash chiudiamo6 Non riesco a fare questo esercizio mdashmdash aiuti7 Prendiamo i libri e mdashmdash portiamo a scuola8 Professor Bartoli mdashmdash posso aiutare9 I Signori Pieri partono mdashmdash accompagni in aeroporto

10 Hai molte amiche mdashmdash inviti tutte11 Se non usi la bici mdashmdash prendo io12 Ci sono molti errori mdashmdash dovete correggere13 Claudio telefona a Giulia e mdashmdash invita alla festa14 Partite mdashmdash porto in stazione15 Crsquoegrave un film alla televisione ma non mdashmdash guardiamo16 Alma parte volete salutarmdashmdash17 La sorella di Matteo egrave molto simpatica mdashmdash conosco bene18 Gli esercizi sono difficili ma mdashmdash so fare19 Se vuoi delle caramelle mdashmdash puoi prendere20 lsquoSai che Alessandro suona il sassofono in un grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash sorsquo

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquore inviting you [pl] to the party2 Irsquove got a lot of friends and I often see them3 Signora Fusi can I call you tomorrow4 Are you [sing] helping us next week5 I have to see you [sing]6 Olga and Anna are leaving tomorrow and I want to take them to the

station7 I canrsquot help you [pl]8 lsquoAre you [sing] bringing the guitarrsquo lsquoNo I havenrsquot got itrsquo9 Tullio buys these magazines and reads them

10 Can you [sing] take me to school tomorrow

56 Unit 7

UNIT EIGHTPrepositions

1 The most common Italian prepositions are the following

The meaning of tra and fra is the same

These prepositions often correspond to the English counterparts we givehere However as we shall see each of them also has a number of othermeanings corresponding to other English prepositions

2 The prepositions di a da in and su when used together with a nounpreceded by the definite article always combine with the article

The preposition con normally combines only with il and i as col and coi thisform is common in spoken Italian though con il and con i are often found inthe written language

diadainconsupertrafra

oftofrominwithonforamong between

diadainsu

ildelaldalnelsul

lodelloallodallonellosullo

lrsquodellrsquoallrsquodallrsquonellrsquosullrsquo

ladellaalladallanellasulla

ideiaidaineisui

glidegliaglidaglineglisugli

ledellealledallenellesulle

con con ilcol

con lo(collo)

con lrsquo(collrsquo)

con la(colla)

con icoi

con gli(cogli)

con le(colle)

Using prepositions

3 As in many other languages there is so much variation in how Italianprepositions are used that it is not feasible to give simple rules covering everypossibility To appreciate the problem you only have to look at a few of thepossible uses of the preposition di

Sometimes Italian even has a preposition where English does not here aresome typical examples

Since there is not a simple set of rules governing prepositions in Italian whatwe are going to do is show some typical uses of the common ones listedabove The more you hear and read Italian the more you will encounterdifferent uses of these and other prepositions the best way of mastering themis to learn them and practise them as you go along

4 Di is typically used to express

di + il ragazzoa + lo studenteda + lrsquoalbergoin + la scuolasu + i divanicon + i libricon + le chiaviper + gli insegnantifra + i calciatori

del ragazzoallo studentedallrsquoalbergonella scuolasui divanicoi libricon le chiaviper gli insegnantifra i calciatori

of the boyto the studentfrom the hotelin the schoolon the sofaswith the bookswith the keysfor the teachersamong the footballers

il presidente della repubblica the president of the republicIl libro egrave di Calvino The book is by CalvinoSono di Roma Irsquom from RomeDi pomeriggio fanno sempre la

siestaThey always have a nap in the

afternoon

lrsquoauto di AnnaVuoi della fruttaCi sono alcune migliaia di persone

nella piazzaHo una bella camicia di seta

Annarsquos carDo you want (someany) fruitThere are a few thousand people in

the squareIrsquove got a lovely silk shirt

possessionmaterialtimesubject

La moto di Luca egrave rossauna giacca di pelleDi sera non escouna lezione di storia

Lucarsquos motorbike is reda leather jacketI donrsquot go out in the evening(s)a history lesson

58 Unit 8

The most common uses of di are the ones which correspond to the Englishpossessive (rsquos) and the noun + noun structure

Di is frequently used in partitive constructions ie to express the Englishlsquosomersquo or lsquoanyrsquo in such sentences as lsquoIrsquod like some breadrsquo lsquoHave you anypastarsquo lsquoWersquove got (some) pasta and (some) olivesrsquo

Di is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likecredere (to believe) pensare (to think) dire (to say) sperare (to hope) finire(to finish) smettere (to stop)

5 A is typically used to express

il libro del professorela sorella di Monicail casco di Sebastianola politica del governouna buca delle lettereun racconto di fateil professore di scienzeun panino di formaggio

the teacherrsquos bookMonicarsquos sisterSebastianorsquos helmetthe governmentrsquos policygovernment policya letter boxa fairy talethe science teachera cheese roll

Devo comprare del panePrendo della pastaCrsquoegrave dellrsquoacqua in frigoEsco con degli amiciVuoi dei libri in italianoCi sono delle case sulla collina

Irsquove got to get (some) breadIrsquom getting (some) pastaTherersquos (some) water in the fridgeIrsquom going out with (some) friendsDo you want (some) books in ItalianThere are (some) houses on the hill

Finisco di leggere il giornale e poiesco

Paolo pensa di essere intelligenteAnna crede di riuscire a passare

lrsquoesameLa mamma dice di essere stancaDevo smettere di perdere tempo

I finish reading the paper and then Igo out

Paolo thinks he is intelligentAnna believes she can pass the exam

Mum says shersquos tiredI must stop wasting time

place

time

Abito a LondraVado al cinemaSono a casaLa casa si trova a 100 metri

dal mareParto alle 17Vado in Olanda a luglio

I live in LondonIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom at homeThe house is 100 metres from

the seaIrsquom leaving at 1700Irsquom going to Holland in July

Unit 8 59

A is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likeandare (to go) venire (to come) cominciare (to startbegin) continuare (tocontinue) riuscire (canto be ablemanage)

6 Da is typically used to express

Da is always used to mean lsquoatat the house ofrsquo a person or people

Da is also used followed by an infinitive after molto (a lot) poco (little) niente(nothing) qualcosa (something)

indirect object

quality

meansmanner

Diamo il libro a Silvia

Scrivete ai vostri genitori

Vuoi un gelato al limone

La giacca egrave fatta a manoImpari tutto a memoria

Stasera mangiamo patateal vapore

Wersquore giving the book toSilvia

Do you write to yourparents

Do you want a lemon ice-cream

The jacketrsquos made by handDo you learn everything by

heartWersquore having steamed

potatoes tonight [ietheyrsquore cooked with steam]

lsquoDove vairsquo lsquoVado a lavorarersquoVieni a studiare in bibliotecaComincio a capirePaolo continua a parlareNon riesco a sentire cosa dice

lsquoWhere are you goingrsquo lsquoIrsquom going to workrsquoAre you coming to work in the libraryIrsquom beginning to understandPaolo continueskeeps on talkingI canrsquot hear what hersquos saying

placetime

function

Parto da MilanoStudio italiano da un mese

aperto dalle 9 alle 10Sono scarpe da tennis

Irsquom leaving from MilanI have been studying Italian for a

monthopen (from) 9 to 10 (orsquoclock)Theyrsquore tennis shoes

Abiti da tua ziaLavoro da Anna staseraDevo andare dal dentista

Do you live at your auntrsquosIrsquom working at Annarsquos tonightI have to go to the dentist

Ho molto da fareHa poco da direNon crsquoegrave niente da bereVuoi qualcosa da mangiare

Irsquove got a lot to doHe has littleHersquos not got much to sayTherersquos nothing to drinkDo you want something to eat

60 Unit 8

7 In is typically used to express

NB in piedi means lsquostandingrsquo lsquoon footrsquo is a piedi

8 Con is typically used to express

9 Su is typically used to express

When the preposition su is used with a personal pronoun the pronoun is alsopreceded by di Conto su di lui (Irsquom counting on him)

10 Per is typically used to express

place

time

means

Vivo in campagnaAbbiamo una casa in Francianel 2006nel ventesimo secoloAndiamo in trenoin autoin bici

I live in the countryWe have a house in Francein 2006in the twentieth centuryWersquore going by traincaron

our bikes

company

means

manner

quality

Vado al cinema con LucaParlo con AnnaDevo scrivere con una

penna rossaPago con un assegno

Parla con accento stranieroParla con lentezzauna signora con i capelli

grigi

Irsquom going to the cinema with LucaIrsquom talking towith AnnaIrsquove got to write with a red pen

Irsquom paying with a chequebycheque

He speaks with a foreign accentHe speaks slowlya lady with grey hair

place

subject

I tuoi libri sono sulla scrivaniail ponte sullo stretto di Messina

un libro sul calcio

Your books are on the deskthe bridge over the Strait of

Messinaa book onabout football

placetime

meanscause

aim

price

Partiamo per la montagnaEsco per 10 minutiPer le 11 sono a casaMando il file per emailuna multa per eccesso di velocitagrave

Studio per passare lrsquoesame

per 15 euro

We are leaving for the mountainsIrsquom going out for 10 minutesIrsquoll be home byfor 11Irsquoll send the file by emaila fine for speedingspeeding

fineIrsquom studying (in order) to pass

the examfor 15 euros

Unit 8 61

11 Tra and fra are typically used to express

Prepositions of place

12 Here are some examples of the different prepositions used to denoteplace

Another preposition used to denote place is lungo (along) lungo il fiume(along the river)

13 A is normally used with names of town and villages and with cardinalpoints

14 In is normally used with names of regions and nations with geographicalareas and with shops

With mare (sea) the preposition a is used (al mare lsquoat the seasidersquo)

place

time

tra Milano e Torinofra compagni di classefra due ore

between Milan and Turinamong classmatesin two hourstwo hoursrsquo

time

Sono di FerraraLa domenica vado al cinemaSono a scuolaVengo da FerraraAbito da mia nonnaLuisa egrave in camera suaDevi camminare sul marciapiediil ponte sullrsquoArnoPartite per DublinoNovara egrave fra Torino e MilanoSiamo tra amici

I amcome from FerraraOn Sundays I go to the cinemaIrsquom at schoolIrsquom coming from FerraraI live at my grannyrsquosLuisa is in her roomYou have to walk on the pavementthe bridge over the ArnoAre you leaving for DublinNovara is between Turin and MilanWe are among friends

Vado a PisaAbito a LondraPasso le vacanze a CogneAndiamo a nordCogne egrave a sud di Aosta

Irsquom going to PisaI live in LondonI spend my holidays in CogneWe are going northCogne is south of Aosta

Vado in ToscanaAbito in InghilterraPasso le vacanze in montagnaCompro il pane in panetteria

Irsquom going to TuscanyI live in EnglandI spend my holidays in the mountainsI buy bread at the bakerythe bakerrsquos

62 Unit 8

Prepositions of time

15 Some examples of the different prepositions used to denote time

16 Di is used with the days of the week and parts of the day

In these cases di is always used without the definite article

17 A is used with names of festivities months and hours of the day

18 In is used with years centuries and seasons

Di domenica non lavoroDi sera guardo la tvDonatella arriva alle 7A Natale rimaniamo a casaLa scuola finisce a giugnonel 2000nel diciottesimo secoloIn autunno piove molto

I donrsquot work on SundaysIn the evenings I watch TVDonatella will arrive at sevenAt Christmas we stay at homeSchool ends in Junein 2000in the eighteenth centuryIn autumn it rains a lot

Di lunedigrave andiamo in piscinaDi mattina vado a scuola

On Mondays we go to the swimming poolIn the morning I go to school

A Pasqua Piera va in ItaliaIl museo riapre a marzoIl treno parte alle 12Di solito mangiano a

mezzogiorno

At Easter Piera is going to ItalyThe museum reopenswill reopen in MarchThe train is leaving at 12They normally eat at midday

Sono nato nel 1990Studio il turismo nel XIX secolo

Gli esami sono in primavera

I was born in 1990Irsquom studying tourism in the nineteenth

centuryThe exams arewill be in the spring

Unit 8 63

A or in

19 Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether to use a or in so we listbelow common expressions using these two prepositions

a casaa scuolaa lettoa lezione

(at) homeatto schoolinto bedin classto (onersquos) class

a tavolaa destraa sinistraa norda suda esta ovesta colazionea pranzoa cenaa mezzogiornoa mezzanottea 101112 [etc] annia metagraveallrsquoombraal soleal baral ristorantealla stazione

to the table [ie come and sit down]at table(onto the) rightleft(into the) northsoutheastwestatfor breakfastlunchdinner supper or teaat middaymidnightat teneleventwelve [etc] (years of age)in the middlemid-in the shadein the sunin the baratto the restaurantatinto the station

in pizzeriain discotecain cittagravein centroin chiesain mensain camerain bagnoin classein palestrain casermain prigionein ufficioin piscina

intoat athe pizzeriapizza parlourinto the discointo towninto the city centreinto churchinto the canteeninto the bedroominto the bathroominto the classroominto the gyminto the barracksinto prisoninto the officeatto the swimming bath

64 Unit 8

Compound prepositions

20 Italian also has a number of lsquocompound prepositionsrsquo eg accanto alsquonext tobesidersquo invece di lsquoinstead ofrsquo Some of these are always in the com-pound form others include di only when followed by a personal pronoun Wegive here a list of the most common ones

When these prepositions are used with a personal pronoun the pronoun ispreceded by the preposition di (see Unit 14)

Exercise 1

Combine the prepositions and the definite articles

Example (di) il figlio del figlio

davanti avicino afuori dadiprima dilontano dacontrodentrodietrodopo

in front ofoppositenearnextclose tooutsidebeforefar froma long way fromagainstinsidebehindafter

senzasoprasottoverso

withoutonaboveunderbelowtowards

La farmacia egrave davanti alsupermercato

Abito lontano dal centroLrsquoalbergo egrave vicino alla stazioneNon esco senza di voi

The pharmacy is opposite thesupermarket

I live a long way from the city centreThe hotel is close to the stationIrsquom not going out without you

di1 la mamma2 lo zio3 gli amici4 il parco5 lrsquoauto6 i paesi7 le stanze

a8 il mare9 lo stadio

10 la stazione11 i ragazzi12 gli uomini13 le donne14 lrsquoospedale

da15 la zia16 lo studente17 il dentista18 lrsquoaeroporto19 gli uffici20 le colleghe21 i ministri

in22 lrsquoalbergo23 lo stipendio24 la casa25 gli anni26 i cassetti27 le camere28 il frigo

su29 il tavolo30 la sedia31 lo scaffale32 le spalle33 i libri34 gli alberi35 lrsquoidea

Unit 8 65

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example Vengo mdashmdashmdash (la) stazione dalla

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example I tuoi libri sono mdashmdashmdash (il) tavolo sul

1 Carla abita mdashmdashmdash Budapest2 Parigi egrave mdashmdashmdash Francia3 Mangiate mdashmdashmdash (il) ristorante4 Torniamo mdashmdashmdash unrsquoora5 Hai molto mdashmdashmdash fare6 Devi scrivere mdashmdashmdash (la) nonna7 Esco mdashmdashmdash Massimo8 Filippo va mdashmdashmdash (il) dentista9 Quellrsquoauto egrave mdashmdashmdash (il) padre di

Silvia10 Scrivo una lettera mdashmdashmdash (i) miei

genitori11 Vado mdashmdashmdash Milano mdashmdashmdash treno

12 Vieni mdashmdashmdash (il) cinema mdashmdashmdashme

13 Le chiavi sono mdashmdashmdash (il)cassetto

14 La lezione finisce mdashmdashmdash (le) 1115 Studiamo italiano mdashmdashmdash due

mesi16 Il museo apre mdashmdashmdash (le) 90017 Compro le rose mdashmdashmdash la zia18 Posso parlare mdashmdashmdash Elisa19 Vuoi mdashmdashmdash (il) dolce20 Il mio compleanno egrave mdashmdashmdash

giugno

1 Domani rimango mdashmdashmdash casa2 Sabato andiamo mdashmdashmdash centro3 Vado mdashmdashmdash nuotare mdashmdashmdash

piscina4 Livia egrave mdashmdashmdash letto sta poco

bene5 Puoi comprare una bottiglia

mdashmdashmdash aceto6 Regalo i CD mdashmdashmdash (il) mio

ragazzo7 Napoli egrave mdashmdashmdash sud di Roma8 Domani cominciamo mdashmdashmdash

lavorare9 Parto mdashmdashmdash Roma alle 14 e

arrivo mdashmdashmdash Torino alle 2110 Ho fame crsquoegrave qualcosa mdashmdashmdash

mangiare

11 Imprestate la bici mdashmdashmdashMaurizio

12 Vai a scuola mdashmdashmdash autobus13 Bardonecchia egrave mdashmdashmdash

montagna14 Prendo un gelato mdashmdashmdash (la)

fragola15 Cosa fate mdashmdashmdash Natale16 Piero va mdashmdashmdash (il) supermercato17 Il padre mdashmdashmdash (la) mia amica egrave

avvocato18 mdashmdashmdash pizzeria crsquoegrave sempre molta

gente19 Paola dorme mdashmdashmdash (la) stanza

vicina alla mia20 Leggo un libro mdashmdashmdash

fantascienza

66 Unit 8

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 I finish working at six2 Antoniorsquos leaving for Genoa3 Gemma was born in 20014 Fabia never goes out in the evening5 Mr and Mrs Bancroft live in the country in an old villa6 The libraryrsquos behind the gym7 You [sing] canrsquot go out without me8 Do you [pl] live far from the school9 Isabellarsquos aunt lives in Greve in Tuscany

10 Shersquos got a leather skirt11 Angus is from Edinburgh in Scotland12 You have to turn right after the church( Madam)13 Wersquore eating at a pizzeria tonight14 These flowers are for your [sing] mother15 At Christmas wersquore going skiing in the mountains16 I live near the prison17 Margaretrsquos been living in Turin for five years18 The train for Aosta leaves from platform 719 Wersquore giving Luisa a CD of Russian music20 I always buy the bread at Bellirsquos

Unit 8 67

UNIT NINEQuestions

In this unit we will look at the most common ways of asking questions inItalian We have already seen (Units 4 and 5) that the order of the words inthe sentence does not change in the interrogative form now we need to lookat some Italian lsquoquestion wordsrsquo

1 Chi

Chi means lsquowhowhomrsquo or sometimes lsquowhich ofrsquo and is only used to refer topeople Chi is invariable ndash that is the same form is used for masculine andfeminine singular and plural

When an adjective refers to chi it must be in the masculine singular formunless it refers to an all-female group

Chi egrave quellrsquouomoChi egrave quella ragazzaChi sono i tuoi amiciChi sono quelle ragazzeChi vuole venire al cinema

con meChi viene a cenaCon chi esciA chi scriveteChi ha una pennaChi non va in gita domaniChi non invitiChi di loro parla italiano

Who is that manWho is that girlWho are your friendsWho are those girlsWho wants to come to the cinema with me

Whorsquos coming for dinnerWho(m) are you going out withWho(m) are you writing toWhorsquos got a pen [ie has anyone got a pen]Whorsquos not going on the trip tomorrowWho(m) arenrsquot you invitingWhich of them speaks Italian

Chi egrave prontoChi egrave soddisfattoChi non egrave stancoChi di voi (ragazze) egrave prontaChi di voi (Signori) egrave italiano

Who is readyWho is satisfiedWho isnrsquot tiredWhich of you (girls) is readyWhich of you (gentlemen) is Italian

2 Che cosa Cosa Che

All three mean lsquowhatrsquo and are used when referring to objects Che cosaCosa and Che are invariable in gender and number

Che is also used as an adjective meaning lsquowhat (sorttype of)rsquo

3 Come

Come means lsquohowrsquo

Come can sometimes mean lsquowhatrsquo as in Come dici (What did you say)Comrsquoegrave Edimburgoil nuovo professore (Whatrsquos Edinburghthe new teacherlike)

4 Dove

Dove means lsquowherersquo

Cosrsquoegrave quelloChe cosrsquoegrave quella luceCosa sono quei segniChe sono quelle costruzioniChe succedeChe cosa voleteCosa studiCosa posso fare per LeiA che pensate

Whatrsquos thatWhatrsquos that lightWhat are those marksWhat are those buildingsWhatrsquos happeningWhat do you wantWhat are you studyingdo you studyWhat can I do for youWhat are you thinking about

Che lavoro faiChe musica ascolti di solitoChe film vai a vedereChe auto compra tuo padre

Whatrsquos your job [lit what work do you do]What (sort of) music do you usually listen toWhat film are you going to seeWhat (make of) car is your father going to

buy

Come sta SignoraCome vaCome fate la pizza

How are you MadamHowrsquos it goingHow do you make (a) pizza

Dove abitiDove andateDove sono le chiaviDovrsquoegrave il mio libro

Where do you liveWhere are you goingWhere are the keysWhere is my book

Unit 9 69

5 Quando

Quando means lsquowhenrsquo

6 Percheacute

Percheacute means lsquowhyrsquo

Come mai has a similar meaning corresponding to the English lsquohow comersquo

7 Quanto

Quanto means lsquohow muchrsquo when referring to quantity and lsquohow longrsquo lsquohowfarrsquo lsquohow tallrsquo etc when it refers to time distance height etc

Quanto can also be used as an adjective or pronoun In such cases it agrees ingender and number with the noun it refers to quanto [ms] quanta [fs] (howmuch) quanti [mp] quante [fp] (how many)

Quando partono i tuoi amiciQuando comincia il filmQuando arriva il trenoQuando egrave lo sciopero dei treni

When are your friends leavingWhen does the film startWhen does the train arriveWhenrsquos the railtrain strike

Percheacute ridonoPercheacute Giulia non va a scuolaPercheacute non studi

Why are they laughingWhy isnrsquot Giulia going to schoolWhy donrsquot you study

Come mai non mangiCome mai siete in ritardo

How come yoursquore not eatingHow come you are late

Quanto pesaQuanto costa questa magliettaQuanto dura il filmQuanto egrave alta tua sorellaQuantrsquoegrave

How muchWhat does it weighHow muchWhat does this T-shirt costHow long does the film lastHow tall is your sisterHow much is it

Quanto pane devo comprareQuanta pasta vuoiQuanti esercizi dobbiamo fareQuante ragazze ci sono in classe

tuaQuanto tempo abbiamo

lsquoCi sono molte personersquo lsquoQuantersquolsquoDobbiamo comprare del panersquo

lsquoQuantorsquo

How much bread do I have to buyHow much pasta do you wantHow many exercises have we got to doHow many girls are there in your class

How much time is thereHow longhave we got

lsquoThere are a lot of peoplersquo lsquoHow manyrsquolsquoWe must get (some) breadrsquo lsquoHow

muchrsquo

70 Unit 9

8 Quale

Quale means lsquowhichrsquo (or sometimes lsquowhatrsquo) It is used either as an adjective oras a pronoun and therefore agrees with the noun it refers to quale lsquowhich(one)rsquo quali lsquowhich (ones)rsquo The use of quale rather than che usually impliesthat there is a choice as for example if there are some books lying on thetable Quale libro leggi lsquoWhich book are you readingrsquo

Qual (without an apostrophe) is used before the forms of essere startingwith a vowel used in this way it sometimes means lsquowhatrsquo rather than lsquowhichrsquo

9 As is seen in some of the examples in paragraphs 2 3 4 and 7 cosa checosa come dove and quanto can also be shortened before the forms of esserestarting with a vowel becoming cosrsquo che cosrsquo comrsquo dovrsquo and quantrsquo (all withan apostrophe)

Quale canzone preferisciQuali esercizi facciamoQuali sono i tuoi librilsquoCompro due giornalirsquo lsquoQualirsquoQual egrave la canzone piugrave famosaQual egrave il Suo indirizzonumero di

telefono

Which song do you preferWhich exercises are we doingWhich are your bookslsquoIrsquom buying two papersrsquo lsquoWhich onesrsquoWhichWhat is the best-known songWhatrsquos your addressphone number

Cosrsquoera quel rumoreChe cosrsquoegrave successoComrsquoera lo spettacoloDovrsquoegrave la stazioneQuantrsquoegrave costato

What was that noiseWhat happenedHow was the showWhere is the stationHow much did it cost

Unit 9 71

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with chi or checosache cosa as appropriate

Examples mdashmdashmdash mi cerca chi mdashmdashmdash fate checosache cosa

Exercise 2

Complete the questions with an appropriate word (che come dove quandopercheacute or qualequaliqual)

Examples lsquomdashmdashmdash non esci staserarsquo lsquoDevo studiarersquo percheacute lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave latua bicirsquo lsquoQuellarsquo qual

1 mdashmdashmdash sono quei signori2 mdashmdashmdash di loro egrave tuo cugino3 Con mdashmdashmdash uscite stasera4 mdashmdashmdash posso fare per te5 mdashmdashmdash studiate6 mdashmdashmdash viene con me7 mdashmdashmdash accompagna Luca8 mdashmdashmdash vuoi bere9 Di mdashmdashmdash egrave questo libro

10 mdashmdashmdash succede

11 Per mdashmdashmdash lavori12 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Caffegrave o te13 A mdashmdashmdash telefoni14 mdashmdashmdash viene alla festa15 mdashmdashmdash dici16 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Gianni o Piero17 mdashmdashmdash leggi18 Da mdashmdashmdash vai a cena19 mdashmdashmdash vuoi fare stasera20 mdashmdashmdash apre la porta

1 lsquomdashmdashmdash abitatersquo lsquoA Milanorsquo2 lsquomdashmdashmdash parte lrsquoautobusrsquo lsquoAlle

800rsquo3 lsquomdashmdashmdash non studirsquo lsquoNon sto

benersquo4 lsquomdashmdashmdash sta Professorersquo lsquoBene

graziersquo5 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo compleannorsquo lsquoIl

20 aprilersquo6 lsquomdashmdashmdash lavoro fa tuo padrersquo lsquoIl

medicorsquo7 lsquomdashmdashmdash strada devo prenderersquo

lsquoQuella a destrarsquo8 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave la mensarsquo lsquoDietro la

palestrarsquo9 lsquomdashmdashmdash sei in ritardorsquo lsquoCrsquoegrave

sciopero degli autobusrsquo10 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo indirizzorsquo lsquoVia

Garibaldi 22rsquo

11 lsquomdashmdashmdash genere di musicaascoltatersquo lsquoRockrsquo

12 lsquomdashmdashmdash materia preferiscirsquolsquoScienzersquo

13 lsquomdashmdashmdash ti vesti per la festarsquo lsquoConla gonna lungarsquo

14 lsquomdashmdashmdash metto la bicirsquo lsquoIn garagersquo15 lsquomdashmdashmdash non venite con noirsquo

lsquoAbbiamo sonnorsquo16 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave il parcheggiorsquo lsquoDavanti

al cinemarsquo17 lsquomdashmdashmdash comincia la scuolarsquo lsquoA

settembrersquo18 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave la capitale dellrsquoItaliarsquo

lsquoRomarsquo19 lsquomdashmdashmdash non vai in vacanzarsquo lsquoNon

ho soldirsquo20 lsquomdashmdashmdash libri leggirsquo lsquoRomanzi di

avventurersquo

72 Unit 9

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct form of quanto

Examples mdashmdashmdashmdash anni hai quanti mdashmdashmdashmdash costa questa magliettaquanto

Exercise 4

1 How many rolls do you [pl] want2 Where are you [pl] going for lunch3 Who are those people4 What are you [sing] doing on Sunday5 When are you [pl] going on holiday6 Why isnrsquot Luisa leaving7 Which is your [sing] bike8 What film are you [sing] watching9 Which of them is Italian

10 When does the train arrive

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash persone vengono2 Fra mdashmdashmdashmdash tempo partite3 mdashmdashmdashmdash fratelli ha Luisa4 mdashmdashmdashmdash esercizi fate5 mdashmdashmdashmdash stanze ha la tua casa6 mdashmdashmdashmdash gente inviti7 mdashmdashmdashmdash sei alto8 mdashmdashmdashmdash pagine dobbiamo

studiare9 mdashmdashmdashmdash mesi rimanete in Italia

10 mdashmdashmdashmdash guadagni

11 mdashmdashmdashmdash frutta devo comprare12 mdashmdashmdashmdash costano quei jeans13 mdashmdashmdashmdash autobus devi prendere14 mdashmdashmdashmdash dura il concerto15 Da mdashmdashmdashmdash studiate italiano16 mdashmdashmdashmdash cartoline spedisci17 mdashmdashmdashmdash spendi al mese18 mdashmdashmdashmdash amiche hai19 mdashmdashmdashmdash libri devi leggere20 mdashmdashmdashmdash egrave lontana la discoteca

Unit 9 73

UNIT TENIndirect object pronouns (1)

1 We saw in Unit 7 that a direct object is the person or thing that the verbdirectly impacts on An indirect object is the person or thing that theaction is happening to or for Scrivo a Carla domani (Irsquoll write to Carlatomorrow) Mando cartoline a tutti i miei amici (I send cards to all myfriends) In English the indirect object can usually be preceded by lsquotorsquo orlsquoforrsquo but these are very often omitted compare lsquoI gave the book to Karenrsquoand lsquoI gave Karen the bookrsquo or lsquoIrsquoll pour a glass for Janersquo and lsquoIrsquoll pourJane a glassrsquo

An indirect object pronoun replaces a noun used as an indirect object lsquoIgave the book to herI gave her the bookrsquo lsquoIrsquoll pour her a glassIrsquoll pour a glassfor herrsquo

In Italian an indirect object pronoun replaces a noun preceded by thepreposition a it has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers toIndirect object pronouns normally come before the verb In the followingexamples the pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the indirect object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Maria le racconto tutto[le stands for a Maria (fs)]

Non telefono a Carlo gli scrivo[gli stands for a Carlo (ms)]

Paolo non ci dice mai la veritagrave[ci stands for a noi]

When I see Maria Irsquoll tell hereverything

Irsquom not going to phone Carlo Irsquollwrite to him

Paolo never tells us the truth

mitigli [m]le [f]civigli [m and f]

to meto youto himitherto usto youto them

The third person plural pronoun gli is used for both masculine and feminineFor the third person plural loro can be used instead of gli but it alwaysfollows the verb the meaning is the same but the use of loro is far lessfrequent and is more formal

Negative form

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 When an indirect object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usu-ally after verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Mi mandi una cartolina da Roma

Vi scrivo appena arrivoEgrave il compleanno di Anna le regalo

un CDSe Dario non ha lrsquoauto gli dograve un

passaggioTi impresto i soldilsquoScrivi agli ziirsquo lsquoNo gli telefono

domaniNo telefono loro domanirsquo

Gli dico la veritagraveDico loro la veritagrave

Will you send me a postcard fromRome

Irsquoll write to you as soon as I arriveItrsquos Annarsquos birthday Irsquom giving her a

CDIf Dario hasnrsquot got his car Irsquoll give

him a liftIrsquoll lend you the moneylsquoAre you going to write to your

unclesrsquo lsquoNo Irsquoll phone themtomorrowrsquo

Irsquom going to tell them the truth

Non ti impresto i soldiNon le scrivo le telefonoNon gli rispondo

I wonrsquot lend you the moneyIrsquom not going to write (to her) Irsquoll phone herIrsquom not going to reply toanswer him

Le voglio parlareGli devo scrivereMi potete telefonareMi sai dire quando

orororor

Voglio parlarleDevo scrivergliPotete telefonarmiSai dirmi quando

I want to talk to herI must write to himthemCan you phone meCan you tell me when

Unit 10 75

Formal form

5 The indirect object pronouns used for the formal form are Le for thesingular (for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronoun Loro ndashafter the verb ndash can also be used but this is very formal)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct indirectobject pronoun

Example Scrivete a Luigi Gli scrivete

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Gli scrivo Non gli scrivo

Le rispondo subito Signor ColliLe dograve un passaggio Signora BanfiSignori Bianco Vi telefono domani (Signori Bianco telefono Loro

domani)

Irsquoll answer you immediately Mr ColliIrsquoll give you a lift Mrs Banfi

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) Irsquoll phone youtomorrow

1 Telefoniamo a Carla2 Spedisco le cartoline ai miei amici3 Silvia racconta una storia al

bambino4 Regalo un libro alla zia5 Anna scrive alle amiche

6 Porto i fiori alla nonna7 Scriviamo ai nostri compagni8 Olga e Silvia parlano a Giulia9 La nonna legge un libro ai nipoti

10 Cosa regalate a Marco

1 Le parlo di lavoro2 Mi telefoni3 Vi regalo dei libri4 Gli offrite qualcosa5 Gli amici le offrono un gelato

6 Ci scrivete7 Ti mando una cartolina8 Vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo mi dice la veritagrave

10 Gli spedisco il pacco

76 Unit 10

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate indirect object pronouns

Examples Mauro ha molti amici e mdashmdash telefona spesso gli Livia vuoleparlare con te devi telefonarmdashmdash le

1 lsquoTelefonate a Luisarsquo lsquoNo mdashmdash scriviamo una letterarsquo2 Se mi chiedi qualcosa mdashmdash rispondo3 lsquoCosa regali a tuo padrersquo lsquomdashmdash regalo una cravattarsquo4 Se vedi le mie amiche puoi dirmdashmdash che le aspetto per domani5 Signora posso offrirmdashmdash un caffegrave6 lsquoCi portate un regalo dallrsquoItaliarsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash portiamo un panettonersquo7 lsquoCosa vuoi dirmdashmdashrsquo lsquoVi voglio dire la veritagraversquo8 Gianni mdashmdash presento mia sorella9 lsquoQuando telefoni ai nonnirsquo lsquomdashmdash telefono domani serarsquo

10 Professore mdashmdash devo parlare11 Non so fare questo esercizio mdashmdash dai una mano12 Domani egrave il compleanno di Anna devo farmdashmdash gli auguri13 Paolo dice sempre bugie non mdashmdash dovete credere14 Telefono a Michele e mdashmdash chiedo un prestito15 Se non avete lrsquoauto mdashmdash dograve un passaggio16 Se Carla e Pietro hanno bisogno di soldi mdashmdash posso fare un prestito17 lsquoQuanto ti danno allrsquoorarsquo lsquomdashmdash danno 15 eurorsquo18 Appena vedo Silvia mdashmdash rendo i libri19 Se vuoi mdashmdash impresto la mia bici20 Ettore egrave un buon amico e mdashmdash racconto sempre tutto

1 Le possiamo scrivere2 Ti devo parlare3 Gli voglio regalare una chitarra4 Ci puoi telefonare5 Vi devono offrire qualcosa

6 Mi potete dire tutto7 Le posso parlare Signora8 Non gli dovete scrivere9 Non ti posso rispondere

10 Le voglio credere

Unit 10 77

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Can you [sing] tell Lucia that I want to speak to her2 As soon as I arrive in Rome Irsquoll phone you [pl]3 I have to ask you a favour Madam4 Are you [sing] giving them your phone number5 They always tell us interesting things6 They always send me a card when they go to Italy7 For her birthday Irsquom giving her flowers8 Irsquove got to give you [sing] Lucarsquos books9 If you [pl] want Irsquoll tell you a story

10 Massimo writes to me every week

78 Unit 10

UNIT ELEVENPiacere and similar verbs

1 Piacere corresponds to lsquoto likersquo but it is used in a different way from itsEnglish counterpart In Italian the subject of the verbsentence is the thingor person one likes the person who likes something is denoted by an indirectobject pronoun (see Unit 10)

2 Piacere is an irregular verb mostly used in the third person singular(piace) and plural (piacciono) As can be seen in the examples piace is usedif the thing that one likes is a singular noun or pronoun or the infinitiveof a verb piacciono is used if the things that one likes are a plural noun orpronoun

Singular noun or pronoun

Verb

Mi piace lo sportTi piace ballare

Mi piacciono i gatti

I like sport [lit sport is pleasing to me]Do you like dancing [lit is dancing pleasing to

you]I like cats [lit cats are pleasing to me]

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

la mia cittagravequestoquestail calciola musica rockil tennisquelloquella

I like my home townYou like this (one)Heshe likes footballWe like rock musicYou like tennisThey like that one

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

leggereandare in bicisciareguardare la tvdormireballare

I like to readreadingYou like to cyclecyclingHeshe likes to skiskiingWe like to watchwatching TVYou like to sleepsleepingThey like to dancedancing

Plural noun or pronoun

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 As usual for the polite form in the singular the feminine pronoun (Le) isused for both men and women for the plural Vi is normally used

Loro is a much more formal way of addressing people in the plural it isalways placed after the verb

5 When the person who likes something is denoted not by a pronoun but bya noun the noun must be preceded by the preposition a

6 To mark a contrast the stressed forms of the pronouns (a me a te aluia lei a noi a voi a loro ndash see Unit 14) are used instead of the unstressedforms

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiacciono

questiquestele ciliegiei romanziquelliquellegli scherzile auto veloci

I like theseYou like cherriesHeshe likes novelsWe like thoseYou like practical jokesThey like fast cars

Non mi piace la pizzaNon ti piace questoquestaNon le piace sciareNon ci piacciono i videogiochi

I donrsquot like pizzaDonrsquot you like this (one)She doesnrsquot like skiingWe donrsquot like video games

Le piacciono i funghi SignoraVanni

Le piace leggere Signor VanniNon Le piace quelloquellaNon Le piace sciareSignori Conti Vi piace lrsquoItaliaSignori Conti piace Loro lrsquoItalia

Do you like mushrooms Mrs Vanni

Do you like reading Mr VanniDonrsquot you like that oneDonrsquot you like skiingDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs ContiDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs Conti

A Claudia non piace andare a scuolaAllo zio Davide piace la musica

classicaA Piera non piacciono questiquesteAi miei nonni piace dormireA Franco e Luisa piace viaggiare

Claudia doesnrsquot like going to schoolUncle Davide likes classical music

Piera doesnrsquot like theseMy grandparents like sleepingFranco and Luisa like travelling

80 Unit 11

7 There are other verbs which are used in the same way as piacere mancare(to miss) [lit lsquoto be lackingmissingrsquo] servire (to need) [lit lsquoto be usefulrsquo] bastare(to be enoughsufficient) and sembrare and parere (to seem)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct pronoun

Example A Sara non piace il caffegrave Non le piace il caffegrave

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Mi piace la pioggia Non mi piace la pioggia

A me piace il caffegrave a te piace il teA lui piacciono i gatti a lei noA noi piace il calcio a voi il tennisA loro piace nuotare a noi piace sciareA me piace questoquesta a Lei quello

quella

I like coffee you like teaHe likes cats she doesnrsquotWe like football you like tennisThey like swimming we like skiingI like this one you like that one

Mi manca il mio ragazzo

Non vi mancano i vostri genitori

Ti serve una pennaA Livia servono i tuoi consigliQuestiqueste non ci bastanoA me bastano 10 euro e a te

Il comportamento di Carlo misembrami pare strano

Non mi sembrami pare giusto

I miss my boyfriend [lit my boyfriendis lacking to me]

Donrsquot you miss your parents [lit arenrsquotyour parents lacking to you]

Do you need a penLivia needs your adviceThese arenrsquot enough for us10 euros are sufficient for me ndash are they

for youhow about youCarlorsquos behaviour seems strange to me

It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot thinkitrsquos fair

1 A Federica non piacciono i carciofi2 A Giampiero non piace guidare3 A Massimo piace viaggiare4 A Tullio e Anna piace il mare5 Ai miei amici piace ballare

6 A me e a Marco non piace il pesce7 A te e a Marina piace nuotare8 A Mara piacciono i film francesi9 Alla mamma non piace stirare

10 Allo zio piace andare in moto

Unit 11 81

Exercise 3

Write sentences expressing your taste

Example cavalli (Non) mi piacciono i cavalli

1 la frutta 2 il calcio 3 le fragole 4 giocare a tennis 5 uscire con gli amici6 i gatti 7 la pizza 8 i dolci 9 ballare 10 le vacanze

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative or negativesentences using the verb piacere

Example Maria le patate A Maria (non) piacciono le patate

Exercise 5

Supply the correct form of the verbs in brackets

Example Quei libri mi (sembrare) interessanti sembrano

1 Ci (bastare) questo pane2 Vi (sembrare) bello quel film3 Ci (piacere) le auto sportive4 A Sebastiano (mancare) la mamma5 lsquoVoglio comprare una motorsquo lsquoTi (servire) dei soldirsquo6 A Livio (mancare) i soldi per le vacanze

1 Le piace andare in centro il sabato2 Ti piace la musica classica3 Gli piacciono i funghi4 Vi piace guardare la televisione5 Mi piacciono i film di fantascienza

6 Gli piace la scuola7 Ci piacciono le canzoni italiane8 Le piacciono gli spaghetti9 Mi piace sciare

10 Vi piace la cioccolata al latte

1 Luigi2 il professore3 mia sorella4 i miei cugini5 il primo ministro

il caffegrave senza zuccherole poesie di Leopardiandare al cinemai film di Fellinila politica

82 Unit 11

7 Quello che dici mi (sembrare) interessante8 Mi (servire) delle scarpe nuove9 Quale di quei due libri ti (parere) migliore

10 Non ti (bastare) 20 euro

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian using the verbs piacere sembrare servire mancare orbastare

1 An hour isnrsquot enough for me2 Giovanni needs a pen3 Lynnersquos missing her Italian friends4 Do you [sing] like chocolate5 She doesnrsquot like going to the cinema6 Do you [pl] need a lift7 They need a pen and a notebook8 Do you find the show boring Madam9 Do you [sing] need help

10 I like reading

Unit 11 83

UNIT TWELVEThe present perfect tense

Use of the present perfect

1 The present perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) is one of the two most used pasttenses of the indicative in Italian (the other is the imperfect (lsquoimperfettorsquo) )The present perfect is often used like the English present perfect (eg lsquoI haveseen itrsquo lsquoShe has gone homersquo) to state that an action has happened in the pastbut that its effects are still lasting in the present However in Northern Italyand in the language of the media it is also equivalent to the English simplepast (eg lsquoI saw itrsquo lsquoShe went homersquo) referring to actions which happened in amore distant past and have no immediate consequences in the presentIndeed it more often corresponds to the English simple past than to theEnglish present perfect In other words in Italian the difference betweenpresent perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) and simple past (lsquopassato remotorsquo) is notalways marked and it is always possible to use the former

2 The present perfect is a compound tense and is formed as in English withthe present tense of the auxiliary verb followed by the past participle of theverb

Napoleone egrave morto il 5 maggio 1821Lrsquoestate scorsa siamo andati in

vacanza sul lago di GardaNina egrave nata in RussiaLrsquoanno scorso mi hanno regalato

una mountain bike

Napoleon died on 5 May 1821Last summer we went to Lake Garda

for oura holidayNina was born in RussiaLast year they gave me a mountain

bike

Ho visto un bel filmHa telefonato MarcoSono rimasto a casaAnna egrave uscitaSono andati in piscina

I sawhave seen a lovely filmMarco phonedhas phonedI stayedhave stayed at homeAnna went outhas gone outDid they goHave they gone to the swimming

pool

As the examples confirm the lsquopassato prossimorsquo may correspond to either thesimple past or the present perfect in English But there are also other differ-ences between the Italian and English structures there is only one auxiliaryverb in English (lsquoto haversquo) but in Italian there is a choice of two avere andessere when essere is used the past participle has to agree in gender andnumber with the subject finally whether to use avere or essere is not usually afree choice We will look at all these differences in detail but first we need tolook at the forms of the Italian past participle

Forms of the past participle

3 The regular forms of the past participle are obtained by changing theending of the infinitive as follows

Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) keep the lsquosoftrsquo sound of c (or sc) andtherefore add an i before the -uto ending (-iuto)

The past participle of verbs in -urre ends in -otto

Infinitive in -are-ato

Infinitive in -ere-uto

Infinitive in -ire-ito

Infinitiveparlaremangiarecaderevolerepiacereconoscerepartirecapire

Past participleparlatomangiatocadutovolutopiaciutoconosciutopartitocapito

(to speak) spoken(to eat) eaten(to fall) fallen(to want) wanted(to like) liked(to knowmeet for the first time) knownmet(to leave) left(to understand) understood

Infinitivecondurretradurreprodurre

Past participlecondottotradottoprodotto

(to leaddrivemanage) leddrivenmanaged(to translate) translated(to produce) produced

Unit 12 85

4 In Italian as in most languages many verbs have an irregular past parti-ciple which is best learned by heart and with use Here is a list of the mostfrequently used

Stato is also the past participle of stare The regular forms perduto and veduto are rarely used

The present perfect

5 The present perfect in Italian is formed with the present indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

Infinitiveaccendereaprireberechiederechiuderedecideredireesserefareleggeremettereperdereprendererendererimanererispondereromperescenderescriverespegnerespenderesuccederetoglierevederevenirevincerevivere

Past participleaccesoapertobevutochiestochiusodecisodettostatofattolettomessopersoperdutopresoresorimastorispostorottoscesoscrittospentospesosuccessotoltovistovedutovenutovintovissuto

(to turn onswitch on) turned onswitched on(to open) opened(to drink) drunk(to ask) asked(to close) closed(to decide) decided(to saytell) saidtold(to be) been(to domake) donemade(to read) read(to putput on) putput on(to lose) lost(to take) taken(to returngive back) returnedgiven back(to remainstay) remainedstayed(to answer) answered(to break) broken(to go downdescend) gone downdescended(to write) written(to turn offswitch off) turned offswitched off(to spend) spent(to happen) happened(to take awayoff) taken awayoff(to see) seen(to come) come(to win) won(to live) lived

86 Unit 12

6 As can be seen when the present perfect is formed with avere the pastparticiple does not change but when the present perfect is formed with esserethe past participle behaves like an adjective agreeing in gender and numberwith the subject of the verb Here are some examples

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Present of avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I wrotehave writtenyou wrotehave writtenhesheit wrotehas writtenwe wrotehave written

(voi) avete(loro) hanno

scrittoscritto

you wrotehave writtenthey wrotehave written

Present of essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I wenthave goneyou wenthave gonehesheit wenthas gonewe wenthave goneyou wenthave gonethey wenthave gone

AvereLivia ha guardato la televisioneHai comprato il pane

Ha prenotato Signor Ferro

EssereMonica egrave uscita [fs]Pietro egrave stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia sono rimaste a

casa [fp]Giulia e Sebastiano sono partiti

[mp]Sono andata al cinema [fs]

Siamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando egravearrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando egravearrivata [fs]

Livia (has) watched TVDid you buyHave you bought the

breadDid you bookHave you booked Mr

Ferro

Monica went outMonicarsquos gone outPietrorsquos been illFabia and Silvia (have) stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano (have) left

I wentIrsquove been to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We (have) arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When did you arrive Mr Poli

When did you arrive Mrs Poli

Unit 12 87

Present perfect of avere and essere

7 Avere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary essere

8 Like the present the present perfect of essere can be used with the pronounci (see Unit 4) crsquoegrave statostata (there washas been) ci sono statistate (therewerehave been)

Essere or avere

9 Deciding whether to use essere or avere can be a bit of a problem The onlyfirm rules are those governing transitive verbs (ie verbs which can have adirect object) and reflexive verbs (see Unit 20) Transitive verbs always useavere reflexive verbs always use essere

As for intransitive verbs some use avere and others essere In general it canbe said that verbs of movement (such as andare (to go) venire (to come)partire (to leave) uscire (to go out) entrare (to go income in)) or non-movement (such as rimanere (to remain) restare (to stayremain)) and verbsof state (such as essere diventare (to become) cambiare (to change) crescere(to grow)) use the auxiliary essere However this is not a hard and fast rulethere are intransitive verbs which take avere

ho avutohai avutoha avutoabbiamo avutoavete avutohanno avuto

I hadhave hadyou hadhave hadhesheit hadhas hadwe hadhave hadyou hadhave hadthey hadhave had

sono statostatasei statostataegrave statostatasiamo statistatesiete statistatesono statistate

I washave beenyou werehave beenhesheit washas beenwe werehave beenyou werehave beenthey werehave been

La settimana scorsa abbiamo avuto ospitiTanya ha avuto la varicellaNina egrave stata malataDes egrave stato mio studente

Last week we had guestsTanya has had chickenpoxNina has been illDes was a student of mine

Crsquoegrave stata unrsquoalluvioneCi sono stati troppo incidenti

There washas been a floodThere werehave been too many accidents

88 Unit 12

To help in choosing the right auxiliary here is a list of common verbs whichform the present perfect with essere

These verbs are normally only used in the third person singular and plural

Ho conosciuto i genitori di Gianni[transitive]

Avete spedito le vostre cartoline[transitive]

Quanto hai speso [transitive]Ieri sera siamo andati a un concerto

rock [intransitive]Domenica scorsa siamo rimasti a

casa [intransitive]Il tempo egrave cambiato [intransitive]Ho dormito bene [intransitive]

I (have) met Giannirsquos parents

Did you sendHave you sent yourpostcards

How much did you spendLast night we went to a rock concert

Last Sunday we stayed at home

The weatherrsquos changedI slept well

Infinitiveandarearrivarebastare

costare

crescerediventareentrareesseremorire

nascerepartirepiacere

restarerimanere(ri)tornareriuscire

sembrarestaresuccedere

uscirevenire

Present perfectsono andato-asono arrivato-aegrave bastato-asono bastati-eegrave costato-asono costati-esono cresciuto-asono diventato-asono entrato-asono stato-aegrave morto-asono morti-esono nato-asono partito-aegrave piaciuto-asono piaciuti-esono restato-asono rimasto-asono (ri)tornato-asono riuscito-a

sono sembrato-asono stato-aegrave successo-asono successi-esono uscito-asono venuto-a

I wenthave goneI arrivedhave arrivedit washas been enoughthey werehave been enoughit costhas costthey costhave costI grewhave grownI becamehave becomeI wenthave gone inI enteredhave enteredI washave beenhesheit diedhas died

I was bornI lefthave leftit pleasedhas pleasedthey pleasedhave pleasedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI came backhave come backI succeededmanagedI have succeeded

managedI seemedhave seemedI stoodstayedI have stoodstayedit happenedhas happenedthey happenedhave happenedI went outhave gone outI camehave come

Unit 12 89

Note that succedere is an impersonal verb something or things can happenbut succedere cannot be used like the English lsquoI happened to be in Romersquo etc

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the auxiliary

11 The adverbs ancora (again) mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) and giagrave (already)are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (eg Ho giagrave risposto(Irsquove already replied)) When they are used in the negative ndash non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) (see also Unit 6 paragraph 2) ndash non is placed before theauxiliary

I soldi sono bastatiQuanto egrave costata quella biciLa bici egrave costata piugrave di 900 euroMolti civili sono mortiLe egrave piaciuto il film SignoraDa allora sono succese molte

cose

The money was enoughHow much did that bicycle costThe bike cost over 900 eurosMany civilians diedhave diedDid you like the film( Madam)Since then many things have happened

After that many things happened

Ieri non sono andato a scuolaLisa non egrave riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon hai telefonato a Fabia

I didnrsquot go to school yesterdayLisa didnrsquot managehasnrsquot managed to

finish that jobDidnrsquot you phoneHavenrsquot you phoned

Fabia

Sei ancora andato in biblioteca

Siete mai stati su un ghiacciaioHai piugrave visto i tuoi amiciNon abbiamo ancora preso il

bigliettoPaola non egrave mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non ha piugrave telefonato

Did you goHave you been to the libraryagain

Have you ever been on a glacierHave you (ever) seen your friends againWe havenrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola has never been to VeniceCarlo didnrsquot phonehasnrsquot (ever) phoned

again

90 Unit 12

Dovere potere volere

12 The present perfect of dovere potere and volere is normally formed withthe auxiliary avere but when they are followed by a verb which forms thepresent perfect with essere they may take essere as well if essere is used thepast participle of the verb agrees with the subject

Remember that it is never wrong to use avere

Exercise 1

Supply the correct endings for the past participles ensuring that they agreewith the subject

Example Le mie amiche sono uscitmdash uscite

1 Francesca e Filippo sono restatmdash a casa2 Giulia e Susanna non sono uscitmdash ieri sera3 Nicoletta egrave andatmdash in vacanza4 I miei amici sono arrivatmdash domenica scorsa5 Quando Fabia egrave entratmdash ha visto gli amici6 Pierluigi non egrave riuscitmdash a finire il lavoro7 Professor Rossi quando egrave arrivatmdash8 Ti egrave piaciutmdash la partita9 Quanto sono costatmdash quei libri

10 Quando egrave natmdash tua sorella

I nostri amici hanno dovuto partire I nostri amici sono dovuti partireCecilia non ha potuto andare in Irlanda Cecilia non egrave potuta andare in IrlandaPercheacute non avete voluto uscire Percheacute non siete voluti uscire

Our friends had to leave

Cecilia couldnrsquot go to Ireland

Why didnrsquot you want to go out

Ho dovuto lavorareMaria ha dovuto rimanere a casaElena non ha potuto telefonare

Elena e Sergio non hanno potutoentrare

I (have) had to workMaria (has) had to stay at homeElena couldnrsquothasnrsquot been able to

phoneElena and Sergio couldnrsquothavenrsquot

been able to get in

Unit 12 91

Exercise 2

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Anna (partire) ieri egrave partita

Exercise 3

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Il dottore (uscire) egrave uscito

1 Dove (tu comprare) quellescarpe

2 Ettore (regalare) un portafoglioa Luisa

3 Ieri sera (noi andare) a unconcerto

4 Dove (voi trovare) quei fogli5 (tu spegnere) la luce6 Quanta gente (venire) alla festa7 Signora Depaoli (portare) i

documenti8 (voi prendere) il giornale9 Ieri (io vedere) le mie amiche

10 Non (tu potere) finire il lavoro

11 (io dovere) studiare molto perquesto esame

12 Franco (uscire) tardi e (perdere)lrsquoautobus

13 Chi ti (scrivere) quella lettera14 (noi giocare) a pallone tutto il

pomeriggio15 Federica (cominciare) il nuovo

lavoro16 Lorenzo non (volere) uscire17 Dove (tu mettere) i libri18 (tu potere) parlare col professore19 (voi avere) tempo per fare tutto20 (tu leggere) il giornale di oggi

1 (noi dovere) lavorare tutto ilgiorno

2 Dove (voi mangiare)3 A che ora (tu partire)4 Chi (telefonare)5 Claudia (volere) restare a casa6 (tu conoscere) il fratello di

Piero7 Silvia (dovere) andare in

ospedale8 (voi accompagnare) Lina alla

stazione9 Chi (vincere) il campionato

10 (tu finire) i compiti

11 Non (io capire) nulla12 (tu portare) i libri in biblioteca13 Non (noi riuscire) a finire in

tempo14 Cosa (voi decidere)15 Carla (avere) la febbre16 Ugo e Marina non (venire) a cena

da noi17 Che cosa (voi fare) domenica18 Il treno (partire) con mezzrsquoora di

ritardo19 La nonna (essere) contenta di

vedermi20 Chi (tradurre) questo libro

92 Unit 12

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquove already done this exercise2 I havenrsquot finished reading the paper yet3 Stefanorsquos never been to Rome4 I didnrsquot see Roberto again after the party5 Have you [pl] already paid the bill6 Giulia hasnrsquot started working yet7 Carlo couldnrsquot work any more8 Irsquove never met her parents9 Have you [sing] written the letters already

10 Irsquove never seen that film

Unit 12 93

UNIT THIRTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns (2)

1 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the present perfect (orany other compound tense) the past participle must agree in gender andnumber with the pronoun

Particular care must be taken when the gender is not shown in the pronounas in the last three examples

Note that when the polite form is used the past participle always agreeswith the feminine pronoun La not with the gender of the person beingspoken to

lsquoHai invitato Anna e Sararsquo lsquoSigrave leho invitatersquo

lsquoAvete portato i librirsquo lsquoSigrave liabbiamo portatirsquo

Ho comprato delle rose e leho date a Luisa

lsquoChi ha scritto questa musicarsquolsquoLrsquoha scritta Bob Marleyrsquo

lsquoDove hai comprato quellescarpersquo lsquoLe ho comprate almercatorsquo

Ho 25 compagni di classe e li hoinvitati tutti alla mia festa dicompleanno

Non ci hanno invitati alla festa

Mauro mi ha accompagnata allastazione

Ti hanno invitata

lsquoDid you invite Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYes Iinvited themrsquo

lsquoHave you brought the booksrsquo lsquoYeswersquove brought themrsquo

I bought some roses and gave them toLuisa

lsquoWho wrote this musicrsquo lsquoBob Marleywrote itrsquo

lsquoWhere did you buy those shoesrsquo lsquoIbought them at the marketrsquo

I have 25 classmates and Irsquove invited allof them to my birthday party

They didnrsquot invite us to the party [weare all males or mixed males andfemales]

Mauro took me to the station [thespeaker is female]

Did they invite you [the personaddressed is female]

2 The rule given above does not apply to indirect object pronouns with thesethe past participle of the verb never changes

3 As we saw in Units 7 and 10 when a direct or indirect object pronounoccurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive

In these sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or anyother compound tense) there is no agreement of the past participle even withdirect object pronouns

However when the direct object pronoun is not attached to the infinitive thepast participle must agree with it

Signor Belli chi Lrsquoha invitataDottor Ranieri Lrsquoabbiamo vista

ieri sera alla televisione

Who invited you Mr BelliWe saw you on television last night

Dr Ranieri

lsquoHai telefonato a Anna e SararsquolsquoSigrave gli ho telefonatorsquo

Quando egrave venuta Livia le ho offertoun gelato

Ho parlato con Carla e le ho dettotutto

Non ci hanno scritto

lsquoDid you phone Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYesI phoned themrsquo

When Livia came I offered her an icecream

I spoke to Carla and told hereverything

They didnrsquot write to us

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave hodovuto leggerli tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non ho ancora potutoleggerla

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non ha volutoinvitarle alla festa

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonabbiamo saputo farlirsquo

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave li hodovuti leggere tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non lrsquoho ancora potuta leggere

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non le ha voluteinvitare alla festa

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

Unit 13 95

4 In contemporary spoken Italian (and sometimes in written Italian as well)agreement of the past participle with first and second person direct objectpronouns tends not to be observed this is the case with both singular (mi ti) andplural (ci vi) so quite often you will hear (or read) sentences like the following

However the agreement is always made with the third person pronouns (lola li le)

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the direct object pronouns making sure that thepast participle agrees

Example Ho visto Gianna e mdashmdash ho invitatmdash lrsquoho invitata

1 Ho comprato dei fiori e mdashmdash ho messmdash in un vaso2 La zia egrave partita e mdashmdash ho accompagnatmdashalla stazione3 Ho visto delle belle scarpe e mdashmdashho compratmdash4 Lara ha aperto le finestre ma Luca mdashmdash ha chiusmdash5 Mi hanno regalato dei biscotti e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdash tutti6 Luisa non hai sentito che Claudio mdashmdash ha chiamatmdash7 Gaetano ha preso il giornale e mdashmdashha lettmdash8 lsquoVi hanno invitati alla festarsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash hanno invitatmdashrsquo9 lsquoHai preso i biglietti per il concertorsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho presmdashrsquo

10 Cerchi i libri mdashmdash ho datmdash a Giovanni

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonli abbiamo saputi farersquo

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoSusanna chi ti ha accompagnatorsquo[instead of ti ha accompagnata]

lsquoMi ha accompagnato Sebastianorsquo[instead of mi ha accompagnata]

Ci ha invitato alla festa [instead ofci ha invitati]

Vi ho visto entrare al cinema[instead of vi ho visti]

lsquoSusanna who went withtook yoursquo

lsquoSebastiano went withtook mersquo

HeShe has asked us to the party

I saw you go into the cinema

Lrsquoha accompagnata SebastianoLi ho invitati alla festalsquoQuando hai visto Carla e Liviarsquo

lsquoLe ho viste ierirsquo

Sebastiano went withtook herIrsquove asked them to the partylsquoWhen did you see Carla and Liviarsquo lsquoI

saw them yesterdayrsquo

96 Unit 13

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct direct or indirect object pronounmaking sure that the past participle agrees where necessary

Examples Non ho telefonato a Maria mdashmdashmdash ho scrittmdash le ho scrittoHo comprato una minigonna rossa e mdashho indossatmdash per lafesta lrsquoho indossata

1 Ho incontrato Lina e mdashmdash ho offertmdash un caffegrave2 Cerco Paola e Gianni mdashmdash avete vistmdash3 Non ho la bicicletta perchegrave mdashmdashho imprestatmdash a Filippo4 Non ho scritto a Paola mdashmdash ho telefonatmdash5 Dove sono le chiavi Chi mdashmdash ha presmdash6 Parlo bene lrsquoitaliano e il tedesco percheacute mdashmdash ho studiatmdash per sette anni7 Ieri ho visto Alessandro e mdashmdash ha presentatmdash sua sorella8 Caterina chi mdashmdash ha accompagnatmdash ieri sera9 Oggi egrave il compleanno di Daniela mdashmdash hai mandatmdash gli auguri

10 Gianna egrave una vecchia amica mdashmdashho conosciutmdash otto anni fa11 lsquoDove avete lasciato la bicirsquo lsquomdashmdashabbiamo lasciatmdash in stradarsquo12 Hai telefonato a Giacomo Che cosa mdashmdash hai dettmdash13 lsquoHai comprato i francobollirsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashrsquo14 Signora Lrsquoho cercata ieri ma non mdashmdashho trovatmdash15 Sebastiano ha molte amiche e io mdashmdash ho conosciutmdash tutte16 lsquoCosa hai detto a Matteorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho dettmdash nullarsquo17 lsquoChi ha pagato il contorsquo lsquomdashmdashha pagatmdash mia madrersquo18 lsquoCosa hai raccontato a Giuliarsquo lsquomdashmdash ho raccontatmdash la veritagraversquo19 Professore chi mdashmdashha accompagnatmdash in aeroporto20 Questa egrave una rivista molto interessante mdashmdashho lettmdash tutta

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as shown in the example

Example Ho dovuto comprarle Le ho dovute comprare

1 Non ho saputo farli2 Ho voluto vederli3 Non abbiamo potuto chiamarlo4 Hanno potuto aiutarvi5 Abbiamo dovuto invitarla

6 Non ha saputo tradurle7 Avete dovuto accompagnarle8 Ha voluto mangiarla9 Hai potuto vederli

10 Non hanno voluto farle

Unit 13 97

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sabina hasnrsquot invited me [f]2 Who called you [fs]3 We phoned them yesterday4 I looked for you [mp] but I didnrsquot find you5 Chiara took us to the bus stop6 I sent you [pl] a postcard ndash did you receive it7 My grandparents gave me 100 euros but Irsquove already spent it [Say lsquospent

themrsquo]8 I bought two rolls and ate them9 lsquoHave you [sing] switched the light offrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove switched it offrsquo

10 Carla hasnrsquot been able to help them [f]

98 Unit 13

UNIT FOURTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns(3 stressed forms)

1 Direct and indirect object pronouns do not only have the unstressed (orweak) forms that we saw in Units 7 10 and 13 they also have stressed(or strong) forms

As usual the pronoun Lei (third person singular feminine) and the pronounLoro (third person plural) are used for the formal form

2 The stressed forms of direct object and indirect object pronouns are usedto give emphasis to the pronoun or to stress a contrast unlike unstressedforms they normally come after the verb except when used with the verbspiacere sembrare servire bastare parere and mancare (see Unit 11) Stressedforms always refer to people not objects

Direct object stressed forms Indirect object stressed formsmeteluileiLeinoivoiloroLoro

a mea tea luia leia Leia noia voia loroa Loro

Chiamo voi non loroVedo lei ma non vedo luiAspetto Francesco non teInvito solo teInvito solo Lei Signor PaoliA me non piace il caffegraveA me sembra giustoTelefono a te ma non a loroBilly scrive a noi e non ai suoi

genitoriDevi rendere i soldi a me non a mio

fratello

Irsquom callingphoning you not themI can see her but I canrsquot see himIrsquom waiting for Francesco not youIrsquom only inviting youIrsquom only inviting you Mr PaoliI donrsquot like coffeeI think itrsquos fairIt seems fair to meIrsquoll phone you but not themBilly writes to us and not his parents

Yoursquove got to give me the money notmy brother

Note the difference between the two sentences lsquoNon mi piace il caffegraversquo andlsquoA me non piace il caffegraversquo The first simply states that I donrsquot like coffee whilethe second puts the emphasis on the pronoun lsquomersquo implying that there arepeople who do like coffee but I am not one of them The same applies tothe sentences lsquoMi sembra giustorsquo and lsquoA me sembra giustorsquo the secondsentence stresses the fact that there are other people who donrsquot think itrsquosfair

3 As the above examples suggest stressed direct and indirect object pro-nouns cannot be used to refer to objects When referring to objects the nounhas to be repeated (as is also generally the case in English)

4 The stressed forms of the object pronouns are used after all prepositions(see Unit 8) not just a This is true even when no emphasis is required

When su sopra dopo contro are used with a personal pronoun the pro-noun is preceded by the preposition di (see Unit 8 paragraphs 9 20)

5 The stressed forms are also always used when the verb has two pronoundirect or indirect objects even where no emphasis is required

lsquoPrendi la frutta e il dolcersquo lsquoPrendola frutta ma non il dolcersquo [NotlsquoPrendo lei ma non luirsquo]

lsquoPorti la chitarra e i CDrsquo lsquoPorto iCD ma non la chitarrarsquo [NotlsquoPorto loro ma non leirsquo]

lsquoAre you having the fruit and thesweetrsquo lsquoIrsquom having the fruit butnot the sweetrsquo

lsquoAre you bringing the guitar and theCDsrsquo lsquoIrsquoll bring the CDs but notthe guitarrsquo [or at a pinch lsquoIrsquoll bringthem but not itrsquo]

Vengo con Lei SignoraChi di loro non vuole venirePuoi dormire da me staseraFaccio questo per tePuoi contare su di meDopo di te ci sono ioNon ho nulla contro di voi

Irsquom coming with you( Madam)Which of them doesnrsquot want to comeYou can sleep at my place tonightIrsquom doing this for youYou can count on meAfter you itrsquos memy turnIrsquove got nothing against you

Ho visto te e lui in cittagrave [not Ti e lo hovisto in cittagrave]

Invito voi e loro [not Vi e li invito]Scrive a te e a me [not Ti e mi scrive]Regaliamo fiori a loro e a lei [not

Gli e le regaliamo fiori]

I saw you and him in town

Irsquom inviting you and themHe writes to you and meWersquore giving flowers to them and

her

100 Unit 14

6 Stressed forms are always used after anchepure (also too) neanchenemmenoneppure (not even neither) come (as like) quanto (as much as)eccetto (che)meno (che)tranne (che)salvo (che) (except but)

The forms eccetto chemeno chetranne chesalvo che are used when there is apreposition before the pronoun

7 Note that when the stressed forms of the direct object pronouns are used ina sentence with the verb in a compound tense (see Unit 13 paragraph 1) thepast participle does not agree with the pronoun

Exercise 1

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones

Examples Mario chiama (them) non (you [pl]) loro voi La nonna hadato i soldi a (you [sing]) e non a (me) te me

1 Prima accompagno (her) a scuola poi (you [sing]) in palestra2 Dovete invitare anche (them)3 Non egrave venuto nessuno nemmeno (her)4 Hanno invitato (us) e non (you [pl])5 Allrsquoesame hanno promosso tutti tranne (me)6 Credo a tutti meno che a (him)

Invito anche voiDevi fare come meMaria lavora quanto teDevi chiedere anche a noiNon credo neppure a luiVengono tutti meno lui

Faccio questo per tutti meno cheper lei

Anna telefona a tutti salvo che aloro

Sandro esce con tutti salvo checon noi

Sono tutti contro di noi

Irsquom inviting you as wellYou should do as I dodo it like meMaria works as much as you (do)You have to ask us as wellI donrsquot believe him eitherTheyrsquore all coming except him

Everyone but himrsquos comingIrsquom doingIrsquoll do this for everyone

exceptbut herAnna phones everyone exceptbut

themSandro goes out with everybody

exceptbut usThey are all against us

Ho chiamato voi non loroHo visto lei ma non ho visto luiLucia ha invitato loro ma non lui

I called you not themI saw her but I didnrsquot see himLucia has invited them but not him

Unit 14 101

7 Carla vuole bene a (me) quanto a (you [sing])8 A (you [polite]) credo Professore9 Voglio presentare i miei amici anche a (you [pl])

10 A (her) come a (them) non sembra giusto

Exercise 2

Translate the following sentences where necessary underlining the em-phasised words

Examples Dovete invitare anche me You should invite me as welltoo Ame manca il sole a te no Irsquom missing the sun ndash arenrsquot you orI miss the sun ndash donrsquot you

1 Nessuno suona la batteria come me2 Tutti gli studenti hanno fatto il compito meno lui3 Sergio chiama te non me4 Accompagno anche te5 Capisco quanto te6 Mauro dice la veritagrave a tutti tranne che a me7 Dovete telefonare anche a me8 Claudia impresta i dischi a noi non a voi9 Do il mio indirizzo a tutti salvo che a lei

10 Regalo un libro a lei e un disco a lui

Exercise 3

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones as you did inExercise 1

1 Chi di (you [pl]) non puograve venire alla festa2 Allrsquoesame orale sono passato subito dopo di (him)3 Sopra di (them) abita una signora molto gentile4 Abbiamo deciso fra (us)5 Esci con (her) anche stasera

102 Unit 14

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian using the stressed form of the pronouns

1 Everyonersquos against me2 Are you [sing] coming with me3 Irsquove bought a present for you [sing]4 You [sing] canrsquot count on him5 Can I sleep at your [pl] place tonight

Unit 14 103

UNIT FIFTEENRelative pronouns

1 The Italian relative pronouns correspond to the English lsquowhorsquo lsquowhichrsquolsquothatrsquo lsquowhomrsquo lsquowhosersquo They have two forms invariable (che cui) and vari-able (il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp])

The invariable forms which can replace all nouns (masculine feminine sin-gular plural) are the most frequently used

2 The invariable form che is used for masculine feminine singular and pluralnouns it can be either a subject or a direct object

Il treno che prendo la mattina egravesempre molto affollato

La storia che ho letto egrave stranaLa ragazza chela quale ha tele-

fonato ha bisogno di un favoreGli amici chei quali sono venuti a

trovarmi sono irlandesiHai ancora le chiavi che ti ho dato

Il ragazzo con cuicol quale esci egravemolto simpatico

La ragazza a cuialla quale ho datoi libri egrave una mia amica

The train (that) I get in the morning isalways very crowded

The story (that) Irsquove read is strangeThe girl who phoned needs a favour

The friends who came to see me areIrish

Have you still got the keys (that) I gaveyou

The boy with whom you are going outyoursquore going out with is very nice

The girl to whom I gave the booksIgave the books to is a friend of mine

Il gruppo che [subject ms] suonastasera egrave molto conosciuto

Il cantante che [direct object ms]abbiamo sentito ieri sera non egravemolto bravo

Le scarpe che [direct object fp] hocomprato sono care

The group who are playing tonightare very well known

The singer (whom) we heard last nightisnrsquot very good

The shoes (that) I bought areexpensive

In Italian collective nouns (eg il gruppo lsquothe grouprsquo la squadra lsquothesquadteamrsquo) are always followed by the singular of the verb never the plural

3 When a preposition is needed before the invariable relative pronoun (eg ifit stands for an indirect object) the form used is cui

The preposition a can sometimes be omitted before cui The Italian for lsquothe reasonreasons whyrsquo is always la ragionele ragioni percui never percheacute

4 The variable forms il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp] areused as subject indirect object and ndash very rarely ndash as direct object They mustagree in gender and number with the noun they replace

Non conosco i ragazzi che [subjectmp] sono appena arrivati

I donrsquot know the boys who have justarrived

Lo zio a cui scrivo sempre arrivadomani

La vicina per cui ho fatto la spesami ha invitato a cena

Non conosci la persona (a) cui devotelefonare

Il dentista da cui vado egrave moltobravo

Nella cittagrave in cui abito ci sono molticinema

Gli amici con cui esco sono italianiNon capisco la ragione per cui

Paola non egrave venutaNon ho ancora letto le notizie di cui

parli

The uncle I always write toto whom Ialways write is arriving tomorrow

The neighbour I went shopping forforwhom I went shopping has invitedme to dinner

You donrsquot know the person (that) Ihave to phone

The dentist I go to is very good

There are a lot of cinemas in the townin which I live

The friends I go out with are ItalianI donrsquot understand (the reason) why

Paola didnrsquot comeI havenrsquot read the news yoursquore talking

about yet

Paolo il quale egrave sempre in ritardonon egrave ancora arrivato

Ho parlato con una ragazza la qualemi ha dato tutte le informazioni

Tullio e Anna sono amici i quali miinvitano spesso

Ci sono due signore le quali nonhanno prenotato

Lrsquoamica con la quale sono andatain vacanza si chiama Elisa

Paolo who is always late still hasnrsquotarrived

I spoke to a girl who gave me all theinformation

Tullio and Anna are friends who ofteninvite me round

There are two ladies who havenrsquotbooked

The friend with whom I went onholidayI went away with is calledElisa

Unit 15 105

Remember to combine the definite article with the preposition (see Unit 8paragraph 2) when using the variable forms

5 When a relative pronoun is preceded by in or a and these denote place itis often replaced in contemporary Italian by the adverb dove Da dove or didove can be used when the relative pronoun is preceded by the prepositionda

6 The relative pronouns (both variable and invariable) can be used in con-junction with the demonstrative pronouns colui and quello

Colui can only refer to people It has three forms colui [ms] colei [fs]coloro [mp and fp] these combine with checui or il qualela qualei qualilequali as follows

Quello has four forms quello [ms] quella [fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp]these only combine with checui and can refer to both objects andpeople

The use of quello che etc to refer to a person is rather informal unlike coluichecolui il quale etc which are quite formal

Questa egrave lrsquoamica della quale ti hoparlato

Lrsquoinsegnante al quale ho parlato egravestato molto gentile

This is the friend I told you about

The teacher I spoke to was very kind

Milano egrave la cittagrave dove [for in cui]vive Walter

Questo egrave il negozio dove [for in cui]lavora Pia

La stazione dove [for a cui] deveandare non egrave lontana da qui

La scuola da dovedi dove [for dacui] viene Enrico egrave molto buona

Milan is the city where Walter lives

This is the shop where Pia works

The station hersquos got to go to isnrsquot farfrom here

The school Enrico went to [lit comesfrom] is very good

colui che or colui il qualecolei che or colei la qualecoloro che or coloro i qualicoloro le quali

he whoshe whothose who

quello chequella chequelli chequelle che

that which he who the one whichwhothat which she who the one whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwho

106 Unit 15

7 When referring to people the pronoun chi (who anyone who the personpeople who) is often used instead of the more formal lsquodouble relativersquo (coluicoleicoloro che colui il quale etc) Chi is always used with the verb in thethird person singular past participles and adjectives are always in the mascu-line singular

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples La ragazza mdashmdash ho invitato egrave mia cugina che Il ragazzoa mdashmdash devo telefonare egrave Matteo cui

1 Il film mdashmdash mi hai consigliato egrave molto bello2 La palestra in mdashmdash vado non egrave lontana

Colui che pensa questo sbagliaQuello che pensa questo sbagliaPossono entrare solo coloro che

coloro i quali hanno lrsquoinvitoPossono entrare solo quelli che

hanno lrsquoinvitoColoro a cuiai quali scrivo sono

amici di mio fratelloQuelli a cui scrivo sono amici di

mio fratelloQuelli che sono sul tavolo sono i

libri di TullioCi sono due case quella in cui abita

Giorgio egrave la piugrave grande

He who thinks this is wrongAnyone who thinks this is wrongOnly those who have an invitation

may comego inOnly people with an invitation can

comego inThose Irsquom writing to are friends of my

brother(rsquos)The people Irsquom writing to are friends

of my brother(rsquos)ThoseThe ones (which are) on the

table are Tulliorsquos booksThere are two houses the one Giorgio

lives in is the bigger

Chi pensa questo sbagliaPuograve entrare solo chi ha lrsquoinvito

Non ho visto chi egrave entratoEsco con chi mi invita

Lavoro per chi mi pagaRipeto la spiegazione per chi

non ha capitoHai risposto a chi ti ha scritto

Anyone who thinks this is wrongOnly people who have an invitation can

come ingo inI didnrsquot see who came inwent inIrsquoll go out with anyone who invitesasks

meIrsquoll work for anyone who pays meIrsquoll repeat the explanation for those

anyone who didnrsquot understandHave you replied to the personpeople

who wrote to you

Unit 15 107

3 I bambini mdashmdash sono venuti sono i miei cugini4 Non conosco le persone con mdashmdash esci5 La torta mdashmdash ha fatto tua mamma egrave molto buona6 Quando mi rendi i CD mdashmdash ti ho imprestato7 Lrsquoargomento di mdashmdash parla Paolo non mi interessa8 La ragione per mdashmdash non siamo venuti egrave semplice9 La cittagrave in mdashmdash sono nato non egrave molto grande

10 Come egrave andato lrsquoesame mdashmdash hai dato ieri

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples Hai comprato le cose mdashmdash ti ho chiesto che La discotecain mdashmdash andiamo egrave in centro cui

1 Nella biblioteca in mdashmdash vado a studiare fa sempre freddo2 Gli amici da mdashmdash siamo andati sono molto simpatici3 La stanza in mdashmdash dorme Luigi egrave la piugrave luminosa4 Non mi piace la musica mdashmdash ascolti tu5 Hai giagrave letto il libro mdashmdash ti hanno regalato6 Gli esercizi mdashmdash avete fatto sono tutti giusti7 Quello egrave il muro su mdashmdash vogliamo mettere i poster8 Vuoi leggere la lettera mdashmdash mi ha scritto Angela9 Il medico da mdashmdash vanno i miei genitori egrave molto giovane

10 Di chi egrave la bici con mdashmdash sei arrivato

Exercise 3

Replace che and cui with il quale la quale i quali or le quali (remember tocombine the definite article and the preposition where necessary)

Example Gli amici da cui andiamo in vacanza sono simpatici dai quali

1 Mia madre che egrave infermiera lavora in un ospedale2 Chi egrave la ragazza con cui sei uscito3 Gli esami di cui ha parlato il professore sono a giugno4 Il campeggio in cui siamo stati egrave vicino al mare5 Tutte le ragazze a cui ho telefonato hanno accettato lrsquoinvito6 Franco che egrave un bravo attore ha trovato lavoro in un teatro7 Il parrucchiere da cui vado egrave un amico8 Le cugine di Chiara che abitano vicino a me sono simpatiche

108 Unit 15

9 Le amiche di cui ti ho parlato arrivano domani10 I nostri amici che sono tutti italiani non parlano inglese

Exercise 4

Supply the correct double relative pronoun (coluicoleicoloro che)

Example mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno biglietti possono entrare coloro che

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha scritto questo libro egrave la sorella di Piero2 mdashmdashmdashmdash ci hanno invitati sono amici di Luisa3 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha vinto il premio egrave Antonio4 mdashmdashmdashmdash dagrave le informazioni deve parlare inglese e spagnolo5 mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno parlato sono persone molto importanti

Exercise 5

Complete using the correct pronouns (chi or quelloquellaquelliquelle che)

Examples mdashmdash non ha il biglietto non entra chi mdashmdash hai fatto non sonoerrori gravi quelli che

1 Non conosco mdashmdash ha scritto questa lettera2 La spiegazione egrave mdashmdash ti ho dato3 Il controllore egrave mdashmdash controlla i biglietti4 Vince il premio mdashmdash finisce per primo5 mdashmdash ti ho imprestato sono i libri che devi leggere6 mdashmdash abbiamo comprato egrave unrsquoauto economica7 mdashmdash fa la spesa al mercato spende meno8 mdashmdash abbiamo prenotato egrave un hotel di lusso9 mdashmdash non puograve venire deve telefonare per avvertire

10 mdashmdash ho visto in quel negozio sono scarpe molto belle

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian

1 The book which I want to buy is too expensive2 The lady I spoke to is German3 The people who phoned live in America4 The town I live in isnrsquot very big

Unit 15 109

5 Anyone who wants to go to university must be able to read and write6 Paolo whorsquos lost his mobile is not happy7 I like that song but I prefer the ones we heard last night8 This is Fabiorsquos sister who lent me her bike9 Did you [sing] see who ate the peaches

10 Whorsquos the man you [pl] sold the tickets to

110 Unit 15

UNIT SIXTEENThe imperfect tense

1 The imperfect is together with the present perfect one of the most usedpast tenses in Italian It is called lsquoimperfectrsquo because generally speakingthere is no reference to the beginning or end of the action it expresseseither the length of time the action lasted is not relevant or the action isseen as the background to another action or two actions took place at thesame time and lasted the same length of time Here are some typicalexamples

As you can see from the examples the Italian imperfect corresponds to sev-eral different English forms We will look at the different meanings and usesof this tense but first we will look at its forms

The forms of the imperfect

2 The forms of the imperfect are very regular Here are the endings for thethree conjugations (-are -ere -ire)

Mio nonno lavorava in India

Mia nonna era infermieraMentre io entravo Elena usciva

Quando ho cominciato la scuolaavevo cinque anni

Elena egrave arrivata mentre io uscivoClaudia parlava con unrsquoamica

quando egrave arrivato lrsquoautobusQuando ero al mare nuotavo tutti i

giorni

My grandfather used to work inIndia

My grandmother was a nurseAs I was going in Elena was coming

outWhen I started school I was five

Elena arrived as I was going outClaudia was talking to a friend when

the bus arrivedWhen I was at the seaside I wentused

to go swimming every day

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

The verb avere also follows this same regular pattern

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-avo-avi-ava-avamo-avate-avano

-ere-evo-evi-eva-evamo-evate-evano

-ire-ivo-ivi-iva-ivamo-ivate-ivano

Parlareparlavoparlaviparlavaparlavamoparlavateparlavano

To speakI spokewas speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakhesheit spokewas speakingused to speakwe spokewere speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakthey spokewere speakingused to speak

Prendereprendevoprendeviprendevaprendevamoprendevateprendevano

To takegetI tookwas takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takehesheit tookwas takingused to takewe tookwere takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takethey tookwere takingused to take

avevoaveviavevaavevamoavevateavevano

I hadwas havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havehesheit hadwas havingused to havewe hadwere havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havethey hadwere havingused to have

Partirepartivopartivipartivapartivamo

To leaveI leftwas leavingused to leaveyou leftwere leavingused to leavehesheit leftwas leavingused to leavewe leftwere leavingused to leave

partivatepartivano

you leftwere leavingused to leavethey leftwere leavingused to leave

112 Unit 16

3 Not many verbs are irregular in the imperfect Essere is one

Like the present the imperfect of essere can be used with the pronoun ci (seeUnit 4) crsquoera (there was) crsquoerano (there were)

Other irregular verbs are bere dire and fare

Mio nonno parlava molto benelrsquoitaliano

Mentre prendevamo il caffegrave egravesuonato il telefono

Quando Carla aveva 5 anni abitavaa Roma

Sono arrivato quando il trenopartiva

Mio fratello andava a scuola inautobus

Di solito Gianni e sua sorellaandavano al cinema insieme

Quando Maurizio lavorava in quelsupermercato lo pagavanopochissimo

Mentre Sebastiano leggeva ilgiornale io ho finito i compiti

My grandfather spoke Italian verywell

While we were having coffee thetelephone rang

When Carla was five she lived inRome

I arrived as the train was leaving

My brother used to go to school bybus

Usually Gianni and his sister went tothe cinema together

When Maurizio worked in thatsupermarket they paid him verylittle

While Sebastiano was reading thepaper I finished my homework

eroerieraeravamoeravateerano

I wasused to beyou wereused to behesheit wasused to bewe wereused to beyou wereused to bethey wereused to be

bevevobevevibevevabevevamobevevatebevevano

I drankwas drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkhesheit drankwas drinkingused to drinkwe drankwere drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkthey drankwere drinkingused to drink

dicevodicevi

I saidwas sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to say

dicevadicevamodicevatedicevano

hesheit saidwas sayingused to saywe saidwere sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to saythey saidwere sayingused to say

Unit 16 113

All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

4 The negative is formed as usual by putting non before the verb

facevofacevifacevafacevamofacevatefacevano

I didwas doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dohesheit didwas doingused to dowe didwere doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dothey didwere doingused to do

-ucevo

-ucevi

-uceva

-ucevamo

-ucevate

-ucevano

traducevo

traducevi

traduceva

traducevamo

traducevate

traducevano

I translatedwas translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

hesheit translatedwas translatingused totranslate

we translatedwere translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

they translatedwere translatingused totranslate

Quando ero bambino abitavo aParma

Ieri il tempo era belloAl concerto crsquoerano piugrave di 900

personeMia sorella beveva solo acqua

minerale ora beve anche acquadi rubinetto

Cosa diceviCosa faceva Signora quando non

lavoravaLrsquointerprete traduceva ma nessuno

ascoltava

When I was a child I lived in Parma

Yesterday the weather was lovelyThere were more than 900 people at

the concertMy sister only used to drink mineral

water now she drinks tap water aswell

What were you sayingWhat did you do( Madam) when you

werenrsquot workingdidnrsquot workThe interpreter was translating but

nobody was listening

Di solito la domenica non uscivoQuando hai telefonato non facevo

niente di speciale

I didnrsquot usually go out on SundaysWhen you phoned I wasnrsquot doing

anything special

114 Unit 16

Use of the imperfect

5 The imperfect is used for descriptions of situations in the past when it isnot necessary (or important) to say how long an action lasted This generallyhappens with verbs like essere sembrare and avere and with verbs expressingwill desire or intention possibility or ability but it can happen with otherverbs as well

6 The imperfect is also used to express actions which were habitual or hap-pened repeatedly in the past

7 Since the imperfect is used when it is not relevant how long the actionlasted it is not used when it is stated how many times or for how longsomething happened

Crsquoerano molte persone cheaspettavano il treno

Ieri sera sembravi molto stancoMia nonna era molto alta e aveva i

capelli bianchiFaceva freddo in montagnaCosa voleviDue anni fa abitavo a MilanoSuo padre era medico

There were a lot of people (who were)waiting for the train

You looked very tired last nightMy grandmother was very tall and

had white hairWas it cold in the mountainsWhat did you wantwere you wantingTwo years ago I was living in MilanHis father was a doctor

Lrsquoestate scorsa giocavamo semprea tennis

Quando ero in vacanza andavo alcinema tutti i giorni

Tutte le mattine a colazione Giuliaprendeva solo del caffegrave

Cenavamo alle otto

Last summer we played tennis all thetime

When I was on holiday I went to thecinema every day

Every morning Giulia just had coffeefor breakfast

We used to have dinner at eight

Lrsquoestate scorsa sono andato alcinema 25 volte

Last summer I went to the cinema 25times

Ha fatto molto freddo per due giorniGiulia ha lavorato qui da gennaio a

giugnoHo abitato a Milano per due anniIeri abbiamo lavorato tutto il giornoIeri sono stato in biblioteca dalle

nove alle undici

It was very cold for two daysGiulia worked here from January to

JuneI lived in Milan for two yearsYesterday we worked all dayYesterday I was in the library from

nine till 11

Unit 16 115

8 When a sentence refers to two or more events which happened in the pastit is helpful to think in terms of lsquoforegroundrsquo and lsquobackgroundrsquo as in thesetwo English examples lsquoWhile I was doing the dishes [continuous back-ground] I heard [foreground] the doorbellrsquo lsquoI saw [foreground] Juve a coupleof times when I was [continuous background] in Turinrsquo In Italian in caseslike these the imperfect expresses the continuous lsquobackgroundrsquo action againstwhich the lsquoforegroundrsquo action is seen to occur

Note that mentre (while) in the past is always followed by the imperfect

If the two events happened at the same time and lasted for the same length oftime then both verbs are in the imperfect

Mentre dormivate ho preparato lacolazione

Mia madre ha conosciuto mio padrequando abitava a Firenze

Mauro non ha preso lrsquoombrelloanche se pioveva

Marco ha telefonato quando eravateal cinema

Non sono uscita percheacute pioveva

While you were sleepingasleep Iprepared breakfast

My mother met my father when shewas living in Florence

Mauro didnrsquot take the umbrella eventhough it was raining

Marco phoned when you were at thecinema

I didnrsquot go out because it was raining

Mentre noi facevamo il compito dimatematica Carla ripassavafilosofia

Mentre Alessandro preparava lacena Claudia leggeva il giornale

Quando io lavoravo alsupermercato mia sorellalavorava in un cinema

While we were doing our mathshomework Carla was revisingphilosophy

While Alessandro was preparingdinner Claudia was reading thenewspaper

When I worked in the supermarketmy sister worked in a cinema

Il gatto miagolava percheacute avevafame

The cat was miaowing because it washungry

116 Unit 16

Exercise 1

Supply the imperfect of the verb in brackets

Example Silvio (lavorare) molto lavorava

Exercise 2

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verb in brackets

Examples (io comprare) la macchina due anni fa ho comprato Drsquoestate(noi andare) in spiaggia ogni mattina andavamo

1 Elena a che ora (tu partire) ieri2 Chi (essere) Dante Alighieri3 (io studiare) per due ore4 Di solito (noi mangiare) in mensa5 Claudia (rimanere) in casa tutto il giorno6 Mia nonna (avere) gli occhi azzurri7 Nicoletta e Luigina non (sembrare) sorelle8 Ieri Andrea (spendere) 150 euro9 Signora dove (andare) in vacanza lrsquoanno scorso

10 I loro amici (essere) sempre allegri

1 Il nonno di Piero (parlare) seilingue

2 Laura (passare) sempre lrsquoestateal mare

3 Che lavoro (fare) tua nonna4 Mentre (io studiare) Maria

(riposare)5 Il treno (partire) sempre in

ritardo6 Dove (lavorare) Nicola7 Paolo non (dire) mai la veritagrave8 Ieri (fare) freddo9 Da bambini (noi abitare) in

campagna

10 (voi essere) stanchi ieri sera11 (loro andare) in piscina tutti i

giorni12 Lei (essere) infermiera Signora13 Non (noi uscire) mai di domenica14 (tu sapere) la veritagrave15 (io conoscere) bene suo cugino16 Paolo (amare) Francesca17 (voi dormire) ancora18 I miei amici (essere) studenti19 (tu avere) fame20 (loro dovere) partire

Unit 16 117

Exercise 3

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verbs inbrackets

Example Mentre (noi guardare) la televisione Isabella (ascoltare) laradio guardavamo ascoltava

1 Marco (arrivare) tardi percheacute il treno (essere) in ritardo2 (io conoscere) Susanna quando (io abitare) a Napoli3 Quanti anni (tu avere) quando (tu cominciare) a lavorare4 Sergio (telefonare) proprio mentre (io fare) il bagno5 Anna e Giacomo (venire) a piedi percheacute lrsquoauto (essere) guasta6 Non (loro fare) la spesa percheacute non (loro sapere) cosa comprare7 Cosa (loro dire) quando (loro vedere) Gianni ieri sera8 Massimo non (venire) alla festa percheacute (avere) mal di testa9 (noi arrivare) alla stazione proprio mentre il treno (partire)

10 (io imprestare) la bici a Giulia percheacute la sua (essere) rotta

Exercise 4

Put the text into a past tense changing the verbs in italics to either the presentperfect or the imperfect

Sabato sera in un locale del centro suona un gruppo rock che piace molto aMassimo cosigrave i miei amici e io decidiamo di andare a questo concerto Arrivi-amo davanti al locale con molto anticipo mancano tre ore allrsquoinizio ma cisono giagrave molte persone Massimo egrave molto impaziente Dopo una mezzrsquooramentre aspettiamo sentiamo suonare il cellulare di Massimo e lui rispondeVediamo che Massimo egrave preoccupato e quando finisce di parlare ci spiega Egravesuo padre che lo chiama percheacute ha bisogno di aiuto la sua auto egrave guasta e nonsa come tornare a casa Massimo parte subito per andare a prenderlo eaccompagnarlo a casa anche se ha paura di perdere il concerto Per fortunaperograve Massimo riesce a tornare dopo unrsquoora proprio mentre aprono le porte

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 How long did you [sing] spend in Bologna2 We went to the cinema last night3 You [pl] seemed happy

118 Unit 16

4 Gemmarsquos father was a sailor5 Claudia and Monica didnrsquot come on holiday with us this time6 My parents usually went out at eight7 My father worked in India for three years8 What time did you [pl] get the bus yesterday morning9 Last year we did gym on Monday mornings

10 Where did you [sing] buy those shoes11 I didnrsquot call you [sing] because you were asleep12 When you [pl] were living in London I was living in Paris13 How old was Susanna when she went to university14 While I was watching the television Anna came in and switched it off15 Paolo and Giulia didnrsquot come because Paolo was too tired

Unit 16 119

UNIT SEVENTEENThe pronouns ne and ci

The pronoun ne

1 The pronoun ne is used to refer to a part of a whole corresponding to lsquoof it-themrsquo as in lsquosome of itthemrsquo lsquotwo of themrsquo etc It is normally used togetherwith quantities whether expressed in numbers or in any other way (kiloslitres metres slices cups lsquotoo muchlittlersquo lsquoenoughrsquo etc) it is always placedbefore the verb

Note however that ne is not used in cases where English would say lsquoall of itrsquolsquoall of themrsquo etc Compare the following examples

La torta era molto buona e neho mangiate due fette

lsquoQuanti fratelli hairsquo lsquoNe ho duersquo

lsquoHa degli euro Signor WattrsquolsquoSigrave ne ho 50rsquo

lsquoHai tutti i CD di Frank ZapparsquolsquoNo ne ho solo trersquo

lsquoMangi la fruttarsquo lsquoSigrave ne mangiomoltarsquo

lsquoHai abbastanza soldirsquo lsquoSigrave ne hoabbastanzarsquo

Se crsquoegrave ancora del te ne prendounrsquoaltra tazza

Se compri le mele ne prendi unchilo anche per me

lsquoVolete ancora del cioccolatorsquolsquoNo grazie non ne vogliamopiugraversquo

The cake was very good and I ate twoslices (of it)

lsquoHow many brothers and sisters do youhaversquo lsquoI have two (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got any euros Mr WattrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got 50 (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got all Frank Zapparsquos CDsrsquolsquoNo Irsquove only got three (of them)rsquo

lsquoDo you eat fruitrsquo lsquoYes I eat a lot (ofit)rsquo

lsquoHave you got enough moneyrsquo lsquoYes Ihave enough (of it)rsquo

If therersquos still some tea Irsquoll haveanother cup (of it)

If yoursquore buying apples will you get akilo (of them) for me as well

lsquoDo you want some more chocolatersquolsquoNo thanks we donrsquot want anymore (of it)rsquo

2 The pronoun ne is invariable and can thus replace any noun whethermasculine feminine singular or plural

3 As we have seen ne is used when referring to partial quantities howeverexpressed Some expressions which require the use of ne are the adverbabbastanza (enoughquite) the adjectives molto poco troppo alcunialcune(someany (plural) ) and the pronoun qualcunoqualcuna (someany) which isalways singular

4 Ne is also used in negative expressions such as non affatto (not atall) non nessunonessuna (not anyone) non piugrave (not any more)

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliounorsquo

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoLi vogliotuttirsquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiate duersquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoLeho mangiate tuttersquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want one (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want them allall of themrsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atetwo (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atethem allall of themrsquo

lsquoQuanto zucchero [ms] comprirsquolsquoNe compro due chilirsquo

lsquoQuanta farina [fs] comprirsquo lsquoNecompro solo mezzo chilorsquo

lsquoQuanti amici [mp] invitirsquo lsquoNeinvito trersquo

lsquoQuante mele [fp] vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliotre chilirsquo

lsquoHow much sugar are you buyingrsquolsquoIrsquom getting two kilosrsquo

lsquoHow much flour are you going togetrsquo lsquoIrsquom only getting half a kilorsquo

lsquoHow many friends are you invitingrsquolsquoIrsquom inviting threersquo

lsquoHow many apples do you wantrsquo lsquoIwant three kilosrsquo

Non ho comprato del pane percheacute neho ancora abbastanza

lsquoHai molti CDrsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho moltirsquo

lsquoHai tutti i libri che ti servonorsquo lsquoNone ho solo alcunirsquo

Quei biscotti sono molto buoni neprendo ancora qualcuno

I didnrsquot buy any bread because Irsquovestill got enough

lsquoHave you got many CDsrsquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot a lotrsquo

lsquoHave you got all the books youneedrsquo lsquoNo Irsquove only got a fewrsquo

Those biscuits are very good Irsquoll havesome more

lsquoBevi molto caffegraversquo lsquoNo non ne bevoaffattorsquo

Ho invitato dieci amici ma non neegrave venuto nessuno

lsquoDo you drink much coffeersquo lsquoNo Idonrsquot drink it at allrsquo

I invited ten friends but none of themcame

Unit 17 121

As these examples show the negative is formed by putting non before ne

Agreement of the past participle

When ne is used with a verb in the present perfect (or any other compoundtense) there are certain rules governing the agreement of the pastparticiple

5 When ne is used in a sentence where the quantity is expressed by a numberthe past participle must agree in gender with the noun it replaces and innumber (ie singular or plural) with the quantity of what ne stands for Takethis question

In the answer to this question the ending of comprato will depend on thegender of rivista (feminine) and on whether you bought one magazine(singular) or more than one (plural)

The same applies when ne replaces a masculine noun

Here the ending of fatto must be masculine but whether it is singular orplural will depend on how many exercises have been done

The same rule applies when the quantity is expressed by qualcunoqualcuna(remember that this is always singular) or alcunialcune (plural)

lsquoHai ancora soldirsquo lsquoNo non ne hopiugraversquo

lsquoHave you still got moneyrsquo lsquoNo Irsquovegot none leftrsquo

Quante riviste hai comprato How many magazines did you buy

Ne ho comprata una [fs]Ne ho comprate due [fp]

I bought oneI bought two

Quanti esercizi [m] avete fatto How many exercises haveyou done

Ne abbiamo fatto uno solo [ms]Ne abbiamo fatti quattro [mp]

Wersquove only done oneWersquove done four

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatto solo qualcuno

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatti solo alcuni

I was supposed to do a lot of exercisesbut I only did a few

122 Unit 17

6 When the quantity is expressed by an adverb or an adjective the pastparticiple agrees with the noun replaced by ne

7 When the quantity is expressed by a noun the past participle canagree either with the quantity (this is more usual) or with the noun replacedby ne

8 When ne occurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive Insuch cases when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any other com-pound tense) the past participle does not agree

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprata qualcunarsquo

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprate alcunersquo

lsquoHow many magazines did you buyrsquolsquoI bought a fewrsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza pane [ms]rsquolsquoSigrave ne ho comprato abbastanzarsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza patatine[fp]rsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho comprate abbastanzarsquo

lsquoQuanta pasta [fs] avete mangiatorsquolsquoNe abbiamo mangiata moltarsquo

lsquoQuante persone [fp] hai invitatorsquolsquoNe ho invitate pochersquo

lsquoQuanti esercizi [mp] hai fattorsquolsquoNe ho fatti alcunirsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough breadrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough crispsrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHow much pasta did you eatrsquolsquoWe ate a lotrsquo

lsquoHow many people did you invitersquolsquoI only invited a fewrsquo

lsquoHow many exercises did you dorsquolsquoI did a fewrsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuta una tazza [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave [ms] hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuto una tazzarsquo

lsquoQuanto pane hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiata una fetta [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto pane [ms] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiato una fettarsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiato un pacchetto [ms]rsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle [fp] hai mangiatorsquolsquoNe ho mangiate un pacchettorsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe homangiata una scatola [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti [mp] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiati una scatolarsquo

lsquoHow much coffee did you drinkrsquolsquoI drank a cuprsquo

lsquoHow much bread did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a slicersquo

lsquoHow many sweets did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a packetrsquo

lsquoHow many biscuits did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a boxrsquo

Unit 17 123

However if ne is not attached to the infinitive the past participle must agreein the same way as in the rules given in paragraphs 5ndash7

9 Another use of ne is is to replace a noun (or a pronoun) preceded by thepreposition di (as in Parliamo del libro di Primo Levi lsquoWersquore talking aboutPrimo Levirsquos bookrsquo)

When ne is used in this way the past participle does not agreee

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoHo dovutoleggerne trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ho potutofarne solo alcuni

Il compito era difficile e ho saputofarne solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The homework was difficult and Icould only do part of it

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoNe ho dovutileggere trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ne hopotuti fare solo alcuni

Gli esercizi erano difficili e ne ho saputa fare solo una parte [fs]

Gli esercizi [mp] erano difficili e ne ho saputi fare solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The exercises were difficult and Icould only do part of them

Conosco questo film ieri neparlavano alla radio

Egrave un libro di successo tutti neparlano

Hai visto lo spettacolo Che nepensi

Ha molti problemi ma non neparla mai

I know this film they were talkingabout it on the radio yesterday

Itrsquos a popular book everybodyrsquostalking about it

Did you see the show What do youthink of it

He has a lot of problems but henever talks about them

Marco aveva dei problemi e ne haparlato con Anna

Questi sono libri di successo e tuttine hanno parlato

Marco had problems and talkedabout them with Anna

These are popular books andeverybodyrsquos been talking aboutthem

124 Unit 17

The pronoun ci

10 The pronoun ci is used to replace a noun denoting a place it correspondsto the English lsquotherersquo We have already seen this pronoun used with the verbessere in expressions like crsquoegrave and ci sono (Unit 4) but it can be used with otherverbs always preceding them

As the examples suggest ci is used more often in this kind of sentence thanlsquotherersquo is in English

11 Ci always comes before the verb Like the other unstressed pronounsthough it can be attached to the infinitive of a verb (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere)

Exercise 1

Supply the pronoun ne making sure that the past participle and the adjectiveor pronoun agree where necessary

Examples lsquoQuante lettere hai scrittorsquo lsquo mdashmdash ho scrittmdashmdash alcunmdashmdashrsquo Neho scritte alcune Mi piacciono i biscotti e mdashmdash homangiatmdashmdash moltmdashmdash ne ho mangiati molti lsquoQuanti libri hailettorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo Non ne ho lettonessuno

1 lsquoQuante cartoline hai mandatorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho mandatmdashmdash 12rsquo2 lsquoHai comprato i biscottirsquo lsquo Sigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashmdash una scatolarsquo

lsquoQuando vai in bibliotecarsquo lsquoCi vadooggi pomeriggiorsquo

Conosco bene Bologna ci ho passatodue anni

lsquoOgni quanto va in palestrarsquo lsquoNon civado mairsquo

lsquoWhen are you going to the libraryrsquolsquoIrsquom going (there) this afternoonrsquo

I know Bologna well I spent twoyears there

lsquoHow often do you go to the gymrsquo lsquoInever go (there)rsquo

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non sapevo andarci

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non ci sapevo andare

Vado al mercato vuoi venirci anche tu

Vado al mercato ci vuoi venire anche tu

I had to go to Fiesole but I didnrsquotknow how to get there

Irsquom going to the market would youlike to come (as well)

Unit 17 125

3 lsquoHai fatto i compitirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash la metagraversquo4 lsquoQuante persone sono venutersquo lsquomdashmdash sono venutmdashmdash pochmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoQuanti errori hai fattorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoHai chiuso tutte le finestrersquo lsquoNo mdashmdash ho lasciatmdashmdash una apertmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoQuanti amici hanno invitatorsquo lsquomdashmdash hanno invitatmdashmdash moltmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash duersquo9 lsquoQuanta pasta avete compratorsquo lsquomdashmdash abbiamo compratmdashmdash pocmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdashnessunmdashmdashrsquo

11 lsquoQuanti francobolli hai presorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho presmdashmdash abbastanzarsquo12 Avevo molte riviste e mdashmdash ho datmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash a Luigi13 Ci piacciono i film comici e ieri sera mdashmdash abbiamo vistmdashmdash tre14 Ho fatto una torta e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdash due fette15 La zia ha portato dei cioccolatini ma Piero non mdashmdash ha mangiatmdashmdash

nessunmdashmdash16 Abbiamo molti videogiochi e mdashmdash abbiamo datmdashmdash qualcunmdashmdash a

Michele17 Crsquoerano molti libri interessanti e mdashmdash ho presmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash18 Hanno venduto molti CD e mdashmdash sono rimastmdashmdash solo alcunmdashmdash molto

carmdashmdash19 Crsquoerano molte ragazze ma Marco non mdashmdash ha invitatmdashmdash nessunmdashmdash20 Ho comprato tre magliette e mdashmdash ho regalatmdashmdash due a mio fratello

Exercise 2

Complete with the appropriate pronouns direct object or ne

Examples lsquoQuanti amici hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho moltirsquo ne lsquoQuanti amici invitirsquolsquomdashmdash invito tuttirsquo li

1 lsquoHai fatto tutti gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash ho fatto nessunorsquo2 lsquoQuante sorelle hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho duersquo3 Avevo molti CD dei Beatles ma mdashmdash ho imprestati tutti4 lsquoHai fatto il compitorsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdashho ancora fattorsquo5 lsquoVuoi del dolcersquo lsquoNo grazie non mdashmdash vogliorsquo6 Stamattina ho comprato due riviste e mdashmdash ho lette nel pomeriggio7 lsquoHai fatto molti sbaglirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fatto uno solorsquo8 Il dolce era molto buono e mdashmdash ho mangiate tre fette9 Mi piacciono i film di Fellini e mdashmdash ho visti tutti

10 Ho comprato tre libri ma non mdashmdash ho letto nessuno11 Avevo due biglietti da 10 euro ma mdashmdash ho perso uno12 Ieri ho preso lo stipendio ma mdashmdashho giagrave speso tutto13 Se ci sono ancora dei biscotti mdashmdash prendo due o tre

126 Unit 17

14 Era un argomento interessante e mdashmdash abbiamo parlato molto15 Il film era noioso e mdashmdash abbiamo visto solo metagrave16 Carla parte mdashmdash accompagno alla stazione17 Lo zucchero egrave finito mdashmdash compri tu18 lsquoVuoi dello zucchero nel caffegraversquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash voglio due cucchiainirsquo19 Ho comprato tre brioches e mdashmdash ho mangiate due20 lsquoConoscete tutti i componenti del grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash conosciamo tuttirsquo

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as in the example

Example Ne vuoi prendere ancora Vuoi prenderne ancora

1 Ne dovete parlare col professore2 Ne vuoi fare un altro3 Non ne dobbiamo prendere4 Ne potete mangiare5 Ne devo fare sei6 Non ne possiamo parlare7 Ne posso assaggiare uno8 Non ne deve portare Signora9 Ne vogliono comprare qualcuno

10 Non ne possono bere

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences as in the example Make sure that the past participleagrees where necessary

Example Ha voluto portarne un porsquo [fs] Ne ha voluta portare un porsquo

1 Ho dovuto darne due [m] a Marisa2 Hai potuto comprarne [fp]3 Quante hai dovuto farne4 Non hanno voluto mangiarne [fs]5 Ha dovuto leggerne quattro [mp]6 Non abbiamo potuto prenderne [fp]7 Ho dovuto scriverne due [fp]8 Ho potuto leggerne solo due pagine9 Avete dovuto rifarne molti

10 Non hanno potuto assaggiarne [fs]

Unit 17 127

Exercise 5

Identify the words that can be replaced by the pronoun ci and rewrite thesentences with ci in the right place

Example Vai a Roma in aereo a Roma Ci vai in aereo

1 Abitiamo in questa casa da tre anni2 Stefano lavora al Museo di Storia Naturale da febbraio3 Volete venire alla festa di Marco4 Paola e Livia vanno al cinema due volte alla settimana5 La Signora Bini va sempre al supermercato a piedi6 Rimango in Italia per tre settimane7 Giulia viene sempre a scuola in bici8 Ho passato tre ore in coda allrsquoufficio postale9 Siete andati a cena a casa di Pietro

10 Passiamo le vacanze a Sorrento

128 Unit 17

UNIT EIGHTEENThe future tense

Use of the future

1 The future tense is of course used to refer to events which will happen inthe future as in the following examples

2 The future is also used to express probability or a guess

3 The future can also correspond to the English present progressive (lsquoIrsquomgoing to rsquo etc)

4 In general the future tense is used less in Italian than in English and it isoften possible when talking about something which we are almost sure willhappen to use the present

Venerdigrave andremo in piscinaNon so quando partirograveVerragrave anche lrsquoanno prossimo

Signora

On Friday wersquoll go to the swimming poolI donrsquot know when Irsquoll leaveWill you comebe coming again next

year( Madam)

Anna non risponde saragrave fuori

Saranno le 5La madre di Pietro avragrave 30 anniChi saragrave

Annarsquos not answering she mustshersquoll beout

Itrsquos probablyItrsquoll be about 5 orsquoclockPietrorsquos mother must be around 30Who can that be

Gli parlerograve prestoPorterograve i miei CDGli direte la veritagrave

Irsquom going to talkIrsquoll be talking to them soonIrsquom going to bringIrsquoll be bringing my CDsAre you going to tell him the truth

5 However in certain cases Italian uses the future where English uses thepresent Take this English sentence lsquoWhenIf I earnam earning good moneyIrsquoll buy a carrsquo Here lsquowhenrsquo and lsquoifrsquo actually refer to an action in the future incases like this Italian normally uses the future tense

The forms of the future indicative

6 The future endings for the three conjugations are as follows

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Partono domani

Viene anche lrsquoanno prossimoSignora

Lrsquoanno prossimo sono allrsquouniversitagrave

Theyrsquoll leaveTheyrsquore leavingtomorrow

Will you comebe coming again nextyear( Madam)

Next year Irsquoll be at university

Se guadagnerograve bene comprerograve unamacchina

Quando arriveragrave le mostreremo ilcentro commerciale

If I earnam earning good money Irsquollbuy a car

When she arrives wersquoll show her theshopping mall

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ere-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ire-irograve-irai-iragrave-iremo-irete-iranno

Parlareparlerograveparleraiparleragraveparleremoparlereteparleranno

To speakI will speakyou will speakhesheit will speakwe will speakyou will speakthey will speak

130 Unit 18

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

7 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the future inorder to keep the hard sound of c and g

Prendereprenderograveprenderai

To takegetI will takegetyou will takeget

prenderagraveprenderemoprendereteprenderanno

hesheit will takegetwe will takegetyou will takegetthey will takeget

Partirepartirogravepartiraipartiragravepartiremopartiretepartiranno

To leaveI will leaveyou will leavehesheit will leavewe will leaveyou will leavethey will leave

Dopo un mese in Italia parleraimeglio italiano

Prenderograve il treno delle 8Partiranno domani mattina presto

Domenica prossima finirograve dilavorare verso le 5

After a month in Italy yoursquoll speakItalian better

Irsquoll get the eight orsquoclock trainThey will leave early tomorrow

morningNext Sunday Irsquoll finish work at about

five

Cercarecercherogravecercheraicercheragravecercheremocercheretecercheranno

Pagarepagherogravepagheraipagheragravepagheremopagheretepagheranno

Quando arriveremo a Romacercheremo un albergo economico

Mio padre pagheragrave tutte le spese

When we arrive in Rome wersquoll lookfor a cheap hotel

My father will pay all the expenses

Unit 18 131

8 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the future

Future of some irregular verbs

9 Essere and avere are irregular

10 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

Cominciarecomincerogravecominceraicominceragrave

Mangiaremangerogravemangeraimangeragrave

cominceremocominceretecominceranno

mangeremomangeretemangeranno

Comincerograve a lavorare venerdigraveprossimo

Mangerai in mensa

Irsquoll start work(ing) next Friday

Will you eatbe eating in the canteen

Esseresarogravesaraisaragravesaremosaretesaranno

Avereavrograveavraiavragraveavremoavreteavranno

Se domenica saragrave bello lavoreremoin giardino

Se avrograve tempo ti aiuterograve

If the weather is good on Sunday wersquollwork in the garden

If Irsquove got time Irsquoll help you

Daredarogravedaraidaragravedaremodaretedaranno

Farefarogravefaraifaragravefaremofaretefaranno

Starestarogravestaraistaragravestaremostaretestaranno

132 Unit 18

11 Andare cadere (to fall) dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow thesame pattern as avere

Mia sorella daragrave una festa per ilsuo compleanno

Cosa farai dopo lrsquouniversitagrave

Domani starai meglio

My sister will giveis giving a party forher birthday

What will you doare you doing afteruniversity

Yoursquoll feel better tomorrow

Andareandrograveandraiandragraveandremoandreteandranno

Caderecadrogravecadraicadragravecadremocadretecadranno

Doveredovrogravedovraidovragravedovremodovretedovranno

Poterepotrogravepotraipotragravepotremopotretepotranno

Saperesaprogravesapraisapragravesapremosapretesapranno

Vederevedrogravevedraivedragravevedremovedretevedranno

Viverevivrogravevivraivivragravevivremovivretevivranno

Andremo alla festa solo se ciinviteranno

Il governo egrave impopolare e cadragravepresto

Credo che dovrograve partire prestoNon so se potrograve venire

Non sapremo mai la veritagraveQuando vedrai i tuoi amici

Wersquoll only go to the party if they inviteus

The government is unpopular and willsoon fall

I think Irsquoll have to leave earlyI donrsquot know whether Irsquoll be able to

comeWe will never know the truthWhen will youare you going to see

your friends

Unit 18 133

12 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere (to keephold) have the following pattern

13 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

14 As usual the negative is formed by putting non before the verb

-rrograve-rrai-rragrave

Bereberrograveberraiberragrave

Rimanererimarrograverimarrairimarragrave

Venireverrograveverraiverragrave

Volerevorrogravevorraivorragrave

Tenereterrograveterraiterragrave

-rremo-rrete-rranno

berremoberreteberranno

rimarremorimarreterimarranno

verremoverreteverranno

vorremovorretevorranno

terremoterreteterranno

Sono sicuro che mio fratello nonberragrave mai quella tisana

Quanto tempo rimarrete in ItaliaSignori Boi

Hanno detto che verranno a trovarci

Irsquom sure my brother will never drinkthat herbal tea

How long will youare you going tostay in Italy Mrs and Mr Boi

They said theyrsquoll come and see usNon so se vorrograve andare

allrsquouniversitagrave dopo il liceo

Dove terrai la bici

I donrsquot know whether Irsquoll want to goto university after secondaryschool

Where are you going to keep the bike

-urrograve-urrai-urragrave-urremo-urrete-urranno

Tradurretradurrogravetradurraitradurragravetradurremotradurretetradurranno

Carlo non parla tedesco ma uninterprete tradurragrave tutto per lui

Carlo doesnrsquot speak German but aninterpreter is going towill translateeverything for him

Non andrograve alla festaNon rimarremo moltoNon gli parlerograve mai piugrave

Irsquom not going to the partyWe wonrsquot stay longIrsquoll never speak to him again

134 Unit 18

Exercise 1

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io partire) tanto presto partirograve

Exercise 2

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io dovere) andare a scuola dovrograve

Exercise 3

Change the verbs in italics into the future

Domani mattina esco di casa presto devo prendere il treno per Firenze alle615 Arrivo a Firenze verso ora di pranzo e Lorenzo viene a prendermi alla

1 I miei amici (arrivare) domani2 Quando (voi parlare) con Maria3 (lui telefonare) domani4 Gli (tu dire) tutto5 Domani (io scrivere) ai nonni6 Domenica (io dormire) fino a

tardi7 (noi cominciare) a lavorare

domani8 Quando (tu finire) il compito9 Stasera (io prendere) lrsquoauto

10 Mi (tu chiamare)11 Dove (voi abitare)12 (loro portare) il dolce13 Cosa le (voi dire)14 Chi (tradurre) dal tedesco15 Domani (noi pagare) lrsquoaffitto16 (tu mangiare) con noi17 Mi (Lei scrivere) Signora18 Paul (cercare) casa a Torino19 Che treno (loro prendere)20 Chi (pagare)

1 (io andare) in vacanza2 (noi essere) contenti di vedervi3 Quanto tempo (tu rimanere) a

Roma4 (io venire) appena (io potere)5 (Lei dovere) partire Signora6 (lei venire) quando (lei volere)7 Domani non (noi avere) tempo8 Non so se (io potere) uscire9 Quando (tu vedere) Anna

10 (voi fare) una festa

11 Non (loro stare) a casa mia12 Non lo (lui sapere) mai13 Gli (tu fare) un regalo14 (voi essere) a casa tutto il giorno15 (voi dovere) lavorare domani16 Non (io andare) piugrave in quel bar17 Quando (tu sapere) il risultato18 Quando (tu venire) Maria19 Cosa (voi fare) domenica20 (loro tenere) il cane in giardino

Unit 18 135

stazione Prima andiamo a casa sua dove lascio i bagagli e poi andiamoinsieme a pranzo da Ernestina Nel pomeriggio vediamo Carlo che ci porta avedere la sua nuova casa Torniamo a casa di Lorenzo abbastanza prestopercheacute vengono degli amici a cena e dobbiamo preparare Dopo cena usciamoma anche se facciamo tardi non egrave un problema percheacute possiamo dormire lamattina dopo

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Who will be able to help me2 Next summer wersquoll do an Italian course3 Will you [sing] read all these books4 I wonrsquot go to the library tomorrow5 When will you arrive Signora Pasini6 On Sunday theyrsquoll go out7 What will you [sing] do8 Itrsquoll be about ten orsquoclock9 Will you [sing] bring your CDs for the party

10 Wonrsquot you [pl] come to the cinema with us

136 Unit 18

UNIT NINETEENThe past perfect tense

Use of the past perfect

1 The past perfect (or pluperfect) normally indicates a past event whichhappened before another past event as in the English lsquoI had finished shower-ing when I heard the doorbellrsquo lsquoBy the time it finished I had had enoughrsquo It isthus normally used in sentences where there is another past tense or someother reference to a past event

It is also often used on its own where a more recent event is referred to orimplied in the context

2 Sometimes when the past perfect is used on its own the event nearer to thepresent is purely implicit

Quando sono arrivato [presentperfect] avevano appena finito[past perfect] di cenare

Quel giorno ero [imperfect] moltocontenta percheacute avevo passato[past perfect] lrsquoesame

Prima di imprestare [infinitive]lrsquoauto a Marco avevo fatto[past perfect] il pieno

When I arrived they had just finisheddinner

That day I was very happy because Irsquodpassed the exam

Before lending the car to Marco Irsquodfilled up

Avevo fatto quella torta per te nonper Paolo

Tullio aveva portato i CD

Francesca era uscita

I made that tart for you not for Paolo[eg thatrsquos why Irsquom so annoyed thatPaolorsquos eaten it]

Tullio had brought the CDs [eg theones I told you we were listening to]

Francesca had gone out [eg which iswhy I didnrsquot see her last night]

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto ma prima) non ti avevo visto [ieIrsquove seen you now but I hadnrsquot before]

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito) [ie Ihadnrsquot heard you before but I have now]

Forming the past perfect

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

4 As regards agreement of the past participle the past perfect obeys exactlythe same rules as the present perfect if the auxiliary is avere the past parti-ciple does not change but if it is essere the past participle behaves like anadjective agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb as inthese examples

Scusa non ti avevo visto Egrave moltoche aspetti

Sorry I didnrsquot see you Have you beenwaiting long

Scusa non ti avevo sentito Sorry I didnrsquot hear you

Imperfect of avere(io) avevo(tu) avevi(luilei) aveva(noi) avevamo(voi) avevate(loro) avevano

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I had writtenyou had writtenhesheit had writtenwe had writtenyou had writtenthey had written

Imperfect of essere(io) ero(tu) eri(luilei) era(noi) eravamo(voi) eravate(loro) erano

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I had goneyou had gonehesheit had gonewe had goneyou had gonethey had gone

AvereLivia aveva guardato la televisioneAvevi comprato il paneAveva prenotato Signor Ferro

Livia had watched televisionHad you bought the breadHad you booked Mr Ferro

138 Unit 19

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Past perfect of avere and essere

5 Avere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary essere

EssereMonica era uscita [fs]Pietro era stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia erano rimaste a casa

[fp]Giulia e Sebastiano erano partiti

[mp]Ero andata al cinema [fs]

Eravamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando eraarrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando eraarrivata [fs]

Monica had gone outPietro had been illFabia and Silvia had stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano had left

I had beengone to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We had arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When had you arrived Mr Poli

When had you arrived Mrs Poli

avevo avutoavevi avutoaveva avutoavevamo avutoavevate avutoavevano avuto

I had hadyou had hadhesheit had hadwe had hadyou had hadthey had had

ero statostataeri statostataera statostataeravamo statistateeravate statistateerano statistate

I had beenyou had beenhesheit had beenwe had beenyou had beenthey had been

Non aveva avuto tempo di finire illavoro

Tanya aveva avuto la varicella

He hadnrsquot had time to finish the job

Tanya had had chickenpox

Unit 19 139

Negative form

6 The negative is formed in the same way as for the present perfect byplacing non before the verb

7 As with the present perfect the adverbs mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) andgiagrave (already) are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (egAvevo giagrave risposto lsquoIrsquod already repliedrsquo) With the negatives non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) non is placed before the auxiliary

Exercise 1

Supply the past perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Dove (tu comprare) quelle scarpe avevi comprato

Nina era stata malataDes era stato mio studente

Nina had been illDes had been a student of mine

Non ero andato a scuolaLisa non era riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon avevi telefonato la settimana

prima

I hadnrsquot beengone to schoolLisa hadnrsquot managed to finish that job

Had you not phoned the previousweek

Eravate mai stati su un ghiacciaioAvevi piugrave visto i tuoi amici

Non avevamo ancora preso ilbiglietto

Paola non era mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non aveva piugrave telefonato

Had you ever been on a glacierHad you (ever) seen your friends

againWe hadnrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola had never been to VeniceCarlo hadnrsquot (ever) phoned again

1 Maria (finire) di cenare2 Anna (arrivare) il giorno prima3 Scusi Signora non La (io vedere)4 (tu spegnere) la luce5 (voi prendere) il giornale6 Prima di lavorare in Italia Jim

(lavorare) in Francia

7 Hai perso la lettera che ti(scrivere) Antonio

8 Alessandro non (preparare)lrsquoesame

9 Non (tu riuscire) a finire il lavoro10 Gli (noi chiedere) dei CD11 Caterina (stare) male

140 Unit 19

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct tense of the verb inbrackets (present perfect imperfect or past perfect)

Example Carlo (raccontare) che (lui passare) lrsquoesame ma non (essere)vero Carlo ha raccontato che aveva passato lrsquoesame ma nonera vero

1 Quando (io arrivare) i miei amici (uscire) da poco2 Silvia non (conoscere) la persona che le (telefonare)3 (tu fare) un dolce Ma ti (io dire) che sono a dieta4 Ernestina (essere) stanca percheacute (camminare) molto5 Carlo non (venire) con noi percheacute (dovere) fare un lavoro che gli (loro

dare) la sera prima6 Silvio (essere) molto contento percheacute (vincere) la gara di sci7 Carla (portare) sempre la maglia che le (regalare) suo fratello8 (io comprare) i libri che mi (voi consigliare)9 Mauro (spendere) tutti i soldi che (lui guadagnare)

10 Francesca (invitare) tutti gli amici che (andare) in vacanza con lei lrsquoannoprima

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 Paola still hadnrsquot been to Scotland2 Irsquod finished the job but I was very tired3 The girls had never gone into that church4 Arianna finished the tart her grandmother had made5 lsquoWhat had you [sing] said to Fabiorsquo lsquoI hadnrsquot said anything to himrsquo6 Maria had had to stay at home7 How much had your [pl] car cost

12 (io mangiare) un panino maavevo ancora fame

13 Ti (piacere) la partita14 Cecilia (andare) in vacanza15 Le mie amiche (uscire)16 Non (io capire) nulla

17 Il treno (partire) in orario18 Sergio (rimanere) in ufficio19 Paolo non (volere) lavorare con

noi20 Gina (essere) contenta di vedermi

Unit 19 141

8 Theyrsquod bought the ticket the previous day9 I hadnrsquot got the bike any longer because Irsquod given it to Anna

10 She was born in Russia but shersquod been living in Italy for many yearswhen I met her

142 Unit 19

UNIT TWENTYReflexive pronouns

1 Reflexive pronouns correspond to lsquomyselfrsquo lsquoyourselfrsquo etc in phrases likelsquoyou flatter yourselfrsquo lsquothe catrsquos licking itselfrsquo lsquothe recorderrsquos switched itselfoffrsquo In such cases the subject and the object of the verb are the same personor thing

These examples show how the reflexive pronouns are the direct objects ofthe verbs lavare guardare and vestire and denote the same person as thesubject

There are very many verbs which can be used in the reflexive form in Italianand which do not correspond to English reflexive verbs Here is a list of someof the most common ones

Ti guardi sempre allo specchio

Mi lavoAnna si veste per la festa

You always look at yourself in themirror

I get washed [lit I wash myself]Annarsquos getting dressed for the party

[lit Annarsquos dressing herself]

addormentarsialzarsiannoiarsidimenticarsilavarsioffendersiricordarsiriposarsisbagliarsiscusarsisedersisentirsisvegliarsivestirsi

to fall asleep [lit to send oneself to sleep]to get up [lit to raise oneself]to getbe bored [lit to bore oneself]to forget [lit to forget oneself]to get washed [lit to wash oneself]to take offence [lit to offend oneself]to remember [lit to recall oneself]to rest [lit to rest oneself]to be wrongmistaken [lit to mistake oneself]to apologise [lit to excuse oneself]to sit down [lit to seat oneself]to feel (well ill etc) [lit to feel oneself]to wake up [lit to waken oneself]to get dressed [lit to dress oneself]

2 The forms of the reflexive pronouns are as follows

Note that the third person singular and plural pronoun si is the same formasculine and feminine

As can be seen from the examples reflexive pronouns are always placedbefore the verb

3 The negative is formed as usual by placing non before the pronoun

4 For the formal form the pronoun si (third person singular and plural) isused In the plural however the pronoun vi is most frequently used

5 The plural forms of the reflexive pronouns (ci vi si) are also used asreciprocal pronouns corresponding to the English lsquoeach otherrsquo

6 Reflexive pronouns can also be used in contemporary spoken Italian asindirect objects One such use is to stress that the action expressed by the verb

mitisicivisi

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

A che ora ti alzi la mattina

Paolo si sveglia sempre tardiMaria si annoiaI tuoi amici si sbagliano il

concerto non egrave staseraLe mie amiche si divertono

What time do you get up in themorning

Paolo always wakes up lateMaria is boredYour friends are wrong the concert is

not tonightMy friends are enjoying themselves

Lorenzo non si annoia maiNon ti diverti

Lorenzo never getsis never boredArenrsquot you enjoying yourself

Come si sente SignoraVi divertite Signori Rasi (Si divertono Signori Rasi)

How are you feeling MadamAre you enjoying yourselves( Mr and

Mrs Rasi)

Paolo e io non ci sopportiamoPercheacute vi guardateAlfredo e Pia non si parlano piugrave

Paolo and I canrsquot stand each otherWhy are you looking at each otherAlfredo and Pia donrsquot talk to each

other any more

144 Unit 20

is to the advantage of the subject (cf English lsquoIrsquom making myself a coffeersquo [iea coffee for myself] lsquoTheyrsquore going to have themselves some funrsquo [ie somefun for themselves])

7 Another common use of the Italian reflexive pronoun occurs in cases likethe following where English would use a possessive adjective (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquoetc) rather than a reflexive pronoun

8 When reflexive or reciprocal pronouns occur with a verb in the presentperfect (or any other compound tense) the auxiliary is always essere (even ifthe verb itself would form the past tenses with avere) and the past participlealways agrees with the subject

9 The reflexive pronouns like all unstressed pronouns can be attached tothe infinitive of a verb (mainly after dovere potere volere or sapere) Inthese sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any othercompound tense) the auxiliary is avere and the past participle does notagree

Mi mangio un paninoPercheacute non ci facciamo una partita

a cartePaolo si mangia sempre tutti i

biscotti

Irsquom going to eat a sandwichWhy donrsquot we have a game of cards

Paolo always eats all the biscuits

Mi lavo le maniTi metti il cappottoAnna si lava i capelli tutti i giorni

I wash my handsAre you going to put your coat onAnna washes her hair every day

Paolo si egrave svegliato tardiMaria si egrave annoiataVittorio a che ora ti sei alzatoPaolo e Francesca si sono sposati

Claudio e Anna si sono lavati lemani

Sabina si egrave mangiata un paninoSi sono fatti un caffegrave

Paolo woke up lateMaria got boredVittorio what time did you get upPaolo and Francesca have got

marriedClaudio and Anna washed their

handsSabina ate a sandwichThey made (themselves) a coffee

Devo alzarmi prestoMio fratello non vuole lavarsiPaolo e Francesca hanno voluto

sposarsiNon abbiamo potuto lavarci

Irsquove got to get up earlyMy brother doesnrsquot want to washPaolo and Francesca wanted to get

marriedWe couldnrsquot wash

Unit 20 145

However when the reflexive pronoun is not attached to the infinitive theauxiliary verb must be essere and the past participle does agree

Stressed forms

10 The reflexive pronouns also have stressed forms which are used like thestressed forms of other pronouns for emphasis and after a preposition Theseforms are often reinforced by the adjective stesso

Note that se does not have an accent when it is used with stesso

Exercise 1

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash alzi ti

Paolo e Francesca si sono volutisposare

Non ci siamo potuti lavareVi siete dovuti fermare per la notte

Paolo and Francesca wanted to getmarried

We couldnrsquot washDid you have to stop for the night

me or me stessostessate or te stessostessaseacute or se stessostessanoi or noi stessistessevoi or voi stessistesseseacute or se stessistesse

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Franca ama solo seacutese stessaPensi solo a tete stessoQuei due sono davvero noiosi

parlano solo di segravese stessi

Franca only loves herselfYou only think of yourselfThose two are really boring they only

talk about themselves

1 Quando mdashmdashmdash sposano2 Dove mdashmdashmdash siedo3 Nina non mdashmdashmdash veste mai di

rosso4 Come mdashmdashmdash sentite5 Nina e Bart mdashmdashmdash amano6 Dove mdashmdashmdash incontriamo

7 mdashmdashmdash lavo le mani8 Marina mdashmdashmdash guarda allo

specchio9 Silvano non mdashmdashmdash annoia mai

10 Carlo e Luca non mdashmdashmdashconoscono

11 Come mdashmdashmdash vestite

146 Unit 20

Exercise 2

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash sono alzati si

Exercise 3

Put the verbs into the present perfect

Example (tu [f] alzarsi) tardi ti sei alzata

12 Non mdashmdashmdash diverti13 mdashmdashmdash prendiamo un gelato14 Signora mdashmdashmdash sente bene15 Non mdashmdashmdash ricordate di me16 Livia e Sara mdashmdashmdash riposano

17 Paolo mdashmdashmdash sbaglia18 Come mdashmdashmdash chiami19 mdashmdashmdash scrivete spesso20 mdashmdashmdash offendono facilmente

1 Paolo mdashmdashmdash egrave offeso2 Anna mdashmdashmdash egrave arrabbiata3 Dove mdashmdashmdash siete conosciuti4 mdashmdashmdash sono alzati tardi5 Non mdashmdashmdash sei scusato con loro6 mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti subito7 Carla non mdashmdashmdash egrave messa il

cappotto8 Il bambino mdashmdashmdash egrave

addormentato9 Silvana e io mdashmdashmdash siamo viste

ieri

10 mdashmdashmdash sono mangiato un panino11 mdashmdashmdash siete vestiti molto bene12 Non mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti13 Daniela e Pino mdashmdashmdash odiano14 Quanta acqua mdashmdashmdash sei bevuto15 mdashmdashmdash sono tagliata un dito16 Percheacute mdashmdashmdash sei messo il golf 17 mdashmdashmdash facciamo una passeggiata18 Sergio non mdashmdashmdash egrave ancora

svegliato19 mdashmdashmdash sono sentita male20 mdashmdashmdash siete annoiati alla festa

1 Antonio e Lia (sposarsi)2 (tu [m] sbagliarsi)3 (voi [f] ricordare) il suo

compleanno4 Claudia (farsi) male5 (loro [m] incontrarsi) allo stadio6 (tu [m] perdersi)7 Signora non (divertirsi)8 (noi [m] bersi) un litro di acqua9 Non (io [m] annoiarsi)

10 (noi [f] alzarsi) presto

11 Non (tu [m] lavarsi) le mani12 (io [f] tagliarsi) i capelli13 Il treno (fermarsi)14 I miei zii (separarsi)15 Vittorio non (lamentarsi)16 Il professore (riposarsi)17 La professoressa (stancarsi)18 Non (tu [f] arrabbiarsi)19 (voi [m] offendersi)20 (loro [m] dimenticarsi) di noi

Unit 20 147

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences moving the pronoun and changing the auxiliary

Example Abbiamo dovuto alzarci [m] Ci siamo dovuti alzare

1 Non ho potuto lavarmi [f]2 Sandra e Roberto hanno voluto sposarsi3 Abbiamo dovuto scusarci [m]4 Luigi ha dovuto alzarsi alle sei5 Gianni non ha voluto mettersi il berretto6 Hai potuto curarti [m]7 Avete potuto riposarvi [m]8 Ho dovuto fermarmi [f]9 Percheacute hai voluto tingerti i capelli [m]

10 Non abbiamo potuto spiegarci [m]

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian using reflexivereciprocal pronouns

1 Are you [pl] enjoying yourselves2 Have you [f] washed your hands3 How are you feeling Madam4 You [pl] are wrong5 Where did you [fp] meet6 Why donrsquot you [sing] sit down7 Paolo always talks about himself8 Franca washed her hair9 Carlo apologised

10 I [f] got dressed

148 Unit 20

UNIT TWENTY-ONEThe imperative

1 The imperative is used in Italian as in English to express orders com-mands or strong requests

As well as orders and requests the imperative can also be used to expresswishes invitations encouragement and advice

Forms of the imperative

2 Regular verbs in -are -ere and -ire are conjugated as follows

GuardaEntrateChiedi a tuo padreVenga domani SignoraAndiamoDammi il libro

LookCome inAsk your fatherCome tomorrow MadamLetrsquos goGive me the book

Passa delle buone vacanzeTi ascolto dimmi tuttoNon ti preoccupareHai lrsquoaria stanca vai a letto

Have a good holidayIrsquom listening to you tell me everythingDonrsquot worryYou look tired go to bed

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Parlareparlaparliparliamoparlateparlino

To speakspeakspeaklet us speakspeakspeak

Some verbs ending in -ire add -isc- as in the present indicative (see Unit 5)

In the first person plural the meaning is more that of a suggestion than anorder made to a group of which we are part (cf the English lsquoLetrsquos have acoffeersquo) The third person singular and plural are only used for the politeform

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare keep the hard sound of c and g by addingh before the endings of the third person singular (Lei) and the first and thirdpersons plural (noi and Loro)

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Prendereprendiprendaprendiamoprendeteprendano

To takegettakegettakegetlet us takegettakegettakeget

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Partirepartipartapartiamopartitepartano

To leaveleaveleavelet us leaveleaveleave

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Finirefiniscifiniscafiniamofinitefiniscano

To finishfinishfinishlet us finishfinishfinish

Parlate con i vostri insegnantiPrendi un analgesicoPartiamo subitoFinisci il compitoPrenda la prima (strada) a destra

Speak to your teachersTake a painkillerLetrsquos leave immediatelyFinish your homeworkTake the first (street) on the right

Cercarecercacerchicerchiamocercatecerchino

Pagarepagapaghipaghiamopagatepaghino

150 Unit 21

4 Verbs ending in -iare have only one -i in the second person singular and thefirst and third persons plural

Forms of some irregular verbs

5 Essere and avere are irregular in the imperative

6 There are other verbs with irregular imperatives Here are some of the mostcommon

Cerchiamo casa in questa zonaPaghi il conto per favore Signora

Letrsquos look for a flat in this areaPay the bill please( Madam)

Cominciarecominciacomincicominciamocominciatecomincino

Mangiaremangiamangimangiamomangiatemangino

Cominci a lavorare SignoraMuoio di fame mangiamo qualcosa

Start working( Madam)Irsquom starving letrsquos eat something

Esseresiisiasiamosiatesiano

Avereabbiabbiaabbiamoabbiateabbiano

Siate gentiliAbbi pazienzaSia pronta per le 10 Signora

Be kindBe patient [lit have patience]Be ready by 10( Madam)

Daredaidarsquodiadiamodatediano

Diredirsquodicadiciamoditedicano

Farefaifarsquofacciafacciamofatefacciano

Unit 21 151

The second person singular of these verbs has two forms the form with theapostrophe is normally used with unstressed pronouns (see paragraph 10)

7 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Formal form

8 We have already seen the forms used for the polite form Care must betaken not to confuse imperative and present polite and familiar formsCompare

Starestaistarsquostiastiamostatestiano

Saperesappisappiasappiamosappiatesappiano

Andarevaivarsquovadaandiamoandatevadano

Uscireesciescausciamousciteescano

Venirevienivengaveniamovenitevengano

Berebevibevabeviamobevetebevano

State attentiFaifarsquo il compitoVieni subito quiVenga avanti SignoraSappi che io non sono drsquoaccordo

Dirsquo la veritagrave

Pay attention [lit be attentive]Do your homeworkCome here at onceCome forward( Madam)I want you to know that I donrsquot agree

[lit know that I donrsquot agree]Tell the truth

-uci-uca-uciamo-ucete-ucano

Tradurretraducitraducatraduciamotraducetetraducano

Traduciamo insieme queste frasi

Traduca per favore

Letrsquos translate these sentencestogether

Translate please

152 Unit 21

In the plural as usual the second person is more commonly used than thethird

Negative form

9 For the second person singular the negative is formed with the infinitive ofthe verb preceded by non For the other persons the usual rule applies andnon precedes the form of the imperative As an example here is the negativeconjugation of parlare

familiarformal

(tu)(Lei)

Imperativeparlaparli

Presentparliparla

familiarformalfamiliarformal

(tu)(Lei)(tu)(Lei)

leggileggaescifinisciescafinisca

leggileggeescifinisciescefinisce

Parla col direttore [familiarimperative]

Parli col direttore Signora [formalimperative]

Parli col direttore [familiarpresent]

Parla col direttore Signora [formalpresent]

Speak to the manager

Speak to the manager( Madam)

Are you speaking to the manager

Are you speaking to the manager(Madam)

Parlate col controllore (Parlino col controllore)Abbiate pazienza Signori (Abbiano pazienza Signori)

Speak to the conductor

Be patient (ladies and) gentlemen

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

non parlarenon parlinon parliamonon parlatenon parlino

Non essere scorteseNon dite bugieNon avere fretta

Donrsquot be rudeDonrsquot tell liesDonrsquot rush

Unit 21 153

Position of unstressed pronouns

10 When the imperative is used in an affirmative sentence with an unstressedpronoun (direct object indirect object reflexive ne ci) the pronoun is alwaysattached to the verb if it is in a second person form (tu or voi) or the firstperson plural form (noi)

Note that when an unstressed pronoun is used with the forms darsquo farsquo dirsquo starsquoand varsquo (see paragraph 6) the first consonant of the pronoun (except gli) isdoubled

In negative sentences there is an extra option the pronoun can be placedbefore the verb (and after non)

11 In the polite form (third person singular and plural Lei and Loro) thepronouns are always placed before the verb

Quel libro egrave per te prendiloChiediamole aiutoSe hai dei problemi parlane

Alzatevi ragazziTelefonagli (or Telefona loro ndash see

Unit 10 paragraph 2)

That book is for you take itLetrsquos ask her for helpIf you are having problems talk about

themGet up boysPhone them

Se sai la veritagrave dillaDammi la pennaDanne un porsquo a tuo fratelloFammi un piacereVallo a comprareVacci subitoDille la veritagraveDigli la veritagrave

If you know the truth tell itGive me the penGive some to your brotherDo me a favourGo and buy itGo there at onceTell her the truthTell him the truth

Non lo prendere or Non prenderloNon le chiediamo aiuto or Non

chiediamole aiutoNon ne parlare or Non parlarneNon vi alzate or Non alzatevi

Donrsquot take itLetrsquos not ask her for help

Donrsquot talk about itDonrsquot get up

Quel libro egrave per Lei lo prendaLe scriva una mailNe parlino al controlloreSi alzi Signora

That book is for you take itWrite her an emailSpeak to the conductor about itGet up( Madam)

154 Unit 21

Exercise 1

Supply the imperative of the verb in brackets

Example (tu pagare) il conto paga

Exercise 2

Supply the polite form for these sentences

Example Paga il conto paghi

Exercise 3

Change the imperatives into the negative

Examples Dormi Non dormire Alzati Non alzarti or Non ti alzare

1 (tu comprare) il pane2 (noi uscire) subito3 (Lei stare) tranquilla Signora4 (tu mettere) in ordine5 (voi essere) gentili6 (Lei venire) Professore7 (tu dare) una mano a tuo fratello8 (tu finire) i compiti9 (comprare) questa borsa Signora

10 (noi fare) una pausa

11 (tu avere) fiducia in lei12 (Lei parlare) piugrave forte Signora13 (tu andare) fuori14 (tu dire) tutto quello che sai15 (Lei fare) attenzione Signora16 (voi scrivere) le cartoline17 (tu fare) attenzione18 (Loro entrare) Signori19 (voi aprire) le finestre20 (tu rispondere) al telefono

1 Chiudi la porta per favore2 Vai al terzo piano3 Sorridi4 Dirsquo tutto5 Fai presto

6 Sii paziente7 Traduci per favore8 Accendi la luce9 Stai fermo

10 Entra

1 Partite subito2 Rispondi alla sua domanda3 Andate in discoteca4 Scenda Signora5 Usciamo6 Finisci i biscotti7 Ascolta

8 Prenda quella strada9 Telefona a Giuseppe

10 Dirsquo quello che pensi11 Tagliati i capelli12 Dalle il libro13 Parlagli14 Scrivetemi

Unit 21 155

Exercise 4

Change the imperatives into the affirmative

Examples Non parlate Parlate Non mi guardare Guardami

Exercise 5

Change the verb into the imperative and replace the words in italics with theappropriate pronoun

Example Devi dire la veritagrave Dilla

15 Dillo16 Invitali17 Prendilo

18 Mettiti il berretto19 Portatele dei fiori20 Fallo

1 Non andare in piscina2 Non prendete lrsquoautobus3 Non invitare Giacomo4 Non guardiamo quel film5 Non cominciare6 Non faccia la spesa al mercato7 Non mettano lrsquoauto in garage8 Non fare cosigrave9 Non andare al parco

10 Non stare sul balcone

11 Non mandarmi una cartolina12 Non fatelo13 Non darmi i tuoi libri14 Non mi rispondere15 Non ci andare16 Non lo mangiate17 Non lo leggete18 Non ci aspetti Professore19 Non dirgli il tuo nome20 Non darle il tuo indirizzo

1 Dovete parlare a Laura2 Devi prendere i libri3 Signora deve firmare il foglio4 Dovete parlare del problema5 Dobbiamo andare al

supermercato6 Devi fare gli esercizi7 Dovete restare a scuola8 Dobbiamo chiedere il permesso9 Devi correggere gli sbagli

10 Dovete prendere il treno

11 Signori devono aspettare il tram12 Devi mandare gli auguri13 Dovete comprare la frutta14 Signor Rossi deve portare una

foto15 Dovete aiutare i vostri amici16 Devi rendere il libro17 Dobbiamo chiedere a Lina18 Devi telefonare ai nonni19 Devi bere del caffegrave20 Dovete studiare filosofia

156 Unit 21

UNIT TWENTY-TWOThe pronoun si

The pronoun si is used as an impersonal subject either in sentences without aspecified subject or in sentences with a passive meaning In both it is alwaysput before the verb

Si in sentences where the subject is not specified

1 Si is used as an impersonal subject in sentences where the subject is notspecified It corresponds to the English lsquoonersquo or lsquoyoursquo (as in lsquoOne neverknowsYou never know whatrsquos just round the cornerrsquo) or lsquotheyrsquo meaning anumber of unspecified people (as in lsquoThey eat kangaroo in Australiarsquo)When si is used in this way the verb is always in the third personsingular

As the examples suggest si is often used for rules or general advice

2 With verbs like essere diventare sembrare etc followed by a noun or anadjective si requires the noun to be plural (even though the verb is alwayssingular) and the adjective to be masculine plural

Si esce da questa portalsquoSono stato al marersquo lsquoSi vede sei

abbronzatorsquoSi paga alla cassaCrsquoegrave stato un incidente e non si

passaAllrsquoostello della gioventugrave si spende

menoPer andare al museo si passa da

piazza Garibaldi

You go out by this doorlsquoIrsquove been at the seasidersquo lsquoIt shows [lit

one sees] yoursquove got a tanrsquoYou payOne pays at the tillTherersquos been an accident and you canrsquot

get throughYou spend less in a youth hostel

To get to the museum you go throughpiazza Garibaldi

Si in sentences with a passive meaning

3 Si is also used as an impersonal subject in sentences which have a passivemeaning like this one lsquoIn Nuova Zelanda si parla inglesersquo The correspond-ing sentence in English would have either a passive verb (lsquoEnglish is spoken inNew Zealandrsquo) or an impersonal one (lsquoOne speaksThey speak English inNew Zealandrsquo)

In this type of sentence the verb can be in either the third person singularor the third person plural The singular is used if the noun that accompaniesthe verb is singular

The plural is used when the noun that accompanies the verb is plural

Quando si egrave studenti si egrave poveriSe si mangia troppo si diventa

grassiQuando si egrave malati si rimane a

casaQuando si egrave giovani si egrave ottimistiSe si veste in nero si sembra magri

When one is a student one is poorIf you eat too much you get fat

When you are ill you stay at home

When one is young one is an optimistIf you dress in black you look slim

Il biglietto [sing] si prendeallrsquoingresso

Il sale [sing] si compra intabaccheria

Al mercato si vende la frutta [sing]migliore

Si deve lavare lrsquoinsalata [sing]prima di mangiarla

In biblioteca si puograve leggere ilgiornale [sing]

The ticket is obtainedYou get yourticket at the door

Salt is boughtYou buy salt at thetobacconistrsquos

The best fruit is sold at the market

Lettuce should be washed before youeat itYou should wash lettucebefore eating it

In the library you can read the paperThe paper can be read in the library

Anche le cartoline [pl] si compranoin tabaccheria

I lamponi [pl] si mangiano inestate

In vacanza si fanno molte fotografie[pl]

Si devono comprare i biglietti [pl]in anticipo

In quel Cine Club si possono vederemolti film [pl]

Postcards are also boughtYou alsobuy postcards at the tobacconistrsquos

Raspberries are eaten in summer

A lot of pictures are taken on holidayOn holiday you take a lot ofpictures

Tickets should be purchased inadvance

A lot of films can be seenYou can seea lot of films at that cine club

158 Unit 22

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

Si used with the auxiliary essere

5 When si occurs with a verb in the present perfect (or any compound tense)the auxiliary is essere the past participle must therefore agree with the subjectof the passive verb

The same applies when si is not used in a passive function but purely as animpersonal subject (lsquoonersquo lsquoyoursquo lsquotheyrsquo etc)

Si used with reflexive verbs

6 When si is used with a reflexive verb the reflexive or reciprocal pronoun isci not si the resulting form is thus ci si

Non si fuma in aereo

Non si devono aprire le finestre

Therersquos no smoking [lit one does notsmoke] in planes

The windows mustnrsquot be openedOnemustnrsquot open the windows

Su questo argomento si sono scrittimolti libri

In Piemonte si egrave sempre prodottodel buon vino

In questa scuola si sono semprecominciate le lezioni alle 8

Quando si egrave finita lrsquouniversitagrave sicerca lavoro

Many books have been written on thissubject

In Piedmont good wine has alwaysbeen producedthey have alwaysproduced good wine

In this school lessons have always(been) started at eight orsquoclock

When university has been finishedWhen you have finished universityyou look for a job

Quando non si egrave riusciti a risolvereun problema non si egrave soddisfatti

Dopo che si egrave stati malati si egravesempre deboli

When one hasnrsquot managed to solve aproblem one is dissatisfied

Yoursquore always weak when yoursquove beenill

A volte in vacanza ci si annoiaSe in vacanza ci si egrave annoiati si egrave

contenti di tornare a scuola

Sometimes you get bored on holidayIf yoursquove been bored in the holidays

yoursquore glad to go back to school

Unit 22 159

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb

Examples Dal balcone si (vedere) le montagne vedono A Natale si(mangiare) il panettone mangia

1 Si (fare) attenzione quando si (attraversare) la strada2 In Svizzera si (parlare) tre lingue3 Di domenica non si (lavorare)4 Negli uffici pubblici non si (fumare)5 Si (dovere) aiutare gli anziani6 In quella discoteca non si (entrare) con le scarpe da ginnastica7 Certi segreti non si (potere) mantenere8 Per entrare nel centro della cittagrave si (pagare) un pedaggio9 In quel bosco si (trovare) molti funghi

10 Al mercato si (comprare) la verdura piugrave fresca

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences with the correct form of the verbs and the adjectives ornouns in brackets

Examples Quando si (essere malato) si (andare) a letto Quando si egravemalati si va a letto Quando si (essere studente) si (dovere)studiare Quando si egrave studenti si deve studiare

1 Quando si (avere) freddo (lavorare) male2 Quando si (avere) la febbre si (restare) a casa3 Quando si (cominciare) a studiare una lingua si (fare) degli sbagli4 Quando si (guidare) non si (usare) il cellulare5 Quando si (avere) fame si (mangiare)6 Quando si (essere stanco) si (fare) molti sbagli7 Quando si (essere avvocato) si (conoscere) la legge8 Quando non si (avere) soldi non si (fare) spese inutili9 Quando si (avere) tanti amici si (essere fortunato)

10 Quando si (mangiare) troppi dolci si (ingrassare)

Quando ci si alza presto la giornatasembra troppo lunga

When you get up early the day seemstoo long

160 Unit 22

Exercise 3

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si

Examples Non devi mangiare con le mani Non si mangia con le maniNon devi raccogliere i fiori Non si raccolgono i fiori

1 Non devi mettere i piedi sulla scrivania2 La mattina devi fare colazione3 Dopo pranzo devi lavare i piatti4 Non devi parlare con gli sconosciuti5 Non devi andare in bicicletta sul marciapiedi6 Non devi mangiare durante le lezioni7 Non devi guardarti tanto allo specchio8 In biblioteca devi parlare a bassa voce9 Non devi guardare la televisione tutto il giorno

10 Il giorno prima degli esami devi studiare

Exercise 4

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si Payattention to the use of the past tense

Example QuandoDopo che hai parcheggiato lrsquoauto in salita devimettere il freno a mano QuandoDopo che si egrave parcheggiatalrsquoauto in salita si deve mettere il freno a mano

1 Dopo che hai fatto il bagno in mare fai la doccia2 Dopo che hai superato un esame sei contento3 Dopo che hai finito di lavorare vai a casa4 Dopo che sei salito sullrsquoaereo non puoi usare il cellulare5 Quando sei cresciuto in campagna conosci i nomi di tante piante

Unit 22 161

UNIT TWENTY-THREEThe present conditional

Use of the present conditional

1 The present conditional expresses an action which depends on a conditionas in this English example lsquoIf I could I would go at oncersquo In this example thecondition is expressed with lsquoifrsquo (ie lsquoon condition thatrsquo) The present con-ditional is often used even when the condition is not actually mentioned asin lsquoIrsquom sure she would love a night outrsquo Basically the use of the Italianpresent conditional is similar to the English

The present conditional in Italian can express wishes or intentions opinionsor advice requests in polite form doubts and conjectures

The forms of the present conditional

2 The present conditional is formed in the same way as the future but withdifferent endings

Vorrei ballare tutta la seraMi daresti un passaggioFareste meglio restare a casa

I would like to dance all nightWould you give me a liftYoursquod do better to stay at home

Prenderei un caffegravePotreste andare a piediMi daresti una manoSapresti fare questo lavoroQuesta potrebbe essere la soluzione

Irsquod like a coffeeYou could go on footWouldcould you give me a handWould you know how to do that jobThis could be the solution

Be sure not to confuse the spelling of these endings (all with -emmo) withthe corresponding ones of the future (all with -emo)

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)

-are-erei-eresti

-ere-erei-eresti

-ire-irei-iresti

(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-irebbe-iremmo-ireste-irebbero

Parlareparlereiparlerestiparlerebbeparleremmoparleresteparlerebbero

To speakI would speakyou would speakhesheit would speakwe would speakyou would speakthey would speak

Prendereprendereiprenderestiprenderebbeprenderemmoprenderesteprenderebbero

To takegetI would takeyou would takehesheit would takewe would takeyou would takethey would take

Finirefinireifinirestifinirebbefiniremmofinirestefinirebbero

To finishI would finishyou would finishhesheit would finishwe would finishyou would finishthey would finish

Con Marco parleresti italianoScriverei una cartolina alla ziaFiniremmo questo lavoro prima di

partire

With Marco you would speak ItalianI would write a postcard to my auntWersquod finish this job before leaving

Unit 23 163

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the presentconditional in order to keep the hard sound of c and g

4 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the present conditional

Present conditional of some irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are grouped in the same way as for the future tense

5 Essere and avere are irregular

Cercarecerchereicercheresticercherebbecercheremmocercherestecercherebbero

Pagarepaghereipagherestipagherebbepagheremmopagherestepagherebbero

Al suo posto cercherei un altrolavoro

La Signora pagherebbe il conto

If I were him [lit in his place] Irsquod lookfor another job

The lady would pay the bill

Cominciarecomincereicominceresticomincerebbecominceremmocomincerestecomincerebbero

Mangiaremangereimangerestimangerebbemangeremmomangerestemangerebbero

Senza di lui non cominceremmo lariunione

Mangeresti la carne di canguro

We wouldnrsquot start the meeting withouthim

Would you eat kangaroo meat

Esseresareisarestisarebbesaremmosarestesarebbero

Avereavreiavrestiavrebbeavremmoavresteavrebbero

Sarei contenta di rivedere CarloAvresti un minuto per me

I would be happy to see Carlo againCould you spare me a minute [lit

would you have a minute for me]

164 Unit 23

6 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

7 Andare cadere dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow the samepattern as avere

8 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere have the following pattern

dareidarestidarebbedaremmodarestedarebbero

fareifarestifarebbefaremmofarestefarebbero

stareistarestistarebbestaremmostarestestarebbero

Darei una festaMi faresti un favoreAl posto tuo starei tranquillo

I would give a partyWould you do me a favourI wouldnrsquot worry if I were you [lit in

your place Irsquod be calm]

andreiandrestiandrebbeandremmoandresteandrebbero

cadreicadresticadrebbecadremmocadrestecadrebbero

dovreidovrestidovrebbedovremmodovrestedovrebbero

potreipotrestipotrebbepotremmopotrestepotrebbero

sapreisaprestisaprebbesapremmosaprestesaprebbero

vedreivedrestivedrebbevedremmovedrestevedrebbero

vivreivivrestivivrebbevivremmovivrestevivrebbero

Quando andreste in vacanzaDomenica dovrei lavorarePotresti aiutarmi

When would you go on holidayOn Sunday I ought to workYou could help me [ie why arenrsquot

you helping me]

-rrei-rresti-rrebbe-rremmo-rreste-rrebbero

berreiberrestiberrebbeberremmoberresteberrebbero

rimarreirimarrestirimarrebberimarremmorimarresterimarrebbero

verreiverrestiverrebbeverremmoverresteverrebbero

vorreivorrestivorrebbevorremmovorrestevorrebbero

terreiterrestiterrebbeterremmoterresteterrebbero

Unit 23 165

The present conditional of volere is often used to expresses wishes andrequests in a polite form corresponding to the English lsquowould likersquo

9 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the verb

Exercise 1

Supply the present conditional of the verb in brackets

Example Stasera non (io uscire) uscirei

Rimarrei ancora un porsquo con voi madevo prendere il treno

Verresti al cinema con me

Vorrei un caffegraveVorrei anche un chilo di mele

I would stay with you a bit longer butIrsquove got to get the train

Would you come to the cinema withme

Irsquod like a coffeeIrsquod like a kilo of apples as well

-urrei-urresti-urrebbe-urremmo-urreste-urrebbero

tradurreitradurrestitradurrebbetradurremmotradurrestetradurrebbero

Lrsquointerprete tradurrebbe tutto per te The interpreter would translateeverything for you

Non capiresti nullaNon vorremmo partireNon tradurrei cosigrave

You wouldnrsquot understand a thingWe wouldnrsquot want to leaveI wouldnrsquot translate (it) like that

1 (tu leggere) quel libro di nuovo2 (io potere) aiutarvi3 (voi avere) voglia di uscire4 Mi (tu svegliare)5 (loro volere) venire a cena6 (tu pagare) anche per me

7 Non (io fare) quel lavoro8 (noi dovere) studiare9 (tu sapere) guidare un trattore

10 Claudia (rimanere) a casa11 Al posto tuo non (io aprire) la

porta

166 Unit 23

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences changing the italicised verbs into the presentconditional

Example Veniamo volentieri Verremmo volentieri

1 Voglio due panini2 Dovete studiare di piugrave3 Lucia va in vacanza4 Fate una pausa5 Possiamo parlarti6 Maurizio cambia lavoro7 Mi dai un consiglio8 Vi piace andare a Venezia9 I nostri amici devono arrivare oggi

10 Non esce mai senza permesso

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian using the present conditional

1 Paola could help me2 We would gladly come3 I wouldnrsquot go to the library in the evenings4 When would you start Signora Vialli5 Pietro would like to invite you [sing] to the party6 Wersquod be happy to see you [pl]7 They would keep the dog in the garden8 I would have to leave early9 Irsquod like another biscuit

10 Would you know the result Mr Spadavecchia

12 (tu dovere) telefonare a Pia13 A Liz (piacere) vivere in Italia14 Mi (potere) aspettare Signora15 Mauro (essere) la persona giusta16 Mi (voi dare) un passaggio17 (io bere) volentieri qualcosa

18 Non (loro abitare) mai in una casacome questa

19 Chi (tradurre) dallrsquoarabo20 (tu accompagnare) Silvia alla

stazione

Unit 23 167

KEY TO EXERCISES

UNIT 1

Exercise 1

1 m 2 f 3 m 4 f 5 f 6 m 7 m 8 m 9 m 10 mf 11 m 12 f13 mf 14 m 15 f 16 f 17 mf 18 m 19 m 20 f

Exercise 2

1 ragazzi 2 marche 3 chiavi 4 abitanti 5 zii 6 fiumi 7 stazioni8 ragazze 9 energie 10 pomeriggi 11 banche 12 pianisti 13 clienti14 indirizzi 15 occhi 16 ristoranti 17 televisioni 18 calendari19 francesi 20 laghi

Exercise 3

1 nome 2 via 3 figlio 4 mano 5 opinione 6 cliente 7 occhio 8 per-sona 9 marca 10 problema 11 ciliegia 12 caffegrave 13 medico14 attivista 15 ginocchio 16 bugia 17 tedesco 18 test 19 uomo20 amica

UNIT 2

Exercise 1

1 la 2 la 3 il 4 la 5 lrsquo or le 6 il 7 i 8 lrsquo 9 lo 10 gli 11 le12 lo or gli 13 lrsquo 14 la 15 la or le 16 gli 17 le 18 le 19 la or le20 lrsquo

Exercise 2

1 una 2 una 3 un 4 uno 5 una 6 un 7 unrsquo 8 una 9 un 10 uno

11 unrsquo 12 uno 13 una 14 unrsquo 15 uno 16 un 17 uno 18 un19 uno 20 unrsquo

Exercise 3

1 lo 2 una 3 le 4 unrsquo 5 la 6 il 7 unrsquo 8 lrsquo un 9 il 10 lo

UNIT 3

Exercise 1

1 interessante 2 bianca 3 bianchi 4 rosse 5 egoisti 6 bellrsquo7 razzista 8 comiche 9 simpatiche 10 lunghi 11 quel simpatico12 questi facili 13 quei begli 14 queste belle 15 quegli morti16 questi inglesi 17 quelle spagnole 18 quel bellrsquo 19 quelle fresche20 quei greci

Exercise 2

1 grande 2 rosa 3 francesi 4 grave 5 pacifisti 6 tedesche 7 pigro8 lunghi 9 belghe 10 belga 11 sporche 12 energico 13 resistenti14 blu 15 scozzesi 16 veloci 17 simpatiche 18 italiani 19 ottimisti20 soddisfatti

Exercise 3

1 i loro 2 i suoi 3 la mia 4 le tue 5 la vostra 6 il nostro 7 i miei 8 laloro 9 tua 10 la Sua

Exercise 4

1 il suo 2 la nostra 3 i tuoi 4 il mio 5 i suoi 6 le tue or le Sue 7 laloro 8 i vostri or i Loro 9 le sue 10 i nostri

Exercise 5

1 questi i nostri tedeschi 2 i Suoi ottimisti 3 queste le vostre 4 i miei iSuoi 5 questi i miei quelli i tuoi 6 il nostro entusiasta il vostro7 quelle le mie queste le tue 8 quegli divertenti questo difficile 9 i mieipesanti i vostri leggeri 10 quellrsquo minerale gassata questa liscia

Key to exercises 169

UNIT 4

Exercise 1

1 siamo 2 sei 3 sono 4 sono 5 siete 6 egrave 7 egrave 8 sono 9 siete10 siamo 11 sono 12 siete 13 egrave 14 sono 15 sei 16 egrave 17 egrave18 sono 19 siete 20 egrave

Exercise 2

1 abbiamo 2 ha 3 ho 4 hanno 5 avete 6 ha 7 ha 8 hai9 abbiamo 10 hai 11 avete 12 ha 13 abbiamo 14 hanno 15 hai16 ha 17 hanno 18 hai 19 ho 20 ha

Exercise 3

1 Non ho ragione Ho ragione 2 Il professore non ha caldo Il professoreha caldo 3 La Signorina Berti non ha sete La Signorina Berti ha sete4 Lei non ha sonno Lei ha sonno 5 Non avete paura Avete paura6 Non hanno freddo Hanno freddo 7 Carla e Andrea non hanno fameCarla e Andrea hanno fame

Exercise 4

1 Sono stanco Non sono stanco 2 Sei pigra Non sei pigra 3 Il dottore egravegiovane Il dottore non egrave giovane 4 La professoressa egrave simpatica La profes-soressa non egrave simpatica 5 Lei egrave alto Lei non egrave alto 6 Siamo magre Nonsiamo magre 7 Siete intelligenti Non siete intelligenti 8 Le tue amichesono contente Le tue amiche non sono contente

Exercise 5

1 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una sedia 2 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono due poltrone 3 Nellrsquouf-ficio ci sono tre computer 4 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una stampante 5 Nellrsquoufficiocrsquoegrave un telefono 6 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave la fotocopiatrice 7 Nellrsquoufficio ci sonodue radiatori 8 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una porta 9 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono trefinestre

Exercise 6

1 In questo paese crsquoegrave un museo ci sono tre musei non ci sono musei 2 Inquesto paese crsquoegrave una discoteca ci sono due discoteche non ci sono disco-teche 3 In questo paese crsquoegrave una panetteria ci sono quattro panetterie nonci sono panetterie 4 In questo paese crsquoegrave un cinema ci sono due cinemanon ci sono cinema 5 In questo paese crsquoegrave una biblioteca ci sono due

170 Key to exercises

biblioteche non ci sono biblioteche 6 In questo paese crsquoegrave una scuola cisono due scuole non ci sono scuole 7 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ufficio postaleci sono due uffici postali non ci sono uffici postali 8 In questo paese crsquoegraveuna libreria ci sono quattro librerie non ci sono librerie 9 In questo paesecrsquoegrave un giardino pubblico ci sono tre giardini pubblici non ci sono giardinipubblici 10 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ristorante ci sono sei ristoranti non cisono ristoranti

UNIT 5

Exercise 1

1 arriva 2 vive 3 mangiamo 4 cerchi 5 prendete 6 parte 7 leg-giamo 8 pulisci 9 conosco 10 finiscono 11 guidiamo 12 giochiamo13 tornate 14 capisci 15 spendono 16 abita 17 pagate 18 viaggi19 ricevi 20 lasciano

Exercise 2

1 vanno 2 produce 3 diamo 4 vai 5 fate 6 riusciamo 7 venite8 posso 9 vogliono 10 dici 11 potete 12 voglio 13 stai 14 sanno15 fanno 16 devono 17 traduciamo 18 deve 19 sapete 20 vengono

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlare con Marcello 2 Partiamo stasera 3 Prendiamo il pros-simo autobus 4 (Lei) puograve andare al cinema Signor Buchan 5 Sappiamousare quei cellulari 6 Preferisce sempre leggere il giornale 7 Il bam-bino dorme 8 Vengo a Torino questrsquoestate 9 Escono spesso la sera10 I ragazzi giocano a pallone domani

Exercise 4

1 Esci stasera mamma 2 Cosa facciamo domani 3 Puoi aprire quellaporta 4 Vuoi un caffegrave 5 Sai suonare il piano Francesco 6 Cosa cer-chi 7 (Lei) beve caffegrave o acqua minerale Signora 8 Tu e Jim conoscetei miei genitori 9 Stai bene oggi 10 Cosa costruiscono

Exercise 5

1 (Lei) non parla inglese Signora Vialli 2 I miei amici tedeschi non sannocantare in italiano 3 Non guadagno molto 4 Non dagrave una festa per il suocompleanno 5 Non lavori con Giulia 6 Non vedono il Signor Moro datre anni 7 Percheacute non vai mai a Firenze Claudio 8 Non riesco a chiudere

Key to exercises 171

questa finestra 9 Percheacute non bevete caffegrave stamattina 10 Non venitedomani

UNIT 6

Exercise 1

1 dolcemente 2 tranquillamente 3 semplicemente 4 allegramente5 maggiormente 6 irregolarmente 7 probabilmente 8 chiaramente9 facilmente 10 velocemente 11 lentamente 12 utilmente13 attentamente 14 rapidamente 15 leggermente

Exercise 2

1 molti 2 molto 3 pochi 4 troppo 5 troppi 6 tanta 7 troppo8 molto 9 poco 10 molte 11 poco 12 molto 13 molto 14 pochi15 molto 16 poca 17 molta 18 molto 19 troppe 20 poche

Exercise 3

1 con prudenza 2 con pazienza 3 in modo nervoso 4 a poco a poco5 senza esitazione 6 di solito 7 in tempo 8 con coraggio 9 di sicuro10 in maniera brusca

Exercise 4

1 A volte mangio in mensa 2 La piscina egrave abbastanza grande 3 Usciamospesso con i nostri amici 4 Hai abbastanza soldi 5 Devi parlare lenta-mente or piano 6 Marina non mangia mai (il) formaggio 7 Francescaarriva sempre tardi or in ritardo 8 Aspetto da quasi quaranta minuti9 Carla e Andrea sono fuori 10 I tuoi genitori stanno bene

UNIT 7

Exercise 1

1 Anna la guarda 2 Li invitiamo 3 Le scrivete 4 Lo leggono 5 Lasuono 6 La preparo 7 Lo chiamo 8 Li faccio 9 Le invito 10 Lechiudete 11 Lorenzo li corregge 12 Lo prendono 13 Li porto 14 Licerco 15 Pia la beve 16 Paola lo finisce 17 Li accompagno 18 Le vedioggi 19 La ascolto 20 Luca li lava

172 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 Non le voglio 2 Non li compriamo 3 Non ci chiamano 4 Silvia non liinvita 5 I Signori Bianchi non lo prendono 6 Non mi invitate 7 Non viaspetto 8 Non la vedo domani 9 Non ti accompagno alla stazione10 Non lo guardiamo

Exercise 3

1 Vogliamo vederlo 2 Non posso aiutarti 3 Puoi accompagnarmi4 Vuoi sentirla 5 Devono chiamarci 6 Voglio invitarvi 7 Vuole cono-scerle 8 Non potete farli 9 Devi ascoltarmi 10 Non posso aiutarLaSignora

Exercise 4

1 lo 2 le 3 li 4 li 5 la 6 mi 7 li 8 La 9 li 10 le 11 la 12 li13 la 14 vi 15 lo 16 la 17 la 18 li 19 le 20 lo

Exercise 5

1 Vi invitiamo alla festa 2 Ho molti amici e li vedo spesso 3 Signora FusiLa posso chiamare or posso chiamarLa domani 4 Ci aiuti la settimanaprossima 5 Ti devo vedere or Devo vederti 6 Olga e Anna partono doma-ni e le voglio accompagnareportare or voglio accompagnarleportarle allastazione 7 Non vi posso aiutare or non posso aiutarvi 8 lsquoPorti la chi-tarrarsquo lsquoNo non ce lrsquohorsquo 9 Tullio compra queste riviste e le legge 10 Mipuoi portareaccompagnare or puoi portarmiaccompagnarmi a scuoladomani

UNIT 8

Exercise 1

1 della mamma 2 dello zio 3 degli amici 4 del parco 5 dellrsquoauto 6 deipaesi 7 delle stanze 8 al mare 9 allo stadio 10 alla stazione 11 airagazzi 12 agli uomini 13 alle donne 14 allrsquoospedale 15 dalla zia16 dallo studente 17 dal dentista 18 dallrsquoaeroporto 19 dagli uffici20 dalle colleghe 21 dai ministri 22 nellrsquoalbergo 23 nello stipendio24 nella casa 25 negli anni 26 nei cassetti 27 nelle camere 28 nelfrigo 29 sul tavolo 30 sulla sedia 31 sullo scaffale 32 sulle spalle33 sui libri 34 sugli alberi 35 sullrsquoidea

Key to exercises 173

Exercise 2

1 a 2 in 3 al 4 fra or tra 5 da 6 alla 7 con 8 dal 9 del 10 ai11 a in 12 al con 13 nel 14 alle 15 da 16 alle 17 per 18 con19 del 20 a

Exercise 3

1 a 2 in 3 a in 4 a 5 di 6 al 7 a 8 a 9 da a 10 da 11 a12 in 13 in 14 alla 15 a or per 16 al 17 della 18 in 19 nella 20 di

Exercise 4

1 Finisco di lavorare alle 6 2 Antonio parte per Genova 3 Gemma egrave natanel 2001 4 Fabia non esce mai di sera 5 I Signori Bancroft abitano incampagna in una vecchia villa 6 La biblioteca egrave dietro la palestra 7 Nonpuoi uscire senza di me 8 Abitate lontano dalla scuola 9 La zia di Isa-bella vive a Greve in Toscana 10 Ha una gonna di pelle 11 Angus egrave diEdimburgo in Scozia 12 Deve girare a destra dopo la chiesa( Signora)13 Stasera mangiamo in pizzeria 14 Questi fiori sono per tua madre 15 Aor per Natale andiamo a sciare in montagna 16 Abito vicino alla pri-gione 17 Margaret vive a Torino da cinque anni 18 Il treno per Aostaparte dal binario 7 19 Regaliamo or diamo a Luisa un CD di musicarussa 20 Compro sempre il pane da Belli

UNIT 9

Exercise 1

1 chi 2 chi 3 chi 4 che or cosa or che cosa 5 che or cosa or che cosa6 chi 7 chi 8 che or cosa or che cosa 9 chi 10 che or cosa or che cosa11 chi 12 che or cosa or che cosa 13 chi 14 chi 15 che or cosa or checosa 16 chi 17 che or cosa or che cosa 18 chi 19 che or cosa or checosa 20 chi

Exercise 2

1 dove 2 quando 3 percheacute 4 come 5 quando 6 che 7 che or quale8 dovrsquo 9 percheacute 10 qual 11 che or quale 12 che or quale 13 come14 dove 15 percheacute 16 dovrsquo 17 quando 18 qual 19 percheacute 20 che orquali

174 Key to exercises

Exercise 3

1 quante 2 quanto 3 quanti 4 quanti 5 quante 6 quanta 7 quanto8 quante 9 quanti 10 quanto 11 quanta 12 quanto 13 quanti14 quanto 15 quanto 16 quante 17 quanto 18 quante 19 quanti20 quanto

Exercise 4

1 Quanti panini volete 2 Dove andate a pranzo 3 Chi sono quelle per-sone 4 CheCosaChe cosa fai domenica 5 Quando andate in vacanza6 Percheacute Luisa non parte 7 Qual egrave la tua bici 8 CheQuale film guardi9 Chi di loro egrave italianoitaliana 10 Quando arriva il treno

UNIT 10

Exercise 1

1 Le telefoniamo 2 Gli spedisco or spedisco loro le cartoline 3 Silvia gliracconta una storia 4 Le regalo un libro 5 Anna gli scrive or scrive loro6 Le porto i fiori 7 Gli scriviamo or scriviamo loro 8 Olga e Silvia leparlano 9 Gli legge or legge loro un libro 10 Cosa gli regalate

Exercise 2

1 Non le parlo di lavoro 2 Non mi telefoni 3 Non vi regalo dei libri4 Non gli offrite qualcosa 5 Gli amici non le offrono un gelato 6 Non ciscrivete 7 Non ti mando una cartolina 8 Non vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo non mi dice la veritagrave 10 Non gli spedisco il pacco

Exercise 3

1 Possiamo scriverle 2 Devo parlarti 3 Voglio regalargli una chitarra4 Puoi telefonarci 5 Devono offrirvi qualcosa 6 Potete dirmi tutto7 Posso parlarLe Signora 8 Non dovete scrivergli 9 Non posso rispon-derti 10 Voglio crederle

Exercise 4

1 le 2 ti 3 gli 4 gli 5 Le 6 vi 7 ci 8 ti 9 gli 10 Le 11 mi 12 le13 gli 14 gli 15 vi 16 gli 17 mi 18 le 19 ti 20 gli

Key to exercises 175

Exercise 5

1 Puoi dire a Lucia che le voglio parlare or voglio parlarle 2 Appena arrivoa Roma vi telefono 3 Devo chiederLe or Le devo chiedere un favoreSignora 4 Gli dai il tuo numero di telefono 5 Ci dicono or raccontanosempre (delle) cose interessanti 6 Mi mandano sempre una cartolinaquando vanno in Italia 7 Per il suo compleanno le dograve dei fiori 8 Devodarti or ti devo dare i libri di Luca 9 Se volete vi racconto una storia10 Massimo mi scrive ogni settimana or tutte le settimane

UNIT 11

Exercise 1

1 Non le piacciono i carciofi 2 Non gli piace guidare 3 Gli piace viag-giare 4 Gli piace il mare 5 Gli piace ballare 6 Non ci piace il pesce7 Vi piace nuotare 8 Le piacciono i film francesi 9 Non le piace stirare10 Gli piace andare in moto

Exercise 2

1 Non le piace andare in centro il sabato 2 Non ti piace la musica clas-sica 3 Non gli piacciono i funghi 4 Non vi piace guardare la televi-sione 5 Non mi piacciono i film di fantascienza 6 Non gli piace lascuola 7 Non ci piacciono le canzoni italiane 8 Non le piacciono glispaghetti 9 Non mi piace sciare 10 Non vi piace la cioccolata al latte

Exercise 3

1 (Non) mi piace la frutta 2 (Non) mi piace il calcio 3 (Non) mi piac-ciono le fragole 4 (Non) mi piace giocare a tennis 5 (Non) mi piace uscirecon gli amici 6 (Non) mi piacciono i gatti 7 (Non) mi piace la pizza8 (Non) mi piacciono i dolci 9 (Non) mi piace ballare 10 (Non) mi piac-ciono le vacanze

Exercise 4

1 A Luigi (non) piace il caffegrave senza zucchero 2 Al professore (non) piac-ciono le poesie di Leopardi 3 A mia sorella (non) piace andare al cinema4 Ai miei cugini (non) piacciono i film di Fellini 5 Al primo ministro (non)piace la politica

176 Key to exercises

Exercise 5

1 basta 2 sembra 3 piacciono 4 manca 5 servono 6 mancano7 sembra 8 servono 9 pare 10 bastano

Exercise 6

1 Unrsquoora non mi basta 2 A Giovanni serve una penna 3 A Lynne man-cano gli or i suoi amici italiani 4 Ti piace la cioccolata or il cioccolato5 Non le piace andare al cinema 6 Vi serve un passaggio 7 Gli servonouna penna e un quaderno 8 Le sembra noioso lo spettacolo Signora9 Ti serve aiuto 10 Mi piace leggere

UNIT 12

Exercise 1

1 restati 2 uscite 3 andata 4 arrivati 5 entrata 6 riuscito 7 arrivato8 piaciuta 9 costati 10 nata

Exercise 2

1 hai comprato 2 ha regalato 3 siamo andati or andate 4 avete trovato5 hai spento 6 egrave venuta 7 ha portato 8 avete preso 9 ho visto 10 haipotuto 11 ho dovuto 12 egrave uscito ha perso 13 ha scritto 14 abbiamogiocato 15 ha cominciato 16 ha voluto or egrave voluto 17 hai messo 18 haipotuto 19 avete avuto 20 hai letto

Exercise 3

1 abbiamo dovuto 2 avete mangiato 3 sei partito or partita 4 ha te-lefonato 5 ha voluto or egrave voluta 6 hai conosciuto 7 ha dovuto or egravedovuta 8 avete accompagnato 9 ha vinto 10 hai finito 11 ho capito12 hai portato 13 siamo riusciti or riuscite 14 avete deciso 15 ha avuto16 sono venuti 17 avete fatto 18 egrave partito 19 egrave stata 20 ha tradotto

Exercise 4

1 Abbiamo giagrave fatto questo esercizio 2 Non ho ancora finito di leggere ilgiornale 3 Stefano non egrave mai andato or stato a Roma 4 Non ho piugrave vistoRoberto dopo la festa 5 Avete giagrave pagato il conto 6 Giulia non haancora cominciato a lavorare 7 Carlo non ha piugrave potuto lavorare 8 Nonho mai conosciuto i suoi genitori 9 Hai giagrave scritto le lettere 10 Non homai visto quel film

Key to exercises 177

UNIT 13

Exercise 1

1 li ho messi 2 lrsquoho accompagnata 3 le ho comprate 4 le ha chiuse 5 liho mangiati 6 ti ha chiamata 7 lrsquoha letto 8 ci hanno invitati 9 li hopresi 10 li ho dati

Exercise 2

1 le ho offerto 2 li avete visti 3 lrsquoho imprestata 4 le ho telefonato 5 le haprese 6 li ho studiati 7 mi ha presentato 8 ti ha accompagnata 9 le haimandato 10 lrsquoho conosciuta 11 lrsquoabbiamo lasciata 12 gli hai detto 13 liho comprati 14 Lrsquoho trovata 15 le ho conosciute 16 gli ho detto 17 lrsquohapagato 18 le ho raccontato 19 Lrsquoha accompagnata 20 lrsquoho letta tutta

Exercise 3

1 Non li ho saputi fare 2 Li ho voluti vedere 3 Non lrsquoabbiamo potutochiamare 4 Vi hanno potuti aiutare or potute aiutare 5 Lrsquoabbiamodovuta invitare 6 Non le ha sapute tradurre 7 Le avete dovuteaccompagnare 8 Lrsquoha voluta mangiare 9 Li hai potuti vedere 10 Nonle hanno volute fare

Exercise 4

1 Sabina non mi ha invitata 2 Chi ti ha chiamata 3 Gli abbiamo te-lefonato ieri 4 Vi ho cercati ma non vi ho trovati 5 Chiara ci haaccompagnati or portati alla fermata dellrsquoautobus 6 Vi ho mandato unacartolina lrsquoavete ricevuta 7 I (miei) nonni mi hanno regalato 100 euro mali ho giagrave spesi 8 Ho comprato due panini e li ho mangiati 9 lsquoHai spento lalucersquo lsquoSigrave lrsquoho spentarsquo 10 Carla non ha potuto aiutarle or Carla non le hapotute aiutare

UNIT 14

Exercise 1

1 lei te 2 loro 3 lei 4 noi voi 5 me 6 lui 7 me te 8 Lei 9 voi10 lei loro

Exercise 2

1 Nobody plays drums like me 2 Every student but him did the home-work 3 Sergio calls or phones you not me 4 Irsquoll take or go with or

178 Key to exercises

accompany you as well 5 I understand as much as you do or as much asyou 6 Mauro tells everyone the truth but or except me 7 You should oryou must or you have to phone me as well 8 Claudiarsquos lending us therecords not you 9 Irsquom giving or I give or Irsquoll give my address to everyonebut her 10 Irsquom giving her a book and him a record

Exercise 3

1 voi 2 lui 3 loro 4 noi 5 lei

Exercise 4

1 Tutti sono contro di me 2 Vieni con me 3 Ho comprato un regalo perte 4 Non puoi contare su di lui 5 Posso dormire da voi stasera

UNIT 15

Exercise 1

1 che 2 cui 3 che 4 cui 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 cui 9 cui 10 che

Exercise 2

1 cui 2 cui 3 cui 4 che 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 che 9 cui 10 cui

Exercise 3

1 la quale 2 con la quale 3 dei quali 4 nel quale 5 alle quali 6 ilquale 7 dal quale 8 le quali 9 delle quali 10 i quali

Exercise 4

1 colei che 2 coloro che 3 colui che 4 colui or colei che 5 coloro che

Exercise 5

1 chi 2 quella che 3 chi or quello che 4 chi 5 quelli che 6 quella che7 chi 8 quello che 9 chi 10 quelle che

Exercise 6

1 Il libro che voglio comprare egrave troppo caro 2 La signora con cui or con laquale ho parlato egrave tedesca 3 Le persone che or le quali hanno telefonatovivono or abitano in America 4 La cittagrave dove or in cui or nella quale vivo or

Key to exercises 179

abito non egrave molto grande 5 Colui che or chi vuole andare allrsquouniversitagravedeve sapere leggere e scrivere 6 Paolo che or il quale ha perso il (suo)cellulare non egrave contento or felice 7 Quella canzone mi piace or Mi piacequella canzone ma preferisco quelle che abbiamo sentito ieri sera 8 Questaegrave or Ecco la sorella di Fabio la quale or che mi ha prestato la sua bici 9 Haivisto chi or colui che or colei che ha mangiato le pesche 10 Chi egrave lrsquouomo cuior a cui or al quale avete venduto i biglietti

UNIT 16

Exercise 1

1 parlava 2 passava 3 faceva 4 studiavo riposava 5 partiva 6 lavo-rava 7 diceva 8 faceva 9 abitavamo 10 eravate 11 andavano12 era 13 uscivamo 14 sapevi 15 conoscevo 16 amava 17 dormivate18 erano 19 avevi 20 dovevano

Exercise 2

1 sei partita 2 era 3 ho studiato 4 mangiavamo 5 egrave rimasta 6 aveva7 sembravano 8 ha speso 9 egrave andata 10 erano

Exercise 3

1 egrave arrivato era 2 ho conosciuto abitavo 3 avevi hai cominciato 4 hatelefonato facevo 5 sono venuti era 6 hanno fatto sapevano 7 hannodetto hanno visto 8 egrave venuto aveva 9 siamo arrivati or arrivate partiva10 ho imprestato era

Exercise 4

suonava piaceva abbiamo deciso siamo arrivati mancavano crsquoerano eraaspettavamo abbiamo sentito ha risposto abbiamo visto era ha finitoha spiegato era chiamava aveva era sapeva egrave partito aveva egrave riuscitoaprivano

Exercise 5

1 Quanto tempo hai passato a Bologna 2 Siamo andati or andate alcinema ieri sera 3 Sembravate felici 4 Il padre di Gemma faceva il mari-naio or era marinaio 5 Claudia e Monica non sono venute in vacanza connoi questa volta 6 I miei genitori di solito uscivano alle 8 7 Mio padre halavorato in India per 3 anni 8 A che ora avete preso lrsquoautobus ieri mattina9 Lrsquoanno scorso facevamo ginnastica il or di lunedigrave mattina 10 Dove hai

180 Key to exercises

comprato quelle scarpe 11 Non ti ho chiamato or chiamata percheacute dormivi12 Quando voi abitavate or vivevate a Londra io abitavo or vivevo a Parigi13 Quanti anni aveva Susanna quando egrave andata allrsquouniversitagrave 14 Mentreguardavo la televisione Anna egrave entrata e lrsquoha spenta 15 Paolo e Giulia nonsono venuti percheacute Paolo era troppo stanco

UNIT 17

Exercise 1

1 ne ho mandate 2 ne ho comprata or ne ho comprati 3 ne ho fatti or ne hofatta 4 ne sono venute poche 5 non ne ho fatto nessuno 6 ne ho lasciatauna aperta 7 ne hanno invitati molti 8 ne ho letti 9 ne abbiamo com-prata poca 10 non ne ho mangiata nessuna 11 ne ho presi 12 ne ho datealcune 13 ne abbiamo visti 14 ne ho mangiate 15 non ne ha mangiatonessuno 16 ne abbiamo dato qualcuno 17 ne ho presi alcuni 18 ne sonorimasti alcuni cari 19 non ne ha invitata nessuna 20 ne ho regalate

Exercise 2

1 ne 2 ne 3 li 4 lrsquo 5 ne 6 le 7 ne 8 ne 9 li 10 ne 11 ne 12 lrsquo13 ne 14 ne 15 ne 16 la 17 lo 18 ne 19 ne 20 li

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlarne col professore 2 Vuoi farne un altro 3 Non dobbiamoprenderne 4 Potete mangiarne 5 Devo farne sei 6 Non possiamo par-larne 7 Posso assaggiarne uno 8 Non deve portarne Signora 9 Voglio-no comprarne qualcuno 10 Non possono berne

Exercise 4

1 Ne ho dovuti dare due a Marisa 2 Ne hai potute comprare 3 Quantene hai dovute fare 4 Non ne hanno voluta mangiare 5 Ne ha dovutileggere quattro 6 Non ne abbiamo potute prendere 7 Ne ho dovute scri-vere due 8 Ne ho potute leggere solo due pagine 9 Ne avete dovuti rifaremolti 10 Non ne hanno potuta assaggiare

Exercise 5

1 in questa casa Ci abitiamo da tre anni 2 al Museo di Storia NaturaleStefano ci lavora da febbraio 3 alla festa di Marco Ci volete venire orVolete venirci 4 al cinema Paolo e Livia ci vanno due volte alla set-timana 5 al supermercato La Signora Bini ci va sempre a piedi 6 in

Key to exercises 181

Italia Ci rimango per tre settimane 7 a scuola Giulia ci viene sempre inbici 8 allrsquoufficio postale Ci ho passato tre ore in coda 9 a casa di PietroCi siete andati a cena 10 a Sorrento Ci passiamo le vacanze

UNIT 18

Exercise 1

1 arriveranno 2 parlerete 3 telefoneragrave 4 dirai 5 scriverograve 6 dormirograve7 cominceremo 8 finirai 9 prenderograve 10 chiamerai 11 abiterete12 porteranno 13 direte 14 tradurragrave 15 pagheremo 16 mangerai17 scriveragrave 18 cercheragrave 19 prenderanno 20 pagheragrave

Exercise 2

1 andrograve 2 saremo 3 rimarrai 4 verrograve potrograve 5 dovragrave 6 verragrave vorragrave7 avremo 8 potrograve 9 vedrai 10 farete 11 staranno 12 sapragrave 13 farai14 sarete 15 dovrete 16 andrograve 17 saprai 18 verrai 19 farete20 terranno

Exercise 3

uscirograve dovrograve arriverograve verragrave andremo lascerograve andremo vedremo porteragravetorneremo verranno dovremo usciremo faremo saragrave potremo

Exercise 4

1 Chi potragrave aiutarmi 2 Lrsquoestate prossima faremo un corso di italiano3 Leggerai tutti questi libri 4 Non andrograve in biblioteca domani 5 Quandoarriveragrave Signora Pasini 6 Domenica usciranno 7 Cosa farai8 Saranno le 10 9 Porterai i tuoi CD per la festa 10 Non verrete con noial cinema

UNIT 19

Exercise 1

1 aveva finito 2 era arrivata 3 avevo vista 4 avevi spento 5 avevatepreso 6 aveva lavorato 7 aveva scritto 8 aveva preparato 9 eri riuscitoor riuscita 10 avevamo chiesto 11 era stata 12 avevo mangiato 13 erapiaciuta 14 era andata 15 erano uscite 16 avevo capito 17 era partito18 era rimasto 19 aveva voluto 20 era stata

182 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 sono arrivato or arrivata erano usciti 2 conosceva aveva telefonato3 hai fatto avevo detto 4 era aveva camminato 5 egrave venuto doveva or hadovuto avevano dato 6 era aveva vinto 7 portava aveva regalato 8 hocomprato avevate consigliato 9 ha speso aveva guadagnato 10 ha invi-tato erano andati

Exercise 3

1 Paola non era ancora andata or stata in Scozia 2 Avevo finito il lavoroma ero molto stanco or stanca 3 Le ragazze non erano mai entrate in quellachiesa 4 Arianna ha finito la torta che aveva fatto sua nonna 5 lsquoCosaavevi detto a Fabiorsquo lsquoNon gli avevo detto nullarsquo 6 Maria aveva dovuto orera dovuta rimanere or restare a casa 7 Quanto era costata la vostramacchina or auto 8 Avevano comprato or preso il biglietto il giornoprima 9 Non avevo piugrave la bici percheacute lrsquoavevo data a Anna 10 Era nata inRussia ma abitava da molti anni in Italia quando lrsquoho conosciuta

UNIT 20

Exercise 1

1 si 2 mi 3 si 4 vi 5 si 6 ci 7 mi 8 si 9 si 10 si 11 vi 12 ti13 ci 14 si 15 vi 16 si 17 si 18 ti 19 vi 20 si

Exercise 2

1 si 2 si 3 vi 4 si 5 ti 6 ci 7 si 8 si 9 ci 10 mi 11 vi 12 ci13 si 14 ti 15 mi 16 ti 17 ci 18 si 19 mi 20 vi

Exercise 3

1 si sono sposati 2 ti sei sbagliato 3 vi siete ricordate 4 si egrave fatta 5 sisono incontrati 6 ti sei perso 7 si egrave divertita 8 ci siamo bevuti 9 mi sonoannoiato 10 ci siamo alzate 11 ti sei lavato 12 mi sono tagliata 13 si egravefermato 14 si sono separati 15 si egrave lamentato 16 si egrave riposato 17 si egravestancata 18 ti sei arrabbiata 19 vi siete offesi 20 si sono dimenticati

Exercise 4

1 Non mi sono potuta lavare 2 Sandra e Roberto si sono voluti sposare3 Ci siamo dovuti scusare 4 Luigi si egrave dovuto alzare alle sei 5 Gianni nonsi egrave voluto mettere il berretto 6 Ti sei potuto curare 7 Vi siete potuti

Key to exercises 183

riposare 8 Mi sono dovuta fermare 9 Percheacute ti sei voluto tingere icapelli 10 Non ci siamo potuti spiegare

Exercise 5

1 Vi divertite 2 Ti sei lavata le mani 3 Come si sente Signora 4 Visbagliate 5 Dove vi siete conosciute or incontrate 6 Percheacute non ti siedi7 Paolo parla sempre di segrave or se stesso 8 Franca si egrave lavata i capelli9 Carlo si egrave scusato 10 Mi sono vestita

UNIT 21

Exercise 1

1 compra 2 usciamo 3 stia 4 metti 5 siate 6 venga 7 dai or darsquo8 finisci 9 compri 10 facciamo 11 abbi 12 parli 13 vai or varsquo 14 dirsquo15 faccia 16 scrivete 17 fai or farsquo 18 entrino 19 aprite 20 rispondi

Exercise 2

1 chiuda 2 vada 3 sorrida 4 dica 5 faccia 6 sia 7 traduca8 accenda 9 stia 10 entri

Exercise 3

1 non partite 2 non rispondere 3 non andate 4 non scenda 5 nonusciamo 6 non finire 7 non ascoltare 8 non prenda 9 non telefonare10 non dire 11 non tagliarti or non ti tagliare 12 non darle or non le dare13 non parlargli or non gli parlare 14 non scrivetemi or non mi scrivete15 non dirlo or non lo dire 16 non invitarli or non li invitare 17 nonprenderlo or non lo prendere 18 non metterti or non ti mettere 19 nonportatele or non le portate 20 non farlo or non lo fare

Exercise 4

1 vai or varsquo 2 prendete 3 invita 4 guardiamo 5 comincia 6 faccia7 mettano 8 fai or farsquo 9 vai or varsquo 10 stai or starsquo 11 mandami12 fatelo 13 dammi 14 rispondimi 15 vacci 16 mangiatelo 17 leg-getelo 18 ci aspetti 19 digli 20 dalle

Exercise 5

1 parlatele 2 prendili 3 lo firmi 4 parlatene 5 andiamoci 6 falli7 restateci 8 chiediamolo 9 correggili 10 prendetelo 11 lo aspettino

184 Key to exercises

12 mandali 13 compratela 14 la porti 15 aiutateli 16 rendilo 17 chie-diamole 18 telefonagli or telefona loro 19 bevine 20 studiatela

UNIT 22

Exercise 1

1 fa attraversa 2 parlano 3 lavora 4 fuma 5 devono 6 entra 7 pos-sono 8 paga 9 trovano 10 compra

Exercise 2

1 Quando si ha freddo si lavora male 2 Quando si ha la febbre si resta acasa 3 Quando si comincia a studiare una lingua si fanno degli sbagli4 Quando si guida non si usa il cellulare 5 Quando si ha fame si mangia6 Quando si egrave stanchi si fanno molti sbagli 7 Quando si egrave avvocati si cono-sce la legge 8 Quando non si hanno soldi non si fanno spese inutili9 Quando si hanno tanti amici si egrave fortunati 10 Quando si mangiano troppidolci si ingrassa

Exercise 3

1 Non si mettono i piedi sulla scrivania 2 La mattina si fa colazione3 Dopo pranzo si lavano i piatti 4 Non si parla con gli sconosciuti 5 Nonsi va in bicicletta sul marciapiedi 6 Non si mangia durante le lezioni7 Non ci si guarda tanto allo specchio 8 In biblioteca si parla a bassavoce 9 Non si guarda la televisione tutto il giorno 10 Il giorno primadegli esami si studia

Exercise 4

1 Dopo che si egrave fatto il bagno in mare si fa la doccia 2 Dopo che si egravesuperato un esame si egrave contenti 3 Dopo che si egrave finito di lavorare si va acasa 4 Dopo che si egrave saliti sullrsquoaereo non si puograve usare il cellulare5 Quando si egrave cresciuti in campagna si conoscono i nomi di tante piante

UNIT 23

Exercise 1

1 leggeresti 2 potrei 3 avreste 4 sveglieresti 5 vorrebbero 6 paghe-resti 7 farei 8 dovremmo 9 sapresti 10 rimarrebbe 11 aprirei12 dovresti 13 piacerebbe 14 potrebbe 15 sarebbe 16 dareste 17 ber-rei 18 abiterebbero 19 tradurrebbe 20 accompagneresti

Key to exercises 185

Exercise 2

1 Vorrei due panini 2 Dovreste studiare di piugrave 3 Lucia andrebbe invacanza 4 Fareste una pausa 5 Potremmo parlarti 6 Maurizio cam-bierebbe lavoro 7 Mi daresti un consiglio 8 Vi piacerebbe andare a Ve-nezia 9 I nostri amici dovrebbero arrivare oggi 10 Non uscirebbe maisenza permesso

Exercise 3

1 Paola potrebbe aiutarmi or mi potrebbe aiutare 2 Verremmo volentieri3 Non andrei in biblioteca la or di sera 4 Quando comincerebbe SignoraVialli 5 Pietro vorrebbe invitarti or ti vorrebbe invitare alla festa6 Saremmo contenti or felici di vedervi 7 Terrebbero il cane in giardino8 Dovrei partire presto 9 Vorrei un altro biscotto 10 Saprebbe il risultatoSignor Spadavecchia

186 Key to exercises

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS

adjective a word that describes a noun or pronoun eg the green door itrsquosvery old Johnrsquos skinny shersquos most objectionable

a demonstrative adjective describes something as being pointed out (lsquodem-onstratedrsquo) eg thisthat computer thesethose railings

a possessive adjective describes something as belonging to someone orsomething eg myheritsouryour behaviour is quite normal

adverb a word which gives information about a verb an adjective oranother adverb eg she sang loudly itrsquoll finish soon Irsquove got it somewhere itrsquosincrediblyvery funny she sang incrediblyvery loudly

agreement a feature whereby the form of one word changes depending onthe form of another word it is linked with In English the most obviousexample is in the difference between singular and plural so we say lsquoThis is theroadrsquo and lsquoThese are the roadsrsquo but not eg lsquoThis are the roadsrsquo lsquoThese is theroadsrsquo etc In Italian agreement is far more detailed and widespread than inEnglish

article a word which has no meaning on its own but is placed before anoun to show whether it is specific or non-specific

a definite article shows that the noun refers to a specific thing or person egthe airline the pilot the passengers

an indefinite article shows that the noun does not refer to a specific thingor person eg an airline a pilot passengers [no plural indefinitearticle]

auxiliary verb a verb that helps another verb to make its form eg we havedone it it had been agreed

conjugation a group of verbs which have the same endings as one anotherin all tenses eg in Italian verbs of the first conjugation have an infinitiveending in -are (comprare lsquoto buyrsquo cantare lsquoto singrsquo) and the same endingsin the present (comprano lsquothey buyrsquo cantano lsquothey singrsquo) the imperfect

(compravano lsquothey boughtrsquo cantavano lsquothey sangrsquo) the future (compre-ranno lsquothey will buyrsquo canteranno lsquothey will singrsquo) etc

gender not the same thing as the actual sex of a living creature grammat-ical gender is arbitrary in Italian all nouns are either masculine or feminineeven if they denote inanimate objects eg il libro [m] lsquothe bookrsquo la casa [f]lsquothe housersquo etc

infinitive the form in which verbs are usually given in word lists etc egvendere lsquoto sellrsquo dormire lsquoto sleeprsquo

noun the name of a thing person place animal plant idea eg the greendoor John is skinny love is a wonderful thing I love cats and roses

number a feature of nouns pronouns and any words that agree with them(notably in Italian adjectives articles and verbs) which shows whether thereis just one or more than one of the thing or person in question If there isone then the noun pronoun etc is singular eg the mobile a child Isheheitif there is more than one then the noun pronoun etc is plural eg themobiles the children wethey In Italian the form of the word usually makesit clear whether it is singular or plural but in English it is often impossible totell from the word on its own eg one sheep fifty sheep Jim you are brilliantyou are all brilliant

object the noun or pronoun affected by the action of the verb

a direct object is directly impinged on by the action eg I sent a letter thedog drank its water yoursquove shut the door she cooked it I love him

an indirect object is the thingperson to or for whichwhom the action isperformed eg I sent a letter to Jim I gave her a CD [ie a CD to her] hebuilt a snowman for Catherine I made her a puppet [ie a puppet for her]

participle a form of the verb that lsquoparticipatesrsquo in characteristics of bothverb and adjective ie it both indicates an action and describes something

the present participle in English ends in -ing and is used descriptively evenwith verbs in a past tense eg shersquos running Wayne was shouting

the past participle in English (as in Italian) is mostly used to form thepresent perfect tense eg the frog has jumped in shersquos run away it can alsobe used purely as an adjective eg itrsquos small but perfectly formed thatrsquos atorn handkerchief

passive a passive verb is the opposite to an active one Here is an activeverb lsquoKylie drew that cartoonrsquo in this sentence the thing that has somethingdone to it (the cartoon) is the object of the active verb Now here is the sameidea expressed with a passive verb lsquoThat cartoon was drawn by Kyliersquo in thissentence the thing that has something done to it is actually the subject of thepassive verb Many ideas can be expressed both actively and passively eg

188 Glossary

preposition a word usually placed in front of a noun or pronoun to showthe relation between it and another noun or pronoun eg the cat sat on themat Irsquove shown them to him the doorrsquos opposite the bus stop you just gothrough it

pronoun a word that stands for (lsquoprorsquo) a noun

demonstrative pronouns stand for particular people or things that arelsquopointed torsquo eg thisthat [ie lsquothis onethat onersquo] is a dandelion thesethoseare filthy

interrogative pronouns stand for people or things about which a questionis being asked eg what are you doing which of them did best who wonwho(m) did you vote for

personal pronouns usually stand for people eg she lost her mobile theyare happy we phoned them you gave us a fright

possessive pronouns stand for things mentioned as belonging to someoneeg this tuna sandwich is mine [ie lsquomy onersquo] those are yoursherstheirs etc

reciprocal pronouns stand for two or more people or things whichreciprocate an action eg they like each otherone another we all gave eachotherone another birthday presents

reflexive pronouns stand for people or things that are both the subjectand the object of the verb eg yoursquore wearing yourselves out thedogrsquoll scratch itself the computer switched itself off she bought herselfsomething nice

relative pronouns usually stand for people or things already mentionedeg the idiot who conceded the penalty the DVDs whichthat were on thetable the one politician whom everyone trusts

subject the noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb eg Micksang solo the grass is green you have grown they say it will be easy theallegation was denied he was tripped over

tense the form of a verb that corresponds to a particular segment of timeeg I eat [present] I shall eat [future] I have eaten [present perfect] I ate[simple past] I was eating [past progressive] I had eaten [past perfect]

ActiveJim clapped Tony [object] on the

backShe alone dismissed the idea

[object]They sell wild mushrooms [object]

here

PassiveTony [subject] was clapped on the back

by JimThe idea [subject] was dismissed by her

aloneWild mushrooms [subject] are sold here

(by them)

Glossary 189

verb the word that indicates the performance of an action or the existenceof a state eg she jumped out of her skin I shall get a mobile that is nice theyhave been very happy

190 Glossary

INDEX

a uses of 59ndash60 62 63ndash4adjectives 17ndash22 in -co and -go 18ndash19

with articles 14 definition of 187demonstrative 20 possessive 22ndash3preceding the noun 19ndash20 singularand plural 17ndash19 158

adverbial expressions 48ndash9adverbs 46ndash8 from adjectives 46

definition of 187 with the pastperfect 140 with the present perfect90

agreement of adjectives and nouns 17definition of 187

alcuno 121 122anche 101andare future 133 imperative 152

present 41 present conditional 165articles definite 9ndash11 definition of 187

indefinite 11ndash13 uses of 13ndash14 22ndash3auxiliary verbs definition of 187ndash8 see

also avere essereavere future 132 imperative 151

imperfect 112 present 28 presentconditional 164 present perfect 88used as auxiliary 86ndash7 88ndash90 usesof 31ndash2

bastare 81bello 20bere future 134 imperative 152

imperfect 113 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

buono 21

cadere future 133 present conditional165

crsquoegraveci sono 32ndash3 in imperfect 113 inpresent perfect 88

che (relative pronoun) 104ndash5cheche cosa 69 71chi 68 107ci with avere (ce) 54 with si as an

impersonal pronoun 159ndash60lsquotherersquo 125

coluicoleicoloro 106ndash7come 69 70 71 101compound prepositions 65con uses of 61conditional see present conditionalconjugations 37conoscere 39 vs sapere 42ndash3cosa 69 71cui 104 105

da uses of 36ndash7 60dare future 132 imperative 151 present

41 present conditional 165definite article 9ndash11 13ndash14 with

possessives 22ndash3 with prepositions57ndash8

demonstrative adjectives 20demonstrative pronouns 24 definition of

189di uses of 58ndash9 63dire imperative 151 imperfect 113

past participle 86 present 42direct object definition of 188direct object pronouns 52ndash4 formal form

54 with the imperative 154 with thepresent perfect (or any othercompound tense) 94ndash5 95ndash6stressed forms 99ndash101

dove 69 71 106dovere 43 future 133 present 42

present conditional 165present perfect 91

eccetto (che) 101essere with ci 32ndash3 88 113 as auxiliary

86ndash7 88ndash90 as auxiliary withimpersonal si 159 future 132imperative 151 imperfect 113present 28 present conditional 164present perfect 88 with reflexivepronouns 145 uses of 31

fare future 132 imperative 151imperfect 114 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

formal form 30 41 direct objectpronouns 54 in imperative152ndash3 indirect object pronouns76 with piacere 80 possessiveadjectives and pronouns 23ndash4

future 129ndash34 avere and essere 132 withifwhen 130 irregular verbs 132ndash4negative form 134 verbs in -care-gare and -iare 131ndash2 uses of129ndash30 verbs in -urre 134

gender 1ndash3 6 definition of 188grande 21

lsquohow muchmanyrsquo 70 71lsquohowrsquo 69 71

lsquoifrsquo with future tense 130imperative 149ndash54 essere 151 formal

form 152ndash3 irregular verbs 151ndash2negative form 153 154 withpronouns 154 uses of 149verbs in -urre 152

imperfect 111ndash17 of essere 113negative form 114 uses 115ndash17verbs in -urre 114

impersonal subject pronoun si 157ndash60in uses of 61 62 63 64indefinite article 11ndash13indirect object definition of 188indirect object pronouns 74ndash6

formal form 76 with theimperative 154 negative form 75with the present perfect 95stressed forms 99ndash101

infinitive 37 definition of 188 fornegative imperative 153

interrogative form 29 40interrogative pronouns definition of 189irregular plurals of nouns 5

irregular verbs future 132ndash4 imperative151ndash2 imperfect 113ndash14 pastparticiple 86 present 41ndash3present conditional 164ndash6

lsquoknowingrsquo 42ndash3

Lei Loro and Voi 30 41 see also formalform

mancare 81meno (che) 101mentre 116modomaniera 49molto 47 48 121

ne 120ndash4 negative form 122 with pastparticiple 122ndash4

neanche 101negative form 30 32ndash3 with direct object

pronouns 53 future 134 imperative153 154 imperfect 114 withindirect object pronouns 75 with ne122 past perfect 140 present 41present conditional 166 presentperfect 90 verbs with si 159

nemmeno 101neppure 101non see negative formnon ancoramai 47nouns definition of 188 ending in -ca

-co -ga -go -cia -gia 6ndash7gender 1ndash3 6 singular andplural 4ndash7

number definition of 188 nouns 4ndash7

parere 81partitive constructions with di 59passive definition of 188ndash9 using si 158past participle 85ndash6 definition 188 with

ne 122ndash4past perfect 137ndash40 with avere or essere

as auxiliaries 138 of avere andessere 139 negative form 140 usesof 137ndash8

per uses of 61percheacute 70personal pronouns definition of 189

see also pronounspiacere 79ndash81place see prepositions of placeplurals of adjectives 17ndash19

192 Index

plurals of nouns 4ndash7poco 47 48 121possession with di 58 59possessive adjectives 22ndash3possessive pronouns 23ndash4 definition of

189potere future 133 present 42 43 present

conditional 165 present perfect 91prepositions 57ndash65 compound 65

with definite article 57ndash8 definitionof 189 with pronouns 100 105106

prepositions of place 59 60 61 62prepositions of time 59 60 61 63present conditional 162ndash6 essere 164

irregular verbs 164ndash6 negative form166

present participle definition of 188present perfect 84ndash91 with direct object

pronouns 94ndash5 95ndash6 of avere andessere 88 with indirect objectpronouns 95 with ne 122ndash4negative form 90 potere dovere andvolere 91 of reflexive verbs 145using avere 86ndash7 88ndash9using essere 86ndash7 88ndash90 145uses of 84ndash5

present tense 36ndash43 avere and essere 28irregular verbs 41ndash3 uses of 36ndash7verbs in -are 37 verbs in -care and-gare 38 verbs in -cere and -gere 39verbs in -ere 38ndash9 verbs in -iare 38verbs in -ire 40 verbs with -isc-40 verbs in -urre 43

pronouns definition of 189demonstrative 24 direct object52ndash4 94ndash5 95ndash6 99ndash101 with theimperative 154 indirect object 74ndash696 99ndash101 possessive 23ndash4 afterprepositions 100 reflexive 143ndash6relative 104ndash7 stressed forms99ndash101 subject 28ndash9 see also cine si

pure 101

qualcuno 121 122quale 71(illa) quale (relative pronoun) 104

105ndash6quando 70 130quanto 70 71 101 121 123 124quello 20 24

quello che (relative pronoun) 106questions 29 40 68ndash71questo 20 24

reciprocal pronouns definition of 189reflexive pronouns 143ndash6 stressed form

146reflexive verbs 88 143 with si

(impersonal subject) 159ndash60relative pronouns 104ndash7 definition of

189rimanere future 134 present

conditional 165riuscire 42

salvo (che) 101santo 21ndash2sapere 42ndash3 vs conoscere 42ndash3 future

133 imperative 152 present 41present conditional 165

sembrare 81servire 81si impersonal 157ndash60 with essere as

auxiliary 159 negative form 159with reflexive verbs 159ndash60sentences with a passive meaning158

singular and plural adjectives 17ndash19 158lsquosomesomeonersquo 121 122spelling of adjectives in -co and -go

18ndash19 essere and avere 30 plurals ofnouns in -ca -co -ga -go -cia -gia6ndash7

stare future 132 imperative 152 present41 present conditional 165

stesso 146su uses of 61subject definition of 189subject pronouns 28ndash9

tanto 47 48tenere future 134 present conditional

165tense definition of 189lsquothatrsquo (relative pronoun) 104lsquothatthosersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24lsquothere isarersquo 32ndash3lsquothisthesersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24time see prepositions of timetra and fra uses of 62

Index 193

tranne (che) 101transitive verbs 88troppo 47 48 121

uscire imperative 152 present 41

vedere future 133 present conditional165

venire future 134 imperative 152past participle 86 present 41present conditional 165

verbs conjugations 37 definition of 190future 129ndash34 imperative 149ndash54imperfect 111ndash17 past perfect137ndash40 present 28 36ndash43 presentconditional 162ndash6 present perfect84ndash91 reflexive 143 see alsoirregular verbs

verbs in -urre future 134 imperative 152imperfect 114 past participle 85

present 43 present conditional166

vivere future 133 past participle 86present conditional 165

volere future 134 present 42 43present conditional 165 presentperfect 91

lsquowhatrsquo 69 71lsquowhenrsquo with future tense 130lsquowhenrsquo 70lsquowherersquo as alternative to relative pronoun

106lsquowherersquo 69 71lsquowhichrsquo 71lsquowhilersquo with imperfect tense 116lsquowhorsquo 68lsquowhomrsquo as a lsquoquestion wordrsquo 68 relative

pronoun 105 106lsquowhyrsquo 70

194 Index

• BOOK COVER
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• UNIT ONE Nouns gender and number
• UNIT TWO Definite and indefinite articles
• UNIT THREE Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns
• UNIT FOUR The present tense of essere and avere
• UNIT FIVE The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs
• UNIT SIX Adverbs
• UNIT SEVEN Direct object pronouns (1)
• UNIT EIGHT Prepositions
• UNIT NINE Questions
• UNIT TEN Indirect object pronouns (1)
• UNIT ELEVEN Piacere and similar verbs
• UNIT TWELVE The present perfect tense
• UNIT THIRTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (2)
• UNIT FOURTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms)
• UNIT FIFTEEN Relative pronouns
• UNIT SIXTEEN The imperfect tense
• UNIT SEVENTEEN The pronouns ne and ci
• UNIT EIGHTEEN The future tense
• UNIT NINETEEN The past perfect tense
• UNIT TWENTY Reflexive pronouns
• UNIT TWENTY-ONE The imperative
• UNIT TWENTY-TWO The pronoun si
• UNIT TWENTY-THREE The present conditional
• KEY TO EXERCISES
• GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
• INDEX

BASIC ITALIANA GRAMMAR ANDWORKBOOK

Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

First published 2006by Routledge2 Park Square Milton Park Abingdon OX14 4RN UK

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge270 Madison Ave New York NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor amp Francis Group

copy 2006 Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprintedor reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic mechanicalor other means now known or hereafter invented includingphotocopying and recording or in any information storage orretrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataA catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0ndash415ndash34717ndash3

This edition published in the Taylor amp Francis e-Library 2005

ldquoTo purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor amp Francis or Routledgersquoscollection of thousands of eBooks please go to wwweBookstoretandfcoukrdquo

ISBN 0-203-64007-1 Master e-book ISBN

(Print Edition)

CONTENTS

Introduction vii

List of signs and abbreviations viii

1 Nouns gender and number 1

2 Definite and indefinite articles 9

3 Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns 17

4 The present tense of essere and avere 28

5 The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs 36

6 Adverbs 46

7 Direct object pronouns (1) 52

8 Prepositions 57

9 Questions 68

10 Indirect object pronouns (1) 74

11 Piacere and similar verbs 79

12 The present perfect tense 84

13 Direct and indirect object pronouns (2) 94

14 Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms) 99

15 Relative pronouns 104

16 The imperfect tense 111

17 The pronouns ne and ci 120

18 The future tense 129

19 The past perfect tense 137

20 Reflexive pronouns 143

21 The imperative 149

22 The pronoun si 157

23 The present conditional 162

Key to exercises 168

Glossary of technical terms 187

Index 191

vi Contents

INTRODUCTION

If you are an English-speaking learner preparing GCSE Scottish StandardGrade (credit level) or similar examination or simply learning the languagefor everyday use this grammar and workbook is for you You will typically beeither following a course at school college or evening class or teaching your-self from a published course This book is not itself a course but a self-helpreferencerevision grammar with exercises designed to reinforce your graspof the points dealt with unit by unit You will find it a help to have access to agood ItalianndashEnglish dictionary when working through the book

Since this is not a self-contained course the grammar points are usuallygiven on their own out of context Of course this is artificial because ineveryday life when we say or write something it is always in a situation orcontext To compensate for this artificiality the grammar points are illus-trated with abundant examples which are often reused with variationsunder different headings This is partly to strengthen your grasp of grammarand vocabulary but mostly to help you learn how to manipulate the Italianlanguage in a wide range of situations Giving plenty of examples is a moreeffective way of helping you develop the ability to communicate in Italianthan giving you lists of rules with just one or two examples

At the end of each unit there are several sets of exercises If you workthrough these you will find that they consolidate your understanding of thevarious points introduced in the unit and also that they give you the con-fidence to have a go at expressing yourself in a range of situations andcontexts

The aim of the examples and exercises is to strengthen awareness of thespecific points dealt with in the unit they are not intended to cover all thepossible uses of a given word or grammatical structure

At the end of the book there is a key to all the exercises and a glossary ofgrammatical terms with examples

SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

f femininefp feminine pluralfs feminine singularlit literallym masculinemp masculine pluralms masculine singularpl pluralsing singular

Square brackets indicate an explanatory comment attached to an exampleeg

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono Thatrsquos Luisa on the phone[ie she has just rung]Quanto zucchero [ms] vuoi How much sugar do you wantlsquoDovrsquoegrave Annarsquo lsquoNo lo sorsquo lsquoWherersquos Annarsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo

[lit I donrsquot know it]

Round brackets in an example show that the material in brackets is optionaleg

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo lsquoHave you got the booksrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got themrsquo

Ne ho mangiati due I ate two (of them)A chi scrivete Who(m) are you writing to

Round brackets round an entire sentence show that while possible this is aformal form that is not often used eg

( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco) Are you leaving( Mr and MrsBianco)

A slash shows alternative ways of saying something eg

Gli dicoDico loro la veritagrave I tell them the truth (Here gli dico and dicoloro are alternative ways of saying lsquoI tell themrsquo)Non mi sembra giusto It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot think itrsquos fair(Here the English sentences are alternatives to one another)

Signs and abbreviations ix

UNIT ONENouns gender and number

Gender masculine and feminine

1 All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine The best way to remem-ber the gender of a noun is to learn it along with its definite article (ie theword meaning lsquothersquo) In this unit nouns will therefore be given along withtheir definite articles but there will be no discussion of the articles as suchDefinite and indefinite articles are the subject of Unit 2

Most nouns in the singular end in -o -a or -e

2 Italian nouns ending in -o are usually masculine

3 Italian nouns ending in -a are usually feminine

4 Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine Unless anoun ending in -e denotes a person whose gender is defined (eg lsquohusbandrsquolsquowifersquo) there are virtually no rules to determine its gender which must there-fore be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

lrsquouomo [m]il fratello [m]il pomeriggio [m]il treno [m]

manbrotherafternoontrain

la donna [f]la sorella [f]la sera [f]la bicicletta [f]

womansistereveningbicycle

To help you to determine the gender of some nouns ending in -e here is arule nouns ending in -sione or -zione are feminine

Sometimes the gender of a noun ending in -e can be determined by thegender of the person it refers to masculine when it refers to a male femininewhen it refers to a female

5 Some nouns ending in -a and referring to persons are masculine when theyrefer to a male and feminine when they refer to a female

There are some exceptions eg la persona (person) and la guida (touristguide) are always feminine even when they refer to a male while the feminineof il poeta (poet) is la poetessa

6 There are some nouns ending in -a which are masculine and some nounsending in -o which are feminine

Masculineil padreil ristoranteil saleil cognome

fatherrestaurantsaltsurname

Femininela madrela nottela lucela chiave

mothernightlightkey

la televisione [f]la pensione [f]la produzione [f]la stazione [f]

televisionpensionproductionstation

illa cantante [mf]illa cliente [mf]illa parente [mf]lrsquoinglese [mf]

(malefemale) singer(malefemale) customer(malefemale) relativeEnglishmanEnglishwoman

illa collega [mf]lrsquoatleta [mf]illa batterista [mf]illa pianista [mf]

(malefemale) colleague(malefemale) athlete(malefemale) drummer(malefemale) pianist

Masculineil cinemail papagraveil problema

cinemadadproblem

Femininelrsquoautola fotola mano

carphotohand

2 Unit 1

Some nouns of this type are abbreviations and have kept the gender of thefull word cinema stands for cinematografo [m] auto for automobile [f] fotofor fotografia [f] etc Such cases apart there is no rule for determining genderwhich has to be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

7 Some nouns end in -i The vast majority are feminine but there aresome exceptions

Two exceptions are lrsquoalibi (alibi) and lo sci (ski) which are masculine

8 Foreign nouns unless they refer to a female are generally masculine

9 Occasionally the gender of a foreign noun is the same as it is for thecorresponding Italian word

la new wave is feminine because onda (wave) is femininela mail (e-mail message) is feminine because posta (mail) is feminine

10 The following rules can help in determining the gender of nouns

bull All months of the year and days of the week are masculine apart fromdomenica (Sunday) which is feminine

bull All names of towns and cities are feminine apart from Il Cairo [m]bull All names of languages are masculinebull Names of countries are normally feminine when they end in -a and

masculine when they end in any other letter

lrsquoanalisi [f]lrsquoipotesi [f]la crisi [f]

analysishypothesiscrisis

il bar [m]il camion [m]il rock [m]lrsquohostess [f]

barlorryrock (music)stewardess

la Francia [f]la Spagna [f]il Belgio [m]il Paraguay [m]

FranceSpainBelgiumParaguay

Unit 1 3

Number singular and plural

11 Masculine nouns ending in -o and all nouns ending in -e end in -i in theplural

Nouns ending in -ie have only one -i in the plural

12 Nouns ending in -io have only one i in the plural But if the -i is stressed(-io) the plural has two (-ii)

13 Feminine nouns ending in -a take -e in the plural

14 Masculine nouns ending in -a take -i in the plural

15 When a noun ending in -a denotes a person its plural ending depends onwhether it is masculine or feminine If it refers to a male the plural ends in -iif it refers to a female the plural ends in -e

Singularil treno [m]il nome [m]la notte [f]la stazione [f]la pensione [f]illa parente [mf]la moglie [f]

trainnamenounnightstationpensionrelativewife

Plurali trenii nomile nottile stazionile pensioniile parentile mogli

trainsnamesnounsnightsstationspensionsrelativeswives

Singularil bacio [m]il desiderio [m]lrsquoinizio [m]lo zio [m]il mormorio [m]

kisswishbeginningunclemurmur

Plurali bacii desiderigli inizigli ziii mormorii

kisseswishesbeginningsunclesmurmurs

Singularla sorella [f]la lettera [f]la sera [f]

sisterletterevening

Pluralle sorellele letterele sere

sisterslettersevenings

Singularil problema [m]il sistema [m]

problemsystem

Plurali problemii sistemi

problemssystems

4 Unit 1

For an explanation of the -h- in these endings see paragraph 20 below

16 Nouns ending in -i do not change in the plural

17 Foreign nouns and nouns stressed on the last vowel do not change in theplural

18 A number of nouns are irregular in the plural Eg la mano [f] (hand)becomes le mani in the plural lrsquouomo [m] (man) becomes gli uomini in theplural Here are some nouns which do not change in the plural because theyare abbreviations (cf above paragraph 6)

Some nouns are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural Here area few

Singularil pianista [m] (male) pianistla pianista [f] (female) pianistil collega [m] (male) colleaguela collega [f] (female) colleague

Plurali pianisti [m] (male) pianistsle pianiste [f] (female) pianistsi colleghi [m] (male) colleaguesle colleghe [f] (female) colleagues

Singularlrsquoanalisi [f]la crisi [f]

analysiscrisis

Pluralle analisile crisi

analysescrises

Singularil bar [m]lo sport [m]la cittagrave [f]la virtugrave [f]

barsportcityvirtue

Plurali bargli sportle cittagravele virtugrave

barssportscitiesvirtues

Singularlrsquoauto [f]la radio [f]la moto [f]la foto [f]il cinema [m]

carradiomotorbikephotocinema

Pluralle autole radiole motole fotoi cinema

carsradiosmotorbikesphotoscinemas

Singularil dito [m]il centinaio [m]il migliaio [m]il miglio [m]il paio [m]lrsquouovo [m]

finger(about) a hundred(about) a thousandmilepairegg

Pluralle dita [f]le centinaia [f]le migliaia [f]le miglia [f]le paia [f]le uova [f]

fingershundredsthousandsmilespairseggs

Unit 1 5

19 Note that in Italian the masculine form of a noun is also used when thegender is not important A noun in the plural may therefore designate anyone of three different sets of people

Spelling

Care is needed in spelling some plurals

20 Nouns ending in -ca or -ga always add h (-che or -ghe) in order to keepthe hard sound of c and g in the plural We saw the example of illa collega inparagraph 15 Here are some more

21 Nouns ending in -co and -go normally add h (-chi or -ghi) and keep thehard sound but some nouns change the sound of c and g in the plural (-ci or-gi) It is always best to check in a dictionary

gli amici

gli insegnanti

i colleghi

either a specific set of male friends [as in lsquoYour friends(Luigi and Giovanni) have arrivedrsquo]or a specific mixed set of male and female friends [as inlsquoYour friends (Luigi and Anna) have arrivedrsquo]or friends in general [whether male and female does notmatter as in lsquoEverybody needs friendsrsquo]either a specific set of male teachersor a specific mixed set of male and female teachersor teachers in general [regardless of gender]either a specific set of male colleaguesor a specific mixed set of male and female colleaguesor colleagues in general [regardless of gender]

Singularlrsquoamica [f]la tasca [f]la riga [f]

(female) friendpocketline ruler

Pluralle amichele taschele righe

(female) friendspocketslines rulers

Singularil bosco [m]il gioco [m]il parco [m]il lago [m]lrsquoamico [m]il medico [m]il biologo [m]

woodgameparklake(male) frienddoctorbiologist

Plurali boschii giochii parchii laghigli amicii medicii biologi

woodsgamesparkslakes(male) friendsdoctorsbiologists

6 Unit 1

22 Nouns ending in -cia or -gia keep the i in the plural (-cie or -gie) when the iis stressed or when c or g is preceded by a vowel But if -cia or -gia ispreceded by a consonant the i is lost in the plural

Exercise 1

With the help of a dictionary where necessary decide what gender the nounsare and write m f or mf after each one

Examples la notte f illa pianista mf il fratello m

Exercise 2

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the plurals of thenouns

Examples la notte le notti il nome i nomi il treno i trenila sera le sere

Singularla farmacia [f]la bugia [f]la camicia [f]la ciliegia [f]lrsquoarancia [f]la doccia [f]la spiaggia [f]

pharmacylieshirtblousecherryorangeshowerbeach

Pluralle farmaciele bugiele camiciele ciliegiele arancele doccele spiagge

pharmaciesliesshirtsblousescherriesorangesshowersbeaches

1 il giorno mdashmdash2 la sera mdashmdash3 lrsquouomo mdashmdash4 lrsquoinfermiera mdashmdash5 la stanza mdashmdash6 lrsquoorecchio mdashmdash7 il caffegrave mdashmdash8 lo zucchero mdashmdash9 il fiume mdashmdash

10 lrsquoolandese mdashmdash

11 lrsquouovo mdashmdash12 la camicia mdashmdash13 lrsquoatleta mdashmdash14 lrsquoanimale mdashmdash15 la strada mdashmdash16 lrsquoacqua mdashmdash17 lrsquoabitante mdashmdash18 lrsquoocchio mdashmdash19 il sole mdashmdash20 la canzone mdashmdash

Unit 1 7

Exercise 3

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the singulars of thenouns

Examples la casa le case il libro i libri il mese i mesila moglie le mogli

1 il ragazzo2 la marca3 la chiave4 lrsquoabitante5 lo zio6 il fiume7 la stazione8 la ragazza9 lrsquoenergia

10 il pomeriggio

i mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

11 la banca12 il pianista13 la cliente14 lrsquoindirizzo15 lrsquoocchio16 il ristorante17 la televisione18 il calendario19 il francese20 il lago

le mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

1 il mdashmdashmdashmdash2 la mdashmdashmdashmdash3 il mdashmdashmdashmdash4 la mdashmdashmdashmdash5 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash6 il mdashmdashmdashmdash7 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash8 la mdashmdashmdashmdash9 la mdashmdashmdashmdash

10 il mdashmdashmdashmdash

i nomile viei figlile manile opinionii clientigli occhile personele marchei problemi

11 la mdashmdashmdashmdash12 il mdashmdashmdashmdash13 il mdashmdashmdashmdash14 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash15 il mdashmdashmdashmdash16 la mdashmdashmdashmdash17 il mdashmdashmdashmdash18 il mdashmdashmdashmdash19 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash20 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash

le ciliegiei caffegravei medicigli attivistile ginocchiale bugiei tedeschii testgli uominile amiche

8 Unit 1

UNIT TWODefinite and indefinite articles

Definite article

1 In Italian the definite article (English lsquothersquo) has different forms dependingon the gender (masculinefeminine) and number (singularplural) of the fol-lowing word and on the letter (or sound) with which the following wordbegins Here are the forms

2 The feminine forms are used before feminine words la and lrsquo for the singu-lar and le for the plural

la is used before words beginning with a consonantlrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel (a e i o u) or hle is used as the plural for both la and lrsquo

3 There are three different forms for the masculine singular il lo and lrsquo andtwo for the plural i and gli All these forms are used before masculine words

Feminine

Masculine

Singularlalrsquoillolrsquo

Pluralleleigligli

the

Singularla ragazzala casala stanzalrsquoautolrsquoesperienzalrsquohostess

Pluralle ragazzele casele stanzele autole esperienzele hostess

the girl(s)the house(s)the room(s)the car(s)the experience(s)the stewardess(es)

lrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or hlo is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantil is used in all other casesi is used as the plural of ilgli is used as the plural of both lrsquo and lo

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of chef pronounced in Italian asin English (ie lsquoshrsquo)

Lo is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of juventino pronounced asi + vowel (ie like the lsquoyrsquo in English lsquoyouthrsquo)

4 Care is needed in using the article with nouns ending in -e or -a which canrefer both to male or female persons (see Unit 1 paragraphs 4 and 5)

Singularlrsquoarticololrsquouomolrsquohotello ziolo gnomolo psicologolo cheflo spettacololo scioperoil baril ristoranteil senso

Pluralgli articoligli uominigli hotelgli ziigli gnomigli psicologigli chefgli spettacoligli scioperii bari ristorantii sensi

the article(s)the manmenthe hotel(s)the uncle(s)the gnome(s)the psychologist(s)the chef(s)the show(s)the strike(s)the bar(s)the restaurant(s)the sense(s)

Singularlo ionelo yuppielo xenofobolo juventino

Pluralgli ionigli yuppiegli xenofobigli juventini

the ion(s)the yuppie(s)the xenophobe(s)the Juventus fan(s)

Singularil cantante [m]

la cantante [f]

the (male)singer

the (female)singer

Plurali cantanti [m]

le cantanti [f]

the singers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) singers

10 Unit 2

Remember that as we saw in Unit 1 paragraph 19 the masculine plural formcan also denote a class of people in general as well as a group of males or amixed group of males and females eg i cantanti [m] can denote either agroup of male singers or a mixed group of male and female singers or singersin general

Indefinite article

5 Like the definite article the indefinite article (English lsquoaanrsquo) has differentforms depending on the gender of the word it refers to and the letter (orsound) with which the following word begins There is no plural for theindefinite article Here are the forms

6 The feminine forms unrsquo and una are used before feminine words

unrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or huna is used before words beginning with a consonant

Singularlrsquoinsegnante [m]

lrsquoinsegnante [f]

il collega [m]

la collega [f]

lrsquoatleta [m]

lrsquoatleta [f]

the (male)teacher

the (female)teacher

the (male)colleague

the (female)colleague

the (male)athlete

the (female)athlete

Pluralgli insegnanti [m]

le insegnanti [f]

i colleghi [m]

le colleghe [f]

gli atleti [m]

le atlete [f]

the teachers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) teachers

the colleagues [maleor male andfemale mixed]

the (female)colleagues

the athletes [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) athletes

Feminine

Masculine

unrsquounaununo

aan

unrsquoautounrsquoesperienzaunrsquohostess

a caran experiencea stewardess

Unit 2 11

7 The masculine forms uno and un are used before masculine words

uno is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantun is used before all other words

Uno (like lo) is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

8 As with the definite article care is needed in choosing the right article touse with nouns ending in -e or -a which can refer to either male or femalepersons

In the case of nouns starting with a vowel the only difference between thearticles is the apostrophe

una ragazzauna casauna stanza

a girla housea room

uno ziouno gnomouno psicologouno chefuno spettacoloun articoloun uomoun hobbyun barun ristoranteun senso

an unclea gnomea psychologista chefa showan articlea mana hobbya bara restauranta sense

uno ioneuno yuppieuno xenofobouno juventino

an iona yuppiea xenophobea Juventus fan

un cantante [m]una cantante [f]un insegnante [m]unrsquoinsegnante [f]un collega [m]una collega [f]un atleta [m]unrsquoatleta [f]

a singer (male)a singer (female)a teacher (male)a teacher (female)a colleague (male)a colleague (female)an athlete (male)an athlete (female)

12 Unit 2

9 It may be useful to compare the use of the definite and indefinite article intable form

Use of the articles

10 The use of the articles is often the same in Italian as in English but thereare cases (mostly concerning the definite article) where the two languagesdiffer Here are the most common instances

bull In Italian the definite article is used before a noun used in a generalsense

bull Italian uses the definite article before a title followed by a surnameexcept when addressing the person directly

Note that some masculine titles notably Signore Professore and Dottoredrop the final vowel when used before the name of the person becomingSignor Professor Dottor etc

bull The Italian definite article is always used with years eg il 1990 il 2000bull The definite article is normally used in Italian with names of countries

and regions eg lrsquoInghilterra (England) la Toscana (Tuscany) il Porto-gallo (Portugal) lrsquoEuropa (Europe) But the rule may be different whenusing a preposition eg in Italia (in Italy) (see Unit 8 paragraph 14)

Masculineun is used when il and lrsquo are useduno is used when lo is used

Feminineunrsquo is used when lrsquo is useduna is used when la is used

Amo la musica rockle vacanzeLa musica rock egrave popolareLe vacanze sono sempre troppo corteIl tempo volaLe auto inquinano lrsquoambienteLa disoccupazione egrave diffusa

I love rock musicholidaysRock music is popularHolidays are always too shortTime fliesCars pollute the environmentUnemployment is widespread

La Signora Urbani egrave gentileLa Dottoressa Vanni non crsquoegraveIl Dottor Marchi egrave occupatoBuongiorno Signor CarliBuongiorno DottoreScusi Signore

MrsMs Urbani is kindDoctor Vanni isnrsquot hereDoctor Marchi is busyGood morning Mr CarliGood morning DoctorExcuse me( Sir)

Unit 2 13

11 In some cases a definite article is used in Italian where an indefinite article(or a possessive adjective ndash see Unit 3) is used in English Here are someinstances

There are also cases when there is no article in Italian but the definite orindefinite article is used in English

Definite and indefinite article before an adjective

12 As we shall see (Unit 3) a noun can sometimes be preceded by an adjec-tive so that the adjective comes between the article and the noun (eg unabella donna a beautiful woman) In such cases the form of the articledepends on the spelling of the adjective not the noun

Antonio ha il naso lungoHai la patenteAvete lrsquoombrelloHo il raffreddoreDove passi le vacanze di solito

Di pomeriggio faccio il compitoHai il biglietto

Antonio has a long noseHave you got a driving licenceHave you got an umbrellaI have got a coldWhere do you normally spend your

holidaysIn the afternoon I do my homeworkHave you got ayour ticket

Andiamo in montagnaStasera andiamo a teatroAccompagno Anna in aeroportoAndiamo in macchinaCarlo egrave medicoSono studenteNon ha marito

Wersquore going to the mountainsWersquore going to the theatre this eveningIrsquom taking Anna to the airportWersquore going in thea carCarlo is a doctorIrsquom a studentShe hasnrsquot got a husband

la casauna casalrsquoautounrsquoauto

the housea housethe cara car

lrsquoultima casaunrsquoottima casala prima autouna bella auto

the last housean excellent housethe first cara beautiful car

14 Unit 2

Exercise 1

Insert the definite article before the nouns

Examples lrsquoacqua la stanza le esperienze il ristorante lo ziogli uomini

Exercise 2

Insert the indefinite article before the nouns

Examples unrsquoauto una ragazza un articolo uno spettacoloun insegnante [m] unrsquoatleta [f]

1 mdashmdash figlia2 mdashmdash zia3 mdashmdash problema4 mdashmdash mano5 mdashmdash auto6 mdashmdash fratello7 mdashmdash libri8 mdashmdash entrata9 mdashmdash studio

10 mdashmdash zii

11 mdashmdash notti12 mdashmdash sport13 mdashmdash uovo14 mdashmdash xenofobia15 mdashmdash tivugrave16 mdashmdash amici17 mdashmdash pianiste18 mdashmdash dita19 mdashmdash crisi20 mdashmdash inglese

1 mdashmdash sorella2 mdashmdash ciliegia3 mdashmdash amico4 mdashmdash zio5 mdashmdash zia6 mdashmdash aereo7 mdashmdash amica8 mdashmdash cantante [f]9 mdashmdash migliaio

10 mdashmdash specchio

11 mdashmdash arancia12 mdashmdash psichiatra [m]13 mdashmdash sigaretta14 mdashmdash insegnante [f]15 mdashmdash gnu16 mdashmdash artista [m]17 mdashmdash sbaglio18 mdashmdash figlio19 mdashmdash yogurt20 mdashmdash analisi

Unit 2 15

Exercise 3

Insert the correct article in the blank spaces

Example Maria ha una casa (Maria has a house)

1 mdashmdash zio di Maria arriva domani (Mariarsquos uncle arrives tomorrow)2 Paolo scrive mdashmdash lettera (Paolo is writing a letter)3 Hai mdashmdash mani pulite (Have you got clean hands)4 Egrave mdashmdash amica di Patrizia (Shersquos a friend of Patriziarsquos)5 Laura non ha mdashmdash patente (Laura hasnrsquot got a driving licence)6 Crsquoegrave mdashmdash Signor Totti (Is Mr Totti here)7 Egrave mdashmdash insegnante molto capace (Shersquos a very capable teacher)8 mdashmdash inquinamento egrave mdashmdash problema preoccupante (Pollution is a

worrying problem)9 mdashmdash nuovo stadio egrave piugrave grande (The new stadium is bigger)

10 Ho mdashmdash stesso CD (Irsquove got the same CD)

16 Unit 2

UNIT THREEAdjectives possessive and demonstrativepronouns

1 Adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun theyrefer to if the noun is masculine singular the adjective must be masculinesingular if the noun is feminine singular the adjective must be feminine singu-lar etc Adjectives therefore change their forms accordingly But rememberthat when an adjective is listed in a dictionary or a grammar it is given in itsmasculine singular form In the masculine singular most Italian adjectivesend in -o or in -e

2 Adjectives ending in -o have four different forms -o for the masculinesingular (italiano) -a for feminine singular (italiana) -i for the masculineplural (italiani) and -e for the feminine plural (italiane)

3 Adjectives ending in -e have only two forms -e for the masculine andfeminine singular (francese) and -i for the masculine and feminine plural(francesi) With adjectives ending in -e there is thus no difference between themasculine and the feminine form

italianonuovofrancesegrande

ItaliannewFrenchbig

lrsquoarbitro [ms] italianogli arbitri [mp] italianila cameriera [fs] italianale cameriere [fp] italianelo stadio [ms] nuovogli stadi [mp] nuovila casa [fs] nuovale case [fp] nuove

the Italian refereethe Italian refereesthe Italian waitressthe Italian waitressesthe new stadiumthe new stadiastadiumsthe new housethe new houses

4 Some adjectives end in -a like the following

These adjectives have three forms -a for the masculine and feminine singular(ottimista) -i for the masculine plural (ottimisti) and -e for the feminine plural(ottimiste) There is thus only one form for the masculine and femininesingular

For an explanation of the -h- in belghe see paragraph 6 below

5 There are also some invariable adjectives eg blu (dark blue) rosa (pink)dispari (odd) pari (even) which do not change

6 Care is needed in spelling the plural of adjectives ending in -co and -goThere is no fixed rule for the masculine forms which may keep the hard

lrsquoarbitro [ms] francesegli arbitri [mp] francesila cameriera [fs] francesele cameriere [fp] francesilo stadio [ms] grandegli stadi [mp] grandila casa [fs] grandele case [fp] grandi

the French refereethe French refereesthe French waitressthe French waitressesthe big stadiumthe big stadiastadiumsthe big housethe big houses

ottimistapacifistabelgaentusiastaidiota

optimisticpacifistBelgianenthusiasticidiotic

il corteo [ms] pacifistalrsquoidea [fs] pacifistai cortei [mp] pacifistile idee [fp] pacifisteil ragazzo [ms] belgala ragazza [fs] belgai ragazzi [mp] belgile ragazze [fp] belghe

the pacifist rallythe pacifist ideathe pacifist ralliesthe pacifist ideasthe Belgian boythe Belgian girlthe Belgian boysthe Belgian girls

il vestito rosala penna blui numeri disparile pagine pari

the pink garmentdresssuitthe blue penthe odd numbersthe even pages

18 Unit 3

sound of c and g and add h (-chi -ghi) or change the sound of c and g in theplural (-ci -gi) The feminine plural forms always add h (-che -ghe) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g If in doubt check in a dictionary the bestway to remember these sorts of plural is through practice

The adjective belga as we have seen keeps the hard sound of g in the femi-nine plural by adding h (belghe) but it changes the sound in the masculineplural (belgi)

7 As can be seen in the examples the adjective normally comes after thenoun it refers to and (unless it is invariable) it must agree in gender andnumber with the noun It must also agree in gender and number withthe noun even where it is separated from it by another word such as averb

When the adjective refers to two or more nouns which are different in genderit is masculine plural

8 In some cases the adjective can also precede the noun it refers to When theadjective comes before the noun the meaning of the noun becomes differentas in these examples

Masculinesingulargrecopraticopubblicoriccofrescolargo

Masculinepluralgrecipraticipubbliciricchifreschilarghi

Femininesingulargrecapraticapubblicariccafrescalarga

Femininepluralgrechepratichepubblichericchefreschelarghe

Greekpracticalpublicrichfreshwide

Lorenzo egrave italianoLorenzo e Vittorio sono italianiAnna egrave italianaAnna e Claudia sono italiane

Lorenzo is ItalianLorenzo and Vittorio are ItalianAnna is ItalianAnna and Claudia are Italian

Lorenzo Anna e Claudia sonoitaliani

Sabine e Kurt sono tedeschiIl computer e la stampante sono

nuoviIl bagno e la cucina sono piccoli

I pantaloni e la camicia sono nuovi

Lorenzo Anna and Claudia areItalian

Sabine and Kurt are GermanThe computer and the printer are new

The bathroom and the kitchen aresmall

The trousers and the shirt are new

Unit 3 19

9 The demonstrative adjectives questo (this) and quello (that) like theirEnglish counterparts always precede the noun they refer to

For an explanation of the forms of quello see paragraph 10

10 The forms of the adjectives quello and bello (beautifulhandsomenice-fine) change in the same way as the definite article Here are the formsfollowed in brackets by the corresponding forms of the definite article

The feminine singular form bellrsquo is rarely used and bella is preferred evenbefore a vowel

Note that when bello comes after the noun the full form is used lo spettacoloegrave bello unrsquoesperienza bella e interessante etc

un vecchio amicoun amico vecchiola povera donnala donna povera

an old [ie long-standing] friendan oldelderly friend [ie a friend who is old]the poor [ie unfortunate] womanthe poor woman [ie she has no money]

questo ragazzoquesta ragazzaquesti ragazziqueste ragazzequel ragazzoquella ragazzaquei ragazziquelle ragazze

this boythis girlthese boysthese girlsthat boythat girlthose boysthose girls

Masculine

Feminine

Singularquelbelquellobelloquellrsquobellrsquoquellabellaquellrsquobellrsquo

(il)(lo)(lrsquo)(la)(lrsquo)

Pluralqueibeiqueglibegliqueglibegliquellebellequellebelle

(i)(gli)(gli)(le)(le)

quel filmbello spettacoloquellrsquoesempioquella canzonebella esperienzaquel bel film

that filmlovely showthat examplethat songbeautiful experiencethat beautiful film

bei filmquegli spettacolibegli esempibelle canzoniquelle esperienzequei bei film

beautiful filmsthose showsfine examplesbeautiful songsthose experiencesthose beautiful

films

20 Unit 3

11 The forms of the adjective buono (good) when used before a singularnoun change in the same way as the indefinite article

Nowadays the form buona is preferred to buonrsquo

Note that when buono comes after the noun the full form is used questolibro egrave buono il caffegrave egrave buono etc

12 The adjective grande (biggreat) when used before the noun may changeto the invariable form gran or in some expressions to grandrsquo nowadays thefull form grande is preferred in most cases

Note that before plural nouns grande is regular grandi musicisti grandi caseetc

Note also that when grande comes after the noun the full form is alwaysused quel film egrave grande la casa egrave grande etc

13 The adjective santo (saint) is another that has different forms when usedbefore a noun

santo is only used before masculine names starting with s + consonantsan is used before masculine names starting with a consonant (other than

s + consonant)santrsquo is used before masculine or feminine names starting with a vowelsanta is used before feminine names starting with a consonant

Masculine

Feminine

buonbuonobuonrsquobuonabuona

(un)(uno)(unrsquo)(una)

buon librobuon amicobuon caffegravebuono studente

good bookgood friendgood coffeegood student

buona ideabuona esperienzabuona memoria

good ideagood experiencegood memory

grande musicistagrande filmgrande casa

grande amico

grande idea[sometimes] grande

uomo

gran musicistagran filmgran casaGran Bretagna[sometimes] grandrsquoamicogran

amico[sometimes] grandrsquoideagran ideagrandrsquouomo

great musiciangreat filmbig houseGreat Britaingreat friend

great ideagreat man

Unit 3 21

Note that when santo means lsquoholyrsquo or lsquoblessedrsquo it is regular il santo padre(the Holy Father) una santa donna (a holy woman)

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

14 The forms of the possessive adjectives (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquo etc) are asfollows

Note that the masculine plural forms miei tuoi and suoi are irregular Note that loro is invariable and does not change

Possessive adjectives are always used before the noun they refer to Unlike inEnglish they are always preceded by the article and they must agree with theowned object not with the owner

15 When mio tuo suo nostro and vostro (not loro) are used with a noundenoting family relationship (eg fratello (brother) sorella (sister) padre(father) madre (mother) ) in the singular they are not preceded by the definitearticle

Santo StefanoSan FrancescoSan Pietro

Saint StephenSaint FrancisSaint Peter

SantrsquoAntonioSantrsquoAnnaSanta Caterina

Saint AnthonySaint AnneSaint Catherine

Masculinesingularmiotuosuonostrovostroloro

Femininesingularmiatuasuanostravostraloro

Masculinepluralmieituoisuoinostrivostriloro

Femininepluralmietuesuenostrevostreloro

myyourhisheritsouryourtheir

Luisa e i suoi fratelli [mp]Carlo e le sue sorelle [fp]Livia e il suo amico [ms]Ettore e la sua amica [fs]la mia lettera [fs]i tuoi libri [mp]la nostra scuola [fs]le vostre idee [fp]la loro stanza [fs]i loro genitori [mp]

Luisa and her brothersCarlo and his sistersLivia and her (male) friendEttore and his (female) friendmy letteryour booksour schoolyour ideastheir roomtheir parents

22 Unit 3

16 The forms of the possessive pronouns (lsquominersquo lsquoyoursrsquo etc) are the sameas those of the possessive adjectives and are always preceded by the definitearticle

17 As we shall see (Unit 4 paragraph 5) in Italian there is a form used toaddress people formally In the formal way of addressing people the posses-sive adjectives and pronouns used are Suo for the singular and Vostro (orLoro if a higher degree of formality is required) for the plural

mio padretua madretuo fratellosua ziai tuoi fratelli [pl]le sue zie [pl]il loro padre

my fatheryour motheryour brotherhisher auntyour brothershisher auntstheir father

Masculinesingularil mioil tuoil suoil nostroil vostroil loro

Femininesingularla miala tuala suala nostrala vostrala loro

Masculineplurali mieii tuoii suoii nostrii vostrii loro

Femininepluralle miele tuele suele nostrele vostrele loro

mineyourshishersitsoursyourstheirs

La tua casa egrave grande ma la loro egravepiccola

I tuoi CD sono qui i nostri sono ligrave

Your house is big but theirs is small

Your CDs are here ours are there

AdjectivesLa Sua auto egrave pronta Signora FerreroEcco i Suoi libri SignoreSignori Bianco la Vostra stanza egrave

pronta(Signori Bianco la Loro stanza egrave

pronta)

Your carrsquos ready Mrs FerreroHere are your books( Sir)

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) your roomis ready

PronounsLa loro auto egrave in strada ma la Sua egrave

in garage SignoraProfessore questi libri sono i Suoi

Their carrsquos in the street but yoursis in the garage( Madam)

These books are yours( ProfessorSir)

Unit 3 23

Demonstrative pronouns

18 Questo and quello are also used as demonstrative pronouns (this (one)that (one) these (ones) those (ones) ) But note that when quello is used as ademonstrative pronoun its endings are not modelled on the definite article(cf paragraph 10) but are the same as those of questo (ie quello [ms] quella[fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp])

Exercise 1

Complete the phrases by choosing the form of the adjective that agrees withthe noun

Examples le ragazze (italiano) italiane (quello) acqua (caldo) quellrsquocalda

1 un libro (interessante) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 la gonna (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 i vestiti (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 le camicie (rosso) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 gli insegnanti (egoista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 un (bello) albero mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 un collega (razzista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 le situazioni (comico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 le donne (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 i capelli (lungo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Questa stanza egrave la Vostra SignoriBianco

(Questa stanza egrave la Loro SignoriBianco)

This room is yours( Mr and MrsBianco)

(This room is yours Mr and MrsBianco)

Questa egrave AnnaQuesta egrave la tua stanza e quella egrave la

miaQuesti sono gli eserciziQuello egrave il nuovo computerQuelle sono le AlpiQuesti biscotti sono buoni ma

preferisco quelli

This is AnnaThis is my room and that onersquos

yoursThese are the exercisesThat is the new computerThose are the AlpsThese biscuits are nice but I prefer

those

24 Unit 3

11 (quello) ragazzo (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 (questo) esercizi (facile) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 (quello) (bello) specchi mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 (questo) (bello) donne mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 (quello) alberi (morto) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 (questo) amici (inglese)mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 (quello) attiviste (spagnolo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 (quello) (bello) attore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 (quello) uova (fresco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 (quello) turisti (greco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Exercise 2

Choose the right adjective for each noun or pair of nouns

Examples Queste scarpe sono (rossanuovebelli) nuove Anna e Francosono (franceseitalianeitaliani) italiani

1 La casa egrave (vecchionuovigrande) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 Ho un vestito (rosanuovalunghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 Le professoresse sono (intelligentefrancesinoiosa) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 La crisi egrave (serioseviolentigrave) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 I colleghi (italianeottimistapacifisti) arrivano domani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 Queste macchine sono (velocenuovitedesche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 Questo bambino egrave (capricciosepigrobeneducata) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 Quei film sono (inglesedivertentelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 Le cameriere sono (giovanegrecabelghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 Il pianista non egrave (stancabelgavecchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 Ho le dita (pulitisporchelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 Quel signore ha un carattere (simpatichecortesienergico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 Questi blue-jeans sono (resistentipraticheamericana) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 Le maglie sono (vecchioblubianchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 Le cantanti sono (spagnolitedeschiscozzesi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 Il treno e lrsquoauto sono (velociinquinantecomodo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 Paola Claudia e Anna sono (italianibellisimpatiche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 Claudio e Patrizia sono (gentileitalianicontenta) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 Gianfranco Piero e Giorgio sono (feliceottimistiitaliane) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 I signori e le signore sono (soddisfattigrecoaffollate) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Unit 3 25

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences by adding the correct form of the possessive adjectiveand where necessary the article

Examples Conosco Luisa e (suo) fratelli i suoi (Mio) madre egrave bella Mia

1 (Loro) bambini sono cortesi mdashmdashmdash2 (Suo) occhi sono blu mdashmdashmdash3 Questa egrave (mio) bici mdashmdashmdash4 Quanti anni hanno (tuo) sorelle mdashmdashmdash5 (Vostro) macchina egrave nuova mdashmdashmdash6 (Nostro) lavoro egrave interessante mdashmdashmdash7 (Mio) amici sono in vacanza mdashmdashmdash8 (Loro) casa egrave grande mdashmdashmdash9 (Tuo) madre egrave simpatica mdashmdashmdash

10 Grazie per (Suo) lettera Signore mdashmdashmdash

Exercise 4

Answer the questions using possessive pronouns

Example lsquoEgrave la Sua macchina Signor Rossirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave la miarsquo

1 lsquoEgrave il cellulare di Annarsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo2 lsquoEgrave la Vostra casa Signori Zolarsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo3 lsquoSono i miei CDrsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo4 lsquoEgrave il Suo ufficiorsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoSono i suoi librirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoSono le mie letterersquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoEgrave la casa dei tuoi amicirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoSono i nostri vestitirsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo9 lsquoSono le camicie di Paolorsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoSono i vostri bagaglirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

26 Unit 3

Exercise 5

Complete the sentences by choosing the right form of the adjectives andpronouns

Example (Questo) non egrave (tuo) stanza egrave (mio) Questa non egrave la tuastanza egrave la mia

1 (Questo) signori sono (nostro) ospiti (tedesco)2 (Suo) colleghi sono (ottimista) Signora3 (Questo) sono (vostro) stanze4 Io ho (mio) documenti Lei ha (Suo) Signore5 (Questo) sono (mio) CD (quello) sono (tuo)6 (Nostro) professore egrave (entusiasta) comrsquoegrave (vostro)7 (Quello) sono (mio) magliette (questo) sono (tuo)8 (Quello) esercizi sono (divertente) ma (questo) egrave (difficile)9 (Mio) bagagli sono (pesante) ma (vostro) sono (leggero)

10 (Quello) acqua (minerale) egrave (gassato) ma (questo) egrave (liscio)

Unit 3 27

UNIT FOURThe present tense of essere and avere

1 Like their counterparts in many other languages the Italian verbs essere(to be) and avere (to have) are irregular Here are the forms of the presenttense

As shown in the examples it is not usually necessary to use the subject pro-nouns before the verb since the forms for the different persons are different ndashsei can only be second person singular (tu) siete can only be second personplural (voi) etc Even with sono the context always shows whether it means lsquoIamrsquo or lsquothey arersquo

The pronoun is only required for emphasis or to mark a contrast

Essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

To beI amyou [sing] arehesheit iswe areyou [pl] arethey are

Avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo(voi) avete(loro) hanno

To haveI havehave gotyou [sing] havehave gothesheit hashas gotwe havehave gotyou [pl] havehave gotthey havehave got

Sono medicoSiamo cuginiSiete stranieriPaola e Anna sono alteClaudio egrave mio fratelloHo un cellulareHai il mio indirizzoHanno un esameAnna ha una chitarra nuova

Irsquom a doctorWe are cousinsYou are foreignersPaola and Anna are tallClaudio is my brotherIrsquove got a mobile phoneYou have my addressThey have an examAnnarsquos got a new guitar

Io sono medico e lui egrave insegnanteTu hai una bella bici ma io ho una

macchina

Irsquom a doctor and hersquos a teacherYoursquove got a nice bike but Irsquove got a

car

Subject pronouns

2 The Italian subject pronouns are

For the third person the following pronouns can still be found in some textsbut are not normally used in contemporary Italian

Lui (third person singular pronoun) replaces a masculine noun (like the Eng-lish lsquohersquo) lei replaces a feminine noun (like the English lsquoshersquo)

Lui lei and loro are only used to refer to persons In referring to objectsItalian normally avoids using the obsolete forms esso essa essi esse andomits the pronoun altogether

Interrogative form

3 The interrogative is formed by adding a question mark at the end of thesentence

Person1st2nd3rd3rd

1st2nd3rd

SingulariotuluileiPluralnoivoiloro

Iyouheshe

weyouthey

egli [m] esso [m]ella [f] essa [f]essi [m] esse [f]

instead of the singular luiinstead of the singular leiinstead of the plural loro

Lui egrave Paolo lei egrave AnnalsquoCosrsquoegraversquo lsquoEgrave una chiaversquoEgrave la chitarra di AnnaSono i libri di Paolo

He is Paolo she is AnnalsquoWhat is itrsquo lsquoItrsquos a keyrsquoItrsquos Annarsquos guitarThey are Paolorsquos books

Sei prontoSiete stranieriHai il mio indirizzoAvete amici italianiHanno un esame

Are you readyAre you foreignersHave you got my addressHave you any Italian friendsHave they got an exam

Unit 4 29

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non (ie lsquonotrsquo) before the verb

Formal form

5 In Italian there is a formal way of addressing people which is used withpeople we do not know or when some degree of formality is required Whenthe formal form is required the pronoun used for the singular for both menand women is Lei (third person singular) the pronoun used for the plural isnormally Voi but in situations when a high degree of formality is requiredLoro can be used

6 There are some spelling mistakes involving essere and avere which arecommonly made by learners be careful to remember the followingdifferences

Claudio non egrave mio fratelloNon siamo italianiNon siete stranieriNon hai il mio indirizzoNon hanno un esameNon abbiamo amici italianiNon ho la minima idea di cosa

regalare a Paola

Claudio is not my brotherWersquore not ItalianArenrsquot you foreignersHavenrsquot you got my addressThey donrsquot have an examWe havenrsquot got any Italian friendsI havenrsquot the slightest idea what to

give Paola

Lei egrave molto gentile SignoreLei non egrave troppo alta SignoraSignora Belli (Lei) ha la patente

Professore (Lei) ha tempoSignor Neri (Lei) egrave prontoSignori Conti (Voi) siete italiani (Signori Conti Loro sono italiani)

Yoursquore very kind( Sir)Yoursquore not too tall( Madam)Mrs Belli have you got a driving

licenceHave you got time( ProfessorSir)Mr Neri are you ready

Mr and Mrs Conti are you Italian

egrave (hesheit is)ho (I have)hai (you have)ha (hesheit has)hanno (they have)

e (and)o (or)ai (to the)a (to)anno (year)

30 Unit 4

Use of essere and avere

7 The verbs essere and avere are normally used as the verbs lsquoto bersquo and lsquotohaversquo are used in English Essere is usually followed by an adjective or anoun

Avere is normally followed by a noun (or a noun accompanied by anadjective)

8 The verb avere followed by a noun is also used in a number of idiomaticexpressions which correspond to English expressions using lsquoto bersquo followedby an adjective or an adverbial phrase

Siete studenti [noun]Daniela egrave medico [noun]Tu e Anna siete cugini [noun]Siete gentili [adjective]Gli amici di Paul sono italiani

[adjective]

Are you students [noun]Daniela is a doctor [noun]Are you and Anna cousins [noun]You are kind [adjective]Paulrsquos friends are Italian [adjective]

Hai il libroNon ho tempoAbbiamo molti amiciHanno una casa grandePaolo e io abbiamo una macchina

Have you got the bookI havenrsquot timeWe have a lot of friendsThey have a big housePaolo and I have got a car

avere caldoavere fameavere freddoavere pauraavere ragioneavere seteavere sonnoavere tortoavere fretta

to be hotto be hungryto be coldto be afraidto be rightto be thirstyto be sleepyto be wrongto be in a hurry

Abbiamo fameAvete ragioneMarina ha fretta(Lei) ha sete SignoraNon hai freddo Claudia

We are hungryYoursquore rightMarina is in a hurryAre you thirsty( Madam)Arenrsquot you cold Claudia

Unit 4 31

9 Avere is also used in Italian to express age

Crsquoegrave and ci sono

10 The verb essere is used in the expressions crsquoegrave (there is) followed by asingular noun and ci sono (there are) followed by a plural noun

11 Note that crsquoegrave and ci sono are not usually emphatic So in the Englishsentences in paragraph 10 the voice stress does not fall on lsquotherersquo but on thenoun that follows it (ie on lsquoletterrsquo lsquolittleplenty of timersquo lsquoproblemrsquo etc)Thus crsquoegrave and ci sono sometimes do not correspond to lsquothere isrsquo or lsquothere arersquoas in the following examples

12 The interrogative is formed by simply adding a question mark at the endof the sentence or with a lsquoquestion wordrsquo (see Unit 9)

13 The negative is formed by placing non before crsquoegrave or ci sono

Francesca ha 17 anniIl figlio di Gianni ha un annoQuanti anni hai

Francesca is 17 (years old)Giannirsquos son is oneHow old are you

Crsquoegrave una lettera per teCrsquoegrave poco tempoCrsquoegrave molto tempoCrsquoegrave un problemaCi sono due ingressiNel negozio ci sono molti clienti

Therersquos a letter for youTherersquos littlenot much timeTherersquos plenty of timeTherersquos a problemThere are two entrancesThere are a lot of customers in the shop

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono [ie she hasjust rung]

Ci sono i tuoi amici che ti aspettano[ie they have just arrived]

Luisarsquos on the phone [not TherersquosLuisa on the phone]

Your friends are waiting for you[not There are your friendswaiting for you]

Crsquoegrave il Professor Gatti

Crsquoegrave molto trafficoQuanti ingressi ci sono

Is Professor Gatti thereanywherearound[ie Irsquod like to seetalk to Professor Gatti]

Is there a lot of trafficHow many entrances are there

Non crsquoegrave tempoDomani non crsquoegrave lezioneNon ci sono clienti

There is no timeThere is no class tomorrowThere arenrsquot any customers

32 Unit 4

In Italian the double negative is used non + nessuno

14 Note that in negative sentences giving general information it is moreusual to use the plural non ci sono than the singular non crsquoegrave

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of essere

Example Alberto mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash a Roma egrave

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of avere

Example Jenny e John mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash una figlia hanno

Non crsquoegrave tempoNon ci sono clientiNon crsquoegrave nessuno

Is there no timeArenrsquot there any customersThere is nobody

Non ci sono farmacie Non ci sono scuole Non ci sono artisti nella mia

famiglia

There isnrsquot ais no pharmacyThere arenrsquot anyare no pharmaciesThere isnrsquot ais no schoolThere arenrsquot anyare no schoolsThere arenrsquot anyare no artists in my family

1 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash italiani2 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash scozzese3 (io) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash felice4 Gli studenti mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash in

biblioteca5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto gentili6 Lei mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash medico7 La cena mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash pronta8 I libri mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sulla

scrivania9 Tu e Jim mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amici

10 Paolo e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash giovani11 Gli impiegati mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash gentili12 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash simpatici13 Enrico non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash biondo14 Gli italiani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash allegri15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amica di Giulia16 Laura mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash magra17 Lrsquoesercizio mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash difficile18 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash straniero19 Tu e Billy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stranieri20 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stanca Signora

1 (noi) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo2 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash la macchina3 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molti amici

4 I Signori Illy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash due figli5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash i libri6 Sandro mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sempre fretta

Unit 4 33

Exercise 3

Taking the words in the two columns below write negative and interrogativesentences using the verb avere

Example tu fretta Non hai fretta Hai fretta

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative and negativesentences using the verb essere

Example io italiana Sono italiana Non sono italiana

7 Il professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash moltistudenti

8 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il libro9 Marco e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sete

10 Quanti anni (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il biglietto12 Domenico mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un

fratello13 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un esame14 (loro) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash figli

15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash lrsquoindirizzo diLuca

16 Carlo non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash latelevisione

17 I nostri amici mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash deiproblemi

18 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto lavoro19 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash 16 anni20 Professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo

1 io2 il professore3 la Signorina Berti4 Lei [formal]5 voi6 loro7 Carla e Andrea

ragionecaldosetesonnopaurafreddofame

1 io2 tu3 il dottore4 la professoressa5 Lei [formal]6 noi7 voi8 le tue amiche

stancopigragiovanesimpaticaaltomagreintelligenticontente

34 Unit 4

Exercise 5

Imagine the things in the office using all the words in the list write sentencesusing crsquoegrave or ci sono

Examples una scrivania Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una scrivania quattro sedieNellrsquoufficio ci sono quattro sedie

1 una sedia 2 due poltrone 3 tre computer 4 una stampante 5 un tele-fono 6 la fotocopiatrice 7 due radiatori 8 una porta 9 tre finestre

Exercise 6

Imagine what is in the village using all the words in the list make affirmativeor negative sentences paying attention to the negative form (non ci sono +plural noun)

Example tabaccaio tabaccai In questo paese crsquoegrave un tabaccaio ci sonotre tabaccai non ci sono tabaccai

1 museo musei 2 discoteca discoteche 3 panetteria panetterie 4 cinemacinema 5 biblioteca biblioteche 6 scuola scuole 7 ufficio postale ufficipostali 8 libreria librerie 9 giardino pubblico giardini pubblici 10 ris-torante ristoranti

Unit 4 35

UNIT FIVEThe present tense of regular (and someirregular) verbs

Use of the present tense

1 The present tense (or simply lsquothe presentrsquo) is used to state that an action isoccurring at the present time It corresponds basically to the English simplepresent (lsquoI eatrsquo) and present continuous (lsquoI am eatingrsquo)

2 The present can also be used to refer to the future either the near future orone that is considered fairly certain

3 The present is also used to refer to an action which started in the past and isstill going on here it corresponds to the English present perfect

Mio padre lavora per la BBCMio padre lavora in giardinoDi solito guardo la televisioneStasera guardo la televisioneNon guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisioneStasera non guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisione

stasera

My father works for the BBCMy fatherrsquos working in the gardenNormally I watch TVIrsquom watching TV this eveningI donrsquot watch TVWhy donrsquot you watch TVIrsquom not watching TV this eveningWhy arenrsquot you watching TV this

evening

Il treno parte fra cinque minuti

Parto domaniDomani mattina porto Luca alla

stazioneLrsquoestate prossima lavoro con mio

zio

The train leavesis leaving in fiveminutes

I leaveI am leaving tomorrowTomorrow morning Irsquoll takeIrsquom taking-

Irsquom going to take Luca to the stationNext summer Irsquoll workIrsquom working-

going to work with my uncle

Lavoriamo qui da un mese Wersquove been working here for a month

The forms of the present tense

4 Italian verbs are divided into three main groups the conjugations Theconjugation a verb belongs to is determined by the ending of its infinitive

The forms of the present depend on which conjugation the verb belongs toThe present is formed by changing the ending of the infinitive as follows

5 Regular verbs in -are are conjugated as follows

As we saw in Unit 4 the subject pronoun is normally omitted in the conju-gation of Italian verbs

Mio cugino abita a Roma da treanni

Conosco Giulia da tre anniNon vedo Dario da mesi

My cousinrsquos livedbeen living in Rome forthree years

I have known Giulia for three yearsI havenrsquot seen Dario for months

First conjugation-are

Second conjugation-ere

Third conjugation-ire

Person1st2nd3rd

1st2nd3rd

Singular(io)(tu)(luilei)

Plural(noi)(voi)(loro)

Infinitive in -are-o-i-a

-iamo-ate-ano

Infinitive in -ere-o-i-e

-iamo-ete-ono

Infinitive in -ire(-isc)-o(-isc)-i(-isc)-e

-iamo-ite(-isc)-ono

Endings-o-i-a-iamo-ate-ano

Parlare(io) parlo(tu) parli(luilei) parla(noi) parliamo(voi) parlate(loro) parlano

To speaktalkI speakyou speakhesheit speakswe speakyou speakthey speak

Andrea e Carla lavorano in ItaliaParlo italianoParlate moltoAbitiamo a Genova

Andrea and Carla work in ItalyI speak ItalianYou talk a lotWe live in Genoa

Unit 5 37

6 Verbs ending in -care and -gare (first conjugation) add h before the endingsof the second person singular (-i) and the first person plural (-iamo) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g

7 Verbs ending in -iare (first conjugation) normally have only one i in thesecond person singular and the first person plural

8 Regular verbs in -ere are conjugated as follows

Cercare(io) cerco(tu) cerchi(luilei) cerca(noi) cerchiamo(voi) cercate(loro) cercano

To look forI look foryou look forhesheit looks forwe look foryou look forthey look for

Pagare(io) pago(tu) paghi(luilei) paga(noi) paghiamo(voi) pagate(loro) pagano

To payI payyou payhesheit payswe payyou paythey pay

Cerchi MarcoGiochiamo a pallonePercheacute litighi con tuo fratelloPaghiamo sempre il conto

Are you looking for MarcoWe play footballWhy are you arguing with your brotherWe always pay the bill

Cominciare(io) comincio(tu) cominci(luilei) comincia(noi) cominciamo(voi) cominciate(loro) cominciano

To startbeginI startbeginyou startbeginhesheit startsbeginswe startbeginyou startbeginthey startbegin

Mangiare(io) mangio(tu) mangi(luilei) mangia(noi) mangiamo(voi) mangiate(loro) mangiano

To eatI eatyou eathesheit eatswe eatyou eatthey eat

Quando cominci la scuolaCominciamo la partitaMangi troppoStasera mangiamo fuori

When do you start schoolWersquore starting the gameYou eat too muchThis evening wersquore eating out

Endings-o-i-e-iamo-ete-ono

Prendere(io) prendo(tu) prendi(luilei) prende(noi) prendiamo(voi) prendete(loro) prendono

To takegetI takegetyou takegethesheit takesgetswe takegetyou takegetthey takeget

38 Unit 5

9 Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) and -gere (or -ggere) change the sound ofc (or sc) and g (or -gg) which become lsquohardrsquo before the endings of the firstperson singular (-o) and the third person plural (-ono) So care needs to betaken in speaking these verbs

Prendo il prossimo trenoPrendiamo questa stradaAnna scrive una letteraMarco e Martina ridono molto

Irsquom gettingtaking the next trainWe take this roadAnna is writing a letterMarco and Martina laugh a lot

Vincere(io) vinco(tu) vinci(luilei) vince(noi) vinciamo(voi) vincete(loro) vincono

Spoken like Englishkchchchchk

To winI winyou winhesheit winswe winyou winthey win

Conoscere(io) conosco(tu) conosci(luilei) conosce(noi) conosciamo(voi) conoscete(loro) conoscono

Spoken like Englishskshshshshsk

To knowI knowyou knowhesheit knowswe knowyou knowthey know

Leggere(io) leggo(tu) leggi(luilei) legge(noi) leggiamo(voi) leggete(loro) leggono

Spoken like Englishg [as in lsquogorsquo]jjjjg [as in lsquogorsquo]

To readI readyou readhesheit readswe readyou readthey read

Vince sempreNon conosco i tuoi genitoriLeggono il giornaleNon piango mai

Heshe always winsI donrsquot know your parentsTheyrsquore reading the paperI never cry

Unit 5 39

10 Regular verbs in -ire are conjugated as follows

11 Many verbs in -ire (eg capire (to understand) costruire (to build) finire(to finishto end) preferire (to prefer) pulire (to clean) ) follow a slightlydifferent pattern adding -isc- before the singular endings and the thirdperson plural

There is no way of telling which is the right pattern for a verb in -ire otherthan to check in a dictionary

Interrogative form

12 As we saw in Unit 4 the interrogative is formed by adding a questionmark at the end of the sentence

Endings-o-i

Partire(io) parto(tu) parti

To leaveI leaveyou leave

-e-iamo-ite-ono

(luilei) parte(noi) partiamo(voi) partite(loro) partono

hesheit leaveswe leaveyou leavethey leave

Il treno parte alle 800I miei amici partono domaniMia sorella dormeTutte le mattine apriamo le finestre

The train leaves at eightMy friends are leaving tomorrowMy sister is sleepingasleepEvery morning we open the windows

Endings-isc-o-isc-i-isc-e-iamo-ite-isc-ono

Capire(io) capisco(tu) capisci(luilei) capisce(noi) capiamo(voi) capite(loro) capiscono

To understandI understandyou understandhesheit understandswe understandyou understandthey understand

Marina capisce tuttoLa lezione finisce alle 1300Preferisco parlare italiano

Marina understands everythingThe lessonclass finishes at 1 pmI prefer speakingto speak Italian

Carla resta a casaPrendi sempre la macchina fotograficaQuando partiteCapisci tutto

Is Carla staying at homeDo you always take the cameraWhen are you leavingDo you understand everything

40 Unit 5

Negative form

13 The negative is formed by putting non (not) before the verb

Formal form

14 As we saw in Unit 4 the pronouns used for the formal form are Lei for thesingular (for both women and men) and Voi for the plural (the pronoun Lorois much more formal)

Present tense of some irregular verbs

15 In Italian as in most languages there are a number of irregular verbswhose conjugation is best learned by heart and with use Here is the conjuga-tion of some of the more frequently used irregular verbs

Non parlo italianoNon prendiamo la macchina

fotograficaGiulia e Susanna non partonoNon capisce niente

I donrsquot speak ItalianWersquore not taking the camera

Arenrsquot Giulia and Susanna leavingHeshe doesnrsquot understand anything

(Lei) Parla italianoNon prende un taxi Professor

MasiPartite Signori Bianco( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco)

Do you speak ItalianArenrsquot you taking a taxi Professor

MasiAre you leaving( Mr and Mrs

Bianco)

Dare (to give)dogravedaidagravediamodatedanno

Andare (to go)vadovaivaandiamoandatevanno

Stare (to staylivefeel)stostaistastiamostatestanno

Uscire (to go outleave)escoesciesceusciamousciteescono

Sapere (to know)sosaisasappiamosapetesanno

Venire (to come)vengovienivieneveniamovenitevengono

Unit 5 41

The verb riuscire (to succeedmanagebe able to) follows the same pattern asuscire

It is important not to confuse sapere and conoscere (paragraph 9) Bothmean lsquoto knowrsquo but they are not always interchangeable The basic differenceis that sapere generally means lsquoto knowbe aware ofto have knowledge of afactrsquo (but see also paragraph 17 below) whereas conoscere means lsquoto beacquaintedfamiliar withrsquo or sometimes lsquoto meetmake the acquaintance ofrsquo(eg in the expression piacere di conoscerti pleased to meet you) Thus sapereis never used for people and conoscere is never followed by a phrase contain-ing a verb

Dovere (mustto haveto)devodevidevedobbiamodovetedevono

Dire (to saytell)dicodicidicediciamoditedicono

Potere (canmayto beable)possopuoipuogravepossiamopotetepossono

Fare (to domake)facciofaifafacciamofatefanno

Volere (to wishtowant)vogliovuoivuolevogliamovoletevogliono

Bere (to drink)bevobevibevebeviamobevetebevono

Cosa failsquoCome stairsquo lsquoSto bene graziersquoMia zia sta a BolognaVado al cinemaStasera non escoDomani esco prestoNon riesco a capireNon riesco a chiudere la portaAdesso sapete tutto

What are you doinglsquoHow are yoursquo lsquoIrsquom fine thank yoursquoMy aunt lives in BolognaIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom not going out tonightIrsquom leaving early tomorrowI canrsquot understandI canrsquot manage to close the doorNow you know everything

Sappiamo giagrave che crsquoegrave scioperodomani

Sai che ora egraveSai percheacuteNon so che cosa fareConosco le regole del gioco

We already know that there is a striketomorrow

Do you know what time it isDo you know whyI donrsquot know what to doI know the rules of the game

42 Unit 5

16 Dovere potere and volere usually need to be followed by another verb inthe infinitive

17 The verb sapere is another that is often followed by a verb in the infinitiveused in this way it expresses the ability to do something (in the sense of lsquotoknow how torsquo do something)

18 A few verbs end in -urre (like condurre (to leaddrivemanage) tradurre (totranslate) produrre (to produce) etc) all have the following pattern

Exercise 1

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io conoscere) tua mamma conosco

Ho conosciuto il padre di PiaNon conosco il tuo ragazzoConosci questa cittagrave

I (have) met Piarsquos fatherI donrsquot know your boyfriendDo you know this town

Dobbiamo fare gli eserciziPosso parlare con LuigiPuoi telefonare domaniNon vogliono uscire

Wersquove got to do the exercisesMay I talk to LuigiYou can phone tomorrowThey donrsquot want to go out

So nuotarePaolo non sa ballareSai usare quello scanner

I can swim [ie I know how to]Paolo canrsquot dance [ie he doesnrsquot know how to]Can youDo you know how to use that scanner

Endings-uc-o-uc-i-uc-e-uc-iamo-uc-ete-uc-ono

Produrre(io) produco(tu) produci(luilei) produce(noi) produciamo(voi) producete(loro) producono

To produceI produceyou producehesheit produceswe produceyou producethey produce

Questa fabbrica produce automobiliTraducono dal francese

This factory produces carsThey translate from French

1 Claudio (arrivare) con il prossimotreno

2 Anna (vivere) a Roma

3 Non (noi mangiare) spesso fuori4 (tu cercare) casa5 Stasera (voi prendere) lrsquoautobus

Unit 5 43

Exercise 2

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example (io bere) molta acqua bevo

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 You [pl] have got to talk to Marcello2 Wersquore leaving tonight3 Wersquore getting the next bus4 You [polite] can go to the cinema Mr Buchan5 We know how to use those mobile phones6 She always prefers reading the paper7 The babyrsquos asleep8 Irsquom coming to Turin this summer

6 Il treno di Giorgio (partire) alle18

7 Tutti i giorni (noi leggere) ilgiornale

8 (tu pulire) il bagno9 (io conoscere) molti italiani

10 I giochi (finire) sempre alle 1711 Non (noi guidare) lrsquoauto12 Anna e io (giocare) a carte13 Percheacute non (voi tornare) in

Scozia

14 Non (tu capire) nulla15 Giorgio e Paola non (spendere)

molto16 Dove (Lei abitare) Signor Verdi17 (Voi pagare) lrsquoaffitto Signori

Rossi18 (tu viaggiare) molto19 Non (tu ricevere) molte lettere20 Piero e Gianni (lasciare) il cane a

casa

1 Stasera (loro) andare al cinema2 La nostra fabbrica (produrre)

pasta3 Domani (noi dare) una festa4 (tu andare) spesso in spiaggia5 (voi fare) gli esercizi6 Non (noi riuscire) a capire7 (voi venire) a casa8 Non (io potere) uscire oggi9 (loro volere) dormire

10 (tu dire) la veritagrave

11 Tu e Claudia (potere) partire12 (io volere) studiare13 Dove (tu stare) adesso14 Le mie sorelle non (sapere)

nuotare15 Cosa (loro fare) stasera16 I vicini (dovere) rimanere a casa17 (noi tradurre) in italiano18 Luigi (dovere) lavorare19 (voi sapere) cantare20 I nostri amici (venire) a Roma

44 Unit 5

9 They often go out in the evening10 The boys are playing football tomorrow

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Are you going out tonight Mother2 What are we doing tomorrow3 Can you [sing] open that door4 Do you [sing] want a coffee5 Can you play the piano Francesco6 What are you [sing] looking for7 Are you [polite] drinking coffee or mineral water Madam8 Do you [sing] and Jim know my parents9 Are you [sing] well today

10 What are they building

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Donrsquot you [polite] speak English Mrs Vialli2 My German friends canrsquot sing in Italian3 I donrsquot earn a lot4 Isnrsquot she giving a party for her birthday5 Arenrsquot you [sing] working with Giulia6 Theyrsquove not seen Mr Moro for three years7 Why do you never go to Florence Claudio8 I canrsquot manage to shut this window9 Why arenrsquot you [pl] drinking coffee this morning

10 Arenrsquot you [pl] coming tomorrow

Unit 5 45

UNIT SIXAdverbs

1 English adverbs are usually formed by adding lsquo-lyrsquo to an adjective (eglsquothinlyrsquo lsquocleverlyrsquo) Italian adverbs are usually just as easy to form -mente isadded to the feminine singular form of the adjective

When the adjective ends in -le or -re preceded by a vowel the final e isdropped before adding -mente

2 In Italian there are also many adverbs which do not end in -mente Here aresome

lenta + -menterapida + -mentesemplice + -mentefrequente + -mente

lentamenterapidamentesemplicementefrequentemente

slowlyquicklysimplyfrequently

gentile + -menteutile + -mentemaggiore + -menteregolare + -mente

gentilmenteutilmentemaggiormenteregolarmente

kindly politelyusefullymainlyregularly

Il tempo cambia rapidamenteLa nonna cammina lentamenteEnrico risponde sempre gentilmenteFaccio i compiti regolarmente

The weather changes quicklyGranny walks slowlyEnrico always answers politelyI do my homework regularly

abbastanza

ancorabenedavantidentrodietrodopo

enoughfairlyratherquite

stillwellat the frontin frontin(side)at the backbehindlaterafterwards

fortefuorigiagravelontanomalenon ancoranon maipiano

loudlyhardoutoutsidealreadyfar (away)badlynot yetneverslowlyquietly

Note that with non ancora and non mai non is always placed beforethe verb and ancoramai after it

3 Adverbs can qualify verbs adjectives or even other adverbs

4 Some words denoting quantity can be used both as adverbs and as adjec-tives moltotanto (a lot (of)verymany) troppo (too muchtoo many) andpoco (fewlittlenot muchnot very) When used as adverbs they are invariablebut when used as adjectives they agree in gender and number with the nounthey refer to

piugravepiuttostoprestoprima

quasisempre

morerathersoonearlyearlierbeforehand

firstalmostalways

soprasottospessosubitotardivicinovolentieri

aboveupstairsbelowdownstairsoftenimmediatelyright awaylatenear(by)willinglygladly

Questo film egrave abbastanza belloPartiamo tardi dopo le 11Andiamo spesso in discotecaVengo subitoParto prestoParliamo piano perchegrave Carla

dormePuograve parlare piano per favore

Non sono italianoAbita vicino SignoraVai lontanoPiove fortePuoi parlare piugrave forteMangiamo fuori

Egrave ancora estateNon egrave ancora estateNon esco maiLorenzo non telefona mai

This film is rather goodWersquore leaving late after 11We often go to the discoIrsquom coming (immediately)Irsquom leaving earlysoonWersquore talking quietly because Carlarsquos

asleepCould you speak slowly please Irsquom not

ItalianDo you live nearby (Madam)Are you going farItrsquos raining hardCan you speak loudermore loudlyWersquore eating out [eg in a restaurant]

outside [ie in the open]Itrsquos still summerItrsquos not summer yetI never go outLorenzo never phones

Dormo bene [verb + adverb]Dormo molto bene [adverb + adverb]La casa egrave molto piccola [adverb + adjective]

I sleep wellI sleep very wellThe house is very small

Unit 6 47

Adverbial expressions

5 Having a lot of words ending in -mente can often sound heavy To avoidthis Italian sometimes uses adverbial phrases instead of single words Thesedo the same job as one-word adverbs and indeed they do usually correspondto one-word English adverbs in lsquo-lyrsquo These adverbial expressions are mostoften constructed with con (with) sometimes with senza (without) followedby a noun

Adverblavorare moltotantomoltotanto lontanomoltotanto difficilelavorare troppotroppo lontanotroppo difficilelavorare pocopoco lontanopoco difficile

Adjectivemolto (tanto)troppopoco lavoro [ms]molta (tanta)troppapoca acqua [fs]molti (tanti)troppipochi esercizi [mp]molte (tante)troppepoche lettere [fp]

to work a lotvery farvery difficultto work too muchtoo fartoo difficultto work littlenot to work muchnot very farnot very difficult

a lot oftoo muchnot much worka lot oftoo muchnot much watermanytoo manynot many exercisesmanytoo manynot many letters

Mio padre lavora troppo [adverb]Questa musica egrave molto bella [adverb]Luisa dorme poco [adverb]

Dormi troppo poco [adverbs]

Abbiamo molto tempo [adjective]Luisa mangia poca pasta [adjective]

Ho molti amici [adjective]lsquoPercheacute fai questorsquo lsquoCi sono molte

ragionirsquo [adjective]

My father works too muchThis music is very beautifulLuisa sleeps littledoesnrsquot sleep

muchYou sleep too littledonrsquot sleep

enoughWe have a lot of timeLuisa eats little pastadoesnrsquot eat a

lot of pastaI have a lot of friendslsquoWhy are you doing thisrsquo lsquoThere

are many reasonsrsquo

con difficoltagravecon eleganzacon lentezzacon rapiditagravecon semplicitagrave

with difficultyelegantlyslowlyrapidlyquicklysimply

48 Unit 6

There are also a number of adverbial expressions that use other prepositionsthan con Here are some of the most common

Another adverbial expression that is sometimes used is in modoin maniera(ie lsquoin a wayrsquo) followed by an adjective the adjective is masculine when usedwith modo and feminine when used with maniera

Exercise 1

Change the adjectives into adverbs

Example lento lentamente

senza eleganzasenza complicazionisenza dubbio

inelegantlyuncomplicatedlyundoubtedly

a poco a pocoa voltein ritardoin tempodi solitodi sicuro

little by littlesometimeslateon timeusuallysurelycertainly

Anna veste con eleganzaSpieghi tutto senza complicazioni

A volte non capisco quello che dice

Anna dresses elegantlyYou explain everything

uncomplicatedlySometimes I donrsquot understand what

he says

in modo vagoin maniera vagain modo stranoin maniera stranain modo semplicein maniera semplice

vaguelyin a vague waystrangelyin a strange waysimplyin a simple way

Risponde sempre in modo vagoQuel cane cammina in maniera strana

Heshe always answers vaguelyThat dogrsquos walking oddlyin a

strange way

1 dolce2 tranquillo3 semplice4 allegro5 maggiore

6 irregolare7 probabile8 chiaro9 facile

10 veloce

11 lento12 utile13 attento14 rapido15 leggero

Unit 6 49

Exercise 2

Supply the correct form of moltotanto troppo or poco (adverbs or adjectives)

Examples Anna egrave (molto) alta molto Ho (molto) sete molta

Exercise 3

Replace the words in English with the appropriate expression from the list

a volte di sicuro con pazienza senza esitazione in modo nervoso intempo con semplicitagrave di solito con prudenza a poco a poco in manierabrusca con coraggio

Examples (sometimes) non voglio giocare a pallone a volte Laura veste(simply) con semplicitagrave

1 Dobbiamo agire (cautiously)2 Andrea spiega tutto (patiently)3 Paolo guarda i professori (nervously)4 (little by little) Gianni capisce il problema5 Tullio risponde (unhesitatingly)6 (usually) rientra nel pomeriggio7 Lei non fa piugrave (in time) a prendere il treno delle sette8 Esprime (courageously) le sue opinioni9 Domenica vengo (for sure)

10 Il Signor Capello risponde (bluntly) a tutte le nostre domande

1 Claudia mangia (molto) dolci2 Il tuo vestito egrave (molto) bello3 Monica ha (poco) amici4 Tu spendi (troppo)5 In mensa ci sono (troppo)

studenti6 Davanti al cinema crsquoegrave (tanto)

gente7 Mangi (troppo)8 Stefano abita (molto) lontano9 Giulia mangia sempre (poco)

10 Judy ha (molto) amiche italiane

11 Sto (poco) bene12 Abitate in una casa (molto) bella13 Signora egrave (molto) stanca14 Ci sono (poco) biscotti15 Siete (molto) gentili16 Hai (poco) pazienza17 Marco e Luisa hanno (molto)

fame18 Il giardino non egrave (molto) grande19 Non devi invitare (troppo)

persone20 Abbiamo (poco) riviste

50 Unit 6

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sometimes I eat in the canteen2 The swimming pool is quite big3 We often go out with our friends4 Have you [sing] got enough money5 You [sing] have to speak slowly6 Marina never eats cheese7 Francesca always arrives late8 Irsquove been waiting for almost forty minutes9 Carla and Andrea are out

10 Are your [sing] parents well

Unit 6 51

UNIT SEVENDirect object pronouns (1)

1 A direct object is the person or thing that the verb directly impacts onInvito Elena (Irsquom inviting Elena) Uso il computer tutti i giorni (I use thecomputer every day)

A direct object pronoun replaces a noun used as a direct object itmust therefore agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to Directobject pronouns normally come before the verb In the following examplesthe pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the direct object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Elena la invito a cena[la replaces and agrees with Elena (fs)]

Quando vedo Lorenzo lo invito a cena[lo replaces and agrees with Lorenzo(ms)]

Scrivo le cartoline e poi le imbuco[le replaces and agrees with lecartoline (fp)]

Appena compro i biscotti li mangio[li replaces and agrees with i biscotti(mp)]

Prendo il giornale e lo leggo subito[lo replaces and agrees with ilgiornale (ms)]

When I see Elena Irsquoll inviteher to dinner

When I see Lorenzo Irsquoll invitehim to dinner

I write the postcards andthen post them

As soon as I buy biscuits Ieat them

I get the paper and read itimmediately

Subjectiotuluileinoivoiloro

Direct objectmitilo [m]la [f]civili [m]le [f]

meyouhimheritusyouthem

3 We saw in Unit 3 that if an adjective refers to two or more nouns that aredifferent in gender it has the masculine plural form eg Laura e Piero sonoitaliani (Laura and Piero are Italian) The same principle applies to directobject pronouns

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

5 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Note that verbs in -urre drop the second r as well as the final vowel lo devotradurre or devo tradurlo

Giacomo mi invita spesso a cenaSe vuoi ti aiutoLo conosco beneLa vedo tutti i giorniVi invito alla festa

Giacomo often invites me to dinnerIf you want Irsquoll help youI know him wellI see her every dayIrsquom inviting you to the party

lsquoConosci Laura [f] e Piero [m]rsquo lsquoSigraveli [mp] conosco benersquo

lsquoUsi il computer [m] e la stampante[f]rsquo lsquoSigrave li [mp] uso spessorsquo

lsquoDo you know Laura and Pierorsquo lsquoYesI know them wellrsquo

lsquoDo you use the computer and theprinterrsquo lsquoYes I often use themrsquo

Non lo conosco beneNon vi invito alla festaNon li vedo spessoNon ti capisco

I donrsquot know him wellIrsquom not inviting you to the partyI donrsquot often see themI donrsquot understand you

La devo chiamareTi voglio invitareLo puoi prendereLo so fareLo devo tradurre

ororororor

Devo chiamarlaVoglio invitartiPuoi prenderloSo farloDevo tradurlo

I must call herI want to invite youYou can take itI canknow how to do itIrsquove got to translate it

Unit 7 53

6 The pronoun lo [ms] is often used to replace a whole clause

7 When the pronouns lo and la are used with the verb avere they are short-ened to lrsquo and are often preceded by the particle ce

The plural pronouns li and le however are never shortened and are onlyrarely used with ce

Formal form

8 The direct object pronouns used for the formal form are La for the singular(for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronouns Li and Le canalso be used for the masculine and feminine respectively but this is particu-larly formal)

lsquoSai che oggi egrave il compleanno diCarlarsquo lsquoSigrave lo sorsquo [lo = oggi egrave ilcompleanno di Carla]

lsquoDove sono le chiavirsquo lsquoNon lo sorsquo[lo = dove sono le chiavi]

lsquoDevi cambiare la cartucciarsquo lsquoLofaccio subitorsquo [lo = cambiare lacartuccia]

lsquoDo you know that itrsquos Carlarsquosbirthday todayrsquo lsquoYes I dorsquo [lit YesI know it]

lsquoWhere are the keysrsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo[lit I donrsquot know it]

lsquoYoursquove got to replace the cartridgersquolsquoIrsquoll do it straight awayrsquo

lsquoHai la cartucciarsquo lsquoSigrave ce lrsquohorsquo

Non posso leggere il libro di PrimoLevi percheacute non ce lrsquoho

lsquoAvete lrsquoindirizzo di Annarsquo lsquoSigrave celrsquoabbiamorsquo

lsquoHave you got the cartridgersquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot itrsquo

I canrsquot read Primo Levirsquos bookbecause I havenrsquot got it

lsquoHave you got Annarsquos addressrsquo lsquoYeswe haveYes wersquove got itrsquo

lsquoHai le parole di questacanzonersquo lsquoNo non (ce) le horsquo

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo

lsquoHave you got the lyrics of this songrsquolsquoNo I havenrsquot No Irsquove not got themrsquo

lsquoHave you got the booksrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove gotthemYes I haversquo

Professor Masi La accompagno inaeroporto

Signora La accompagno in aeroportoSignori Bianco Vi accompagno in

aeroporto (Signori Bianco Li accompagno in

aeroporto) Signore Vi accompagno in aeroporto (Signore Le accompagno in aeroporto)

Professor Masi Irsquoll take you to theairport

Irsquoll take you to the airport Madam

Mr and Mrs Bianco Irsquoll take you tothe airport

(Ladies) Irsquoll take you to theairport

54 Unit 7

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct directobject pronoun

Example Luigi compra il pane Luigi lo compra

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Lo faccio Non lo faccio

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

1 Anna guarda la televisione2 Invitiamo i nostri amici3 Scrivete le cartoline4 Leggono il giornale5 Suono la chitarra6 Preparo la cena7 Chiamo Roberto8 Faccio gli esercizi9 Invito Maria e Giovanna

10 Chiudete le finestre

11 Lorenzo corregge gli errori12 Prendono il treno13 Porto i CD14 Cerco i miei libri15 Pia beve lrsquoacqua minerale16 Paola finisce il lavoro17 Accompagno Carlo e Anna18 Vedi le tue amiche oggi19 Ascolto la radio20 Luca lava i piatti

1 Le voglio2 Li compriamo3 Ci chiamano4 Silvia li invita5 I Signori Bianchi lo prendono

6 Mi invitate7 Vi aspetto8 La vedo domani9 Ti accompagno alla stazione

10 Lo guardiamo

1 Lo vogliamo vedere2 Non ti posso aiutare3 Mi puoi accompagnare4 La vuoi sentire5 Ci devono chiamare

6 Vi voglio invitare7 Le vuole conoscere8 Non li potete fare9 Mi devi ascoltare

10 Non La posso aiutare Signora

Unit 7 55

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate direct object pronouns

Examples Marco telefona agli amici e mdashmdash invita alla festa li Guido nonsta bene devo chiamarmdashmdash lo

1 Compro il giornale e mdashmdash leggo2 Scrivo le cartoline e mdashmdash spedisco3 Laura fa i panini e poi mdashmdash mangia4 Compro i fiori e mdashmdash metto in un vaso5 Apriamo la finestra e poi mdashmdash chiudiamo6 Non riesco a fare questo esercizio mdashmdash aiuti7 Prendiamo i libri e mdashmdash portiamo a scuola8 Professor Bartoli mdashmdash posso aiutare9 I Signori Pieri partono mdashmdash accompagni in aeroporto

10 Hai molte amiche mdashmdash inviti tutte11 Se non usi la bici mdashmdash prendo io12 Ci sono molti errori mdashmdash dovete correggere13 Claudio telefona a Giulia e mdashmdash invita alla festa14 Partite mdashmdash porto in stazione15 Crsquoegrave un film alla televisione ma non mdashmdash guardiamo16 Alma parte volete salutarmdashmdash17 La sorella di Matteo egrave molto simpatica mdashmdash conosco bene18 Gli esercizi sono difficili ma mdashmdash so fare19 Se vuoi delle caramelle mdashmdash puoi prendere20 lsquoSai che Alessandro suona il sassofono in un grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash sorsquo

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquore inviting you [pl] to the party2 Irsquove got a lot of friends and I often see them3 Signora Fusi can I call you tomorrow4 Are you [sing] helping us next week5 I have to see you [sing]6 Olga and Anna are leaving tomorrow and I want to take them to the

station7 I canrsquot help you [pl]8 lsquoAre you [sing] bringing the guitarrsquo lsquoNo I havenrsquot got itrsquo9 Tullio buys these magazines and reads them

10 Can you [sing] take me to school tomorrow

56 Unit 7

UNIT EIGHTPrepositions

1 The most common Italian prepositions are the following

The meaning of tra and fra is the same

These prepositions often correspond to the English counterparts we givehere However as we shall see each of them also has a number of othermeanings corresponding to other English prepositions

2 The prepositions di a da in and su when used together with a nounpreceded by the definite article always combine with the article

The preposition con normally combines only with il and i as col and coi thisform is common in spoken Italian though con il and con i are often found inthe written language

diadainconsupertrafra

oftofrominwithonforamong between

diadainsu

ildelaldalnelsul

lodelloallodallonellosullo

lrsquodellrsquoallrsquodallrsquonellrsquosullrsquo

ladellaalladallanellasulla

ideiaidaineisui

glidegliaglidaglineglisugli

ledellealledallenellesulle

con con ilcol

con lo(collo)

con lrsquo(collrsquo)

con la(colla)

con icoi

con gli(cogli)

con le(colle)

Using prepositions

3 As in many other languages there is so much variation in how Italianprepositions are used that it is not feasible to give simple rules covering everypossibility To appreciate the problem you only have to look at a few of thepossible uses of the preposition di

Sometimes Italian even has a preposition where English does not here aresome typical examples

Since there is not a simple set of rules governing prepositions in Italian whatwe are going to do is show some typical uses of the common ones listedabove The more you hear and read Italian the more you will encounterdifferent uses of these and other prepositions the best way of mastering themis to learn them and practise them as you go along

4 Di is typically used to express

di + il ragazzoa + lo studenteda + lrsquoalbergoin + la scuolasu + i divanicon + i libricon + le chiaviper + gli insegnantifra + i calciatori

del ragazzoallo studentedallrsquoalbergonella scuolasui divanicoi libricon le chiaviper gli insegnantifra i calciatori

of the boyto the studentfrom the hotelin the schoolon the sofaswith the bookswith the keysfor the teachersamong the footballers

il presidente della repubblica the president of the republicIl libro egrave di Calvino The book is by CalvinoSono di Roma Irsquom from RomeDi pomeriggio fanno sempre la

siestaThey always have a nap in the

afternoon

lrsquoauto di AnnaVuoi della fruttaCi sono alcune migliaia di persone

nella piazzaHo una bella camicia di seta

Annarsquos carDo you want (someany) fruitThere are a few thousand people in

the squareIrsquove got a lovely silk shirt

possessionmaterialtimesubject

La moto di Luca egrave rossauna giacca di pelleDi sera non escouna lezione di storia

Lucarsquos motorbike is reda leather jacketI donrsquot go out in the evening(s)a history lesson

58 Unit 8

The most common uses of di are the ones which correspond to the Englishpossessive (rsquos) and the noun + noun structure

Di is frequently used in partitive constructions ie to express the Englishlsquosomersquo or lsquoanyrsquo in such sentences as lsquoIrsquod like some breadrsquo lsquoHave you anypastarsquo lsquoWersquove got (some) pasta and (some) olivesrsquo

Di is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likecredere (to believe) pensare (to think) dire (to say) sperare (to hope) finire(to finish) smettere (to stop)

5 A is typically used to express

il libro del professorela sorella di Monicail casco di Sebastianola politica del governouna buca delle lettereun racconto di fateil professore di scienzeun panino di formaggio

the teacherrsquos bookMonicarsquos sisterSebastianorsquos helmetthe governmentrsquos policygovernment policya letter boxa fairy talethe science teachera cheese roll

Devo comprare del panePrendo della pastaCrsquoegrave dellrsquoacqua in frigoEsco con degli amiciVuoi dei libri in italianoCi sono delle case sulla collina

Irsquove got to get (some) breadIrsquom getting (some) pastaTherersquos (some) water in the fridgeIrsquom going out with (some) friendsDo you want (some) books in ItalianThere are (some) houses on the hill

Finisco di leggere il giornale e poiesco

Paolo pensa di essere intelligenteAnna crede di riuscire a passare

lrsquoesameLa mamma dice di essere stancaDevo smettere di perdere tempo

I finish reading the paper and then Igo out

Paolo thinks he is intelligentAnna believes she can pass the exam

Mum says shersquos tiredI must stop wasting time

place

time

Abito a LondraVado al cinemaSono a casaLa casa si trova a 100 metri

dal mareParto alle 17Vado in Olanda a luglio

I live in LondonIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom at homeThe house is 100 metres from

the seaIrsquom leaving at 1700Irsquom going to Holland in July

Unit 8 59

A is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likeandare (to go) venire (to come) cominciare (to startbegin) continuare (tocontinue) riuscire (canto be ablemanage)

6 Da is typically used to express

Da is always used to mean lsquoatat the house ofrsquo a person or people

Da is also used followed by an infinitive after molto (a lot) poco (little) niente(nothing) qualcosa (something)

indirect object

quality

meansmanner

Diamo il libro a Silvia

Scrivete ai vostri genitori

Vuoi un gelato al limone

La giacca egrave fatta a manoImpari tutto a memoria

Stasera mangiamo patateal vapore

Wersquore giving the book toSilvia

Do you write to yourparents

Do you want a lemon ice-cream

The jacketrsquos made by handDo you learn everything by

heartWersquore having steamed

potatoes tonight [ietheyrsquore cooked with steam]

lsquoDove vairsquo lsquoVado a lavorarersquoVieni a studiare in bibliotecaComincio a capirePaolo continua a parlareNon riesco a sentire cosa dice

lsquoWhere are you goingrsquo lsquoIrsquom going to workrsquoAre you coming to work in the libraryIrsquom beginning to understandPaolo continueskeeps on talkingI canrsquot hear what hersquos saying

placetime

function

Parto da MilanoStudio italiano da un mese

aperto dalle 9 alle 10Sono scarpe da tennis

Irsquom leaving from MilanI have been studying Italian for a

monthopen (from) 9 to 10 (orsquoclock)Theyrsquore tennis shoes

Abiti da tua ziaLavoro da Anna staseraDevo andare dal dentista

Do you live at your auntrsquosIrsquom working at Annarsquos tonightI have to go to the dentist

Ho molto da fareHa poco da direNon crsquoegrave niente da bereVuoi qualcosa da mangiare

Irsquove got a lot to doHe has littleHersquos not got much to sayTherersquos nothing to drinkDo you want something to eat

60 Unit 8

7 In is typically used to express

NB in piedi means lsquostandingrsquo lsquoon footrsquo is a piedi

8 Con is typically used to express

9 Su is typically used to express

When the preposition su is used with a personal pronoun the pronoun is alsopreceded by di Conto su di lui (Irsquom counting on him)

10 Per is typically used to express

place

time

means

Vivo in campagnaAbbiamo una casa in Francianel 2006nel ventesimo secoloAndiamo in trenoin autoin bici

I live in the countryWe have a house in Francein 2006in the twentieth centuryWersquore going by traincaron

our bikes

company

means

manner

quality

Vado al cinema con LucaParlo con AnnaDevo scrivere con una

penna rossaPago con un assegno

Parla con accento stranieroParla con lentezzauna signora con i capelli

grigi

Irsquom going to the cinema with LucaIrsquom talking towith AnnaIrsquove got to write with a red pen

Irsquom paying with a chequebycheque

He speaks with a foreign accentHe speaks slowlya lady with grey hair

place

subject

I tuoi libri sono sulla scrivaniail ponte sullo stretto di Messina

un libro sul calcio

Your books are on the deskthe bridge over the Strait of

Messinaa book onabout football

placetime

meanscause

aim

price

Partiamo per la montagnaEsco per 10 minutiPer le 11 sono a casaMando il file per emailuna multa per eccesso di velocitagrave

Studio per passare lrsquoesame

per 15 euro

We are leaving for the mountainsIrsquom going out for 10 minutesIrsquoll be home byfor 11Irsquoll send the file by emaila fine for speedingspeeding

fineIrsquom studying (in order) to pass

the examfor 15 euros

Unit 8 61

11 Tra and fra are typically used to express

Prepositions of place

12 Here are some examples of the different prepositions used to denoteplace

Another preposition used to denote place is lungo (along) lungo il fiume(along the river)

13 A is normally used with names of town and villages and with cardinalpoints

14 In is normally used with names of regions and nations with geographicalareas and with shops

With mare (sea) the preposition a is used (al mare lsquoat the seasidersquo)

place

time

tra Milano e Torinofra compagni di classefra due ore

between Milan and Turinamong classmatesin two hourstwo hoursrsquo

time

Sono di FerraraLa domenica vado al cinemaSono a scuolaVengo da FerraraAbito da mia nonnaLuisa egrave in camera suaDevi camminare sul marciapiediil ponte sullrsquoArnoPartite per DublinoNovara egrave fra Torino e MilanoSiamo tra amici

I amcome from FerraraOn Sundays I go to the cinemaIrsquom at schoolIrsquom coming from FerraraI live at my grannyrsquosLuisa is in her roomYou have to walk on the pavementthe bridge over the ArnoAre you leaving for DublinNovara is between Turin and MilanWe are among friends

Vado a PisaAbito a LondraPasso le vacanze a CogneAndiamo a nordCogne egrave a sud di Aosta

Irsquom going to PisaI live in LondonI spend my holidays in CogneWe are going northCogne is south of Aosta

Vado in ToscanaAbito in InghilterraPasso le vacanze in montagnaCompro il pane in panetteria

Irsquom going to TuscanyI live in EnglandI spend my holidays in the mountainsI buy bread at the bakerythe bakerrsquos

62 Unit 8

Prepositions of time

15 Some examples of the different prepositions used to denote time

16 Di is used with the days of the week and parts of the day

In these cases di is always used without the definite article

17 A is used with names of festivities months and hours of the day

18 In is used with years centuries and seasons

Di domenica non lavoroDi sera guardo la tvDonatella arriva alle 7A Natale rimaniamo a casaLa scuola finisce a giugnonel 2000nel diciottesimo secoloIn autunno piove molto

I donrsquot work on SundaysIn the evenings I watch TVDonatella will arrive at sevenAt Christmas we stay at homeSchool ends in Junein 2000in the eighteenth centuryIn autumn it rains a lot

Di lunedigrave andiamo in piscinaDi mattina vado a scuola

On Mondays we go to the swimming poolIn the morning I go to school

A Pasqua Piera va in ItaliaIl museo riapre a marzoIl treno parte alle 12Di solito mangiano a

mezzogiorno

At Easter Piera is going to ItalyThe museum reopenswill reopen in MarchThe train is leaving at 12They normally eat at midday

Sono nato nel 1990Studio il turismo nel XIX secolo

Gli esami sono in primavera

I was born in 1990Irsquom studying tourism in the nineteenth

centuryThe exams arewill be in the spring

Unit 8 63

A or in

19 Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether to use a or in so we listbelow common expressions using these two prepositions

a casaa scuolaa lettoa lezione

(at) homeatto schoolinto bedin classto (onersquos) class

a tavolaa destraa sinistraa norda suda esta ovesta colazionea pranzoa cenaa mezzogiornoa mezzanottea 101112 [etc] annia metagraveallrsquoombraal soleal baral ristorantealla stazione

to the table [ie come and sit down]at table(onto the) rightleft(into the) northsoutheastwestatfor breakfastlunchdinner supper or teaat middaymidnightat teneleventwelve [etc] (years of age)in the middlemid-in the shadein the sunin the baratto the restaurantatinto the station

in pizzeriain discotecain cittagravein centroin chiesain mensain camerain bagnoin classein palestrain casermain prigionein ufficioin piscina

intoat athe pizzeriapizza parlourinto the discointo towninto the city centreinto churchinto the canteeninto the bedroominto the bathroominto the classroominto the gyminto the barracksinto prisoninto the officeatto the swimming bath

64 Unit 8

Compound prepositions

20 Italian also has a number of lsquocompound prepositionsrsquo eg accanto alsquonext tobesidersquo invece di lsquoinstead ofrsquo Some of these are always in the com-pound form others include di only when followed by a personal pronoun Wegive here a list of the most common ones

When these prepositions are used with a personal pronoun the pronoun ispreceded by the preposition di (see Unit 14)

Exercise 1

Combine the prepositions and the definite articles

Example (di) il figlio del figlio

davanti avicino afuori dadiprima dilontano dacontrodentrodietrodopo

in front ofoppositenearnextclose tooutsidebeforefar froma long way fromagainstinsidebehindafter

senzasoprasottoverso

withoutonaboveunderbelowtowards

La farmacia egrave davanti alsupermercato

Abito lontano dal centroLrsquoalbergo egrave vicino alla stazioneNon esco senza di voi

The pharmacy is opposite thesupermarket

I live a long way from the city centreThe hotel is close to the stationIrsquom not going out without you

di1 la mamma2 lo zio3 gli amici4 il parco5 lrsquoauto6 i paesi7 le stanze

a8 il mare9 lo stadio

10 la stazione11 i ragazzi12 gli uomini13 le donne14 lrsquoospedale

da15 la zia16 lo studente17 il dentista18 lrsquoaeroporto19 gli uffici20 le colleghe21 i ministri

in22 lrsquoalbergo23 lo stipendio24 la casa25 gli anni26 i cassetti27 le camere28 il frigo

su29 il tavolo30 la sedia31 lo scaffale32 le spalle33 i libri34 gli alberi35 lrsquoidea

Unit 8 65

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example Vengo mdashmdashmdash (la) stazione dalla

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example I tuoi libri sono mdashmdashmdash (il) tavolo sul

1 Carla abita mdashmdashmdash Budapest2 Parigi egrave mdashmdashmdash Francia3 Mangiate mdashmdashmdash (il) ristorante4 Torniamo mdashmdashmdash unrsquoora5 Hai molto mdashmdashmdash fare6 Devi scrivere mdashmdashmdash (la) nonna7 Esco mdashmdashmdash Massimo8 Filippo va mdashmdashmdash (il) dentista9 Quellrsquoauto egrave mdashmdashmdash (il) padre di

Silvia10 Scrivo una lettera mdashmdashmdash (i) miei

genitori11 Vado mdashmdashmdash Milano mdashmdashmdash treno

12 Vieni mdashmdashmdash (il) cinema mdashmdashmdashme

13 Le chiavi sono mdashmdashmdash (il)cassetto

14 La lezione finisce mdashmdashmdash (le) 1115 Studiamo italiano mdashmdashmdash due

mesi16 Il museo apre mdashmdashmdash (le) 90017 Compro le rose mdashmdashmdash la zia18 Posso parlare mdashmdashmdash Elisa19 Vuoi mdashmdashmdash (il) dolce20 Il mio compleanno egrave mdashmdashmdash

giugno

1 Domani rimango mdashmdashmdash casa2 Sabato andiamo mdashmdashmdash centro3 Vado mdashmdashmdash nuotare mdashmdashmdash

piscina4 Livia egrave mdashmdashmdash letto sta poco

bene5 Puoi comprare una bottiglia

mdashmdashmdash aceto6 Regalo i CD mdashmdashmdash (il) mio

ragazzo7 Napoli egrave mdashmdashmdash sud di Roma8 Domani cominciamo mdashmdashmdash

lavorare9 Parto mdashmdashmdash Roma alle 14 e

arrivo mdashmdashmdash Torino alle 2110 Ho fame crsquoegrave qualcosa mdashmdashmdash

mangiare

11 Imprestate la bici mdashmdashmdashMaurizio

12 Vai a scuola mdashmdashmdash autobus13 Bardonecchia egrave mdashmdashmdash

montagna14 Prendo un gelato mdashmdashmdash (la)

fragola15 Cosa fate mdashmdashmdash Natale16 Piero va mdashmdashmdash (il) supermercato17 Il padre mdashmdashmdash (la) mia amica egrave

avvocato18 mdashmdashmdash pizzeria crsquoegrave sempre molta

gente19 Paola dorme mdashmdashmdash (la) stanza

vicina alla mia20 Leggo un libro mdashmdashmdash

fantascienza

66 Unit 8

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 I finish working at six2 Antoniorsquos leaving for Genoa3 Gemma was born in 20014 Fabia never goes out in the evening5 Mr and Mrs Bancroft live in the country in an old villa6 The libraryrsquos behind the gym7 You [sing] canrsquot go out without me8 Do you [pl] live far from the school9 Isabellarsquos aunt lives in Greve in Tuscany

10 Shersquos got a leather skirt11 Angus is from Edinburgh in Scotland12 You have to turn right after the church( Madam)13 Wersquore eating at a pizzeria tonight14 These flowers are for your [sing] mother15 At Christmas wersquore going skiing in the mountains16 I live near the prison17 Margaretrsquos been living in Turin for five years18 The train for Aosta leaves from platform 719 Wersquore giving Luisa a CD of Russian music20 I always buy the bread at Bellirsquos

Unit 8 67

UNIT NINEQuestions

In this unit we will look at the most common ways of asking questions inItalian We have already seen (Units 4 and 5) that the order of the words inthe sentence does not change in the interrogative form now we need to lookat some Italian lsquoquestion wordsrsquo

1 Chi

Chi means lsquowhowhomrsquo or sometimes lsquowhich ofrsquo and is only used to refer topeople Chi is invariable ndash that is the same form is used for masculine andfeminine singular and plural

When an adjective refers to chi it must be in the masculine singular formunless it refers to an all-female group

Chi egrave quellrsquouomoChi egrave quella ragazzaChi sono i tuoi amiciChi sono quelle ragazzeChi vuole venire al cinema

con meChi viene a cenaCon chi esciA chi scriveteChi ha una pennaChi non va in gita domaniChi non invitiChi di loro parla italiano

Who is that manWho is that girlWho are your friendsWho are those girlsWho wants to come to the cinema with me

Whorsquos coming for dinnerWho(m) are you going out withWho(m) are you writing toWhorsquos got a pen [ie has anyone got a pen]Whorsquos not going on the trip tomorrowWho(m) arenrsquot you invitingWhich of them speaks Italian

Chi egrave prontoChi egrave soddisfattoChi non egrave stancoChi di voi (ragazze) egrave prontaChi di voi (Signori) egrave italiano

Who is readyWho is satisfiedWho isnrsquot tiredWhich of you (girls) is readyWhich of you (gentlemen) is Italian

2 Che cosa Cosa Che

All three mean lsquowhatrsquo and are used when referring to objects Che cosaCosa and Che are invariable in gender and number

Che is also used as an adjective meaning lsquowhat (sorttype of)rsquo

3 Come

Come means lsquohowrsquo

Come can sometimes mean lsquowhatrsquo as in Come dici (What did you say)Comrsquoegrave Edimburgoil nuovo professore (Whatrsquos Edinburghthe new teacherlike)

4 Dove

Dove means lsquowherersquo

Cosrsquoegrave quelloChe cosrsquoegrave quella luceCosa sono quei segniChe sono quelle costruzioniChe succedeChe cosa voleteCosa studiCosa posso fare per LeiA che pensate

Whatrsquos thatWhatrsquos that lightWhat are those marksWhat are those buildingsWhatrsquos happeningWhat do you wantWhat are you studyingdo you studyWhat can I do for youWhat are you thinking about

Che lavoro faiChe musica ascolti di solitoChe film vai a vedereChe auto compra tuo padre

Whatrsquos your job [lit what work do you do]What (sort of) music do you usually listen toWhat film are you going to seeWhat (make of) car is your father going to

buy

Come sta SignoraCome vaCome fate la pizza

How are you MadamHowrsquos it goingHow do you make (a) pizza

Dove abitiDove andateDove sono le chiaviDovrsquoegrave il mio libro

Where do you liveWhere are you goingWhere are the keysWhere is my book

Unit 9 69

5 Quando

Quando means lsquowhenrsquo

6 Percheacute

Percheacute means lsquowhyrsquo

Come mai has a similar meaning corresponding to the English lsquohow comersquo

7 Quanto

Quanto means lsquohow muchrsquo when referring to quantity and lsquohow longrsquo lsquohowfarrsquo lsquohow tallrsquo etc when it refers to time distance height etc

Quanto can also be used as an adjective or pronoun In such cases it agrees ingender and number with the noun it refers to quanto [ms] quanta [fs] (howmuch) quanti [mp] quante [fp] (how many)

Quando partono i tuoi amiciQuando comincia il filmQuando arriva il trenoQuando egrave lo sciopero dei treni

When are your friends leavingWhen does the film startWhen does the train arriveWhenrsquos the railtrain strike

Percheacute ridonoPercheacute Giulia non va a scuolaPercheacute non studi

Why are they laughingWhy isnrsquot Giulia going to schoolWhy donrsquot you study

Come mai non mangiCome mai siete in ritardo

How come yoursquore not eatingHow come you are late

Quanto pesaQuanto costa questa magliettaQuanto dura il filmQuanto egrave alta tua sorellaQuantrsquoegrave

How muchWhat does it weighHow muchWhat does this T-shirt costHow long does the film lastHow tall is your sisterHow much is it

Quanto pane devo comprareQuanta pasta vuoiQuanti esercizi dobbiamo fareQuante ragazze ci sono in classe

tuaQuanto tempo abbiamo

lsquoCi sono molte personersquo lsquoQuantersquolsquoDobbiamo comprare del panersquo

lsquoQuantorsquo

How much bread do I have to buyHow much pasta do you wantHow many exercises have we got to doHow many girls are there in your class

How much time is thereHow longhave we got

lsquoThere are a lot of peoplersquo lsquoHow manyrsquolsquoWe must get (some) breadrsquo lsquoHow

muchrsquo

70 Unit 9

8 Quale

Quale means lsquowhichrsquo (or sometimes lsquowhatrsquo) It is used either as an adjective oras a pronoun and therefore agrees with the noun it refers to quale lsquowhich(one)rsquo quali lsquowhich (ones)rsquo The use of quale rather than che usually impliesthat there is a choice as for example if there are some books lying on thetable Quale libro leggi lsquoWhich book are you readingrsquo

Qual (without an apostrophe) is used before the forms of essere startingwith a vowel used in this way it sometimes means lsquowhatrsquo rather than lsquowhichrsquo

9 As is seen in some of the examples in paragraphs 2 3 4 and 7 cosa checosa come dove and quanto can also be shortened before the forms of esserestarting with a vowel becoming cosrsquo che cosrsquo comrsquo dovrsquo and quantrsquo (all withan apostrophe)

Quale canzone preferisciQuali esercizi facciamoQuali sono i tuoi librilsquoCompro due giornalirsquo lsquoQualirsquoQual egrave la canzone piugrave famosaQual egrave il Suo indirizzonumero di

telefono

Which song do you preferWhich exercises are we doingWhich are your bookslsquoIrsquom buying two papersrsquo lsquoWhich onesrsquoWhichWhat is the best-known songWhatrsquos your addressphone number

Cosrsquoera quel rumoreChe cosrsquoegrave successoComrsquoera lo spettacoloDovrsquoegrave la stazioneQuantrsquoegrave costato

What was that noiseWhat happenedHow was the showWhere is the stationHow much did it cost

Unit 9 71

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with chi or checosache cosa as appropriate

Examples mdashmdashmdash mi cerca chi mdashmdashmdash fate checosache cosa

Exercise 2

Complete the questions with an appropriate word (che come dove quandopercheacute or qualequaliqual)

Examples lsquomdashmdashmdash non esci staserarsquo lsquoDevo studiarersquo percheacute lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave latua bicirsquo lsquoQuellarsquo qual

1 mdashmdashmdash sono quei signori2 mdashmdashmdash di loro egrave tuo cugino3 Con mdashmdashmdash uscite stasera4 mdashmdashmdash posso fare per te5 mdashmdashmdash studiate6 mdashmdashmdash viene con me7 mdashmdashmdash accompagna Luca8 mdashmdashmdash vuoi bere9 Di mdashmdashmdash egrave questo libro

10 mdashmdashmdash succede

11 Per mdashmdashmdash lavori12 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Caffegrave o te13 A mdashmdashmdash telefoni14 mdashmdashmdash viene alla festa15 mdashmdashmdash dici16 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Gianni o Piero17 mdashmdashmdash leggi18 Da mdashmdashmdash vai a cena19 mdashmdashmdash vuoi fare stasera20 mdashmdashmdash apre la porta

1 lsquomdashmdashmdash abitatersquo lsquoA Milanorsquo2 lsquomdashmdashmdash parte lrsquoautobusrsquo lsquoAlle

800rsquo3 lsquomdashmdashmdash non studirsquo lsquoNon sto

benersquo4 lsquomdashmdashmdash sta Professorersquo lsquoBene

graziersquo5 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo compleannorsquo lsquoIl

20 aprilersquo6 lsquomdashmdashmdash lavoro fa tuo padrersquo lsquoIl

medicorsquo7 lsquomdashmdashmdash strada devo prenderersquo

lsquoQuella a destrarsquo8 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave la mensarsquo lsquoDietro la

palestrarsquo9 lsquomdashmdashmdash sei in ritardorsquo lsquoCrsquoegrave

sciopero degli autobusrsquo10 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo indirizzorsquo lsquoVia

Garibaldi 22rsquo

11 lsquomdashmdashmdash genere di musicaascoltatersquo lsquoRockrsquo

12 lsquomdashmdashmdash materia preferiscirsquolsquoScienzersquo

13 lsquomdashmdashmdash ti vesti per la festarsquo lsquoConla gonna lungarsquo

14 lsquomdashmdashmdash metto la bicirsquo lsquoIn garagersquo15 lsquomdashmdashmdash non venite con noirsquo

lsquoAbbiamo sonnorsquo16 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave il parcheggiorsquo lsquoDavanti

al cinemarsquo17 lsquomdashmdashmdash comincia la scuolarsquo lsquoA

settembrersquo18 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave la capitale dellrsquoItaliarsquo

lsquoRomarsquo19 lsquomdashmdashmdash non vai in vacanzarsquo lsquoNon

ho soldirsquo20 lsquomdashmdashmdash libri leggirsquo lsquoRomanzi di

avventurersquo

72 Unit 9

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct form of quanto

Examples mdashmdashmdashmdash anni hai quanti mdashmdashmdashmdash costa questa magliettaquanto

Exercise 4

1 How many rolls do you [pl] want2 Where are you [pl] going for lunch3 Who are those people4 What are you [sing] doing on Sunday5 When are you [pl] going on holiday6 Why isnrsquot Luisa leaving7 Which is your [sing] bike8 What film are you [sing] watching9 Which of them is Italian

10 When does the train arrive

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash persone vengono2 Fra mdashmdashmdashmdash tempo partite3 mdashmdashmdashmdash fratelli ha Luisa4 mdashmdashmdashmdash esercizi fate5 mdashmdashmdashmdash stanze ha la tua casa6 mdashmdashmdashmdash gente inviti7 mdashmdashmdashmdash sei alto8 mdashmdashmdashmdash pagine dobbiamo

studiare9 mdashmdashmdashmdash mesi rimanete in Italia

10 mdashmdashmdashmdash guadagni

11 mdashmdashmdashmdash frutta devo comprare12 mdashmdashmdashmdash costano quei jeans13 mdashmdashmdashmdash autobus devi prendere14 mdashmdashmdashmdash dura il concerto15 Da mdashmdashmdashmdash studiate italiano16 mdashmdashmdashmdash cartoline spedisci17 mdashmdashmdashmdash spendi al mese18 mdashmdashmdashmdash amiche hai19 mdashmdashmdashmdash libri devi leggere20 mdashmdashmdashmdash egrave lontana la discoteca

Unit 9 73

UNIT TENIndirect object pronouns (1)

1 We saw in Unit 7 that a direct object is the person or thing that the verbdirectly impacts on An indirect object is the person or thing that theaction is happening to or for Scrivo a Carla domani (Irsquoll write to Carlatomorrow) Mando cartoline a tutti i miei amici (I send cards to all myfriends) In English the indirect object can usually be preceded by lsquotorsquo orlsquoforrsquo but these are very often omitted compare lsquoI gave the book to Karenrsquoand lsquoI gave Karen the bookrsquo or lsquoIrsquoll pour a glass for Janersquo and lsquoIrsquoll pourJane a glassrsquo

An indirect object pronoun replaces a noun used as an indirect object lsquoIgave the book to herI gave her the bookrsquo lsquoIrsquoll pour her a glassIrsquoll pour a glassfor herrsquo

In Italian an indirect object pronoun replaces a noun preceded by thepreposition a it has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers toIndirect object pronouns normally come before the verb In the followingexamples the pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the indirect object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Maria le racconto tutto[le stands for a Maria (fs)]

Non telefono a Carlo gli scrivo[gli stands for a Carlo (ms)]

Paolo non ci dice mai la veritagrave[ci stands for a noi]

When I see Maria Irsquoll tell hereverything

Irsquom not going to phone Carlo Irsquollwrite to him

Paolo never tells us the truth

mitigli [m]le [f]civigli [m and f]

to meto youto himitherto usto youto them

The third person plural pronoun gli is used for both masculine and feminineFor the third person plural loro can be used instead of gli but it alwaysfollows the verb the meaning is the same but the use of loro is far lessfrequent and is more formal

Negative form

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 When an indirect object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usu-ally after verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Mi mandi una cartolina da Roma

Vi scrivo appena arrivoEgrave il compleanno di Anna le regalo

un CDSe Dario non ha lrsquoauto gli dograve un

passaggioTi impresto i soldilsquoScrivi agli ziirsquo lsquoNo gli telefono

domaniNo telefono loro domanirsquo

Gli dico la veritagraveDico loro la veritagrave

Will you send me a postcard fromRome

Irsquoll write to you as soon as I arriveItrsquos Annarsquos birthday Irsquom giving her a

CDIf Dario hasnrsquot got his car Irsquoll give

him a liftIrsquoll lend you the moneylsquoAre you going to write to your

unclesrsquo lsquoNo Irsquoll phone themtomorrowrsquo

Irsquom going to tell them the truth

Non ti impresto i soldiNon le scrivo le telefonoNon gli rispondo

I wonrsquot lend you the moneyIrsquom not going to write (to her) Irsquoll phone herIrsquom not going to reply toanswer him

Le voglio parlareGli devo scrivereMi potete telefonareMi sai dire quando

orororor

Voglio parlarleDevo scrivergliPotete telefonarmiSai dirmi quando

I want to talk to herI must write to himthemCan you phone meCan you tell me when

Unit 10 75

Formal form

5 The indirect object pronouns used for the formal form are Le for thesingular (for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronoun Loro ndashafter the verb ndash can also be used but this is very formal)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct indirectobject pronoun

Example Scrivete a Luigi Gli scrivete

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Gli scrivo Non gli scrivo

Le rispondo subito Signor ColliLe dograve un passaggio Signora BanfiSignori Bianco Vi telefono domani (Signori Bianco telefono Loro

domani)

Irsquoll answer you immediately Mr ColliIrsquoll give you a lift Mrs Banfi

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) Irsquoll phone youtomorrow

1 Telefoniamo a Carla2 Spedisco le cartoline ai miei amici3 Silvia racconta una storia al

bambino4 Regalo un libro alla zia5 Anna scrive alle amiche

6 Porto i fiori alla nonna7 Scriviamo ai nostri compagni8 Olga e Silvia parlano a Giulia9 La nonna legge un libro ai nipoti

10 Cosa regalate a Marco

1 Le parlo di lavoro2 Mi telefoni3 Vi regalo dei libri4 Gli offrite qualcosa5 Gli amici le offrono un gelato

6 Ci scrivete7 Ti mando una cartolina8 Vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo mi dice la veritagrave

10 Gli spedisco il pacco

76 Unit 10

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate indirect object pronouns

Examples Mauro ha molti amici e mdashmdash telefona spesso gli Livia vuoleparlare con te devi telefonarmdashmdash le

1 lsquoTelefonate a Luisarsquo lsquoNo mdashmdash scriviamo una letterarsquo2 Se mi chiedi qualcosa mdashmdash rispondo3 lsquoCosa regali a tuo padrersquo lsquomdashmdash regalo una cravattarsquo4 Se vedi le mie amiche puoi dirmdashmdash che le aspetto per domani5 Signora posso offrirmdashmdash un caffegrave6 lsquoCi portate un regalo dallrsquoItaliarsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash portiamo un panettonersquo7 lsquoCosa vuoi dirmdashmdashrsquo lsquoVi voglio dire la veritagraversquo8 Gianni mdashmdash presento mia sorella9 lsquoQuando telefoni ai nonnirsquo lsquomdashmdash telefono domani serarsquo

10 Professore mdashmdash devo parlare11 Non so fare questo esercizio mdashmdash dai una mano12 Domani egrave il compleanno di Anna devo farmdashmdash gli auguri13 Paolo dice sempre bugie non mdashmdash dovete credere14 Telefono a Michele e mdashmdash chiedo un prestito15 Se non avete lrsquoauto mdashmdash dograve un passaggio16 Se Carla e Pietro hanno bisogno di soldi mdashmdash posso fare un prestito17 lsquoQuanto ti danno allrsquoorarsquo lsquomdashmdash danno 15 eurorsquo18 Appena vedo Silvia mdashmdash rendo i libri19 Se vuoi mdashmdash impresto la mia bici20 Ettore egrave un buon amico e mdashmdash racconto sempre tutto

1 Le possiamo scrivere2 Ti devo parlare3 Gli voglio regalare una chitarra4 Ci puoi telefonare5 Vi devono offrire qualcosa

6 Mi potete dire tutto7 Le posso parlare Signora8 Non gli dovete scrivere9 Non ti posso rispondere

10 Le voglio credere

Unit 10 77

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Can you [sing] tell Lucia that I want to speak to her2 As soon as I arrive in Rome Irsquoll phone you [pl]3 I have to ask you a favour Madam4 Are you [sing] giving them your phone number5 They always tell us interesting things6 They always send me a card when they go to Italy7 For her birthday Irsquom giving her flowers8 Irsquove got to give you [sing] Lucarsquos books9 If you [pl] want Irsquoll tell you a story

10 Massimo writes to me every week

78 Unit 10

UNIT ELEVENPiacere and similar verbs

1 Piacere corresponds to lsquoto likersquo but it is used in a different way from itsEnglish counterpart In Italian the subject of the verbsentence is the thingor person one likes the person who likes something is denoted by an indirectobject pronoun (see Unit 10)

2 Piacere is an irregular verb mostly used in the third person singular(piace) and plural (piacciono) As can be seen in the examples piace is usedif the thing that one likes is a singular noun or pronoun or the infinitiveof a verb piacciono is used if the things that one likes are a plural noun orpronoun

Singular noun or pronoun

Verb

Mi piace lo sportTi piace ballare

Mi piacciono i gatti

I like sport [lit sport is pleasing to me]Do you like dancing [lit is dancing pleasing to

you]I like cats [lit cats are pleasing to me]

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

la mia cittagravequestoquestail calciola musica rockil tennisquelloquella

I like my home townYou like this (one)Heshe likes footballWe like rock musicYou like tennisThey like that one

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

leggereandare in bicisciareguardare la tvdormireballare

I like to readreadingYou like to cyclecyclingHeshe likes to skiskiingWe like to watchwatching TVYou like to sleepsleepingThey like to dancedancing

Plural noun or pronoun

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 As usual for the polite form in the singular the feminine pronoun (Le) isused for both men and women for the plural Vi is normally used

Loro is a much more formal way of addressing people in the plural it isalways placed after the verb

5 When the person who likes something is denoted not by a pronoun but bya noun the noun must be preceded by the preposition a

6 To mark a contrast the stressed forms of the pronouns (a me a te aluia lei a noi a voi a loro ndash see Unit 14) are used instead of the unstressedforms

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiacciono

questiquestele ciliegiei romanziquelliquellegli scherzile auto veloci

I like theseYou like cherriesHeshe likes novelsWe like thoseYou like practical jokesThey like fast cars

Non mi piace la pizzaNon ti piace questoquestaNon le piace sciareNon ci piacciono i videogiochi

I donrsquot like pizzaDonrsquot you like this (one)She doesnrsquot like skiingWe donrsquot like video games

Le piacciono i funghi SignoraVanni

Le piace leggere Signor VanniNon Le piace quelloquellaNon Le piace sciareSignori Conti Vi piace lrsquoItaliaSignori Conti piace Loro lrsquoItalia

Do you like mushrooms Mrs Vanni

Do you like reading Mr VanniDonrsquot you like that oneDonrsquot you like skiingDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs ContiDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs Conti

A Claudia non piace andare a scuolaAllo zio Davide piace la musica

classicaA Piera non piacciono questiquesteAi miei nonni piace dormireA Franco e Luisa piace viaggiare

Claudia doesnrsquot like going to schoolUncle Davide likes classical music

Piera doesnrsquot like theseMy grandparents like sleepingFranco and Luisa like travelling

80 Unit 11

7 There are other verbs which are used in the same way as piacere mancare(to miss) [lit lsquoto be lackingmissingrsquo] servire (to need) [lit lsquoto be usefulrsquo] bastare(to be enoughsufficient) and sembrare and parere (to seem)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct pronoun

Example A Sara non piace il caffegrave Non le piace il caffegrave

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Mi piace la pioggia Non mi piace la pioggia

A me piace il caffegrave a te piace il teA lui piacciono i gatti a lei noA noi piace il calcio a voi il tennisA loro piace nuotare a noi piace sciareA me piace questoquesta a Lei quello

quella

I like coffee you like teaHe likes cats she doesnrsquotWe like football you like tennisThey like swimming we like skiingI like this one you like that one

Mi manca il mio ragazzo

Non vi mancano i vostri genitori

Ti serve una pennaA Livia servono i tuoi consigliQuestiqueste non ci bastanoA me bastano 10 euro e a te

Il comportamento di Carlo misembrami pare strano

Non mi sembrami pare giusto

I miss my boyfriend [lit my boyfriendis lacking to me]

Donrsquot you miss your parents [lit arenrsquotyour parents lacking to you]

Do you need a penLivia needs your adviceThese arenrsquot enough for us10 euros are sufficient for me ndash are they

for youhow about youCarlorsquos behaviour seems strange to me

It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot thinkitrsquos fair

1 A Federica non piacciono i carciofi2 A Giampiero non piace guidare3 A Massimo piace viaggiare4 A Tullio e Anna piace il mare5 Ai miei amici piace ballare

6 A me e a Marco non piace il pesce7 A te e a Marina piace nuotare8 A Mara piacciono i film francesi9 Alla mamma non piace stirare

10 Allo zio piace andare in moto

Unit 11 81

Exercise 3

Write sentences expressing your taste

Example cavalli (Non) mi piacciono i cavalli

1 la frutta 2 il calcio 3 le fragole 4 giocare a tennis 5 uscire con gli amici6 i gatti 7 la pizza 8 i dolci 9 ballare 10 le vacanze

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative or negativesentences using the verb piacere

Example Maria le patate A Maria (non) piacciono le patate

Exercise 5

Supply the correct form of the verbs in brackets

Example Quei libri mi (sembrare) interessanti sembrano

1 Ci (bastare) questo pane2 Vi (sembrare) bello quel film3 Ci (piacere) le auto sportive4 A Sebastiano (mancare) la mamma5 lsquoVoglio comprare una motorsquo lsquoTi (servire) dei soldirsquo6 A Livio (mancare) i soldi per le vacanze

1 Le piace andare in centro il sabato2 Ti piace la musica classica3 Gli piacciono i funghi4 Vi piace guardare la televisione5 Mi piacciono i film di fantascienza

6 Gli piace la scuola7 Ci piacciono le canzoni italiane8 Le piacciono gli spaghetti9 Mi piace sciare

10 Vi piace la cioccolata al latte

1 Luigi2 il professore3 mia sorella4 i miei cugini5 il primo ministro

il caffegrave senza zuccherole poesie di Leopardiandare al cinemai film di Fellinila politica

82 Unit 11

7 Quello che dici mi (sembrare) interessante8 Mi (servire) delle scarpe nuove9 Quale di quei due libri ti (parere) migliore

10 Non ti (bastare) 20 euro

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian using the verbs piacere sembrare servire mancare orbastare

1 An hour isnrsquot enough for me2 Giovanni needs a pen3 Lynnersquos missing her Italian friends4 Do you [sing] like chocolate5 She doesnrsquot like going to the cinema6 Do you [pl] need a lift7 They need a pen and a notebook8 Do you find the show boring Madam9 Do you [sing] need help

10 I like reading

Unit 11 83

UNIT TWELVEThe present perfect tense

Use of the present perfect

1 The present perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) is one of the two most used pasttenses of the indicative in Italian (the other is the imperfect (lsquoimperfettorsquo) )The present perfect is often used like the English present perfect (eg lsquoI haveseen itrsquo lsquoShe has gone homersquo) to state that an action has happened in the pastbut that its effects are still lasting in the present However in Northern Italyand in the language of the media it is also equivalent to the English simplepast (eg lsquoI saw itrsquo lsquoShe went homersquo) referring to actions which happened in amore distant past and have no immediate consequences in the presentIndeed it more often corresponds to the English simple past than to theEnglish present perfect In other words in Italian the difference betweenpresent perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) and simple past (lsquopassato remotorsquo) is notalways marked and it is always possible to use the former

2 The present perfect is a compound tense and is formed as in English withthe present tense of the auxiliary verb followed by the past participle of theverb

Napoleone egrave morto il 5 maggio 1821Lrsquoestate scorsa siamo andati in

vacanza sul lago di GardaNina egrave nata in RussiaLrsquoanno scorso mi hanno regalato

una mountain bike

Napoleon died on 5 May 1821Last summer we went to Lake Garda

for oura holidayNina was born in RussiaLast year they gave me a mountain

bike

Ho visto un bel filmHa telefonato MarcoSono rimasto a casaAnna egrave uscitaSono andati in piscina

I sawhave seen a lovely filmMarco phonedhas phonedI stayedhave stayed at homeAnna went outhas gone outDid they goHave they gone to the swimming

pool

As the examples confirm the lsquopassato prossimorsquo may correspond to either thesimple past or the present perfect in English But there are also other differ-ences between the Italian and English structures there is only one auxiliaryverb in English (lsquoto haversquo) but in Italian there is a choice of two avere andessere when essere is used the past participle has to agree in gender andnumber with the subject finally whether to use avere or essere is not usually afree choice We will look at all these differences in detail but first we need tolook at the forms of the Italian past participle

Forms of the past participle

3 The regular forms of the past participle are obtained by changing theending of the infinitive as follows

Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) keep the lsquosoftrsquo sound of c (or sc) andtherefore add an i before the -uto ending (-iuto)

The past participle of verbs in -urre ends in -otto

Infinitive in -are-ato

Infinitive in -ere-uto

Infinitive in -ire-ito

Infinitiveparlaremangiarecaderevolerepiacereconoscerepartirecapire

Past participleparlatomangiatocadutovolutopiaciutoconosciutopartitocapito

(to speak) spoken(to eat) eaten(to fall) fallen(to want) wanted(to like) liked(to knowmeet for the first time) knownmet(to leave) left(to understand) understood

Infinitivecondurretradurreprodurre

Past participlecondottotradottoprodotto

(to leaddrivemanage) leddrivenmanaged(to translate) translated(to produce) produced

Unit 12 85

4 In Italian as in most languages many verbs have an irregular past parti-ciple which is best learned by heart and with use Here is a list of the mostfrequently used

Stato is also the past participle of stare The regular forms perduto and veduto are rarely used

The present perfect

5 The present perfect in Italian is formed with the present indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

Infinitiveaccendereaprireberechiederechiuderedecideredireesserefareleggeremettereperdereprendererendererimanererispondereromperescenderescriverespegnerespenderesuccederetoglierevederevenirevincerevivere

Past participleaccesoapertobevutochiestochiusodecisodettostatofattolettomessopersoperdutopresoresorimastorispostorottoscesoscrittospentospesosuccessotoltovistovedutovenutovintovissuto

(to turn onswitch on) turned onswitched on(to open) opened(to drink) drunk(to ask) asked(to close) closed(to decide) decided(to saytell) saidtold(to be) been(to domake) donemade(to read) read(to putput on) putput on(to lose) lost(to take) taken(to returngive back) returnedgiven back(to remainstay) remainedstayed(to answer) answered(to break) broken(to go downdescend) gone downdescended(to write) written(to turn offswitch off) turned offswitched off(to spend) spent(to happen) happened(to take awayoff) taken awayoff(to see) seen(to come) come(to win) won(to live) lived

86 Unit 12

6 As can be seen when the present perfect is formed with avere the pastparticiple does not change but when the present perfect is formed with esserethe past participle behaves like an adjective agreeing in gender and numberwith the subject of the verb Here are some examples

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Present of avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I wrotehave writtenyou wrotehave writtenhesheit wrotehas writtenwe wrotehave written

(voi) avete(loro) hanno

scrittoscritto

you wrotehave writtenthey wrotehave written

Present of essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I wenthave goneyou wenthave gonehesheit wenthas gonewe wenthave goneyou wenthave gonethey wenthave gone

AvereLivia ha guardato la televisioneHai comprato il pane

Ha prenotato Signor Ferro

EssereMonica egrave uscita [fs]Pietro egrave stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia sono rimaste a

casa [fp]Giulia e Sebastiano sono partiti

[mp]Sono andata al cinema [fs]

Siamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando egravearrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando egravearrivata [fs]

Livia (has) watched TVDid you buyHave you bought the

breadDid you bookHave you booked Mr

Ferro

Monica went outMonicarsquos gone outPietrorsquos been illFabia and Silvia (have) stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano (have) left

I wentIrsquove been to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We (have) arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When did you arrive Mr Poli

When did you arrive Mrs Poli

Unit 12 87

Present perfect of avere and essere

7 Avere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary essere

8 Like the present the present perfect of essere can be used with the pronounci (see Unit 4) crsquoegrave statostata (there washas been) ci sono statistate (therewerehave been)

Essere or avere

9 Deciding whether to use essere or avere can be a bit of a problem The onlyfirm rules are those governing transitive verbs (ie verbs which can have adirect object) and reflexive verbs (see Unit 20) Transitive verbs always useavere reflexive verbs always use essere

As for intransitive verbs some use avere and others essere In general it canbe said that verbs of movement (such as andare (to go) venire (to come)partire (to leave) uscire (to go out) entrare (to go income in)) or non-movement (such as rimanere (to remain) restare (to stayremain)) and verbsof state (such as essere diventare (to become) cambiare (to change) crescere(to grow)) use the auxiliary essere However this is not a hard and fast rulethere are intransitive verbs which take avere

ho avutohai avutoha avutoabbiamo avutoavete avutohanno avuto

I hadhave hadyou hadhave hadhesheit hadhas hadwe hadhave hadyou hadhave hadthey hadhave had

sono statostatasei statostataegrave statostatasiamo statistatesiete statistatesono statistate

I washave beenyou werehave beenhesheit washas beenwe werehave beenyou werehave beenthey werehave been

La settimana scorsa abbiamo avuto ospitiTanya ha avuto la varicellaNina egrave stata malataDes egrave stato mio studente

Last week we had guestsTanya has had chickenpoxNina has been illDes was a student of mine

Crsquoegrave stata unrsquoalluvioneCi sono stati troppo incidenti

There washas been a floodThere werehave been too many accidents

88 Unit 12

To help in choosing the right auxiliary here is a list of common verbs whichform the present perfect with essere

These verbs are normally only used in the third person singular and plural

Ho conosciuto i genitori di Gianni[transitive]

Avete spedito le vostre cartoline[transitive]

Quanto hai speso [transitive]Ieri sera siamo andati a un concerto

rock [intransitive]Domenica scorsa siamo rimasti a

casa [intransitive]Il tempo egrave cambiato [intransitive]Ho dormito bene [intransitive]

I (have) met Giannirsquos parents

Did you sendHave you sent yourpostcards

How much did you spendLast night we went to a rock concert

Last Sunday we stayed at home

The weatherrsquos changedI slept well

Infinitiveandarearrivarebastare

costare

crescerediventareentrareesseremorire

nascerepartirepiacere

restarerimanere(ri)tornareriuscire

sembrarestaresuccedere

uscirevenire

Present perfectsono andato-asono arrivato-aegrave bastato-asono bastati-eegrave costato-asono costati-esono cresciuto-asono diventato-asono entrato-asono stato-aegrave morto-asono morti-esono nato-asono partito-aegrave piaciuto-asono piaciuti-esono restato-asono rimasto-asono (ri)tornato-asono riuscito-a

sono sembrato-asono stato-aegrave successo-asono successi-esono uscito-asono venuto-a

I wenthave goneI arrivedhave arrivedit washas been enoughthey werehave been enoughit costhas costthey costhave costI grewhave grownI becamehave becomeI wenthave gone inI enteredhave enteredI washave beenhesheit diedhas died

I was bornI lefthave leftit pleasedhas pleasedthey pleasedhave pleasedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI came backhave come backI succeededmanagedI have succeeded

managedI seemedhave seemedI stoodstayedI have stoodstayedit happenedhas happenedthey happenedhave happenedI went outhave gone outI camehave come

Unit 12 89

Note that succedere is an impersonal verb something or things can happenbut succedere cannot be used like the English lsquoI happened to be in Romersquo etc

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the auxiliary

11 The adverbs ancora (again) mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) and giagrave (already)are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (eg Ho giagrave risposto(Irsquove already replied)) When they are used in the negative ndash non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) (see also Unit 6 paragraph 2) ndash non is placed before theauxiliary

I soldi sono bastatiQuanto egrave costata quella biciLa bici egrave costata piugrave di 900 euroMolti civili sono mortiLe egrave piaciuto il film SignoraDa allora sono succese molte

cose

The money was enoughHow much did that bicycle costThe bike cost over 900 eurosMany civilians diedhave diedDid you like the film( Madam)Since then many things have happened

After that many things happened

Ieri non sono andato a scuolaLisa non egrave riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon hai telefonato a Fabia

I didnrsquot go to school yesterdayLisa didnrsquot managehasnrsquot managed to

finish that jobDidnrsquot you phoneHavenrsquot you phoned

Fabia

Sei ancora andato in biblioteca

Siete mai stati su un ghiacciaioHai piugrave visto i tuoi amiciNon abbiamo ancora preso il

bigliettoPaola non egrave mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non ha piugrave telefonato

Did you goHave you been to the libraryagain

Have you ever been on a glacierHave you (ever) seen your friends againWe havenrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola has never been to VeniceCarlo didnrsquot phonehasnrsquot (ever) phoned

again

90 Unit 12

Dovere potere volere

12 The present perfect of dovere potere and volere is normally formed withthe auxiliary avere but when they are followed by a verb which forms thepresent perfect with essere they may take essere as well if essere is used thepast participle of the verb agrees with the subject

Remember that it is never wrong to use avere

Exercise 1

Supply the correct endings for the past participles ensuring that they agreewith the subject

Example Le mie amiche sono uscitmdash uscite

1 Francesca e Filippo sono restatmdash a casa2 Giulia e Susanna non sono uscitmdash ieri sera3 Nicoletta egrave andatmdash in vacanza4 I miei amici sono arrivatmdash domenica scorsa5 Quando Fabia egrave entratmdash ha visto gli amici6 Pierluigi non egrave riuscitmdash a finire il lavoro7 Professor Rossi quando egrave arrivatmdash8 Ti egrave piaciutmdash la partita9 Quanto sono costatmdash quei libri

10 Quando egrave natmdash tua sorella

I nostri amici hanno dovuto partire I nostri amici sono dovuti partireCecilia non ha potuto andare in Irlanda Cecilia non egrave potuta andare in IrlandaPercheacute non avete voluto uscire Percheacute non siete voluti uscire

Our friends had to leave

Cecilia couldnrsquot go to Ireland

Why didnrsquot you want to go out

Ho dovuto lavorareMaria ha dovuto rimanere a casaElena non ha potuto telefonare

Elena e Sergio non hanno potutoentrare

I (have) had to workMaria (has) had to stay at homeElena couldnrsquothasnrsquot been able to

phoneElena and Sergio couldnrsquothavenrsquot

been able to get in

Unit 12 91

Exercise 2

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Anna (partire) ieri egrave partita

Exercise 3

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Il dottore (uscire) egrave uscito

1 Dove (tu comprare) quellescarpe

2 Ettore (regalare) un portafoglioa Luisa

3 Ieri sera (noi andare) a unconcerto

4 Dove (voi trovare) quei fogli5 (tu spegnere) la luce6 Quanta gente (venire) alla festa7 Signora Depaoli (portare) i

documenti8 (voi prendere) il giornale9 Ieri (io vedere) le mie amiche

10 Non (tu potere) finire il lavoro

11 (io dovere) studiare molto perquesto esame

12 Franco (uscire) tardi e (perdere)lrsquoautobus

13 Chi ti (scrivere) quella lettera14 (noi giocare) a pallone tutto il

pomeriggio15 Federica (cominciare) il nuovo

lavoro16 Lorenzo non (volere) uscire17 Dove (tu mettere) i libri18 (tu potere) parlare col professore19 (voi avere) tempo per fare tutto20 (tu leggere) il giornale di oggi

1 (noi dovere) lavorare tutto ilgiorno

2 Dove (voi mangiare)3 A che ora (tu partire)4 Chi (telefonare)5 Claudia (volere) restare a casa6 (tu conoscere) il fratello di

Piero7 Silvia (dovere) andare in

ospedale8 (voi accompagnare) Lina alla

stazione9 Chi (vincere) il campionato

10 (tu finire) i compiti

11 Non (io capire) nulla12 (tu portare) i libri in biblioteca13 Non (noi riuscire) a finire in

tempo14 Cosa (voi decidere)15 Carla (avere) la febbre16 Ugo e Marina non (venire) a cena

da noi17 Che cosa (voi fare) domenica18 Il treno (partire) con mezzrsquoora di

ritardo19 La nonna (essere) contenta di

vedermi20 Chi (tradurre) questo libro

92 Unit 12

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquove already done this exercise2 I havenrsquot finished reading the paper yet3 Stefanorsquos never been to Rome4 I didnrsquot see Roberto again after the party5 Have you [pl] already paid the bill6 Giulia hasnrsquot started working yet7 Carlo couldnrsquot work any more8 Irsquove never met her parents9 Have you [sing] written the letters already

10 Irsquove never seen that film

Unit 12 93

UNIT THIRTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns (2)

1 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the present perfect (orany other compound tense) the past participle must agree in gender andnumber with the pronoun

Particular care must be taken when the gender is not shown in the pronounas in the last three examples

Note that when the polite form is used the past participle always agreeswith the feminine pronoun La not with the gender of the person beingspoken to

lsquoHai invitato Anna e Sararsquo lsquoSigrave leho invitatersquo

lsquoAvete portato i librirsquo lsquoSigrave liabbiamo portatirsquo

Ho comprato delle rose e leho date a Luisa

lsquoChi ha scritto questa musicarsquolsquoLrsquoha scritta Bob Marleyrsquo

lsquoDove hai comprato quellescarpersquo lsquoLe ho comprate almercatorsquo

Ho 25 compagni di classe e li hoinvitati tutti alla mia festa dicompleanno

Non ci hanno invitati alla festa

Mauro mi ha accompagnata allastazione

Ti hanno invitata

lsquoDid you invite Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYes Iinvited themrsquo

lsquoHave you brought the booksrsquo lsquoYeswersquove brought themrsquo

I bought some roses and gave them toLuisa

lsquoWho wrote this musicrsquo lsquoBob Marleywrote itrsquo

lsquoWhere did you buy those shoesrsquo lsquoIbought them at the marketrsquo

I have 25 classmates and Irsquove invited allof them to my birthday party

They didnrsquot invite us to the party [weare all males or mixed males andfemales]

Mauro took me to the station [thespeaker is female]

Did they invite you [the personaddressed is female]

2 The rule given above does not apply to indirect object pronouns with thesethe past participle of the verb never changes

3 As we saw in Units 7 and 10 when a direct or indirect object pronounoccurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive

In these sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or anyother compound tense) there is no agreement of the past participle even withdirect object pronouns

However when the direct object pronoun is not attached to the infinitive thepast participle must agree with it

Signor Belli chi Lrsquoha invitataDottor Ranieri Lrsquoabbiamo vista

ieri sera alla televisione

Who invited you Mr BelliWe saw you on television last night

Dr Ranieri

lsquoHai telefonato a Anna e SararsquolsquoSigrave gli ho telefonatorsquo

Quando egrave venuta Livia le ho offertoun gelato

Ho parlato con Carla e le ho dettotutto

Non ci hanno scritto

lsquoDid you phone Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYesI phoned themrsquo

When Livia came I offered her an icecream

I spoke to Carla and told hereverything

They didnrsquot write to us

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave hodovuto leggerli tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non ho ancora potutoleggerla

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non ha volutoinvitarle alla festa

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonabbiamo saputo farlirsquo

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave li hodovuti leggere tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non lrsquoho ancora potuta leggere

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non le ha voluteinvitare alla festa

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

Unit 13 95

4 In contemporary spoken Italian (and sometimes in written Italian as well)agreement of the past participle with first and second person direct objectpronouns tends not to be observed this is the case with both singular (mi ti) andplural (ci vi) so quite often you will hear (or read) sentences like the following

However the agreement is always made with the third person pronouns (lola li le)

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the direct object pronouns making sure that thepast participle agrees

Example Ho visto Gianna e mdashmdash ho invitatmdash lrsquoho invitata

1 Ho comprato dei fiori e mdashmdash ho messmdash in un vaso2 La zia egrave partita e mdashmdash ho accompagnatmdashalla stazione3 Ho visto delle belle scarpe e mdashmdashho compratmdash4 Lara ha aperto le finestre ma Luca mdashmdash ha chiusmdash5 Mi hanno regalato dei biscotti e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdash tutti6 Luisa non hai sentito che Claudio mdashmdash ha chiamatmdash7 Gaetano ha preso il giornale e mdashmdashha lettmdash8 lsquoVi hanno invitati alla festarsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash hanno invitatmdashrsquo9 lsquoHai preso i biglietti per il concertorsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho presmdashrsquo

10 Cerchi i libri mdashmdash ho datmdash a Giovanni

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonli abbiamo saputi farersquo

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoSusanna chi ti ha accompagnatorsquo[instead of ti ha accompagnata]

lsquoMi ha accompagnato Sebastianorsquo[instead of mi ha accompagnata]

Ci ha invitato alla festa [instead ofci ha invitati]

Vi ho visto entrare al cinema[instead of vi ho visti]

lsquoSusanna who went withtook yoursquo

lsquoSebastiano went withtook mersquo

HeShe has asked us to the party

I saw you go into the cinema

Lrsquoha accompagnata SebastianoLi ho invitati alla festalsquoQuando hai visto Carla e Liviarsquo

lsquoLe ho viste ierirsquo

Sebastiano went withtook herIrsquove asked them to the partylsquoWhen did you see Carla and Liviarsquo lsquoI

saw them yesterdayrsquo

96 Unit 13

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct direct or indirect object pronounmaking sure that the past participle agrees where necessary

Examples Non ho telefonato a Maria mdashmdashmdash ho scrittmdash le ho scrittoHo comprato una minigonna rossa e mdashho indossatmdash per lafesta lrsquoho indossata

1 Ho incontrato Lina e mdashmdash ho offertmdash un caffegrave2 Cerco Paola e Gianni mdashmdash avete vistmdash3 Non ho la bicicletta perchegrave mdashmdashho imprestatmdash a Filippo4 Non ho scritto a Paola mdashmdash ho telefonatmdash5 Dove sono le chiavi Chi mdashmdash ha presmdash6 Parlo bene lrsquoitaliano e il tedesco percheacute mdashmdash ho studiatmdash per sette anni7 Ieri ho visto Alessandro e mdashmdash ha presentatmdash sua sorella8 Caterina chi mdashmdash ha accompagnatmdash ieri sera9 Oggi egrave il compleanno di Daniela mdashmdash hai mandatmdash gli auguri

10 Gianna egrave una vecchia amica mdashmdashho conosciutmdash otto anni fa11 lsquoDove avete lasciato la bicirsquo lsquomdashmdashabbiamo lasciatmdash in stradarsquo12 Hai telefonato a Giacomo Che cosa mdashmdash hai dettmdash13 lsquoHai comprato i francobollirsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashrsquo14 Signora Lrsquoho cercata ieri ma non mdashmdashho trovatmdash15 Sebastiano ha molte amiche e io mdashmdash ho conosciutmdash tutte16 lsquoCosa hai detto a Matteorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho dettmdash nullarsquo17 lsquoChi ha pagato il contorsquo lsquomdashmdashha pagatmdash mia madrersquo18 lsquoCosa hai raccontato a Giuliarsquo lsquomdashmdash ho raccontatmdash la veritagraversquo19 Professore chi mdashmdashha accompagnatmdash in aeroporto20 Questa egrave una rivista molto interessante mdashmdashho lettmdash tutta

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as shown in the example

Example Ho dovuto comprarle Le ho dovute comprare

1 Non ho saputo farli2 Ho voluto vederli3 Non abbiamo potuto chiamarlo4 Hanno potuto aiutarvi5 Abbiamo dovuto invitarla

6 Non ha saputo tradurle7 Avete dovuto accompagnarle8 Ha voluto mangiarla9 Hai potuto vederli

10 Non hanno voluto farle

Unit 13 97

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sabina hasnrsquot invited me [f]2 Who called you [fs]3 We phoned them yesterday4 I looked for you [mp] but I didnrsquot find you5 Chiara took us to the bus stop6 I sent you [pl] a postcard ndash did you receive it7 My grandparents gave me 100 euros but Irsquove already spent it [Say lsquospent

themrsquo]8 I bought two rolls and ate them9 lsquoHave you [sing] switched the light offrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove switched it offrsquo

10 Carla hasnrsquot been able to help them [f]

98 Unit 13

UNIT FOURTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns(3 stressed forms)

1 Direct and indirect object pronouns do not only have the unstressed (orweak) forms that we saw in Units 7 10 and 13 they also have stressed(or strong) forms

As usual the pronoun Lei (third person singular feminine) and the pronounLoro (third person plural) are used for the formal form

2 The stressed forms of direct object and indirect object pronouns are usedto give emphasis to the pronoun or to stress a contrast unlike unstressedforms they normally come after the verb except when used with the verbspiacere sembrare servire bastare parere and mancare (see Unit 11) Stressedforms always refer to people not objects

Direct object stressed forms Indirect object stressed formsmeteluileiLeinoivoiloroLoro

a mea tea luia leia Leia noia voia loroa Loro

Chiamo voi non loroVedo lei ma non vedo luiAspetto Francesco non teInvito solo teInvito solo Lei Signor PaoliA me non piace il caffegraveA me sembra giustoTelefono a te ma non a loroBilly scrive a noi e non ai suoi

genitoriDevi rendere i soldi a me non a mio

fratello

Irsquom callingphoning you not themI can see her but I canrsquot see himIrsquom waiting for Francesco not youIrsquom only inviting youIrsquom only inviting you Mr PaoliI donrsquot like coffeeI think itrsquos fairIt seems fair to meIrsquoll phone you but not themBilly writes to us and not his parents

Yoursquove got to give me the money notmy brother

Note the difference between the two sentences lsquoNon mi piace il caffegraversquo andlsquoA me non piace il caffegraversquo The first simply states that I donrsquot like coffee whilethe second puts the emphasis on the pronoun lsquomersquo implying that there arepeople who do like coffee but I am not one of them The same applies tothe sentences lsquoMi sembra giustorsquo and lsquoA me sembra giustorsquo the secondsentence stresses the fact that there are other people who donrsquot think itrsquosfair

3 As the above examples suggest stressed direct and indirect object pro-nouns cannot be used to refer to objects When referring to objects the nounhas to be repeated (as is also generally the case in English)

4 The stressed forms of the object pronouns are used after all prepositions(see Unit 8) not just a This is true even when no emphasis is required

When su sopra dopo contro are used with a personal pronoun the pro-noun is preceded by the preposition di (see Unit 8 paragraphs 9 20)

5 The stressed forms are also always used when the verb has two pronoundirect or indirect objects even where no emphasis is required

lsquoPrendi la frutta e il dolcersquo lsquoPrendola frutta ma non il dolcersquo [NotlsquoPrendo lei ma non luirsquo]

lsquoPorti la chitarra e i CDrsquo lsquoPorto iCD ma non la chitarrarsquo [NotlsquoPorto loro ma non leirsquo]

lsquoAre you having the fruit and thesweetrsquo lsquoIrsquom having the fruit butnot the sweetrsquo

lsquoAre you bringing the guitar and theCDsrsquo lsquoIrsquoll bring the CDs but notthe guitarrsquo [or at a pinch lsquoIrsquoll bringthem but not itrsquo]

Vengo con Lei SignoraChi di loro non vuole venirePuoi dormire da me staseraFaccio questo per tePuoi contare su di meDopo di te ci sono ioNon ho nulla contro di voi

Irsquom coming with you( Madam)Which of them doesnrsquot want to comeYou can sleep at my place tonightIrsquom doing this for youYou can count on meAfter you itrsquos memy turnIrsquove got nothing against you

Ho visto te e lui in cittagrave [not Ti e lo hovisto in cittagrave]

Invito voi e loro [not Vi e li invito]Scrive a te e a me [not Ti e mi scrive]Regaliamo fiori a loro e a lei [not

Gli e le regaliamo fiori]

I saw you and him in town

Irsquom inviting you and themHe writes to you and meWersquore giving flowers to them and

her

100 Unit 14

6 Stressed forms are always used after anchepure (also too) neanchenemmenoneppure (not even neither) come (as like) quanto (as much as)eccetto (che)meno (che)tranne (che)salvo (che) (except but)

The forms eccetto chemeno chetranne chesalvo che are used when there is apreposition before the pronoun

7 Note that when the stressed forms of the direct object pronouns are used ina sentence with the verb in a compound tense (see Unit 13 paragraph 1) thepast participle does not agree with the pronoun

Exercise 1

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones

Examples Mario chiama (them) non (you [pl]) loro voi La nonna hadato i soldi a (you [sing]) e non a (me) te me

1 Prima accompagno (her) a scuola poi (you [sing]) in palestra2 Dovete invitare anche (them)3 Non egrave venuto nessuno nemmeno (her)4 Hanno invitato (us) e non (you [pl])5 Allrsquoesame hanno promosso tutti tranne (me)6 Credo a tutti meno che a (him)

Invito anche voiDevi fare come meMaria lavora quanto teDevi chiedere anche a noiNon credo neppure a luiVengono tutti meno lui

Faccio questo per tutti meno cheper lei

Anna telefona a tutti salvo che aloro

Sandro esce con tutti salvo checon noi

Sono tutti contro di noi

Irsquom inviting you as wellYou should do as I dodo it like meMaria works as much as you (do)You have to ask us as wellI donrsquot believe him eitherTheyrsquore all coming except him

Everyone but himrsquos comingIrsquom doingIrsquoll do this for everyone

exceptbut herAnna phones everyone exceptbut

themSandro goes out with everybody

exceptbut usThey are all against us

Ho chiamato voi non loroHo visto lei ma non ho visto luiLucia ha invitato loro ma non lui

I called you not themI saw her but I didnrsquot see himLucia has invited them but not him

Unit 14 101

7 Carla vuole bene a (me) quanto a (you [sing])8 A (you [polite]) credo Professore9 Voglio presentare i miei amici anche a (you [pl])

10 A (her) come a (them) non sembra giusto

Exercise 2

Translate the following sentences where necessary underlining the em-phasised words

Examples Dovete invitare anche me You should invite me as welltoo Ame manca il sole a te no Irsquom missing the sun ndash arenrsquot you orI miss the sun ndash donrsquot you

1 Nessuno suona la batteria come me2 Tutti gli studenti hanno fatto il compito meno lui3 Sergio chiama te non me4 Accompagno anche te5 Capisco quanto te6 Mauro dice la veritagrave a tutti tranne che a me7 Dovete telefonare anche a me8 Claudia impresta i dischi a noi non a voi9 Do il mio indirizzo a tutti salvo che a lei

10 Regalo un libro a lei e un disco a lui

Exercise 3

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones as you did inExercise 1

1 Chi di (you [pl]) non puograve venire alla festa2 Allrsquoesame orale sono passato subito dopo di (him)3 Sopra di (them) abita una signora molto gentile4 Abbiamo deciso fra (us)5 Esci con (her) anche stasera

102 Unit 14

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian using the stressed form of the pronouns

1 Everyonersquos against me2 Are you [sing] coming with me3 Irsquove bought a present for you [sing]4 You [sing] canrsquot count on him5 Can I sleep at your [pl] place tonight

Unit 14 103

UNIT FIFTEENRelative pronouns

1 The Italian relative pronouns correspond to the English lsquowhorsquo lsquowhichrsquolsquothatrsquo lsquowhomrsquo lsquowhosersquo They have two forms invariable (che cui) and vari-able (il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp])

The invariable forms which can replace all nouns (masculine feminine sin-gular plural) are the most frequently used

2 The invariable form che is used for masculine feminine singular and pluralnouns it can be either a subject or a direct object

Il treno che prendo la mattina egravesempre molto affollato

La storia che ho letto egrave stranaLa ragazza chela quale ha tele-

fonato ha bisogno di un favoreGli amici chei quali sono venuti a

trovarmi sono irlandesiHai ancora le chiavi che ti ho dato

Il ragazzo con cuicol quale esci egravemolto simpatico

La ragazza a cuialla quale ho datoi libri egrave una mia amica

The train (that) I get in the morning isalways very crowded

The story (that) Irsquove read is strangeThe girl who phoned needs a favour

The friends who came to see me areIrish

Have you still got the keys (that) I gaveyou

The boy with whom you are going outyoursquore going out with is very nice

The girl to whom I gave the booksIgave the books to is a friend of mine

Il gruppo che [subject ms] suonastasera egrave molto conosciuto

Il cantante che [direct object ms]abbiamo sentito ieri sera non egravemolto bravo

Le scarpe che [direct object fp] hocomprato sono care

The group who are playing tonightare very well known

The singer (whom) we heard last nightisnrsquot very good

The shoes (that) I bought areexpensive

In Italian collective nouns (eg il gruppo lsquothe grouprsquo la squadra lsquothesquadteamrsquo) are always followed by the singular of the verb never the plural

3 When a preposition is needed before the invariable relative pronoun (eg ifit stands for an indirect object) the form used is cui

The preposition a can sometimes be omitted before cui The Italian for lsquothe reasonreasons whyrsquo is always la ragionele ragioni percui never percheacute

4 The variable forms il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp] areused as subject indirect object and ndash very rarely ndash as direct object They mustagree in gender and number with the noun they replace

Non conosco i ragazzi che [subjectmp] sono appena arrivati

I donrsquot know the boys who have justarrived

Lo zio a cui scrivo sempre arrivadomani

La vicina per cui ho fatto la spesami ha invitato a cena

Non conosci la persona (a) cui devotelefonare

Il dentista da cui vado egrave moltobravo

Nella cittagrave in cui abito ci sono molticinema

Gli amici con cui esco sono italianiNon capisco la ragione per cui

Paola non egrave venutaNon ho ancora letto le notizie di cui

parli

The uncle I always write toto whom Ialways write is arriving tomorrow

The neighbour I went shopping forforwhom I went shopping has invitedme to dinner

You donrsquot know the person (that) Ihave to phone

The dentist I go to is very good

There are a lot of cinemas in the townin which I live

The friends I go out with are ItalianI donrsquot understand (the reason) why

Paola didnrsquot comeI havenrsquot read the news yoursquore talking

about yet

Paolo il quale egrave sempre in ritardonon egrave ancora arrivato

Ho parlato con una ragazza la qualemi ha dato tutte le informazioni

Tullio e Anna sono amici i quali miinvitano spesso

Ci sono due signore le quali nonhanno prenotato

Lrsquoamica con la quale sono andatain vacanza si chiama Elisa

Paolo who is always late still hasnrsquotarrived

I spoke to a girl who gave me all theinformation

Tullio and Anna are friends who ofteninvite me round

There are two ladies who havenrsquotbooked

The friend with whom I went onholidayI went away with is calledElisa

Unit 15 105

Remember to combine the definite article with the preposition (see Unit 8paragraph 2) when using the variable forms

5 When a relative pronoun is preceded by in or a and these denote place itis often replaced in contemporary Italian by the adverb dove Da dove or didove can be used when the relative pronoun is preceded by the prepositionda

6 The relative pronouns (both variable and invariable) can be used in con-junction with the demonstrative pronouns colui and quello

Colui can only refer to people It has three forms colui [ms] colei [fs]coloro [mp and fp] these combine with checui or il qualela qualei qualilequali as follows

Quello has four forms quello [ms] quella [fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp]these only combine with checui and can refer to both objects andpeople

The use of quello che etc to refer to a person is rather informal unlike coluichecolui il quale etc which are quite formal

Questa egrave lrsquoamica della quale ti hoparlato

Lrsquoinsegnante al quale ho parlato egravestato molto gentile

This is the friend I told you about

The teacher I spoke to was very kind

Milano egrave la cittagrave dove [for in cui]vive Walter

Questo egrave il negozio dove [for in cui]lavora Pia

La stazione dove [for a cui] deveandare non egrave lontana da qui

La scuola da dovedi dove [for dacui] viene Enrico egrave molto buona

Milan is the city where Walter lives

This is the shop where Pia works

The station hersquos got to go to isnrsquot farfrom here

The school Enrico went to [lit comesfrom] is very good

colui che or colui il qualecolei che or colei la qualecoloro che or coloro i qualicoloro le quali

he whoshe whothose who

quello chequella chequelli chequelle che

that which he who the one whichwhothat which she who the one whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwho

106 Unit 15

7 When referring to people the pronoun chi (who anyone who the personpeople who) is often used instead of the more formal lsquodouble relativersquo (coluicoleicoloro che colui il quale etc) Chi is always used with the verb in thethird person singular past participles and adjectives are always in the mascu-line singular

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples La ragazza mdashmdash ho invitato egrave mia cugina che Il ragazzoa mdashmdash devo telefonare egrave Matteo cui

1 Il film mdashmdash mi hai consigliato egrave molto bello2 La palestra in mdashmdash vado non egrave lontana

Colui che pensa questo sbagliaQuello che pensa questo sbagliaPossono entrare solo coloro che

coloro i quali hanno lrsquoinvitoPossono entrare solo quelli che

hanno lrsquoinvitoColoro a cuiai quali scrivo sono

amici di mio fratelloQuelli a cui scrivo sono amici di

mio fratelloQuelli che sono sul tavolo sono i

libri di TullioCi sono due case quella in cui abita

Giorgio egrave la piugrave grande

He who thinks this is wrongAnyone who thinks this is wrongOnly those who have an invitation

may comego inOnly people with an invitation can

comego inThose Irsquom writing to are friends of my

brother(rsquos)The people Irsquom writing to are friends

of my brother(rsquos)ThoseThe ones (which are) on the

table are Tulliorsquos booksThere are two houses the one Giorgio

lives in is the bigger

Chi pensa questo sbagliaPuograve entrare solo chi ha lrsquoinvito

Non ho visto chi egrave entratoEsco con chi mi invita

Lavoro per chi mi pagaRipeto la spiegazione per chi

non ha capitoHai risposto a chi ti ha scritto

Anyone who thinks this is wrongOnly people who have an invitation can

come ingo inI didnrsquot see who came inwent inIrsquoll go out with anyone who invitesasks

meIrsquoll work for anyone who pays meIrsquoll repeat the explanation for those

anyone who didnrsquot understandHave you replied to the personpeople

who wrote to you

Unit 15 107

3 I bambini mdashmdash sono venuti sono i miei cugini4 Non conosco le persone con mdashmdash esci5 La torta mdashmdash ha fatto tua mamma egrave molto buona6 Quando mi rendi i CD mdashmdash ti ho imprestato7 Lrsquoargomento di mdashmdash parla Paolo non mi interessa8 La ragione per mdashmdash non siamo venuti egrave semplice9 La cittagrave in mdashmdash sono nato non egrave molto grande

10 Come egrave andato lrsquoesame mdashmdash hai dato ieri

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples Hai comprato le cose mdashmdash ti ho chiesto che La discotecain mdashmdash andiamo egrave in centro cui

1 Nella biblioteca in mdashmdash vado a studiare fa sempre freddo2 Gli amici da mdashmdash siamo andati sono molto simpatici3 La stanza in mdashmdash dorme Luigi egrave la piugrave luminosa4 Non mi piace la musica mdashmdash ascolti tu5 Hai giagrave letto il libro mdashmdash ti hanno regalato6 Gli esercizi mdashmdash avete fatto sono tutti giusti7 Quello egrave il muro su mdashmdash vogliamo mettere i poster8 Vuoi leggere la lettera mdashmdash mi ha scritto Angela9 Il medico da mdashmdash vanno i miei genitori egrave molto giovane

10 Di chi egrave la bici con mdashmdash sei arrivato

Exercise 3

Replace che and cui with il quale la quale i quali or le quali (remember tocombine the definite article and the preposition where necessary)

Example Gli amici da cui andiamo in vacanza sono simpatici dai quali

1 Mia madre che egrave infermiera lavora in un ospedale2 Chi egrave la ragazza con cui sei uscito3 Gli esami di cui ha parlato il professore sono a giugno4 Il campeggio in cui siamo stati egrave vicino al mare5 Tutte le ragazze a cui ho telefonato hanno accettato lrsquoinvito6 Franco che egrave un bravo attore ha trovato lavoro in un teatro7 Il parrucchiere da cui vado egrave un amico8 Le cugine di Chiara che abitano vicino a me sono simpatiche

108 Unit 15

9 Le amiche di cui ti ho parlato arrivano domani10 I nostri amici che sono tutti italiani non parlano inglese

Exercise 4

Supply the correct double relative pronoun (coluicoleicoloro che)

Example mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno biglietti possono entrare coloro che

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha scritto questo libro egrave la sorella di Piero2 mdashmdashmdashmdash ci hanno invitati sono amici di Luisa3 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha vinto il premio egrave Antonio4 mdashmdashmdashmdash dagrave le informazioni deve parlare inglese e spagnolo5 mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno parlato sono persone molto importanti

Exercise 5

Complete using the correct pronouns (chi or quelloquellaquelliquelle che)

Examples mdashmdash non ha il biglietto non entra chi mdashmdash hai fatto non sonoerrori gravi quelli che

1 Non conosco mdashmdash ha scritto questa lettera2 La spiegazione egrave mdashmdash ti ho dato3 Il controllore egrave mdashmdash controlla i biglietti4 Vince il premio mdashmdash finisce per primo5 mdashmdash ti ho imprestato sono i libri che devi leggere6 mdashmdash abbiamo comprato egrave unrsquoauto economica7 mdashmdash fa la spesa al mercato spende meno8 mdashmdash abbiamo prenotato egrave un hotel di lusso9 mdashmdash non puograve venire deve telefonare per avvertire

10 mdashmdash ho visto in quel negozio sono scarpe molto belle

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian

1 The book which I want to buy is too expensive2 The lady I spoke to is German3 The people who phoned live in America4 The town I live in isnrsquot very big

Unit 15 109

5 Anyone who wants to go to university must be able to read and write6 Paolo whorsquos lost his mobile is not happy7 I like that song but I prefer the ones we heard last night8 This is Fabiorsquos sister who lent me her bike9 Did you [sing] see who ate the peaches

10 Whorsquos the man you [pl] sold the tickets to

110 Unit 15

UNIT SIXTEENThe imperfect tense

1 The imperfect is together with the present perfect one of the most usedpast tenses in Italian It is called lsquoimperfectrsquo because generally speakingthere is no reference to the beginning or end of the action it expresseseither the length of time the action lasted is not relevant or the action isseen as the background to another action or two actions took place at thesame time and lasted the same length of time Here are some typicalexamples

As you can see from the examples the Italian imperfect corresponds to sev-eral different English forms We will look at the different meanings and usesof this tense but first we will look at its forms

The forms of the imperfect

2 The forms of the imperfect are very regular Here are the endings for thethree conjugations (-are -ere -ire)

Mio nonno lavorava in India

Mia nonna era infermieraMentre io entravo Elena usciva

Quando ho cominciato la scuolaavevo cinque anni

Elena egrave arrivata mentre io uscivoClaudia parlava con unrsquoamica

quando egrave arrivato lrsquoautobusQuando ero al mare nuotavo tutti i

giorni

My grandfather used to work inIndia

My grandmother was a nurseAs I was going in Elena was coming

outWhen I started school I was five

Elena arrived as I was going outClaudia was talking to a friend when

the bus arrivedWhen I was at the seaside I wentused

to go swimming every day

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

The verb avere also follows this same regular pattern

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-avo-avi-ava-avamo-avate-avano

-ere-evo-evi-eva-evamo-evate-evano

-ire-ivo-ivi-iva-ivamo-ivate-ivano

Parlareparlavoparlaviparlavaparlavamoparlavateparlavano

To speakI spokewas speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakhesheit spokewas speakingused to speakwe spokewere speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakthey spokewere speakingused to speak

Prendereprendevoprendeviprendevaprendevamoprendevateprendevano

To takegetI tookwas takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takehesheit tookwas takingused to takewe tookwere takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takethey tookwere takingused to take

avevoaveviavevaavevamoavevateavevano

I hadwas havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havehesheit hadwas havingused to havewe hadwere havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havethey hadwere havingused to have

Partirepartivopartivipartivapartivamo

To leaveI leftwas leavingused to leaveyou leftwere leavingused to leavehesheit leftwas leavingused to leavewe leftwere leavingused to leave

partivatepartivano

you leftwere leavingused to leavethey leftwere leavingused to leave

112 Unit 16

3 Not many verbs are irregular in the imperfect Essere is one

Like the present the imperfect of essere can be used with the pronoun ci (seeUnit 4) crsquoera (there was) crsquoerano (there were)

Other irregular verbs are bere dire and fare

Mio nonno parlava molto benelrsquoitaliano

Mentre prendevamo il caffegrave egravesuonato il telefono

Quando Carla aveva 5 anni abitavaa Roma

Sono arrivato quando il trenopartiva

Mio fratello andava a scuola inautobus

Di solito Gianni e sua sorellaandavano al cinema insieme

Quando Maurizio lavorava in quelsupermercato lo pagavanopochissimo

Mentre Sebastiano leggeva ilgiornale io ho finito i compiti

My grandfather spoke Italian verywell

While we were having coffee thetelephone rang

When Carla was five she lived inRome

I arrived as the train was leaving

My brother used to go to school bybus

Usually Gianni and his sister went tothe cinema together

When Maurizio worked in thatsupermarket they paid him verylittle

While Sebastiano was reading thepaper I finished my homework

eroerieraeravamoeravateerano

I wasused to beyou wereused to behesheit wasused to bewe wereused to beyou wereused to bethey wereused to be

bevevobevevibevevabevevamobevevatebevevano

I drankwas drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkhesheit drankwas drinkingused to drinkwe drankwere drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkthey drankwere drinkingused to drink

dicevodicevi

I saidwas sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to say

dicevadicevamodicevatedicevano

hesheit saidwas sayingused to saywe saidwere sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to saythey saidwere sayingused to say

Unit 16 113

All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

4 The negative is formed as usual by putting non before the verb

facevofacevifacevafacevamofacevatefacevano

I didwas doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dohesheit didwas doingused to dowe didwere doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dothey didwere doingused to do

-ucevo

-ucevi

-uceva

-ucevamo

-ucevate

-ucevano

traducevo

traducevi

traduceva

traducevamo

traducevate

traducevano

I translatedwas translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

hesheit translatedwas translatingused totranslate

we translatedwere translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

they translatedwere translatingused totranslate

Quando ero bambino abitavo aParma

Ieri il tempo era belloAl concerto crsquoerano piugrave di 900

personeMia sorella beveva solo acqua

minerale ora beve anche acquadi rubinetto

Cosa diceviCosa faceva Signora quando non

lavoravaLrsquointerprete traduceva ma nessuno

ascoltava

When I was a child I lived in Parma

Yesterday the weather was lovelyThere were more than 900 people at

the concertMy sister only used to drink mineral

water now she drinks tap water aswell

What were you sayingWhat did you do( Madam) when you

werenrsquot workingdidnrsquot workThe interpreter was translating but

nobody was listening

Di solito la domenica non uscivoQuando hai telefonato non facevo

niente di speciale

I didnrsquot usually go out on SundaysWhen you phoned I wasnrsquot doing

anything special

114 Unit 16

Use of the imperfect

5 The imperfect is used for descriptions of situations in the past when it isnot necessary (or important) to say how long an action lasted This generallyhappens with verbs like essere sembrare and avere and with verbs expressingwill desire or intention possibility or ability but it can happen with otherverbs as well

6 The imperfect is also used to express actions which were habitual or hap-pened repeatedly in the past

7 Since the imperfect is used when it is not relevant how long the actionlasted it is not used when it is stated how many times or for how longsomething happened

Crsquoerano molte persone cheaspettavano il treno

Ieri sera sembravi molto stancoMia nonna era molto alta e aveva i

capelli bianchiFaceva freddo in montagnaCosa voleviDue anni fa abitavo a MilanoSuo padre era medico

There were a lot of people (who were)waiting for the train

You looked very tired last nightMy grandmother was very tall and

had white hairWas it cold in the mountainsWhat did you wantwere you wantingTwo years ago I was living in MilanHis father was a doctor

Lrsquoestate scorsa giocavamo semprea tennis

Quando ero in vacanza andavo alcinema tutti i giorni

Tutte le mattine a colazione Giuliaprendeva solo del caffegrave

Cenavamo alle otto

Last summer we played tennis all thetime

When I was on holiday I went to thecinema every day

Every morning Giulia just had coffeefor breakfast

We used to have dinner at eight

Lrsquoestate scorsa sono andato alcinema 25 volte

Last summer I went to the cinema 25times

Ha fatto molto freddo per due giorniGiulia ha lavorato qui da gennaio a

giugnoHo abitato a Milano per due anniIeri abbiamo lavorato tutto il giornoIeri sono stato in biblioteca dalle

nove alle undici

It was very cold for two daysGiulia worked here from January to

JuneI lived in Milan for two yearsYesterday we worked all dayYesterday I was in the library from

nine till 11

Unit 16 115

8 When a sentence refers to two or more events which happened in the pastit is helpful to think in terms of lsquoforegroundrsquo and lsquobackgroundrsquo as in thesetwo English examples lsquoWhile I was doing the dishes [continuous back-ground] I heard [foreground] the doorbellrsquo lsquoI saw [foreground] Juve a coupleof times when I was [continuous background] in Turinrsquo In Italian in caseslike these the imperfect expresses the continuous lsquobackgroundrsquo action againstwhich the lsquoforegroundrsquo action is seen to occur

Note that mentre (while) in the past is always followed by the imperfect

If the two events happened at the same time and lasted for the same length oftime then both verbs are in the imperfect

Mentre dormivate ho preparato lacolazione

Mia madre ha conosciuto mio padrequando abitava a Firenze

Mauro non ha preso lrsquoombrelloanche se pioveva

Marco ha telefonato quando eravateal cinema

Non sono uscita percheacute pioveva

While you were sleepingasleep Iprepared breakfast

My mother met my father when shewas living in Florence

Mauro didnrsquot take the umbrella eventhough it was raining

Marco phoned when you were at thecinema

I didnrsquot go out because it was raining

Mentre noi facevamo il compito dimatematica Carla ripassavafilosofia

Mentre Alessandro preparava lacena Claudia leggeva il giornale

Quando io lavoravo alsupermercato mia sorellalavorava in un cinema

While we were doing our mathshomework Carla was revisingphilosophy

While Alessandro was preparingdinner Claudia was reading thenewspaper

When I worked in the supermarketmy sister worked in a cinema

Il gatto miagolava percheacute avevafame

The cat was miaowing because it washungry

116 Unit 16

Exercise 1

Supply the imperfect of the verb in brackets

Example Silvio (lavorare) molto lavorava

Exercise 2

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verb in brackets

Examples (io comprare) la macchina due anni fa ho comprato Drsquoestate(noi andare) in spiaggia ogni mattina andavamo

1 Elena a che ora (tu partire) ieri2 Chi (essere) Dante Alighieri3 (io studiare) per due ore4 Di solito (noi mangiare) in mensa5 Claudia (rimanere) in casa tutto il giorno6 Mia nonna (avere) gli occhi azzurri7 Nicoletta e Luigina non (sembrare) sorelle8 Ieri Andrea (spendere) 150 euro9 Signora dove (andare) in vacanza lrsquoanno scorso

10 I loro amici (essere) sempre allegri

1 Il nonno di Piero (parlare) seilingue

2 Laura (passare) sempre lrsquoestateal mare

3 Che lavoro (fare) tua nonna4 Mentre (io studiare) Maria

(riposare)5 Il treno (partire) sempre in

ritardo6 Dove (lavorare) Nicola7 Paolo non (dire) mai la veritagrave8 Ieri (fare) freddo9 Da bambini (noi abitare) in

campagna

10 (voi essere) stanchi ieri sera11 (loro andare) in piscina tutti i

giorni12 Lei (essere) infermiera Signora13 Non (noi uscire) mai di domenica14 (tu sapere) la veritagrave15 (io conoscere) bene suo cugino16 Paolo (amare) Francesca17 (voi dormire) ancora18 I miei amici (essere) studenti19 (tu avere) fame20 (loro dovere) partire

Unit 16 117

Exercise 3

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verbs inbrackets

Example Mentre (noi guardare) la televisione Isabella (ascoltare) laradio guardavamo ascoltava

1 Marco (arrivare) tardi percheacute il treno (essere) in ritardo2 (io conoscere) Susanna quando (io abitare) a Napoli3 Quanti anni (tu avere) quando (tu cominciare) a lavorare4 Sergio (telefonare) proprio mentre (io fare) il bagno5 Anna e Giacomo (venire) a piedi percheacute lrsquoauto (essere) guasta6 Non (loro fare) la spesa percheacute non (loro sapere) cosa comprare7 Cosa (loro dire) quando (loro vedere) Gianni ieri sera8 Massimo non (venire) alla festa percheacute (avere) mal di testa9 (noi arrivare) alla stazione proprio mentre il treno (partire)

10 (io imprestare) la bici a Giulia percheacute la sua (essere) rotta

Exercise 4

Put the text into a past tense changing the verbs in italics to either the presentperfect or the imperfect

Sabato sera in un locale del centro suona un gruppo rock che piace molto aMassimo cosigrave i miei amici e io decidiamo di andare a questo concerto Arrivi-amo davanti al locale con molto anticipo mancano tre ore allrsquoinizio ma cisono giagrave molte persone Massimo egrave molto impaziente Dopo una mezzrsquooramentre aspettiamo sentiamo suonare il cellulare di Massimo e lui rispondeVediamo che Massimo egrave preoccupato e quando finisce di parlare ci spiega Egravesuo padre che lo chiama percheacute ha bisogno di aiuto la sua auto egrave guasta e nonsa come tornare a casa Massimo parte subito per andare a prenderlo eaccompagnarlo a casa anche se ha paura di perdere il concerto Per fortunaperograve Massimo riesce a tornare dopo unrsquoora proprio mentre aprono le porte

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 How long did you [sing] spend in Bologna2 We went to the cinema last night3 You [pl] seemed happy

118 Unit 16

4 Gemmarsquos father was a sailor5 Claudia and Monica didnrsquot come on holiday with us this time6 My parents usually went out at eight7 My father worked in India for three years8 What time did you [pl] get the bus yesterday morning9 Last year we did gym on Monday mornings

10 Where did you [sing] buy those shoes11 I didnrsquot call you [sing] because you were asleep12 When you [pl] were living in London I was living in Paris13 How old was Susanna when she went to university14 While I was watching the television Anna came in and switched it off15 Paolo and Giulia didnrsquot come because Paolo was too tired

Unit 16 119

UNIT SEVENTEENThe pronouns ne and ci

The pronoun ne

1 The pronoun ne is used to refer to a part of a whole corresponding to lsquoof it-themrsquo as in lsquosome of itthemrsquo lsquotwo of themrsquo etc It is normally used togetherwith quantities whether expressed in numbers or in any other way (kiloslitres metres slices cups lsquotoo muchlittlersquo lsquoenoughrsquo etc) it is always placedbefore the verb

Note however that ne is not used in cases where English would say lsquoall of itrsquolsquoall of themrsquo etc Compare the following examples

La torta era molto buona e neho mangiate due fette

lsquoQuanti fratelli hairsquo lsquoNe ho duersquo

lsquoHa degli euro Signor WattrsquolsquoSigrave ne ho 50rsquo

lsquoHai tutti i CD di Frank ZapparsquolsquoNo ne ho solo trersquo

lsquoMangi la fruttarsquo lsquoSigrave ne mangiomoltarsquo

lsquoHai abbastanza soldirsquo lsquoSigrave ne hoabbastanzarsquo

Se crsquoegrave ancora del te ne prendounrsquoaltra tazza

Se compri le mele ne prendi unchilo anche per me

lsquoVolete ancora del cioccolatorsquolsquoNo grazie non ne vogliamopiugraversquo

The cake was very good and I ate twoslices (of it)

lsquoHow many brothers and sisters do youhaversquo lsquoI have two (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got any euros Mr WattrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got 50 (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got all Frank Zapparsquos CDsrsquolsquoNo Irsquove only got three (of them)rsquo

lsquoDo you eat fruitrsquo lsquoYes I eat a lot (ofit)rsquo

lsquoHave you got enough moneyrsquo lsquoYes Ihave enough (of it)rsquo

If therersquos still some tea Irsquoll haveanother cup (of it)

If yoursquore buying apples will you get akilo (of them) for me as well

lsquoDo you want some more chocolatersquolsquoNo thanks we donrsquot want anymore (of it)rsquo

2 The pronoun ne is invariable and can thus replace any noun whethermasculine feminine singular or plural

3 As we have seen ne is used when referring to partial quantities howeverexpressed Some expressions which require the use of ne are the adverbabbastanza (enoughquite) the adjectives molto poco troppo alcunialcune(someany (plural) ) and the pronoun qualcunoqualcuna (someany) which isalways singular

4 Ne is also used in negative expressions such as non affatto (not atall) non nessunonessuna (not anyone) non piugrave (not any more)

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliounorsquo

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoLi vogliotuttirsquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiate duersquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoLeho mangiate tuttersquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want one (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want them allall of themrsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atetwo (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atethem allall of themrsquo

lsquoQuanto zucchero [ms] comprirsquolsquoNe compro due chilirsquo

lsquoQuanta farina [fs] comprirsquo lsquoNecompro solo mezzo chilorsquo

lsquoQuanti amici [mp] invitirsquo lsquoNeinvito trersquo

lsquoQuante mele [fp] vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliotre chilirsquo

lsquoHow much sugar are you buyingrsquolsquoIrsquom getting two kilosrsquo

lsquoHow much flour are you going togetrsquo lsquoIrsquom only getting half a kilorsquo

lsquoHow many friends are you invitingrsquolsquoIrsquom inviting threersquo

lsquoHow many apples do you wantrsquo lsquoIwant three kilosrsquo

Non ho comprato del pane percheacute neho ancora abbastanza

lsquoHai molti CDrsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho moltirsquo

lsquoHai tutti i libri che ti servonorsquo lsquoNone ho solo alcunirsquo

Quei biscotti sono molto buoni neprendo ancora qualcuno

I didnrsquot buy any bread because Irsquovestill got enough

lsquoHave you got many CDsrsquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot a lotrsquo

lsquoHave you got all the books youneedrsquo lsquoNo Irsquove only got a fewrsquo

Those biscuits are very good Irsquoll havesome more

lsquoBevi molto caffegraversquo lsquoNo non ne bevoaffattorsquo

Ho invitato dieci amici ma non neegrave venuto nessuno

lsquoDo you drink much coffeersquo lsquoNo Idonrsquot drink it at allrsquo

I invited ten friends but none of themcame

Unit 17 121

As these examples show the negative is formed by putting non before ne

Agreement of the past participle

When ne is used with a verb in the present perfect (or any other compoundtense) there are certain rules governing the agreement of the pastparticiple

5 When ne is used in a sentence where the quantity is expressed by a numberthe past participle must agree in gender with the noun it replaces and innumber (ie singular or plural) with the quantity of what ne stands for Takethis question

In the answer to this question the ending of comprato will depend on thegender of rivista (feminine) and on whether you bought one magazine(singular) or more than one (plural)

The same applies when ne replaces a masculine noun

Here the ending of fatto must be masculine but whether it is singular orplural will depend on how many exercises have been done

The same rule applies when the quantity is expressed by qualcunoqualcuna(remember that this is always singular) or alcunialcune (plural)

lsquoHai ancora soldirsquo lsquoNo non ne hopiugraversquo

lsquoHave you still got moneyrsquo lsquoNo Irsquovegot none leftrsquo

Quante riviste hai comprato How many magazines did you buy

Ne ho comprata una [fs]Ne ho comprate due [fp]

I bought oneI bought two

Quanti esercizi [m] avete fatto How many exercises haveyou done

Ne abbiamo fatto uno solo [ms]Ne abbiamo fatti quattro [mp]

Wersquove only done oneWersquove done four

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatto solo qualcuno

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatti solo alcuni

I was supposed to do a lot of exercisesbut I only did a few

122 Unit 17

6 When the quantity is expressed by an adverb or an adjective the pastparticiple agrees with the noun replaced by ne

7 When the quantity is expressed by a noun the past participle canagree either with the quantity (this is more usual) or with the noun replacedby ne

8 When ne occurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive Insuch cases when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any other com-pound tense) the past participle does not agree

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprata qualcunarsquo

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprate alcunersquo

lsquoHow many magazines did you buyrsquolsquoI bought a fewrsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza pane [ms]rsquolsquoSigrave ne ho comprato abbastanzarsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza patatine[fp]rsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho comprate abbastanzarsquo

lsquoQuanta pasta [fs] avete mangiatorsquolsquoNe abbiamo mangiata moltarsquo

lsquoQuante persone [fp] hai invitatorsquolsquoNe ho invitate pochersquo

lsquoQuanti esercizi [mp] hai fattorsquolsquoNe ho fatti alcunirsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough breadrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough crispsrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHow much pasta did you eatrsquolsquoWe ate a lotrsquo

lsquoHow many people did you invitersquolsquoI only invited a fewrsquo

lsquoHow many exercises did you dorsquolsquoI did a fewrsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuta una tazza [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave [ms] hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuto una tazzarsquo

lsquoQuanto pane hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiata una fetta [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto pane [ms] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiato una fettarsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiato un pacchetto [ms]rsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle [fp] hai mangiatorsquolsquoNe ho mangiate un pacchettorsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe homangiata una scatola [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti [mp] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiati una scatolarsquo

lsquoHow much coffee did you drinkrsquolsquoI drank a cuprsquo

lsquoHow much bread did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a slicersquo

lsquoHow many sweets did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a packetrsquo

lsquoHow many biscuits did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a boxrsquo

Unit 17 123

However if ne is not attached to the infinitive the past participle must agreein the same way as in the rules given in paragraphs 5ndash7

9 Another use of ne is is to replace a noun (or a pronoun) preceded by thepreposition di (as in Parliamo del libro di Primo Levi lsquoWersquore talking aboutPrimo Levirsquos bookrsquo)

When ne is used in this way the past participle does not agreee

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoHo dovutoleggerne trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ho potutofarne solo alcuni

Il compito era difficile e ho saputofarne solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The homework was difficult and Icould only do part of it

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoNe ho dovutileggere trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ne hopotuti fare solo alcuni

Gli esercizi erano difficili e ne ho saputa fare solo una parte [fs]

Gli esercizi [mp] erano difficili e ne ho saputi fare solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The exercises were difficult and Icould only do part of them

Conosco questo film ieri neparlavano alla radio

Egrave un libro di successo tutti neparlano

Hai visto lo spettacolo Che nepensi

Ha molti problemi ma non neparla mai

I know this film they were talkingabout it on the radio yesterday

Itrsquos a popular book everybodyrsquostalking about it

Did you see the show What do youthink of it

He has a lot of problems but henever talks about them

Marco aveva dei problemi e ne haparlato con Anna

Questi sono libri di successo e tuttine hanno parlato

Marco had problems and talkedabout them with Anna

These are popular books andeverybodyrsquos been talking aboutthem

124 Unit 17

The pronoun ci

10 The pronoun ci is used to replace a noun denoting a place it correspondsto the English lsquotherersquo We have already seen this pronoun used with the verbessere in expressions like crsquoegrave and ci sono (Unit 4) but it can be used with otherverbs always preceding them

As the examples suggest ci is used more often in this kind of sentence thanlsquotherersquo is in English

11 Ci always comes before the verb Like the other unstressed pronounsthough it can be attached to the infinitive of a verb (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere)

Exercise 1

Supply the pronoun ne making sure that the past participle and the adjectiveor pronoun agree where necessary

Examples lsquoQuante lettere hai scrittorsquo lsquo mdashmdash ho scrittmdashmdash alcunmdashmdashrsquo Neho scritte alcune Mi piacciono i biscotti e mdashmdash homangiatmdashmdash moltmdashmdash ne ho mangiati molti lsquoQuanti libri hailettorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo Non ne ho lettonessuno

1 lsquoQuante cartoline hai mandatorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho mandatmdashmdash 12rsquo2 lsquoHai comprato i biscottirsquo lsquo Sigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashmdash una scatolarsquo

lsquoQuando vai in bibliotecarsquo lsquoCi vadooggi pomeriggiorsquo

Conosco bene Bologna ci ho passatodue anni

lsquoOgni quanto va in palestrarsquo lsquoNon civado mairsquo

lsquoWhen are you going to the libraryrsquolsquoIrsquom going (there) this afternoonrsquo

I know Bologna well I spent twoyears there

lsquoHow often do you go to the gymrsquo lsquoInever go (there)rsquo

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non sapevo andarci

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non ci sapevo andare

Vado al mercato vuoi venirci anche tu

Vado al mercato ci vuoi venire anche tu

I had to go to Fiesole but I didnrsquotknow how to get there

Irsquom going to the market would youlike to come (as well)

Unit 17 125

3 lsquoHai fatto i compitirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash la metagraversquo4 lsquoQuante persone sono venutersquo lsquomdashmdash sono venutmdashmdash pochmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoQuanti errori hai fattorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoHai chiuso tutte le finestrersquo lsquoNo mdashmdash ho lasciatmdashmdash una apertmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoQuanti amici hanno invitatorsquo lsquomdashmdash hanno invitatmdashmdash moltmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash duersquo9 lsquoQuanta pasta avete compratorsquo lsquomdashmdash abbiamo compratmdashmdash pocmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdashnessunmdashmdashrsquo

11 lsquoQuanti francobolli hai presorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho presmdashmdash abbastanzarsquo12 Avevo molte riviste e mdashmdash ho datmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash a Luigi13 Ci piacciono i film comici e ieri sera mdashmdash abbiamo vistmdashmdash tre14 Ho fatto una torta e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdash due fette15 La zia ha portato dei cioccolatini ma Piero non mdashmdash ha mangiatmdashmdash

nessunmdashmdash16 Abbiamo molti videogiochi e mdashmdash abbiamo datmdashmdash qualcunmdashmdash a

Michele17 Crsquoerano molti libri interessanti e mdashmdash ho presmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash18 Hanno venduto molti CD e mdashmdash sono rimastmdashmdash solo alcunmdashmdash molto

carmdashmdash19 Crsquoerano molte ragazze ma Marco non mdashmdash ha invitatmdashmdash nessunmdashmdash20 Ho comprato tre magliette e mdashmdash ho regalatmdashmdash due a mio fratello

Exercise 2

Complete with the appropriate pronouns direct object or ne

Examples lsquoQuanti amici hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho moltirsquo ne lsquoQuanti amici invitirsquolsquomdashmdash invito tuttirsquo li

1 lsquoHai fatto tutti gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash ho fatto nessunorsquo2 lsquoQuante sorelle hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho duersquo3 Avevo molti CD dei Beatles ma mdashmdash ho imprestati tutti4 lsquoHai fatto il compitorsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdashho ancora fattorsquo5 lsquoVuoi del dolcersquo lsquoNo grazie non mdashmdash vogliorsquo6 Stamattina ho comprato due riviste e mdashmdash ho lette nel pomeriggio7 lsquoHai fatto molti sbaglirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fatto uno solorsquo8 Il dolce era molto buono e mdashmdash ho mangiate tre fette9 Mi piacciono i film di Fellini e mdashmdash ho visti tutti

10 Ho comprato tre libri ma non mdashmdash ho letto nessuno11 Avevo due biglietti da 10 euro ma mdashmdash ho perso uno12 Ieri ho preso lo stipendio ma mdashmdashho giagrave speso tutto13 Se ci sono ancora dei biscotti mdashmdash prendo due o tre

126 Unit 17

14 Era un argomento interessante e mdashmdash abbiamo parlato molto15 Il film era noioso e mdashmdash abbiamo visto solo metagrave16 Carla parte mdashmdash accompagno alla stazione17 Lo zucchero egrave finito mdashmdash compri tu18 lsquoVuoi dello zucchero nel caffegraversquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash voglio due cucchiainirsquo19 Ho comprato tre brioches e mdashmdash ho mangiate due20 lsquoConoscete tutti i componenti del grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash conosciamo tuttirsquo

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as in the example

Example Ne vuoi prendere ancora Vuoi prenderne ancora

1 Ne dovete parlare col professore2 Ne vuoi fare un altro3 Non ne dobbiamo prendere4 Ne potete mangiare5 Ne devo fare sei6 Non ne possiamo parlare7 Ne posso assaggiare uno8 Non ne deve portare Signora9 Ne vogliono comprare qualcuno

10 Non ne possono bere

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences as in the example Make sure that the past participleagrees where necessary

Example Ha voluto portarne un porsquo [fs] Ne ha voluta portare un porsquo

1 Ho dovuto darne due [m] a Marisa2 Hai potuto comprarne [fp]3 Quante hai dovuto farne4 Non hanno voluto mangiarne [fs]5 Ha dovuto leggerne quattro [mp]6 Non abbiamo potuto prenderne [fp]7 Ho dovuto scriverne due [fp]8 Ho potuto leggerne solo due pagine9 Avete dovuto rifarne molti

10 Non hanno potuto assaggiarne [fs]

Unit 17 127

Exercise 5

Identify the words that can be replaced by the pronoun ci and rewrite thesentences with ci in the right place

Example Vai a Roma in aereo a Roma Ci vai in aereo

1 Abitiamo in questa casa da tre anni2 Stefano lavora al Museo di Storia Naturale da febbraio3 Volete venire alla festa di Marco4 Paola e Livia vanno al cinema due volte alla settimana5 La Signora Bini va sempre al supermercato a piedi6 Rimango in Italia per tre settimane7 Giulia viene sempre a scuola in bici8 Ho passato tre ore in coda allrsquoufficio postale9 Siete andati a cena a casa di Pietro

10 Passiamo le vacanze a Sorrento

128 Unit 17

UNIT EIGHTEENThe future tense

Use of the future

1 The future tense is of course used to refer to events which will happen inthe future as in the following examples

2 The future is also used to express probability or a guess

3 The future can also correspond to the English present progressive (lsquoIrsquomgoing to rsquo etc)

4 In general the future tense is used less in Italian than in English and it isoften possible when talking about something which we are almost sure willhappen to use the present

Venerdigrave andremo in piscinaNon so quando partirograveVerragrave anche lrsquoanno prossimo

Signora

On Friday wersquoll go to the swimming poolI donrsquot know when Irsquoll leaveWill you comebe coming again next

year( Madam)

Anna non risponde saragrave fuori

Saranno le 5La madre di Pietro avragrave 30 anniChi saragrave

Annarsquos not answering she mustshersquoll beout

Itrsquos probablyItrsquoll be about 5 orsquoclockPietrorsquos mother must be around 30Who can that be

Gli parlerograve prestoPorterograve i miei CDGli direte la veritagrave

Irsquom going to talkIrsquoll be talking to them soonIrsquom going to bringIrsquoll be bringing my CDsAre you going to tell him the truth

5 However in certain cases Italian uses the future where English uses thepresent Take this English sentence lsquoWhenIf I earnam earning good moneyIrsquoll buy a carrsquo Here lsquowhenrsquo and lsquoifrsquo actually refer to an action in the future incases like this Italian normally uses the future tense

The forms of the future indicative

6 The future endings for the three conjugations are as follows

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Partono domani

Viene anche lrsquoanno prossimoSignora

Lrsquoanno prossimo sono allrsquouniversitagrave

Theyrsquoll leaveTheyrsquore leavingtomorrow

Will you comebe coming again nextyear( Madam)

Next year Irsquoll be at university

Se guadagnerograve bene comprerograve unamacchina

Quando arriveragrave le mostreremo ilcentro commerciale

If I earnam earning good money Irsquollbuy a car

When she arrives wersquoll show her theshopping mall

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ere-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ire-irograve-irai-iragrave-iremo-irete-iranno

Parlareparlerograveparleraiparleragraveparleremoparlereteparleranno

To speakI will speakyou will speakhesheit will speakwe will speakyou will speakthey will speak

130 Unit 18

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

7 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the future inorder to keep the hard sound of c and g

Prendereprenderograveprenderai

To takegetI will takegetyou will takeget

prenderagraveprenderemoprendereteprenderanno

hesheit will takegetwe will takegetyou will takegetthey will takeget

Partirepartirogravepartiraipartiragravepartiremopartiretepartiranno

To leaveI will leaveyou will leavehesheit will leavewe will leaveyou will leavethey will leave

Dopo un mese in Italia parleraimeglio italiano

Prenderograve il treno delle 8Partiranno domani mattina presto

Domenica prossima finirograve dilavorare verso le 5

After a month in Italy yoursquoll speakItalian better

Irsquoll get the eight orsquoclock trainThey will leave early tomorrow

morningNext Sunday Irsquoll finish work at about

five

Cercarecercherogravecercheraicercheragravecercheremocercheretecercheranno

Pagarepagherogravepagheraipagheragravepagheremopagheretepagheranno

Quando arriveremo a Romacercheremo un albergo economico

Mio padre pagheragrave tutte le spese

When we arrive in Rome wersquoll lookfor a cheap hotel

My father will pay all the expenses

Unit 18 131

8 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the future

Future of some irregular verbs

9 Essere and avere are irregular

10 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

Cominciarecomincerogravecominceraicominceragrave

Mangiaremangerogravemangeraimangeragrave

cominceremocominceretecominceranno

mangeremomangeretemangeranno

Comincerograve a lavorare venerdigraveprossimo

Mangerai in mensa

Irsquoll start work(ing) next Friday

Will you eatbe eating in the canteen

Esseresarogravesaraisaragravesaremosaretesaranno

Avereavrograveavraiavragraveavremoavreteavranno

Se domenica saragrave bello lavoreremoin giardino

Se avrograve tempo ti aiuterograve

If the weather is good on Sunday wersquollwork in the garden

If Irsquove got time Irsquoll help you

Daredarogravedaraidaragravedaremodaretedaranno

Farefarogravefaraifaragravefaremofaretefaranno

Starestarogravestaraistaragravestaremostaretestaranno

132 Unit 18

11 Andare cadere (to fall) dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow thesame pattern as avere

Mia sorella daragrave una festa per ilsuo compleanno

Cosa farai dopo lrsquouniversitagrave

Domani starai meglio

My sister will giveis giving a party forher birthday

What will you doare you doing afteruniversity

Yoursquoll feel better tomorrow

Andareandrograveandraiandragraveandremoandreteandranno

Caderecadrogravecadraicadragravecadremocadretecadranno

Doveredovrogravedovraidovragravedovremodovretedovranno

Poterepotrogravepotraipotragravepotremopotretepotranno

Saperesaprogravesapraisapragravesapremosapretesapranno

Vederevedrogravevedraivedragravevedremovedretevedranno

Viverevivrogravevivraivivragravevivremovivretevivranno

Andremo alla festa solo se ciinviteranno

Il governo egrave impopolare e cadragravepresto

Credo che dovrograve partire prestoNon so se potrograve venire

Non sapremo mai la veritagraveQuando vedrai i tuoi amici

Wersquoll only go to the party if they inviteus

The government is unpopular and willsoon fall

I think Irsquoll have to leave earlyI donrsquot know whether Irsquoll be able to

comeWe will never know the truthWhen will youare you going to see

your friends

Unit 18 133

12 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere (to keephold) have the following pattern

13 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

14 As usual the negative is formed by putting non before the verb

-rrograve-rrai-rragrave

Bereberrograveberraiberragrave

Rimanererimarrograverimarrairimarragrave

Venireverrograveverraiverragrave

Volerevorrogravevorraivorragrave

Tenereterrograveterraiterragrave

-rremo-rrete-rranno

berremoberreteberranno

rimarremorimarreterimarranno

verremoverreteverranno

vorremovorretevorranno

terremoterreteterranno

Sono sicuro che mio fratello nonberragrave mai quella tisana

Quanto tempo rimarrete in ItaliaSignori Boi

Hanno detto che verranno a trovarci

Irsquom sure my brother will never drinkthat herbal tea

How long will youare you going tostay in Italy Mrs and Mr Boi

They said theyrsquoll come and see usNon so se vorrograve andare

allrsquouniversitagrave dopo il liceo

Dove terrai la bici

I donrsquot know whether Irsquoll want to goto university after secondaryschool

Where are you going to keep the bike

-urrograve-urrai-urragrave-urremo-urrete-urranno

Tradurretradurrogravetradurraitradurragravetradurremotradurretetradurranno

Carlo non parla tedesco ma uninterprete tradurragrave tutto per lui

Carlo doesnrsquot speak German but aninterpreter is going towill translateeverything for him

Non andrograve alla festaNon rimarremo moltoNon gli parlerograve mai piugrave

Irsquom not going to the partyWe wonrsquot stay longIrsquoll never speak to him again

134 Unit 18

Exercise 1

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io partire) tanto presto partirograve

Exercise 2

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io dovere) andare a scuola dovrograve

Exercise 3

Change the verbs in italics into the future

Domani mattina esco di casa presto devo prendere il treno per Firenze alle615 Arrivo a Firenze verso ora di pranzo e Lorenzo viene a prendermi alla

1 I miei amici (arrivare) domani2 Quando (voi parlare) con Maria3 (lui telefonare) domani4 Gli (tu dire) tutto5 Domani (io scrivere) ai nonni6 Domenica (io dormire) fino a

tardi7 (noi cominciare) a lavorare

domani8 Quando (tu finire) il compito9 Stasera (io prendere) lrsquoauto

10 Mi (tu chiamare)11 Dove (voi abitare)12 (loro portare) il dolce13 Cosa le (voi dire)14 Chi (tradurre) dal tedesco15 Domani (noi pagare) lrsquoaffitto16 (tu mangiare) con noi17 Mi (Lei scrivere) Signora18 Paul (cercare) casa a Torino19 Che treno (loro prendere)20 Chi (pagare)

1 (io andare) in vacanza2 (noi essere) contenti di vedervi3 Quanto tempo (tu rimanere) a

Roma4 (io venire) appena (io potere)5 (Lei dovere) partire Signora6 (lei venire) quando (lei volere)7 Domani non (noi avere) tempo8 Non so se (io potere) uscire9 Quando (tu vedere) Anna

10 (voi fare) una festa

11 Non (loro stare) a casa mia12 Non lo (lui sapere) mai13 Gli (tu fare) un regalo14 (voi essere) a casa tutto il giorno15 (voi dovere) lavorare domani16 Non (io andare) piugrave in quel bar17 Quando (tu sapere) il risultato18 Quando (tu venire) Maria19 Cosa (voi fare) domenica20 (loro tenere) il cane in giardino

Unit 18 135

stazione Prima andiamo a casa sua dove lascio i bagagli e poi andiamoinsieme a pranzo da Ernestina Nel pomeriggio vediamo Carlo che ci porta avedere la sua nuova casa Torniamo a casa di Lorenzo abbastanza prestopercheacute vengono degli amici a cena e dobbiamo preparare Dopo cena usciamoma anche se facciamo tardi non egrave un problema percheacute possiamo dormire lamattina dopo

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Who will be able to help me2 Next summer wersquoll do an Italian course3 Will you [sing] read all these books4 I wonrsquot go to the library tomorrow5 When will you arrive Signora Pasini6 On Sunday theyrsquoll go out7 What will you [sing] do8 Itrsquoll be about ten orsquoclock9 Will you [sing] bring your CDs for the party

10 Wonrsquot you [pl] come to the cinema with us

136 Unit 18

UNIT NINETEENThe past perfect tense

Use of the past perfect

1 The past perfect (or pluperfect) normally indicates a past event whichhappened before another past event as in the English lsquoI had finished shower-ing when I heard the doorbellrsquo lsquoBy the time it finished I had had enoughrsquo It isthus normally used in sentences where there is another past tense or someother reference to a past event

It is also often used on its own where a more recent event is referred to orimplied in the context

2 Sometimes when the past perfect is used on its own the event nearer to thepresent is purely implicit

Quando sono arrivato [presentperfect] avevano appena finito[past perfect] di cenare

Quel giorno ero [imperfect] moltocontenta percheacute avevo passato[past perfect] lrsquoesame

Prima di imprestare [infinitive]lrsquoauto a Marco avevo fatto[past perfect] il pieno

When I arrived they had just finisheddinner

That day I was very happy because Irsquodpassed the exam

Before lending the car to Marco Irsquodfilled up

Avevo fatto quella torta per te nonper Paolo

Tullio aveva portato i CD

Francesca era uscita

I made that tart for you not for Paolo[eg thatrsquos why Irsquom so annoyed thatPaolorsquos eaten it]

Tullio had brought the CDs [eg theones I told you we were listening to]

Francesca had gone out [eg which iswhy I didnrsquot see her last night]

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto ma prima) non ti avevo visto [ieIrsquove seen you now but I hadnrsquot before]

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito) [ie Ihadnrsquot heard you before but I have now]

Forming the past perfect

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

4 As regards agreement of the past participle the past perfect obeys exactlythe same rules as the present perfect if the auxiliary is avere the past parti-ciple does not change but if it is essere the past participle behaves like anadjective agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb as inthese examples

Scusa non ti avevo visto Egrave moltoche aspetti

Sorry I didnrsquot see you Have you beenwaiting long

Scusa non ti avevo sentito Sorry I didnrsquot hear you

Imperfect of avere(io) avevo(tu) avevi(luilei) aveva(noi) avevamo(voi) avevate(loro) avevano

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I had writtenyou had writtenhesheit had writtenwe had writtenyou had writtenthey had written

Imperfect of essere(io) ero(tu) eri(luilei) era(noi) eravamo(voi) eravate(loro) erano

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I had goneyou had gonehesheit had gonewe had goneyou had gonethey had gone

AvereLivia aveva guardato la televisioneAvevi comprato il paneAveva prenotato Signor Ferro

Livia had watched televisionHad you bought the breadHad you booked Mr Ferro

138 Unit 19

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Past perfect of avere and essere

5 Avere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary essere

EssereMonica era uscita [fs]Pietro era stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia erano rimaste a casa

[fp]Giulia e Sebastiano erano partiti

[mp]Ero andata al cinema [fs]

Eravamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando eraarrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando eraarrivata [fs]

Monica had gone outPietro had been illFabia and Silvia had stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano had left

I had beengone to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We had arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When had you arrived Mr Poli

When had you arrived Mrs Poli

avevo avutoavevi avutoaveva avutoavevamo avutoavevate avutoavevano avuto

I had hadyou had hadhesheit had hadwe had hadyou had hadthey had had

ero statostataeri statostataera statostataeravamo statistateeravate statistateerano statistate

I had beenyou had beenhesheit had beenwe had beenyou had beenthey had been

Non aveva avuto tempo di finire illavoro

Tanya aveva avuto la varicella

He hadnrsquot had time to finish the job

Tanya had had chickenpox

Unit 19 139

Negative form

6 The negative is formed in the same way as for the present perfect byplacing non before the verb

7 As with the present perfect the adverbs mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) andgiagrave (already) are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (egAvevo giagrave risposto lsquoIrsquod already repliedrsquo) With the negatives non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) non is placed before the auxiliary

Exercise 1

Supply the past perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Dove (tu comprare) quelle scarpe avevi comprato

Nina era stata malataDes era stato mio studente

Nina had been illDes had been a student of mine

Non ero andato a scuolaLisa non era riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon avevi telefonato la settimana

prima

I hadnrsquot beengone to schoolLisa hadnrsquot managed to finish that job

Had you not phoned the previousweek

Eravate mai stati su un ghiacciaioAvevi piugrave visto i tuoi amici

Non avevamo ancora preso ilbiglietto

Paola non era mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non aveva piugrave telefonato

Had you ever been on a glacierHad you (ever) seen your friends

againWe hadnrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola had never been to VeniceCarlo hadnrsquot (ever) phoned again

1 Maria (finire) di cenare2 Anna (arrivare) il giorno prima3 Scusi Signora non La (io vedere)4 (tu spegnere) la luce5 (voi prendere) il giornale6 Prima di lavorare in Italia Jim

(lavorare) in Francia

7 Hai perso la lettera che ti(scrivere) Antonio

8 Alessandro non (preparare)lrsquoesame

9 Non (tu riuscire) a finire il lavoro10 Gli (noi chiedere) dei CD11 Caterina (stare) male

140 Unit 19

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct tense of the verb inbrackets (present perfect imperfect or past perfect)

Example Carlo (raccontare) che (lui passare) lrsquoesame ma non (essere)vero Carlo ha raccontato che aveva passato lrsquoesame ma nonera vero

1 Quando (io arrivare) i miei amici (uscire) da poco2 Silvia non (conoscere) la persona che le (telefonare)3 (tu fare) un dolce Ma ti (io dire) che sono a dieta4 Ernestina (essere) stanca percheacute (camminare) molto5 Carlo non (venire) con noi percheacute (dovere) fare un lavoro che gli (loro

dare) la sera prima6 Silvio (essere) molto contento percheacute (vincere) la gara di sci7 Carla (portare) sempre la maglia che le (regalare) suo fratello8 (io comprare) i libri che mi (voi consigliare)9 Mauro (spendere) tutti i soldi che (lui guadagnare)

10 Francesca (invitare) tutti gli amici che (andare) in vacanza con lei lrsquoannoprima

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 Paola still hadnrsquot been to Scotland2 Irsquod finished the job but I was very tired3 The girls had never gone into that church4 Arianna finished the tart her grandmother had made5 lsquoWhat had you [sing] said to Fabiorsquo lsquoI hadnrsquot said anything to himrsquo6 Maria had had to stay at home7 How much had your [pl] car cost

12 (io mangiare) un panino maavevo ancora fame

13 Ti (piacere) la partita14 Cecilia (andare) in vacanza15 Le mie amiche (uscire)16 Non (io capire) nulla

17 Il treno (partire) in orario18 Sergio (rimanere) in ufficio19 Paolo non (volere) lavorare con

noi20 Gina (essere) contenta di vedermi

Unit 19 141

8 Theyrsquod bought the ticket the previous day9 I hadnrsquot got the bike any longer because Irsquod given it to Anna

10 She was born in Russia but shersquod been living in Italy for many yearswhen I met her

142 Unit 19

UNIT TWENTYReflexive pronouns

1 Reflexive pronouns correspond to lsquomyselfrsquo lsquoyourselfrsquo etc in phrases likelsquoyou flatter yourselfrsquo lsquothe catrsquos licking itselfrsquo lsquothe recorderrsquos switched itselfoffrsquo In such cases the subject and the object of the verb are the same personor thing

These examples show how the reflexive pronouns are the direct objects ofthe verbs lavare guardare and vestire and denote the same person as thesubject

There are very many verbs which can be used in the reflexive form in Italianand which do not correspond to English reflexive verbs Here is a list of someof the most common ones

Ti guardi sempre allo specchio

Mi lavoAnna si veste per la festa

You always look at yourself in themirror

I get washed [lit I wash myself]Annarsquos getting dressed for the party

[lit Annarsquos dressing herself]

addormentarsialzarsiannoiarsidimenticarsilavarsioffendersiricordarsiriposarsisbagliarsiscusarsisedersisentirsisvegliarsivestirsi

to fall asleep [lit to send oneself to sleep]to get up [lit to raise oneself]to getbe bored [lit to bore oneself]to forget [lit to forget oneself]to get washed [lit to wash oneself]to take offence [lit to offend oneself]to remember [lit to recall oneself]to rest [lit to rest oneself]to be wrongmistaken [lit to mistake oneself]to apologise [lit to excuse oneself]to sit down [lit to seat oneself]to feel (well ill etc) [lit to feel oneself]to wake up [lit to waken oneself]to get dressed [lit to dress oneself]

2 The forms of the reflexive pronouns are as follows

Note that the third person singular and plural pronoun si is the same formasculine and feminine

As can be seen from the examples reflexive pronouns are always placedbefore the verb

3 The negative is formed as usual by placing non before the pronoun

4 For the formal form the pronoun si (third person singular and plural) isused In the plural however the pronoun vi is most frequently used

5 The plural forms of the reflexive pronouns (ci vi si) are also used asreciprocal pronouns corresponding to the English lsquoeach otherrsquo

6 Reflexive pronouns can also be used in contemporary spoken Italian asindirect objects One such use is to stress that the action expressed by the verb

mitisicivisi

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

A che ora ti alzi la mattina

Paolo si sveglia sempre tardiMaria si annoiaI tuoi amici si sbagliano il

concerto non egrave staseraLe mie amiche si divertono

What time do you get up in themorning

Paolo always wakes up lateMaria is boredYour friends are wrong the concert is

not tonightMy friends are enjoying themselves

Lorenzo non si annoia maiNon ti diverti

Lorenzo never getsis never boredArenrsquot you enjoying yourself

Come si sente SignoraVi divertite Signori Rasi (Si divertono Signori Rasi)

How are you feeling MadamAre you enjoying yourselves( Mr and

Mrs Rasi)

Paolo e io non ci sopportiamoPercheacute vi guardateAlfredo e Pia non si parlano piugrave

Paolo and I canrsquot stand each otherWhy are you looking at each otherAlfredo and Pia donrsquot talk to each

other any more

144 Unit 20

is to the advantage of the subject (cf English lsquoIrsquom making myself a coffeersquo [iea coffee for myself] lsquoTheyrsquore going to have themselves some funrsquo [ie somefun for themselves])

7 Another common use of the Italian reflexive pronoun occurs in cases likethe following where English would use a possessive adjective (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquoetc) rather than a reflexive pronoun

8 When reflexive or reciprocal pronouns occur with a verb in the presentperfect (or any other compound tense) the auxiliary is always essere (even ifthe verb itself would form the past tenses with avere) and the past participlealways agrees with the subject

9 The reflexive pronouns like all unstressed pronouns can be attached tothe infinitive of a verb (mainly after dovere potere volere or sapere) Inthese sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any othercompound tense) the auxiliary is avere and the past participle does notagree

Mi mangio un paninoPercheacute non ci facciamo una partita

a cartePaolo si mangia sempre tutti i

biscotti

Irsquom going to eat a sandwichWhy donrsquot we have a game of cards

Paolo always eats all the biscuits

Mi lavo le maniTi metti il cappottoAnna si lava i capelli tutti i giorni

I wash my handsAre you going to put your coat onAnna washes her hair every day

Paolo si egrave svegliato tardiMaria si egrave annoiataVittorio a che ora ti sei alzatoPaolo e Francesca si sono sposati

Claudio e Anna si sono lavati lemani

Sabina si egrave mangiata un paninoSi sono fatti un caffegrave

Paolo woke up lateMaria got boredVittorio what time did you get upPaolo and Francesca have got

marriedClaudio and Anna washed their

handsSabina ate a sandwichThey made (themselves) a coffee

Devo alzarmi prestoMio fratello non vuole lavarsiPaolo e Francesca hanno voluto

sposarsiNon abbiamo potuto lavarci

Irsquove got to get up earlyMy brother doesnrsquot want to washPaolo and Francesca wanted to get

marriedWe couldnrsquot wash

Unit 20 145

However when the reflexive pronoun is not attached to the infinitive theauxiliary verb must be essere and the past participle does agree

Stressed forms

10 The reflexive pronouns also have stressed forms which are used like thestressed forms of other pronouns for emphasis and after a preposition Theseforms are often reinforced by the adjective stesso

Note that se does not have an accent when it is used with stesso

Exercise 1

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash alzi ti

Paolo e Francesca si sono volutisposare

Non ci siamo potuti lavareVi siete dovuti fermare per la notte

Paolo and Francesca wanted to getmarried

We couldnrsquot washDid you have to stop for the night

me or me stessostessate or te stessostessaseacute or se stessostessanoi or noi stessistessevoi or voi stessistesseseacute or se stessistesse

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Franca ama solo seacutese stessaPensi solo a tete stessoQuei due sono davvero noiosi

parlano solo di segravese stessi

Franca only loves herselfYou only think of yourselfThose two are really boring they only

talk about themselves

1 Quando mdashmdashmdash sposano2 Dove mdashmdashmdash siedo3 Nina non mdashmdashmdash veste mai di

rosso4 Come mdashmdashmdash sentite5 Nina e Bart mdashmdashmdash amano6 Dove mdashmdashmdash incontriamo

7 mdashmdashmdash lavo le mani8 Marina mdashmdashmdash guarda allo

specchio9 Silvano non mdashmdashmdash annoia mai

10 Carlo e Luca non mdashmdashmdashconoscono

11 Come mdashmdashmdash vestite

146 Unit 20

Exercise 2

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash sono alzati si

Exercise 3

Put the verbs into the present perfect

Example (tu [f] alzarsi) tardi ti sei alzata

12 Non mdashmdashmdash diverti13 mdashmdashmdash prendiamo un gelato14 Signora mdashmdashmdash sente bene15 Non mdashmdashmdash ricordate di me16 Livia e Sara mdashmdashmdash riposano

17 Paolo mdashmdashmdash sbaglia18 Come mdashmdashmdash chiami19 mdashmdashmdash scrivete spesso20 mdashmdashmdash offendono facilmente

1 Paolo mdashmdashmdash egrave offeso2 Anna mdashmdashmdash egrave arrabbiata3 Dove mdashmdashmdash siete conosciuti4 mdashmdashmdash sono alzati tardi5 Non mdashmdashmdash sei scusato con loro6 mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti subito7 Carla non mdashmdashmdash egrave messa il

cappotto8 Il bambino mdashmdashmdash egrave

addormentato9 Silvana e io mdashmdashmdash siamo viste

ieri

10 mdashmdashmdash sono mangiato un panino11 mdashmdashmdash siete vestiti molto bene12 Non mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti13 Daniela e Pino mdashmdashmdash odiano14 Quanta acqua mdashmdashmdash sei bevuto15 mdashmdashmdash sono tagliata un dito16 Percheacute mdashmdashmdash sei messo il golf 17 mdashmdashmdash facciamo una passeggiata18 Sergio non mdashmdashmdash egrave ancora

svegliato19 mdashmdashmdash sono sentita male20 mdashmdashmdash siete annoiati alla festa

1 Antonio e Lia (sposarsi)2 (tu [m] sbagliarsi)3 (voi [f] ricordare) il suo

compleanno4 Claudia (farsi) male5 (loro [m] incontrarsi) allo stadio6 (tu [m] perdersi)7 Signora non (divertirsi)8 (noi [m] bersi) un litro di acqua9 Non (io [m] annoiarsi)

10 (noi [f] alzarsi) presto

11 Non (tu [m] lavarsi) le mani12 (io [f] tagliarsi) i capelli13 Il treno (fermarsi)14 I miei zii (separarsi)15 Vittorio non (lamentarsi)16 Il professore (riposarsi)17 La professoressa (stancarsi)18 Non (tu [f] arrabbiarsi)19 (voi [m] offendersi)20 (loro [m] dimenticarsi) di noi

Unit 20 147

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences moving the pronoun and changing the auxiliary

Example Abbiamo dovuto alzarci [m] Ci siamo dovuti alzare

1 Non ho potuto lavarmi [f]2 Sandra e Roberto hanno voluto sposarsi3 Abbiamo dovuto scusarci [m]4 Luigi ha dovuto alzarsi alle sei5 Gianni non ha voluto mettersi il berretto6 Hai potuto curarti [m]7 Avete potuto riposarvi [m]8 Ho dovuto fermarmi [f]9 Percheacute hai voluto tingerti i capelli [m]

10 Non abbiamo potuto spiegarci [m]

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian using reflexivereciprocal pronouns

1 Are you [pl] enjoying yourselves2 Have you [f] washed your hands3 How are you feeling Madam4 You [pl] are wrong5 Where did you [fp] meet6 Why donrsquot you [sing] sit down7 Paolo always talks about himself8 Franca washed her hair9 Carlo apologised

10 I [f] got dressed

148 Unit 20

UNIT TWENTY-ONEThe imperative

1 The imperative is used in Italian as in English to express orders com-mands or strong requests

As well as orders and requests the imperative can also be used to expresswishes invitations encouragement and advice

Forms of the imperative

2 Regular verbs in -are -ere and -ire are conjugated as follows

GuardaEntrateChiedi a tuo padreVenga domani SignoraAndiamoDammi il libro

LookCome inAsk your fatherCome tomorrow MadamLetrsquos goGive me the book

Passa delle buone vacanzeTi ascolto dimmi tuttoNon ti preoccupareHai lrsquoaria stanca vai a letto

Have a good holidayIrsquom listening to you tell me everythingDonrsquot worryYou look tired go to bed

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Parlareparlaparliparliamoparlateparlino

To speakspeakspeaklet us speakspeakspeak

Some verbs ending in -ire add -isc- as in the present indicative (see Unit 5)

In the first person plural the meaning is more that of a suggestion than anorder made to a group of which we are part (cf the English lsquoLetrsquos have acoffeersquo) The third person singular and plural are only used for the politeform

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare keep the hard sound of c and g by addingh before the endings of the third person singular (Lei) and the first and thirdpersons plural (noi and Loro)

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Prendereprendiprendaprendiamoprendeteprendano

To takegettakegettakegetlet us takegettakegettakeget

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Partirepartipartapartiamopartitepartano

To leaveleaveleavelet us leaveleaveleave

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Finirefiniscifiniscafiniamofinitefiniscano

To finishfinishfinishlet us finishfinishfinish

Parlate con i vostri insegnantiPrendi un analgesicoPartiamo subitoFinisci il compitoPrenda la prima (strada) a destra

Speak to your teachersTake a painkillerLetrsquos leave immediatelyFinish your homeworkTake the first (street) on the right

Cercarecercacerchicerchiamocercatecerchino

Pagarepagapaghipaghiamopagatepaghino

150 Unit 21

4 Verbs ending in -iare have only one -i in the second person singular and thefirst and third persons plural

Forms of some irregular verbs

5 Essere and avere are irregular in the imperative

6 There are other verbs with irregular imperatives Here are some of the mostcommon

Cerchiamo casa in questa zonaPaghi il conto per favore Signora

Letrsquos look for a flat in this areaPay the bill please( Madam)

Cominciarecominciacomincicominciamocominciatecomincino

Mangiaremangiamangimangiamomangiatemangino

Cominci a lavorare SignoraMuoio di fame mangiamo qualcosa

Start working( Madam)Irsquom starving letrsquos eat something

Esseresiisiasiamosiatesiano

Avereabbiabbiaabbiamoabbiateabbiano

Siate gentiliAbbi pazienzaSia pronta per le 10 Signora

Be kindBe patient [lit have patience]Be ready by 10( Madam)

Daredaidarsquodiadiamodatediano

Diredirsquodicadiciamoditedicano

Farefaifarsquofacciafacciamofatefacciano

Unit 21 151

The second person singular of these verbs has two forms the form with theapostrophe is normally used with unstressed pronouns (see paragraph 10)

7 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Formal form

8 We have already seen the forms used for the polite form Care must betaken not to confuse imperative and present polite and familiar formsCompare

Starestaistarsquostiastiamostatestiano

Saperesappisappiasappiamosappiatesappiano

Andarevaivarsquovadaandiamoandatevadano

Uscireesciescausciamousciteescano

Venirevienivengaveniamovenitevengano

Berebevibevabeviamobevetebevano

State attentiFaifarsquo il compitoVieni subito quiVenga avanti SignoraSappi che io non sono drsquoaccordo

Dirsquo la veritagrave

Pay attention [lit be attentive]Do your homeworkCome here at onceCome forward( Madam)I want you to know that I donrsquot agree

[lit know that I donrsquot agree]Tell the truth

-uci-uca-uciamo-ucete-ucano

Tradurretraducitraducatraduciamotraducetetraducano

Traduciamo insieme queste frasi

Traduca per favore

Letrsquos translate these sentencestogether

Translate please

152 Unit 21

In the plural as usual the second person is more commonly used than thethird

Negative form

9 For the second person singular the negative is formed with the infinitive ofthe verb preceded by non For the other persons the usual rule applies andnon precedes the form of the imperative As an example here is the negativeconjugation of parlare

familiarformal

(tu)(Lei)

Imperativeparlaparli

Presentparliparla

familiarformalfamiliarformal

(tu)(Lei)(tu)(Lei)

leggileggaescifinisciescafinisca

leggileggeescifinisciescefinisce

Parla col direttore [familiarimperative]

Parli col direttore Signora [formalimperative]

Parli col direttore [familiarpresent]

Parla col direttore Signora [formalpresent]

Speak to the manager

Speak to the manager( Madam)

Are you speaking to the manager

Are you speaking to the manager(Madam)

Parlate col controllore (Parlino col controllore)Abbiate pazienza Signori (Abbiano pazienza Signori)

Speak to the conductor

Be patient (ladies and) gentlemen

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

non parlarenon parlinon parliamonon parlatenon parlino

Non essere scorteseNon dite bugieNon avere fretta

Donrsquot be rudeDonrsquot tell liesDonrsquot rush

Unit 21 153

Position of unstressed pronouns

10 When the imperative is used in an affirmative sentence with an unstressedpronoun (direct object indirect object reflexive ne ci) the pronoun is alwaysattached to the verb if it is in a second person form (tu or voi) or the firstperson plural form (noi)

Note that when an unstressed pronoun is used with the forms darsquo farsquo dirsquo starsquoand varsquo (see paragraph 6) the first consonant of the pronoun (except gli) isdoubled

In negative sentences there is an extra option the pronoun can be placedbefore the verb (and after non)

11 In the polite form (third person singular and plural Lei and Loro) thepronouns are always placed before the verb

Quel libro egrave per te prendiloChiediamole aiutoSe hai dei problemi parlane

Alzatevi ragazziTelefonagli (or Telefona loro ndash see

Unit 10 paragraph 2)

That book is for you take itLetrsquos ask her for helpIf you are having problems talk about

themGet up boysPhone them

Se sai la veritagrave dillaDammi la pennaDanne un porsquo a tuo fratelloFammi un piacereVallo a comprareVacci subitoDille la veritagraveDigli la veritagrave

If you know the truth tell itGive me the penGive some to your brotherDo me a favourGo and buy itGo there at onceTell her the truthTell him the truth

Non lo prendere or Non prenderloNon le chiediamo aiuto or Non

chiediamole aiutoNon ne parlare or Non parlarneNon vi alzate or Non alzatevi

Donrsquot take itLetrsquos not ask her for help

Donrsquot talk about itDonrsquot get up

Quel libro egrave per Lei lo prendaLe scriva una mailNe parlino al controlloreSi alzi Signora

That book is for you take itWrite her an emailSpeak to the conductor about itGet up( Madam)

154 Unit 21

Exercise 1

Supply the imperative of the verb in brackets

Example (tu pagare) il conto paga

Exercise 2

Supply the polite form for these sentences

Example Paga il conto paghi

Exercise 3

Change the imperatives into the negative

Examples Dormi Non dormire Alzati Non alzarti or Non ti alzare

1 (tu comprare) il pane2 (noi uscire) subito3 (Lei stare) tranquilla Signora4 (tu mettere) in ordine5 (voi essere) gentili6 (Lei venire) Professore7 (tu dare) una mano a tuo fratello8 (tu finire) i compiti9 (comprare) questa borsa Signora

10 (noi fare) una pausa

11 (tu avere) fiducia in lei12 (Lei parlare) piugrave forte Signora13 (tu andare) fuori14 (tu dire) tutto quello che sai15 (Lei fare) attenzione Signora16 (voi scrivere) le cartoline17 (tu fare) attenzione18 (Loro entrare) Signori19 (voi aprire) le finestre20 (tu rispondere) al telefono

1 Chiudi la porta per favore2 Vai al terzo piano3 Sorridi4 Dirsquo tutto5 Fai presto

6 Sii paziente7 Traduci per favore8 Accendi la luce9 Stai fermo

10 Entra

1 Partite subito2 Rispondi alla sua domanda3 Andate in discoteca4 Scenda Signora5 Usciamo6 Finisci i biscotti7 Ascolta

8 Prenda quella strada9 Telefona a Giuseppe

10 Dirsquo quello che pensi11 Tagliati i capelli12 Dalle il libro13 Parlagli14 Scrivetemi

Unit 21 155

Exercise 4

Change the imperatives into the affirmative

Examples Non parlate Parlate Non mi guardare Guardami

Exercise 5

Change the verb into the imperative and replace the words in italics with theappropriate pronoun

Example Devi dire la veritagrave Dilla

15 Dillo16 Invitali17 Prendilo

18 Mettiti il berretto19 Portatele dei fiori20 Fallo

1 Non andare in piscina2 Non prendete lrsquoautobus3 Non invitare Giacomo4 Non guardiamo quel film5 Non cominciare6 Non faccia la spesa al mercato7 Non mettano lrsquoauto in garage8 Non fare cosigrave9 Non andare al parco

10 Non stare sul balcone

11 Non mandarmi una cartolina12 Non fatelo13 Non darmi i tuoi libri14 Non mi rispondere15 Non ci andare16 Non lo mangiate17 Non lo leggete18 Non ci aspetti Professore19 Non dirgli il tuo nome20 Non darle il tuo indirizzo

1 Dovete parlare a Laura2 Devi prendere i libri3 Signora deve firmare il foglio4 Dovete parlare del problema5 Dobbiamo andare al

supermercato6 Devi fare gli esercizi7 Dovete restare a scuola8 Dobbiamo chiedere il permesso9 Devi correggere gli sbagli

10 Dovete prendere il treno

11 Signori devono aspettare il tram12 Devi mandare gli auguri13 Dovete comprare la frutta14 Signor Rossi deve portare una

foto15 Dovete aiutare i vostri amici16 Devi rendere il libro17 Dobbiamo chiedere a Lina18 Devi telefonare ai nonni19 Devi bere del caffegrave20 Dovete studiare filosofia

156 Unit 21

UNIT TWENTY-TWOThe pronoun si

The pronoun si is used as an impersonal subject either in sentences without aspecified subject or in sentences with a passive meaning In both it is alwaysput before the verb

Si in sentences where the subject is not specified

1 Si is used as an impersonal subject in sentences where the subject is notspecified It corresponds to the English lsquoonersquo or lsquoyoursquo (as in lsquoOne neverknowsYou never know whatrsquos just round the cornerrsquo) or lsquotheyrsquo meaning anumber of unspecified people (as in lsquoThey eat kangaroo in Australiarsquo)When si is used in this way the verb is always in the third personsingular

As the examples suggest si is often used for rules or general advice

2 With verbs like essere diventare sembrare etc followed by a noun or anadjective si requires the noun to be plural (even though the verb is alwayssingular) and the adjective to be masculine plural

Si esce da questa portalsquoSono stato al marersquo lsquoSi vede sei

abbronzatorsquoSi paga alla cassaCrsquoegrave stato un incidente e non si

passaAllrsquoostello della gioventugrave si spende

menoPer andare al museo si passa da

piazza Garibaldi

You go out by this doorlsquoIrsquove been at the seasidersquo lsquoIt shows [lit

one sees] yoursquove got a tanrsquoYou payOne pays at the tillTherersquos been an accident and you canrsquot

get throughYou spend less in a youth hostel

To get to the museum you go throughpiazza Garibaldi

Si in sentences with a passive meaning

3 Si is also used as an impersonal subject in sentences which have a passivemeaning like this one lsquoIn Nuova Zelanda si parla inglesersquo The correspond-ing sentence in English would have either a passive verb (lsquoEnglish is spoken inNew Zealandrsquo) or an impersonal one (lsquoOne speaksThey speak English inNew Zealandrsquo)

In this type of sentence the verb can be in either the third person singularor the third person plural The singular is used if the noun that accompaniesthe verb is singular

The plural is used when the noun that accompanies the verb is plural

Quando si egrave studenti si egrave poveriSe si mangia troppo si diventa

grassiQuando si egrave malati si rimane a

casaQuando si egrave giovani si egrave ottimistiSe si veste in nero si sembra magri

When one is a student one is poorIf you eat too much you get fat

When you are ill you stay at home

When one is young one is an optimistIf you dress in black you look slim

Il biglietto [sing] si prendeallrsquoingresso

Il sale [sing] si compra intabaccheria

Al mercato si vende la frutta [sing]migliore

Si deve lavare lrsquoinsalata [sing]prima di mangiarla

In biblioteca si puograve leggere ilgiornale [sing]

The ticket is obtainedYou get yourticket at the door

Salt is boughtYou buy salt at thetobacconistrsquos

The best fruit is sold at the market

Lettuce should be washed before youeat itYou should wash lettucebefore eating it

In the library you can read the paperThe paper can be read in the library

Anche le cartoline [pl] si compranoin tabaccheria

I lamponi [pl] si mangiano inestate

In vacanza si fanno molte fotografie[pl]

Si devono comprare i biglietti [pl]in anticipo

In quel Cine Club si possono vederemolti film [pl]

Postcards are also boughtYou alsobuy postcards at the tobacconistrsquos

Raspberries are eaten in summer

A lot of pictures are taken on holidayOn holiday you take a lot ofpictures

Tickets should be purchased inadvance

A lot of films can be seenYou can seea lot of films at that cine club

158 Unit 22

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

Si used with the auxiliary essere

5 When si occurs with a verb in the present perfect (or any compound tense)the auxiliary is essere the past participle must therefore agree with the subjectof the passive verb

The same applies when si is not used in a passive function but purely as animpersonal subject (lsquoonersquo lsquoyoursquo lsquotheyrsquo etc)

Si used with reflexive verbs

6 When si is used with a reflexive verb the reflexive or reciprocal pronoun isci not si the resulting form is thus ci si

Non si fuma in aereo

Non si devono aprire le finestre

Therersquos no smoking [lit one does notsmoke] in planes

The windows mustnrsquot be openedOnemustnrsquot open the windows

Su questo argomento si sono scrittimolti libri

In Piemonte si egrave sempre prodottodel buon vino

In questa scuola si sono semprecominciate le lezioni alle 8

Quando si egrave finita lrsquouniversitagrave sicerca lavoro

Many books have been written on thissubject

In Piedmont good wine has alwaysbeen producedthey have alwaysproduced good wine

In this school lessons have always(been) started at eight orsquoclock

When university has been finishedWhen you have finished universityyou look for a job

Quando non si egrave riusciti a risolvereun problema non si egrave soddisfatti

Dopo che si egrave stati malati si egravesempre deboli

When one hasnrsquot managed to solve aproblem one is dissatisfied

Yoursquore always weak when yoursquove beenill

A volte in vacanza ci si annoiaSe in vacanza ci si egrave annoiati si egrave

contenti di tornare a scuola

Sometimes you get bored on holidayIf yoursquove been bored in the holidays

yoursquore glad to go back to school

Unit 22 159

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb

Examples Dal balcone si (vedere) le montagne vedono A Natale si(mangiare) il panettone mangia

1 Si (fare) attenzione quando si (attraversare) la strada2 In Svizzera si (parlare) tre lingue3 Di domenica non si (lavorare)4 Negli uffici pubblici non si (fumare)5 Si (dovere) aiutare gli anziani6 In quella discoteca non si (entrare) con le scarpe da ginnastica7 Certi segreti non si (potere) mantenere8 Per entrare nel centro della cittagrave si (pagare) un pedaggio9 In quel bosco si (trovare) molti funghi

10 Al mercato si (comprare) la verdura piugrave fresca

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences with the correct form of the verbs and the adjectives ornouns in brackets

Examples Quando si (essere malato) si (andare) a letto Quando si egravemalati si va a letto Quando si (essere studente) si (dovere)studiare Quando si egrave studenti si deve studiare

1 Quando si (avere) freddo (lavorare) male2 Quando si (avere) la febbre si (restare) a casa3 Quando si (cominciare) a studiare una lingua si (fare) degli sbagli4 Quando si (guidare) non si (usare) il cellulare5 Quando si (avere) fame si (mangiare)6 Quando si (essere stanco) si (fare) molti sbagli7 Quando si (essere avvocato) si (conoscere) la legge8 Quando non si (avere) soldi non si (fare) spese inutili9 Quando si (avere) tanti amici si (essere fortunato)

10 Quando si (mangiare) troppi dolci si (ingrassare)

Quando ci si alza presto la giornatasembra troppo lunga

When you get up early the day seemstoo long

160 Unit 22

Exercise 3

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si

Examples Non devi mangiare con le mani Non si mangia con le maniNon devi raccogliere i fiori Non si raccolgono i fiori

1 Non devi mettere i piedi sulla scrivania2 La mattina devi fare colazione3 Dopo pranzo devi lavare i piatti4 Non devi parlare con gli sconosciuti5 Non devi andare in bicicletta sul marciapiedi6 Non devi mangiare durante le lezioni7 Non devi guardarti tanto allo specchio8 In biblioteca devi parlare a bassa voce9 Non devi guardare la televisione tutto il giorno

10 Il giorno prima degli esami devi studiare

Exercise 4

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si Payattention to the use of the past tense

Example QuandoDopo che hai parcheggiato lrsquoauto in salita devimettere il freno a mano QuandoDopo che si egrave parcheggiatalrsquoauto in salita si deve mettere il freno a mano

1 Dopo che hai fatto il bagno in mare fai la doccia2 Dopo che hai superato un esame sei contento3 Dopo che hai finito di lavorare vai a casa4 Dopo che sei salito sullrsquoaereo non puoi usare il cellulare5 Quando sei cresciuto in campagna conosci i nomi di tante piante

Unit 22 161

UNIT TWENTY-THREEThe present conditional

Use of the present conditional

1 The present conditional expresses an action which depends on a conditionas in this English example lsquoIf I could I would go at oncersquo In this example thecondition is expressed with lsquoifrsquo (ie lsquoon condition thatrsquo) The present con-ditional is often used even when the condition is not actually mentioned asin lsquoIrsquom sure she would love a night outrsquo Basically the use of the Italianpresent conditional is similar to the English

The present conditional in Italian can express wishes or intentions opinionsor advice requests in polite form doubts and conjectures

The forms of the present conditional

2 The present conditional is formed in the same way as the future but withdifferent endings

Vorrei ballare tutta la seraMi daresti un passaggioFareste meglio restare a casa

I would like to dance all nightWould you give me a liftYoursquod do better to stay at home

Prenderei un caffegravePotreste andare a piediMi daresti una manoSapresti fare questo lavoroQuesta potrebbe essere la soluzione

Irsquod like a coffeeYou could go on footWouldcould you give me a handWould you know how to do that jobThis could be the solution

Be sure not to confuse the spelling of these endings (all with -emmo) withthe corresponding ones of the future (all with -emo)

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)

-are-erei-eresti

-ere-erei-eresti

-ire-irei-iresti

(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-irebbe-iremmo-ireste-irebbero

Parlareparlereiparlerestiparlerebbeparleremmoparleresteparlerebbero

To speakI would speakyou would speakhesheit would speakwe would speakyou would speakthey would speak

Prendereprendereiprenderestiprenderebbeprenderemmoprenderesteprenderebbero

To takegetI would takeyou would takehesheit would takewe would takeyou would takethey would take

Finirefinireifinirestifinirebbefiniremmofinirestefinirebbero

To finishI would finishyou would finishhesheit would finishwe would finishyou would finishthey would finish

Con Marco parleresti italianoScriverei una cartolina alla ziaFiniremmo questo lavoro prima di

partire

With Marco you would speak ItalianI would write a postcard to my auntWersquod finish this job before leaving

Unit 23 163

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the presentconditional in order to keep the hard sound of c and g

4 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the present conditional

Present conditional of some irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are grouped in the same way as for the future tense

5 Essere and avere are irregular

Cercarecerchereicercheresticercherebbecercheremmocercherestecercherebbero

Pagarepaghereipagherestipagherebbepagheremmopagherestepagherebbero

Al suo posto cercherei un altrolavoro

La Signora pagherebbe il conto

If I were him [lit in his place] Irsquod lookfor another job

The lady would pay the bill

Cominciarecomincereicominceresticomincerebbecominceremmocomincerestecomincerebbero

Mangiaremangereimangerestimangerebbemangeremmomangerestemangerebbero

Senza di lui non cominceremmo lariunione

Mangeresti la carne di canguro

We wouldnrsquot start the meeting withouthim

Would you eat kangaroo meat

Esseresareisarestisarebbesaremmosarestesarebbero

Avereavreiavrestiavrebbeavremmoavresteavrebbero

Sarei contenta di rivedere CarloAvresti un minuto per me

I would be happy to see Carlo againCould you spare me a minute [lit

would you have a minute for me]

164 Unit 23

6 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

7 Andare cadere dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow the samepattern as avere

8 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere have the following pattern

dareidarestidarebbedaremmodarestedarebbero

fareifarestifarebbefaremmofarestefarebbero

stareistarestistarebbestaremmostarestestarebbero

Darei una festaMi faresti un favoreAl posto tuo starei tranquillo

I would give a partyWould you do me a favourI wouldnrsquot worry if I were you [lit in

your place Irsquod be calm]

andreiandrestiandrebbeandremmoandresteandrebbero

cadreicadresticadrebbecadremmocadrestecadrebbero

dovreidovrestidovrebbedovremmodovrestedovrebbero

potreipotrestipotrebbepotremmopotrestepotrebbero

sapreisaprestisaprebbesapremmosaprestesaprebbero

vedreivedrestivedrebbevedremmovedrestevedrebbero

vivreivivrestivivrebbevivremmovivrestevivrebbero

Quando andreste in vacanzaDomenica dovrei lavorarePotresti aiutarmi

When would you go on holidayOn Sunday I ought to workYou could help me [ie why arenrsquot

you helping me]

-rrei-rresti-rrebbe-rremmo-rreste-rrebbero

berreiberrestiberrebbeberremmoberresteberrebbero

rimarreirimarrestirimarrebberimarremmorimarresterimarrebbero

verreiverrestiverrebbeverremmoverresteverrebbero

vorreivorrestivorrebbevorremmovorrestevorrebbero

terreiterrestiterrebbeterremmoterresteterrebbero

Unit 23 165

The present conditional of volere is often used to expresses wishes andrequests in a polite form corresponding to the English lsquowould likersquo

9 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the verb

Exercise 1

Supply the present conditional of the verb in brackets

Example Stasera non (io uscire) uscirei

Rimarrei ancora un porsquo con voi madevo prendere il treno

Verresti al cinema con me

Vorrei un caffegraveVorrei anche un chilo di mele

I would stay with you a bit longer butIrsquove got to get the train

Would you come to the cinema withme

Irsquod like a coffeeIrsquod like a kilo of apples as well

-urrei-urresti-urrebbe-urremmo-urreste-urrebbero

tradurreitradurrestitradurrebbetradurremmotradurrestetradurrebbero

Lrsquointerprete tradurrebbe tutto per te The interpreter would translateeverything for you

Non capiresti nullaNon vorremmo partireNon tradurrei cosigrave

You wouldnrsquot understand a thingWe wouldnrsquot want to leaveI wouldnrsquot translate (it) like that

1 (tu leggere) quel libro di nuovo2 (io potere) aiutarvi3 (voi avere) voglia di uscire4 Mi (tu svegliare)5 (loro volere) venire a cena6 (tu pagare) anche per me

7 Non (io fare) quel lavoro8 (noi dovere) studiare9 (tu sapere) guidare un trattore

10 Claudia (rimanere) a casa11 Al posto tuo non (io aprire) la

porta

166 Unit 23

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences changing the italicised verbs into the presentconditional

Example Veniamo volentieri Verremmo volentieri

1 Voglio due panini2 Dovete studiare di piugrave3 Lucia va in vacanza4 Fate una pausa5 Possiamo parlarti6 Maurizio cambia lavoro7 Mi dai un consiglio8 Vi piace andare a Venezia9 I nostri amici devono arrivare oggi

10 Non esce mai senza permesso

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian using the present conditional

1 Paola could help me2 We would gladly come3 I wouldnrsquot go to the library in the evenings4 When would you start Signora Vialli5 Pietro would like to invite you [sing] to the party6 Wersquod be happy to see you [pl]7 They would keep the dog in the garden8 I would have to leave early9 Irsquod like another biscuit

10 Would you know the result Mr Spadavecchia

12 (tu dovere) telefonare a Pia13 A Liz (piacere) vivere in Italia14 Mi (potere) aspettare Signora15 Mauro (essere) la persona giusta16 Mi (voi dare) un passaggio17 (io bere) volentieri qualcosa

18 Non (loro abitare) mai in una casacome questa

19 Chi (tradurre) dallrsquoarabo20 (tu accompagnare) Silvia alla

stazione

Unit 23 167

KEY TO EXERCISES

UNIT 1

Exercise 1

1 m 2 f 3 m 4 f 5 f 6 m 7 m 8 m 9 m 10 mf 11 m 12 f13 mf 14 m 15 f 16 f 17 mf 18 m 19 m 20 f

Exercise 2

1 ragazzi 2 marche 3 chiavi 4 abitanti 5 zii 6 fiumi 7 stazioni8 ragazze 9 energie 10 pomeriggi 11 banche 12 pianisti 13 clienti14 indirizzi 15 occhi 16 ristoranti 17 televisioni 18 calendari19 francesi 20 laghi

Exercise 3

1 nome 2 via 3 figlio 4 mano 5 opinione 6 cliente 7 occhio 8 per-sona 9 marca 10 problema 11 ciliegia 12 caffegrave 13 medico14 attivista 15 ginocchio 16 bugia 17 tedesco 18 test 19 uomo20 amica

UNIT 2

Exercise 1

1 la 2 la 3 il 4 la 5 lrsquo or le 6 il 7 i 8 lrsquo 9 lo 10 gli 11 le12 lo or gli 13 lrsquo 14 la 15 la or le 16 gli 17 le 18 le 19 la or le20 lrsquo

Exercise 2

1 una 2 una 3 un 4 uno 5 una 6 un 7 unrsquo 8 una 9 un 10 uno

11 unrsquo 12 uno 13 una 14 unrsquo 15 uno 16 un 17 uno 18 un19 uno 20 unrsquo

Exercise 3

1 lo 2 una 3 le 4 unrsquo 5 la 6 il 7 unrsquo 8 lrsquo un 9 il 10 lo

UNIT 3

Exercise 1

1 interessante 2 bianca 3 bianchi 4 rosse 5 egoisti 6 bellrsquo7 razzista 8 comiche 9 simpatiche 10 lunghi 11 quel simpatico12 questi facili 13 quei begli 14 queste belle 15 quegli morti16 questi inglesi 17 quelle spagnole 18 quel bellrsquo 19 quelle fresche20 quei greci

Exercise 2

1 grande 2 rosa 3 francesi 4 grave 5 pacifisti 6 tedesche 7 pigro8 lunghi 9 belghe 10 belga 11 sporche 12 energico 13 resistenti14 blu 15 scozzesi 16 veloci 17 simpatiche 18 italiani 19 ottimisti20 soddisfatti

Exercise 3

1 i loro 2 i suoi 3 la mia 4 le tue 5 la vostra 6 il nostro 7 i miei 8 laloro 9 tua 10 la Sua

Exercise 4

1 il suo 2 la nostra 3 i tuoi 4 il mio 5 i suoi 6 le tue or le Sue 7 laloro 8 i vostri or i Loro 9 le sue 10 i nostri

Exercise 5

1 questi i nostri tedeschi 2 i Suoi ottimisti 3 queste le vostre 4 i miei iSuoi 5 questi i miei quelli i tuoi 6 il nostro entusiasta il vostro7 quelle le mie queste le tue 8 quegli divertenti questo difficile 9 i mieipesanti i vostri leggeri 10 quellrsquo minerale gassata questa liscia

Key to exercises 169

UNIT 4

Exercise 1

1 siamo 2 sei 3 sono 4 sono 5 siete 6 egrave 7 egrave 8 sono 9 siete10 siamo 11 sono 12 siete 13 egrave 14 sono 15 sei 16 egrave 17 egrave18 sono 19 siete 20 egrave

Exercise 2

1 abbiamo 2 ha 3 ho 4 hanno 5 avete 6 ha 7 ha 8 hai9 abbiamo 10 hai 11 avete 12 ha 13 abbiamo 14 hanno 15 hai16 ha 17 hanno 18 hai 19 ho 20 ha

Exercise 3

1 Non ho ragione Ho ragione 2 Il professore non ha caldo Il professoreha caldo 3 La Signorina Berti non ha sete La Signorina Berti ha sete4 Lei non ha sonno Lei ha sonno 5 Non avete paura Avete paura6 Non hanno freddo Hanno freddo 7 Carla e Andrea non hanno fameCarla e Andrea hanno fame

Exercise 4

1 Sono stanco Non sono stanco 2 Sei pigra Non sei pigra 3 Il dottore egravegiovane Il dottore non egrave giovane 4 La professoressa egrave simpatica La profes-soressa non egrave simpatica 5 Lei egrave alto Lei non egrave alto 6 Siamo magre Nonsiamo magre 7 Siete intelligenti Non siete intelligenti 8 Le tue amichesono contente Le tue amiche non sono contente

Exercise 5

1 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una sedia 2 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono due poltrone 3 Nellrsquouf-ficio ci sono tre computer 4 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una stampante 5 Nellrsquoufficiocrsquoegrave un telefono 6 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave la fotocopiatrice 7 Nellrsquoufficio ci sonodue radiatori 8 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una porta 9 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono trefinestre

Exercise 6

1 In questo paese crsquoegrave un museo ci sono tre musei non ci sono musei 2 Inquesto paese crsquoegrave una discoteca ci sono due discoteche non ci sono disco-teche 3 In questo paese crsquoegrave una panetteria ci sono quattro panetterie nonci sono panetterie 4 In questo paese crsquoegrave un cinema ci sono due cinemanon ci sono cinema 5 In questo paese crsquoegrave una biblioteca ci sono due

170 Key to exercises

biblioteche non ci sono biblioteche 6 In questo paese crsquoegrave una scuola cisono due scuole non ci sono scuole 7 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ufficio postaleci sono due uffici postali non ci sono uffici postali 8 In questo paese crsquoegraveuna libreria ci sono quattro librerie non ci sono librerie 9 In questo paesecrsquoegrave un giardino pubblico ci sono tre giardini pubblici non ci sono giardinipubblici 10 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ristorante ci sono sei ristoranti non cisono ristoranti

UNIT 5

Exercise 1

1 arriva 2 vive 3 mangiamo 4 cerchi 5 prendete 6 parte 7 leg-giamo 8 pulisci 9 conosco 10 finiscono 11 guidiamo 12 giochiamo13 tornate 14 capisci 15 spendono 16 abita 17 pagate 18 viaggi19 ricevi 20 lasciano

Exercise 2

1 vanno 2 produce 3 diamo 4 vai 5 fate 6 riusciamo 7 venite8 posso 9 vogliono 10 dici 11 potete 12 voglio 13 stai 14 sanno15 fanno 16 devono 17 traduciamo 18 deve 19 sapete 20 vengono

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlare con Marcello 2 Partiamo stasera 3 Prendiamo il pros-simo autobus 4 (Lei) puograve andare al cinema Signor Buchan 5 Sappiamousare quei cellulari 6 Preferisce sempre leggere il giornale 7 Il bam-bino dorme 8 Vengo a Torino questrsquoestate 9 Escono spesso la sera10 I ragazzi giocano a pallone domani

Exercise 4

1 Esci stasera mamma 2 Cosa facciamo domani 3 Puoi aprire quellaporta 4 Vuoi un caffegrave 5 Sai suonare il piano Francesco 6 Cosa cer-chi 7 (Lei) beve caffegrave o acqua minerale Signora 8 Tu e Jim conoscetei miei genitori 9 Stai bene oggi 10 Cosa costruiscono

Exercise 5

1 (Lei) non parla inglese Signora Vialli 2 I miei amici tedeschi non sannocantare in italiano 3 Non guadagno molto 4 Non dagrave una festa per il suocompleanno 5 Non lavori con Giulia 6 Non vedono il Signor Moro datre anni 7 Percheacute non vai mai a Firenze Claudio 8 Non riesco a chiudere

Key to exercises 171

questa finestra 9 Percheacute non bevete caffegrave stamattina 10 Non venitedomani

UNIT 6

Exercise 1

1 dolcemente 2 tranquillamente 3 semplicemente 4 allegramente5 maggiormente 6 irregolarmente 7 probabilmente 8 chiaramente9 facilmente 10 velocemente 11 lentamente 12 utilmente13 attentamente 14 rapidamente 15 leggermente

Exercise 2

1 molti 2 molto 3 pochi 4 troppo 5 troppi 6 tanta 7 troppo8 molto 9 poco 10 molte 11 poco 12 molto 13 molto 14 pochi15 molto 16 poca 17 molta 18 molto 19 troppe 20 poche

Exercise 3

1 con prudenza 2 con pazienza 3 in modo nervoso 4 a poco a poco5 senza esitazione 6 di solito 7 in tempo 8 con coraggio 9 di sicuro10 in maniera brusca

Exercise 4

1 A volte mangio in mensa 2 La piscina egrave abbastanza grande 3 Usciamospesso con i nostri amici 4 Hai abbastanza soldi 5 Devi parlare lenta-mente or piano 6 Marina non mangia mai (il) formaggio 7 Francescaarriva sempre tardi or in ritardo 8 Aspetto da quasi quaranta minuti9 Carla e Andrea sono fuori 10 I tuoi genitori stanno bene

UNIT 7

Exercise 1

1 Anna la guarda 2 Li invitiamo 3 Le scrivete 4 Lo leggono 5 Lasuono 6 La preparo 7 Lo chiamo 8 Li faccio 9 Le invito 10 Lechiudete 11 Lorenzo li corregge 12 Lo prendono 13 Li porto 14 Licerco 15 Pia la beve 16 Paola lo finisce 17 Li accompagno 18 Le vedioggi 19 La ascolto 20 Luca li lava

172 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 Non le voglio 2 Non li compriamo 3 Non ci chiamano 4 Silvia non liinvita 5 I Signori Bianchi non lo prendono 6 Non mi invitate 7 Non viaspetto 8 Non la vedo domani 9 Non ti accompagno alla stazione10 Non lo guardiamo

Exercise 3

1 Vogliamo vederlo 2 Non posso aiutarti 3 Puoi accompagnarmi4 Vuoi sentirla 5 Devono chiamarci 6 Voglio invitarvi 7 Vuole cono-scerle 8 Non potete farli 9 Devi ascoltarmi 10 Non posso aiutarLaSignora

Exercise 4

1 lo 2 le 3 li 4 li 5 la 6 mi 7 li 8 La 9 li 10 le 11 la 12 li13 la 14 vi 15 lo 16 la 17 la 18 li 19 le 20 lo

Exercise 5

1 Vi invitiamo alla festa 2 Ho molti amici e li vedo spesso 3 Signora FusiLa posso chiamare or posso chiamarLa domani 4 Ci aiuti la settimanaprossima 5 Ti devo vedere or Devo vederti 6 Olga e Anna partono doma-ni e le voglio accompagnareportare or voglio accompagnarleportarle allastazione 7 Non vi posso aiutare or non posso aiutarvi 8 lsquoPorti la chi-tarrarsquo lsquoNo non ce lrsquohorsquo 9 Tullio compra queste riviste e le legge 10 Mipuoi portareaccompagnare or puoi portarmiaccompagnarmi a scuoladomani

UNIT 8

Exercise 1

1 della mamma 2 dello zio 3 degli amici 4 del parco 5 dellrsquoauto 6 deipaesi 7 delle stanze 8 al mare 9 allo stadio 10 alla stazione 11 airagazzi 12 agli uomini 13 alle donne 14 allrsquoospedale 15 dalla zia16 dallo studente 17 dal dentista 18 dallrsquoaeroporto 19 dagli uffici20 dalle colleghe 21 dai ministri 22 nellrsquoalbergo 23 nello stipendio24 nella casa 25 negli anni 26 nei cassetti 27 nelle camere 28 nelfrigo 29 sul tavolo 30 sulla sedia 31 sullo scaffale 32 sulle spalle33 sui libri 34 sugli alberi 35 sullrsquoidea

Key to exercises 173

Exercise 2

1 a 2 in 3 al 4 fra or tra 5 da 6 alla 7 con 8 dal 9 del 10 ai11 a in 12 al con 13 nel 14 alle 15 da 16 alle 17 per 18 con19 del 20 a

Exercise 3

1 a 2 in 3 a in 4 a 5 di 6 al 7 a 8 a 9 da a 10 da 11 a12 in 13 in 14 alla 15 a or per 16 al 17 della 18 in 19 nella 20 di

Exercise 4

1 Finisco di lavorare alle 6 2 Antonio parte per Genova 3 Gemma egrave natanel 2001 4 Fabia non esce mai di sera 5 I Signori Bancroft abitano incampagna in una vecchia villa 6 La biblioteca egrave dietro la palestra 7 Nonpuoi uscire senza di me 8 Abitate lontano dalla scuola 9 La zia di Isa-bella vive a Greve in Toscana 10 Ha una gonna di pelle 11 Angus egrave diEdimburgo in Scozia 12 Deve girare a destra dopo la chiesa( Signora)13 Stasera mangiamo in pizzeria 14 Questi fiori sono per tua madre 15 Aor per Natale andiamo a sciare in montagna 16 Abito vicino alla pri-gione 17 Margaret vive a Torino da cinque anni 18 Il treno per Aostaparte dal binario 7 19 Regaliamo or diamo a Luisa un CD di musicarussa 20 Compro sempre il pane da Belli

UNIT 9

Exercise 1

1 chi 2 chi 3 chi 4 che or cosa or che cosa 5 che or cosa or che cosa6 chi 7 chi 8 che or cosa or che cosa 9 chi 10 che or cosa or che cosa11 chi 12 che or cosa or che cosa 13 chi 14 chi 15 che or cosa or checosa 16 chi 17 che or cosa or che cosa 18 chi 19 che or cosa or checosa 20 chi

Exercise 2

1 dove 2 quando 3 percheacute 4 come 5 quando 6 che 7 che or quale8 dovrsquo 9 percheacute 10 qual 11 che or quale 12 che or quale 13 come14 dove 15 percheacute 16 dovrsquo 17 quando 18 qual 19 percheacute 20 che orquali

174 Key to exercises

Exercise 3

1 quante 2 quanto 3 quanti 4 quanti 5 quante 6 quanta 7 quanto8 quante 9 quanti 10 quanto 11 quanta 12 quanto 13 quanti14 quanto 15 quanto 16 quante 17 quanto 18 quante 19 quanti20 quanto

Exercise 4

1 Quanti panini volete 2 Dove andate a pranzo 3 Chi sono quelle per-sone 4 CheCosaChe cosa fai domenica 5 Quando andate in vacanza6 Percheacute Luisa non parte 7 Qual egrave la tua bici 8 CheQuale film guardi9 Chi di loro egrave italianoitaliana 10 Quando arriva il treno

UNIT 10

Exercise 1

1 Le telefoniamo 2 Gli spedisco or spedisco loro le cartoline 3 Silvia gliracconta una storia 4 Le regalo un libro 5 Anna gli scrive or scrive loro6 Le porto i fiori 7 Gli scriviamo or scriviamo loro 8 Olga e Silvia leparlano 9 Gli legge or legge loro un libro 10 Cosa gli regalate

Exercise 2

1 Non le parlo di lavoro 2 Non mi telefoni 3 Non vi regalo dei libri4 Non gli offrite qualcosa 5 Gli amici non le offrono un gelato 6 Non ciscrivete 7 Non ti mando una cartolina 8 Non vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo non mi dice la veritagrave 10 Non gli spedisco il pacco

Exercise 3

1 Possiamo scriverle 2 Devo parlarti 3 Voglio regalargli una chitarra4 Puoi telefonarci 5 Devono offrirvi qualcosa 6 Potete dirmi tutto7 Posso parlarLe Signora 8 Non dovete scrivergli 9 Non posso rispon-derti 10 Voglio crederle

Exercise 4

1 le 2 ti 3 gli 4 gli 5 Le 6 vi 7 ci 8 ti 9 gli 10 Le 11 mi 12 le13 gli 14 gli 15 vi 16 gli 17 mi 18 le 19 ti 20 gli

Key to exercises 175

Exercise 5

1 Puoi dire a Lucia che le voglio parlare or voglio parlarle 2 Appena arrivoa Roma vi telefono 3 Devo chiederLe or Le devo chiedere un favoreSignora 4 Gli dai il tuo numero di telefono 5 Ci dicono or raccontanosempre (delle) cose interessanti 6 Mi mandano sempre una cartolinaquando vanno in Italia 7 Per il suo compleanno le dograve dei fiori 8 Devodarti or ti devo dare i libri di Luca 9 Se volete vi racconto una storia10 Massimo mi scrive ogni settimana or tutte le settimane

UNIT 11

Exercise 1

1 Non le piacciono i carciofi 2 Non gli piace guidare 3 Gli piace viag-giare 4 Gli piace il mare 5 Gli piace ballare 6 Non ci piace il pesce7 Vi piace nuotare 8 Le piacciono i film francesi 9 Non le piace stirare10 Gli piace andare in moto

Exercise 2

1 Non le piace andare in centro il sabato 2 Non ti piace la musica clas-sica 3 Non gli piacciono i funghi 4 Non vi piace guardare la televi-sione 5 Non mi piacciono i film di fantascienza 6 Non gli piace lascuola 7 Non ci piacciono le canzoni italiane 8 Non le piacciono glispaghetti 9 Non mi piace sciare 10 Non vi piace la cioccolata al latte

Exercise 3

1 (Non) mi piace la frutta 2 (Non) mi piace il calcio 3 (Non) mi piac-ciono le fragole 4 (Non) mi piace giocare a tennis 5 (Non) mi piace uscirecon gli amici 6 (Non) mi piacciono i gatti 7 (Non) mi piace la pizza8 (Non) mi piacciono i dolci 9 (Non) mi piace ballare 10 (Non) mi piac-ciono le vacanze

Exercise 4

1 A Luigi (non) piace il caffegrave senza zucchero 2 Al professore (non) piac-ciono le poesie di Leopardi 3 A mia sorella (non) piace andare al cinema4 Ai miei cugini (non) piacciono i film di Fellini 5 Al primo ministro (non)piace la politica

176 Key to exercises

Exercise 5

1 basta 2 sembra 3 piacciono 4 manca 5 servono 6 mancano7 sembra 8 servono 9 pare 10 bastano

Exercise 6

1 Unrsquoora non mi basta 2 A Giovanni serve una penna 3 A Lynne man-cano gli or i suoi amici italiani 4 Ti piace la cioccolata or il cioccolato5 Non le piace andare al cinema 6 Vi serve un passaggio 7 Gli servonouna penna e un quaderno 8 Le sembra noioso lo spettacolo Signora9 Ti serve aiuto 10 Mi piace leggere

UNIT 12

Exercise 1

1 restati 2 uscite 3 andata 4 arrivati 5 entrata 6 riuscito 7 arrivato8 piaciuta 9 costati 10 nata

Exercise 2

1 hai comprato 2 ha regalato 3 siamo andati or andate 4 avete trovato5 hai spento 6 egrave venuta 7 ha portato 8 avete preso 9 ho visto 10 haipotuto 11 ho dovuto 12 egrave uscito ha perso 13 ha scritto 14 abbiamogiocato 15 ha cominciato 16 ha voluto or egrave voluto 17 hai messo 18 haipotuto 19 avete avuto 20 hai letto

Exercise 3

1 abbiamo dovuto 2 avete mangiato 3 sei partito or partita 4 ha te-lefonato 5 ha voluto or egrave voluta 6 hai conosciuto 7 ha dovuto or egravedovuta 8 avete accompagnato 9 ha vinto 10 hai finito 11 ho capito12 hai portato 13 siamo riusciti or riuscite 14 avete deciso 15 ha avuto16 sono venuti 17 avete fatto 18 egrave partito 19 egrave stata 20 ha tradotto

Exercise 4

1 Abbiamo giagrave fatto questo esercizio 2 Non ho ancora finito di leggere ilgiornale 3 Stefano non egrave mai andato or stato a Roma 4 Non ho piugrave vistoRoberto dopo la festa 5 Avete giagrave pagato il conto 6 Giulia non haancora cominciato a lavorare 7 Carlo non ha piugrave potuto lavorare 8 Nonho mai conosciuto i suoi genitori 9 Hai giagrave scritto le lettere 10 Non homai visto quel film

Key to exercises 177

UNIT 13

Exercise 1

1 li ho messi 2 lrsquoho accompagnata 3 le ho comprate 4 le ha chiuse 5 liho mangiati 6 ti ha chiamata 7 lrsquoha letto 8 ci hanno invitati 9 li hopresi 10 li ho dati

Exercise 2

1 le ho offerto 2 li avete visti 3 lrsquoho imprestata 4 le ho telefonato 5 le haprese 6 li ho studiati 7 mi ha presentato 8 ti ha accompagnata 9 le haimandato 10 lrsquoho conosciuta 11 lrsquoabbiamo lasciata 12 gli hai detto 13 liho comprati 14 Lrsquoho trovata 15 le ho conosciute 16 gli ho detto 17 lrsquohapagato 18 le ho raccontato 19 Lrsquoha accompagnata 20 lrsquoho letta tutta

Exercise 3

1 Non li ho saputi fare 2 Li ho voluti vedere 3 Non lrsquoabbiamo potutochiamare 4 Vi hanno potuti aiutare or potute aiutare 5 Lrsquoabbiamodovuta invitare 6 Non le ha sapute tradurre 7 Le avete dovuteaccompagnare 8 Lrsquoha voluta mangiare 9 Li hai potuti vedere 10 Nonle hanno volute fare

Exercise 4

1 Sabina non mi ha invitata 2 Chi ti ha chiamata 3 Gli abbiamo te-lefonato ieri 4 Vi ho cercati ma non vi ho trovati 5 Chiara ci haaccompagnati or portati alla fermata dellrsquoautobus 6 Vi ho mandato unacartolina lrsquoavete ricevuta 7 I (miei) nonni mi hanno regalato 100 euro mali ho giagrave spesi 8 Ho comprato due panini e li ho mangiati 9 lsquoHai spento lalucersquo lsquoSigrave lrsquoho spentarsquo 10 Carla non ha potuto aiutarle or Carla non le hapotute aiutare

UNIT 14

Exercise 1

1 lei te 2 loro 3 lei 4 noi voi 5 me 6 lui 7 me te 8 Lei 9 voi10 lei loro

Exercise 2

1 Nobody plays drums like me 2 Every student but him did the home-work 3 Sergio calls or phones you not me 4 Irsquoll take or go with or

178 Key to exercises

accompany you as well 5 I understand as much as you do or as much asyou 6 Mauro tells everyone the truth but or except me 7 You should oryou must or you have to phone me as well 8 Claudiarsquos lending us therecords not you 9 Irsquom giving or I give or Irsquoll give my address to everyonebut her 10 Irsquom giving her a book and him a record

Exercise 3

1 voi 2 lui 3 loro 4 noi 5 lei

Exercise 4

1 Tutti sono contro di me 2 Vieni con me 3 Ho comprato un regalo perte 4 Non puoi contare su di lui 5 Posso dormire da voi stasera

UNIT 15

Exercise 1

1 che 2 cui 3 che 4 cui 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 cui 9 cui 10 che

Exercise 2

1 cui 2 cui 3 cui 4 che 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 che 9 cui 10 cui

Exercise 3

1 la quale 2 con la quale 3 dei quali 4 nel quale 5 alle quali 6 ilquale 7 dal quale 8 le quali 9 delle quali 10 i quali

Exercise 4

1 colei che 2 coloro che 3 colui che 4 colui or colei che 5 coloro che

Exercise 5

1 chi 2 quella che 3 chi or quello che 4 chi 5 quelli che 6 quella che7 chi 8 quello che 9 chi 10 quelle che

Exercise 6

1 Il libro che voglio comprare egrave troppo caro 2 La signora con cui or con laquale ho parlato egrave tedesca 3 Le persone che or le quali hanno telefonatovivono or abitano in America 4 La cittagrave dove or in cui or nella quale vivo or

Key to exercises 179

abito non egrave molto grande 5 Colui che or chi vuole andare allrsquouniversitagravedeve sapere leggere e scrivere 6 Paolo che or il quale ha perso il (suo)cellulare non egrave contento or felice 7 Quella canzone mi piace or Mi piacequella canzone ma preferisco quelle che abbiamo sentito ieri sera 8 Questaegrave or Ecco la sorella di Fabio la quale or che mi ha prestato la sua bici 9 Haivisto chi or colui che or colei che ha mangiato le pesche 10 Chi egrave lrsquouomo cuior a cui or al quale avete venduto i biglietti

UNIT 16

Exercise 1

1 parlava 2 passava 3 faceva 4 studiavo riposava 5 partiva 6 lavo-rava 7 diceva 8 faceva 9 abitavamo 10 eravate 11 andavano12 era 13 uscivamo 14 sapevi 15 conoscevo 16 amava 17 dormivate18 erano 19 avevi 20 dovevano

Exercise 2

1 sei partita 2 era 3 ho studiato 4 mangiavamo 5 egrave rimasta 6 aveva7 sembravano 8 ha speso 9 egrave andata 10 erano

Exercise 3

1 egrave arrivato era 2 ho conosciuto abitavo 3 avevi hai cominciato 4 hatelefonato facevo 5 sono venuti era 6 hanno fatto sapevano 7 hannodetto hanno visto 8 egrave venuto aveva 9 siamo arrivati or arrivate partiva10 ho imprestato era

Exercise 4

suonava piaceva abbiamo deciso siamo arrivati mancavano crsquoerano eraaspettavamo abbiamo sentito ha risposto abbiamo visto era ha finitoha spiegato era chiamava aveva era sapeva egrave partito aveva egrave riuscitoaprivano

Exercise 5

1 Quanto tempo hai passato a Bologna 2 Siamo andati or andate alcinema ieri sera 3 Sembravate felici 4 Il padre di Gemma faceva il mari-naio or era marinaio 5 Claudia e Monica non sono venute in vacanza connoi questa volta 6 I miei genitori di solito uscivano alle 8 7 Mio padre halavorato in India per 3 anni 8 A che ora avete preso lrsquoautobus ieri mattina9 Lrsquoanno scorso facevamo ginnastica il or di lunedigrave mattina 10 Dove hai

180 Key to exercises

comprato quelle scarpe 11 Non ti ho chiamato or chiamata percheacute dormivi12 Quando voi abitavate or vivevate a Londra io abitavo or vivevo a Parigi13 Quanti anni aveva Susanna quando egrave andata allrsquouniversitagrave 14 Mentreguardavo la televisione Anna egrave entrata e lrsquoha spenta 15 Paolo e Giulia nonsono venuti percheacute Paolo era troppo stanco

UNIT 17

Exercise 1

1 ne ho mandate 2 ne ho comprata or ne ho comprati 3 ne ho fatti or ne hofatta 4 ne sono venute poche 5 non ne ho fatto nessuno 6 ne ho lasciatauna aperta 7 ne hanno invitati molti 8 ne ho letti 9 ne abbiamo com-prata poca 10 non ne ho mangiata nessuna 11 ne ho presi 12 ne ho datealcune 13 ne abbiamo visti 14 ne ho mangiate 15 non ne ha mangiatonessuno 16 ne abbiamo dato qualcuno 17 ne ho presi alcuni 18 ne sonorimasti alcuni cari 19 non ne ha invitata nessuna 20 ne ho regalate

Exercise 2

1 ne 2 ne 3 li 4 lrsquo 5 ne 6 le 7 ne 8 ne 9 li 10 ne 11 ne 12 lrsquo13 ne 14 ne 15 ne 16 la 17 lo 18 ne 19 ne 20 li

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlarne col professore 2 Vuoi farne un altro 3 Non dobbiamoprenderne 4 Potete mangiarne 5 Devo farne sei 6 Non possiamo par-larne 7 Posso assaggiarne uno 8 Non deve portarne Signora 9 Voglio-no comprarne qualcuno 10 Non possono berne

Exercise 4

1 Ne ho dovuti dare due a Marisa 2 Ne hai potute comprare 3 Quantene hai dovute fare 4 Non ne hanno voluta mangiare 5 Ne ha dovutileggere quattro 6 Non ne abbiamo potute prendere 7 Ne ho dovute scri-vere due 8 Ne ho potute leggere solo due pagine 9 Ne avete dovuti rifaremolti 10 Non ne hanno potuta assaggiare

Exercise 5

1 in questa casa Ci abitiamo da tre anni 2 al Museo di Storia NaturaleStefano ci lavora da febbraio 3 alla festa di Marco Ci volete venire orVolete venirci 4 al cinema Paolo e Livia ci vanno due volte alla set-timana 5 al supermercato La Signora Bini ci va sempre a piedi 6 in

Key to exercises 181

Italia Ci rimango per tre settimane 7 a scuola Giulia ci viene sempre inbici 8 allrsquoufficio postale Ci ho passato tre ore in coda 9 a casa di PietroCi siete andati a cena 10 a Sorrento Ci passiamo le vacanze

UNIT 18

Exercise 1

1 arriveranno 2 parlerete 3 telefoneragrave 4 dirai 5 scriverograve 6 dormirograve7 cominceremo 8 finirai 9 prenderograve 10 chiamerai 11 abiterete12 porteranno 13 direte 14 tradurragrave 15 pagheremo 16 mangerai17 scriveragrave 18 cercheragrave 19 prenderanno 20 pagheragrave

Exercise 2

1 andrograve 2 saremo 3 rimarrai 4 verrograve potrograve 5 dovragrave 6 verragrave vorragrave7 avremo 8 potrograve 9 vedrai 10 farete 11 staranno 12 sapragrave 13 farai14 sarete 15 dovrete 16 andrograve 17 saprai 18 verrai 19 farete20 terranno

Exercise 3

uscirograve dovrograve arriverograve verragrave andremo lascerograve andremo vedremo porteragravetorneremo verranno dovremo usciremo faremo saragrave potremo

Exercise 4

1 Chi potragrave aiutarmi 2 Lrsquoestate prossima faremo un corso di italiano3 Leggerai tutti questi libri 4 Non andrograve in biblioteca domani 5 Quandoarriveragrave Signora Pasini 6 Domenica usciranno 7 Cosa farai8 Saranno le 10 9 Porterai i tuoi CD per la festa 10 Non verrete con noial cinema

UNIT 19

Exercise 1

1 aveva finito 2 era arrivata 3 avevo vista 4 avevi spento 5 avevatepreso 6 aveva lavorato 7 aveva scritto 8 aveva preparato 9 eri riuscitoor riuscita 10 avevamo chiesto 11 era stata 12 avevo mangiato 13 erapiaciuta 14 era andata 15 erano uscite 16 avevo capito 17 era partito18 era rimasto 19 aveva voluto 20 era stata

182 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 sono arrivato or arrivata erano usciti 2 conosceva aveva telefonato3 hai fatto avevo detto 4 era aveva camminato 5 egrave venuto doveva or hadovuto avevano dato 6 era aveva vinto 7 portava aveva regalato 8 hocomprato avevate consigliato 9 ha speso aveva guadagnato 10 ha invi-tato erano andati

Exercise 3

1 Paola non era ancora andata or stata in Scozia 2 Avevo finito il lavoroma ero molto stanco or stanca 3 Le ragazze non erano mai entrate in quellachiesa 4 Arianna ha finito la torta che aveva fatto sua nonna 5 lsquoCosaavevi detto a Fabiorsquo lsquoNon gli avevo detto nullarsquo 6 Maria aveva dovuto orera dovuta rimanere or restare a casa 7 Quanto era costata la vostramacchina or auto 8 Avevano comprato or preso il biglietto il giornoprima 9 Non avevo piugrave la bici percheacute lrsquoavevo data a Anna 10 Era nata inRussia ma abitava da molti anni in Italia quando lrsquoho conosciuta

UNIT 20

Exercise 1

1 si 2 mi 3 si 4 vi 5 si 6 ci 7 mi 8 si 9 si 10 si 11 vi 12 ti13 ci 14 si 15 vi 16 si 17 si 18 ti 19 vi 20 si

Exercise 2

1 si 2 si 3 vi 4 si 5 ti 6 ci 7 si 8 si 9 ci 10 mi 11 vi 12 ci13 si 14 ti 15 mi 16 ti 17 ci 18 si 19 mi 20 vi

Exercise 3

1 si sono sposati 2 ti sei sbagliato 3 vi siete ricordate 4 si egrave fatta 5 sisono incontrati 6 ti sei perso 7 si egrave divertita 8 ci siamo bevuti 9 mi sonoannoiato 10 ci siamo alzate 11 ti sei lavato 12 mi sono tagliata 13 si egravefermato 14 si sono separati 15 si egrave lamentato 16 si egrave riposato 17 si egravestancata 18 ti sei arrabbiata 19 vi siete offesi 20 si sono dimenticati

Exercise 4

1 Non mi sono potuta lavare 2 Sandra e Roberto si sono voluti sposare3 Ci siamo dovuti scusare 4 Luigi si egrave dovuto alzare alle sei 5 Gianni nonsi egrave voluto mettere il berretto 6 Ti sei potuto curare 7 Vi siete potuti

Key to exercises 183

riposare 8 Mi sono dovuta fermare 9 Percheacute ti sei voluto tingere icapelli 10 Non ci siamo potuti spiegare

Exercise 5

1 Vi divertite 2 Ti sei lavata le mani 3 Come si sente Signora 4 Visbagliate 5 Dove vi siete conosciute or incontrate 6 Percheacute non ti siedi7 Paolo parla sempre di segrave or se stesso 8 Franca si egrave lavata i capelli9 Carlo si egrave scusato 10 Mi sono vestita

UNIT 21

Exercise 1

1 compra 2 usciamo 3 stia 4 metti 5 siate 6 venga 7 dai or darsquo8 finisci 9 compri 10 facciamo 11 abbi 12 parli 13 vai or varsquo 14 dirsquo15 faccia 16 scrivete 17 fai or farsquo 18 entrino 19 aprite 20 rispondi

Exercise 2

1 chiuda 2 vada 3 sorrida 4 dica 5 faccia 6 sia 7 traduca8 accenda 9 stia 10 entri

Exercise 3

1 non partite 2 non rispondere 3 non andate 4 non scenda 5 nonusciamo 6 non finire 7 non ascoltare 8 non prenda 9 non telefonare10 non dire 11 non tagliarti or non ti tagliare 12 non darle or non le dare13 non parlargli or non gli parlare 14 non scrivetemi or non mi scrivete15 non dirlo or non lo dire 16 non invitarli or non li invitare 17 nonprenderlo or non lo prendere 18 non metterti or non ti mettere 19 nonportatele or non le portate 20 non farlo or non lo fare

Exercise 4

1 vai or varsquo 2 prendete 3 invita 4 guardiamo 5 comincia 6 faccia7 mettano 8 fai or farsquo 9 vai or varsquo 10 stai or starsquo 11 mandami12 fatelo 13 dammi 14 rispondimi 15 vacci 16 mangiatelo 17 leg-getelo 18 ci aspetti 19 digli 20 dalle

Exercise 5

1 parlatele 2 prendili 3 lo firmi 4 parlatene 5 andiamoci 6 falli7 restateci 8 chiediamolo 9 correggili 10 prendetelo 11 lo aspettino

184 Key to exercises

12 mandali 13 compratela 14 la porti 15 aiutateli 16 rendilo 17 chie-diamole 18 telefonagli or telefona loro 19 bevine 20 studiatela

UNIT 22

Exercise 1

1 fa attraversa 2 parlano 3 lavora 4 fuma 5 devono 6 entra 7 pos-sono 8 paga 9 trovano 10 compra

Exercise 2

1 Quando si ha freddo si lavora male 2 Quando si ha la febbre si resta acasa 3 Quando si comincia a studiare una lingua si fanno degli sbagli4 Quando si guida non si usa il cellulare 5 Quando si ha fame si mangia6 Quando si egrave stanchi si fanno molti sbagli 7 Quando si egrave avvocati si cono-sce la legge 8 Quando non si hanno soldi non si fanno spese inutili9 Quando si hanno tanti amici si egrave fortunati 10 Quando si mangiano troppidolci si ingrassa

Exercise 3

1 Non si mettono i piedi sulla scrivania 2 La mattina si fa colazione3 Dopo pranzo si lavano i piatti 4 Non si parla con gli sconosciuti 5 Nonsi va in bicicletta sul marciapiedi 6 Non si mangia durante le lezioni7 Non ci si guarda tanto allo specchio 8 In biblioteca si parla a bassavoce 9 Non si guarda la televisione tutto il giorno 10 Il giorno primadegli esami si studia

Exercise 4

1 Dopo che si egrave fatto il bagno in mare si fa la doccia 2 Dopo che si egravesuperato un esame si egrave contenti 3 Dopo che si egrave finito di lavorare si va acasa 4 Dopo che si egrave saliti sullrsquoaereo non si puograve usare il cellulare5 Quando si egrave cresciuti in campagna si conoscono i nomi di tante piante

UNIT 23

Exercise 1

1 leggeresti 2 potrei 3 avreste 4 sveglieresti 5 vorrebbero 6 paghe-resti 7 farei 8 dovremmo 9 sapresti 10 rimarrebbe 11 aprirei12 dovresti 13 piacerebbe 14 potrebbe 15 sarebbe 16 dareste 17 ber-rei 18 abiterebbero 19 tradurrebbe 20 accompagneresti

Key to exercises 185

Exercise 2

1 Vorrei due panini 2 Dovreste studiare di piugrave 3 Lucia andrebbe invacanza 4 Fareste una pausa 5 Potremmo parlarti 6 Maurizio cam-bierebbe lavoro 7 Mi daresti un consiglio 8 Vi piacerebbe andare a Ve-nezia 9 I nostri amici dovrebbero arrivare oggi 10 Non uscirebbe maisenza permesso

Exercise 3

1 Paola potrebbe aiutarmi or mi potrebbe aiutare 2 Verremmo volentieri3 Non andrei in biblioteca la or di sera 4 Quando comincerebbe SignoraVialli 5 Pietro vorrebbe invitarti or ti vorrebbe invitare alla festa6 Saremmo contenti or felici di vedervi 7 Terrebbero il cane in giardino8 Dovrei partire presto 9 Vorrei un altro biscotto 10 Saprebbe il risultatoSignor Spadavecchia

186 Key to exercises

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS

adjective a word that describes a noun or pronoun eg the green door itrsquosvery old Johnrsquos skinny shersquos most objectionable

a demonstrative adjective describes something as being pointed out (lsquodem-onstratedrsquo) eg thisthat computer thesethose railings

a possessive adjective describes something as belonging to someone orsomething eg myheritsouryour behaviour is quite normal

adverb a word which gives information about a verb an adjective oranother adverb eg she sang loudly itrsquoll finish soon Irsquove got it somewhere itrsquosincrediblyvery funny she sang incrediblyvery loudly

agreement a feature whereby the form of one word changes depending onthe form of another word it is linked with In English the most obviousexample is in the difference between singular and plural so we say lsquoThis is theroadrsquo and lsquoThese are the roadsrsquo but not eg lsquoThis are the roadsrsquo lsquoThese is theroadsrsquo etc In Italian agreement is far more detailed and widespread than inEnglish

article a word which has no meaning on its own but is placed before anoun to show whether it is specific or non-specific

a definite article shows that the noun refers to a specific thing or person egthe airline the pilot the passengers

an indefinite article shows that the noun does not refer to a specific thingor person eg an airline a pilot passengers [no plural indefinitearticle]

auxiliary verb a verb that helps another verb to make its form eg we havedone it it had been agreed

conjugation a group of verbs which have the same endings as one anotherin all tenses eg in Italian verbs of the first conjugation have an infinitiveending in -are (comprare lsquoto buyrsquo cantare lsquoto singrsquo) and the same endingsin the present (comprano lsquothey buyrsquo cantano lsquothey singrsquo) the imperfect

(compravano lsquothey boughtrsquo cantavano lsquothey sangrsquo) the future (compre-ranno lsquothey will buyrsquo canteranno lsquothey will singrsquo) etc

gender not the same thing as the actual sex of a living creature grammat-ical gender is arbitrary in Italian all nouns are either masculine or feminineeven if they denote inanimate objects eg il libro [m] lsquothe bookrsquo la casa [f]lsquothe housersquo etc

infinitive the form in which verbs are usually given in word lists etc egvendere lsquoto sellrsquo dormire lsquoto sleeprsquo

noun the name of a thing person place animal plant idea eg the greendoor John is skinny love is a wonderful thing I love cats and roses

number a feature of nouns pronouns and any words that agree with them(notably in Italian adjectives articles and verbs) which shows whether thereis just one or more than one of the thing or person in question If there isone then the noun pronoun etc is singular eg the mobile a child Isheheitif there is more than one then the noun pronoun etc is plural eg themobiles the children wethey In Italian the form of the word usually makesit clear whether it is singular or plural but in English it is often impossible totell from the word on its own eg one sheep fifty sheep Jim you are brilliantyou are all brilliant

object the noun or pronoun affected by the action of the verb

a direct object is directly impinged on by the action eg I sent a letter thedog drank its water yoursquove shut the door she cooked it I love him

an indirect object is the thingperson to or for whichwhom the action isperformed eg I sent a letter to Jim I gave her a CD [ie a CD to her] hebuilt a snowman for Catherine I made her a puppet [ie a puppet for her]

participle a form of the verb that lsquoparticipatesrsquo in characteristics of bothverb and adjective ie it both indicates an action and describes something

the present participle in English ends in -ing and is used descriptively evenwith verbs in a past tense eg shersquos running Wayne was shouting

the past participle in English (as in Italian) is mostly used to form thepresent perfect tense eg the frog has jumped in shersquos run away it can alsobe used purely as an adjective eg itrsquos small but perfectly formed thatrsquos atorn handkerchief

passive a passive verb is the opposite to an active one Here is an activeverb lsquoKylie drew that cartoonrsquo in this sentence the thing that has somethingdone to it (the cartoon) is the object of the active verb Now here is the sameidea expressed with a passive verb lsquoThat cartoon was drawn by Kyliersquo in thissentence the thing that has something done to it is actually the subject of thepassive verb Many ideas can be expressed both actively and passively eg

188 Glossary

preposition a word usually placed in front of a noun or pronoun to showthe relation between it and another noun or pronoun eg the cat sat on themat Irsquove shown them to him the doorrsquos opposite the bus stop you just gothrough it

pronoun a word that stands for (lsquoprorsquo) a noun

demonstrative pronouns stand for particular people or things that arelsquopointed torsquo eg thisthat [ie lsquothis onethat onersquo] is a dandelion thesethoseare filthy

interrogative pronouns stand for people or things about which a questionis being asked eg what are you doing which of them did best who wonwho(m) did you vote for

personal pronouns usually stand for people eg she lost her mobile theyare happy we phoned them you gave us a fright

possessive pronouns stand for things mentioned as belonging to someoneeg this tuna sandwich is mine [ie lsquomy onersquo] those are yoursherstheirs etc

reciprocal pronouns stand for two or more people or things whichreciprocate an action eg they like each otherone another we all gave eachotherone another birthday presents

reflexive pronouns stand for people or things that are both the subjectand the object of the verb eg yoursquore wearing yourselves out thedogrsquoll scratch itself the computer switched itself off she bought herselfsomething nice

relative pronouns usually stand for people or things already mentionedeg the idiot who conceded the penalty the DVDs whichthat were on thetable the one politician whom everyone trusts

subject the noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb eg Micksang solo the grass is green you have grown they say it will be easy theallegation was denied he was tripped over

tense the form of a verb that corresponds to a particular segment of timeeg I eat [present] I shall eat [future] I have eaten [present perfect] I ate[simple past] I was eating [past progressive] I had eaten [past perfect]

ActiveJim clapped Tony [object] on the

backShe alone dismissed the idea

[object]They sell wild mushrooms [object]

here

PassiveTony [subject] was clapped on the back

by JimThe idea [subject] was dismissed by her

aloneWild mushrooms [subject] are sold here

(by them)

Glossary 189

verb the word that indicates the performance of an action or the existenceof a state eg she jumped out of her skin I shall get a mobile that is nice theyhave been very happy

190 Glossary

INDEX

a uses of 59ndash60 62 63ndash4adjectives 17ndash22 in -co and -go 18ndash19

with articles 14 definition of 187demonstrative 20 possessive 22ndash3preceding the noun 19ndash20 singularand plural 17ndash19 158

adverbial expressions 48ndash9adverbs 46ndash8 from adjectives 46

definition of 187 with the pastperfect 140 with the present perfect90

agreement of adjectives and nouns 17definition of 187

alcuno 121 122anche 101andare future 133 imperative 152

present 41 present conditional 165articles definite 9ndash11 definition of 187

indefinite 11ndash13 uses of 13ndash14 22ndash3auxiliary verbs definition of 187ndash8 see

also avere essereavere future 132 imperative 151

imperfect 112 present 28 presentconditional 164 present perfect 88used as auxiliary 86ndash7 88ndash90 usesof 31ndash2

bastare 81bello 20bere future 134 imperative 152

imperfect 113 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

buono 21

cadere future 133 present conditional165

crsquoegraveci sono 32ndash3 in imperfect 113 inpresent perfect 88

che (relative pronoun) 104ndash5cheche cosa 69 71chi 68 107ci with avere (ce) 54 with si as an

impersonal pronoun 159ndash60lsquotherersquo 125

coluicoleicoloro 106ndash7come 69 70 71 101compound prepositions 65con uses of 61conditional see present conditionalconjugations 37conoscere 39 vs sapere 42ndash3cosa 69 71cui 104 105

da uses of 36ndash7 60dare future 132 imperative 151 present

41 present conditional 165definite article 9ndash11 13ndash14 with

possessives 22ndash3 with prepositions57ndash8

demonstrative adjectives 20demonstrative pronouns 24 definition of

189di uses of 58ndash9 63dire imperative 151 imperfect 113

past participle 86 present 42direct object definition of 188direct object pronouns 52ndash4 formal form

54 with the imperative 154 with thepresent perfect (or any othercompound tense) 94ndash5 95ndash6stressed forms 99ndash101

dove 69 71 106dovere 43 future 133 present 42

present conditional 165present perfect 91

eccetto (che) 101essere with ci 32ndash3 88 113 as auxiliary

86ndash7 88ndash90 as auxiliary withimpersonal si 159 future 132imperative 151 imperfect 113present 28 present conditional 164present perfect 88 with reflexivepronouns 145 uses of 31

fare future 132 imperative 151imperfect 114 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

formal form 30 41 direct objectpronouns 54 in imperative152ndash3 indirect object pronouns76 with piacere 80 possessiveadjectives and pronouns 23ndash4

future 129ndash34 avere and essere 132 withifwhen 130 irregular verbs 132ndash4negative form 134 verbs in -care-gare and -iare 131ndash2 uses of129ndash30 verbs in -urre 134

gender 1ndash3 6 definition of 188grande 21

lsquohow muchmanyrsquo 70 71lsquohowrsquo 69 71

lsquoifrsquo with future tense 130imperative 149ndash54 essere 151 formal

form 152ndash3 irregular verbs 151ndash2negative form 153 154 withpronouns 154 uses of 149verbs in -urre 152

imperfect 111ndash17 of essere 113negative form 114 uses 115ndash17verbs in -urre 114

impersonal subject pronoun si 157ndash60in uses of 61 62 63 64indefinite article 11ndash13indirect object definition of 188indirect object pronouns 74ndash6

formal form 76 with theimperative 154 negative form 75with the present perfect 95stressed forms 99ndash101

infinitive 37 definition of 188 fornegative imperative 153

interrogative form 29 40interrogative pronouns definition of 189irregular plurals of nouns 5

irregular verbs future 132ndash4 imperative151ndash2 imperfect 113ndash14 pastparticiple 86 present 41ndash3present conditional 164ndash6

lsquoknowingrsquo 42ndash3

Lei Loro and Voi 30 41 see also formalform

mancare 81meno (che) 101mentre 116modomaniera 49molto 47 48 121

ne 120ndash4 negative form 122 with pastparticiple 122ndash4

neanche 101negative form 30 32ndash3 with direct object

pronouns 53 future 134 imperative153 154 imperfect 114 withindirect object pronouns 75 with ne122 past perfect 140 present 41present conditional 166 presentperfect 90 verbs with si 159

nemmeno 101neppure 101non see negative formnon ancoramai 47nouns definition of 188 ending in -ca

-co -ga -go -cia -gia 6ndash7gender 1ndash3 6 singular andplural 4ndash7

number definition of 188 nouns 4ndash7

parere 81partitive constructions with di 59passive definition of 188ndash9 using si 158past participle 85ndash6 definition 188 with

ne 122ndash4past perfect 137ndash40 with avere or essere

as auxiliaries 138 of avere andessere 139 negative form 140 usesof 137ndash8

per uses of 61percheacute 70personal pronouns definition of 189

see also pronounspiacere 79ndash81place see prepositions of placeplurals of adjectives 17ndash19

192 Index

plurals of nouns 4ndash7poco 47 48 121possession with di 58 59possessive adjectives 22ndash3possessive pronouns 23ndash4 definition of

189potere future 133 present 42 43 present

conditional 165 present perfect 91prepositions 57ndash65 compound 65

with definite article 57ndash8 definitionof 189 with pronouns 100 105106

prepositions of place 59 60 61 62prepositions of time 59 60 61 63present conditional 162ndash6 essere 164

irregular verbs 164ndash6 negative form166

present participle definition of 188present perfect 84ndash91 with direct object

pronouns 94ndash5 95ndash6 of avere andessere 88 with indirect objectpronouns 95 with ne 122ndash4negative form 90 potere dovere andvolere 91 of reflexive verbs 145using avere 86ndash7 88ndash9using essere 86ndash7 88ndash90 145uses of 84ndash5

present tense 36ndash43 avere and essere 28irregular verbs 41ndash3 uses of 36ndash7verbs in -are 37 verbs in -care and-gare 38 verbs in -cere and -gere 39verbs in -ere 38ndash9 verbs in -iare 38verbs in -ire 40 verbs with -isc-40 verbs in -urre 43

pronouns definition of 189demonstrative 24 direct object52ndash4 94ndash5 95ndash6 99ndash101 with theimperative 154 indirect object 74ndash696 99ndash101 possessive 23ndash4 afterprepositions 100 reflexive 143ndash6relative 104ndash7 stressed forms99ndash101 subject 28ndash9 see also cine si

pure 101

qualcuno 121 122quale 71(illa) quale (relative pronoun) 104

105ndash6quando 70 130quanto 70 71 101 121 123 124quello 20 24

quello che (relative pronoun) 106questions 29 40 68ndash71questo 20 24

reciprocal pronouns definition of 189reflexive pronouns 143ndash6 stressed form

146reflexive verbs 88 143 with si

(impersonal subject) 159ndash60relative pronouns 104ndash7 definition of

189rimanere future 134 present

conditional 165riuscire 42

salvo (che) 101santo 21ndash2sapere 42ndash3 vs conoscere 42ndash3 future

133 imperative 152 present 41present conditional 165

sembrare 81servire 81si impersonal 157ndash60 with essere as

auxiliary 159 negative form 159with reflexive verbs 159ndash60sentences with a passive meaning158

singular and plural adjectives 17ndash19 158lsquosomesomeonersquo 121 122spelling of adjectives in -co and -go

18ndash19 essere and avere 30 plurals ofnouns in -ca -co -ga -go -cia -gia6ndash7

stare future 132 imperative 152 present41 present conditional 165

stesso 146su uses of 61subject definition of 189subject pronouns 28ndash9

tanto 47 48tenere future 134 present conditional

165tense definition of 189lsquothatrsquo (relative pronoun) 104lsquothatthosersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24lsquothere isarersquo 32ndash3lsquothisthesersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24time see prepositions of timetra and fra uses of 62

Index 193

tranne (che) 101transitive verbs 88troppo 47 48 121

uscire imperative 152 present 41

vedere future 133 present conditional165

venire future 134 imperative 152past participle 86 present 41present conditional 165

verbs conjugations 37 definition of 190future 129ndash34 imperative 149ndash54imperfect 111ndash17 past perfect137ndash40 present 28 36ndash43 presentconditional 162ndash6 present perfect84ndash91 reflexive 143 see alsoirregular verbs

verbs in -urre future 134 imperative 152imperfect 114 past participle 85

present 43 present conditional166

vivere future 133 past participle 86present conditional 165

volere future 134 present 42 43present conditional 165 presentperfect 91

lsquowhatrsquo 69 71lsquowhenrsquo with future tense 130lsquowhenrsquo 70lsquowherersquo as alternative to relative pronoun

106lsquowherersquo 69 71lsquowhichrsquo 71lsquowhilersquo with imperfect tense 116lsquowhorsquo 68lsquowhomrsquo as a lsquoquestion wordrsquo 68 relative

pronoun 105 106lsquowhyrsquo 70

194 Index

• BOOK COVER
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• UNIT ONE Nouns gender and number
• UNIT TWO Definite and indefinite articles
• UNIT THREE Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns
• UNIT FOUR The present tense of essere and avere
• UNIT FIVE The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs
• UNIT SIX Adverbs
• UNIT SEVEN Direct object pronouns (1)
• UNIT EIGHT Prepositions
• UNIT NINE Questions
• UNIT TEN Indirect object pronouns (1)
• UNIT ELEVEN Piacere and similar verbs
• UNIT TWELVE The present perfect tense
• UNIT THIRTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (2)
• UNIT FOURTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms)
• UNIT FIFTEEN Relative pronouns
• UNIT SIXTEEN The imperfect tense
• UNIT SEVENTEEN The pronouns ne and ci
• UNIT EIGHTEEN The future tense
• UNIT NINETEEN The past perfect tense
• UNIT TWENTY Reflexive pronouns
• UNIT TWENTY-ONE The imperative
• UNIT TWENTY-TWO The pronoun si
• UNIT TWENTY-THREE The present conditional
• KEY TO EXERCISES
• GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
• INDEX

First published 2006by Routledge2 Park Square Milton Park Abingdon OX14 4RN UK

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge270 Madison Ave New York NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor amp Francis Group

copy 2006 Stella Peyronel and Ian Higgins

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprintedor reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic mechanicalor other means now known or hereafter invented includingphotocopying and recording or in any information storage orretrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataA catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0ndash415ndash34717ndash3

This edition published in the Taylor amp Francis e-Library 2005

ldquoTo purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor amp Francis or Routledgersquoscollection of thousands of eBooks please go to wwweBookstoretandfcoukrdquo

ISBN 0-203-64007-1 Master e-book ISBN

(Print Edition)

CONTENTS

Introduction vii

List of signs and abbreviations viii

1 Nouns gender and number 1

2 Definite and indefinite articles 9

3 Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns 17

4 The present tense of essere and avere 28

5 The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs 36

6 Adverbs 46

7 Direct object pronouns (1) 52

8 Prepositions 57

9 Questions 68

10 Indirect object pronouns (1) 74

11 Piacere and similar verbs 79

12 The present perfect tense 84

13 Direct and indirect object pronouns (2) 94

14 Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms) 99

15 Relative pronouns 104

16 The imperfect tense 111

17 The pronouns ne and ci 120

18 The future tense 129

19 The past perfect tense 137

20 Reflexive pronouns 143

21 The imperative 149

22 The pronoun si 157

23 The present conditional 162

Key to exercises 168

Glossary of technical terms 187

Index 191

vi Contents

INTRODUCTION

If you are an English-speaking learner preparing GCSE Scottish StandardGrade (credit level) or similar examination or simply learning the languagefor everyday use this grammar and workbook is for you You will typically beeither following a course at school college or evening class or teaching your-self from a published course This book is not itself a course but a self-helpreferencerevision grammar with exercises designed to reinforce your graspof the points dealt with unit by unit You will find it a help to have access to agood ItalianndashEnglish dictionary when working through the book

Since this is not a self-contained course the grammar points are usuallygiven on their own out of context Of course this is artificial because ineveryday life when we say or write something it is always in a situation orcontext To compensate for this artificiality the grammar points are illus-trated with abundant examples which are often reused with variationsunder different headings This is partly to strengthen your grasp of grammarand vocabulary but mostly to help you learn how to manipulate the Italianlanguage in a wide range of situations Giving plenty of examples is a moreeffective way of helping you develop the ability to communicate in Italianthan giving you lists of rules with just one or two examples

At the end of each unit there are several sets of exercises If you workthrough these you will find that they consolidate your understanding of thevarious points introduced in the unit and also that they give you the con-fidence to have a go at expressing yourself in a range of situations andcontexts

The aim of the examples and exercises is to strengthen awareness of thespecific points dealt with in the unit they are not intended to cover all thepossible uses of a given word or grammatical structure

At the end of the book there is a key to all the exercises and a glossary ofgrammatical terms with examples

SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

f femininefp feminine pluralfs feminine singularlit literallym masculinemp masculine pluralms masculine singularpl pluralsing singular

Square brackets indicate an explanatory comment attached to an exampleeg

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono Thatrsquos Luisa on the phone[ie she has just rung]Quanto zucchero [ms] vuoi How much sugar do you wantlsquoDovrsquoegrave Annarsquo lsquoNo lo sorsquo lsquoWherersquos Annarsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo

[lit I donrsquot know it]

Round brackets in an example show that the material in brackets is optionaleg

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo lsquoHave you got the booksrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got themrsquo

Ne ho mangiati due I ate two (of them)A chi scrivete Who(m) are you writing to

Round brackets round an entire sentence show that while possible this is aformal form that is not often used eg

( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco) Are you leaving( Mr and MrsBianco)

A slash shows alternative ways of saying something eg

Gli dicoDico loro la veritagrave I tell them the truth (Here gli dico and dicoloro are alternative ways of saying lsquoI tell themrsquo)Non mi sembra giusto It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot think itrsquos fair(Here the English sentences are alternatives to one another)

Signs and abbreviations ix

UNIT ONENouns gender and number

Gender masculine and feminine

1 All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine The best way to remem-ber the gender of a noun is to learn it along with its definite article (ie theword meaning lsquothersquo) In this unit nouns will therefore be given along withtheir definite articles but there will be no discussion of the articles as suchDefinite and indefinite articles are the subject of Unit 2

Most nouns in the singular end in -o -a or -e

2 Italian nouns ending in -o are usually masculine

3 Italian nouns ending in -a are usually feminine

4 Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine Unless anoun ending in -e denotes a person whose gender is defined (eg lsquohusbandrsquolsquowifersquo) there are virtually no rules to determine its gender which must there-fore be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

lrsquouomo [m]il fratello [m]il pomeriggio [m]il treno [m]

manbrotherafternoontrain

la donna [f]la sorella [f]la sera [f]la bicicletta [f]

womansistereveningbicycle

To help you to determine the gender of some nouns ending in -e here is arule nouns ending in -sione or -zione are feminine

Sometimes the gender of a noun ending in -e can be determined by thegender of the person it refers to masculine when it refers to a male femininewhen it refers to a female

5 Some nouns ending in -a and referring to persons are masculine when theyrefer to a male and feminine when they refer to a female

There are some exceptions eg la persona (person) and la guida (touristguide) are always feminine even when they refer to a male while the feminineof il poeta (poet) is la poetessa

6 There are some nouns ending in -a which are masculine and some nounsending in -o which are feminine

Masculineil padreil ristoranteil saleil cognome

fatherrestaurantsaltsurname

Femininela madrela nottela lucela chiave

mothernightlightkey

la televisione [f]la pensione [f]la produzione [f]la stazione [f]

televisionpensionproductionstation

illa cantante [mf]illa cliente [mf]illa parente [mf]lrsquoinglese [mf]

(malefemale) singer(malefemale) customer(malefemale) relativeEnglishmanEnglishwoman

illa collega [mf]lrsquoatleta [mf]illa batterista [mf]illa pianista [mf]

(malefemale) colleague(malefemale) athlete(malefemale) drummer(malefemale) pianist

Masculineil cinemail papagraveil problema

cinemadadproblem

Femininelrsquoautola fotola mano

carphotohand

2 Unit 1

Some nouns of this type are abbreviations and have kept the gender of thefull word cinema stands for cinematografo [m] auto for automobile [f] fotofor fotografia [f] etc Such cases apart there is no rule for determining genderwhich has to be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

7 Some nouns end in -i The vast majority are feminine but there aresome exceptions

Two exceptions are lrsquoalibi (alibi) and lo sci (ski) which are masculine

8 Foreign nouns unless they refer to a female are generally masculine

9 Occasionally the gender of a foreign noun is the same as it is for thecorresponding Italian word

la new wave is feminine because onda (wave) is femininela mail (e-mail message) is feminine because posta (mail) is feminine

10 The following rules can help in determining the gender of nouns

bull All months of the year and days of the week are masculine apart fromdomenica (Sunday) which is feminine

bull All names of towns and cities are feminine apart from Il Cairo [m]bull All names of languages are masculinebull Names of countries are normally feminine when they end in -a and

masculine when they end in any other letter

lrsquoanalisi [f]lrsquoipotesi [f]la crisi [f]

analysishypothesiscrisis

il bar [m]il camion [m]il rock [m]lrsquohostess [f]

barlorryrock (music)stewardess

la Francia [f]la Spagna [f]il Belgio [m]il Paraguay [m]

FranceSpainBelgiumParaguay

Unit 1 3

Number singular and plural

11 Masculine nouns ending in -o and all nouns ending in -e end in -i in theplural

Nouns ending in -ie have only one -i in the plural

12 Nouns ending in -io have only one i in the plural But if the -i is stressed(-io) the plural has two (-ii)

13 Feminine nouns ending in -a take -e in the plural

14 Masculine nouns ending in -a take -i in the plural

15 When a noun ending in -a denotes a person its plural ending depends onwhether it is masculine or feminine If it refers to a male the plural ends in -iif it refers to a female the plural ends in -e

Singularil treno [m]il nome [m]la notte [f]la stazione [f]la pensione [f]illa parente [mf]la moglie [f]

trainnamenounnightstationpensionrelativewife

Plurali trenii nomile nottile stazionile pensioniile parentile mogli

trainsnamesnounsnightsstationspensionsrelativeswives

Singularil bacio [m]il desiderio [m]lrsquoinizio [m]lo zio [m]il mormorio [m]

kisswishbeginningunclemurmur

Plurali bacii desiderigli inizigli ziii mormorii

kisseswishesbeginningsunclesmurmurs

Singularla sorella [f]la lettera [f]la sera [f]

sisterletterevening

Pluralle sorellele letterele sere

sisterslettersevenings

Singularil problema [m]il sistema [m]

problemsystem

Plurali problemii sistemi

problemssystems

4 Unit 1

For an explanation of the -h- in these endings see paragraph 20 below

16 Nouns ending in -i do not change in the plural

17 Foreign nouns and nouns stressed on the last vowel do not change in theplural

18 A number of nouns are irregular in the plural Eg la mano [f] (hand)becomes le mani in the plural lrsquouomo [m] (man) becomes gli uomini in theplural Here are some nouns which do not change in the plural because theyare abbreviations (cf above paragraph 6)

Some nouns are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural Here area few

Singularil pianista [m] (male) pianistla pianista [f] (female) pianistil collega [m] (male) colleaguela collega [f] (female) colleague

Plurali pianisti [m] (male) pianistsle pianiste [f] (female) pianistsi colleghi [m] (male) colleaguesle colleghe [f] (female) colleagues

Singularlrsquoanalisi [f]la crisi [f]

analysiscrisis

Pluralle analisile crisi

analysescrises

Singularil bar [m]lo sport [m]la cittagrave [f]la virtugrave [f]

barsportcityvirtue

Plurali bargli sportle cittagravele virtugrave

barssportscitiesvirtues

Singularlrsquoauto [f]la radio [f]la moto [f]la foto [f]il cinema [m]

carradiomotorbikephotocinema

Pluralle autole radiole motole fotoi cinema

carsradiosmotorbikesphotoscinemas

Singularil dito [m]il centinaio [m]il migliaio [m]il miglio [m]il paio [m]lrsquouovo [m]

finger(about) a hundred(about) a thousandmilepairegg

Pluralle dita [f]le centinaia [f]le migliaia [f]le miglia [f]le paia [f]le uova [f]

fingershundredsthousandsmilespairseggs

Unit 1 5

19 Note that in Italian the masculine form of a noun is also used when thegender is not important A noun in the plural may therefore designate anyone of three different sets of people

Spelling

Care is needed in spelling some plurals

20 Nouns ending in -ca or -ga always add h (-che or -ghe) in order to keepthe hard sound of c and g in the plural We saw the example of illa collega inparagraph 15 Here are some more

21 Nouns ending in -co and -go normally add h (-chi or -ghi) and keep thehard sound but some nouns change the sound of c and g in the plural (-ci or-gi) It is always best to check in a dictionary

gli amici

gli insegnanti

i colleghi

either a specific set of male friends [as in lsquoYour friends(Luigi and Giovanni) have arrivedrsquo]or a specific mixed set of male and female friends [as inlsquoYour friends (Luigi and Anna) have arrivedrsquo]or friends in general [whether male and female does notmatter as in lsquoEverybody needs friendsrsquo]either a specific set of male teachersor a specific mixed set of male and female teachersor teachers in general [regardless of gender]either a specific set of male colleaguesor a specific mixed set of male and female colleaguesor colleagues in general [regardless of gender]

Singularlrsquoamica [f]la tasca [f]la riga [f]

(female) friendpocketline ruler

Pluralle amichele taschele righe

(female) friendspocketslines rulers

Singularil bosco [m]il gioco [m]il parco [m]il lago [m]lrsquoamico [m]il medico [m]il biologo [m]

woodgameparklake(male) frienddoctorbiologist

Plurali boschii giochii parchii laghigli amicii medicii biologi

woodsgamesparkslakes(male) friendsdoctorsbiologists

6 Unit 1

22 Nouns ending in -cia or -gia keep the i in the plural (-cie or -gie) when the iis stressed or when c or g is preceded by a vowel But if -cia or -gia ispreceded by a consonant the i is lost in the plural

Exercise 1

With the help of a dictionary where necessary decide what gender the nounsare and write m f or mf after each one

Examples la notte f illa pianista mf il fratello m

Exercise 2

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the plurals of thenouns

Examples la notte le notti il nome i nomi il treno i trenila sera le sere

Singularla farmacia [f]la bugia [f]la camicia [f]la ciliegia [f]lrsquoarancia [f]la doccia [f]la spiaggia [f]

pharmacylieshirtblousecherryorangeshowerbeach

Pluralle farmaciele bugiele camiciele ciliegiele arancele doccele spiagge

pharmaciesliesshirtsblousescherriesorangesshowersbeaches

1 il giorno mdashmdash2 la sera mdashmdash3 lrsquouomo mdashmdash4 lrsquoinfermiera mdashmdash5 la stanza mdashmdash6 lrsquoorecchio mdashmdash7 il caffegrave mdashmdash8 lo zucchero mdashmdash9 il fiume mdashmdash

10 lrsquoolandese mdashmdash

11 lrsquouovo mdashmdash12 la camicia mdashmdash13 lrsquoatleta mdashmdash14 lrsquoanimale mdashmdash15 la strada mdashmdash16 lrsquoacqua mdashmdash17 lrsquoabitante mdashmdash18 lrsquoocchio mdashmdash19 il sole mdashmdash20 la canzone mdashmdash

Unit 1 7

Exercise 3

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the singulars of thenouns

Examples la casa le case il libro i libri il mese i mesila moglie le mogli

1 il ragazzo2 la marca3 la chiave4 lrsquoabitante5 lo zio6 il fiume7 la stazione8 la ragazza9 lrsquoenergia

10 il pomeriggio

i mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

11 la banca12 il pianista13 la cliente14 lrsquoindirizzo15 lrsquoocchio16 il ristorante17 la televisione18 il calendario19 il francese20 il lago

le mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

1 il mdashmdashmdashmdash2 la mdashmdashmdashmdash3 il mdashmdashmdashmdash4 la mdashmdashmdashmdash5 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash6 il mdashmdashmdashmdash7 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash8 la mdashmdashmdashmdash9 la mdashmdashmdashmdash

10 il mdashmdashmdashmdash

i nomile viei figlile manile opinionii clientigli occhile personele marchei problemi

11 la mdashmdashmdashmdash12 il mdashmdashmdashmdash13 il mdashmdashmdashmdash14 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash15 il mdashmdashmdashmdash16 la mdashmdashmdashmdash17 il mdashmdashmdashmdash18 il mdashmdashmdashmdash19 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash20 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash

le ciliegiei caffegravei medicigli attivistile ginocchiale bugiei tedeschii testgli uominile amiche

8 Unit 1

UNIT TWODefinite and indefinite articles

Definite article

1 In Italian the definite article (English lsquothersquo) has different forms dependingon the gender (masculinefeminine) and number (singularplural) of the fol-lowing word and on the letter (or sound) with which the following wordbegins Here are the forms

2 The feminine forms are used before feminine words la and lrsquo for the singu-lar and le for the plural

la is used before words beginning with a consonantlrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel (a e i o u) or hle is used as the plural for both la and lrsquo

3 There are three different forms for the masculine singular il lo and lrsquo andtwo for the plural i and gli All these forms are used before masculine words

Feminine

Masculine

Singularlalrsquoillolrsquo

Pluralleleigligli

the

Singularla ragazzala casala stanzalrsquoautolrsquoesperienzalrsquohostess

Pluralle ragazzele casele stanzele autole esperienzele hostess

the girl(s)the house(s)the room(s)the car(s)the experience(s)the stewardess(es)

lrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or hlo is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantil is used in all other casesi is used as the plural of ilgli is used as the plural of both lrsquo and lo

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of chef pronounced in Italian asin English (ie lsquoshrsquo)

Lo is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of juventino pronounced asi + vowel (ie like the lsquoyrsquo in English lsquoyouthrsquo)

4 Care is needed in using the article with nouns ending in -e or -a which canrefer both to male or female persons (see Unit 1 paragraphs 4 and 5)

Singularlrsquoarticololrsquouomolrsquohotello ziolo gnomolo psicologolo cheflo spettacololo scioperoil baril ristoranteil senso

Pluralgli articoligli uominigli hotelgli ziigli gnomigli psicologigli chefgli spettacoligli scioperii bari ristorantii sensi

the article(s)the manmenthe hotel(s)the uncle(s)the gnome(s)the psychologist(s)the chef(s)the show(s)the strike(s)the bar(s)the restaurant(s)the sense(s)

Singularlo ionelo yuppielo xenofobolo juventino

Pluralgli ionigli yuppiegli xenofobigli juventini

the ion(s)the yuppie(s)the xenophobe(s)the Juventus fan(s)

Singularil cantante [m]

la cantante [f]

the (male)singer

the (female)singer

Plurali cantanti [m]

le cantanti [f]

the singers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) singers

10 Unit 2

Remember that as we saw in Unit 1 paragraph 19 the masculine plural formcan also denote a class of people in general as well as a group of males or amixed group of males and females eg i cantanti [m] can denote either agroup of male singers or a mixed group of male and female singers or singersin general

Indefinite article

5 Like the definite article the indefinite article (English lsquoaanrsquo) has differentforms depending on the gender of the word it refers to and the letter (orsound) with which the following word begins There is no plural for theindefinite article Here are the forms

6 The feminine forms unrsquo and una are used before feminine words

unrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or huna is used before words beginning with a consonant

Singularlrsquoinsegnante [m]

lrsquoinsegnante [f]

il collega [m]

la collega [f]

lrsquoatleta [m]

lrsquoatleta [f]

the (male)teacher

the (female)teacher

the (male)colleague

the (female)colleague

the (male)athlete

the (female)athlete

Pluralgli insegnanti [m]

le insegnanti [f]

i colleghi [m]

le colleghe [f]

gli atleti [m]

le atlete [f]

the teachers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) teachers

the colleagues [maleor male andfemale mixed]

the (female)colleagues

the athletes [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) athletes

Feminine

Masculine

unrsquounaununo

aan

unrsquoautounrsquoesperienzaunrsquohostess

a caran experiencea stewardess

Unit 2 11

7 The masculine forms uno and un are used before masculine words

uno is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantun is used before all other words

Uno (like lo) is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

8 As with the definite article care is needed in choosing the right article touse with nouns ending in -e or -a which can refer to either male or femalepersons

In the case of nouns starting with a vowel the only difference between thearticles is the apostrophe

una ragazzauna casauna stanza

a girla housea room

uno ziouno gnomouno psicologouno chefuno spettacoloun articoloun uomoun hobbyun barun ristoranteun senso

an unclea gnomea psychologista chefa showan articlea mana hobbya bara restauranta sense

uno ioneuno yuppieuno xenofobouno juventino

an iona yuppiea xenophobea Juventus fan

un cantante [m]una cantante [f]un insegnante [m]unrsquoinsegnante [f]un collega [m]una collega [f]un atleta [m]unrsquoatleta [f]

a singer (male)a singer (female)a teacher (male)a teacher (female)a colleague (male)a colleague (female)an athlete (male)an athlete (female)

12 Unit 2

9 It may be useful to compare the use of the definite and indefinite article intable form

Use of the articles

10 The use of the articles is often the same in Italian as in English but thereare cases (mostly concerning the definite article) where the two languagesdiffer Here are the most common instances

bull In Italian the definite article is used before a noun used in a generalsense

bull Italian uses the definite article before a title followed by a surnameexcept when addressing the person directly

Note that some masculine titles notably Signore Professore and Dottoredrop the final vowel when used before the name of the person becomingSignor Professor Dottor etc

bull The Italian definite article is always used with years eg il 1990 il 2000bull The definite article is normally used in Italian with names of countries

and regions eg lrsquoInghilterra (England) la Toscana (Tuscany) il Porto-gallo (Portugal) lrsquoEuropa (Europe) But the rule may be different whenusing a preposition eg in Italia (in Italy) (see Unit 8 paragraph 14)

Masculineun is used when il and lrsquo are useduno is used when lo is used

Feminineunrsquo is used when lrsquo is useduna is used when la is used

Amo la musica rockle vacanzeLa musica rock egrave popolareLe vacanze sono sempre troppo corteIl tempo volaLe auto inquinano lrsquoambienteLa disoccupazione egrave diffusa

I love rock musicholidaysRock music is popularHolidays are always too shortTime fliesCars pollute the environmentUnemployment is widespread

La Signora Urbani egrave gentileLa Dottoressa Vanni non crsquoegraveIl Dottor Marchi egrave occupatoBuongiorno Signor CarliBuongiorno DottoreScusi Signore

MrsMs Urbani is kindDoctor Vanni isnrsquot hereDoctor Marchi is busyGood morning Mr CarliGood morning DoctorExcuse me( Sir)

Unit 2 13

11 In some cases a definite article is used in Italian where an indefinite article(or a possessive adjective ndash see Unit 3) is used in English Here are someinstances

There are also cases when there is no article in Italian but the definite orindefinite article is used in English

Definite and indefinite article before an adjective

12 As we shall see (Unit 3) a noun can sometimes be preceded by an adjec-tive so that the adjective comes between the article and the noun (eg unabella donna a beautiful woman) In such cases the form of the articledepends on the spelling of the adjective not the noun

Antonio ha il naso lungoHai la patenteAvete lrsquoombrelloHo il raffreddoreDove passi le vacanze di solito

Di pomeriggio faccio il compitoHai il biglietto

Antonio has a long noseHave you got a driving licenceHave you got an umbrellaI have got a coldWhere do you normally spend your

holidaysIn the afternoon I do my homeworkHave you got ayour ticket

Andiamo in montagnaStasera andiamo a teatroAccompagno Anna in aeroportoAndiamo in macchinaCarlo egrave medicoSono studenteNon ha marito

Wersquore going to the mountainsWersquore going to the theatre this eveningIrsquom taking Anna to the airportWersquore going in thea carCarlo is a doctorIrsquom a studentShe hasnrsquot got a husband

la casauna casalrsquoautounrsquoauto

the housea housethe cara car

lrsquoultima casaunrsquoottima casala prima autouna bella auto

the last housean excellent housethe first cara beautiful car

14 Unit 2

Exercise 1

Insert the definite article before the nouns

Examples lrsquoacqua la stanza le esperienze il ristorante lo ziogli uomini

Exercise 2

Insert the indefinite article before the nouns

Examples unrsquoauto una ragazza un articolo uno spettacoloun insegnante [m] unrsquoatleta [f]

1 mdashmdash figlia2 mdashmdash zia3 mdashmdash problema4 mdashmdash mano5 mdashmdash auto6 mdashmdash fratello7 mdashmdash libri8 mdashmdash entrata9 mdashmdash studio

10 mdashmdash zii

11 mdashmdash notti12 mdashmdash sport13 mdashmdash uovo14 mdashmdash xenofobia15 mdashmdash tivugrave16 mdashmdash amici17 mdashmdash pianiste18 mdashmdash dita19 mdashmdash crisi20 mdashmdash inglese

1 mdashmdash sorella2 mdashmdash ciliegia3 mdashmdash amico4 mdashmdash zio5 mdashmdash zia6 mdashmdash aereo7 mdashmdash amica8 mdashmdash cantante [f]9 mdashmdash migliaio

10 mdashmdash specchio

11 mdashmdash arancia12 mdashmdash psichiatra [m]13 mdashmdash sigaretta14 mdashmdash insegnante [f]15 mdashmdash gnu16 mdashmdash artista [m]17 mdashmdash sbaglio18 mdashmdash figlio19 mdashmdash yogurt20 mdashmdash analisi

Unit 2 15

Exercise 3

Insert the correct article in the blank spaces

Example Maria ha una casa (Maria has a house)

1 mdashmdash zio di Maria arriva domani (Mariarsquos uncle arrives tomorrow)2 Paolo scrive mdashmdash lettera (Paolo is writing a letter)3 Hai mdashmdash mani pulite (Have you got clean hands)4 Egrave mdashmdash amica di Patrizia (Shersquos a friend of Patriziarsquos)5 Laura non ha mdashmdash patente (Laura hasnrsquot got a driving licence)6 Crsquoegrave mdashmdash Signor Totti (Is Mr Totti here)7 Egrave mdashmdash insegnante molto capace (Shersquos a very capable teacher)8 mdashmdash inquinamento egrave mdashmdash problema preoccupante (Pollution is a

worrying problem)9 mdashmdash nuovo stadio egrave piugrave grande (The new stadium is bigger)

10 Ho mdashmdash stesso CD (Irsquove got the same CD)

16 Unit 2

UNIT THREEAdjectives possessive and demonstrativepronouns

1 Adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun theyrefer to if the noun is masculine singular the adjective must be masculinesingular if the noun is feminine singular the adjective must be feminine singu-lar etc Adjectives therefore change their forms accordingly But rememberthat when an adjective is listed in a dictionary or a grammar it is given in itsmasculine singular form In the masculine singular most Italian adjectivesend in -o or in -e

2 Adjectives ending in -o have four different forms -o for the masculinesingular (italiano) -a for feminine singular (italiana) -i for the masculineplural (italiani) and -e for the feminine plural (italiane)

3 Adjectives ending in -e have only two forms -e for the masculine andfeminine singular (francese) and -i for the masculine and feminine plural(francesi) With adjectives ending in -e there is thus no difference between themasculine and the feminine form

italianonuovofrancesegrande

ItaliannewFrenchbig

lrsquoarbitro [ms] italianogli arbitri [mp] italianila cameriera [fs] italianale cameriere [fp] italianelo stadio [ms] nuovogli stadi [mp] nuovila casa [fs] nuovale case [fp] nuove

the Italian refereethe Italian refereesthe Italian waitressthe Italian waitressesthe new stadiumthe new stadiastadiumsthe new housethe new houses

4 Some adjectives end in -a like the following

These adjectives have three forms -a for the masculine and feminine singular(ottimista) -i for the masculine plural (ottimisti) and -e for the feminine plural(ottimiste) There is thus only one form for the masculine and femininesingular

For an explanation of the -h- in belghe see paragraph 6 below

5 There are also some invariable adjectives eg blu (dark blue) rosa (pink)dispari (odd) pari (even) which do not change

6 Care is needed in spelling the plural of adjectives ending in -co and -goThere is no fixed rule for the masculine forms which may keep the hard

lrsquoarbitro [ms] francesegli arbitri [mp] francesila cameriera [fs] francesele cameriere [fp] francesilo stadio [ms] grandegli stadi [mp] grandila casa [fs] grandele case [fp] grandi

the French refereethe French refereesthe French waitressthe French waitressesthe big stadiumthe big stadiastadiumsthe big housethe big houses

ottimistapacifistabelgaentusiastaidiota

optimisticpacifistBelgianenthusiasticidiotic

il corteo [ms] pacifistalrsquoidea [fs] pacifistai cortei [mp] pacifistile idee [fp] pacifisteil ragazzo [ms] belgala ragazza [fs] belgai ragazzi [mp] belgile ragazze [fp] belghe

the pacifist rallythe pacifist ideathe pacifist ralliesthe pacifist ideasthe Belgian boythe Belgian girlthe Belgian boysthe Belgian girls

il vestito rosala penna blui numeri disparile pagine pari

the pink garmentdresssuitthe blue penthe odd numbersthe even pages

18 Unit 3

sound of c and g and add h (-chi -ghi) or change the sound of c and g in theplural (-ci -gi) The feminine plural forms always add h (-che -ghe) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g If in doubt check in a dictionary the bestway to remember these sorts of plural is through practice

The adjective belga as we have seen keeps the hard sound of g in the femi-nine plural by adding h (belghe) but it changes the sound in the masculineplural (belgi)

7 As can be seen in the examples the adjective normally comes after thenoun it refers to and (unless it is invariable) it must agree in gender andnumber with the noun It must also agree in gender and number withthe noun even where it is separated from it by another word such as averb

When the adjective refers to two or more nouns which are different in genderit is masculine plural

8 In some cases the adjective can also precede the noun it refers to When theadjective comes before the noun the meaning of the noun becomes differentas in these examples

Masculinesingulargrecopraticopubblicoriccofrescolargo

Masculinepluralgrecipraticipubbliciricchifreschilarghi

Femininesingulargrecapraticapubblicariccafrescalarga

Femininepluralgrechepratichepubblichericchefreschelarghe

Greekpracticalpublicrichfreshwide

Lorenzo egrave italianoLorenzo e Vittorio sono italianiAnna egrave italianaAnna e Claudia sono italiane

Lorenzo is ItalianLorenzo and Vittorio are ItalianAnna is ItalianAnna and Claudia are Italian

Lorenzo Anna e Claudia sonoitaliani

Sabine e Kurt sono tedeschiIl computer e la stampante sono

nuoviIl bagno e la cucina sono piccoli

I pantaloni e la camicia sono nuovi

Lorenzo Anna and Claudia areItalian

Sabine and Kurt are GermanThe computer and the printer are new

The bathroom and the kitchen aresmall

The trousers and the shirt are new

Unit 3 19

9 The demonstrative adjectives questo (this) and quello (that) like theirEnglish counterparts always precede the noun they refer to

For an explanation of the forms of quello see paragraph 10

10 The forms of the adjectives quello and bello (beautifulhandsomenice-fine) change in the same way as the definite article Here are the formsfollowed in brackets by the corresponding forms of the definite article

The feminine singular form bellrsquo is rarely used and bella is preferred evenbefore a vowel

Note that when bello comes after the noun the full form is used lo spettacoloegrave bello unrsquoesperienza bella e interessante etc

un vecchio amicoun amico vecchiola povera donnala donna povera

an old [ie long-standing] friendan oldelderly friend [ie a friend who is old]the poor [ie unfortunate] womanthe poor woman [ie she has no money]

questo ragazzoquesta ragazzaquesti ragazziqueste ragazzequel ragazzoquella ragazzaquei ragazziquelle ragazze

this boythis girlthese boysthese girlsthat boythat girlthose boysthose girls

Masculine

Feminine

Singularquelbelquellobelloquellrsquobellrsquoquellabellaquellrsquobellrsquo

(il)(lo)(lrsquo)(la)(lrsquo)

Pluralqueibeiqueglibegliqueglibegliquellebellequellebelle

(i)(gli)(gli)(le)(le)

quel filmbello spettacoloquellrsquoesempioquella canzonebella esperienzaquel bel film

that filmlovely showthat examplethat songbeautiful experiencethat beautiful film

bei filmquegli spettacolibegli esempibelle canzoniquelle esperienzequei bei film

beautiful filmsthose showsfine examplesbeautiful songsthose experiencesthose beautiful

films

20 Unit 3

11 The forms of the adjective buono (good) when used before a singularnoun change in the same way as the indefinite article

Nowadays the form buona is preferred to buonrsquo

Note that when buono comes after the noun the full form is used questolibro egrave buono il caffegrave egrave buono etc

12 The adjective grande (biggreat) when used before the noun may changeto the invariable form gran or in some expressions to grandrsquo nowadays thefull form grande is preferred in most cases

Note that before plural nouns grande is regular grandi musicisti grandi caseetc

Note also that when grande comes after the noun the full form is alwaysused quel film egrave grande la casa egrave grande etc

13 The adjective santo (saint) is another that has different forms when usedbefore a noun

santo is only used before masculine names starting with s + consonantsan is used before masculine names starting with a consonant (other than

s + consonant)santrsquo is used before masculine or feminine names starting with a vowelsanta is used before feminine names starting with a consonant

Masculine

Feminine

buonbuonobuonrsquobuonabuona

(un)(uno)(unrsquo)(una)

buon librobuon amicobuon caffegravebuono studente

good bookgood friendgood coffeegood student

buona ideabuona esperienzabuona memoria

good ideagood experiencegood memory

grande musicistagrande filmgrande casa

grande amico

grande idea[sometimes] grande

uomo

gran musicistagran filmgran casaGran Bretagna[sometimes] grandrsquoamicogran

amico[sometimes] grandrsquoideagran ideagrandrsquouomo

great musiciangreat filmbig houseGreat Britaingreat friend

great ideagreat man

Unit 3 21

Note that when santo means lsquoholyrsquo or lsquoblessedrsquo it is regular il santo padre(the Holy Father) una santa donna (a holy woman)

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

14 The forms of the possessive adjectives (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquo etc) are asfollows

Note that the masculine plural forms miei tuoi and suoi are irregular Note that loro is invariable and does not change

Possessive adjectives are always used before the noun they refer to Unlike inEnglish they are always preceded by the article and they must agree with theowned object not with the owner

15 When mio tuo suo nostro and vostro (not loro) are used with a noundenoting family relationship (eg fratello (brother) sorella (sister) padre(father) madre (mother) ) in the singular they are not preceded by the definitearticle

Santo StefanoSan FrancescoSan Pietro

Saint StephenSaint FrancisSaint Peter

SantrsquoAntonioSantrsquoAnnaSanta Caterina

Saint AnthonySaint AnneSaint Catherine

Masculinesingularmiotuosuonostrovostroloro

Femininesingularmiatuasuanostravostraloro

Masculinepluralmieituoisuoinostrivostriloro

Femininepluralmietuesuenostrevostreloro

myyourhisheritsouryourtheir

Luisa e i suoi fratelli [mp]Carlo e le sue sorelle [fp]Livia e il suo amico [ms]Ettore e la sua amica [fs]la mia lettera [fs]i tuoi libri [mp]la nostra scuola [fs]le vostre idee [fp]la loro stanza [fs]i loro genitori [mp]

Luisa and her brothersCarlo and his sistersLivia and her (male) friendEttore and his (female) friendmy letteryour booksour schoolyour ideastheir roomtheir parents

22 Unit 3

16 The forms of the possessive pronouns (lsquominersquo lsquoyoursrsquo etc) are the sameas those of the possessive adjectives and are always preceded by the definitearticle

17 As we shall see (Unit 4 paragraph 5) in Italian there is a form used toaddress people formally In the formal way of addressing people the posses-sive adjectives and pronouns used are Suo for the singular and Vostro (orLoro if a higher degree of formality is required) for the plural

mio padretua madretuo fratellosua ziai tuoi fratelli [pl]le sue zie [pl]il loro padre

my fatheryour motheryour brotherhisher auntyour brothershisher auntstheir father

Masculinesingularil mioil tuoil suoil nostroil vostroil loro

Femininesingularla miala tuala suala nostrala vostrala loro

Masculineplurali mieii tuoii suoii nostrii vostrii loro

Femininepluralle miele tuele suele nostrele vostrele loro

mineyourshishersitsoursyourstheirs

La tua casa egrave grande ma la loro egravepiccola

I tuoi CD sono qui i nostri sono ligrave

Your house is big but theirs is small

Your CDs are here ours are there

AdjectivesLa Sua auto egrave pronta Signora FerreroEcco i Suoi libri SignoreSignori Bianco la Vostra stanza egrave

pronta(Signori Bianco la Loro stanza egrave

pronta)

Your carrsquos ready Mrs FerreroHere are your books( Sir)

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) your roomis ready

PronounsLa loro auto egrave in strada ma la Sua egrave

in garage SignoraProfessore questi libri sono i Suoi

Their carrsquos in the street but yoursis in the garage( Madam)

These books are yours( ProfessorSir)

Unit 3 23

Demonstrative pronouns

18 Questo and quello are also used as demonstrative pronouns (this (one)that (one) these (ones) those (ones) ) But note that when quello is used as ademonstrative pronoun its endings are not modelled on the definite article(cf paragraph 10) but are the same as those of questo (ie quello [ms] quella[fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp])

Exercise 1

Complete the phrases by choosing the form of the adjective that agrees withthe noun

Examples le ragazze (italiano) italiane (quello) acqua (caldo) quellrsquocalda

1 un libro (interessante) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 la gonna (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 i vestiti (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 le camicie (rosso) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 gli insegnanti (egoista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 un (bello) albero mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 un collega (razzista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 le situazioni (comico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 le donne (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 i capelli (lungo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Questa stanza egrave la Vostra SignoriBianco

(Questa stanza egrave la Loro SignoriBianco)

This room is yours( Mr and MrsBianco)

(This room is yours Mr and MrsBianco)

Questa egrave AnnaQuesta egrave la tua stanza e quella egrave la

miaQuesti sono gli eserciziQuello egrave il nuovo computerQuelle sono le AlpiQuesti biscotti sono buoni ma

preferisco quelli

This is AnnaThis is my room and that onersquos

yoursThese are the exercisesThat is the new computerThose are the AlpsThese biscuits are nice but I prefer

those

24 Unit 3

11 (quello) ragazzo (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 (questo) esercizi (facile) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 (quello) (bello) specchi mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 (questo) (bello) donne mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 (quello) alberi (morto) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 (questo) amici (inglese)mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 (quello) attiviste (spagnolo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 (quello) (bello) attore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 (quello) uova (fresco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 (quello) turisti (greco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Exercise 2

Choose the right adjective for each noun or pair of nouns

Examples Queste scarpe sono (rossanuovebelli) nuove Anna e Francosono (franceseitalianeitaliani) italiani

1 La casa egrave (vecchionuovigrande) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 Ho un vestito (rosanuovalunghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 Le professoresse sono (intelligentefrancesinoiosa) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 La crisi egrave (serioseviolentigrave) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 I colleghi (italianeottimistapacifisti) arrivano domani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 Queste macchine sono (velocenuovitedesche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 Questo bambino egrave (capricciosepigrobeneducata) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 Quei film sono (inglesedivertentelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 Le cameriere sono (giovanegrecabelghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 Il pianista non egrave (stancabelgavecchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 Ho le dita (pulitisporchelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 Quel signore ha un carattere (simpatichecortesienergico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 Questi blue-jeans sono (resistentipraticheamericana) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 Le maglie sono (vecchioblubianchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 Le cantanti sono (spagnolitedeschiscozzesi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 Il treno e lrsquoauto sono (velociinquinantecomodo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 Paola Claudia e Anna sono (italianibellisimpatiche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 Claudio e Patrizia sono (gentileitalianicontenta) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 Gianfranco Piero e Giorgio sono (feliceottimistiitaliane) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 I signori e le signore sono (soddisfattigrecoaffollate) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Unit 3 25

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences by adding the correct form of the possessive adjectiveand where necessary the article

Examples Conosco Luisa e (suo) fratelli i suoi (Mio) madre egrave bella Mia

1 (Loro) bambini sono cortesi mdashmdashmdash2 (Suo) occhi sono blu mdashmdashmdash3 Questa egrave (mio) bici mdashmdashmdash4 Quanti anni hanno (tuo) sorelle mdashmdashmdash5 (Vostro) macchina egrave nuova mdashmdashmdash6 (Nostro) lavoro egrave interessante mdashmdashmdash7 (Mio) amici sono in vacanza mdashmdashmdash8 (Loro) casa egrave grande mdashmdashmdash9 (Tuo) madre egrave simpatica mdashmdashmdash

10 Grazie per (Suo) lettera Signore mdashmdashmdash

Exercise 4

Answer the questions using possessive pronouns

Example lsquoEgrave la Sua macchina Signor Rossirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave la miarsquo

1 lsquoEgrave il cellulare di Annarsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo2 lsquoEgrave la Vostra casa Signori Zolarsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo3 lsquoSono i miei CDrsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo4 lsquoEgrave il Suo ufficiorsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoSono i suoi librirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoSono le mie letterersquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoEgrave la casa dei tuoi amicirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoSono i nostri vestitirsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo9 lsquoSono le camicie di Paolorsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoSono i vostri bagaglirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

26 Unit 3

Exercise 5

Complete the sentences by choosing the right form of the adjectives andpronouns

Example (Questo) non egrave (tuo) stanza egrave (mio) Questa non egrave la tuastanza egrave la mia

1 (Questo) signori sono (nostro) ospiti (tedesco)2 (Suo) colleghi sono (ottimista) Signora3 (Questo) sono (vostro) stanze4 Io ho (mio) documenti Lei ha (Suo) Signore5 (Questo) sono (mio) CD (quello) sono (tuo)6 (Nostro) professore egrave (entusiasta) comrsquoegrave (vostro)7 (Quello) sono (mio) magliette (questo) sono (tuo)8 (Quello) esercizi sono (divertente) ma (questo) egrave (difficile)9 (Mio) bagagli sono (pesante) ma (vostro) sono (leggero)

10 (Quello) acqua (minerale) egrave (gassato) ma (questo) egrave (liscio)

Unit 3 27

UNIT FOURThe present tense of essere and avere

1 Like their counterparts in many other languages the Italian verbs essere(to be) and avere (to have) are irregular Here are the forms of the presenttense

As shown in the examples it is not usually necessary to use the subject pro-nouns before the verb since the forms for the different persons are different ndashsei can only be second person singular (tu) siete can only be second personplural (voi) etc Even with sono the context always shows whether it means lsquoIamrsquo or lsquothey arersquo

The pronoun is only required for emphasis or to mark a contrast

Essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

To beI amyou [sing] arehesheit iswe areyou [pl] arethey are

Avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo(voi) avete(loro) hanno

To haveI havehave gotyou [sing] havehave gothesheit hashas gotwe havehave gotyou [pl] havehave gotthey havehave got

Sono medicoSiamo cuginiSiete stranieriPaola e Anna sono alteClaudio egrave mio fratelloHo un cellulareHai il mio indirizzoHanno un esameAnna ha una chitarra nuova

Irsquom a doctorWe are cousinsYou are foreignersPaola and Anna are tallClaudio is my brotherIrsquove got a mobile phoneYou have my addressThey have an examAnnarsquos got a new guitar

Io sono medico e lui egrave insegnanteTu hai una bella bici ma io ho una

macchina

Irsquom a doctor and hersquos a teacherYoursquove got a nice bike but Irsquove got a

car

Subject pronouns

2 The Italian subject pronouns are

For the third person the following pronouns can still be found in some textsbut are not normally used in contemporary Italian

Lui (third person singular pronoun) replaces a masculine noun (like the Eng-lish lsquohersquo) lei replaces a feminine noun (like the English lsquoshersquo)

Lui lei and loro are only used to refer to persons In referring to objectsItalian normally avoids using the obsolete forms esso essa essi esse andomits the pronoun altogether

Interrogative form

3 The interrogative is formed by adding a question mark at the end of thesentence

Person1st2nd3rd3rd

1st2nd3rd

SingulariotuluileiPluralnoivoiloro

Iyouheshe

weyouthey

egli [m] esso [m]ella [f] essa [f]essi [m] esse [f]

instead of the singular luiinstead of the singular leiinstead of the plural loro

Lui egrave Paolo lei egrave AnnalsquoCosrsquoegraversquo lsquoEgrave una chiaversquoEgrave la chitarra di AnnaSono i libri di Paolo

He is Paolo she is AnnalsquoWhat is itrsquo lsquoItrsquos a keyrsquoItrsquos Annarsquos guitarThey are Paolorsquos books

Sei prontoSiete stranieriHai il mio indirizzoAvete amici italianiHanno un esame

Are you readyAre you foreignersHave you got my addressHave you any Italian friendsHave they got an exam

Unit 4 29

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non (ie lsquonotrsquo) before the verb

Formal form

5 In Italian there is a formal way of addressing people which is used withpeople we do not know or when some degree of formality is required Whenthe formal form is required the pronoun used for the singular for both menand women is Lei (third person singular) the pronoun used for the plural isnormally Voi but in situations when a high degree of formality is requiredLoro can be used

6 There are some spelling mistakes involving essere and avere which arecommonly made by learners be careful to remember the followingdifferences

Claudio non egrave mio fratelloNon siamo italianiNon siete stranieriNon hai il mio indirizzoNon hanno un esameNon abbiamo amici italianiNon ho la minima idea di cosa

regalare a Paola

Claudio is not my brotherWersquore not ItalianArenrsquot you foreignersHavenrsquot you got my addressThey donrsquot have an examWe havenrsquot got any Italian friendsI havenrsquot the slightest idea what to

give Paola

Lei egrave molto gentile SignoreLei non egrave troppo alta SignoraSignora Belli (Lei) ha la patente

Professore (Lei) ha tempoSignor Neri (Lei) egrave prontoSignori Conti (Voi) siete italiani (Signori Conti Loro sono italiani)

Yoursquore very kind( Sir)Yoursquore not too tall( Madam)Mrs Belli have you got a driving

licenceHave you got time( ProfessorSir)Mr Neri are you ready

Mr and Mrs Conti are you Italian

egrave (hesheit is)ho (I have)hai (you have)ha (hesheit has)hanno (they have)

e (and)o (or)ai (to the)a (to)anno (year)

30 Unit 4

Use of essere and avere

7 The verbs essere and avere are normally used as the verbs lsquoto bersquo and lsquotohaversquo are used in English Essere is usually followed by an adjective or anoun

Avere is normally followed by a noun (or a noun accompanied by anadjective)

8 The verb avere followed by a noun is also used in a number of idiomaticexpressions which correspond to English expressions using lsquoto bersquo followedby an adjective or an adverbial phrase

Siete studenti [noun]Daniela egrave medico [noun]Tu e Anna siete cugini [noun]Siete gentili [adjective]Gli amici di Paul sono italiani

[adjective]

Are you students [noun]Daniela is a doctor [noun]Are you and Anna cousins [noun]You are kind [adjective]Paulrsquos friends are Italian [adjective]

Hai il libroNon ho tempoAbbiamo molti amiciHanno una casa grandePaolo e io abbiamo una macchina

Have you got the bookI havenrsquot timeWe have a lot of friendsThey have a big housePaolo and I have got a car

avere caldoavere fameavere freddoavere pauraavere ragioneavere seteavere sonnoavere tortoavere fretta

to be hotto be hungryto be coldto be afraidto be rightto be thirstyto be sleepyto be wrongto be in a hurry

Abbiamo fameAvete ragioneMarina ha fretta(Lei) ha sete SignoraNon hai freddo Claudia

We are hungryYoursquore rightMarina is in a hurryAre you thirsty( Madam)Arenrsquot you cold Claudia

Unit 4 31

9 Avere is also used in Italian to express age

Crsquoegrave and ci sono

10 The verb essere is used in the expressions crsquoegrave (there is) followed by asingular noun and ci sono (there are) followed by a plural noun

11 Note that crsquoegrave and ci sono are not usually emphatic So in the Englishsentences in paragraph 10 the voice stress does not fall on lsquotherersquo but on thenoun that follows it (ie on lsquoletterrsquo lsquolittleplenty of timersquo lsquoproblemrsquo etc)Thus crsquoegrave and ci sono sometimes do not correspond to lsquothere isrsquo or lsquothere arersquoas in the following examples

12 The interrogative is formed by simply adding a question mark at the endof the sentence or with a lsquoquestion wordrsquo (see Unit 9)

13 The negative is formed by placing non before crsquoegrave or ci sono

Francesca ha 17 anniIl figlio di Gianni ha un annoQuanti anni hai

Francesca is 17 (years old)Giannirsquos son is oneHow old are you

Crsquoegrave una lettera per teCrsquoegrave poco tempoCrsquoegrave molto tempoCrsquoegrave un problemaCi sono due ingressiNel negozio ci sono molti clienti

Therersquos a letter for youTherersquos littlenot much timeTherersquos plenty of timeTherersquos a problemThere are two entrancesThere are a lot of customers in the shop

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono [ie she hasjust rung]

Ci sono i tuoi amici che ti aspettano[ie they have just arrived]

Luisarsquos on the phone [not TherersquosLuisa on the phone]

Your friends are waiting for you[not There are your friendswaiting for you]

Crsquoegrave il Professor Gatti

Crsquoegrave molto trafficoQuanti ingressi ci sono

Is Professor Gatti thereanywherearound[ie Irsquod like to seetalk to Professor Gatti]

Is there a lot of trafficHow many entrances are there

Non crsquoegrave tempoDomani non crsquoegrave lezioneNon ci sono clienti

There is no timeThere is no class tomorrowThere arenrsquot any customers

32 Unit 4

In Italian the double negative is used non + nessuno

14 Note that in negative sentences giving general information it is moreusual to use the plural non ci sono than the singular non crsquoegrave

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of essere

Example Alberto mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash a Roma egrave

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of avere

Example Jenny e John mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash una figlia hanno

Non crsquoegrave tempoNon ci sono clientiNon crsquoegrave nessuno

Is there no timeArenrsquot there any customersThere is nobody

Non ci sono farmacie Non ci sono scuole Non ci sono artisti nella mia

famiglia

There isnrsquot ais no pharmacyThere arenrsquot anyare no pharmaciesThere isnrsquot ais no schoolThere arenrsquot anyare no schoolsThere arenrsquot anyare no artists in my family

1 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash italiani2 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash scozzese3 (io) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash felice4 Gli studenti mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash in

biblioteca5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto gentili6 Lei mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash medico7 La cena mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash pronta8 I libri mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sulla

scrivania9 Tu e Jim mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amici

10 Paolo e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash giovani11 Gli impiegati mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash gentili12 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash simpatici13 Enrico non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash biondo14 Gli italiani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash allegri15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amica di Giulia16 Laura mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash magra17 Lrsquoesercizio mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash difficile18 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash straniero19 Tu e Billy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stranieri20 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stanca Signora

1 (noi) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo2 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash la macchina3 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molti amici

4 I Signori Illy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash due figli5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash i libri6 Sandro mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sempre fretta

Unit 4 33

Exercise 3

Taking the words in the two columns below write negative and interrogativesentences using the verb avere

Example tu fretta Non hai fretta Hai fretta

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative and negativesentences using the verb essere

Example io italiana Sono italiana Non sono italiana

7 Il professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash moltistudenti

8 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il libro9 Marco e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sete

10 Quanti anni (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il biglietto12 Domenico mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un

fratello13 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un esame14 (loro) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash figli

15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash lrsquoindirizzo diLuca

16 Carlo non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash latelevisione

17 I nostri amici mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash deiproblemi

18 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto lavoro19 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash 16 anni20 Professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo

1 io2 il professore3 la Signorina Berti4 Lei [formal]5 voi6 loro7 Carla e Andrea

ragionecaldosetesonnopaurafreddofame

1 io2 tu3 il dottore4 la professoressa5 Lei [formal]6 noi7 voi8 le tue amiche

stancopigragiovanesimpaticaaltomagreintelligenticontente

34 Unit 4

Exercise 5

Imagine the things in the office using all the words in the list write sentencesusing crsquoegrave or ci sono

Examples una scrivania Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una scrivania quattro sedieNellrsquoufficio ci sono quattro sedie

1 una sedia 2 due poltrone 3 tre computer 4 una stampante 5 un tele-fono 6 la fotocopiatrice 7 due radiatori 8 una porta 9 tre finestre

Exercise 6

Imagine what is in the village using all the words in the list make affirmativeor negative sentences paying attention to the negative form (non ci sono +plural noun)

Example tabaccaio tabaccai In questo paese crsquoegrave un tabaccaio ci sonotre tabaccai non ci sono tabaccai

1 museo musei 2 discoteca discoteche 3 panetteria panetterie 4 cinemacinema 5 biblioteca biblioteche 6 scuola scuole 7 ufficio postale ufficipostali 8 libreria librerie 9 giardino pubblico giardini pubblici 10 ris-torante ristoranti

Unit 4 35

UNIT FIVEThe present tense of regular (and someirregular) verbs

Use of the present tense

1 The present tense (or simply lsquothe presentrsquo) is used to state that an action isoccurring at the present time It corresponds basically to the English simplepresent (lsquoI eatrsquo) and present continuous (lsquoI am eatingrsquo)

2 The present can also be used to refer to the future either the near future orone that is considered fairly certain

3 The present is also used to refer to an action which started in the past and isstill going on here it corresponds to the English present perfect

Mio padre lavora per la BBCMio padre lavora in giardinoDi solito guardo la televisioneStasera guardo la televisioneNon guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisioneStasera non guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisione

stasera

My father works for the BBCMy fatherrsquos working in the gardenNormally I watch TVIrsquom watching TV this eveningI donrsquot watch TVWhy donrsquot you watch TVIrsquom not watching TV this eveningWhy arenrsquot you watching TV this

evening

Il treno parte fra cinque minuti

Parto domaniDomani mattina porto Luca alla

stazioneLrsquoestate prossima lavoro con mio

zio

The train leavesis leaving in fiveminutes

I leaveI am leaving tomorrowTomorrow morning Irsquoll takeIrsquom taking-

Irsquom going to take Luca to the stationNext summer Irsquoll workIrsquom working-

going to work with my uncle

Lavoriamo qui da un mese Wersquove been working here for a month

The forms of the present tense

4 Italian verbs are divided into three main groups the conjugations Theconjugation a verb belongs to is determined by the ending of its infinitive

The forms of the present depend on which conjugation the verb belongs toThe present is formed by changing the ending of the infinitive as follows

5 Regular verbs in -are are conjugated as follows

As we saw in Unit 4 the subject pronoun is normally omitted in the conju-gation of Italian verbs

Mio cugino abita a Roma da treanni

Conosco Giulia da tre anniNon vedo Dario da mesi

My cousinrsquos livedbeen living in Rome forthree years

I have known Giulia for three yearsI havenrsquot seen Dario for months

First conjugation-are

Second conjugation-ere

Third conjugation-ire

Person1st2nd3rd

1st2nd3rd

Singular(io)(tu)(luilei)

Plural(noi)(voi)(loro)

Infinitive in -are-o-i-a

-iamo-ate-ano

Infinitive in -ere-o-i-e

-iamo-ete-ono

Infinitive in -ire(-isc)-o(-isc)-i(-isc)-e

-iamo-ite(-isc)-ono

Endings-o-i-a-iamo-ate-ano

Parlare(io) parlo(tu) parli(luilei) parla(noi) parliamo(voi) parlate(loro) parlano

To speaktalkI speakyou speakhesheit speakswe speakyou speakthey speak

Andrea e Carla lavorano in ItaliaParlo italianoParlate moltoAbitiamo a Genova

Andrea and Carla work in ItalyI speak ItalianYou talk a lotWe live in Genoa

Unit 5 37

6 Verbs ending in -care and -gare (first conjugation) add h before the endingsof the second person singular (-i) and the first person plural (-iamo) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g

7 Verbs ending in -iare (first conjugation) normally have only one i in thesecond person singular and the first person plural

8 Regular verbs in -ere are conjugated as follows

Cercare(io) cerco(tu) cerchi(luilei) cerca(noi) cerchiamo(voi) cercate(loro) cercano

To look forI look foryou look forhesheit looks forwe look foryou look forthey look for

Pagare(io) pago(tu) paghi(luilei) paga(noi) paghiamo(voi) pagate(loro) pagano

To payI payyou payhesheit payswe payyou paythey pay

Cerchi MarcoGiochiamo a pallonePercheacute litighi con tuo fratelloPaghiamo sempre il conto

Are you looking for MarcoWe play footballWhy are you arguing with your brotherWe always pay the bill

Cominciare(io) comincio(tu) cominci(luilei) comincia(noi) cominciamo(voi) cominciate(loro) cominciano

To startbeginI startbeginyou startbeginhesheit startsbeginswe startbeginyou startbeginthey startbegin

Mangiare(io) mangio(tu) mangi(luilei) mangia(noi) mangiamo(voi) mangiate(loro) mangiano

To eatI eatyou eathesheit eatswe eatyou eatthey eat

Quando cominci la scuolaCominciamo la partitaMangi troppoStasera mangiamo fuori

When do you start schoolWersquore starting the gameYou eat too muchThis evening wersquore eating out

Endings-o-i-e-iamo-ete-ono

Prendere(io) prendo(tu) prendi(luilei) prende(noi) prendiamo(voi) prendete(loro) prendono

To takegetI takegetyou takegethesheit takesgetswe takegetyou takegetthey takeget

38 Unit 5

9 Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) and -gere (or -ggere) change the sound ofc (or sc) and g (or -gg) which become lsquohardrsquo before the endings of the firstperson singular (-o) and the third person plural (-ono) So care needs to betaken in speaking these verbs

Prendo il prossimo trenoPrendiamo questa stradaAnna scrive una letteraMarco e Martina ridono molto

Irsquom gettingtaking the next trainWe take this roadAnna is writing a letterMarco and Martina laugh a lot

Vincere(io) vinco(tu) vinci(luilei) vince(noi) vinciamo(voi) vincete(loro) vincono

Spoken like Englishkchchchchk

To winI winyou winhesheit winswe winyou winthey win

Conoscere(io) conosco(tu) conosci(luilei) conosce(noi) conosciamo(voi) conoscete(loro) conoscono

Spoken like Englishskshshshshsk

To knowI knowyou knowhesheit knowswe knowyou knowthey know

Leggere(io) leggo(tu) leggi(luilei) legge(noi) leggiamo(voi) leggete(loro) leggono

Spoken like Englishg [as in lsquogorsquo]jjjjg [as in lsquogorsquo]

To readI readyou readhesheit readswe readyou readthey read

Vince sempreNon conosco i tuoi genitoriLeggono il giornaleNon piango mai

Heshe always winsI donrsquot know your parentsTheyrsquore reading the paperI never cry

Unit 5 39

10 Regular verbs in -ire are conjugated as follows

11 Many verbs in -ire (eg capire (to understand) costruire (to build) finire(to finishto end) preferire (to prefer) pulire (to clean) ) follow a slightlydifferent pattern adding -isc- before the singular endings and the thirdperson plural

There is no way of telling which is the right pattern for a verb in -ire otherthan to check in a dictionary

Interrogative form

12 As we saw in Unit 4 the interrogative is formed by adding a questionmark at the end of the sentence

Endings-o-i

Partire(io) parto(tu) parti

To leaveI leaveyou leave

-e-iamo-ite-ono

(luilei) parte(noi) partiamo(voi) partite(loro) partono

hesheit leaveswe leaveyou leavethey leave

Il treno parte alle 800I miei amici partono domaniMia sorella dormeTutte le mattine apriamo le finestre

The train leaves at eightMy friends are leaving tomorrowMy sister is sleepingasleepEvery morning we open the windows

Endings-isc-o-isc-i-isc-e-iamo-ite-isc-ono

Capire(io) capisco(tu) capisci(luilei) capisce(noi) capiamo(voi) capite(loro) capiscono

To understandI understandyou understandhesheit understandswe understandyou understandthey understand

Marina capisce tuttoLa lezione finisce alle 1300Preferisco parlare italiano

Marina understands everythingThe lessonclass finishes at 1 pmI prefer speakingto speak Italian

Carla resta a casaPrendi sempre la macchina fotograficaQuando partiteCapisci tutto

Is Carla staying at homeDo you always take the cameraWhen are you leavingDo you understand everything

40 Unit 5

Negative form

13 The negative is formed by putting non (not) before the verb

Formal form

14 As we saw in Unit 4 the pronouns used for the formal form are Lei for thesingular (for both women and men) and Voi for the plural (the pronoun Lorois much more formal)

Present tense of some irregular verbs

15 In Italian as in most languages there are a number of irregular verbswhose conjugation is best learned by heart and with use Here is the conjuga-tion of some of the more frequently used irregular verbs

Non parlo italianoNon prendiamo la macchina

fotograficaGiulia e Susanna non partonoNon capisce niente

I donrsquot speak ItalianWersquore not taking the camera

Arenrsquot Giulia and Susanna leavingHeshe doesnrsquot understand anything

(Lei) Parla italianoNon prende un taxi Professor

MasiPartite Signori Bianco( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco)

Do you speak ItalianArenrsquot you taking a taxi Professor

MasiAre you leaving( Mr and Mrs

Bianco)

Dare (to give)dogravedaidagravediamodatedanno

Andare (to go)vadovaivaandiamoandatevanno

Stare (to staylivefeel)stostaistastiamostatestanno

Uscire (to go outleave)escoesciesceusciamousciteescono

Sapere (to know)sosaisasappiamosapetesanno

Venire (to come)vengovienivieneveniamovenitevengono

Unit 5 41

The verb riuscire (to succeedmanagebe able to) follows the same pattern asuscire

It is important not to confuse sapere and conoscere (paragraph 9) Bothmean lsquoto knowrsquo but they are not always interchangeable The basic differenceis that sapere generally means lsquoto knowbe aware ofto have knowledge of afactrsquo (but see also paragraph 17 below) whereas conoscere means lsquoto beacquaintedfamiliar withrsquo or sometimes lsquoto meetmake the acquaintance ofrsquo(eg in the expression piacere di conoscerti pleased to meet you) Thus sapereis never used for people and conoscere is never followed by a phrase contain-ing a verb

Dovere (mustto haveto)devodevidevedobbiamodovetedevono

Dire (to saytell)dicodicidicediciamoditedicono

Potere (canmayto beable)possopuoipuogravepossiamopotetepossono

Fare (to domake)facciofaifafacciamofatefanno

Volere (to wishtowant)vogliovuoivuolevogliamovoletevogliono

Bere (to drink)bevobevibevebeviamobevetebevono

Cosa failsquoCome stairsquo lsquoSto bene graziersquoMia zia sta a BolognaVado al cinemaStasera non escoDomani esco prestoNon riesco a capireNon riesco a chiudere la portaAdesso sapete tutto

What are you doinglsquoHow are yoursquo lsquoIrsquom fine thank yoursquoMy aunt lives in BolognaIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom not going out tonightIrsquom leaving early tomorrowI canrsquot understandI canrsquot manage to close the doorNow you know everything

Sappiamo giagrave che crsquoegrave scioperodomani

Sai che ora egraveSai percheacuteNon so che cosa fareConosco le regole del gioco

We already know that there is a striketomorrow

Do you know what time it isDo you know whyI donrsquot know what to doI know the rules of the game

42 Unit 5

16 Dovere potere and volere usually need to be followed by another verb inthe infinitive

17 The verb sapere is another that is often followed by a verb in the infinitiveused in this way it expresses the ability to do something (in the sense of lsquotoknow how torsquo do something)

18 A few verbs end in -urre (like condurre (to leaddrivemanage) tradurre (totranslate) produrre (to produce) etc) all have the following pattern

Exercise 1

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io conoscere) tua mamma conosco

Ho conosciuto il padre di PiaNon conosco il tuo ragazzoConosci questa cittagrave

I (have) met Piarsquos fatherI donrsquot know your boyfriendDo you know this town

Dobbiamo fare gli eserciziPosso parlare con LuigiPuoi telefonare domaniNon vogliono uscire

Wersquove got to do the exercisesMay I talk to LuigiYou can phone tomorrowThey donrsquot want to go out

So nuotarePaolo non sa ballareSai usare quello scanner

I can swim [ie I know how to]Paolo canrsquot dance [ie he doesnrsquot know how to]Can youDo you know how to use that scanner

Endings-uc-o-uc-i-uc-e-uc-iamo-uc-ete-uc-ono

Produrre(io) produco(tu) produci(luilei) produce(noi) produciamo(voi) producete(loro) producono

To produceI produceyou producehesheit produceswe produceyou producethey produce

Questa fabbrica produce automobiliTraducono dal francese

This factory produces carsThey translate from French

1 Claudio (arrivare) con il prossimotreno

2 Anna (vivere) a Roma

3 Non (noi mangiare) spesso fuori4 (tu cercare) casa5 Stasera (voi prendere) lrsquoautobus

Unit 5 43

Exercise 2

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example (io bere) molta acqua bevo

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 You [pl] have got to talk to Marcello2 Wersquore leaving tonight3 Wersquore getting the next bus4 You [polite] can go to the cinema Mr Buchan5 We know how to use those mobile phones6 She always prefers reading the paper7 The babyrsquos asleep8 Irsquom coming to Turin this summer

6 Il treno di Giorgio (partire) alle18

7 Tutti i giorni (noi leggere) ilgiornale

8 (tu pulire) il bagno9 (io conoscere) molti italiani

10 I giochi (finire) sempre alle 1711 Non (noi guidare) lrsquoauto12 Anna e io (giocare) a carte13 Percheacute non (voi tornare) in

Scozia

14 Non (tu capire) nulla15 Giorgio e Paola non (spendere)

molto16 Dove (Lei abitare) Signor Verdi17 (Voi pagare) lrsquoaffitto Signori

Rossi18 (tu viaggiare) molto19 Non (tu ricevere) molte lettere20 Piero e Gianni (lasciare) il cane a

casa

1 Stasera (loro) andare al cinema2 La nostra fabbrica (produrre)

pasta3 Domani (noi dare) una festa4 (tu andare) spesso in spiaggia5 (voi fare) gli esercizi6 Non (noi riuscire) a capire7 (voi venire) a casa8 Non (io potere) uscire oggi9 (loro volere) dormire

10 (tu dire) la veritagrave

11 Tu e Claudia (potere) partire12 (io volere) studiare13 Dove (tu stare) adesso14 Le mie sorelle non (sapere)

nuotare15 Cosa (loro fare) stasera16 I vicini (dovere) rimanere a casa17 (noi tradurre) in italiano18 Luigi (dovere) lavorare19 (voi sapere) cantare20 I nostri amici (venire) a Roma

44 Unit 5

9 They often go out in the evening10 The boys are playing football tomorrow

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Are you going out tonight Mother2 What are we doing tomorrow3 Can you [sing] open that door4 Do you [sing] want a coffee5 Can you play the piano Francesco6 What are you [sing] looking for7 Are you [polite] drinking coffee or mineral water Madam8 Do you [sing] and Jim know my parents9 Are you [sing] well today

10 What are they building

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Donrsquot you [polite] speak English Mrs Vialli2 My German friends canrsquot sing in Italian3 I donrsquot earn a lot4 Isnrsquot she giving a party for her birthday5 Arenrsquot you [sing] working with Giulia6 Theyrsquove not seen Mr Moro for three years7 Why do you never go to Florence Claudio8 I canrsquot manage to shut this window9 Why arenrsquot you [pl] drinking coffee this morning

10 Arenrsquot you [pl] coming tomorrow

Unit 5 45

UNIT SIXAdverbs

1 English adverbs are usually formed by adding lsquo-lyrsquo to an adjective (eglsquothinlyrsquo lsquocleverlyrsquo) Italian adverbs are usually just as easy to form -mente isadded to the feminine singular form of the adjective

When the adjective ends in -le or -re preceded by a vowel the final e isdropped before adding -mente

2 In Italian there are also many adverbs which do not end in -mente Here aresome

lenta + -menterapida + -mentesemplice + -mentefrequente + -mente

lentamenterapidamentesemplicementefrequentemente

slowlyquicklysimplyfrequently

gentile + -menteutile + -mentemaggiore + -menteregolare + -mente

gentilmenteutilmentemaggiormenteregolarmente

kindly politelyusefullymainlyregularly

Il tempo cambia rapidamenteLa nonna cammina lentamenteEnrico risponde sempre gentilmenteFaccio i compiti regolarmente

The weather changes quicklyGranny walks slowlyEnrico always answers politelyI do my homework regularly

abbastanza

ancorabenedavantidentrodietrodopo

enoughfairlyratherquite

stillwellat the frontin frontin(side)at the backbehindlaterafterwards

fortefuorigiagravelontanomalenon ancoranon maipiano

loudlyhardoutoutsidealreadyfar (away)badlynot yetneverslowlyquietly

Note that with non ancora and non mai non is always placed beforethe verb and ancoramai after it

3 Adverbs can qualify verbs adjectives or even other adverbs

4 Some words denoting quantity can be used both as adverbs and as adjec-tives moltotanto (a lot (of)verymany) troppo (too muchtoo many) andpoco (fewlittlenot muchnot very) When used as adverbs they are invariablebut when used as adjectives they agree in gender and number with the nounthey refer to

piugravepiuttostoprestoprima

quasisempre

morerathersoonearlyearlierbeforehand

firstalmostalways

soprasottospessosubitotardivicinovolentieri

aboveupstairsbelowdownstairsoftenimmediatelyright awaylatenear(by)willinglygladly

Questo film egrave abbastanza belloPartiamo tardi dopo le 11Andiamo spesso in discotecaVengo subitoParto prestoParliamo piano perchegrave Carla

dormePuograve parlare piano per favore

Non sono italianoAbita vicino SignoraVai lontanoPiove fortePuoi parlare piugrave forteMangiamo fuori

Egrave ancora estateNon egrave ancora estateNon esco maiLorenzo non telefona mai

This film is rather goodWersquore leaving late after 11We often go to the discoIrsquom coming (immediately)Irsquom leaving earlysoonWersquore talking quietly because Carlarsquos

asleepCould you speak slowly please Irsquom not

ItalianDo you live nearby (Madam)Are you going farItrsquos raining hardCan you speak loudermore loudlyWersquore eating out [eg in a restaurant]

outside [ie in the open]Itrsquos still summerItrsquos not summer yetI never go outLorenzo never phones

Dormo bene [verb + adverb]Dormo molto bene [adverb + adverb]La casa egrave molto piccola [adverb + adjective]

I sleep wellI sleep very wellThe house is very small

Unit 6 47

Adverbial expressions

5 Having a lot of words ending in -mente can often sound heavy To avoidthis Italian sometimes uses adverbial phrases instead of single words Thesedo the same job as one-word adverbs and indeed they do usually correspondto one-word English adverbs in lsquo-lyrsquo These adverbial expressions are mostoften constructed with con (with) sometimes with senza (without) followedby a noun

Adverblavorare moltotantomoltotanto lontanomoltotanto difficilelavorare troppotroppo lontanotroppo difficilelavorare pocopoco lontanopoco difficile

Adjectivemolto (tanto)troppopoco lavoro [ms]molta (tanta)troppapoca acqua [fs]molti (tanti)troppipochi esercizi [mp]molte (tante)troppepoche lettere [fp]

to work a lotvery farvery difficultto work too muchtoo fartoo difficultto work littlenot to work muchnot very farnot very difficult

a lot oftoo muchnot much worka lot oftoo muchnot much watermanytoo manynot many exercisesmanytoo manynot many letters

Mio padre lavora troppo [adverb]Questa musica egrave molto bella [adverb]Luisa dorme poco [adverb]

Dormi troppo poco [adverbs]

Abbiamo molto tempo [adjective]Luisa mangia poca pasta [adjective]

Ho molti amici [adjective]lsquoPercheacute fai questorsquo lsquoCi sono molte

ragionirsquo [adjective]

My father works too muchThis music is very beautifulLuisa sleeps littledoesnrsquot sleep

muchYou sleep too littledonrsquot sleep

enoughWe have a lot of timeLuisa eats little pastadoesnrsquot eat a

lot of pastaI have a lot of friendslsquoWhy are you doing thisrsquo lsquoThere

are many reasonsrsquo

con difficoltagravecon eleganzacon lentezzacon rapiditagravecon semplicitagrave

with difficultyelegantlyslowlyrapidlyquicklysimply

48 Unit 6

There are also a number of adverbial expressions that use other prepositionsthan con Here are some of the most common

Another adverbial expression that is sometimes used is in modoin maniera(ie lsquoin a wayrsquo) followed by an adjective the adjective is masculine when usedwith modo and feminine when used with maniera

Exercise 1

Change the adjectives into adverbs

Example lento lentamente

senza eleganzasenza complicazionisenza dubbio

inelegantlyuncomplicatedlyundoubtedly

a poco a pocoa voltein ritardoin tempodi solitodi sicuro

little by littlesometimeslateon timeusuallysurelycertainly

Anna veste con eleganzaSpieghi tutto senza complicazioni

A volte non capisco quello che dice

Anna dresses elegantlyYou explain everything

uncomplicatedlySometimes I donrsquot understand what

he says

in modo vagoin maniera vagain modo stranoin maniera stranain modo semplicein maniera semplice

vaguelyin a vague waystrangelyin a strange waysimplyin a simple way

Risponde sempre in modo vagoQuel cane cammina in maniera strana

Heshe always answers vaguelyThat dogrsquos walking oddlyin a

strange way

1 dolce2 tranquillo3 semplice4 allegro5 maggiore

6 irregolare7 probabile8 chiaro9 facile

10 veloce

11 lento12 utile13 attento14 rapido15 leggero

Unit 6 49

Exercise 2

Supply the correct form of moltotanto troppo or poco (adverbs or adjectives)

Examples Anna egrave (molto) alta molto Ho (molto) sete molta

Exercise 3

Replace the words in English with the appropriate expression from the list

a volte di sicuro con pazienza senza esitazione in modo nervoso intempo con semplicitagrave di solito con prudenza a poco a poco in manierabrusca con coraggio

Examples (sometimes) non voglio giocare a pallone a volte Laura veste(simply) con semplicitagrave

1 Dobbiamo agire (cautiously)2 Andrea spiega tutto (patiently)3 Paolo guarda i professori (nervously)4 (little by little) Gianni capisce il problema5 Tullio risponde (unhesitatingly)6 (usually) rientra nel pomeriggio7 Lei non fa piugrave (in time) a prendere il treno delle sette8 Esprime (courageously) le sue opinioni9 Domenica vengo (for sure)

10 Il Signor Capello risponde (bluntly) a tutte le nostre domande

1 Claudia mangia (molto) dolci2 Il tuo vestito egrave (molto) bello3 Monica ha (poco) amici4 Tu spendi (troppo)5 In mensa ci sono (troppo)

studenti6 Davanti al cinema crsquoegrave (tanto)

gente7 Mangi (troppo)8 Stefano abita (molto) lontano9 Giulia mangia sempre (poco)

10 Judy ha (molto) amiche italiane

11 Sto (poco) bene12 Abitate in una casa (molto) bella13 Signora egrave (molto) stanca14 Ci sono (poco) biscotti15 Siete (molto) gentili16 Hai (poco) pazienza17 Marco e Luisa hanno (molto)

fame18 Il giardino non egrave (molto) grande19 Non devi invitare (troppo)

persone20 Abbiamo (poco) riviste

50 Unit 6

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sometimes I eat in the canteen2 The swimming pool is quite big3 We often go out with our friends4 Have you [sing] got enough money5 You [sing] have to speak slowly6 Marina never eats cheese7 Francesca always arrives late8 Irsquove been waiting for almost forty minutes9 Carla and Andrea are out

10 Are your [sing] parents well

Unit 6 51

UNIT SEVENDirect object pronouns (1)

1 A direct object is the person or thing that the verb directly impacts onInvito Elena (Irsquom inviting Elena) Uso il computer tutti i giorni (I use thecomputer every day)

A direct object pronoun replaces a noun used as a direct object itmust therefore agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to Directobject pronouns normally come before the verb In the following examplesthe pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the direct object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Elena la invito a cena[la replaces and agrees with Elena (fs)]

Quando vedo Lorenzo lo invito a cena[lo replaces and agrees with Lorenzo(ms)]

Scrivo le cartoline e poi le imbuco[le replaces and agrees with lecartoline (fp)]

Appena compro i biscotti li mangio[li replaces and agrees with i biscotti(mp)]

Prendo il giornale e lo leggo subito[lo replaces and agrees with ilgiornale (ms)]

When I see Elena Irsquoll inviteher to dinner

When I see Lorenzo Irsquoll invitehim to dinner

I write the postcards andthen post them

As soon as I buy biscuits Ieat them

I get the paper and read itimmediately

Subjectiotuluileinoivoiloro

Direct objectmitilo [m]la [f]civili [m]le [f]

meyouhimheritusyouthem

3 We saw in Unit 3 that if an adjective refers to two or more nouns that aredifferent in gender it has the masculine plural form eg Laura e Piero sonoitaliani (Laura and Piero are Italian) The same principle applies to directobject pronouns

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

5 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Note that verbs in -urre drop the second r as well as the final vowel lo devotradurre or devo tradurlo

Giacomo mi invita spesso a cenaSe vuoi ti aiutoLo conosco beneLa vedo tutti i giorniVi invito alla festa

Giacomo often invites me to dinnerIf you want Irsquoll help youI know him wellI see her every dayIrsquom inviting you to the party

lsquoConosci Laura [f] e Piero [m]rsquo lsquoSigraveli [mp] conosco benersquo

lsquoUsi il computer [m] e la stampante[f]rsquo lsquoSigrave li [mp] uso spessorsquo

lsquoDo you know Laura and Pierorsquo lsquoYesI know them wellrsquo

lsquoDo you use the computer and theprinterrsquo lsquoYes I often use themrsquo

Non lo conosco beneNon vi invito alla festaNon li vedo spessoNon ti capisco

I donrsquot know him wellIrsquom not inviting you to the partyI donrsquot often see themI donrsquot understand you

La devo chiamareTi voglio invitareLo puoi prendereLo so fareLo devo tradurre

ororororor

Devo chiamarlaVoglio invitartiPuoi prenderloSo farloDevo tradurlo

I must call herI want to invite youYou can take itI canknow how to do itIrsquove got to translate it

Unit 7 53

6 The pronoun lo [ms] is often used to replace a whole clause

7 When the pronouns lo and la are used with the verb avere they are short-ened to lrsquo and are often preceded by the particle ce

The plural pronouns li and le however are never shortened and are onlyrarely used with ce

Formal form

8 The direct object pronouns used for the formal form are La for the singular(for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronouns Li and Le canalso be used for the masculine and feminine respectively but this is particu-larly formal)

lsquoSai che oggi egrave il compleanno diCarlarsquo lsquoSigrave lo sorsquo [lo = oggi egrave ilcompleanno di Carla]

lsquoDove sono le chiavirsquo lsquoNon lo sorsquo[lo = dove sono le chiavi]

lsquoDevi cambiare la cartucciarsquo lsquoLofaccio subitorsquo [lo = cambiare lacartuccia]

lsquoDo you know that itrsquos Carlarsquosbirthday todayrsquo lsquoYes I dorsquo [lit YesI know it]

lsquoWhere are the keysrsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo[lit I donrsquot know it]

lsquoYoursquove got to replace the cartridgersquolsquoIrsquoll do it straight awayrsquo

lsquoHai la cartucciarsquo lsquoSigrave ce lrsquohorsquo

Non posso leggere il libro di PrimoLevi percheacute non ce lrsquoho

lsquoAvete lrsquoindirizzo di Annarsquo lsquoSigrave celrsquoabbiamorsquo

lsquoHave you got the cartridgersquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot itrsquo

I canrsquot read Primo Levirsquos bookbecause I havenrsquot got it

lsquoHave you got Annarsquos addressrsquo lsquoYeswe haveYes wersquove got itrsquo

lsquoHai le parole di questacanzonersquo lsquoNo non (ce) le horsquo

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo

lsquoHave you got the lyrics of this songrsquolsquoNo I havenrsquot No Irsquove not got themrsquo

lsquoHave you got the booksrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove gotthemYes I haversquo

Professor Masi La accompagno inaeroporto

Signora La accompagno in aeroportoSignori Bianco Vi accompagno in

aeroporto (Signori Bianco Li accompagno in

aeroporto) Signore Vi accompagno in aeroporto (Signore Le accompagno in aeroporto)

Professor Masi Irsquoll take you to theairport

Irsquoll take you to the airport Madam

Mr and Mrs Bianco Irsquoll take you tothe airport

(Ladies) Irsquoll take you to theairport

54 Unit 7

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct directobject pronoun

Example Luigi compra il pane Luigi lo compra

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Lo faccio Non lo faccio

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

1 Anna guarda la televisione2 Invitiamo i nostri amici3 Scrivete le cartoline4 Leggono il giornale5 Suono la chitarra6 Preparo la cena7 Chiamo Roberto8 Faccio gli esercizi9 Invito Maria e Giovanna

10 Chiudete le finestre

11 Lorenzo corregge gli errori12 Prendono il treno13 Porto i CD14 Cerco i miei libri15 Pia beve lrsquoacqua minerale16 Paola finisce il lavoro17 Accompagno Carlo e Anna18 Vedi le tue amiche oggi19 Ascolto la radio20 Luca lava i piatti

1 Le voglio2 Li compriamo3 Ci chiamano4 Silvia li invita5 I Signori Bianchi lo prendono

6 Mi invitate7 Vi aspetto8 La vedo domani9 Ti accompagno alla stazione

10 Lo guardiamo

1 Lo vogliamo vedere2 Non ti posso aiutare3 Mi puoi accompagnare4 La vuoi sentire5 Ci devono chiamare

6 Vi voglio invitare7 Le vuole conoscere8 Non li potete fare9 Mi devi ascoltare

10 Non La posso aiutare Signora

Unit 7 55

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate direct object pronouns

Examples Marco telefona agli amici e mdashmdash invita alla festa li Guido nonsta bene devo chiamarmdashmdash lo

1 Compro il giornale e mdashmdash leggo2 Scrivo le cartoline e mdashmdash spedisco3 Laura fa i panini e poi mdashmdash mangia4 Compro i fiori e mdashmdash metto in un vaso5 Apriamo la finestra e poi mdashmdash chiudiamo6 Non riesco a fare questo esercizio mdashmdash aiuti7 Prendiamo i libri e mdashmdash portiamo a scuola8 Professor Bartoli mdashmdash posso aiutare9 I Signori Pieri partono mdashmdash accompagni in aeroporto

10 Hai molte amiche mdashmdash inviti tutte11 Se non usi la bici mdashmdash prendo io12 Ci sono molti errori mdashmdash dovete correggere13 Claudio telefona a Giulia e mdashmdash invita alla festa14 Partite mdashmdash porto in stazione15 Crsquoegrave un film alla televisione ma non mdashmdash guardiamo16 Alma parte volete salutarmdashmdash17 La sorella di Matteo egrave molto simpatica mdashmdash conosco bene18 Gli esercizi sono difficili ma mdashmdash so fare19 Se vuoi delle caramelle mdashmdash puoi prendere20 lsquoSai che Alessandro suona il sassofono in un grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash sorsquo

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquore inviting you [pl] to the party2 Irsquove got a lot of friends and I often see them3 Signora Fusi can I call you tomorrow4 Are you [sing] helping us next week5 I have to see you [sing]6 Olga and Anna are leaving tomorrow and I want to take them to the

station7 I canrsquot help you [pl]8 lsquoAre you [sing] bringing the guitarrsquo lsquoNo I havenrsquot got itrsquo9 Tullio buys these magazines and reads them

10 Can you [sing] take me to school tomorrow

56 Unit 7

UNIT EIGHTPrepositions

1 The most common Italian prepositions are the following

The meaning of tra and fra is the same

These prepositions often correspond to the English counterparts we givehere However as we shall see each of them also has a number of othermeanings corresponding to other English prepositions

2 The prepositions di a da in and su when used together with a nounpreceded by the definite article always combine with the article

The preposition con normally combines only with il and i as col and coi thisform is common in spoken Italian though con il and con i are often found inthe written language

diadainconsupertrafra

oftofrominwithonforamong between

diadainsu

ildelaldalnelsul

lodelloallodallonellosullo

lrsquodellrsquoallrsquodallrsquonellrsquosullrsquo

ladellaalladallanellasulla

ideiaidaineisui

glidegliaglidaglineglisugli

ledellealledallenellesulle

con con ilcol

con lo(collo)

con lrsquo(collrsquo)

con la(colla)

con icoi

con gli(cogli)

con le(colle)

Using prepositions

3 As in many other languages there is so much variation in how Italianprepositions are used that it is not feasible to give simple rules covering everypossibility To appreciate the problem you only have to look at a few of thepossible uses of the preposition di

Sometimes Italian even has a preposition where English does not here aresome typical examples

Since there is not a simple set of rules governing prepositions in Italian whatwe are going to do is show some typical uses of the common ones listedabove The more you hear and read Italian the more you will encounterdifferent uses of these and other prepositions the best way of mastering themis to learn them and practise them as you go along

4 Di is typically used to express

di + il ragazzoa + lo studenteda + lrsquoalbergoin + la scuolasu + i divanicon + i libricon + le chiaviper + gli insegnantifra + i calciatori

del ragazzoallo studentedallrsquoalbergonella scuolasui divanicoi libricon le chiaviper gli insegnantifra i calciatori

of the boyto the studentfrom the hotelin the schoolon the sofaswith the bookswith the keysfor the teachersamong the footballers

il presidente della repubblica the president of the republicIl libro egrave di Calvino The book is by CalvinoSono di Roma Irsquom from RomeDi pomeriggio fanno sempre la

siestaThey always have a nap in the

afternoon

lrsquoauto di AnnaVuoi della fruttaCi sono alcune migliaia di persone

nella piazzaHo una bella camicia di seta

Annarsquos carDo you want (someany) fruitThere are a few thousand people in

the squareIrsquove got a lovely silk shirt

possessionmaterialtimesubject

La moto di Luca egrave rossauna giacca di pelleDi sera non escouna lezione di storia

Lucarsquos motorbike is reda leather jacketI donrsquot go out in the evening(s)a history lesson

58 Unit 8

The most common uses of di are the ones which correspond to the Englishpossessive (rsquos) and the noun + noun structure

Di is frequently used in partitive constructions ie to express the Englishlsquosomersquo or lsquoanyrsquo in such sentences as lsquoIrsquod like some breadrsquo lsquoHave you anypastarsquo lsquoWersquove got (some) pasta and (some) olivesrsquo

Di is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likecredere (to believe) pensare (to think) dire (to say) sperare (to hope) finire(to finish) smettere (to stop)

5 A is typically used to express

il libro del professorela sorella di Monicail casco di Sebastianola politica del governouna buca delle lettereun racconto di fateil professore di scienzeun panino di formaggio

the teacherrsquos bookMonicarsquos sisterSebastianorsquos helmetthe governmentrsquos policygovernment policya letter boxa fairy talethe science teachera cheese roll

Devo comprare del panePrendo della pastaCrsquoegrave dellrsquoacqua in frigoEsco con degli amiciVuoi dei libri in italianoCi sono delle case sulla collina

Irsquove got to get (some) breadIrsquom getting (some) pastaTherersquos (some) water in the fridgeIrsquom going out with (some) friendsDo you want (some) books in ItalianThere are (some) houses on the hill

Finisco di leggere il giornale e poiesco

Paolo pensa di essere intelligenteAnna crede di riuscire a passare

lrsquoesameLa mamma dice di essere stancaDevo smettere di perdere tempo

I finish reading the paper and then Igo out

Paolo thinks he is intelligentAnna believes she can pass the exam

Mum says shersquos tiredI must stop wasting time

place

time

Abito a LondraVado al cinemaSono a casaLa casa si trova a 100 metri

dal mareParto alle 17Vado in Olanda a luglio

I live in LondonIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom at homeThe house is 100 metres from

the seaIrsquom leaving at 1700Irsquom going to Holland in July

Unit 8 59

A is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likeandare (to go) venire (to come) cominciare (to startbegin) continuare (tocontinue) riuscire (canto be ablemanage)

6 Da is typically used to express

Da is always used to mean lsquoatat the house ofrsquo a person or people

Da is also used followed by an infinitive after molto (a lot) poco (little) niente(nothing) qualcosa (something)

indirect object

quality

meansmanner

Diamo il libro a Silvia

Scrivete ai vostri genitori

Vuoi un gelato al limone

La giacca egrave fatta a manoImpari tutto a memoria

Stasera mangiamo patateal vapore

Wersquore giving the book toSilvia

Do you write to yourparents

Do you want a lemon ice-cream

The jacketrsquos made by handDo you learn everything by

heartWersquore having steamed

potatoes tonight [ietheyrsquore cooked with steam]

lsquoDove vairsquo lsquoVado a lavorarersquoVieni a studiare in bibliotecaComincio a capirePaolo continua a parlareNon riesco a sentire cosa dice

lsquoWhere are you goingrsquo lsquoIrsquom going to workrsquoAre you coming to work in the libraryIrsquom beginning to understandPaolo continueskeeps on talkingI canrsquot hear what hersquos saying

placetime

function

Parto da MilanoStudio italiano da un mese

aperto dalle 9 alle 10Sono scarpe da tennis

Irsquom leaving from MilanI have been studying Italian for a

monthopen (from) 9 to 10 (orsquoclock)Theyrsquore tennis shoes

Abiti da tua ziaLavoro da Anna staseraDevo andare dal dentista

Do you live at your auntrsquosIrsquom working at Annarsquos tonightI have to go to the dentist

Ho molto da fareHa poco da direNon crsquoegrave niente da bereVuoi qualcosa da mangiare

Irsquove got a lot to doHe has littleHersquos not got much to sayTherersquos nothing to drinkDo you want something to eat

60 Unit 8

7 In is typically used to express

NB in piedi means lsquostandingrsquo lsquoon footrsquo is a piedi

8 Con is typically used to express

9 Su is typically used to express

When the preposition su is used with a personal pronoun the pronoun is alsopreceded by di Conto su di lui (Irsquom counting on him)

10 Per is typically used to express

place

time

means

Vivo in campagnaAbbiamo una casa in Francianel 2006nel ventesimo secoloAndiamo in trenoin autoin bici

I live in the countryWe have a house in Francein 2006in the twentieth centuryWersquore going by traincaron

our bikes

company

means

manner

quality

Vado al cinema con LucaParlo con AnnaDevo scrivere con una

penna rossaPago con un assegno

Parla con accento stranieroParla con lentezzauna signora con i capelli

grigi

Irsquom going to the cinema with LucaIrsquom talking towith AnnaIrsquove got to write with a red pen

Irsquom paying with a chequebycheque

He speaks with a foreign accentHe speaks slowlya lady with grey hair

place

subject

I tuoi libri sono sulla scrivaniail ponte sullo stretto di Messina

un libro sul calcio

Your books are on the deskthe bridge over the Strait of

Messinaa book onabout football

placetime

meanscause

aim

price

Partiamo per la montagnaEsco per 10 minutiPer le 11 sono a casaMando il file per emailuna multa per eccesso di velocitagrave

Studio per passare lrsquoesame

per 15 euro

We are leaving for the mountainsIrsquom going out for 10 minutesIrsquoll be home byfor 11Irsquoll send the file by emaila fine for speedingspeeding

fineIrsquom studying (in order) to pass

the examfor 15 euros

Unit 8 61

11 Tra and fra are typically used to express

Prepositions of place

12 Here are some examples of the different prepositions used to denoteplace

Another preposition used to denote place is lungo (along) lungo il fiume(along the river)

13 A is normally used with names of town and villages and with cardinalpoints

14 In is normally used with names of regions and nations with geographicalareas and with shops

With mare (sea) the preposition a is used (al mare lsquoat the seasidersquo)

place

time

tra Milano e Torinofra compagni di classefra due ore

between Milan and Turinamong classmatesin two hourstwo hoursrsquo

time

Sono di FerraraLa domenica vado al cinemaSono a scuolaVengo da FerraraAbito da mia nonnaLuisa egrave in camera suaDevi camminare sul marciapiediil ponte sullrsquoArnoPartite per DublinoNovara egrave fra Torino e MilanoSiamo tra amici

I amcome from FerraraOn Sundays I go to the cinemaIrsquom at schoolIrsquom coming from FerraraI live at my grannyrsquosLuisa is in her roomYou have to walk on the pavementthe bridge over the ArnoAre you leaving for DublinNovara is between Turin and MilanWe are among friends

Vado a PisaAbito a LondraPasso le vacanze a CogneAndiamo a nordCogne egrave a sud di Aosta

Irsquom going to PisaI live in LondonI spend my holidays in CogneWe are going northCogne is south of Aosta

Vado in ToscanaAbito in InghilterraPasso le vacanze in montagnaCompro il pane in panetteria

Irsquom going to TuscanyI live in EnglandI spend my holidays in the mountainsI buy bread at the bakerythe bakerrsquos

62 Unit 8

Prepositions of time

15 Some examples of the different prepositions used to denote time

16 Di is used with the days of the week and parts of the day

In these cases di is always used without the definite article

17 A is used with names of festivities months and hours of the day

18 In is used with years centuries and seasons

Di domenica non lavoroDi sera guardo la tvDonatella arriva alle 7A Natale rimaniamo a casaLa scuola finisce a giugnonel 2000nel diciottesimo secoloIn autunno piove molto

I donrsquot work on SundaysIn the evenings I watch TVDonatella will arrive at sevenAt Christmas we stay at homeSchool ends in Junein 2000in the eighteenth centuryIn autumn it rains a lot

Di lunedigrave andiamo in piscinaDi mattina vado a scuola

On Mondays we go to the swimming poolIn the morning I go to school

A Pasqua Piera va in ItaliaIl museo riapre a marzoIl treno parte alle 12Di solito mangiano a

mezzogiorno

At Easter Piera is going to ItalyThe museum reopenswill reopen in MarchThe train is leaving at 12They normally eat at midday

Sono nato nel 1990Studio il turismo nel XIX secolo

Gli esami sono in primavera

I was born in 1990Irsquom studying tourism in the nineteenth

centuryThe exams arewill be in the spring

Unit 8 63

A or in

19 Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether to use a or in so we listbelow common expressions using these two prepositions

a casaa scuolaa lettoa lezione

(at) homeatto schoolinto bedin classto (onersquos) class

a tavolaa destraa sinistraa norda suda esta ovesta colazionea pranzoa cenaa mezzogiornoa mezzanottea 101112 [etc] annia metagraveallrsquoombraal soleal baral ristorantealla stazione

to the table [ie come and sit down]at table(onto the) rightleft(into the) northsoutheastwestatfor breakfastlunchdinner supper or teaat middaymidnightat teneleventwelve [etc] (years of age)in the middlemid-in the shadein the sunin the baratto the restaurantatinto the station

in pizzeriain discotecain cittagravein centroin chiesain mensain camerain bagnoin classein palestrain casermain prigionein ufficioin piscina

intoat athe pizzeriapizza parlourinto the discointo towninto the city centreinto churchinto the canteeninto the bedroominto the bathroominto the classroominto the gyminto the barracksinto prisoninto the officeatto the swimming bath

64 Unit 8

Compound prepositions

20 Italian also has a number of lsquocompound prepositionsrsquo eg accanto alsquonext tobesidersquo invece di lsquoinstead ofrsquo Some of these are always in the com-pound form others include di only when followed by a personal pronoun Wegive here a list of the most common ones

When these prepositions are used with a personal pronoun the pronoun ispreceded by the preposition di (see Unit 14)

Exercise 1

Combine the prepositions and the definite articles

Example (di) il figlio del figlio

davanti avicino afuori dadiprima dilontano dacontrodentrodietrodopo

in front ofoppositenearnextclose tooutsidebeforefar froma long way fromagainstinsidebehindafter

senzasoprasottoverso

withoutonaboveunderbelowtowards

La farmacia egrave davanti alsupermercato

Abito lontano dal centroLrsquoalbergo egrave vicino alla stazioneNon esco senza di voi

The pharmacy is opposite thesupermarket

I live a long way from the city centreThe hotel is close to the stationIrsquom not going out without you

di1 la mamma2 lo zio3 gli amici4 il parco5 lrsquoauto6 i paesi7 le stanze

a8 il mare9 lo stadio

10 la stazione11 i ragazzi12 gli uomini13 le donne14 lrsquoospedale

da15 la zia16 lo studente17 il dentista18 lrsquoaeroporto19 gli uffici20 le colleghe21 i ministri

in22 lrsquoalbergo23 lo stipendio24 la casa25 gli anni26 i cassetti27 le camere28 il frigo

su29 il tavolo30 la sedia31 lo scaffale32 le spalle33 i libri34 gli alberi35 lrsquoidea

Unit 8 65

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example Vengo mdashmdashmdash (la) stazione dalla

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example I tuoi libri sono mdashmdashmdash (il) tavolo sul

1 Carla abita mdashmdashmdash Budapest2 Parigi egrave mdashmdashmdash Francia3 Mangiate mdashmdashmdash (il) ristorante4 Torniamo mdashmdashmdash unrsquoora5 Hai molto mdashmdashmdash fare6 Devi scrivere mdashmdashmdash (la) nonna7 Esco mdashmdashmdash Massimo8 Filippo va mdashmdashmdash (il) dentista9 Quellrsquoauto egrave mdashmdashmdash (il) padre di

Silvia10 Scrivo una lettera mdashmdashmdash (i) miei

genitori11 Vado mdashmdashmdash Milano mdashmdashmdash treno

12 Vieni mdashmdashmdash (il) cinema mdashmdashmdashme

13 Le chiavi sono mdashmdashmdash (il)cassetto

14 La lezione finisce mdashmdashmdash (le) 1115 Studiamo italiano mdashmdashmdash due

mesi16 Il museo apre mdashmdashmdash (le) 90017 Compro le rose mdashmdashmdash la zia18 Posso parlare mdashmdashmdash Elisa19 Vuoi mdashmdashmdash (il) dolce20 Il mio compleanno egrave mdashmdashmdash

giugno

1 Domani rimango mdashmdashmdash casa2 Sabato andiamo mdashmdashmdash centro3 Vado mdashmdashmdash nuotare mdashmdashmdash

piscina4 Livia egrave mdashmdashmdash letto sta poco

bene5 Puoi comprare una bottiglia

mdashmdashmdash aceto6 Regalo i CD mdashmdashmdash (il) mio

ragazzo7 Napoli egrave mdashmdashmdash sud di Roma8 Domani cominciamo mdashmdashmdash

lavorare9 Parto mdashmdashmdash Roma alle 14 e

arrivo mdashmdashmdash Torino alle 2110 Ho fame crsquoegrave qualcosa mdashmdashmdash

mangiare

11 Imprestate la bici mdashmdashmdashMaurizio

12 Vai a scuola mdashmdashmdash autobus13 Bardonecchia egrave mdashmdashmdash

montagna14 Prendo un gelato mdashmdashmdash (la)

fragola15 Cosa fate mdashmdashmdash Natale16 Piero va mdashmdashmdash (il) supermercato17 Il padre mdashmdashmdash (la) mia amica egrave

avvocato18 mdashmdashmdash pizzeria crsquoegrave sempre molta

gente19 Paola dorme mdashmdashmdash (la) stanza

vicina alla mia20 Leggo un libro mdashmdashmdash

fantascienza

66 Unit 8

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 I finish working at six2 Antoniorsquos leaving for Genoa3 Gemma was born in 20014 Fabia never goes out in the evening5 Mr and Mrs Bancroft live in the country in an old villa6 The libraryrsquos behind the gym7 You [sing] canrsquot go out without me8 Do you [pl] live far from the school9 Isabellarsquos aunt lives in Greve in Tuscany

10 Shersquos got a leather skirt11 Angus is from Edinburgh in Scotland12 You have to turn right after the church( Madam)13 Wersquore eating at a pizzeria tonight14 These flowers are for your [sing] mother15 At Christmas wersquore going skiing in the mountains16 I live near the prison17 Margaretrsquos been living in Turin for five years18 The train for Aosta leaves from platform 719 Wersquore giving Luisa a CD of Russian music20 I always buy the bread at Bellirsquos

Unit 8 67

UNIT NINEQuestions

In this unit we will look at the most common ways of asking questions inItalian We have already seen (Units 4 and 5) that the order of the words inthe sentence does not change in the interrogative form now we need to lookat some Italian lsquoquestion wordsrsquo

1 Chi

Chi means lsquowhowhomrsquo or sometimes lsquowhich ofrsquo and is only used to refer topeople Chi is invariable ndash that is the same form is used for masculine andfeminine singular and plural

When an adjective refers to chi it must be in the masculine singular formunless it refers to an all-female group

Chi egrave quellrsquouomoChi egrave quella ragazzaChi sono i tuoi amiciChi sono quelle ragazzeChi vuole venire al cinema

con meChi viene a cenaCon chi esciA chi scriveteChi ha una pennaChi non va in gita domaniChi non invitiChi di loro parla italiano

Who is that manWho is that girlWho are your friendsWho are those girlsWho wants to come to the cinema with me

Whorsquos coming for dinnerWho(m) are you going out withWho(m) are you writing toWhorsquos got a pen [ie has anyone got a pen]Whorsquos not going on the trip tomorrowWho(m) arenrsquot you invitingWhich of them speaks Italian

Chi egrave prontoChi egrave soddisfattoChi non egrave stancoChi di voi (ragazze) egrave prontaChi di voi (Signori) egrave italiano

Who is readyWho is satisfiedWho isnrsquot tiredWhich of you (girls) is readyWhich of you (gentlemen) is Italian

2 Che cosa Cosa Che

All three mean lsquowhatrsquo and are used when referring to objects Che cosaCosa and Che are invariable in gender and number

Che is also used as an adjective meaning lsquowhat (sorttype of)rsquo

3 Come

Come means lsquohowrsquo

Come can sometimes mean lsquowhatrsquo as in Come dici (What did you say)Comrsquoegrave Edimburgoil nuovo professore (Whatrsquos Edinburghthe new teacherlike)

4 Dove

Dove means lsquowherersquo

Cosrsquoegrave quelloChe cosrsquoegrave quella luceCosa sono quei segniChe sono quelle costruzioniChe succedeChe cosa voleteCosa studiCosa posso fare per LeiA che pensate

Whatrsquos thatWhatrsquos that lightWhat are those marksWhat are those buildingsWhatrsquos happeningWhat do you wantWhat are you studyingdo you studyWhat can I do for youWhat are you thinking about

Che lavoro faiChe musica ascolti di solitoChe film vai a vedereChe auto compra tuo padre

Whatrsquos your job [lit what work do you do]What (sort of) music do you usually listen toWhat film are you going to seeWhat (make of) car is your father going to

buy

Come sta SignoraCome vaCome fate la pizza

How are you MadamHowrsquos it goingHow do you make (a) pizza

Dove abitiDove andateDove sono le chiaviDovrsquoegrave il mio libro

Where do you liveWhere are you goingWhere are the keysWhere is my book

Unit 9 69

5 Quando

Quando means lsquowhenrsquo

6 Percheacute

Percheacute means lsquowhyrsquo

Come mai has a similar meaning corresponding to the English lsquohow comersquo

7 Quanto

Quanto means lsquohow muchrsquo when referring to quantity and lsquohow longrsquo lsquohowfarrsquo lsquohow tallrsquo etc when it refers to time distance height etc

Quanto can also be used as an adjective or pronoun In such cases it agrees ingender and number with the noun it refers to quanto [ms] quanta [fs] (howmuch) quanti [mp] quante [fp] (how many)

Quando partono i tuoi amiciQuando comincia il filmQuando arriva il trenoQuando egrave lo sciopero dei treni

When are your friends leavingWhen does the film startWhen does the train arriveWhenrsquos the railtrain strike

Percheacute ridonoPercheacute Giulia non va a scuolaPercheacute non studi

Why are they laughingWhy isnrsquot Giulia going to schoolWhy donrsquot you study

Come mai non mangiCome mai siete in ritardo

How come yoursquore not eatingHow come you are late

Quanto pesaQuanto costa questa magliettaQuanto dura il filmQuanto egrave alta tua sorellaQuantrsquoegrave

How muchWhat does it weighHow muchWhat does this T-shirt costHow long does the film lastHow tall is your sisterHow much is it

Quanto pane devo comprareQuanta pasta vuoiQuanti esercizi dobbiamo fareQuante ragazze ci sono in classe

tuaQuanto tempo abbiamo

lsquoCi sono molte personersquo lsquoQuantersquolsquoDobbiamo comprare del panersquo

lsquoQuantorsquo

How much bread do I have to buyHow much pasta do you wantHow many exercises have we got to doHow many girls are there in your class

How much time is thereHow longhave we got

lsquoThere are a lot of peoplersquo lsquoHow manyrsquolsquoWe must get (some) breadrsquo lsquoHow

muchrsquo

70 Unit 9

8 Quale

Quale means lsquowhichrsquo (or sometimes lsquowhatrsquo) It is used either as an adjective oras a pronoun and therefore agrees with the noun it refers to quale lsquowhich(one)rsquo quali lsquowhich (ones)rsquo The use of quale rather than che usually impliesthat there is a choice as for example if there are some books lying on thetable Quale libro leggi lsquoWhich book are you readingrsquo

Qual (without an apostrophe) is used before the forms of essere startingwith a vowel used in this way it sometimes means lsquowhatrsquo rather than lsquowhichrsquo

9 As is seen in some of the examples in paragraphs 2 3 4 and 7 cosa checosa come dove and quanto can also be shortened before the forms of esserestarting with a vowel becoming cosrsquo che cosrsquo comrsquo dovrsquo and quantrsquo (all withan apostrophe)

Quale canzone preferisciQuali esercizi facciamoQuali sono i tuoi librilsquoCompro due giornalirsquo lsquoQualirsquoQual egrave la canzone piugrave famosaQual egrave il Suo indirizzonumero di

telefono

Which song do you preferWhich exercises are we doingWhich are your bookslsquoIrsquom buying two papersrsquo lsquoWhich onesrsquoWhichWhat is the best-known songWhatrsquos your addressphone number

Cosrsquoera quel rumoreChe cosrsquoegrave successoComrsquoera lo spettacoloDovrsquoegrave la stazioneQuantrsquoegrave costato

What was that noiseWhat happenedHow was the showWhere is the stationHow much did it cost

Unit 9 71

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with chi or checosache cosa as appropriate

Examples mdashmdashmdash mi cerca chi mdashmdashmdash fate checosache cosa

Exercise 2

Complete the questions with an appropriate word (che come dove quandopercheacute or qualequaliqual)

Examples lsquomdashmdashmdash non esci staserarsquo lsquoDevo studiarersquo percheacute lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave latua bicirsquo lsquoQuellarsquo qual

1 mdashmdashmdash sono quei signori2 mdashmdashmdash di loro egrave tuo cugino3 Con mdashmdashmdash uscite stasera4 mdashmdashmdash posso fare per te5 mdashmdashmdash studiate6 mdashmdashmdash viene con me7 mdashmdashmdash accompagna Luca8 mdashmdashmdash vuoi bere9 Di mdashmdashmdash egrave questo libro

10 mdashmdashmdash succede

11 Per mdashmdashmdash lavori12 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Caffegrave o te13 A mdashmdashmdash telefoni14 mdashmdashmdash viene alla festa15 mdashmdashmdash dici16 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Gianni o Piero17 mdashmdashmdash leggi18 Da mdashmdashmdash vai a cena19 mdashmdashmdash vuoi fare stasera20 mdashmdashmdash apre la porta

1 lsquomdashmdashmdash abitatersquo lsquoA Milanorsquo2 lsquomdashmdashmdash parte lrsquoautobusrsquo lsquoAlle

800rsquo3 lsquomdashmdashmdash non studirsquo lsquoNon sto

benersquo4 lsquomdashmdashmdash sta Professorersquo lsquoBene

graziersquo5 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo compleannorsquo lsquoIl

20 aprilersquo6 lsquomdashmdashmdash lavoro fa tuo padrersquo lsquoIl

medicorsquo7 lsquomdashmdashmdash strada devo prenderersquo

lsquoQuella a destrarsquo8 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave la mensarsquo lsquoDietro la

palestrarsquo9 lsquomdashmdashmdash sei in ritardorsquo lsquoCrsquoegrave

sciopero degli autobusrsquo10 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo indirizzorsquo lsquoVia

Garibaldi 22rsquo

11 lsquomdashmdashmdash genere di musicaascoltatersquo lsquoRockrsquo

12 lsquomdashmdashmdash materia preferiscirsquolsquoScienzersquo

13 lsquomdashmdashmdash ti vesti per la festarsquo lsquoConla gonna lungarsquo

14 lsquomdashmdashmdash metto la bicirsquo lsquoIn garagersquo15 lsquomdashmdashmdash non venite con noirsquo

lsquoAbbiamo sonnorsquo16 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave il parcheggiorsquo lsquoDavanti

al cinemarsquo17 lsquomdashmdashmdash comincia la scuolarsquo lsquoA

settembrersquo18 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave la capitale dellrsquoItaliarsquo

lsquoRomarsquo19 lsquomdashmdashmdash non vai in vacanzarsquo lsquoNon

ho soldirsquo20 lsquomdashmdashmdash libri leggirsquo lsquoRomanzi di

avventurersquo

72 Unit 9

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct form of quanto

Examples mdashmdashmdashmdash anni hai quanti mdashmdashmdashmdash costa questa magliettaquanto

Exercise 4

1 How many rolls do you [pl] want2 Where are you [pl] going for lunch3 Who are those people4 What are you [sing] doing on Sunday5 When are you [pl] going on holiday6 Why isnrsquot Luisa leaving7 Which is your [sing] bike8 What film are you [sing] watching9 Which of them is Italian

10 When does the train arrive

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash persone vengono2 Fra mdashmdashmdashmdash tempo partite3 mdashmdashmdashmdash fratelli ha Luisa4 mdashmdashmdashmdash esercizi fate5 mdashmdashmdashmdash stanze ha la tua casa6 mdashmdashmdashmdash gente inviti7 mdashmdashmdashmdash sei alto8 mdashmdashmdashmdash pagine dobbiamo

studiare9 mdashmdashmdashmdash mesi rimanete in Italia

10 mdashmdashmdashmdash guadagni

11 mdashmdashmdashmdash frutta devo comprare12 mdashmdashmdashmdash costano quei jeans13 mdashmdashmdashmdash autobus devi prendere14 mdashmdashmdashmdash dura il concerto15 Da mdashmdashmdashmdash studiate italiano16 mdashmdashmdashmdash cartoline spedisci17 mdashmdashmdashmdash spendi al mese18 mdashmdashmdashmdash amiche hai19 mdashmdashmdashmdash libri devi leggere20 mdashmdashmdashmdash egrave lontana la discoteca

Unit 9 73

UNIT TENIndirect object pronouns (1)

1 We saw in Unit 7 that a direct object is the person or thing that the verbdirectly impacts on An indirect object is the person or thing that theaction is happening to or for Scrivo a Carla domani (Irsquoll write to Carlatomorrow) Mando cartoline a tutti i miei amici (I send cards to all myfriends) In English the indirect object can usually be preceded by lsquotorsquo orlsquoforrsquo but these are very often omitted compare lsquoI gave the book to Karenrsquoand lsquoI gave Karen the bookrsquo or lsquoIrsquoll pour a glass for Janersquo and lsquoIrsquoll pourJane a glassrsquo

An indirect object pronoun replaces a noun used as an indirect object lsquoIgave the book to herI gave her the bookrsquo lsquoIrsquoll pour her a glassIrsquoll pour a glassfor herrsquo

In Italian an indirect object pronoun replaces a noun preceded by thepreposition a it has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers toIndirect object pronouns normally come before the verb In the followingexamples the pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the indirect object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Maria le racconto tutto[le stands for a Maria (fs)]

Non telefono a Carlo gli scrivo[gli stands for a Carlo (ms)]

Paolo non ci dice mai la veritagrave[ci stands for a noi]

When I see Maria Irsquoll tell hereverything

Irsquom not going to phone Carlo Irsquollwrite to him

Paolo never tells us the truth

mitigli [m]le [f]civigli [m and f]

to meto youto himitherto usto youto them

The third person plural pronoun gli is used for both masculine and feminineFor the third person plural loro can be used instead of gli but it alwaysfollows the verb the meaning is the same but the use of loro is far lessfrequent and is more formal

Negative form

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 When an indirect object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usu-ally after verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Mi mandi una cartolina da Roma

Vi scrivo appena arrivoEgrave il compleanno di Anna le regalo

un CDSe Dario non ha lrsquoauto gli dograve un

passaggioTi impresto i soldilsquoScrivi agli ziirsquo lsquoNo gli telefono

domaniNo telefono loro domanirsquo

Gli dico la veritagraveDico loro la veritagrave

Will you send me a postcard fromRome

Irsquoll write to you as soon as I arriveItrsquos Annarsquos birthday Irsquom giving her a

CDIf Dario hasnrsquot got his car Irsquoll give

him a liftIrsquoll lend you the moneylsquoAre you going to write to your

unclesrsquo lsquoNo Irsquoll phone themtomorrowrsquo

Irsquom going to tell them the truth

Non ti impresto i soldiNon le scrivo le telefonoNon gli rispondo

I wonrsquot lend you the moneyIrsquom not going to write (to her) Irsquoll phone herIrsquom not going to reply toanswer him

Le voglio parlareGli devo scrivereMi potete telefonareMi sai dire quando

orororor

Voglio parlarleDevo scrivergliPotete telefonarmiSai dirmi quando

I want to talk to herI must write to himthemCan you phone meCan you tell me when

Unit 10 75

Formal form

5 The indirect object pronouns used for the formal form are Le for thesingular (for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronoun Loro ndashafter the verb ndash can also be used but this is very formal)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct indirectobject pronoun

Example Scrivete a Luigi Gli scrivete

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Gli scrivo Non gli scrivo

Le rispondo subito Signor ColliLe dograve un passaggio Signora BanfiSignori Bianco Vi telefono domani (Signori Bianco telefono Loro

domani)

Irsquoll answer you immediately Mr ColliIrsquoll give you a lift Mrs Banfi

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) Irsquoll phone youtomorrow

1 Telefoniamo a Carla2 Spedisco le cartoline ai miei amici3 Silvia racconta una storia al

bambino4 Regalo un libro alla zia5 Anna scrive alle amiche

6 Porto i fiori alla nonna7 Scriviamo ai nostri compagni8 Olga e Silvia parlano a Giulia9 La nonna legge un libro ai nipoti

10 Cosa regalate a Marco

1 Le parlo di lavoro2 Mi telefoni3 Vi regalo dei libri4 Gli offrite qualcosa5 Gli amici le offrono un gelato

6 Ci scrivete7 Ti mando una cartolina8 Vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo mi dice la veritagrave

10 Gli spedisco il pacco

76 Unit 10

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate indirect object pronouns

Examples Mauro ha molti amici e mdashmdash telefona spesso gli Livia vuoleparlare con te devi telefonarmdashmdash le

1 lsquoTelefonate a Luisarsquo lsquoNo mdashmdash scriviamo una letterarsquo2 Se mi chiedi qualcosa mdashmdash rispondo3 lsquoCosa regali a tuo padrersquo lsquomdashmdash regalo una cravattarsquo4 Se vedi le mie amiche puoi dirmdashmdash che le aspetto per domani5 Signora posso offrirmdashmdash un caffegrave6 lsquoCi portate un regalo dallrsquoItaliarsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash portiamo un panettonersquo7 lsquoCosa vuoi dirmdashmdashrsquo lsquoVi voglio dire la veritagraversquo8 Gianni mdashmdash presento mia sorella9 lsquoQuando telefoni ai nonnirsquo lsquomdashmdash telefono domani serarsquo

10 Professore mdashmdash devo parlare11 Non so fare questo esercizio mdashmdash dai una mano12 Domani egrave il compleanno di Anna devo farmdashmdash gli auguri13 Paolo dice sempre bugie non mdashmdash dovete credere14 Telefono a Michele e mdashmdash chiedo un prestito15 Se non avete lrsquoauto mdashmdash dograve un passaggio16 Se Carla e Pietro hanno bisogno di soldi mdashmdash posso fare un prestito17 lsquoQuanto ti danno allrsquoorarsquo lsquomdashmdash danno 15 eurorsquo18 Appena vedo Silvia mdashmdash rendo i libri19 Se vuoi mdashmdash impresto la mia bici20 Ettore egrave un buon amico e mdashmdash racconto sempre tutto

1 Le possiamo scrivere2 Ti devo parlare3 Gli voglio regalare una chitarra4 Ci puoi telefonare5 Vi devono offrire qualcosa

6 Mi potete dire tutto7 Le posso parlare Signora8 Non gli dovete scrivere9 Non ti posso rispondere

10 Le voglio credere

Unit 10 77

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Can you [sing] tell Lucia that I want to speak to her2 As soon as I arrive in Rome Irsquoll phone you [pl]3 I have to ask you a favour Madam4 Are you [sing] giving them your phone number5 They always tell us interesting things6 They always send me a card when they go to Italy7 For her birthday Irsquom giving her flowers8 Irsquove got to give you [sing] Lucarsquos books9 If you [pl] want Irsquoll tell you a story

10 Massimo writes to me every week

78 Unit 10

UNIT ELEVENPiacere and similar verbs

1 Piacere corresponds to lsquoto likersquo but it is used in a different way from itsEnglish counterpart In Italian the subject of the verbsentence is the thingor person one likes the person who likes something is denoted by an indirectobject pronoun (see Unit 10)

2 Piacere is an irregular verb mostly used in the third person singular(piace) and plural (piacciono) As can be seen in the examples piace is usedif the thing that one likes is a singular noun or pronoun or the infinitiveof a verb piacciono is used if the things that one likes are a plural noun orpronoun

Singular noun or pronoun

Verb

Mi piace lo sportTi piace ballare

Mi piacciono i gatti

I like sport [lit sport is pleasing to me]Do you like dancing [lit is dancing pleasing to

you]I like cats [lit cats are pleasing to me]

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

la mia cittagravequestoquestail calciola musica rockil tennisquelloquella

I like my home townYou like this (one)Heshe likes footballWe like rock musicYou like tennisThey like that one

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

leggereandare in bicisciareguardare la tvdormireballare

I like to readreadingYou like to cyclecyclingHeshe likes to skiskiingWe like to watchwatching TVYou like to sleepsleepingThey like to dancedancing

Plural noun or pronoun

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 As usual for the polite form in the singular the feminine pronoun (Le) isused for both men and women for the plural Vi is normally used

Loro is a much more formal way of addressing people in the plural it isalways placed after the verb

5 When the person who likes something is denoted not by a pronoun but bya noun the noun must be preceded by the preposition a

6 To mark a contrast the stressed forms of the pronouns (a me a te aluia lei a noi a voi a loro ndash see Unit 14) are used instead of the unstressedforms

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiacciono

questiquestele ciliegiei romanziquelliquellegli scherzile auto veloci

I like theseYou like cherriesHeshe likes novelsWe like thoseYou like practical jokesThey like fast cars

Non mi piace la pizzaNon ti piace questoquestaNon le piace sciareNon ci piacciono i videogiochi

I donrsquot like pizzaDonrsquot you like this (one)She doesnrsquot like skiingWe donrsquot like video games

Le piacciono i funghi SignoraVanni

Le piace leggere Signor VanniNon Le piace quelloquellaNon Le piace sciareSignori Conti Vi piace lrsquoItaliaSignori Conti piace Loro lrsquoItalia

Do you like mushrooms Mrs Vanni

Do you like reading Mr VanniDonrsquot you like that oneDonrsquot you like skiingDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs ContiDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs Conti

A Claudia non piace andare a scuolaAllo zio Davide piace la musica

classicaA Piera non piacciono questiquesteAi miei nonni piace dormireA Franco e Luisa piace viaggiare

Claudia doesnrsquot like going to schoolUncle Davide likes classical music

Piera doesnrsquot like theseMy grandparents like sleepingFranco and Luisa like travelling

80 Unit 11

7 There are other verbs which are used in the same way as piacere mancare(to miss) [lit lsquoto be lackingmissingrsquo] servire (to need) [lit lsquoto be usefulrsquo] bastare(to be enoughsufficient) and sembrare and parere (to seem)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct pronoun

Example A Sara non piace il caffegrave Non le piace il caffegrave

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Mi piace la pioggia Non mi piace la pioggia

A me piace il caffegrave a te piace il teA lui piacciono i gatti a lei noA noi piace il calcio a voi il tennisA loro piace nuotare a noi piace sciareA me piace questoquesta a Lei quello

quella

I like coffee you like teaHe likes cats she doesnrsquotWe like football you like tennisThey like swimming we like skiingI like this one you like that one

Mi manca il mio ragazzo

Non vi mancano i vostri genitori

Ti serve una pennaA Livia servono i tuoi consigliQuestiqueste non ci bastanoA me bastano 10 euro e a te

Il comportamento di Carlo misembrami pare strano

Non mi sembrami pare giusto

I miss my boyfriend [lit my boyfriendis lacking to me]

Donrsquot you miss your parents [lit arenrsquotyour parents lacking to you]

Do you need a penLivia needs your adviceThese arenrsquot enough for us10 euros are sufficient for me ndash are they

for youhow about youCarlorsquos behaviour seems strange to me

It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot thinkitrsquos fair

1 A Federica non piacciono i carciofi2 A Giampiero non piace guidare3 A Massimo piace viaggiare4 A Tullio e Anna piace il mare5 Ai miei amici piace ballare

6 A me e a Marco non piace il pesce7 A te e a Marina piace nuotare8 A Mara piacciono i film francesi9 Alla mamma non piace stirare

10 Allo zio piace andare in moto

Unit 11 81

Exercise 3

Write sentences expressing your taste

Example cavalli (Non) mi piacciono i cavalli

1 la frutta 2 il calcio 3 le fragole 4 giocare a tennis 5 uscire con gli amici6 i gatti 7 la pizza 8 i dolci 9 ballare 10 le vacanze

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative or negativesentences using the verb piacere

Example Maria le patate A Maria (non) piacciono le patate

Exercise 5

Supply the correct form of the verbs in brackets

Example Quei libri mi (sembrare) interessanti sembrano

1 Ci (bastare) questo pane2 Vi (sembrare) bello quel film3 Ci (piacere) le auto sportive4 A Sebastiano (mancare) la mamma5 lsquoVoglio comprare una motorsquo lsquoTi (servire) dei soldirsquo6 A Livio (mancare) i soldi per le vacanze

1 Le piace andare in centro il sabato2 Ti piace la musica classica3 Gli piacciono i funghi4 Vi piace guardare la televisione5 Mi piacciono i film di fantascienza

6 Gli piace la scuola7 Ci piacciono le canzoni italiane8 Le piacciono gli spaghetti9 Mi piace sciare

10 Vi piace la cioccolata al latte

1 Luigi2 il professore3 mia sorella4 i miei cugini5 il primo ministro

il caffegrave senza zuccherole poesie di Leopardiandare al cinemai film di Fellinila politica

82 Unit 11

7 Quello che dici mi (sembrare) interessante8 Mi (servire) delle scarpe nuove9 Quale di quei due libri ti (parere) migliore

10 Non ti (bastare) 20 euro

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian using the verbs piacere sembrare servire mancare orbastare

1 An hour isnrsquot enough for me2 Giovanni needs a pen3 Lynnersquos missing her Italian friends4 Do you [sing] like chocolate5 She doesnrsquot like going to the cinema6 Do you [pl] need a lift7 They need a pen and a notebook8 Do you find the show boring Madam9 Do you [sing] need help

10 I like reading

Unit 11 83

UNIT TWELVEThe present perfect tense

Use of the present perfect

1 The present perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) is one of the two most used pasttenses of the indicative in Italian (the other is the imperfect (lsquoimperfettorsquo) )The present perfect is often used like the English present perfect (eg lsquoI haveseen itrsquo lsquoShe has gone homersquo) to state that an action has happened in the pastbut that its effects are still lasting in the present However in Northern Italyand in the language of the media it is also equivalent to the English simplepast (eg lsquoI saw itrsquo lsquoShe went homersquo) referring to actions which happened in amore distant past and have no immediate consequences in the presentIndeed it more often corresponds to the English simple past than to theEnglish present perfect In other words in Italian the difference betweenpresent perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) and simple past (lsquopassato remotorsquo) is notalways marked and it is always possible to use the former

2 The present perfect is a compound tense and is formed as in English withthe present tense of the auxiliary verb followed by the past participle of theverb

Napoleone egrave morto il 5 maggio 1821Lrsquoestate scorsa siamo andati in

vacanza sul lago di GardaNina egrave nata in RussiaLrsquoanno scorso mi hanno regalato

una mountain bike

Napoleon died on 5 May 1821Last summer we went to Lake Garda

for oura holidayNina was born in RussiaLast year they gave me a mountain

bike

Ho visto un bel filmHa telefonato MarcoSono rimasto a casaAnna egrave uscitaSono andati in piscina

I sawhave seen a lovely filmMarco phonedhas phonedI stayedhave stayed at homeAnna went outhas gone outDid they goHave they gone to the swimming

pool

As the examples confirm the lsquopassato prossimorsquo may correspond to either thesimple past or the present perfect in English But there are also other differ-ences between the Italian and English structures there is only one auxiliaryverb in English (lsquoto haversquo) but in Italian there is a choice of two avere andessere when essere is used the past participle has to agree in gender andnumber with the subject finally whether to use avere or essere is not usually afree choice We will look at all these differences in detail but first we need tolook at the forms of the Italian past participle

Forms of the past participle

3 The regular forms of the past participle are obtained by changing theending of the infinitive as follows

Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) keep the lsquosoftrsquo sound of c (or sc) andtherefore add an i before the -uto ending (-iuto)

The past participle of verbs in -urre ends in -otto

Infinitive in -are-ato

Infinitive in -ere-uto

Infinitive in -ire-ito

Infinitiveparlaremangiarecaderevolerepiacereconoscerepartirecapire

Past participleparlatomangiatocadutovolutopiaciutoconosciutopartitocapito

(to speak) spoken(to eat) eaten(to fall) fallen(to want) wanted(to like) liked(to knowmeet for the first time) knownmet(to leave) left(to understand) understood

Infinitivecondurretradurreprodurre

Past participlecondottotradottoprodotto

(to leaddrivemanage) leddrivenmanaged(to translate) translated(to produce) produced

Unit 12 85

4 In Italian as in most languages many verbs have an irregular past parti-ciple which is best learned by heart and with use Here is a list of the mostfrequently used

Stato is also the past participle of stare The regular forms perduto and veduto are rarely used

The present perfect

5 The present perfect in Italian is formed with the present indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

Infinitiveaccendereaprireberechiederechiuderedecideredireesserefareleggeremettereperdereprendererendererimanererispondereromperescenderescriverespegnerespenderesuccederetoglierevederevenirevincerevivere

Past participleaccesoapertobevutochiestochiusodecisodettostatofattolettomessopersoperdutopresoresorimastorispostorottoscesoscrittospentospesosuccessotoltovistovedutovenutovintovissuto

(to turn onswitch on) turned onswitched on(to open) opened(to drink) drunk(to ask) asked(to close) closed(to decide) decided(to saytell) saidtold(to be) been(to domake) donemade(to read) read(to putput on) putput on(to lose) lost(to take) taken(to returngive back) returnedgiven back(to remainstay) remainedstayed(to answer) answered(to break) broken(to go downdescend) gone downdescended(to write) written(to turn offswitch off) turned offswitched off(to spend) spent(to happen) happened(to take awayoff) taken awayoff(to see) seen(to come) come(to win) won(to live) lived

86 Unit 12

6 As can be seen when the present perfect is formed with avere the pastparticiple does not change but when the present perfect is formed with esserethe past participle behaves like an adjective agreeing in gender and numberwith the subject of the verb Here are some examples

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Present of avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I wrotehave writtenyou wrotehave writtenhesheit wrotehas writtenwe wrotehave written

(voi) avete(loro) hanno

scrittoscritto

you wrotehave writtenthey wrotehave written

Present of essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I wenthave goneyou wenthave gonehesheit wenthas gonewe wenthave goneyou wenthave gonethey wenthave gone

AvereLivia ha guardato la televisioneHai comprato il pane

Ha prenotato Signor Ferro

EssereMonica egrave uscita [fs]Pietro egrave stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia sono rimaste a

casa [fp]Giulia e Sebastiano sono partiti

[mp]Sono andata al cinema [fs]

Siamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando egravearrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando egravearrivata [fs]

Livia (has) watched TVDid you buyHave you bought the

breadDid you bookHave you booked Mr

Ferro

Monica went outMonicarsquos gone outPietrorsquos been illFabia and Silvia (have) stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano (have) left

I wentIrsquove been to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We (have) arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When did you arrive Mr Poli

When did you arrive Mrs Poli

Unit 12 87

Present perfect of avere and essere

7 Avere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary essere

8 Like the present the present perfect of essere can be used with the pronounci (see Unit 4) crsquoegrave statostata (there washas been) ci sono statistate (therewerehave been)

Essere or avere

9 Deciding whether to use essere or avere can be a bit of a problem The onlyfirm rules are those governing transitive verbs (ie verbs which can have adirect object) and reflexive verbs (see Unit 20) Transitive verbs always useavere reflexive verbs always use essere

As for intransitive verbs some use avere and others essere In general it canbe said that verbs of movement (such as andare (to go) venire (to come)partire (to leave) uscire (to go out) entrare (to go income in)) or non-movement (such as rimanere (to remain) restare (to stayremain)) and verbsof state (such as essere diventare (to become) cambiare (to change) crescere(to grow)) use the auxiliary essere However this is not a hard and fast rulethere are intransitive verbs which take avere

ho avutohai avutoha avutoabbiamo avutoavete avutohanno avuto

I hadhave hadyou hadhave hadhesheit hadhas hadwe hadhave hadyou hadhave hadthey hadhave had

sono statostatasei statostataegrave statostatasiamo statistatesiete statistatesono statistate

I washave beenyou werehave beenhesheit washas beenwe werehave beenyou werehave beenthey werehave been

La settimana scorsa abbiamo avuto ospitiTanya ha avuto la varicellaNina egrave stata malataDes egrave stato mio studente

Last week we had guestsTanya has had chickenpoxNina has been illDes was a student of mine

Crsquoegrave stata unrsquoalluvioneCi sono stati troppo incidenti

There washas been a floodThere werehave been too many accidents

88 Unit 12

To help in choosing the right auxiliary here is a list of common verbs whichform the present perfect with essere

These verbs are normally only used in the third person singular and plural

Ho conosciuto i genitori di Gianni[transitive]

Avete spedito le vostre cartoline[transitive]

Quanto hai speso [transitive]Ieri sera siamo andati a un concerto

rock [intransitive]Domenica scorsa siamo rimasti a

casa [intransitive]Il tempo egrave cambiato [intransitive]Ho dormito bene [intransitive]

I (have) met Giannirsquos parents

Did you sendHave you sent yourpostcards

How much did you spendLast night we went to a rock concert

Last Sunday we stayed at home

The weatherrsquos changedI slept well

Infinitiveandarearrivarebastare

costare

crescerediventareentrareesseremorire

nascerepartirepiacere

restarerimanere(ri)tornareriuscire

sembrarestaresuccedere

uscirevenire

Present perfectsono andato-asono arrivato-aegrave bastato-asono bastati-eegrave costato-asono costati-esono cresciuto-asono diventato-asono entrato-asono stato-aegrave morto-asono morti-esono nato-asono partito-aegrave piaciuto-asono piaciuti-esono restato-asono rimasto-asono (ri)tornato-asono riuscito-a

sono sembrato-asono stato-aegrave successo-asono successi-esono uscito-asono venuto-a

I wenthave goneI arrivedhave arrivedit washas been enoughthey werehave been enoughit costhas costthey costhave costI grewhave grownI becamehave becomeI wenthave gone inI enteredhave enteredI washave beenhesheit diedhas died

I was bornI lefthave leftit pleasedhas pleasedthey pleasedhave pleasedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI came backhave come backI succeededmanagedI have succeeded

managedI seemedhave seemedI stoodstayedI have stoodstayedit happenedhas happenedthey happenedhave happenedI went outhave gone outI camehave come

Unit 12 89

Note that succedere is an impersonal verb something or things can happenbut succedere cannot be used like the English lsquoI happened to be in Romersquo etc

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the auxiliary

11 The adverbs ancora (again) mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) and giagrave (already)are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (eg Ho giagrave risposto(Irsquove already replied)) When they are used in the negative ndash non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) (see also Unit 6 paragraph 2) ndash non is placed before theauxiliary

I soldi sono bastatiQuanto egrave costata quella biciLa bici egrave costata piugrave di 900 euroMolti civili sono mortiLe egrave piaciuto il film SignoraDa allora sono succese molte

cose

The money was enoughHow much did that bicycle costThe bike cost over 900 eurosMany civilians diedhave diedDid you like the film( Madam)Since then many things have happened

After that many things happened

Ieri non sono andato a scuolaLisa non egrave riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon hai telefonato a Fabia

I didnrsquot go to school yesterdayLisa didnrsquot managehasnrsquot managed to

finish that jobDidnrsquot you phoneHavenrsquot you phoned

Fabia

Sei ancora andato in biblioteca

Siete mai stati su un ghiacciaioHai piugrave visto i tuoi amiciNon abbiamo ancora preso il

bigliettoPaola non egrave mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non ha piugrave telefonato

Did you goHave you been to the libraryagain

Have you ever been on a glacierHave you (ever) seen your friends againWe havenrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola has never been to VeniceCarlo didnrsquot phonehasnrsquot (ever) phoned

again

90 Unit 12

Dovere potere volere

12 The present perfect of dovere potere and volere is normally formed withthe auxiliary avere but when they are followed by a verb which forms thepresent perfect with essere they may take essere as well if essere is used thepast participle of the verb agrees with the subject

Remember that it is never wrong to use avere

Exercise 1

Supply the correct endings for the past participles ensuring that they agreewith the subject

Example Le mie amiche sono uscitmdash uscite

1 Francesca e Filippo sono restatmdash a casa2 Giulia e Susanna non sono uscitmdash ieri sera3 Nicoletta egrave andatmdash in vacanza4 I miei amici sono arrivatmdash domenica scorsa5 Quando Fabia egrave entratmdash ha visto gli amici6 Pierluigi non egrave riuscitmdash a finire il lavoro7 Professor Rossi quando egrave arrivatmdash8 Ti egrave piaciutmdash la partita9 Quanto sono costatmdash quei libri

10 Quando egrave natmdash tua sorella

I nostri amici hanno dovuto partire I nostri amici sono dovuti partireCecilia non ha potuto andare in Irlanda Cecilia non egrave potuta andare in IrlandaPercheacute non avete voluto uscire Percheacute non siete voluti uscire

Our friends had to leave

Cecilia couldnrsquot go to Ireland

Why didnrsquot you want to go out

Ho dovuto lavorareMaria ha dovuto rimanere a casaElena non ha potuto telefonare

Elena e Sergio non hanno potutoentrare

I (have) had to workMaria (has) had to stay at homeElena couldnrsquothasnrsquot been able to

phoneElena and Sergio couldnrsquothavenrsquot

been able to get in

Unit 12 91

Exercise 2

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Anna (partire) ieri egrave partita

Exercise 3

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Il dottore (uscire) egrave uscito

1 Dove (tu comprare) quellescarpe

2 Ettore (regalare) un portafoglioa Luisa

3 Ieri sera (noi andare) a unconcerto

4 Dove (voi trovare) quei fogli5 (tu spegnere) la luce6 Quanta gente (venire) alla festa7 Signora Depaoli (portare) i

documenti8 (voi prendere) il giornale9 Ieri (io vedere) le mie amiche

10 Non (tu potere) finire il lavoro

11 (io dovere) studiare molto perquesto esame

12 Franco (uscire) tardi e (perdere)lrsquoautobus

13 Chi ti (scrivere) quella lettera14 (noi giocare) a pallone tutto il

pomeriggio15 Federica (cominciare) il nuovo

lavoro16 Lorenzo non (volere) uscire17 Dove (tu mettere) i libri18 (tu potere) parlare col professore19 (voi avere) tempo per fare tutto20 (tu leggere) il giornale di oggi

1 (noi dovere) lavorare tutto ilgiorno

2 Dove (voi mangiare)3 A che ora (tu partire)4 Chi (telefonare)5 Claudia (volere) restare a casa6 (tu conoscere) il fratello di

Piero7 Silvia (dovere) andare in

ospedale8 (voi accompagnare) Lina alla

stazione9 Chi (vincere) il campionato

10 (tu finire) i compiti

11 Non (io capire) nulla12 (tu portare) i libri in biblioteca13 Non (noi riuscire) a finire in

tempo14 Cosa (voi decidere)15 Carla (avere) la febbre16 Ugo e Marina non (venire) a cena

da noi17 Che cosa (voi fare) domenica18 Il treno (partire) con mezzrsquoora di

ritardo19 La nonna (essere) contenta di

vedermi20 Chi (tradurre) questo libro

92 Unit 12

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquove already done this exercise2 I havenrsquot finished reading the paper yet3 Stefanorsquos never been to Rome4 I didnrsquot see Roberto again after the party5 Have you [pl] already paid the bill6 Giulia hasnrsquot started working yet7 Carlo couldnrsquot work any more8 Irsquove never met her parents9 Have you [sing] written the letters already

10 Irsquove never seen that film

Unit 12 93

UNIT THIRTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns (2)

1 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the present perfect (orany other compound tense) the past participle must agree in gender andnumber with the pronoun

Particular care must be taken when the gender is not shown in the pronounas in the last three examples

Note that when the polite form is used the past participle always agreeswith the feminine pronoun La not with the gender of the person beingspoken to

lsquoHai invitato Anna e Sararsquo lsquoSigrave leho invitatersquo

lsquoAvete portato i librirsquo lsquoSigrave liabbiamo portatirsquo

Ho comprato delle rose e leho date a Luisa

lsquoChi ha scritto questa musicarsquolsquoLrsquoha scritta Bob Marleyrsquo

lsquoDove hai comprato quellescarpersquo lsquoLe ho comprate almercatorsquo

Ho 25 compagni di classe e li hoinvitati tutti alla mia festa dicompleanno

Non ci hanno invitati alla festa

Mauro mi ha accompagnata allastazione

Ti hanno invitata

lsquoDid you invite Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYes Iinvited themrsquo

lsquoHave you brought the booksrsquo lsquoYeswersquove brought themrsquo

I bought some roses and gave them toLuisa

lsquoWho wrote this musicrsquo lsquoBob Marleywrote itrsquo

lsquoWhere did you buy those shoesrsquo lsquoIbought them at the marketrsquo

I have 25 classmates and Irsquove invited allof them to my birthday party

They didnrsquot invite us to the party [weare all males or mixed males andfemales]

Mauro took me to the station [thespeaker is female]

Did they invite you [the personaddressed is female]

2 The rule given above does not apply to indirect object pronouns with thesethe past participle of the verb never changes

3 As we saw in Units 7 and 10 when a direct or indirect object pronounoccurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive

In these sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or anyother compound tense) there is no agreement of the past participle even withdirect object pronouns

However when the direct object pronoun is not attached to the infinitive thepast participle must agree with it

Signor Belli chi Lrsquoha invitataDottor Ranieri Lrsquoabbiamo vista

ieri sera alla televisione

Who invited you Mr BelliWe saw you on television last night

Dr Ranieri

lsquoHai telefonato a Anna e SararsquolsquoSigrave gli ho telefonatorsquo

Quando egrave venuta Livia le ho offertoun gelato

Ho parlato con Carla e le ho dettotutto

Non ci hanno scritto

lsquoDid you phone Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYesI phoned themrsquo

When Livia came I offered her an icecream

I spoke to Carla and told hereverything

They didnrsquot write to us

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave hodovuto leggerli tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non ho ancora potutoleggerla

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non ha volutoinvitarle alla festa

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonabbiamo saputo farlirsquo

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave li hodovuti leggere tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non lrsquoho ancora potuta leggere

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non le ha voluteinvitare alla festa

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

Unit 13 95

4 In contemporary spoken Italian (and sometimes in written Italian as well)agreement of the past participle with first and second person direct objectpronouns tends not to be observed this is the case with both singular (mi ti) andplural (ci vi) so quite often you will hear (or read) sentences like the following

However the agreement is always made with the third person pronouns (lola li le)

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the direct object pronouns making sure that thepast participle agrees

Example Ho visto Gianna e mdashmdash ho invitatmdash lrsquoho invitata

1 Ho comprato dei fiori e mdashmdash ho messmdash in un vaso2 La zia egrave partita e mdashmdash ho accompagnatmdashalla stazione3 Ho visto delle belle scarpe e mdashmdashho compratmdash4 Lara ha aperto le finestre ma Luca mdashmdash ha chiusmdash5 Mi hanno regalato dei biscotti e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdash tutti6 Luisa non hai sentito che Claudio mdashmdash ha chiamatmdash7 Gaetano ha preso il giornale e mdashmdashha lettmdash8 lsquoVi hanno invitati alla festarsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash hanno invitatmdashrsquo9 lsquoHai preso i biglietti per il concertorsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho presmdashrsquo

10 Cerchi i libri mdashmdash ho datmdash a Giovanni

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonli abbiamo saputi farersquo

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoSusanna chi ti ha accompagnatorsquo[instead of ti ha accompagnata]

lsquoMi ha accompagnato Sebastianorsquo[instead of mi ha accompagnata]

Ci ha invitato alla festa [instead ofci ha invitati]

Vi ho visto entrare al cinema[instead of vi ho visti]

lsquoSusanna who went withtook yoursquo

lsquoSebastiano went withtook mersquo

HeShe has asked us to the party

I saw you go into the cinema

Lrsquoha accompagnata SebastianoLi ho invitati alla festalsquoQuando hai visto Carla e Liviarsquo

lsquoLe ho viste ierirsquo

Sebastiano went withtook herIrsquove asked them to the partylsquoWhen did you see Carla and Liviarsquo lsquoI

saw them yesterdayrsquo

96 Unit 13

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct direct or indirect object pronounmaking sure that the past participle agrees where necessary

Examples Non ho telefonato a Maria mdashmdashmdash ho scrittmdash le ho scrittoHo comprato una minigonna rossa e mdashho indossatmdash per lafesta lrsquoho indossata

1 Ho incontrato Lina e mdashmdash ho offertmdash un caffegrave2 Cerco Paola e Gianni mdashmdash avete vistmdash3 Non ho la bicicletta perchegrave mdashmdashho imprestatmdash a Filippo4 Non ho scritto a Paola mdashmdash ho telefonatmdash5 Dove sono le chiavi Chi mdashmdash ha presmdash6 Parlo bene lrsquoitaliano e il tedesco percheacute mdashmdash ho studiatmdash per sette anni7 Ieri ho visto Alessandro e mdashmdash ha presentatmdash sua sorella8 Caterina chi mdashmdash ha accompagnatmdash ieri sera9 Oggi egrave il compleanno di Daniela mdashmdash hai mandatmdash gli auguri

10 Gianna egrave una vecchia amica mdashmdashho conosciutmdash otto anni fa11 lsquoDove avete lasciato la bicirsquo lsquomdashmdashabbiamo lasciatmdash in stradarsquo12 Hai telefonato a Giacomo Che cosa mdashmdash hai dettmdash13 lsquoHai comprato i francobollirsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashrsquo14 Signora Lrsquoho cercata ieri ma non mdashmdashho trovatmdash15 Sebastiano ha molte amiche e io mdashmdash ho conosciutmdash tutte16 lsquoCosa hai detto a Matteorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho dettmdash nullarsquo17 lsquoChi ha pagato il contorsquo lsquomdashmdashha pagatmdash mia madrersquo18 lsquoCosa hai raccontato a Giuliarsquo lsquomdashmdash ho raccontatmdash la veritagraversquo19 Professore chi mdashmdashha accompagnatmdash in aeroporto20 Questa egrave una rivista molto interessante mdashmdashho lettmdash tutta

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as shown in the example

Example Ho dovuto comprarle Le ho dovute comprare

1 Non ho saputo farli2 Ho voluto vederli3 Non abbiamo potuto chiamarlo4 Hanno potuto aiutarvi5 Abbiamo dovuto invitarla

6 Non ha saputo tradurle7 Avete dovuto accompagnarle8 Ha voluto mangiarla9 Hai potuto vederli

10 Non hanno voluto farle

Unit 13 97

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sabina hasnrsquot invited me [f]2 Who called you [fs]3 We phoned them yesterday4 I looked for you [mp] but I didnrsquot find you5 Chiara took us to the bus stop6 I sent you [pl] a postcard ndash did you receive it7 My grandparents gave me 100 euros but Irsquove already spent it [Say lsquospent

themrsquo]8 I bought two rolls and ate them9 lsquoHave you [sing] switched the light offrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove switched it offrsquo

10 Carla hasnrsquot been able to help them [f]

98 Unit 13

UNIT FOURTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns(3 stressed forms)

1 Direct and indirect object pronouns do not only have the unstressed (orweak) forms that we saw in Units 7 10 and 13 they also have stressed(or strong) forms

As usual the pronoun Lei (third person singular feminine) and the pronounLoro (third person plural) are used for the formal form

2 The stressed forms of direct object and indirect object pronouns are usedto give emphasis to the pronoun or to stress a contrast unlike unstressedforms they normally come after the verb except when used with the verbspiacere sembrare servire bastare parere and mancare (see Unit 11) Stressedforms always refer to people not objects

Direct object stressed forms Indirect object stressed formsmeteluileiLeinoivoiloroLoro

a mea tea luia leia Leia noia voia loroa Loro

Chiamo voi non loroVedo lei ma non vedo luiAspetto Francesco non teInvito solo teInvito solo Lei Signor PaoliA me non piace il caffegraveA me sembra giustoTelefono a te ma non a loroBilly scrive a noi e non ai suoi

genitoriDevi rendere i soldi a me non a mio

fratello

Irsquom callingphoning you not themI can see her but I canrsquot see himIrsquom waiting for Francesco not youIrsquom only inviting youIrsquom only inviting you Mr PaoliI donrsquot like coffeeI think itrsquos fairIt seems fair to meIrsquoll phone you but not themBilly writes to us and not his parents

Yoursquove got to give me the money notmy brother

Note the difference between the two sentences lsquoNon mi piace il caffegraversquo andlsquoA me non piace il caffegraversquo The first simply states that I donrsquot like coffee whilethe second puts the emphasis on the pronoun lsquomersquo implying that there arepeople who do like coffee but I am not one of them The same applies tothe sentences lsquoMi sembra giustorsquo and lsquoA me sembra giustorsquo the secondsentence stresses the fact that there are other people who donrsquot think itrsquosfair

3 As the above examples suggest stressed direct and indirect object pro-nouns cannot be used to refer to objects When referring to objects the nounhas to be repeated (as is also generally the case in English)

4 The stressed forms of the object pronouns are used after all prepositions(see Unit 8) not just a This is true even when no emphasis is required

When su sopra dopo contro are used with a personal pronoun the pro-noun is preceded by the preposition di (see Unit 8 paragraphs 9 20)

5 The stressed forms are also always used when the verb has two pronoundirect or indirect objects even where no emphasis is required

lsquoPrendi la frutta e il dolcersquo lsquoPrendola frutta ma non il dolcersquo [NotlsquoPrendo lei ma non luirsquo]

lsquoPorti la chitarra e i CDrsquo lsquoPorto iCD ma non la chitarrarsquo [NotlsquoPorto loro ma non leirsquo]

lsquoAre you having the fruit and thesweetrsquo lsquoIrsquom having the fruit butnot the sweetrsquo

lsquoAre you bringing the guitar and theCDsrsquo lsquoIrsquoll bring the CDs but notthe guitarrsquo [or at a pinch lsquoIrsquoll bringthem but not itrsquo]

Vengo con Lei SignoraChi di loro non vuole venirePuoi dormire da me staseraFaccio questo per tePuoi contare su di meDopo di te ci sono ioNon ho nulla contro di voi

Irsquom coming with you( Madam)Which of them doesnrsquot want to comeYou can sleep at my place tonightIrsquom doing this for youYou can count on meAfter you itrsquos memy turnIrsquove got nothing against you

Ho visto te e lui in cittagrave [not Ti e lo hovisto in cittagrave]

Invito voi e loro [not Vi e li invito]Scrive a te e a me [not Ti e mi scrive]Regaliamo fiori a loro e a lei [not

Gli e le regaliamo fiori]

I saw you and him in town

Irsquom inviting you and themHe writes to you and meWersquore giving flowers to them and

her

100 Unit 14

6 Stressed forms are always used after anchepure (also too) neanchenemmenoneppure (not even neither) come (as like) quanto (as much as)eccetto (che)meno (che)tranne (che)salvo (che) (except but)

The forms eccetto chemeno chetranne chesalvo che are used when there is apreposition before the pronoun

7 Note that when the stressed forms of the direct object pronouns are used ina sentence with the verb in a compound tense (see Unit 13 paragraph 1) thepast participle does not agree with the pronoun

Exercise 1

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones

Examples Mario chiama (them) non (you [pl]) loro voi La nonna hadato i soldi a (you [sing]) e non a (me) te me

1 Prima accompagno (her) a scuola poi (you [sing]) in palestra2 Dovete invitare anche (them)3 Non egrave venuto nessuno nemmeno (her)4 Hanno invitato (us) e non (you [pl])5 Allrsquoesame hanno promosso tutti tranne (me)6 Credo a tutti meno che a (him)

Invito anche voiDevi fare come meMaria lavora quanto teDevi chiedere anche a noiNon credo neppure a luiVengono tutti meno lui

Faccio questo per tutti meno cheper lei

Anna telefona a tutti salvo che aloro

Sandro esce con tutti salvo checon noi

Sono tutti contro di noi

Irsquom inviting you as wellYou should do as I dodo it like meMaria works as much as you (do)You have to ask us as wellI donrsquot believe him eitherTheyrsquore all coming except him

Everyone but himrsquos comingIrsquom doingIrsquoll do this for everyone

exceptbut herAnna phones everyone exceptbut

themSandro goes out with everybody

exceptbut usThey are all against us

Ho chiamato voi non loroHo visto lei ma non ho visto luiLucia ha invitato loro ma non lui

I called you not themI saw her but I didnrsquot see himLucia has invited them but not him

Unit 14 101

7 Carla vuole bene a (me) quanto a (you [sing])8 A (you [polite]) credo Professore9 Voglio presentare i miei amici anche a (you [pl])

10 A (her) come a (them) non sembra giusto

Exercise 2

Translate the following sentences where necessary underlining the em-phasised words

Examples Dovete invitare anche me You should invite me as welltoo Ame manca il sole a te no Irsquom missing the sun ndash arenrsquot you orI miss the sun ndash donrsquot you

1 Nessuno suona la batteria come me2 Tutti gli studenti hanno fatto il compito meno lui3 Sergio chiama te non me4 Accompagno anche te5 Capisco quanto te6 Mauro dice la veritagrave a tutti tranne che a me7 Dovete telefonare anche a me8 Claudia impresta i dischi a noi non a voi9 Do il mio indirizzo a tutti salvo che a lei

10 Regalo un libro a lei e un disco a lui

Exercise 3

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones as you did inExercise 1

1 Chi di (you [pl]) non puograve venire alla festa2 Allrsquoesame orale sono passato subito dopo di (him)3 Sopra di (them) abita una signora molto gentile4 Abbiamo deciso fra (us)5 Esci con (her) anche stasera

102 Unit 14

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian using the stressed form of the pronouns

1 Everyonersquos against me2 Are you [sing] coming with me3 Irsquove bought a present for you [sing]4 You [sing] canrsquot count on him5 Can I sleep at your [pl] place tonight

Unit 14 103

UNIT FIFTEENRelative pronouns

1 The Italian relative pronouns correspond to the English lsquowhorsquo lsquowhichrsquolsquothatrsquo lsquowhomrsquo lsquowhosersquo They have two forms invariable (che cui) and vari-able (il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp])

The invariable forms which can replace all nouns (masculine feminine sin-gular plural) are the most frequently used

2 The invariable form che is used for masculine feminine singular and pluralnouns it can be either a subject or a direct object

Il treno che prendo la mattina egravesempre molto affollato

La storia che ho letto egrave stranaLa ragazza chela quale ha tele-

fonato ha bisogno di un favoreGli amici chei quali sono venuti a

trovarmi sono irlandesiHai ancora le chiavi che ti ho dato

Il ragazzo con cuicol quale esci egravemolto simpatico

La ragazza a cuialla quale ho datoi libri egrave una mia amica

The train (that) I get in the morning isalways very crowded

The story (that) Irsquove read is strangeThe girl who phoned needs a favour

The friends who came to see me areIrish

Have you still got the keys (that) I gaveyou

The boy with whom you are going outyoursquore going out with is very nice

The girl to whom I gave the booksIgave the books to is a friend of mine

Il gruppo che [subject ms] suonastasera egrave molto conosciuto

Il cantante che [direct object ms]abbiamo sentito ieri sera non egravemolto bravo

Le scarpe che [direct object fp] hocomprato sono care

The group who are playing tonightare very well known

The singer (whom) we heard last nightisnrsquot very good

The shoes (that) I bought areexpensive

In Italian collective nouns (eg il gruppo lsquothe grouprsquo la squadra lsquothesquadteamrsquo) are always followed by the singular of the verb never the plural

3 When a preposition is needed before the invariable relative pronoun (eg ifit stands for an indirect object) the form used is cui

The preposition a can sometimes be omitted before cui The Italian for lsquothe reasonreasons whyrsquo is always la ragionele ragioni percui never percheacute

4 The variable forms il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp] areused as subject indirect object and ndash very rarely ndash as direct object They mustagree in gender and number with the noun they replace

Non conosco i ragazzi che [subjectmp] sono appena arrivati

I donrsquot know the boys who have justarrived

Lo zio a cui scrivo sempre arrivadomani

La vicina per cui ho fatto la spesami ha invitato a cena

Non conosci la persona (a) cui devotelefonare

Il dentista da cui vado egrave moltobravo

Nella cittagrave in cui abito ci sono molticinema

Gli amici con cui esco sono italianiNon capisco la ragione per cui

Paola non egrave venutaNon ho ancora letto le notizie di cui

parli

The uncle I always write toto whom Ialways write is arriving tomorrow

The neighbour I went shopping forforwhom I went shopping has invitedme to dinner

You donrsquot know the person (that) Ihave to phone

The dentist I go to is very good

There are a lot of cinemas in the townin which I live

The friends I go out with are ItalianI donrsquot understand (the reason) why

Paola didnrsquot comeI havenrsquot read the news yoursquore talking

about yet

Paolo il quale egrave sempre in ritardonon egrave ancora arrivato

Ho parlato con una ragazza la qualemi ha dato tutte le informazioni

Tullio e Anna sono amici i quali miinvitano spesso

Ci sono due signore le quali nonhanno prenotato

Lrsquoamica con la quale sono andatain vacanza si chiama Elisa

Paolo who is always late still hasnrsquotarrived

I spoke to a girl who gave me all theinformation

Tullio and Anna are friends who ofteninvite me round

There are two ladies who havenrsquotbooked

The friend with whom I went onholidayI went away with is calledElisa

Unit 15 105

Remember to combine the definite article with the preposition (see Unit 8paragraph 2) when using the variable forms

5 When a relative pronoun is preceded by in or a and these denote place itis often replaced in contemporary Italian by the adverb dove Da dove or didove can be used when the relative pronoun is preceded by the prepositionda

6 The relative pronouns (both variable and invariable) can be used in con-junction with the demonstrative pronouns colui and quello

Colui can only refer to people It has three forms colui [ms] colei [fs]coloro [mp and fp] these combine with checui or il qualela qualei qualilequali as follows

Quello has four forms quello [ms] quella [fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp]these only combine with checui and can refer to both objects andpeople

The use of quello che etc to refer to a person is rather informal unlike coluichecolui il quale etc which are quite formal

Questa egrave lrsquoamica della quale ti hoparlato

Lrsquoinsegnante al quale ho parlato egravestato molto gentile

This is the friend I told you about

The teacher I spoke to was very kind

Milano egrave la cittagrave dove [for in cui]vive Walter

Questo egrave il negozio dove [for in cui]lavora Pia

La stazione dove [for a cui] deveandare non egrave lontana da qui

La scuola da dovedi dove [for dacui] viene Enrico egrave molto buona

Milan is the city where Walter lives

This is the shop where Pia works

The station hersquos got to go to isnrsquot farfrom here

The school Enrico went to [lit comesfrom] is very good

colui che or colui il qualecolei che or colei la qualecoloro che or coloro i qualicoloro le quali

he whoshe whothose who

quello chequella chequelli chequelle che

that which he who the one whichwhothat which she who the one whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwho

106 Unit 15

7 When referring to people the pronoun chi (who anyone who the personpeople who) is often used instead of the more formal lsquodouble relativersquo (coluicoleicoloro che colui il quale etc) Chi is always used with the verb in thethird person singular past participles and adjectives are always in the mascu-line singular

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples La ragazza mdashmdash ho invitato egrave mia cugina che Il ragazzoa mdashmdash devo telefonare egrave Matteo cui

1 Il film mdashmdash mi hai consigliato egrave molto bello2 La palestra in mdashmdash vado non egrave lontana

Colui che pensa questo sbagliaQuello che pensa questo sbagliaPossono entrare solo coloro che

coloro i quali hanno lrsquoinvitoPossono entrare solo quelli che

hanno lrsquoinvitoColoro a cuiai quali scrivo sono

amici di mio fratelloQuelli a cui scrivo sono amici di

mio fratelloQuelli che sono sul tavolo sono i

libri di TullioCi sono due case quella in cui abita

Giorgio egrave la piugrave grande

He who thinks this is wrongAnyone who thinks this is wrongOnly those who have an invitation

may comego inOnly people with an invitation can

comego inThose Irsquom writing to are friends of my

brother(rsquos)The people Irsquom writing to are friends

of my brother(rsquos)ThoseThe ones (which are) on the

table are Tulliorsquos booksThere are two houses the one Giorgio

lives in is the bigger

Chi pensa questo sbagliaPuograve entrare solo chi ha lrsquoinvito

Non ho visto chi egrave entratoEsco con chi mi invita

Lavoro per chi mi pagaRipeto la spiegazione per chi

non ha capitoHai risposto a chi ti ha scritto

Anyone who thinks this is wrongOnly people who have an invitation can

come ingo inI didnrsquot see who came inwent inIrsquoll go out with anyone who invitesasks

meIrsquoll work for anyone who pays meIrsquoll repeat the explanation for those

anyone who didnrsquot understandHave you replied to the personpeople

who wrote to you

Unit 15 107

3 I bambini mdashmdash sono venuti sono i miei cugini4 Non conosco le persone con mdashmdash esci5 La torta mdashmdash ha fatto tua mamma egrave molto buona6 Quando mi rendi i CD mdashmdash ti ho imprestato7 Lrsquoargomento di mdashmdash parla Paolo non mi interessa8 La ragione per mdashmdash non siamo venuti egrave semplice9 La cittagrave in mdashmdash sono nato non egrave molto grande

10 Come egrave andato lrsquoesame mdashmdash hai dato ieri

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples Hai comprato le cose mdashmdash ti ho chiesto che La discotecain mdashmdash andiamo egrave in centro cui

1 Nella biblioteca in mdashmdash vado a studiare fa sempre freddo2 Gli amici da mdashmdash siamo andati sono molto simpatici3 La stanza in mdashmdash dorme Luigi egrave la piugrave luminosa4 Non mi piace la musica mdashmdash ascolti tu5 Hai giagrave letto il libro mdashmdash ti hanno regalato6 Gli esercizi mdashmdash avete fatto sono tutti giusti7 Quello egrave il muro su mdashmdash vogliamo mettere i poster8 Vuoi leggere la lettera mdashmdash mi ha scritto Angela9 Il medico da mdashmdash vanno i miei genitori egrave molto giovane

10 Di chi egrave la bici con mdashmdash sei arrivato

Exercise 3

Replace che and cui with il quale la quale i quali or le quali (remember tocombine the definite article and the preposition where necessary)

Example Gli amici da cui andiamo in vacanza sono simpatici dai quali

1 Mia madre che egrave infermiera lavora in un ospedale2 Chi egrave la ragazza con cui sei uscito3 Gli esami di cui ha parlato il professore sono a giugno4 Il campeggio in cui siamo stati egrave vicino al mare5 Tutte le ragazze a cui ho telefonato hanno accettato lrsquoinvito6 Franco che egrave un bravo attore ha trovato lavoro in un teatro7 Il parrucchiere da cui vado egrave un amico8 Le cugine di Chiara che abitano vicino a me sono simpatiche

108 Unit 15

9 Le amiche di cui ti ho parlato arrivano domani10 I nostri amici che sono tutti italiani non parlano inglese

Exercise 4

Supply the correct double relative pronoun (coluicoleicoloro che)

Example mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno biglietti possono entrare coloro che

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha scritto questo libro egrave la sorella di Piero2 mdashmdashmdashmdash ci hanno invitati sono amici di Luisa3 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha vinto il premio egrave Antonio4 mdashmdashmdashmdash dagrave le informazioni deve parlare inglese e spagnolo5 mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno parlato sono persone molto importanti

Exercise 5

Complete using the correct pronouns (chi or quelloquellaquelliquelle che)

Examples mdashmdash non ha il biglietto non entra chi mdashmdash hai fatto non sonoerrori gravi quelli che

1 Non conosco mdashmdash ha scritto questa lettera2 La spiegazione egrave mdashmdash ti ho dato3 Il controllore egrave mdashmdash controlla i biglietti4 Vince il premio mdashmdash finisce per primo5 mdashmdash ti ho imprestato sono i libri che devi leggere6 mdashmdash abbiamo comprato egrave unrsquoauto economica7 mdashmdash fa la spesa al mercato spende meno8 mdashmdash abbiamo prenotato egrave un hotel di lusso9 mdashmdash non puograve venire deve telefonare per avvertire

10 mdashmdash ho visto in quel negozio sono scarpe molto belle

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian

1 The book which I want to buy is too expensive2 The lady I spoke to is German3 The people who phoned live in America4 The town I live in isnrsquot very big

Unit 15 109

5 Anyone who wants to go to university must be able to read and write6 Paolo whorsquos lost his mobile is not happy7 I like that song but I prefer the ones we heard last night8 This is Fabiorsquos sister who lent me her bike9 Did you [sing] see who ate the peaches

10 Whorsquos the man you [pl] sold the tickets to

110 Unit 15

UNIT SIXTEENThe imperfect tense

1 The imperfect is together with the present perfect one of the most usedpast tenses in Italian It is called lsquoimperfectrsquo because generally speakingthere is no reference to the beginning or end of the action it expresseseither the length of time the action lasted is not relevant or the action isseen as the background to another action or two actions took place at thesame time and lasted the same length of time Here are some typicalexamples

As you can see from the examples the Italian imperfect corresponds to sev-eral different English forms We will look at the different meanings and usesof this tense but first we will look at its forms

The forms of the imperfect

2 The forms of the imperfect are very regular Here are the endings for thethree conjugations (-are -ere -ire)

Mio nonno lavorava in India

Mia nonna era infermieraMentre io entravo Elena usciva

Quando ho cominciato la scuolaavevo cinque anni

Elena egrave arrivata mentre io uscivoClaudia parlava con unrsquoamica

quando egrave arrivato lrsquoautobusQuando ero al mare nuotavo tutti i

giorni

My grandfather used to work inIndia

My grandmother was a nurseAs I was going in Elena was coming

outWhen I started school I was five

Elena arrived as I was going outClaudia was talking to a friend when

the bus arrivedWhen I was at the seaside I wentused

to go swimming every day

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

The verb avere also follows this same regular pattern

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-avo-avi-ava-avamo-avate-avano

-ere-evo-evi-eva-evamo-evate-evano

-ire-ivo-ivi-iva-ivamo-ivate-ivano

Parlareparlavoparlaviparlavaparlavamoparlavateparlavano

To speakI spokewas speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakhesheit spokewas speakingused to speakwe spokewere speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakthey spokewere speakingused to speak

Prendereprendevoprendeviprendevaprendevamoprendevateprendevano

To takegetI tookwas takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takehesheit tookwas takingused to takewe tookwere takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takethey tookwere takingused to take

avevoaveviavevaavevamoavevateavevano

I hadwas havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havehesheit hadwas havingused to havewe hadwere havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havethey hadwere havingused to have

Partirepartivopartivipartivapartivamo

To leaveI leftwas leavingused to leaveyou leftwere leavingused to leavehesheit leftwas leavingused to leavewe leftwere leavingused to leave

partivatepartivano

you leftwere leavingused to leavethey leftwere leavingused to leave

112 Unit 16

3 Not many verbs are irregular in the imperfect Essere is one

Like the present the imperfect of essere can be used with the pronoun ci (seeUnit 4) crsquoera (there was) crsquoerano (there were)

Other irregular verbs are bere dire and fare

Mio nonno parlava molto benelrsquoitaliano

Mentre prendevamo il caffegrave egravesuonato il telefono

Quando Carla aveva 5 anni abitavaa Roma

Sono arrivato quando il trenopartiva

Mio fratello andava a scuola inautobus

Di solito Gianni e sua sorellaandavano al cinema insieme

Quando Maurizio lavorava in quelsupermercato lo pagavanopochissimo

Mentre Sebastiano leggeva ilgiornale io ho finito i compiti

My grandfather spoke Italian verywell

While we were having coffee thetelephone rang

When Carla was five she lived inRome

I arrived as the train was leaving

My brother used to go to school bybus

Usually Gianni and his sister went tothe cinema together

When Maurizio worked in thatsupermarket they paid him verylittle

While Sebastiano was reading thepaper I finished my homework

eroerieraeravamoeravateerano

I wasused to beyou wereused to behesheit wasused to bewe wereused to beyou wereused to bethey wereused to be

bevevobevevibevevabevevamobevevatebevevano

I drankwas drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkhesheit drankwas drinkingused to drinkwe drankwere drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkthey drankwere drinkingused to drink

dicevodicevi

I saidwas sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to say

dicevadicevamodicevatedicevano

hesheit saidwas sayingused to saywe saidwere sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to saythey saidwere sayingused to say

Unit 16 113

All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

4 The negative is formed as usual by putting non before the verb

facevofacevifacevafacevamofacevatefacevano

I didwas doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dohesheit didwas doingused to dowe didwere doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dothey didwere doingused to do

-ucevo

-ucevi

-uceva

-ucevamo

-ucevate

-ucevano

traducevo

traducevi

traduceva

traducevamo

traducevate

traducevano

I translatedwas translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

hesheit translatedwas translatingused totranslate

we translatedwere translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

they translatedwere translatingused totranslate

Quando ero bambino abitavo aParma

Ieri il tempo era belloAl concerto crsquoerano piugrave di 900

personeMia sorella beveva solo acqua

minerale ora beve anche acquadi rubinetto

Cosa diceviCosa faceva Signora quando non

lavoravaLrsquointerprete traduceva ma nessuno

ascoltava

When I was a child I lived in Parma

Yesterday the weather was lovelyThere were more than 900 people at

the concertMy sister only used to drink mineral

water now she drinks tap water aswell

What were you sayingWhat did you do( Madam) when you

werenrsquot workingdidnrsquot workThe interpreter was translating but

nobody was listening

Di solito la domenica non uscivoQuando hai telefonato non facevo

niente di speciale

I didnrsquot usually go out on SundaysWhen you phoned I wasnrsquot doing

anything special

114 Unit 16

Use of the imperfect

5 The imperfect is used for descriptions of situations in the past when it isnot necessary (or important) to say how long an action lasted This generallyhappens with verbs like essere sembrare and avere and with verbs expressingwill desire or intention possibility or ability but it can happen with otherverbs as well

6 The imperfect is also used to express actions which were habitual or hap-pened repeatedly in the past

7 Since the imperfect is used when it is not relevant how long the actionlasted it is not used when it is stated how many times or for how longsomething happened

Crsquoerano molte persone cheaspettavano il treno

Ieri sera sembravi molto stancoMia nonna era molto alta e aveva i

capelli bianchiFaceva freddo in montagnaCosa voleviDue anni fa abitavo a MilanoSuo padre era medico

There were a lot of people (who were)waiting for the train

You looked very tired last nightMy grandmother was very tall and

had white hairWas it cold in the mountainsWhat did you wantwere you wantingTwo years ago I was living in MilanHis father was a doctor

Lrsquoestate scorsa giocavamo semprea tennis

Quando ero in vacanza andavo alcinema tutti i giorni

Tutte le mattine a colazione Giuliaprendeva solo del caffegrave

Cenavamo alle otto

Last summer we played tennis all thetime

When I was on holiday I went to thecinema every day

Every morning Giulia just had coffeefor breakfast

We used to have dinner at eight

Lrsquoestate scorsa sono andato alcinema 25 volte

Last summer I went to the cinema 25times

Ha fatto molto freddo per due giorniGiulia ha lavorato qui da gennaio a

giugnoHo abitato a Milano per due anniIeri abbiamo lavorato tutto il giornoIeri sono stato in biblioteca dalle

nove alle undici

It was very cold for two daysGiulia worked here from January to

JuneI lived in Milan for two yearsYesterday we worked all dayYesterday I was in the library from

nine till 11

Unit 16 115

8 When a sentence refers to two or more events which happened in the pastit is helpful to think in terms of lsquoforegroundrsquo and lsquobackgroundrsquo as in thesetwo English examples lsquoWhile I was doing the dishes [continuous back-ground] I heard [foreground] the doorbellrsquo lsquoI saw [foreground] Juve a coupleof times when I was [continuous background] in Turinrsquo In Italian in caseslike these the imperfect expresses the continuous lsquobackgroundrsquo action againstwhich the lsquoforegroundrsquo action is seen to occur

Note that mentre (while) in the past is always followed by the imperfect

If the two events happened at the same time and lasted for the same length oftime then both verbs are in the imperfect

Mentre dormivate ho preparato lacolazione

Mia madre ha conosciuto mio padrequando abitava a Firenze

Mauro non ha preso lrsquoombrelloanche se pioveva

Marco ha telefonato quando eravateal cinema

Non sono uscita percheacute pioveva

While you were sleepingasleep Iprepared breakfast

My mother met my father when shewas living in Florence

Mauro didnrsquot take the umbrella eventhough it was raining

Marco phoned when you were at thecinema

I didnrsquot go out because it was raining

Mentre noi facevamo il compito dimatematica Carla ripassavafilosofia

Mentre Alessandro preparava lacena Claudia leggeva il giornale

Quando io lavoravo alsupermercato mia sorellalavorava in un cinema

While we were doing our mathshomework Carla was revisingphilosophy

While Alessandro was preparingdinner Claudia was reading thenewspaper

When I worked in the supermarketmy sister worked in a cinema

Il gatto miagolava percheacute avevafame

The cat was miaowing because it washungry

116 Unit 16

Exercise 1

Supply the imperfect of the verb in brackets

Example Silvio (lavorare) molto lavorava

Exercise 2

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verb in brackets

Examples (io comprare) la macchina due anni fa ho comprato Drsquoestate(noi andare) in spiaggia ogni mattina andavamo

1 Elena a che ora (tu partire) ieri2 Chi (essere) Dante Alighieri3 (io studiare) per due ore4 Di solito (noi mangiare) in mensa5 Claudia (rimanere) in casa tutto il giorno6 Mia nonna (avere) gli occhi azzurri7 Nicoletta e Luigina non (sembrare) sorelle8 Ieri Andrea (spendere) 150 euro9 Signora dove (andare) in vacanza lrsquoanno scorso

10 I loro amici (essere) sempre allegri

1 Il nonno di Piero (parlare) seilingue

2 Laura (passare) sempre lrsquoestateal mare

3 Che lavoro (fare) tua nonna4 Mentre (io studiare) Maria

(riposare)5 Il treno (partire) sempre in

ritardo6 Dove (lavorare) Nicola7 Paolo non (dire) mai la veritagrave8 Ieri (fare) freddo9 Da bambini (noi abitare) in

campagna

10 (voi essere) stanchi ieri sera11 (loro andare) in piscina tutti i

giorni12 Lei (essere) infermiera Signora13 Non (noi uscire) mai di domenica14 (tu sapere) la veritagrave15 (io conoscere) bene suo cugino16 Paolo (amare) Francesca17 (voi dormire) ancora18 I miei amici (essere) studenti19 (tu avere) fame20 (loro dovere) partire

Unit 16 117

Exercise 3

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verbs inbrackets

Example Mentre (noi guardare) la televisione Isabella (ascoltare) laradio guardavamo ascoltava

1 Marco (arrivare) tardi percheacute il treno (essere) in ritardo2 (io conoscere) Susanna quando (io abitare) a Napoli3 Quanti anni (tu avere) quando (tu cominciare) a lavorare4 Sergio (telefonare) proprio mentre (io fare) il bagno5 Anna e Giacomo (venire) a piedi percheacute lrsquoauto (essere) guasta6 Non (loro fare) la spesa percheacute non (loro sapere) cosa comprare7 Cosa (loro dire) quando (loro vedere) Gianni ieri sera8 Massimo non (venire) alla festa percheacute (avere) mal di testa9 (noi arrivare) alla stazione proprio mentre il treno (partire)

10 (io imprestare) la bici a Giulia percheacute la sua (essere) rotta

Exercise 4

Put the text into a past tense changing the verbs in italics to either the presentperfect or the imperfect

Sabato sera in un locale del centro suona un gruppo rock che piace molto aMassimo cosigrave i miei amici e io decidiamo di andare a questo concerto Arrivi-amo davanti al locale con molto anticipo mancano tre ore allrsquoinizio ma cisono giagrave molte persone Massimo egrave molto impaziente Dopo una mezzrsquooramentre aspettiamo sentiamo suonare il cellulare di Massimo e lui rispondeVediamo che Massimo egrave preoccupato e quando finisce di parlare ci spiega Egravesuo padre che lo chiama percheacute ha bisogno di aiuto la sua auto egrave guasta e nonsa come tornare a casa Massimo parte subito per andare a prenderlo eaccompagnarlo a casa anche se ha paura di perdere il concerto Per fortunaperograve Massimo riesce a tornare dopo unrsquoora proprio mentre aprono le porte

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 How long did you [sing] spend in Bologna2 We went to the cinema last night3 You [pl] seemed happy

118 Unit 16

4 Gemmarsquos father was a sailor5 Claudia and Monica didnrsquot come on holiday with us this time6 My parents usually went out at eight7 My father worked in India for three years8 What time did you [pl] get the bus yesterday morning9 Last year we did gym on Monday mornings

10 Where did you [sing] buy those shoes11 I didnrsquot call you [sing] because you were asleep12 When you [pl] were living in London I was living in Paris13 How old was Susanna when she went to university14 While I was watching the television Anna came in and switched it off15 Paolo and Giulia didnrsquot come because Paolo was too tired

Unit 16 119

UNIT SEVENTEENThe pronouns ne and ci

The pronoun ne

1 The pronoun ne is used to refer to a part of a whole corresponding to lsquoof it-themrsquo as in lsquosome of itthemrsquo lsquotwo of themrsquo etc It is normally used togetherwith quantities whether expressed in numbers or in any other way (kiloslitres metres slices cups lsquotoo muchlittlersquo lsquoenoughrsquo etc) it is always placedbefore the verb

Note however that ne is not used in cases where English would say lsquoall of itrsquolsquoall of themrsquo etc Compare the following examples

La torta era molto buona e neho mangiate due fette

lsquoQuanti fratelli hairsquo lsquoNe ho duersquo

lsquoHa degli euro Signor WattrsquolsquoSigrave ne ho 50rsquo

lsquoHai tutti i CD di Frank ZapparsquolsquoNo ne ho solo trersquo

lsquoMangi la fruttarsquo lsquoSigrave ne mangiomoltarsquo

lsquoHai abbastanza soldirsquo lsquoSigrave ne hoabbastanzarsquo

Se crsquoegrave ancora del te ne prendounrsquoaltra tazza

Se compri le mele ne prendi unchilo anche per me

lsquoVolete ancora del cioccolatorsquolsquoNo grazie non ne vogliamopiugraversquo

The cake was very good and I ate twoslices (of it)

lsquoHow many brothers and sisters do youhaversquo lsquoI have two (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got any euros Mr WattrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got 50 (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got all Frank Zapparsquos CDsrsquolsquoNo Irsquove only got three (of them)rsquo

lsquoDo you eat fruitrsquo lsquoYes I eat a lot (ofit)rsquo

lsquoHave you got enough moneyrsquo lsquoYes Ihave enough (of it)rsquo

If therersquos still some tea Irsquoll haveanother cup (of it)

If yoursquore buying apples will you get akilo (of them) for me as well

lsquoDo you want some more chocolatersquolsquoNo thanks we donrsquot want anymore (of it)rsquo

2 The pronoun ne is invariable and can thus replace any noun whethermasculine feminine singular or plural

3 As we have seen ne is used when referring to partial quantities howeverexpressed Some expressions which require the use of ne are the adverbabbastanza (enoughquite) the adjectives molto poco troppo alcunialcune(someany (plural) ) and the pronoun qualcunoqualcuna (someany) which isalways singular

4 Ne is also used in negative expressions such as non affatto (not atall) non nessunonessuna (not anyone) non piugrave (not any more)

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliounorsquo

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoLi vogliotuttirsquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiate duersquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoLeho mangiate tuttersquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want one (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want them allall of themrsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atetwo (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atethem allall of themrsquo

lsquoQuanto zucchero [ms] comprirsquolsquoNe compro due chilirsquo

lsquoQuanta farina [fs] comprirsquo lsquoNecompro solo mezzo chilorsquo

lsquoQuanti amici [mp] invitirsquo lsquoNeinvito trersquo

lsquoQuante mele [fp] vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliotre chilirsquo

lsquoHow much sugar are you buyingrsquolsquoIrsquom getting two kilosrsquo

lsquoHow much flour are you going togetrsquo lsquoIrsquom only getting half a kilorsquo

lsquoHow many friends are you invitingrsquolsquoIrsquom inviting threersquo

lsquoHow many apples do you wantrsquo lsquoIwant three kilosrsquo

Non ho comprato del pane percheacute neho ancora abbastanza

lsquoHai molti CDrsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho moltirsquo

lsquoHai tutti i libri che ti servonorsquo lsquoNone ho solo alcunirsquo

Quei biscotti sono molto buoni neprendo ancora qualcuno

I didnrsquot buy any bread because Irsquovestill got enough

lsquoHave you got many CDsrsquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot a lotrsquo

lsquoHave you got all the books youneedrsquo lsquoNo Irsquove only got a fewrsquo

Those biscuits are very good Irsquoll havesome more

lsquoBevi molto caffegraversquo lsquoNo non ne bevoaffattorsquo

Ho invitato dieci amici ma non neegrave venuto nessuno

lsquoDo you drink much coffeersquo lsquoNo Idonrsquot drink it at allrsquo

I invited ten friends but none of themcame

Unit 17 121

As these examples show the negative is formed by putting non before ne

Agreement of the past participle

When ne is used with a verb in the present perfect (or any other compoundtense) there are certain rules governing the agreement of the pastparticiple

5 When ne is used in a sentence where the quantity is expressed by a numberthe past participle must agree in gender with the noun it replaces and innumber (ie singular or plural) with the quantity of what ne stands for Takethis question

In the answer to this question the ending of comprato will depend on thegender of rivista (feminine) and on whether you bought one magazine(singular) or more than one (plural)

The same applies when ne replaces a masculine noun

Here the ending of fatto must be masculine but whether it is singular orplural will depend on how many exercises have been done

The same rule applies when the quantity is expressed by qualcunoqualcuna(remember that this is always singular) or alcunialcune (plural)

lsquoHai ancora soldirsquo lsquoNo non ne hopiugraversquo

lsquoHave you still got moneyrsquo lsquoNo Irsquovegot none leftrsquo

Quante riviste hai comprato How many magazines did you buy

Ne ho comprata una [fs]Ne ho comprate due [fp]

I bought oneI bought two

Quanti esercizi [m] avete fatto How many exercises haveyou done

Ne abbiamo fatto uno solo [ms]Ne abbiamo fatti quattro [mp]

Wersquove only done oneWersquove done four

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatto solo qualcuno

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatti solo alcuni

I was supposed to do a lot of exercisesbut I only did a few

122 Unit 17

6 When the quantity is expressed by an adverb or an adjective the pastparticiple agrees with the noun replaced by ne

7 When the quantity is expressed by a noun the past participle canagree either with the quantity (this is more usual) or with the noun replacedby ne

8 When ne occurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive Insuch cases when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any other com-pound tense) the past participle does not agree

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprata qualcunarsquo

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprate alcunersquo

lsquoHow many magazines did you buyrsquolsquoI bought a fewrsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza pane [ms]rsquolsquoSigrave ne ho comprato abbastanzarsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza patatine[fp]rsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho comprate abbastanzarsquo

lsquoQuanta pasta [fs] avete mangiatorsquolsquoNe abbiamo mangiata moltarsquo

lsquoQuante persone [fp] hai invitatorsquolsquoNe ho invitate pochersquo

lsquoQuanti esercizi [mp] hai fattorsquolsquoNe ho fatti alcunirsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough breadrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough crispsrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHow much pasta did you eatrsquolsquoWe ate a lotrsquo

lsquoHow many people did you invitersquolsquoI only invited a fewrsquo

lsquoHow many exercises did you dorsquolsquoI did a fewrsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuta una tazza [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave [ms] hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuto una tazzarsquo

lsquoQuanto pane hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiata una fetta [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto pane [ms] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiato una fettarsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiato un pacchetto [ms]rsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle [fp] hai mangiatorsquolsquoNe ho mangiate un pacchettorsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe homangiata una scatola [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti [mp] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiati una scatolarsquo

lsquoHow much coffee did you drinkrsquolsquoI drank a cuprsquo

lsquoHow much bread did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a slicersquo

lsquoHow many sweets did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a packetrsquo

lsquoHow many biscuits did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a boxrsquo

Unit 17 123

However if ne is not attached to the infinitive the past participle must agreein the same way as in the rules given in paragraphs 5ndash7

9 Another use of ne is is to replace a noun (or a pronoun) preceded by thepreposition di (as in Parliamo del libro di Primo Levi lsquoWersquore talking aboutPrimo Levirsquos bookrsquo)

When ne is used in this way the past participle does not agreee

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoHo dovutoleggerne trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ho potutofarne solo alcuni

Il compito era difficile e ho saputofarne solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The homework was difficult and Icould only do part of it

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoNe ho dovutileggere trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ne hopotuti fare solo alcuni

Gli esercizi erano difficili e ne ho saputa fare solo una parte [fs]

Gli esercizi [mp] erano difficili e ne ho saputi fare solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The exercises were difficult and Icould only do part of them

Conosco questo film ieri neparlavano alla radio

Egrave un libro di successo tutti neparlano

Hai visto lo spettacolo Che nepensi

Ha molti problemi ma non neparla mai

I know this film they were talkingabout it on the radio yesterday

Itrsquos a popular book everybodyrsquostalking about it

Did you see the show What do youthink of it

He has a lot of problems but henever talks about them

Marco aveva dei problemi e ne haparlato con Anna

Questi sono libri di successo e tuttine hanno parlato

Marco had problems and talkedabout them with Anna

These are popular books andeverybodyrsquos been talking aboutthem

124 Unit 17

The pronoun ci

10 The pronoun ci is used to replace a noun denoting a place it correspondsto the English lsquotherersquo We have already seen this pronoun used with the verbessere in expressions like crsquoegrave and ci sono (Unit 4) but it can be used with otherverbs always preceding them

As the examples suggest ci is used more often in this kind of sentence thanlsquotherersquo is in English

11 Ci always comes before the verb Like the other unstressed pronounsthough it can be attached to the infinitive of a verb (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere)

Exercise 1

Supply the pronoun ne making sure that the past participle and the adjectiveor pronoun agree where necessary

Examples lsquoQuante lettere hai scrittorsquo lsquo mdashmdash ho scrittmdashmdash alcunmdashmdashrsquo Neho scritte alcune Mi piacciono i biscotti e mdashmdash homangiatmdashmdash moltmdashmdash ne ho mangiati molti lsquoQuanti libri hailettorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo Non ne ho lettonessuno

1 lsquoQuante cartoline hai mandatorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho mandatmdashmdash 12rsquo2 lsquoHai comprato i biscottirsquo lsquo Sigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashmdash una scatolarsquo

lsquoQuando vai in bibliotecarsquo lsquoCi vadooggi pomeriggiorsquo

Conosco bene Bologna ci ho passatodue anni

lsquoOgni quanto va in palestrarsquo lsquoNon civado mairsquo

lsquoWhen are you going to the libraryrsquolsquoIrsquom going (there) this afternoonrsquo

I know Bologna well I spent twoyears there

lsquoHow often do you go to the gymrsquo lsquoInever go (there)rsquo

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non sapevo andarci

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non ci sapevo andare

Vado al mercato vuoi venirci anche tu

Vado al mercato ci vuoi venire anche tu

I had to go to Fiesole but I didnrsquotknow how to get there

Irsquom going to the market would youlike to come (as well)

Unit 17 125

3 lsquoHai fatto i compitirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash la metagraversquo4 lsquoQuante persone sono venutersquo lsquomdashmdash sono venutmdashmdash pochmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoQuanti errori hai fattorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoHai chiuso tutte le finestrersquo lsquoNo mdashmdash ho lasciatmdashmdash una apertmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoQuanti amici hanno invitatorsquo lsquomdashmdash hanno invitatmdashmdash moltmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash duersquo9 lsquoQuanta pasta avete compratorsquo lsquomdashmdash abbiamo compratmdashmdash pocmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdashnessunmdashmdashrsquo

11 lsquoQuanti francobolli hai presorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho presmdashmdash abbastanzarsquo12 Avevo molte riviste e mdashmdash ho datmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash a Luigi13 Ci piacciono i film comici e ieri sera mdashmdash abbiamo vistmdashmdash tre14 Ho fatto una torta e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdash due fette15 La zia ha portato dei cioccolatini ma Piero non mdashmdash ha mangiatmdashmdash

nessunmdashmdash16 Abbiamo molti videogiochi e mdashmdash abbiamo datmdashmdash qualcunmdashmdash a

Michele17 Crsquoerano molti libri interessanti e mdashmdash ho presmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash18 Hanno venduto molti CD e mdashmdash sono rimastmdashmdash solo alcunmdashmdash molto

carmdashmdash19 Crsquoerano molte ragazze ma Marco non mdashmdash ha invitatmdashmdash nessunmdashmdash20 Ho comprato tre magliette e mdashmdash ho regalatmdashmdash due a mio fratello

Exercise 2

Complete with the appropriate pronouns direct object or ne

Examples lsquoQuanti amici hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho moltirsquo ne lsquoQuanti amici invitirsquolsquomdashmdash invito tuttirsquo li

1 lsquoHai fatto tutti gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash ho fatto nessunorsquo2 lsquoQuante sorelle hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho duersquo3 Avevo molti CD dei Beatles ma mdashmdash ho imprestati tutti4 lsquoHai fatto il compitorsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdashho ancora fattorsquo5 lsquoVuoi del dolcersquo lsquoNo grazie non mdashmdash vogliorsquo6 Stamattina ho comprato due riviste e mdashmdash ho lette nel pomeriggio7 lsquoHai fatto molti sbaglirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fatto uno solorsquo8 Il dolce era molto buono e mdashmdash ho mangiate tre fette9 Mi piacciono i film di Fellini e mdashmdash ho visti tutti

10 Ho comprato tre libri ma non mdashmdash ho letto nessuno11 Avevo due biglietti da 10 euro ma mdashmdash ho perso uno12 Ieri ho preso lo stipendio ma mdashmdashho giagrave speso tutto13 Se ci sono ancora dei biscotti mdashmdash prendo due o tre

126 Unit 17

14 Era un argomento interessante e mdashmdash abbiamo parlato molto15 Il film era noioso e mdashmdash abbiamo visto solo metagrave16 Carla parte mdashmdash accompagno alla stazione17 Lo zucchero egrave finito mdashmdash compri tu18 lsquoVuoi dello zucchero nel caffegraversquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash voglio due cucchiainirsquo19 Ho comprato tre brioches e mdashmdash ho mangiate due20 lsquoConoscete tutti i componenti del grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash conosciamo tuttirsquo

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as in the example

Example Ne vuoi prendere ancora Vuoi prenderne ancora

1 Ne dovete parlare col professore2 Ne vuoi fare un altro3 Non ne dobbiamo prendere4 Ne potete mangiare5 Ne devo fare sei6 Non ne possiamo parlare7 Ne posso assaggiare uno8 Non ne deve portare Signora9 Ne vogliono comprare qualcuno

10 Non ne possono bere

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences as in the example Make sure that the past participleagrees where necessary

Example Ha voluto portarne un porsquo [fs] Ne ha voluta portare un porsquo

1 Ho dovuto darne due [m] a Marisa2 Hai potuto comprarne [fp]3 Quante hai dovuto farne4 Non hanno voluto mangiarne [fs]5 Ha dovuto leggerne quattro [mp]6 Non abbiamo potuto prenderne [fp]7 Ho dovuto scriverne due [fp]8 Ho potuto leggerne solo due pagine9 Avete dovuto rifarne molti

10 Non hanno potuto assaggiarne [fs]

Unit 17 127

Exercise 5

Identify the words that can be replaced by the pronoun ci and rewrite thesentences with ci in the right place

Example Vai a Roma in aereo a Roma Ci vai in aereo

1 Abitiamo in questa casa da tre anni2 Stefano lavora al Museo di Storia Naturale da febbraio3 Volete venire alla festa di Marco4 Paola e Livia vanno al cinema due volte alla settimana5 La Signora Bini va sempre al supermercato a piedi6 Rimango in Italia per tre settimane7 Giulia viene sempre a scuola in bici8 Ho passato tre ore in coda allrsquoufficio postale9 Siete andati a cena a casa di Pietro

10 Passiamo le vacanze a Sorrento

128 Unit 17

UNIT EIGHTEENThe future tense

Use of the future

1 The future tense is of course used to refer to events which will happen inthe future as in the following examples

2 The future is also used to express probability or a guess

3 The future can also correspond to the English present progressive (lsquoIrsquomgoing to rsquo etc)

4 In general the future tense is used less in Italian than in English and it isoften possible when talking about something which we are almost sure willhappen to use the present

Venerdigrave andremo in piscinaNon so quando partirograveVerragrave anche lrsquoanno prossimo

Signora

On Friday wersquoll go to the swimming poolI donrsquot know when Irsquoll leaveWill you comebe coming again next

year( Madam)

Anna non risponde saragrave fuori

Saranno le 5La madre di Pietro avragrave 30 anniChi saragrave

Annarsquos not answering she mustshersquoll beout

Itrsquos probablyItrsquoll be about 5 orsquoclockPietrorsquos mother must be around 30Who can that be

Gli parlerograve prestoPorterograve i miei CDGli direte la veritagrave

Irsquom going to talkIrsquoll be talking to them soonIrsquom going to bringIrsquoll be bringing my CDsAre you going to tell him the truth

5 However in certain cases Italian uses the future where English uses thepresent Take this English sentence lsquoWhenIf I earnam earning good moneyIrsquoll buy a carrsquo Here lsquowhenrsquo and lsquoifrsquo actually refer to an action in the future incases like this Italian normally uses the future tense

The forms of the future indicative

6 The future endings for the three conjugations are as follows

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Partono domani

Viene anche lrsquoanno prossimoSignora

Lrsquoanno prossimo sono allrsquouniversitagrave

Theyrsquoll leaveTheyrsquore leavingtomorrow

Will you comebe coming again nextyear( Madam)

Next year Irsquoll be at university

Se guadagnerograve bene comprerograve unamacchina

Quando arriveragrave le mostreremo ilcentro commerciale

If I earnam earning good money Irsquollbuy a car

When she arrives wersquoll show her theshopping mall

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ere-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ire-irograve-irai-iragrave-iremo-irete-iranno

Parlareparlerograveparleraiparleragraveparleremoparlereteparleranno

To speakI will speakyou will speakhesheit will speakwe will speakyou will speakthey will speak

130 Unit 18

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

7 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the future inorder to keep the hard sound of c and g

Prendereprenderograveprenderai

To takegetI will takegetyou will takeget

prenderagraveprenderemoprendereteprenderanno

hesheit will takegetwe will takegetyou will takegetthey will takeget

Partirepartirogravepartiraipartiragravepartiremopartiretepartiranno

To leaveI will leaveyou will leavehesheit will leavewe will leaveyou will leavethey will leave

Dopo un mese in Italia parleraimeglio italiano

Prenderograve il treno delle 8Partiranno domani mattina presto

Domenica prossima finirograve dilavorare verso le 5

After a month in Italy yoursquoll speakItalian better

Irsquoll get the eight orsquoclock trainThey will leave early tomorrow

morningNext Sunday Irsquoll finish work at about

five

Cercarecercherogravecercheraicercheragravecercheremocercheretecercheranno

Pagarepagherogravepagheraipagheragravepagheremopagheretepagheranno

Quando arriveremo a Romacercheremo un albergo economico

Mio padre pagheragrave tutte le spese

When we arrive in Rome wersquoll lookfor a cheap hotel

My father will pay all the expenses

Unit 18 131

8 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the future

Future of some irregular verbs

9 Essere and avere are irregular

10 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

Cominciarecomincerogravecominceraicominceragrave

Mangiaremangerogravemangeraimangeragrave

cominceremocominceretecominceranno

mangeremomangeretemangeranno

Comincerograve a lavorare venerdigraveprossimo

Mangerai in mensa

Irsquoll start work(ing) next Friday

Will you eatbe eating in the canteen

Esseresarogravesaraisaragravesaremosaretesaranno

Avereavrograveavraiavragraveavremoavreteavranno

Se domenica saragrave bello lavoreremoin giardino

Se avrograve tempo ti aiuterograve

If the weather is good on Sunday wersquollwork in the garden

If Irsquove got time Irsquoll help you

Daredarogravedaraidaragravedaremodaretedaranno

Farefarogravefaraifaragravefaremofaretefaranno

Starestarogravestaraistaragravestaremostaretestaranno

132 Unit 18

11 Andare cadere (to fall) dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow thesame pattern as avere

Mia sorella daragrave una festa per ilsuo compleanno

Cosa farai dopo lrsquouniversitagrave

Domani starai meglio

My sister will giveis giving a party forher birthday

What will you doare you doing afteruniversity

Yoursquoll feel better tomorrow

Andareandrograveandraiandragraveandremoandreteandranno

Caderecadrogravecadraicadragravecadremocadretecadranno

Doveredovrogravedovraidovragravedovremodovretedovranno

Poterepotrogravepotraipotragravepotremopotretepotranno

Saperesaprogravesapraisapragravesapremosapretesapranno

Vederevedrogravevedraivedragravevedremovedretevedranno

Viverevivrogravevivraivivragravevivremovivretevivranno

Andremo alla festa solo se ciinviteranno

Il governo egrave impopolare e cadragravepresto

Credo che dovrograve partire prestoNon so se potrograve venire

Non sapremo mai la veritagraveQuando vedrai i tuoi amici

Wersquoll only go to the party if they inviteus

The government is unpopular and willsoon fall

I think Irsquoll have to leave earlyI donrsquot know whether Irsquoll be able to

comeWe will never know the truthWhen will youare you going to see

your friends

Unit 18 133

12 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere (to keephold) have the following pattern

13 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

14 As usual the negative is formed by putting non before the verb

-rrograve-rrai-rragrave

Bereberrograveberraiberragrave

Rimanererimarrograverimarrairimarragrave

Venireverrograveverraiverragrave

Volerevorrogravevorraivorragrave

Tenereterrograveterraiterragrave

-rremo-rrete-rranno

berremoberreteberranno

rimarremorimarreterimarranno

verremoverreteverranno

vorremovorretevorranno

terremoterreteterranno

Sono sicuro che mio fratello nonberragrave mai quella tisana

Quanto tempo rimarrete in ItaliaSignori Boi

Hanno detto che verranno a trovarci

Irsquom sure my brother will never drinkthat herbal tea

How long will youare you going tostay in Italy Mrs and Mr Boi

They said theyrsquoll come and see usNon so se vorrograve andare

allrsquouniversitagrave dopo il liceo

Dove terrai la bici

I donrsquot know whether Irsquoll want to goto university after secondaryschool

Where are you going to keep the bike

-urrograve-urrai-urragrave-urremo-urrete-urranno

Tradurretradurrogravetradurraitradurragravetradurremotradurretetradurranno

Carlo non parla tedesco ma uninterprete tradurragrave tutto per lui

Carlo doesnrsquot speak German but aninterpreter is going towill translateeverything for him

Non andrograve alla festaNon rimarremo moltoNon gli parlerograve mai piugrave

Irsquom not going to the partyWe wonrsquot stay longIrsquoll never speak to him again

134 Unit 18

Exercise 1

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io partire) tanto presto partirograve

Exercise 2

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io dovere) andare a scuola dovrograve

Exercise 3

Change the verbs in italics into the future

Domani mattina esco di casa presto devo prendere il treno per Firenze alle615 Arrivo a Firenze verso ora di pranzo e Lorenzo viene a prendermi alla

1 I miei amici (arrivare) domani2 Quando (voi parlare) con Maria3 (lui telefonare) domani4 Gli (tu dire) tutto5 Domani (io scrivere) ai nonni6 Domenica (io dormire) fino a

tardi7 (noi cominciare) a lavorare

domani8 Quando (tu finire) il compito9 Stasera (io prendere) lrsquoauto

10 Mi (tu chiamare)11 Dove (voi abitare)12 (loro portare) il dolce13 Cosa le (voi dire)14 Chi (tradurre) dal tedesco15 Domani (noi pagare) lrsquoaffitto16 (tu mangiare) con noi17 Mi (Lei scrivere) Signora18 Paul (cercare) casa a Torino19 Che treno (loro prendere)20 Chi (pagare)

1 (io andare) in vacanza2 (noi essere) contenti di vedervi3 Quanto tempo (tu rimanere) a

Roma4 (io venire) appena (io potere)5 (Lei dovere) partire Signora6 (lei venire) quando (lei volere)7 Domani non (noi avere) tempo8 Non so se (io potere) uscire9 Quando (tu vedere) Anna

10 (voi fare) una festa

11 Non (loro stare) a casa mia12 Non lo (lui sapere) mai13 Gli (tu fare) un regalo14 (voi essere) a casa tutto il giorno15 (voi dovere) lavorare domani16 Non (io andare) piugrave in quel bar17 Quando (tu sapere) il risultato18 Quando (tu venire) Maria19 Cosa (voi fare) domenica20 (loro tenere) il cane in giardino

Unit 18 135

stazione Prima andiamo a casa sua dove lascio i bagagli e poi andiamoinsieme a pranzo da Ernestina Nel pomeriggio vediamo Carlo che ci porta avedere la sua nuova casa Torniamo a casa di Lorenzo abbastanza prestopercheacute vengono degli amici a cena e dobbiamo preparare Dopo cena usciamoma anche se facciamo tardi non egrave un problema percheacute possiamo dormire lamattina dopo

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Who will be able to help me2 Next summer wersquoll do an Italian course3 Will you [sing] read all these books4 I wonrsquot go to the library tomorrow5 When will you arrive Signora Pasini6 On Sunday theyrsquoll go out7 What will you [sing] do8 Itrsquoll be about ten orsquoclock9 Will you [sing] bring your CDs for the party

10 Wonrsquot you [pl] come to the cinema with us

136 Unit 18

UNIT NINETEENThe past perfect tense

Use of the past perfect

1 The past perfect (or pluperfect) normally indicates a past event whichhappened before another past event as in the English lsquoI had finished shower-ing when I heard the doorbellrsquo lsquoBy the time it finished I had had enoughrsquo It isthus normally used in sentences where there is another past tense or someother reference to a past event

It is also often used on its own where a more recent event is referred to orimplied in the context

2 Sometimes when the past perfect is used on its own the event nearer to thepresent is purely implicit

Quando sono arrivato [presentperfect] avevano appena finito[past perfect] di cenare

Quel giorno ero [imperfect] moltocontenta percheacute avevo passato[past perfect] lrsquoesame

Prima di imprestare [infinitive]lrsquoauto a Marco avevo fatto[past perfect] il pieno

When I arrived they had just finisheddinner

That day I was very happy because Irsquodpassed the exam

Before lending the car to Marco Irsquodfilled up

Avevo fatto quella torta per te nonper Paolo

Tullio aveva portato i CD

Francesca era uscita

I made that tart for you not for Paolo[eg thatrsquos why Irsquom so annoyed thatPaolorsquos eaten it]

Tullio had brought the CDs [eg theones I told you we were listening to]

Francesca had gone out [eg which iswhy I didnrsquot see her last night]

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto ma prima) non ti avevo visto [ieIrsquove seen you now but I hadnrsquot before]

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito) [ie Ihadnrsquot heard you before but I have now]

Forming the past perfect

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

4 As regards agreement of the past participle the past perfect obeys exactlythe same rules as the present perfect if the auxiliary is avere the past parti-ciple does not change but if it is essere the past participle behaves like anadjective agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb as inthese examples

Scusa non ti avevo visto Egrave moltoche aspetti

Sorry I didnrsquot see you Have you beenwaiting long

Scusa non ti avevo sentito Sorry I didnrsquot hear you

Imperfect of avere(io) avevo(tu) avevi(luilei) aveva(noi) avevamo(voi) avevate(loro) avevano

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I had writtenyou had writtenhesheit had writtenwe had writtenyou had writtenthey had written

Imperfect of essere(io) ero(tu) eri(luilei) era(noi) eravamo(voi) eravate(loro) erano

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I had goneyou had gonehesheit had gonewe had goneyou had gonethey had gone

AvereLivia aveva guardato la televisioneAvevi comprato il paneAveva prenotato Signor Ferro

Livia had watched televisionHad you bought the breadHad you booked Mr Ferro

138 Unit 19

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Past perfect of avere and essere

5 Avere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary essere

EssereMonica era uscita [fs]Pietro era stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia erano rimaste a casa

[fp]Giulia e Sebastiano erano partiti

[mp]Ero andata al cinema [fs]

Eravamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando eraarrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando eraarrivata [fs]

Monica had gone outPietro had been illFabia and Silvia had stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano had left

I had beengone to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We had arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When had you arrived Mr Poli

When had you arrived Mrs Poli

avevo avutoavevi avutoaveva avutoavevamo avutoavevate avutoavevano avuto

I had hadyou had hadhesheit had hadwe had hadyou had hadthey had had

ero statostataeri statostataera statostataeravamo statistateeravate statistateerano statistate

I had beenyou had beenhesheit had beenwe had beenyou had beenthey had been

Non aveva avuto tempo di finire illavoro

Tanya aveva avuto la varicella

He hadnrsquot had time to finish the job

Tanya had had chickenpox

Unit 19 139

Negative form

6 The negative is formed in the same way as for the present perfect byplacing non before the verb

7 As with the present perfect the adverbs mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) andgiagrave (already) are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (egAvevo giagrave risposto lsquoIrsquod already repliedrsquo) With the negatives non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) non is placed before the auxiliary

Exercise 1

Supply the past perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Dove (tu comprare) quelle scarpe avevi comprato

Nina era stata malataDes era stato mio studente

Nina had been illDes had been a student of mine

Non ero andato a scuolaLisa non era riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon avevi telefonato la settimana

prima

I hadnrsquot beengone to schoolLisa hadnrsquot managed to finish that job

Had you not phoned the previousweek

Eravate mai stati su un ghiacciaioAvevi piugrave visto i tuoi amici

Non avevamo ancora preso ilbiglietto

Paola non era mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non aveva piugrave telefonato

Had you ever been on a glacierHad you (ever) seen your friends

againWe hadnrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola had never been to VeniceCarlo hadnrsquot (ever) phoned again

1 Maria (finire) di cenare2 Anna (arrivare) il giorno prima3 Scusi Signora non La (io vedere)4 (tu spegnere) la luce5 (voi prendere) il giornale6 Prima di lavorare in Italia Jim

(lavorare) in Francia

7 Hai perso la lettera che ti(scrivere) Antonio

8 Alessandro non (preparare)lrsquoesame

9 Non (tu riuscire) a finire il lavoro10 Gli (noi chiedere) dei CD11 Caterina (stare) male

140 Unit 19

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct tense of the verb inbrackets (present perfect imperfect or past perfect)

Example Carlo (raccontare) che (lui passare) lrsquoesame ma non (essere)vero Carlo ha raccontato che aveva passato lrsquoesame ma nonera vero

1 Quando (io arrivare) i miei amici (uscire) da poco2 Silvia non (conoscere) la persona che le (telefonare)3 (tu fare) un dolce Ma ti (io dire) che sono a dieta4 Ernestina (essere) stanca percheacute (camminare) molto5 Carlo non (venire) con noi percheacute (dovere) fare un lavoro che gli (loro

dare) la sera prima6 Silvio (essere) molto contento percheacute (vincere) la gara di sci7 Carla (portare) sempre la maglia che le (regalare) suo fratello8 (io comprare) i libri che mi (voi consigliare)9 Mauro (spendere) tutti i soldi che (lui guadagnare)

10 Francesca (invitare) tutti gli amici che (andare) in vacanza con lei lrsquoannoprima

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 Paola still hadnrsquot been to Scotland2 Irsquod finished the job but I was very tired3 The girls had never gone into that church4 Arianna finished the tart her grandmother had made5 lsquoWhat had you [sing] said to Fabiorsquo lsquoI hadnrsquot said anything to himrsquo6 Maria had had to stay at home7 How much had your [pl] car cost

12 (io mangiare) un panino maavevo ancora fame

13 Ti (piacere) la partita14 Cecilia (andare) in vacanza15 Le mie amiche (uscire)16 Non (io capire) nulla

17 Il treno (partire) in orario18 Sergio (rimanere) in ufficio19 Paolo non (volere) lavorare con

noi20 Gina (essere) contenta di vedermi

Unit 19 141

8 Theyrsquod bought the ticket the previous day9 I hadnrsquot got the bike any longer because Irsquod given it to Anna

10 She was born in Russia but shersquod been living in Italy for many yearswhen I met her

142 Unit 19

UNIT TWENTYReflexive pronouns

1 Reflexive pronouns correspond to lsquomyselfrsquo lsquoyourselfrsquo etc in phrases likelsquoyou flatter yourselfrsquo lsquothe catrsquos licking itselfrsquo lsquothe recorderrsquos switched itselfoffrsquo In such cases the subject and the object of the verb are the same personor thing

These examples show how the reflexive pronouns are the direct objects ofthe verbs lavare guardare and vestire and denote the same person as thesubject

There are very many verbs which can be used in the reflexive form in Italianand which do not correspond to English reflexive verbs Here is a list of someof the most common ones

Ti guardi sempre allo specchio

Mi lavoAnna si veste per la festa

You always look at yourself in themirror

I get washed [lit I wash myself]Annarsquos getting dressed for the party

[lit Annarsquos dressing herself]

addormentarsialzarsiannoiarsidimenticarsilavarsioffendersiricordarsiriposarsisbagliarsiscusarsisedersisentirsisvegliarsivestirsi

to fall asleep [lit to send oneself to sleep]to get up [lit to raise oneself]to getbe bored [lit to bore oneself]to forget [lit to forget oneself]to get washed [lit to wash oneself]to take offence [lit to offend oneself]to remember [lit to recall oneself]to rest [lit to rest oneself]to be wrongmistaken [lit to mistake oneself]to apologise [lit to excuse oneself]to sit down [lit to seat oneself]to feel (well ill etc) [lit to feel oneself]to wake up [lit to waken oneself]to get dressed [lit to dress oneself]

2 The forms of the reflexive pronouns are as follows

Note that the third person singular and plural pronoun si is the same formasculine and feminine

As can be seen from the examples reflexive pronouns are always placedbefore the verb

3 The negative is formed as usual by placing non before the pronoun

4 For the formal form the pronoun si (third person singular and plural) isused In the plural however the pronoun vi is most frequently used

5 The plural forms of the reflexive pronouns (ci vi si) are also used asreciprocal pronouns corresponding to the English lsquoeach otherrsquo

6 Reflexive pronouns can also be used in contemporary spoken Italian asindirect objects One such use is to stress that the action expressed by the verb

mitisicivisi

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

A che ora ti alzi la mattina

Paolo si sveglia sempre tardiMaria si annoiaI tuoi amici si sbagliano il

concerto non egrave staseraLe mie amiche si divertono

What time do you get up in themorning

Paolo always wakes up lateMaria is boredYour friends are wrong the concert is

not tonightMy friends are enjoying themselves

Lorenzo non si annoia maiNon ti diverti

Lorenzo never getsis never boredArenrsquot you enjoying yourself

Come si sente SignoraVi divertite Signori Rasi (Si divertono Signori Rasi)

How are you feeling MadamAre you enjoying yourselves( Mr and

Mrs Rasi)

Paolo e io non ci sopportiamoPercheacute vi guardateAlfredo e Pia non si parlano piugrave

Paolo and I canrsquot stand each otherWhy are you looking at each otherAlfredo and Pia donrsquot talk to each

other any more

144 Unit 20

is to the advantage of the subject (cf English lsquoIrsquom making myself a coffeersquo [iea coffee for myself] lsquoTheyrsquore going to have themselves some funrsquo [ie somefun for themselves])

7 Another common use of the Italian reflexive pronoun occurs in cases likethe following where English would use a possessive adjective (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquoetc) rather than a reflexive pronoun

8 When reflexive or reciprocal pronouns occur with a verb in the presentperfect (or any other compound tense) the auxiliary is always essere (even ifthe verb itself would form the past tenses with avere) and the past participlealways agrees with the subject

9 The reflexive pronouns like all unstressed pronouns can be attached tothe infinitive of a verb (mainly after dovere potere volere or sapere) Inthese sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any othercompound tense) the auxiliary is avere and the past participle does notagree

Mi mangio un paninoPercheacute non ci facciamo una partita

a cartePaolo si mangia sempre tutti i

biscotti

Irsquom going to eat a sandwichWhy donrsquot we have a game of cards

Paolo always eats all the biscuits

Mi lavo le maniTi metti il cappottoAnna si lava i capelli tutti i giorni

I wash my handsAre you going to put your coat onAnna washes her hair every day

Paolo si egrave svegliato tardiMaria si egrave annoiataVittorio a che ora ti sei alzatoPaolo e Francesca si sono sposati

Claudio e Anna si sono lavati lemani

Sabina si egrave mangiata un paninoSi sono fatti un caffegrave

Paolo woke up lateMaria got boredVittorio what time did you get upPaolo and Francesca have got

marriedClaudio and Anna washed their

handsSabina ate a sandwichThey made (themselves) a coffee

Devo alzarmi prestoMio fratello non vuole lavarsiPaolo e Francesca hanno voluto

sposarsiNon abbiamo potuto lavarci

Irsquove got to get up earlyMy brother doesnrsquot want to washPaolo and Francesca wanted to get

marriedWe couldnrsquot wash

Unit 20 145

However when the reflexive pronoun is not attached to the infinitive theauxiliary verb must be essere and the past participle does agree

Stressed forms

10 The reflexive pronouns also have stressed forms which are used like thestressed forms of other pronouns for emphasis and after a preposition Theseforms are often reinforced by the adjective stesso

Note that se does not have an accent when it is used with stesso

Exercise 1

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash alzi ti

Paolo e Francesca si sono volutisposare

Non ci siamo potuti lavareVi siete dovuti fermare per la notte

Paolo and Francesca wanted to getmarried

We couldnrsquot washDid you have to stop for the night

me or me stessostessate or te stessostessaseacute or se stessostessanoi or noi stessistessevoi or voi stessistesseseacute or se stessistesse

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Franca ama solo seacutese stessaPensi solo a tete stessoQuei due sono davvero noiosi

parlano solo di segravese stessi

Franca only loves herselfYou only think of yourselfThose two are really boring they only

talk about themselves

1 Quando mdashmdashmdash sposano2 Dove mdashmdashmdash siedo3 Nina non mdashmdashmdash veste mai di

rosso4 Come mdashmdashmdash sentite5 Nina e Bart mdashmdashmdash amano6 Dove mdashmdashmdash incontriamo

7 mdashmdashmdash lavo le mani8 Marina mdashmdashmdash guarda allo

specchio9 Silvano non mdashmdashmdash annoia mai

10 Carlo e Luca non mdashmdashmdashconoscono

11 Come mdashmdashmdash vestite

146 Unit 20

Exercise 2

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash sono alzati si

Exercise 3

Put the verbs into the present perfect

Example (tu [f] alzarsi) tardi ti sei alzata

12 Non mdashmdashmdash diverti13 mdashmdashmdash prendiamo un gelato14 Signora mdashmdashmdash sente bene15 Non mdashmdashmdash ricordate di me16 Livia e Sara mdashmdashmdash riposano

17 Paolo mdashmdashmdash sbaglia18 Come mdashmdashmdash chiami19 mdashmdashmdash scrivete spesso20 mdashmdashmdash offendono facilmente

1 Paolo mdashmdashmdash egrave offeso2 Anna mdashmdashmdash egrave arrabbiata3 Dove mdashmdashmdash siete conosciuti4 mdashmdashmdash sono alzati tardi5 Non mdashmdashmdash sei scusato con loro6 mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti subito7 Carla non mdashmdashmdash egrave messa il

cappotto8 Il bambino mdashmdashmdash egrave

addormentato9 Silvana e io mdashmdashmdash siamo viste

ieri

10 mdashmdashmdash sono mangiato un panino11 mdashmdashmdash siete vestiti molto bene12 Non mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti13 Daniela e Pino mdashmdashmdash odiano14 Quanta acqua mdashmdashmdash sei bevuto15 mdashmdashmdash sono tagliata un dito16 Percheacute mdashmdashmdash sei messo il golf 17 mdashmdashmdash facciamo una passeggiata18 Sergio non mdashmdashmdash egrave ancora

svegliato19 mdashmdashmdash sono sentita male20 mdashmdashmdash siete annoiati alla festa

1 Antonio e Lia (sposarsi)2 (tu [m] sbagliarsi)3 (voi [f] ricordare) il suo

compleanno4 Claudia (farsi) male5 (loro [m] incontrarsi) allo stadio6 (tu [m] perdersi)7 Signora non (divertirsi)8 (noi [m] bersi) un litro di acqua9 Non (io [m] annoiarsi)

10 (noi [f] alzarsi) presto

11 Non (tu [m] lavarsi) le mani12 (io [f] tagliarsi) i capelli13 Il treno (fermarsi)14 I miei zii (separarsi)15 Vittorio non (lamentarsi)16 Il professore (riposarsi)17 La professoressa (stancarsi)18 Non (tu [f] arrabbiarsi)19 (voi [m] offendersi)20 (loro [m] dimenticarsi) di noi

Unit 20 147

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences moving the pronoun and changing the auxiliary

Example Abbiamo dovuto alzarci [m] Ci siamo dovuti alzare

1 Non ho potuto lavarmi [f]2 Sandra e Roberto hanno voluto sposarsi3 Abbiamo dovuto scusarci [m]4 Luigi ha dovuto alzarsi alle sei5 Gianni non ha voluto mettersi il berretto6 Hai potuto curarti [m]7 Avete potuto riposarvi [m]8 Ho dovuto fermarmi [f]9 Percheacute hai voluto tingerti i capelli [m]

10 Non abbiamo potuto spiegarci [m]

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian using reflexivereciprocal pronouns

1 Are you [pl] enjoying yourselves2 Have you [f] washed your hands3 How are you feeling Madam4 You [pl] are wrong5 Where did you [fp] meet6 Why donrsquot you [sing] sit down7 Paolo always talks about himself8 Franca washed her hair9 Carlo apologised

10 I [f] got dressed

148 Unit 20

UNIT TWENTY-ONEThe imperative

1 The imperative is used in Italian as in English to express orders com-mands or strong requests

As well as orders and requests the imperative can also be used to expresswishes invitations encouragement and advice

Forms of the imperative

2 Regular verbs in -are -ere and -ire are conjugated as follows

GuardaEntrateChiedi a tuo padreVenga domani SignoraAndiamoDammi il libro

LookCome inAsk your fatherCome tomorrow MadamLetrsquos goGive me the book

Passa delle buone vacanzeTi ascolto dimmi tuttoNon ti preoccupareHai lrsquoaria stanca vai a letto

Have a good holidayIrsquom listening to you tell me everythingDonrsquot worryYou look tired go to bed

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Parlareparlaparliparliamoparlateparlino

To speakspeakspeaklet us speakspeakspeak

Some verbs ending in -ire add -isc- as in the present indicative (see Unit 5)

In the first person plural the meaning is more that of a suggestion than anorder made to a group of which we are part (cf the English lsquoLetrsquos have acoffeersquo) The third person singular and plural are only used for the politeform

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare keep the hard sound of c and g by addingh before the endings of the third person singular (Lei) and the first and thirdpersons plural (noi and Loro)

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Prendereprendiprendaprendiamoprendeteprendano

To takegettakegettakegetlet us takegettakegettakeget

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Partirepartipartapartiamopartitepartano

To leaveleaveleavelet us leaveleaveleave

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Finirefiniscifiniscafiniamofinitefiniscano

To finishfinishfinishlet us finishfinishfinish

Parlate con i vostri insegnantiPrendi un analgesicoPartiamo subitoFinisci il compitoPrenda la prima (strada) a destra

Speak to your teachersTake a painkillerLetrsquos leave immediatelyFinish your homeworkTake the first (street) on the right

Cercarecercacerchicerchiamocercatecerchino

Pagarepagapaghipaghiamopagatepaghino

150 Unit 21

4 Verbs ending in -iare have only one -i in the second person singular and thefirst and third persons plural

Forms of some irregular verbs

5 Essere and avere are irregular in the imperative

6 There are other verbs with irregular imperatives Here are some of the mostcommon

Cerchiamo casa in questa zonaPaghi il conto per favore Signora

Letrsquos look for a flat in this areaPay the bill please( Madam)

Cominciarecominciacomincicominciamocominciatecomincino

Mangiaremangiamangimangiamomangiatemangino

Cominci a lavorare SignoraMuoio di fame mangiamo qualcosa

Start working( Madam)Irsquom starving letrsquos eat something

Esseresiisiasiamosiatesiano

Avereabbiabbiaabbiamoabbiateabbiano

Siate gentiliAbbi pazienzaSia pronta per le 10 Signora

Be kindBe patient [lit have patience]Be ready by 10( Madam)

Daredaidarsquodiadiamodatediano

Diredirsquodicadiciamoditedicano

Farefaifarsquofacciafacciamofatefacciano

Unit 21 151

The second person singular of these verbs has two forms the form with theapostrophe is normally used with unstressed pronouns (see paragraph 10)

7 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Formal form

8 We have already seen the forms used for the polite form Care must betaken not to confuse imperative and present polite and familiar formsCompare

Starestaistarsquostiastiamostatestiano

Saperesappisappiasappiamosappiatesappiano

Andarevaivarsquovadaandiamoandatevadano

Uscireesciescausciamousciteescano

Venirevienivengaveniamovenitevengano

Berebevibevabeviamobevetebevano

State attentiFaifarsquo il compitoVieni subito quiVenga avanti SignoraSappi che io non sono drsquoaccordo

Dirsquo la veritagrave

Pay attention [lit be attentive]Do your homeworkCome here at onceCome forward( Madam)I want you to know that I donrsquot agree

[lit know that I donrsquot agree]Tell the truth

-uci-uca-uciamo-ucete-ucano

Tradurretraducitraducatraduciamotraducetetraducano

Traduciamo insieme queste frasi

Traduca per favore

Letrsquos translate these sentencestogether

Translate please

152 Unit 21

In the plural as usual the second person is more commonly used than thethird

Negative form

9 For the second person singular the negative is formed with the infinitive ofthe verb preceded by non For the other persons the usual rule applies andnon precedes the form of the imperative As an example here is the negativeconjugation of parlare

familiarformal

(tu)(Lei)

Imperativeparlaparli

Presentparliparla

familiarformalfamiliarformal

(tu)(Lei)(tu)(Lei)

leggileggaescifinisciescafinisca

leggileggeescifinisciescefinisce

Parla col direttore [familiarimperative]

Parli col direttore Signora [formalimperative]

Parli col direttore [familiarpresent]

Parla col direttore Signora [formalpresent]

Speak to the manager

Speak to the manager( Madam)

Are you speaking to the manager

Are you speaking to the manager(Madam)

Parlate col controllore (Parlino col controllore)Abbiate pazienza Signori (Abbiano pazienza Signori)

Speak to the conductor

Be patient (ladies and) gentlemen

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

non parlarenon parlinon parliamonon parlatenon parlino

Non essere scorteseNon dite bugieNon avere fretta

Donrsquot be rudeDonrsquot tell liesDonrsquot rush

Unit 21 153

Position of unstressed pronouns

10 When the imperative is used in an affirmative sentence with an unstressedpronoun (direct object indirect object reflexive ne ci) the pronoun is alwaysattached to the verb if it is in a second person form (tu or voi) or the firstperson plural form (noi)

Note that when an unstressed pronoun is used with the forms darsquo farsquo dirsquo starsquoand varsquo (see paragraph 6) the first consonant of the pronoun (except gli) isdoubled

In negative sentences there is an extra option the pronoun can be placedbefore the verb (and after non)

11 In the polite form (third person singular and plural Lei and Loro) thepronouns are always placed before the verb

Quel libro egrave per te prendiloChiediamole aiutoSe hai dei problemi parlane

Alzatevi ragazziTelefonagli (or Telefona loro ndash see

Unit 10 paragraph 2)

That book is for you take itLetrsquos ask her for helpIf you are having problems talk about

themGet up boysPhone them

Se sai la veritagrave dillaDammi la pennaDanne un porsquo a tuo fratelloFammi un piacereVallo a comprareVacci subitoDille la veritagraveDigli la veritagrave

If you know the truth tell itGive me the penGive some to your brotherDo me a favourGo and buy itGo there at onceTell her the truthTell him the truth

Non lo prendere or Non prenderloNon le chiediamo aiuto or Non

chiediamole aiutoNon ne parlare or Non parlarneNon vi alzate or Non alzatevi

Donrsquot take itLetrsquos not ask her for help

Donrsquot talk about itDonrsquot get up

Quel libro egrave per Lei lo prendaLe scriva una mailNe parlino al controlloreSi alzi Signora

That book is for you take itWrite her an emailSpeak to the conductor about itGet up( Madam)

154 Unit 21

Exercise 1

Supply the imperative of the verb in brackets

Example (tu pagare) il conto paga

Exercise 2

Supply the polite form for these sentences

Example Paga il conto paghi

Exercise 3

Change the imperatives into the negative

Examples Dormi Non dormire Alzati Non alzarti or Non ti alzare

1 (tu comprare) il pane2 (noi uscire) subito3 (Lei stare) tranquilla Signora4 (tu mettere) in ordine5 (voi essere) gentili6 (Lei venire) Professore7 (tu dare) una mano a tuo fratello8 (tu finire) i compiti9 (comprare) questa borsa Signora

10 (noi fare) una pausa

11 (tu avere) fiducia in lei12 (Lei parlare) piugrave forte Signora13 (tu andare) fuori14 (tu dire) tutto quello che sai15 (Lei fare) attenzione Signora16 (voi scrivere) le cartoline17 (tu fare) attenzione18 (Loro entrare) Signori19 (voi aprire) le finestre20 (tu rispondere) al telefono

1 Chiudi la porta per favore2 Vai al terzo piano3 Sorridi4 Dirsquo tutto5 Fai presto

6 Sii paziente7 Traduci per favore8 Accendi la luce9 Stai fermo

10 Entra

1 Partite subito2 Rispondi alla sua domanda3 Andate in discoteca4 Scenda Signora5 Usciamo6 Finisci i biscotti7 Ascolta

8 Prenda quella strada9 Telefona a Giuseppe

10 Dirsquo quello che pensi11 Tagliati i capelli12 Dalle il libro13 Parlagli14 Scrivetemi

Unit 21 155

Exercise 4

Change the imperatives into the affirmative

Examples Non parlate Parlate Non mi guardare Guardami

Exercise 5

Change the verb into the imperative and replace the words in italics with theappropriate pronoun

Example Devi dire la veritagrave Dilla

15 Dillo16 Invitali17 Prendilo

18 Mettiti il berretto19 Portatele dei fiori20 Fallo

1 Non andare in piscina2 Non prendete lrsquoautobus3 Non invitare Giacomo4 Non guardiamo quel film5 Non cominciare6 Non faccia la spesa al mercato7 Non mettano lrsquoauto in garage8 Non fare cosigrave9 Non andare al parco

10 Non stare sul balcone

11 Non mandarmi una cartolina12 Non fatelo13 Non darmi i tuoi libri14 Non mi rispondere15 Non ci andare16 Non lo mangiate17 Non lo leggete18 Non ci aspetti Professore19 Non dirgli il tuo nome20 Non darle il tuo indirizzo

1 Dovete parlare a Laura2 Devi prendere i libri3 Signora deve firmare il foglio4 Dovete parlare del problema5 Dobbiamo andare al

supermercato6 Devi fare gli esercizi7 Dovete restare a scuola8 Dobbiamo chiedere il permesso9 Devi correggere gli sbagli

10 Dovete prendere il treno

11 Signori devono aspettare il tram12 Devi mandare gli auguri13 Dovete comprare la frutta14 Signor Rossi deve portare una

foto15 Dovete aiutare i vostri amici16 Devi rendere il libro17 Dobbiamo chiedere a Lina18 Devi telefonare ai nonni19 Devi bere del caffegrave20 Dovete studiare filosofia

156 Unit 21

UNIT TWENTY-TWOThe pronoun si

The pronoun si is used as an impersonal subject either in sentences without aspecified subject or in sentences with a passive meaning In both it is alwaysput before the verb

Si in sentences where the subject is not specified

1 Si is used as an impersonal subject in sentences where the subject is notspecified It corresponds to the English lsquoonersquo or lsquoyoursquo (as in lsquoOne neverknowsYou never know whatrsquos just round the cornerrsquo) or lsquotheyrsquo meaning anumber of unspecified people (as in lsquoThey eat kangaroo in Australiarsquo)When si is used in this way the verb is always in the third personsingular

As the examples suggest si is often used for rules or general advice

2 With verbs like essere diventare sembrare etc followed by a noun or anadjective si requires the noun to be plural (even though the verb is alwayssingular) and the adjective to be masculine plural

Si esce da questa portalsquoSono stato al marersquo lsquoSi vede sei

abbronzatorsquoSi paga alla cassaCrsquoegrave stato un incidente e non si

passaAllrsquoostello della gioventugrave si spende

menoPer andare al museo si passa da

piazza Garibaldi

You go out by this doorlsquoIrsquove been at the seasidersquo lsquoIt shows [lit

one sees] yoursquove got a tanrsquoYou payOne pays at the tillTherersquos been an accident and you canrsquot

get throughYou spend less in a youth hostel

To get to the museum you go throughpiazza Garibaldi

Si in sentences with a passive meaning

3 Si is also used as an impersonal subject in sentences which have a passivemeaning like this one lsquoIn Nuova Zelanda si parla inglesersquo The correspond-ing sentence in English would have either a passive verb (lsquoEnglish is spoken inNew Zealandrsquo) or an impersonal one (lsquoOne speaksThey speak English inNew Zealandrsquo)

In this type of sentence the verb can be in either the third person singularor the third person plural The singular is used if the noun that accompaniesthe verb is singular

The plural is used when the noun that accompanies the verb is plural

Quando si egrave studenti si egrave poveriSe si mangia troppo si diventa

grassiQuando si egrave malati si rimane a

casaQuando si egrave giovani si egrave ottimistiSe si veste in nero si sembra magri

When one is a student one is poorIf you eat too much you get fat

When you are ill you stay at home

When one is young one is an optimistIf you dress in black you look slim

Il biglietto [sing] si prendeallrsquoingresso

Il sale [sing] si compra intabaccheria

Al mercato si vende la frutta [sing]migliore

Si deve lavare lrsquoinsalata [sing]prima di mangiarla

In biblioteca si puograve leggere ilgiornale [sing]

The ticket is obtainedYou get yourticket at the door

Salt is boughtYou buy salt at thetobacconistrsquos

The best fruit is sold at the market

Lettuce should be washed before youeat itYou should wash lettucebefore eating it

In the library you can read the paperThe paper can be read in the library

Anche le cartoline [pl] si compranoin tabaccheria

I lamponi [pl] si mangiano inestate

In vacanza si fanno molte fotografie[pl]

Si devono comprare i biglietti [pl]in anticipo

In quel Cine Club si possono vederemolti film [pl]

Postcards are also boughtYou alsobuy postcards at the tobacconistrsquos

Raspberries are eaten in summer

A lot of pictures are taken on holidayOn holiday you take a lot ofpictures

Tickets should be purchased inadvance

A lot of films can be seenYou can seea lot of films at that cine club

158 Unit 22

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

Si used with the auxiliary essere

5 When si occurs with a verb in the present perfect (or any compound tense)the auxiliary is essere the past participle must therefore agree with the subjectof the passive verb

The same applies when si is not used in a passive function but purely as animpersonal subject (lsquoonersquo lsquoyoursquo lsquotheyrsquo etc)

Si used with reflexive verbs

6 When si is used with a reflexive verb the reflexive or reciprocal pronoun isci not si the resulting form is thus ci si

Non si fuma in aereo

Non si devono aprire le finestre

Therersquos no smoking [lit one does notsmoke] in planes

The windows mustnrsquot be openedOnemustnrsquot open the windows

Su questo argomento si sono scrittimolti libri

In Piemonte si egrave sempre prodottodel buon vino

In questa scuola si sono semprecominciate le lezioni alle 8

Quando si egrave finita lrsquouniversitagrave sicerca lavoro

Many books have been written on thissubject

In Piedmont good wine has alwaysbeen producedthey have alwaysproduced good wine

In this school lessons have always(been) started at eight orsquoclock

When university has been finishedWhen you have finished universityyou look for a job

Quando non si egrave riusciti a risolvereun problema non si egrave soddisfatti

Dopo che si egrave stati malati si egravesempre deboli

When one hasnrsquot managed to solve aproblem one is dissatisfied

Yoursquore always weak when yoursquove beenill

A volte in vacanza ci si annoiaSe in vacanza ci si egrave annoiati si egrave

contenti di tornare a scuola

Sometimes you get bored on holidayIf yoursquove been bored in the holidays

yoursquore glad to go back to school

Unit 22 159

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb

Examples Dal balcone si (vedere) le montagne vedono A Natale si(mangiare) il panettone mangia

1 Si (fare) attenzione quando si (attraversare) la strada2 In Svizzera si (parlare) tre lingue3 Di domenica non si (lavorare)4 Negli uffici pubblici non si (fumare)5 Si (dovere) aiutare gli anziani6 In quella discoteca non si (entrare) con le scarpe da ginnastica7 Certi segreti non si (potere) mantenere8 Per entrare nel centro della cittagrave si (pagare) un pedaggio9 In quel bosco si (trovare) molti funghi

10 Al mercato si (comprare) la verdura piugrave fresca

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences with the correct form of the verbs and the adjectives ornouns in brackets

Examples Quando si (essere malato) si (andare) a letto Quando si egravemalati si va a letto Quando si (essere studente) si (dovere)studiare Quando si egrave studenti si deve studiare

1 Quando si (avere) freddo (lavorare) male2 Quando si (avere) la febbre si (restare) a casa3 Quando si (cominciare) a studiare una lingua si (fare) degli sbagli4 Quando si (guidare) non si (usare) il cellulare5 Quando si (avere) fame si (mangiare)6 Quando si (essere stanco) si (fare) molti sbagli7 Quando si (essere avvocato) si (conoscere) la legge8 Quando non si (avere) soldi non si (fare) spese inutili9 Quando si (avere) tanti amici si (essere fortunato)

10 Quando si (mangiare) troppi dolci si (ingrassare)

Quando ci si alza presto la giornatasembra troppo lunga

When you get up early the day seemstoo long

160 Unit 22

Exercise 3

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si

Examples Non devi mangiare con le mani Non si mangia con le maniNon devi raccogliere i fiori Non si raccolgono i fiori

1 Non devi mettere i piedi sulla scrivania2 La mattina devi fare colazione3 Dopo pranzo devi lavare i piatti4 Non devi parlare con gli sconosciuti5 Non devi andare in bicicletta sul marciapiedi6 Non devi mangiare durante le lezioni7 Non devi guardarti tanto allo specchio8 In biblioteca devi parlare a bassa voce9 Non devi guardare la televisione tutto il giorno

10 Il giorno prima degli esami devi studiare

Exercise 4

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si Payattention to the use of the past tense

Example QuandoDopo che hai parcheggiato lrsquoauto in salita devimettere il freno a mano QuandoDopo che si egrave parcheggiatalrsquoauto in salita si deve mettere il freno a mano

1 Dopo che hai fatto il bagno in mare fai la doccia2 Dopo che hai superato un esame sei contento3 Dopo che hai finito di lavorare vai a casa4 Dopo che sei salito sullrsquoaereo non puoi usare il cellulare5 Quando sei cresciuto in campagna conosci i nomi di tante piante

Unit 22 161

UNIT TWENTY-THREEThe present conditional

Use of the present conditional

1 The present conditional expresses an action which depends on a conditionas in this English example lsquoIf I could I would go at oncersquo In this example thecondition is expressed with lsquoifrsquo (ie lsquoon condition thatrsquo) The present con-ditional is often used even when the condition is not actually mentioned asin lsquoIrsquom sure she would love a night outrsquo Basically the use of the Italianpresent conditional is similar to the English

The present conditional in Italian can express wishes or intentions opinionsor advice requests in polite form doubts and conjectures

The forms of the present conditional

2 The present conditional is formed in the same way as the future but withdifferent endings

Vorrei ballare tutta la seraMi daresti un passaggioFareste meglio restare a casa

I would like to dance all nightWould you give me a liftYoursquod do better to stay at home

Prenderei un caffegravePotreste andare a piediMi daresti una manoSapresti fare questo lavoroQuesta potrebbe essere la soluzione

Irsquod like a coffeeYou could go on footWouldcould you give me a handWould you know how to do that jobThis could be the solution

Be sure not to confuse the spelling of these endings (all with -emmo) withthe corresponding ones of the future (all with -emo)

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)

-are-erei-eresti

-ere-erei-eresti

-ire-irei-iresti

(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-irebbe-iremmo-ireste-irebbero

Parlareparlereiparlerestiparlerebbeparleremmoparleresteparlerebbero

To speakI would speakyou would speakhesheit would speakwe would speakyou would speakthey would speak

Prendereprendereiprenderestiprenderebbeprenderemmoprenderesteprenderebbero

To takegetI would takeyou would takehesheit would takewe would takeyou would takethey would take

Finirefinireifinirestifinirebbefiniremmofinirestefinirebbero

To finishI would finishyou would finishhesheit would finishwe would finishyou would finishthey would finish

Con Marco parleresti italianoScriverei una cartolina alla ziaFiniremmo questo lavoro prima di

partire

With Marco you would speak ItalianI would write a postcard to my auntWersquod finish this job before leaving

Unit 23 163

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the presentconditional in order to keep the hard sound of c and g

4 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the present conditional

Present conditional of some irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are grouped in the same way as for the future tense

5 Essere and avere are irregular

Cercarecerchereicercheresticercherebbecercheremmocercherestecercherebbero

Pagarepaghereipagherestipagherebbepagheremmopagherestepagherebbero

Al suo posto cercherei un altrolavoro

La Signora pagherebbe il conto

If I were him [lit in his place] Irsquod lookfor another job

The lady would pay the bill

Cominciarecomincereicominceresticomincerebbecominceremmocomincerestecomincerebbero

Mangiaremangereimangerestimangerebbemangeremmomangerestemangerebbero

Senza di lui non cominceremmo lariunione

Mangeresti la carne di canguro

We wouldnrsquot start the meeting withouthim

Would you eat kangaroo meat

Esseresareisarestisarebbesaremmosarestesarebbero

Avereavreiavrestiavrebbeavremmoavresteavrebbero

Sarei contenta di rivedere CarloAvresti un minuto per me

I would be happy to see Carlo againCould you spare me a minute [lit

would you have a minute for me]

164 Unit 23

6 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

7 Andare cadere dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow the samepattern as avere

8 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere have the following pattern

dareidarestidarebbedaremmodarestedarebbero

fareifarestifarebbefaremmofarestefarebbero

stareistarestistarebbestaremmostarestestarebbero

Darei una festaMi faresti un favoreAl posto tuo starei tranquillo

I would give a partyWould you do me a favourI wouldnrsquot worry if I were you [lit in

your place Irsquod be calm]

andreiandrestiandrebbeandremmoandresteandrebbero

cadreicadresticadrebbecadremmocadrestecadrebbero

dovreidovrestidovrebbedovremmodovrestedovrebbero

potreipotrestipotrebbepotremmopotrestepotrebbero

sapreisaprestisaprebbesapremmosaprestesaprebbero

vedreivedrestivedrebbevedremmovedrestevedrebbero

vivreivivrestivivrebbevivremmovivrestevivrebbero

Quando andreste in vacanzaDomenica dovrei lavorarePotresti aiutarmi

When would you go on holidayOn Sunday I ought to workYou could help me [ie why arenrsquot

you helping me]

-rrei-rresti-rrebbe-rremmo-rreste-rrebbero

berreiberrestiberrebbeberremmoberresteberrebbero

rimarreirimarrestirimarrebberimarremmorimarresterimarrebbero

verreiverrestiverrebbeverremmoverresteverrebbero

vorreivorrestivorrebbevorremmovorrestevorrebbero

terreiterrestiterrebbeterremmoterresteterrebbero

Unit 23 165

The present conditional of volere is often used to expresses wishes andrequests in a polite form corresponding to the English lsquowould likersquo

9 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the verb

Exercise 1

Supply the present conditional of the verb in brackets

Example Stasera non (io uscire) uscirei

Rimarrei ancora un porsquo con voi madevo prendere il treno

Verresti al cinema con me

Vorrei un caffegraveVorrei anche un chilo di mele

I would stay with you a bit longer butIrsquove got to get the train

Would you come to the cinema withme

Irsquod like a coffeeIrsquod like a kilo of apples as well

-urrei-urresti-urrebbe-urremmo-urreste-urrebbero

tradurreitradurrestitradurrebbetradurremmotradurrestetradurrebbero

Lrsquointerprete tradurrebbe tutto per te The interpreter would translateeverything for you

Non capiresti nullaNon vorremmo partireNon tradurrei cosigrave

You wouldnrsquot understand a thingWe wouldnrsquot want to leaveI wouldnrsquot translate (it) like that

1 (tu leggere) quel libro di nuovo2 (io potere) aiutarvi3 (voi avere) voglia di uscire4 Mi (tu svegliare)5 (loro volere) venire a cena6 (tu pagare) anche per me

7 Non (io fare) quel lavoro8 (noi dovere) studiare9 (tu sapere) guidare un trattore

10 Claudia (rimanere) a casa11 Al posto tuo non (io aprire) la

porta

166 Unit 23

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences changing the italicised verbs into the presentconditional

Example Veniamo volentieri Verremmo volentieri

1 Voglio due panini2 Dovete studiare di piugrave3 Lucia va in vacanza4 Fate una pausa5 Possiamo parlarti6 Maurizio cambia lavoro7 Mi dai un consiglio8 Vi piace andare a Venezia9 I nostri amici devono arrivare oggi

10 Non esce mai senza permesso

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian using the present conditional

1 Paola could help me2 We would gladly come3 I wouldnrsquot go to the library in the evenings4 When would you start Signora Vialli5 Pietro would like to invite you [sing] to the party6 Wersquod be happy to see you [pl]7 They would keep the dog in the garden8 I would have to leave early9 Irsquod like another biscuit

10 Would you know the result Mr Spadavecchia

12 (tu dovere) telefonare a Pia13 A Liz (piacere) vivere in Italia14 Mi (potere) aspettare Signora15 Mauro (essere) la persona giusta16 Mi (voi dare) un passaggio17 (io bere) volentieri qualcosa

18 Non (loro abitare) mai in una casacome questa

19 Chi (tradurre) dallrsquoarabo20 (tu accompagnare) Silvia alla

stazione

Unit 23 167

KEY TO EXERCISES

UNIT 1

Exercise 1

1 m 2 f 3 m 4 f 5 f 6 m 7 m 8 m 9 m 10 mf 11 m 12 f13 mf 14 m 15 f 16 f 17 mf 18 m 19 m 20 f

Exercise 2

1 ragazzi 2 marche 3 chiavi 4 abitanti 5 zii 6 fiumi 7 stazioni8 ragazze 9 energie 10 pomeriggi 11 banche 12 pianisti 13 clienti14 indirizzi 15 occhi 16 ristoranti 17 televisioni 18 calendari19 francesi 20 laghi

Exercise 3

1 nome 2 via 3 figlio 4 mano 5 opinione 6 cliente 7 occhio 8 per-sona 9 marca 10 problema 11 ciliegia 12 caffegrave 13 medico14 attivista 15 ginocchio 16 bugia 17 tedesco 18 test 19 uomo20 amica

UNIT 2

Exercise 1

1 la 2 la 3 il 4 la 5 lrsquo or le 6 il 7 i 8 lrsquo 9 lo 10 gli 11 le12 lo or gli 13 lrsquo 14 la 15 la or le 16 gli 17 le 18 le 19 la or le20 lrsquo

Exercise 2

1 una 2 una 3 un 4 uno 5 una 6 un 7 unrsquo 8 una 9 un 10 uno

11 unrsquo 12 uno 13 una 14 unrsquo 15 uno 16 un 17 uno 18 un19 uno 20 unrsquo

Exercise 3

1 lo 2 una 3 le 4 unrsquo 5 la 6 il 7 unrsquo 8 lrsquo un 9 il 10 lo

UNIT 3

Exercise 1

1 interessante 2 bianca 3 bianchi 4 rosse 5 egoisti 6 bellrsquo7 razzista 8 comiche 9 simpatiche 10 lunghi 11 quel simpatico12 questi facili 13 quei begli 14 queste belle 15 quegli morti16 questi inglesi 17 quelle spagnole 18 quel bellrsquo 19 quelle fresche20 quei greci

Exercise 2

1 grande 2 rosa 3 francesi 4 grave 5 pacifisti 6 tedesche 7 pigro8 lunghi 9 belghe 10 belga 11 sporche 12 energico 13 resistenti14 blu 15 scozzesi 16 veloci 17 simpatiche 18 italiani 19 ottimisti20 soddisfatti

Exercise 3

1 i loro 2 i suoi 3 la mia 4 le tue 5 la vostra 6 il nostro 7 i miei 8 laloro 9 tua 10 la Sua

Exercise 4

1 il suo 2 la nostra 3 i tuoi 4 il mio 5 i suoi 6 le tue or le Sue 7 laloro 8 i vostri or i Loro 9 le sue 10 i nostri

Exercise 5

1 questi i nostri tedeschi 2 i Suoi ottimisti 3 queste le vostre 4 i miei iSuoi 5 questi i miei quelli i tuoi 6 il nostro entusiasta il vostro7 quelle le mie queste le tue 8 quegli divertenti questo difficile 9 i mieipesanti i vostri leggeri 10 quellrsquo minerale gassata questa liscia

Key to exercises 169

UNIT 4

Exercise 1

1 siamo 2 sei 3 sono 4 sono 5 siete 6 egrave 7 egrave 8 sono 9 siete10 siamo 11 sono 12 siete 13 egrave 14 sono 15 sei 16 egrave 17 egrave18 sono 19 siete 20 egrave

Exercise 2

1 abbiamo 2 ha 3 ho 4 hanno 5 avete 6 ha 7 ha 8 hai9 abbiamo 10 hai 11 avete 12 ha 13 abbiamo 14 hanno 15 hai16 ha 17 hanno 18 hai 19 ho 20 ha

Exercise 3

1 Non ho ragione Ho ragione 2 Il professore non ha caldo Il professoreha caldo 3 La Signorina Berti non ha sete La Signorina Berti ha sete4 Lei non ha sonno Lei ha sonno 5 Non avete paura Avete paura6 Non hanno freddo Hanno freddo 7 Carla e Andrea non hanno fameCarla e Andrea hanno fame

Exercise 4

1 Sono stanco Non sono stanco 2 Sei pigra Non sei pigra 3 Il dottore egravegiovane Il dottore non egrave giovane 4 La professoressa egrave simpatica La profes-soressa non egrave simpatica 5 Lei egrave alto Lei non egrave alto 6 Siamo magre Nonsiamo magre 7 Siete intelligenti Non siete intelligenti 8 Le tue amichesono contente Le tue amiche non sono contente

Exercise 5

1 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una sedia 2 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono due poltrone 3 Nellrsquouf-ficio ci sono tre computer 4 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una stampante 5 Nellrsquoufficiocrsquoegrave un telefono 6 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave la fotocopiatrice 7 Nellrsquoufficio ci sonodue radiatori 8 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una porta 9 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono trefinestre

Exercise 6

1 In questo paese crsquoegrave un museo ci sono tre musei non ci sono musei 2 Inquesto paese crsquoegrave una discoteca ci sono due discoteche non ci sono disco-teche 3 In questo paese crsquoegrave una panetteria ci sono quattro panetterie nonci sono panetterie 4 In questo paese crsquoegrave un cinema ci sono due cinemanon ci sono cinema 5 In questo paese crsquoegrave una biblioteca ci sono due

170 Key to exercises

biblioteche non ci sono biblioteche 6 In questo paese crsquoegrave una scuola cisono due scuole non ci sono scuole 7 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ufficio postaleci sono due uffici postali non ci sono uffici postali 8 In questo paese crsquoegraveuna libreria ci sono quattro librerie non ci sono librerie 9 In questo paesecrsquoegrave un giardino pubblico ci sono tre giardini pubblici non ci sono giardinipubblici 10 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ristorante ci sono sei ristoranti non cisono ristoranti

UNIT 5

Exercise 1

1 arriva 2 vive 3 mangiamo 4 cerchi 5 prendete 6 parte 7 leg-giamo 8 pulisci 9 conosco 10 finiscono 11 guidiamo 12 giochiamo13 tornate 14 capisci 15 spendono 16 abita 17 pagate 18 viaggi19 ricevi 20 lasciano

Exercise 2

1 vanno 2 produce 3 diamo 4 vai 5 fate 6 riusciamo 7 venite8 posso 9 vogliono 10 dici 11 potete 12 voglio 13 stai 14 sanno15 fanno 16 devono 17 traduciamo 18 deve 19 sapete 20 vengono

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlare con Marcello 2 Partiamo stasera 3 Prendiamo il pros-simo autobus 4 (Lei) puograve andare al cinema Signor Buchan 5 Sappiamousare quei cellulari 6 Preferisce sempre leggere il giornale 7 Il bam-bino dorme 8 Vengo a Torino questrsquoestate 9 Escono spesso la sera10 I ragazzi giocano a pallone domani

Exercise 4

1 Esci stasera mamma 2 Cosa facciamo domani 3 Puoi aprire quellaporta 4 Vuoi un caffegrave 5 Sai suonare il piano Francesco 6 Cosa cer-chi 7 (Lei) beve caffegrave o acqua minerale Signora 8 Tu e Jim conoscetei miei genitori 9 Stai bene oggi 10 Cosa costruiscono

Exercise 5

1 (Lei) non parla inglese Signora Vialli 2 I miei amici tedeschi non sannocantare in italiano 3 Non guadagno molto 4 Non dagrave una festa per il suocompleanno 5 Non lavori con Giulia 6 Non vedono il Signor Moro datre anni 7 Percheacute non vai mai a Firenze Claudio 8 Non riesco a chiudere

Key to exercises 171

questa finestra 9 Percheacute non bevete caffegrave stamattina 10 Non venitedomani

UNIT 6

Exercise 1

1 dolcemente 2 tranquillamente 3 semplicemente 4 allegramente5 maggiormente 6 irregolarmente 7 probabilmente 8 chiaramente9 facilmente 10 velocemente 11 lentamente 12 utilmente13 attentamente 14 rapidamente 15 leggermente

Exercise 2

1 molti 2 molto 3 pochi 4 troppo 5 troppi 6 tanta 7 troppo8 molto 9 poco 10 molte 11 poco 12 molto 13 molto 14 pochi15 molto 16 poca 17 molta 18 molto 19 troppe 20 poche

Exercise 3

1 con prudenza 2 con pazienza 3 in modo nervoso 4 a poco a poco5 senza esitazione 6 di solito 7 in tempo 8 con coraggio 9 di sicuro10 in maniera brusca

Exercise 4

1 A volte mangio in mensa 2 La piscina egrave abbastanza grande 3 Usciamospesso con i nostri amici 4 Hai abbastanza soldi 5 Devi parlare lenta-mente or piano 6 Marina non mangia mai (il) formaggio 7 Francescaarriva sempre tardi or in ritardo 8 Aspetto da quasi quaranta minuti9 Carla e Andrea sono fuori 10 I tuoi genitori stanno bene

UNIT 7

Exercise 1

1 Anna la guarda 2 Li invitiamo 3 Le scrivete 4 Lo leggono 5 Lasuono 6 La preparo 7 Lo chiamo 8 Li faccio 9 Le invito 10 Lechiudete 11 Lorenzo li corregge 12 Lo prendono 13 Li porto 14 Licerco 15 Pia la beve 16 Paola lo finisce 17 Li accompagno 18 Le vedioggi 19 La ascolto 20 Luca li lava

172 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 Non le voglio 2 Non li compriamo 3 Non ci chiamano 4 Silvia non liinvita 5 I Signori Bianchi non lo prendono 6 Non mi invitate 7 Non viaspetto 8 Non la vedo domani 9 Non ti accompagno alla stazione10 Non lo guardiamo

Exercise 3

1 Vogliamo vederlo 2 Non posso aiutarti 3 Puoi accompagnarmi4 Vuoi sentirla 5 Devono chiamarci 6 Voglio invitarvi 7 Vuole cono-scerle 8 Non potete farli 9 Devi ascoltarmi 10 Non posso aiutarLaSignora

Exercise 4

1 lo 2 le 3 li 4 li 5 la 6 mi 7 li 8 La 9 li 10 le 11 la 12 li13 la 14 vi 15 lo 16 la 17 la 18 li 19 le 20 lo

Exercise 5

1 Vi invitiamo alla festa 2 Ho molti amici e li vedo spesso 3 Signora FusiLa posso chiamare or posso chiamarLa domani 4 Ci aiuti la settimanaprossima 5 Ti devo vedere or Devo vederti 6 Olga e Anna partono doma-ni e le voglio accompagnareportare or voglio accompagnarleportarle allastazione 7 Non vi posso aiutare or non posso aiutarvi 8 lsquoPorti la chi-tarrarsquo lsquoNo non ce lrsquohorsquo 9 Tullio compra queste riviste e le legge 10 Mipuoi portareaccompagnare or puoi portarmiaccompagnarmi a scuoladomani

UNIT 8

Exercise 1

1 della mamma 2 dello zio 3 degli amici 4 del parco 5 dellrsquoauto 6 deipaesi 7 delle stanze 8 al mare 9 allo stadio 10 alla stazione 11 airagazzi 12 agli uomini 13 alle donne 14 allrsquoospedale 15 dalla zia16 dallo studente 17 dal dentista 18 dallrsquoaeroporto 19 dagli uffici20 dalle colleghe 21 dai ministri 22 nellrsquoalbergo 23 nello stipendio24 nella casa 25 negli anni 26 nei cassetti 27 nelle camere 28 nelfrigo 29 sul tavolo 30 sulla sedia 31 sullo scaffale 32 sulle spalle33 sui libri 34 sugli alberi 35 sullrsquoidea

Key to exercises 173

Exercise 2

1 a 2 in 3 al 4 fra or tra 5 da 6 alla 7 con 8 dal 9 del 10 ai11 a in 12 al con 13 nel 14 alle 15 da 16 alle 17 per 18 con19 del 20 a

Exercise 3

1 a 2 in 3 a in 4 a 5 di 6 al 7 a 8 a 9 da a 10 da 11 a12 in 13 in 14 alla 15 a or per 16 al 17 della 18 in 19 nella 20 di

Exercise 4

1 Finisco di lavorare alle 6 2 Antonio parte per Genova 3 Gemma egrave natanel 2001 4 Fabia non esce mai di sera 5 I Signori Bancroft abitano incampagna in una vecchia villa 6 La biblioteca egrave dietro la palestra 7 Nonpuoi uscire senza di me 8 Abitate lontano dalla scuola 9 La zia di Isa-bella vive a Greve in Toscana 10 Ha una gonna di pelle 11 Angus egrave diEdimburgo in Scozia 12 Deve girare a destra dopo la chiesa( Signora)13 Stasera mangiamo in pizzeria 14 Questi fiori sono per tua madre 15 Aor per Natale andiamo a sciare in montagna 16 Abito vicino alla pri-gione 17 Margaret vive a Torino da cinque anni 18 Il treno per Aostaparte dal binario 7 19 Regaliamo or diamo a Luisa un CD di musicarussa 20 Compro sempre il pane da Belli

UNIT 9

Exercise 1

1 chi 2 chi 3 chi 4 che or cosa or che cosa 5 che or cosa or che cosa6 chi 7 chi 8 che or cosa or che cosa 9 chi 10 che or cosa or che cosa11 chi 12 che or cosa or che cosa 13 chi 14 chi 15 che or cosa or checosa 16 chi 17 che or cosa or che cosa 18 chi 19 che or cosa or checosa 20 chi

Exercise 2

1 dove 2 quando 3 percheacute 4 come 5 quando 6 che 7 che or quale8 dovrsquo 9 percheacute 10 qual 11 che or quale 12 che or quale 13 come14 dove 15 percheacute 16 dovrsquo 17 quando 18 qual 19 percheacute 20 che orquali

174 Key to exercises

Exercise 3

1 quante 2 quanto 3 quanti 4 quanti 5 quante 6 quanta 7 quanto8 quante 9 quanti 10 quanto 11 quanta 12 quanto 13 quanti14 quanto 15 quanto 16 quante 17 quanto 18 quante 19 quanti20 quanto

Exercise 4

1 Quanti panini volete 2 Dove andate a pranzo 3 Chi sono quelle per-sone 4 CheCosaChe cosa fai domenica 5 Quando andate in vacanza6 Percheacute Luisa non parte 7 Qual egrave la tua bici 8 CheQuale film guardi9 Chi di loro egrave italianoitaliana 10 Quando arriva il treno

UNIT 10

Exercise 1

1 Le telefoniamo 2 Gli spedisco or spedisco loro le cartoline 3 Silvia gliracconta una storia 4 Le regalo un libro 5 Anna gli scrive or scrive loro6 Le porto i fiori 7 Gli scriviamo or scriviamo loro 8 Olga e Silvia leparlano 9 Gli legge or legge loro un libro 10 Cosa gli regalate

Exercise 2

1 Non le parlo di lavoro 2 Non mi telefoni 3 Non vi regalo dei libri4 Non gli offrite qualcosa 5 Gli amici non le offrono un gelato 6 Non ciscrivete 7 Non ti mando una cartolina 8 Non vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo non mi dice la veritagrave 10 Non gli spedisco il pacco

Exercise 3

1 Possiamo scriverle 2 Devo parlarti 3 Voglio regalargli una chitarra4 Puoi telefonarci 5 Devono offrirvi qualcosa 6 Potete dirmi tutto7 Posso parlarLe Signora 8 Non dovete scrivergli 9 Non posso rispon-derti 10 Voglio crederle

Exercise 4

1 le 2 ti 3 gli 4 gli 5 Le 6 vi 7 ci 8 ti 9 gli 10 Le 11 mi 12 le13 gli 14 gli 15 vi 16 gli 17 mi 18 le 19 ti 20 gli

Key to exercises 175

Exercise 5

1 Puoi dire a Lucia che le voglio parlare or voglio parlarle 2 Appena arrivoa Roma vi telefono 3 Devo chiederLe or Le devo chiedere un favoreSignora 4 Gli dai il tuo numero di telefono 5 Ci dicono or raccontanosempre (delle) cose interessanti 6 Mi mandano sempre una cartolinaquando vanno in Italia 7 Per il suo compleanno le dograve dei fiori 8 Devodarti or ti devo dare i libri di Luca 9 Se volete vi racconto una storia10 Massimo mi scrive ogni settimana or tutte le settimane

UNIT 11

Exercise 1

1 Non le piacciono i carciofi 2 Non gli piace guidare 3 Gli piace viag-giare 4 Gli piace il mare 5 Gli piace ballare 6 Non ci piace il pesce7 Vi piace nuotare 8 Le piacciono i film francesi 9 Non le piace stirare10 Gli piace andare in moto

Exercise 2

1 Non le piace andare in centro il sabato 2 Non ti piace la musica clas-sica 3 Non gli piacciono i funghi 4 Non vi piace guardare la televi-sione 5 Non mi piacciono i film di fantascienza 6 Non gli piace lascuola 7 Non ci piacciono le canzoni italiane 8 Non le piacciono glispaghetti 9 Non mi piace sciare 10 Non vi piace la cioccolata al latte

Exercise 3

1 (Non) mi piace la frutta 2 (Non) mi piace il calcio 3 (Non) mi piac-ciono le fragole 4 (Non) mi piace giocare a tennis 5 (Non) mi piace uscirecon gli amici 6 (Non) mi piacciono i gatti 7 (Non) mi piace la pizza8 (Non) mi piacciono i dolci 9 (Non) mi piace ballare 10 (Non) mi piac-ciono le vacanze

Exercise 4

1 A Luigi (non) piace il caffegrave senza zucchero 2 Al professore (non) piac-ciono le poesie di Leopardi 3 A mia sorella (non) piace andare al cinema4 Ai miei cugini (non) piacciono i film di Fellini 5 Al primo ministro (non)piace la politica

176 Key to exercises

Exercise 5

1 basta 2 sembra 3 piacciono 4 manca 5 servono 6 mancano7 sembra 8 servono 9 pare 10 bastano

Exercise 6

1 Unrsquoora non mi basta 2 A Giovanni serve una penna 3 A Lynne man-cano gli or i suoi amici italiani 4 Ti piace la cioccolata or il cioccolato5 Non le piace andare al cinema 6 Vi serve un passaggio 7 Gli servonouna penna e un quaderno 8 Le sembra noioso lo spettacolo Signora9 Ti serve aiuto 10 Mi piace leggere

UNIT 12

Exercise 1

1 restati 2 uscite 3 andata 4 arrivati 5 entrata 6 riuscito 7 arrivato8 piaciuta 9 costati 10 nata

Exercise 2

1 hai comprato 2 ha regalato 3 siamo andati or andate 4 avete trovato5 hai spento 6 egrave venuta 7 ha portato 8 avete preso 9 ho visto 10 haipotuto 11 ho dovuto 12 egrave uscito ha perso 13 ha scritto 14 abbiamogiocato 15 ha cominciato 16 ha voluto or egrave voluto 17 hai messo 18 haipotuto 19 avete avuto 20 hai letto

Exercise 3

1 abbiamo dovuto 2 avete mangiato 3 sei partito or partita 4 ha te-lefonato 5 ha voluto or egrave voluta 6 hai conosciuto 7 ha dovuto or egravedovuta 8 avete accompagnato 9 ha vinto 10 hai finito 11 ho capito12 hai portato 13 siamo riusciti or riuscite 14 avete deciso 15 ha avuto16 sono venuti 17 avete fatto 18 egrave partito 19 egrave stata 20 ha tradotto

Exercise 4

1 Abbiamo giagrave fatto questo esercizio 2 Non ho ancora finito di leggere ilgiornale 3 Stefano non egrave mai andato or stato a Roma 4 Non ho piugrave vistoRoberto dopo la festa 5 Avete giagrave pagato il conto 6 Giulia non haancora cominciato a lavorare 7 Carlo non ha piugrave potuto lavorare 8 Nonho mai conosciuto i suoi genitori 9 Hai giagrave scritto le lettere 10 Non homai visto quel film

Key to exercises 177

UNIT 13

Exercise 1

1 li ho messi 2 lrsquoho accompagnata 3 le ho comprate 4 le ha chiuse 5 liho mangiati 6 ti ha chiamata 7 lrsquoha letto 8 ci hanno invitati 9 li hopresi 10 li ho dati

Exercise 2

1 le ho offerto 2 li avete visti 3 lrsquoho imprestata 4 le ho telefonato 5 le haprese 6 li ho studiati 7 mi ha presentato 8 ti ha accompagnata 9 le haimandato 10 lrsquoho conosciuta 11 lrsquoabbiamo lasciata 12 gli hai detto 13 liho comprati 14 Lrsquoho trovata 15 le ho conosciute 16 gli ho detto 17 lrsquohapagato 18 le ho raccontato 19 Lrsquoha accompagnata 20 lrsquoho letta tutta

Exercise 3

1 Non li ho saputi fare 2 Li ho voluti vedere 3 Non lrsquoabbiamo potutochiamare 4 Vi hanno potuti aiutare or potute aiutare 5 Lrsquoabbiamodovuta invitare 6 Non le ha sapute tradurre 7 Le avete dovuteaccompagnare 8 Lrsquoha voluta mangiare 9 Li hai potuti vedere 10 Nonle hanno volute fare

Exercise 4

1 Sabina non mi ha invitata 2 Chi ti ha chiamata 3 Gli abbiamo te-lefonato ieri 4 Vi ho cercati ma non vi ho trovati 5 Chiara ci haaccompagnati or portati alla fermata dellrsquoautobus 6 Vi ho mandato unacartolina lrsquoavete ricevuta 7 I (miei) nonni mi hanno regalato 100 euro mali ho giagrave spesi 8 Ho comprato due panini e li ho mangiati 9 lsquoHai spento lalucersquo lsquoSigrave lrsquoho spentarsquo 10 Carla non ha potuto aiutarle or Carla non le hapotute aiutare

UNIT 14

Exercise 1

1 lei te 2 loro 3 lei 4 noi voi 5 me 6 lui 7 me te 8 Lei 9 voi10 lei loro

Exercise 2

1 Nobody plays drums like me 2 Every student but him did the home-work 3 Sergio calls or phones you not me 4 Irsquoll take or go with or

178 Key to exercises

accompany you as well 5 I understand as much as you do or as much asyou 6 Mauro tells everyone the truth but or except me 7 You should oryou must or you have to phone me as well 8 Claudiarsquos lending us therecords not you 9 Irsquom giving or I give or Irsquoll give my address to everyonebut her 10 Irsquom giving her a book and him a record

Exercise 3

1 voi 2 lui 3 loro 4 noi 5 lei

Exercise 4

1 Tutti sono contro di me 2 Vieni con me 3 Ho comprato un regalo perte 4 Non puoi contare su di lui 5 Posso dormire da voi stasera

UNIT 15

Exercise 1

1 che 2 cui 3 che 4 cui 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 cui 9 cui 10 che

Exercise 2

1 cui 2 cui 3 cui 4 che 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 che 9 cui 10 cui

Exercise 3

1 la quale 2 con la quale 3 dei quali 4 nel quale 5 alle quali 6 ilquale 7 dal quale 8 le quali 9 delle quali 10 i quali

Exercise 4

1 colei che 2 coloro che 3 colui che 4 colui or colei che 5 coloro che

Exercise 5

1 chi 2 quella che 3 chi or quello che 4 chi 5 quelli che 6 quella che7 chi 8 quello che 9 chi 10 quelle che

Exercise 6

1 Il libro che voglio comprare egrave troppo caro 2 La signora con cui or con laquale ho parlato egrave tedesca 3 Le persone che or le quali hanno telefonatovivono or abitano in America 4 La cittagrave dove or in cui or nella quale vivo or

Key to exercises 179

abito non egrave molto grande 5 Colui che or chi vuole andare allrsquouniversitagravedeve sapere leggere e scrivere 6 Paolo che or il quale ha perso il (suo)cellulare non egrave contento or felice 7 Quella canzone mi piace or Mi piacequella canzone ma preferisco quelle che abbiamo sentito ieri sera 8 Questaegrave or Ecco la sorella di Fabio la quale or che mi ha prestato la sua bici 9 Haivisto chi or colui che or colei che ha mangiato le pesche 10 Chi egrave lrsquouomo cuior a cui or al quale avete venduto i biglietti

UNIT 16

Exercise 1

1 parlava 2 passava 3 faceva 4 studiavo riposava 5 partiva 6 lavo-rava 7 diceva 8 faceva 9 abitavamo 10 eravate 11 andavano12 era 13 uscivamo 14 sapevi 15 conoscevo 16 amava 17 dormivate18 erano 19 avevi 20 dovevano

Exercise 2

1 sei partita 2 era 3 ho studiato 4 mangiavamo 5 egrave rimasta 6 aveva7 sembravano 8 ha speso 9 egrave andata 10 erano

Exercise 3

1 egrave arrivato era 2 ho conosciuto abitavo 3 avevi hai cominciato 4 hatelefonato facevo 5 sono venuti era 6 hanno fatto sapevano 7 hannodetto hanno visto 8 egrave venuto aveva 9 siamo arrivati or arrivate partiva10 ho imprestato era

Exercise 4

suonava piaceva abbiamo deciso siamo arrivati mancavano crsquoerano eraaspettavamo abbiamo sentito ha risposto abbiamo visto era ha finitoha spiegato era chiamava aveva era sapeva egrave partito aveva egrave riuscitoaprivano

Exercise 5

1 Quanto tempo hai passato a Bologna 2 Siamo andati or andate alcinema ieri sera 3 Sembravate felici 4 Il padre di Gemma faceva il mari-naio or era marinaio 5 Claudia e Monica non sono venute in vacanza connoi questa volta 6 I miei genitori di solito uscivano alle 8 7 Mio padre halavorato in India per 3 anni 8 A che ora avete preso lrsquoautobus ieri mattina9 Lrsquoanno scorso facevamo ginnastica il or di lunedigrave mattina 10 Dove hai

180 Key to exercises

comprato quelle scarpe 11 Non ti ho chiamato or chiamata percheacute dormivi12 Quando voi abitavate or vivevate a Londra io abitavo or vivevo a Parigi13 Quanti anni aveva Susanna quando egrave andata allrsquouniversitagrave 14 Mentreguardavo la televisione Anna egrave entrata e lrsquoha spenta 15 Paolo e Giulia nonsono venuti percheacute Paolo era troppo stanco

UNIT 17

Exercise 1

1 ne ho mandate 2 ne ho comprata or ne ho comprati 3 ne ho fatti or ne hofatta 4 ne sono venute poche 5 non ne ho fatto nessuno 6 ne ho lasciatauna aperta 7 ne hanno invitati molti 8 ne ho letti 9 ne abbiamo com-prata poca 10 non ne ho mangiata nessuna 11 ne ho presi 12 ne ho datealcune 13 ne abbiamo visti 14 ne ho mangiate 15 non ne ha mangiatonessuno 16 ne abbiamo dato qualcuno 17 ne ho presi alcuni 18 ne sonorimasti alcuni cari 19 non ne ha invitata nessuna 20 ne ho regalate

Exercise 2

1 ne 2 ne 3 li 4 lrsquo 5 ne 6 le 7 ne 8 ne 9 li 10 ne 11 ne 12 lrsquo13 ne 14 ne 15 ne 16 la 17 lo 18 ne 19 ne 20 li

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlarne col professore 2 Vuoi farne un altro 3 Non dobbiamoprenderne 4 Potete mangiarne 5 Devo farne sei 6 Non possiamo par-larne 7 Posso assaggiarne uno 8 Non deve portarne Signora 9 Voglio-no comprarne qualcuno 10 Non possono berne

Exercise 4

1 Ne ho dovuti dare due a Marisa 2 Ne hai potute comprare 3 Quantene hai dovute fare 4 Non ne hanno voluta mangiare 5 Ne ha dovutileggere quattro 6 Non ne abbiamo potute prendere 7 Ne ho dovute scri-vere due 8 Ne ho potute leggere solo due pagine 9 Ne avete dovuti rifaremolti 10 Non ne hanno potuta assaggiare

Exercise 5

1 in questa casa Ci abitiamo da tre anni 2 al Museo di Storia NaturaleStefano ci lavora da febbraio 3 alla festa di Marco Ci volete venire orVolete venirci 4 al cinema Paolo e Livia ci vanno due volte alla set-timana 5 al supermercato La Signora Bini ci va sempre a piedi 6 in

Key to exercises 181

Italia Ci rimango per tre settimane 7 a scuola Giulia ci viene sempre inbici 8 allrsquoufficio postale Ci ho passato tre ore in coda 9 a casa di PietroCi siete andati a cena 10 a Sorrento Ci passiamo le vacanze

UNIT 18

Exercise 1

1 arriveranno 2 parlerete 3 telefoneragrave 4 dirai 5 scriverograve 6 dormirograve7 cominceremo 8 finirai 9 prenderograve 10 chiamerai 11 abiterete12 porteranno 13 direte 14 tradurragrave 15 pagheremo 16 mangerai17 scriveragrave 18 cercheragrave 19 prenderanno 20 pagheragrave

Exercise 2

1 andrograve 2 saremo 3 rimarrai 4 verrograve potrograve 5 dovragrave 6 verragrave vorragrave7 avremo 8 potrograve 9 vedrai 10 farete 11 staranno 12 sapragrave 13 farai14 sarete 15 dovrete 16 andrograve 17 saprai 18 verrai 19 farete20 terranno

Exercise 3

uscirograve dovrograve arriverograve verragrave andremo lascerograve andremo vedremo porteragravetorneremo verranno dovremo usciremo faremo saragrave potremo

Exercise 4

1 Chi potragrave aiutarmi 2 Lrsquoestate prossima faremo un corso di italiano3 Leggerai tutti questi libri 4 Non andrograve in biblioteca domani 5 Quandoarriveragrave Signora Pasini 6 Domenica usciranno 7 Cosa farai8 Saranno le 10 9 Porterai i tuoi CD per la festa 10 Non verrete con noial cinema

UNIT 19

Exercise 1

1 aveva finito 2 era arrivata 3 avevo vista 4 avevi spento 5 avevatepreso 6 aveva lavorato 7 aveva scritto 8 aveva preparato 9 eri riuscitoor riuscita 10 avevamo chiesto 11 era stata 12 avevo mangiato 13 erapiaciuta 14 era andata 15 erano uscite 16 avevo capito 17 era partito18 era rimasto 19 aveva voluto 20 era stata

182 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 sono arrivato or arrivata erano usciti 2 conosceva aveva telefonato3 hai fatto avevo detto 4 era aveva camminato 5 egrave venuto doveva or hadovuto avevano dato 6 era aveva vinto 7 portava aveva regalato 8 hocomprato avevate consigliato 9 ha speso aveva guadagnato 10 ha invi-tato erano andati

Exercise 3

1 Paola non era ancora andata or stata in Scozia 2 Avevo finito il lavoroma ero molto stanco or stanca 3 Le ragazze non erano mai entrate in quellachiesa 4 Arianna ha finito la torta che aveva fatto sua nonna 5 lsquoCosaavevi detto a Fabiorsquo lsquoNon gli avevo detto nullarsquo 6 Maria aveva dovuto orera dovuta rimanere or restare a casa 7 Quanto era costata la vostramacchina or auto 8 Avevano comprato or preso il biglietto il giornoprima 9 Non avevo piugrave la bici percheacute lrsquoavevo data a Anna 10 Era nata inRussia ma abitava da molti anni in Italia quando lrsquoho conosciuta

UNIT 20

Exercise 1

1 si 2 mi 3 si 4 vi 5 si 6 ci 7 mi 8 si 9 si 10 si 11 vi 12 ti13 ci 14 si 15 vi 16 si 17 si 18 ti 19 vi 20 si

Exercise 2

1 si 2 si 3 vi 4 si 5 ti 6 ci 7 si 8 si 9 ci 10 mi 11 vi 12 ci13 si 14 ti 15 mi 16 ti 17 ci 18 si 19 mi 20 vi

Exercise 3

1 si sono sposati 2 ti sei sbagliato 3 vi siete ricordate 4 si egrave fatta 5 sisono incontrati 6 ti sei perso 7 si egrave divertita 8 ci siamo bevuti 9 mi sonoannoiato 10 ci siamo alzate 11 ti sei lavato 12 mi sono tagliata 13 si egravefermato 14 si sono separati 15 si egrave lamentato 16 si egrave riposato 17 si egravestancata 18 ti sei arrabbiata 19 vi siete offesi 20 si sono dimenticati

Exercise 4

1 Non mi sono potuta lavare 2 Sandra e Roberto si sono voluti sposare3 Ci siamo dovuti scusare 4 Luigi si egrave dovuto alzare alle sei 5 Gianni nonsi egrave voluto mettere il berretto 6 Ti sei potuto curare 7 Vi siete potuti

Key to exercises 183

riposare 8 Mi sono dovuta fermare 9 Percheacute ti sei voluto tingere icapelli 10 Non ci siamo potuti spiegare

Exercise 5

1 Vi divertite 2 Ti sei lavata le mani 3 Come si sente Signora 4 Visbagliate 5 Dove vi siete conosciute or incontrate 6 Percheacute non ti siedi7 Paolo parla sempre di segrave or se stesso 8 Franca si egrave lavata i capelli9 Carlo si egrave scusato 10 Mi sono vestita

UNIT 21

Exercise 1

1 compra 2 usciamo 3 stia 4 metti 5 siate 6 venga 7 dai or darsquo8 finisci 9 compri 10 facciamo 11 abbi 12 parli 13 vai or varsquo 14 dirsquo15 faccia 16 scrivete 17 fai or farsquo 18 entrino 19 aprite 20 rispondi

Exercise 2

1 chiuda 2 vada 3 sorrida 4 dica 5 faccia 6 sia 7 traduca8 accenda 9 stia 10 entri

Exercise 3

1 non partite 2 non rispondere 3 non andate 4 non scenda 5 nonusciamo 6 non finire 7 non ascoltare 8 non prenda 9 non telefonare10 non dire 11 non tagliarti or non ti tagliare 12 non darle or non le dare13 non parlargli or non gli parlare 14 non scrivetemi or non mi scrivete15 non dirlo or non lo dire 16 non invitarli or non li invitare 17 nonprenderlo or non lo prendere 18 non metterti or non ti mettere 19 nonportatele or non le portate 20 non farlo or non lo fare

Exercise 4

1 vai or varsquo 2 prendete 3 invita 4 guardiamo 5 comincia 6 faccia7 mettano 8 fai or farsquo 9 vai or varsquo 10 stai or starsquo 11 mandami12 fatelo 13 dammi 14 rispondimi 15 vacci 16 mangiatelo 17 leg-getelo 18 ci aspetti 19 digli 20 dalle

Exercise 5

1 parlatele 2 prendili 3 lo firmi 4 parlatene 5 andiamoci 6 falli7 restateci 8 chiediamolo 9 correggili 10 prendetelo 11 lo aspettino

184 Key to exercises

12 mandali 13 compratela 14 la porti 15 aiutateli 16 rendilo 17 chie-diamole 18 telefonagli or telefona loro 19 bevine 20 studiatela

UNIT 22

Exercise 1

1 fa attraversa 2 parlano 3 lavora 4 fuma 5 devono 6 entra 7 pos-sono 8 paga 9 trovano 10 compra

Exercise 2

1 Quando si ha freddo si lavora male 2 Quando si ha la febbre si resta acasa 3 Quando si comincia a studiare una lingua si fanno degli sbagli4 Quando si guida non si usa il cellulare 5 Quando si ha fame si mangia6 Quando si egrave stanchi si fanno molti sbagli 7 Quando si egrave avvocati si cono-sce la legge 8 Quando non si hanno soldi non si fanno spese inutili9 Quando si hanno tanti amici si egrave fortunati 10 Quando si mangiano troppidolci si ingrassa

Exercise 3

1 Non si mettono i piedi sulla scrivania 2 La mattina si fa colazione3 Dopo pranzo si lavano i piatti 4 Non si parla con gli sconosciuti 5 Nonsi va in bicicletta sul marciapiedi 6 Non si mangia durante le lezioni7 Non ci si guarda tanto allo specchio 8 In biblioteca si parla a bassavoce 9 Non si guarda la televisione tutto il giorno 10 Il giorno primadegli esami si studia

Exercise 4

1 Dopo che si egrave fatto il bagno in mare si fa la doccia 2 Dopo che si egravesuperato un esame si egrave contenti 3 Dopo che si egrave finito di lavorare si va acasa 4 Dopo che si egrave saliti sullrsquoaereo non si puograve usare il cellulare5 Quando si egrave cresciuti in campagna si conoscono i nomi di tante piante

UNIT 23

Exercise 1

1 leggeresti 2 potrei 3 avreste 4 sveglieresti 5 vorrebbero 6 paghe-resti 7 farei 8 dovremmo 9 sapresti 10 rimarrebbe 11 aprirei12 dovresti 13 piacerebbe 14 potrebbe 15 sarebbe 16 dareste 17 ber-rei 18 abiterebbero 19 tradurrebbe 20 accompagneresti

Key to exercises 185

Exercise 2

1 Vorrei due panini 2 Dovreste studiare di piugrave 3 Lucia andrebbe invacanza 4 Fareste una pausa 5 Potremmo parlarti 6 Maurizio cam-bierebbe lavoro 7 Mi daresti un consiglio 8 Vi piacerebbe andare a Ve-nezia 9 I nostri amici dovrebbero arrivare oggi 10 Non uscirebbe maisenza permesso

Exercise 3

1 Paola potrebbe aiutarmi or mi potrebbe aiutare 2 Verremmo volentieri3 Non andrei in biblioteca la or di sera 4 Quando comincerebbe SignoraVialli 5 Pietro vorrebbe invitarti or ti vorrebbe invitare alla festa6 Saremmo contenti or felici di vedervi 7 Terrebbero il cane in giardino8 Dovrei partire presto 9 Vorrei un altro biscotto 10 Saprebbe il risultatoSignor Spadavecchia

186 Key to exercises

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS

adjective a word that describes a noun or pronoun eg the green door itrsquosvery old Johnrsquos skinny shersquos most objectionable

a demonstrative adjective describes something as being pointed out (lsquodem-onstratedrsquo) eg thisthat computer thesethose railings

a possessive adjective describes something as belonging to someone orsomething eg myheritsouryour behaviour is quite normal

adverb a word which gives information about a verb an adjective oranother adverb eg she sang loudly itrsquoll finish soon Irsquove got it somewhere itrsquosincrediblyvery funny she sang incrediblyvery loudly

agreement a feature whereby the form of one word changes depending onthe form of another word it is linked with In English the most obviousexample is in the difference between singular and plural so we say lsquoThis is theroadrsquo and lsquoThese are the roadsrsquo but not eg lsquoThis are the roadsrsquo lsquoThese is theroadsrsquo etc In Italian agreement is far more detailed and widespread than inEnglish

article a word which has no meaning on its own but is placed before anoun to show whether it is specific or non-specific

a definite article shows that the noun refers to a specific thing or person egthe airline the pilot the passengers

an indefinite article shows that the noun does not refer to a specific thingor person eg an airline a pilot passengers [no plural indefinitearticle]

auxiliary verb a verb that helps another verb to make its form eg we havedone it it had been agreed

conjugation a group of verbs which have the same endings as one anotherin all tenses eg in Italian verbs of the first conjugation have an infinitiveending in -are (comprare lsquoto buyrsquo cantare lsquoto singrsquo) and the same endingsin the present (comprano lsquothey buyrsquo cantano lsquothey singrsquo) the imperfect

(compravano lsquothey boughtrsquo cantavano lsquothey sangrsquo) the future (compre-ranno lsquothey will buyrsquo canteranno lsquothey will singrsquo) etc

gender not the same thing as the actual sex of a living creature grammat-ical gender is arbitrary in Italian all nouns are either masculine or feminineeven if they denote inanimate objects eg il libro [m] lsquothe bookrsquo la casa [f]lsquothe housersquo etc

infinitive the form in which verbs are usually given in word lists etc egvendere lsquoto sellrsquo dormire lsquoto sleeprsquo

noun the name of a thing person place animal plant idea eg the greendoor John is skinny love is a wonderful thing I love cats and roses

number a feature of nouns pronouns and any words that agree with them(notably in Italian adjectives articles and verbs) which shows whether thereis just one or more than one of the thing or person in question If there isone then the noun pronoun etc is singular eg the mobile a child Isheheitif there is more than one then the noun pronoun etc is plural eg themobiles the children wethey In Italian the form of the word usually makesit clear whether it is singular or plural but in English it is often impossible totell from the word on its own eg one sheep fifty sheep Jim you are brilliantyou are all brilliant

object the noun or pronoun affected by the action of the verb

a direct object is directly impinged on by the action eg I sent a letter thedog drank its water yoursquove shut the door she cooked it I love him

an indirect object is the thingperson to or for whichwhom the action isperformed eg I sent a letter to Jim I gave her a CD [ie a CD to her] hebuilt a snowman for Catherine I made her a puppet [ie a puppet for her]

participle a form of the verb that lsquoparticipatesrsquo in characteristics of bothverb and adjective ie it both indicates an action and describes something

the present participle in English ends in -ing and is used descriptively evenwith verbs in a past tense eg shersquos running Wayne was shouting

the past participle in English (as in Italian) is mostly used to form thepresent perfect tense eg the frog has jumped in shersquos run away it can alsobe used purely as an adjective eg itrsquos small but perfectly formed thatrsquos atorn handkerchief

passive a passive verb is the opposite to an active one Here is an activeverb lsquoKylie drew that cartoonrsquo in this sentence the thing that has somethingdone to it (the cartoon) is the object of the active verb Now here is the sameidea expressed with a passive verb lsquoThat cartoon was drawn by Kyliersquo in thissentence the thing that has something done to it is actually the subject of thepassive verb Many ideas can be expressed both actively and passively eg

188 Glossary

preposition a word usually placed in front of a noun or pronoun to showthe relation between it and another noun or pronoun eg the cat sat on themat Irsquove shown them to him the doorrsquos opposite the bus stop you just gothrough it

pronoun a word that stands for (lsquoprorsquo) a noun

demonstrative pronouns stand for particular people or things that arelsquopointed torsquo eg thisthat [ie lsquothis onethat onersquo] is a dandelion thesethoseare filthy

interrogative pronouns stand for people or things about which a questionis being asked eg what are you doing which of them did best who wonwho(m) did you vote for

personal pronouns usually stand for people eg she lost her mobile theyare happy we phoned them you gave us a fright

possessive pronouns stand for things mentioned as belonging to someoneeg this tuna sandwich is mine [ie lsquomy onersquo] those are yoursherstheirs etc

reciprocal pronouns stand for two or more people or things whichreciprocate an action eg they like each otherone another we all gave eachotherone another birthday presents

reflexive pronouns stand for people or things that are both the subjectand the object of the verb eg yoursquore wearing yourselves out thedogrsquoll scratch itself the computer switched itself off she bought herselfsomething nice

relative pronouns usually stand for people or things already mentionedeg the idiot who conceded the penalty the DVDs whichthat were on thetable the one politician whom everyone trusts

subject the noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb eg Micksang solo the grass is green you have grown they say it will be easy theallegation was denied he was tripped over

tense the form of a verb that corresponds to a particular segment of timeeg I eat [present] I shall eat [future] I have eaten [present perfect] I ate[simple past] I was eating [past progressive] I had eaten [past perfect]

ActiveJim clapped Tony [object] on the

backShe alone dismissed the idea

[object]They sell wild mushrooms [object]

here

PassiveTony [subject] was clapped on the back

by JimThe idea [subject] was dismissed by her

aloneWild mushrooms [subject] are sold here

(by them)

Glossary 189

verb the word that indicates the performance of an action or the existenceof a state eg she jumped out of her skin I shall get a mobile that is nice theyhave been very happy

190 Glossary

INDEX

a uses of 59ndash60 62 63ndash4adjectives 17ndash22 in -co and -go 18ndash19

with articles 14 definition of 187demonstrative 20 possessive 22ndash3preceding the noun 19ndash20 singularand plural 17ndash19 158

adverbial expressions 48ndash9adverbs 46ndash8 from adjectives 46

definition of 187 with the pastperfect 140 with the present perfect90

agreement of adjectives and nouns 17definition of 187

alcuno 121 122anche 101andare future 133 imperative 152

present 41 present conditional 165articles definite 9ndash11 definition of 187

indefinite 11ndash13 uses of 13ndash14 22ndash3auxiliary verbs definition of 187ndash8 see

also avere essereavere future 132 imperative 151

imperfect 112 present 28 presentconditional 164 present perfect 88used as auxiliary 86ndash7 88ndash90 usesof 31ndash2

bastare 81bello 20bere future 134 imperative 152

imperfect 113 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

buono 21

cadere future 133 present conditional165

crsquoegraveci sono 32ndash3 in imperfect 113 inpresent perfect 88

che (relative pronoun) 104ndash5cheche cosa 69 71chi 68 107ci with avere (ce) 54 with si as an

impersonal pronoun 159ndash60lsquotherersquo 125

coluicoleicoloro 106ndash7come 69 70 71 101compound prepositions 65con uses of 61conditional see present conditionalconjugations 37conoscere 39 vs sapere 42ndash3cosa 69 71cui 104 105

da uses of 36ndash7 60dare future 132 imperative 151 present

41 present conditional 165definite article 9ndash11 13ndash14 with

possessives 22ndash3 with prepositions57ndash8

demonstrative adjectives 20demonstrative pronouns 24 definition of

189di uses of 58ndash9 63dire imperative 151 imperfect 113

past participle 86 present 42direct object definition of 188direct object pronouns 52ndash4 formal form

54 with the imperative 154 with thepresent perfect (or any othercompound tense) 94ndash5 95ndash6stressed forms 99ndash101

dove 69 71 106dovere 43 future 133 present 42

present conditional 165present perfect 91

eccetto (che) 101essere with ci 32ndash3 88 113 as auxiliary

86ndash7 88ndash90 as auxiliary withimpersonal si 159 future 132imperative 151 imperfect 113present 28 present conditional 164present perfect 88 with reflexivepronouns 145 uses of 31

fare future 132 imperative 151imperfect 114 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

formal form 30 41 direct objectpronouns 54 in imperative152ndash3 indirect object pronouns76 with piacere 80 possessiveadjectives and pronouns 23ndash4

future 129ndash34 avere and essere 132 withifwhen 130 irregular verbs 132ndash4negative form 134 verbs in -care-gare and -iare 131ndash2 uses of129ndash30 verbs in -urre 134

gender 1ndash3 6 definition of 188grande 21

lsquohow muchmanyrsquo 70 71lsquohowrsquo 69 71

lsquoifrsquo with future tense 130imperative 149ndash54 essere 151 formal

form 152ndash3 irregular verbs 151ndash2negative form 153 154 withpronouns 154 uses of 149verbs in -urre 152

imperfect 111ndash17 of essere 113negative form 114 uses 115ndash17verbs in -urre 114

impersonal subject pronoun si 157ndash60in uses of 61 62 63 64indefinite article 11ndash13indirect object definition of 188indirect object pronouns 74ndash6

formal form 76 with theimperative 154 negative form 75with the present perfect 95stressed forms 99ndash101

infinitive 37 definition of 188 fornegative imperative 153

interrogative form 29 40interrogative pronouns definition of 189irregular plurals of nouns 5

irregular verbs future 132ndash4 imperative151ndash2 imperfect 113ndash14 pastparticiple 86 present 41ndash3present conditional 164ndash6

lsquoknowingrsquo 42ndash3

Lei Loro and Voi 30 41 see also formalform

mancare 81meno (che) 101mentre 116modomaniera 49molto 47 48 121

ne 120ndash4 negative form 122 with pastparticiple 122ndash4

neanche 101negative form 30 32ndash3 with direct object

pronouns 53 future 134 imperative153 154 imperfect 114 withindirect object pronouns 75 with ne122 past perfect 140 present 41present conditional 166 presentperfect 90 verbs with si 159

nemmeno 101neppure 101non see negative formnon ancoramai 47nouns definition of 188 ending in -ca

-co -ga -go -cia -gia 6ndash7gender 1ndash3 6 singular andplural 4ndash7

number definition of 188 nouns 4ndash7

parere 81partitive constructions with di 59passive definition of 188ndash9 using si 158past participle 85ndash6 definition 188 with

ne 122ndash4past perfect 137ndash40 with avere or essere

as auxiliaries 138 of avere andessere 139 negative form 140 usesof 137ndash8

per uses of 61percheacute 70personal pronouns definition of 189

see also pronounspiacere 79ndash81place see prepositions of placeplurals of adjectives 17ndash19

192 Index

plurals of nouns 4ndash7poco 47 48 121possession with di 58 59possessive adjectives 22ndash3possessive pronouns 23ndash4 definition of

189potere future 133 present 42 43 present

conditional 165 present perfect 91prepositions 57ndash65 compound 65

with definite article 57ndash8 definitionof 189 with pronouns 100 105106

prepositions of place 59 60 61 62prepositions of time 59 60 61 63present conditional 162ndash6 essere 164

irregular verbs 164ndash6 negative form166

present participle definition of 188present perfect 84ndash91 with direct object

pronouns 94ndash5 95ndash6 of avere andessere 88 with indirect objectpronouns 95 with ne 122ndash4negative form 90 potere dovere andvolere 91 of reflexive verbs 145using avere 86ndash7 88ndash9using essere 86ndash7 88ndash90 145uses of 84ndash5

present tense 36ndash43 avere and essere 28irregular verbs 41ndash3 uses of 36ndash7verbs in -are 37 verbs in -care and-gare 38 verbs in -cere and -gere 39verbs in -ere 38ndash9 verbs in -iare 38verbs in -ire 40 verbs with -isc-40 verbs in -urre 43

pronouns definition of 189demonstrative 24 direct object52ndash4 94ndash5 95ndash6 99ndash101 with theimperative 154 indirect object 74ndash696 99ndash101 possessive 23ndash4 afterprepositions 100 reflexive 143ndash6relative 104ndash7 stressed forms99ndash101 subject 28ndash9 see also cine si

pure 101

qualcuno 121 122quale 71(illa) quale (relative pronoun) 104

105ndash6quando 70 130quanto 70 71 101 121 123 124quello 20 24

quello che (relative pronoun) 106questions 29 40 68ndash71questo 20 24

reciprocal pronouns definition of 189reflexive pronouns 143ndash6 stressed form

146reflexive verbs 88 143 with si

(impersonal subject) 159ndash60relative pronouns 104ndash7 definition of

189rimanere future 134 present

conditional 165riuscire 42

salvo (che) 101santo 21ndash2sapere 42ndash3 vs conoscere 42ndash3 future

133 imperative 152 present 41present conditional 165

sembrare 81servire 81si impersonal 157ndash60 with essere as

auxiliary 159 negative form 159with reflexive verbs 159ndash60sentences with a passive meaning158

singular and plural adjectives 17ndash19 158lsquosomesomeonersquo 121 122spelling of adjectives in -co and -go

18ndash19 essere and avere 30 plurals ofnouns in -ca -co -ga -go -cia -gia6ndash7

stare future 132 imperative 152 present41 present conditional 165

stesso 146su uses of 61subject definition of 189subject pronouns 28ndash9

tanto 47 48tenere future 134 present conditional

165tense definition of 189lsquothatrsquo (relative pronoun) 104lsquothatthosersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24lsquothere isarersquo 32ndash3lsquothisthesersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24time see prepositions of timetra and fra uses of 62

Index 193

tranne (che) 101transitive verbs 88troppo 47 48 121

uscire imperative 152 present 41

vedere future 133 present conditional165

venire future 134 imperative 152past participle 86 present 41present conditional 165

verbs conjugations 37 definition of 190future 129ndash34 imperative 149ndash54imperfect 111ndash17 past perfect137ndash40 present 28 36ndash43 presentconditional 162ndash6 present perfect84ndash91 reflexive 143 see alsoirregular verbs

verbs in -urre future 134 imperative 152imperfect 114 past participle 85

present 43 present conditional166

vivere future 133 past participle 86present conditional 165

volere future 134 present 42 43present conditional 165 presentperfect 91

lsquowhatrsquo 69 71lsquowhenrsquo with future tense 130lsquowhenrsquo 70lsquowherersquo as alternative to relative pronoun

106lsquowherersquo 69 71lsquowhichrsquo 71lsquowhilersquo with imperfect tense 116lsquowhorsquo 68lsquowhomrsquo as a lsquoquestion wordrsquo 68 relative

pronoun 105 106lsquowhyrsquo 70

194 Index

• BOOK COVER
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• UNIT ONE Nouns gender and number
• UNIT TWO Definite and indefinite articles
• UNIT THREE Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns
• UNIT FOUR The present tense of essere and avere
• UNIT FIVE The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs
• UNIT SIX Adverbs
• UNIT SEVEN Direct object pronouns (1)
• UNIT EIGHT Prepositions
• UNIT NINE Questions
• UNIT TEN Indirect object pronouns (1)
• UNIT ELEVEN Piacere and similar verbs
• UNIT TWELVE The present perfect tense
• UNIT THIRTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (2)
• UNIT FOURTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms)
• UNIT FIFTEEN Relative pronouns
• UNIT SIXTEEN The imperfect tense
• UNIT SEVENTEEN The pronouns ne and ci
• UNIT EIGHTEEN The future tense
• UNIT NINETEEN The past perfect tense
• UNIT TWENTY Reflexive pronouns
• UNIT TWENTY-ONE The imperative
• UNIT TWENTY-TWO The pronoun si
• UNIT TWENTY-THREE The present conditional
• KEY TO EXERCISES
• GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
• INDEX

CONTENTS

Introduction vii

List of signs and abbreviations viii

1 Nouns gender and number 1

2 Definite and indefinite articles 9

3 Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns 17

4 The present tense of essere and avere 28

5 The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs 36

6 Adverbs 46

7 Direct object pronouns (1) 52

8 Prepositions 57

9 Questions 68

10 Indirect object pronouns (1) 74

11 Piacere and similar verbs 79

12 The present perfect tense 84

13 Direct and indirect object pronouns (2) 94

14 Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms) 99

15 Relative pronouns 104

16 The imperfect tense 111

17 The pronouns ne and ci 120

18 The future tense 129

19 The past perfect tense 137

20 Reflexive pronouns 143

21 The imperative 149

22 The pronoun si 157

23 The present conditional 162

Key to exercises 168

Glossary of technical terms 187

Index 191

vi Contents

INTRODUCTION

If you are an English-speaking learner preparing GCSE Scottish StandardGrade (credit level) or similar examination or simply learning the languagefor everyday use this grammar and workbook is for you You will typically beeither following a course at school college or evening class or teaching your-self from a published course This book is not itself a course but a self-helpreferencerevision grammar with exercises designed to reinforce your graspof the points dealt with unit by unit You will find it a help to have access to agood ItalianndashEnglish dictionary when working through the book

Since this is not a self-contained course the grammar points are usuallygiven on their own out of context Of course this is artificial because ineveryday life when we say or write something it is always in a situation orcontext To compensate for this artificiality the grammar points are illus-trated with abundant examples which are often reused with variationsunder different headings This is partly to strengthen your grasp of grammarand vocabulary but mostly to help you learn how to manipulate the Italianlanguage in a wide range of situations Giving plenty of examples is a moreeffective way of helping you develop the ability to communicate in Italianthan giving you lists of rules with just one or two examples

At the end of each unit there are several sets of exercises If you workthrough these you will find that they consolidate your understanding of thevarious points introduced in the unit and also that they give you the con-fidence to have a go at expressing yourself in a range of situations andcontexts

The aim of the examples and exercises is to strengthen awareness of thespecific points dealt with in the unit they are not intended to cover all thepossible uses of a given word or grammatical structure

At the end of the book there is a key to all the exercises and a glossary ofgrammatical terms with examples

SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

f femininefp feminine pluralfs feminine singularlit literallym masculinemp masculine pluralms masculine singularpl pluralsing singular

Square brackets indicate an explanatory comment attached to an exampleeg

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono Thatrsquos Luisa on the phone[ie she has just rung]Quanto zucchero [ms] vuoi How much sugar do you wantlsquoDovrsquoegrave Annarsquo lsquoNo lo sorsquo lsquoWherersquos Annarsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo

[lit I donrsquot know it]

Round brackets in an example show that the material in brackets is optionaleg

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo lsquoHave you got the booksrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got themrsquo

Ne ho mangiati due I ate two (of them)A chi scrivete Who(m) are you writing to

Round brackets round an entire sentence show that while possible this is aformal form that is not often used eg

( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco) Are you leaving( Mr and MrsBianco)

A slash shows alternative ways of saying something eg

Gli dicoDico loro la veritagrave I tell them the truth (Here gli dico and dicoloro are alternative ways of saying lsquoI tell themrsquo)Non mi sembra giusto It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot think itrsquos fair(Here the English sentences are alternatives to one another)

Signs and abbreviations ix

UNIT ONENouns gender and number

Gender masculine and feminine

1 All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine The best way to remem-ber the gender of a noun is to learn it along with its definite article (ie theword meaning lsquothersquo) In this unit nouns will therefore be given along withtheir definite articles but there will be no discussion of the articles as suchDefinite and indefinite articles are the subject of Unit 2

Most nouns in the singular end in -o -a or -e

2 Italian nouns ending in -o are usually masculine

3 Italian nouns ending in -a are usually feminine

4 Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine Unless anoun ending in -e denotes a person whose gender is defined (eg lsquohusbandrsquolsquowifersquo) there are virtually no rules to determine its gender which must there-fore be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

lrsquouomo [m]il fratello [m]il pomeriggio [m]il treno [m]

manbrotherafternoontrain

la donna [f]la sorella [f]la sera [f]la bicicletta [f]

womansistereveningbicycle

To help you to determine the gender of some nouns ending in -e here is arule nouns ending in -sione or -zione are feminine

Sometimes the gender of a noun ending in -e can be determined by thegender of the person it refers to masculine when it refers to a male femininewhen it refers to a female

5 Some nouns ending in -a and referring to persons are masculine when theyrefer to a male and feminine when they refer to a female

There are some exceptions eg la persona (person) and la guida (touristguide) are always feminine even when they refer to a male while the feminineof il poeta (poet) is la poetessa

6 There are some nouns ending in -a which are masculine and some nounsending in -o which are feminine

Masculineil padreil ristoranteil saleil cognome

fatherrestaurantsaltsurname

Femininela madrela nottela lucela chiave

mothernightlightkey

la televisione [f]la pensione [f]la produzione [f]la stazione [f]

televisionpensionproductionstation

illa cantante [mf]illa cliente [mf]illa parente [mf]lrsquoinglese [mf]

(malefemale) singer(malefemale) customer(malefemale) relativeEnglishmanEnglishwoman

illa collega [mf]lrsquoatleta [mf]illa batterista [mf]illa pianista [mf]

(malefemale) colleague(malefemale) athlete(malefemale) drummer(malefemale) pianist

Masculineil cinemail papagraveil problema

cinemadadproblem

Femininelrsquoautola fotola mano

carphotohand

2 Unit 1

Some nouns of this type are abbreviations and have kept the gender of thefull word cinema stands for cinematografo [m] auto for automobile [f] fotofor fotografia [f] etc Such cases apart there is no rule for determining genderwhich has to be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

7 Some nouns end in -i The vast majority are feminine but there aresome exceptions

Two exceptions are lrsquoalibi (alibi) and lo sci (ski) which are masculine

8 Foreign nouns unless they refer to a female are generally masculine

9 Occasionally the gender of a foreign noun is the same as it is for thecorresponding Italian word

la new wave is feminine because onda (wave) is femininela mail (e-mail message) is feminine because posta (mail) is feminine

10 The following rules can help in determining the gender of nouns

bull All months of the year and days of the week are masculine apart fromdomenica (Sunday) which is feminine

bull All names of towns and cities are feminine apart from Il Cairo [m]bull All names of languages are masculinebull Names of countries are normally feminine when they end in -a and

masculine when they end in any other letter

lrsquoanalisi [f]lrsquoipotesi [f]la crisi [f]

analysishypothesiscrisis

il bar [m]il camion [m]il rock [m]lrsquohostess [f]

barlorryrock (music)stewardess

la Francia [f]la Spagna [f]il Belgio [m]il Paraguay [m]

FranceSpainBelgiumParaguay

Unit 1 3

Number singular and plural

11 Masculine nouns ending in -o and all nouns ending in -e end in -i in theplural

Nouns ending in -ie have only one -i in the plural

12 Nouns ending in -io have only one i in the plural But if the -i is stressed(-io) the plural has two (-ii)

13 Feminine nouns ending in -a take -e in the plural

14 Masculine nouns ending in -a take -i in the plural

15 When a noun ending in -a denotes a person its plural ending depends onwhether it is masculine or feminine If it refers to a male the plural ends in -iif it refers to a female the plural ends in -e

Singularil treno [m]il nome [m]la notte [f]la stazione [f]la pensione [f]illa parente [mf]la moglie [f]

trainnamenounnightstationpensionrelativewife

Plurali trenii nomile nottile stazionile pensioniile parentile mogli

trainsnamesnounsnightsstationspensionsrelativeswives

Singularil bacio [m]il desiderio [m]lrsquoinizio [m]lo zio [m]il mormorio [m]

kisswishbeginningunclemurmur

Plurali bacii desiderigli inizigli ziii mormorii

kisseswishesbeginningsunclesmurmurs

Singularla sorella [f]la lettera [f]la sera [f]

sisterletterevening

Pluralle sorellele letterele sere

sisterslettersevenings

Singularil problema [m]il sistema [m]

problemsystem

Plurali problemii sistemi

problemssystems

4 Unit 1

For an explanation of the -h- in these endings see paragraph 20 below

16 Nouns ending in -i do not change in the plural

17 Foreign nouns and nouns stressed on the last vowel do not change in theplural

18 A number of nouns are irregular in the plural Eg la mano [f] (hand)becomes le mani in the plural lrsquouomo [m] (man) becomes gli uomini in theplural Here are some nouns which do not change in the plural because theyare abbreviations (cf above paragraph 6)

Some nouns are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural Here area few

Singularil pianista [m] (male) pianistla pianista [f] (female) pianistil collega [m] (male) colleaguela collega [f] (female) colleague

Plurali pianisti [m] (male) pianistsle pianiste [f] (female) pianistsi colleghi [m] (male) colleaguesle colleghe [f] (female) colleagues

Singularlrsquoanalisi [f]la crisi [f]

analysiscrisis

Pluralle analisile crisi

analysescrises

Singularil bar [m]lo sport [m]la cittagrave [f]la virtugrave [f]

barsportcityvirtue

Plurali bargli sportle cittagravele virtugrave

barssportscitiesvirtues

Singularlrsquoauto [f]la radio [f]la moto [f]la foto [f]il cinema [m]

carradiomotorbikephotocinema

Pluralle autole radiole motole fotoi cinema

carsradiosmotorbikesphotoscinemas

Singularil dito [m]il centinaio [m]il migliaio [m]il miglio [m]il paio [m]lrsquouovo [m]

finger(about) a hundred(about) a thousandmilepairegg

Pluralle dita [f]le centinaia [f]le migliaia [f]le miglia [f]le paia [f]le uova [f]

fingershundredsthousandsmilespairseggs

Unit 1 5

19 Note that in Italian the masculine form of a noun is also used when thegender is not important A noun in the plural may therefore designate anyone of three different sets of people

Spelling

Care is needed in spelling some plurals

20 Nouns ending in -ca or -ga always add h (-che or -ghe) in order to keepthe hard sound of c and g in the plural We saw the example of illa collega inparagraph 15 Here are some more

21 Nouns ending in -co and -go normally add h (-chi or -ghi) and keep thehard sound but some nouns change the sound of c and g in the plural (-ci or-gi) It is always best to check in a dictionary

gli amici

gli insegnanti

i colleghi

either a specific set of male friends [as in lsquoYour friends(Luigi and Giovanni) have arrivedrsquo]or a specific mixed set of male and female friends [as inlsquoYour friends (Luigi and Anna) have arrivedrsquo]or friends in general [whether male and female does notmatter as in lsquoEverybody needs friendsrsquo]either a specific set of male teachersor a specific mixed set of male and female teachersor teachers in general [regardless of gender]either a specific set of male colleaguesor a specific mixed set of male and female colleaguesor colleagues in general [regardless of gender]

Singularlrsquoamica [f]la tasca [f]la riga [f]

(female) friendpocketline ruler

Pluralle amichele taschele righe

(female) friendspocketslines rulers

Singularil bosco [m]il gioco [m]il parco [m]il lago [m]lrsquoamico [m]il medico [m]il biologo [m]

woodgameparklake(male) frienddoctorbiologist

Plurali boschii giochii parchii laghigli amicii medicii biologi

woodsgamesparkslakes(male) friendsdoctorsbiologists

6 Unit 1

22 Nouns ending in -cia or -gia keep the i in the plural (-cie or -gie) when the iis stressed or when c or g is preceded by a vowel But if -cia or -gia ispreceded by a consonant the i is lost in the plural

Exercise 1

With the help of a dictionary where necessary decide what gender the nounsare and write m f or mf after each one

Examples la notte f illa pianista mf il fratello m

Exercise 2

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the plurals of thenouns

Examples la notte le notti il nome i nomi il treno i trenila sera le sere

Singularla farmacia [f]la bugia [f]la camicia [f]la ciliegia [f]lrsquoarancia [f]la doccia [f]la spiaggia [f]

pharmacylieshirtblousecherryorangeshowerbeach

Pluralle farmaciele bugiele camiciele ciliegiele arancele doccele spiagge

pharmaciesliesshirtsblousescherriesorangesshowersbeaches

1 il giorno mdashmdash2 la sera mdashmdash3 lrsquouomo mdashmdash4 lrsquoinfermiera mdashmdash5 la stanza mdashmdash6 lrsquoorecchio mdashmdash7 il caffegrave mdashmdash8 lo zucchero mdashmdash9 il fiume mdashmdash

10 lrsquoolandese mdashmdash

11 lrsquouovo mdashmdash12 la camicia mdashmdash13 lrsquoatleta mdashmdash14 lrsquoanimale mdashmdash15 la strada mdashmdash16 lrsquoacqua mdashmdash17 lrsquoabitante mdashmdash18 lrsquoocchio mdashmdash19 il sole mdashmdash20 la canzone mdashmdash

Unit 1 7

Exercise 3

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the singulars of thenouns

Examples la casa le case il libro i libri il mese i mesila moglie le mogli

1 il ragazzo2 la marca3 la chiave4 lrsquoabitante5 lo zio6 il fiume7 la stazione8 la ragazza9 lrsquoenergia

10 il pomeriggio

i mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

11 la banca12 il pianista13 la cliente14 lrsquoindirizzo15 lrsquoocchio16 il ristorante17 la televisione18 il calendario19 il francese20 il lago

le mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

1 il mdashmdashmdashmdash2 la mdashmdashmdashmdash3 il mdashmdashmdashmdash4 la mdashmdashmdashmdash5 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash6 il mdashmdashmdashmdash7 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash8 la mdashmdashmdashmdash9 la mdashmdashmdashmdash

10 il mdashmdashmdashmdash

i nomile viei figlile manile opinionii clientigli occhile personele marchei problemi

11 la mdashmdashmdashmdash12 il mdashmdashmdashmdash13 il mdashmdashmdashmdash14 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash15 il mdashmdashmdashmdash16 la mdashmdashmdashmdash17 il mdashmdashmdashmdash18 il mdashmdashmdashmdash19 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash20 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash

le ciliegiei caffegravei medicigli attivistile ginocchiale bugiei tedeschii testgli uominile amiche

8 Unit 1

UNIT TWODefinite and indefinite articles

Definite article

1 In Italian the definite article (English lsquothersquo) has different forms dependingon the gender (masculinefeminine) and number (singularplural) of the fol-lowing word and on the letter (or sound) with which the following wordbegins Here are the forms

2 The feminine forms are used before feminine words la and lrsquo for the singu-lar and le for the plural

la is used before words beginning with a consonantlrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel (a e i o u) or hle is used as the plural for both la and lrsquo

3 There are three different forms for the masculine singular il lo and lrsquo andtwo for the plural i and gli All these forms are used before masculine words

Feminine

Masculine

Singularlalrsquoillolrsquo

Pluralleleigligli

the

Singularla ragazzala casala stanzalrsquoautolrsquoesperienzalrsquohostess

Pluralle ragazzele casele stanzele autole esperienzele hostess

the girl(s)the house(s)the room(s)the car(s)the experience(s)the stewardess(es)

lrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or hlo is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantil is used in all other casesi is used as the plural of ilgli is used as the plural of both lrsquo and lo

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of chef pronounced in Italian asin English (ie lsquoshrsquo)

Lo is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of juventino pronounced asi + vowel (ie like the lsquoyrsquo in English lsquoyouthrsquo)

4 Care is needed in using the article with nouns ending in -e or -a which canrefer both to male or female persons (see Unit 1 paragraphs 4 and 5)

Singularlrsquoarticololrsquouomolrsquohotello ziolo gnomolo psicologolo cheflo spettacololo scioperoil baril ristoranteil senso

Pluralgli articoligli uominigli hotelgli ziigli gnomigli psicologigli chefgli spettacoligli scioperii bari ristorantii sensi

the article(s)the manmenthe hotel(s)the uncle(s)the gnome(s)the psychologist(s)the chef(s)the show(s)the strike(s)the bar(s)the restaurant(s)the sense(s)

Singularlo ionelo yuppielo xenofobolo juventino

Pluralgli ionigli yuppiegli xenofobigli juventini

the ion(s)the yuppie(s)the xenophobe(s)the Juventus fan(s)

Singularil cantante [m]

la cantante [f]

the (male)singer

the (female)singer

Plurali cantanti [m]

le cantanti [f]

the singers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) singers

10 Unit 2

Remember that as we saw in Unit 1 paragraph 19 the masculine plural formcan also denote a class of people in general as well as a group of males or amixed group of males and females eg i cantanti [m] can denote either agroup of male singers or a mixed group of male and female singers or singersin general

Indefinite article

5 Like the definite article the indefinite article (English lsquoaanrsquo) has differentforms depending on the gender of the word it refers to and the letter (orsound) with which the following word begins There is no plural for theindefinite article Here are the forms

6 The feminine forms unrsquo and una are used before feminine words

unrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or huna is used before words beginning with a consonant

Singularlrsquoinsegnante [m]

lrsquoinsegnante [f]

il collega [m]

la collega [f]

lrsquoatleta [m]

lrsquoatleta [f]

the (male)teacher

the (female)teacher

the (male)colleague

the (female)colleague

the (male)athlete

the (female)athlete

Pluralgli insegnanti [m]

le insegnanti [f]

i colleghi [m]

le colleghe [f]

gli atleti [m]

le atlete [f]

the teachers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) teachers

the colleagues [maleor male andfemale mixed]

the (female)colleagues

the athletes [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) athletes

Feminine

Masculine

unrsquounaununo

aan

unrsquoautounrsquoesperienzaunrsquohostess

a caran experiencea stewardess

Unit 2 11

7 The masculine forms uno and un are used before masculine words

uno is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantun is used before all other words

Uno (like lo) is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

8 As with the definite article care is needed in choosing the right article touse with nouns ending in -e or -a which can refer to either male or femalepersons

In the case of nouns starting with a vowel the only difference between thearticles is the apostrophe

una ragazzauna casauna stanza

a girla housea room

uno ziouno gnomouno psicologouno chefuno spettacoloun articoloun uomoun hobbyun barun ristoranteun senso

an unclea gnomea psychologista chefa showan articlea mana hobbya bara restauranta sense

uno ioneuno yuppieuno xenofobouno juventino

an iona yuppiea xenophobea Juventus fan

un cantante [m]una cantante [f]un insegnante [m]unrsquoinsegnante [f]un collega [m]una collega [f]un atleta [m]unrsquoatleta [f]

a singer (male)a singer (female)a teacher (male)a teacher (female)a colleague (male)a colleague (female)an athlete (male)an athlete (female)

12 Unit 2

9 It may be useful to compare the use of the definite and indefinite article intable form

Use of the articles

10 The use of the articles is often the same in Italian as in English but thereare cases (mostly concerning the definite article) where the two languagesdiffer Here are the most common instances

bull In Italian the definite article is used before a noun used in a generalsense

bull Italian uses the definite article before a title followed by a surnameexcept when addressing the person directly

Note that some masculine titles notably Signore Professore and Dottoredrop the final vowel when used before the name of the person becomingSignor Professor Dottor etc

bull The Italian definite article is always used with years eg il 1990 il 2000bull The definite article is normally used in Italian with names of countries

and regions eg lrsquoInghilterra (England) la Toscana (Tuscany) il Porto-gallo (Portugal) lrsquoEuropa (Europe) But the rule may be different whenusing a preposition eg in Italia (in Italy) (see Unit 8 paragraph 14)

Masculineun is used when il and lrsquo are useduno is used when lo is used

Feminineunrsquo is used when lrsquo is useduna is used when la is used

Amo la musica rockle vacanzeLa musica rock egrave popolareLe vacanze sono sempre troppo corteIl tempo volaLe auto inquinano lrsquoambienteLa disoccupazione egrave diffusa

I love rock musicholidaysRock music is popularHolidays are always too shortTime fliesCars pollute the environmentUnemployment is widespread

La Signora Urbani egrave gentileLa Dottoressa Vanni non crsquoegraveIl Dottor Marchi egrave occupatoBuongiorno Signor CarliBuongiorno DottoreScusi Signore

MrsMs Urbani is kindDoctor Vanni isnrsquot hereDoctor Marchi is busyGood morning Mr CarliGood morning DoctorExcuse me( Sir)

Unit 2 13

11 In some cases a definite article is used in Italian where an indefinite article(or a possessive adjective ndash see Unit 3) is used in English Here are someinstances

There are also cases when there is no article in Italian but the definite orindefinite article is used in English

Definite and indefinite article before an adjective

12 As we shall see (Unit 3) a noun can sometimes be preceded by an adjec-tive so that the adjective comes between the article and the noun (eg unabella donna a beautiful woman) In such cases the form of the articledepends on the spelling of the adjective not the noun

Antonio ha il naso lungoHai la patenteAvete lrsquoombrelloHo il raffreddoreDove passi le vacanze di solito

Di pomeriggio faccio il compitoHai il biglietto

Antonio has a long noseHave you got a driving licenceHave you got an umbrellaI have got a coldWhere do you normally spend your

holidaysIn the afternoon I do my homeworkHave you got ayour ticket

Andiamo in montagnaStasera andiamo a teatroAccompagno Anna in aeroportoAndiamo in macchinaCarlo egrave medicoSono studenteNon ha marito

Wersquore going to the mountainsWersquore going to the theatre this eveningIrsquom taking Anna to the airportWersquore going in thea carCarlo is a doctorIrsquom a studentShe hasnrsquot got a husband

la casauna casalrsquoautounrsquoauto

the housea housethe cara car

lrsquoultima casaunrsquoottima casala prima autouna bella auto

the last housean excellent housethe first cara beautiful car

14 Unit 2

Exercise 1

Insert the definite article before the nouns

Examples lrsquoacqua la stanza le esperienze il ristorante lo ziogli uomini

Exercise 2

Insert the indefinite article before the nouns

Examples unrsquoauto una ragazza un articolo uno spettacoloun insegnante [m] unrsquoatleta [f]

1 mdashmdash figlia2 mdashmdash zia3 mdashmdash problema4 mdashmdash mano5 mdashmdash auto6 mdashmdash fratello7 mdashmdash libri8 mdashmdash entrata9 mdashmdash studio

10 mdashmdash zii

11 mdashmdash notti12 mdashmdash sport13 mdashmdash uovo14 mdashmdash xenofobia15 mdashmdash tivugrave16 mdashmdash amici17 mdashmdash pianiste18 mdashmdash dita19 mdashmdash crisi20 mdashmdash inglese

1 mdashmdash sorella2 mdashmdash ciliegia3 mdashmdash amico4 mdashmdash zio5 mdashmdash zia6 mdashmdash aereo7 mdashmdash amica8 mdashmdash cantante [f]9 mdashmdash migliaio

10 mdashmdash specchio

11 mdashmdash arancia12 mdashmdash psichiatra [m]13 mdashmdash sigaretta14 mdashmdash insegnante [f]15 mdashmdash gnu16 mdashmdash artista [m]17 mdashmdash sbaglio18 mdashmdash figlio19 mdashmdash yogurt20 mdashmdash analisi

Unit 2 15

Exercise 3

Insert the correct article in the blank spaces

Example Maria ha una casa (Maria has a house)

1 mdashmdash zio di Maria arriva domani (Mariarsquos uncle arrives tomorrow)2 Paolo scrive mdashmdash lettera (Paolo is writing a letter)3 Hai mdashmdash mani pulite (Have you got clean hands)4 Egrave mdashmdash amica di Patrizia (Shersquos a friend of Patriziarsquos)5 Laura non ha mdashmdash patente (Laura hasnrsquot got a driving licence)6 Crsquoegrave mdashmdash Signor Totti (Is Mr Totti here)7 Egrave mdashmdash insegnante molto capace (Shersquos a very capable teacher)8 mdashmdash inquinamento egrave mdashmdash problema preoccupante (Pollution is a

worrying problem)9 mdashmdash nuovo stadio egrave piugrave grande (The new stadium is bigger)

10 Ho mdashmdash stesso CD (Irsquove got the same CD)

16 Unit 2

UNIT THREEAdjectives possessive and demonstrativepronouns

1 Adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun theyrefer to if the noun is masculine singular the adjective must be masculinesingular if the noun is feminine singular the adjective must be feminine singu-lar etc Adjectives therefore change their forms accordingly But rememberthat when an adjective is listed in a dictionary or a grammar it is given in itsmasculine singular form In the masculine singular most Italian adjectivesend in -o or in -e

2 Adjectives ending in -o have four different forms -o for the masculinesingular (italiano) -a for feminine singular (italiana) -i for the masculineplural (italiani) and -e for the feminine plural (italiane)

3 Adjectives ending in -e have only two forms -e for the masculine andfeminine singular (francese) and -i for the masculine and feminine plural(francesi) With adjectives ending in -e there is thus no difference between themasculine and the feminine form

italianonuovofrancesegrande

ItaliannewFrenchbig

lrsquoarbitro [ms] italianogli arbitri [mp] italianila cameriera [fs] italianale cameriere [fp] italianelo stadio [ms] nuovogli stadi [mp] nuovila casa [fs] nuovale case [fp] nuove

the Italian refereethe Italian refereesthe Italian waitressthe Italian waitressesthe new stadiumthe new stadiastadiumsthe new housethe new houses

4 Some adjectives end in -a like the following

These adjectives have three forms -a for the masculine and feminine singular(ottimista) -i for the masculine plural (ottimisti) and -e for the feminine plural(ottimiste) There is thus only one form for the masculine and femininesingular

For an explanation of the -h- in belghe see paragraph 6 below

5 There are also some invariable adjectives eg blu (dark blue) rosa (pink)dispari (odd) pari (even) which do not change

6 Care is needed in spelling the plural of adjectives ending in -co and -goThere is no fixed rule for the masculine forms which may keep the hard

lrsquoarbitro [ms] francesegli arbitri [mp] francesila cameriera [fs] francesele cameriere [fp] francesilo stadio [ms] grandegli stadi [mp] grandila casa [fs] grandele case [fp] grandi

the French refereethe French refereesthe French waitressthe French waitressesthe big stadiumthe big stadiastadiumsthe big housethe big houses

ottimistapacifistabelgaentusiastaidiota

optimisticpacifistBelgianenthusiasticidiotic

il corteo [ms] pacifistalrsquoidea [fs] pacifistai cortei [mp] pacifistile idee [fp] pacifisteil ragazzo [ms] belgala ragazza [fs] belgai ragazzi [mp] belgile ragazze [fp] belghe

the pacifist rallythe pacifist ideathe pacifist ralliesthe pacifist ideasthe Belgian boythe Belgian girlthe Belgian boysthe Belgian girls

il vestito rosala penna blui numeri disparile pagine pari

the pink garmentdresssuitthe blue penthe odd numbersthe even pages

18 Unit 3

sound of c and g and add h (-chi -ghi) or change the sound of c and g in theplural (-ci -gi) The feminine plural forms always add h (-che -ghe) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g If in doubt check in a dictionary the bestway to remember these sorts of plural is through practice

The adjective belga as we have seen keeps the hard sound of g in the femi-nine plural by adding h (belghe) but it changes the sound in the masculineplural (belgi)

7 As can be seen in the examples the adjective normally comes after thenoun it refers to and (unless it is invariable) it must agree in gender andnumber with the noun It must also agree in gender and number withthe noun even where it is separated from it by another word such as averb

When the adjective refers to two or more nouns which are different in genderit is masculine plural

8 In some cases the adjective can also precede the noun it refers to When theadjective comes before the noun the meaning of the noun becomes differentas in these examples

Masculinesingulargrecopraticopubblicoriccofrescolargo

Masculinepluralgrecipraticipubbliciricchifreschilarghi

Femininesingulargrecapraticapubblicariccafrescalarga

Femininepluralgrechepratichepubblichericchefreschelarghe

Greekpracticalpublicrichfreshwide

Lorenzo egrave italianoLorenzo e Vittorio sono italianiAnna egrave italianaAnna e Claudia sono italiane

Lorenzo is ItalianLorenzo and Vittorio are ItalianAnna is ItalianAnna and Claudia are Italian

Lorenzo Anna e Claudia sonoitaliani

Sabine e Kurt sono tedeschiIl computer e la stampante sono

nuoviIl bagno e la cucina sono piccoli

I pantaloni e la camicia sono nuovi

Lorenzo Anna and Claudia areItalian

Sabine and Kurt are GermanThe computer and the printer are new

The bathroom and the kitchen aresmall

The trousers and the shirt are new

Unit 3 19

9 The demonstrative adjectives questo (this) and quello (that) like theirEnglish counterparts always precede the noun they refer to

For an explanation of the forms of quello see paragraph 10

10 The forms of the adjectives quello and bello (beautifulhandsomenice-fine) change in the same way as the definite article Here are the formsfollowed in brackets by the corresponding forms of the definite article

The feminine singular form bellrsquo is rarely used and bella is preferred evenbefore a vowel

Note that when bello comes after the noun the full form is used lo spettacoloegrave bello unrsquoesperienza bella e interessante etc

un vecchio amicoun amico vecchiola povera donnala donna povera

an old [ie long-standing] friendan oldelderly friend [ie a friend who is old]the poor [ie unfortunate] womanthe poor woman [ie she has no money]

questo ragazzoquesta ragazzaquesti ragazziqueste ragazzequel ragazzoquella ragazzaquei ragazziquelle ragazze

this boythis girlthese boysthese girlsthat boythat girlthose boysthose girls

Masculine

Feminine

Singularquelbelquellobelloquellrsquobellrsquoquellabellaquellrsquobellrsquo

(il)(lo)(lrsquo)(la)(lrsquo)

Pluralqueibeiqueglibegliqueglibegliquellebellequellebelle

(i)(gli)(gli)(le)(le)

quel filmbello spettacoloquellrsquoesempioquella canzonebella esperienzaquel bel film

that filmlovely showthat examplethat songbeautiful experiencethat beautiful film

bei filmquegli spettacolibegli esempibelle canzoniquelle esperienzequei bei film

beautiful filmsthose showsfine examplesbeautiful songsthose experiencesthose beautiful

films

20 Unit 3

11 The forms of the adjective buono (good) when used before a singularnoun change in the same way as the indefinite article

Nowadays the form buona is preferred to buonrsquo

Note that when buono comes after the noun the full form is used questolibro egrave buono il caffegrave egrave buono etc

12 The adjective grande (biggreat) when used before the noun may changeto the invariable form gran or in some expressions to grandrsquo nowadays thefull form grande is preferred in most cases

Note that before plural nouns grande is regular grandi musicisti grandi caseetc

Note also that when grande comes after the noun the full form is alwaysused quel film egrave grande la casa egrave grande etc

13 The adjective santo (saint) is another that has different forms when usedbefore a noun

santo is only used before masculine names starting with s + consonantsan is used before masculine names starting with a consonant (other than

s + consonant)santrsquo is used before masculine or feminine names starting with a vowelsanta is used before feminine names starting with a consonant

Masculine

Feminine

buonbuonobuonrsquobuonabuona

(un)(uno)(unrsquo)(una)

buon librobuon amicobuon caffegravebuono studente

good bookgood friendgood coffeegood student

buona ideabuona esperienzabuona memoria

good ideagood experiencegood memory

grande musicistagrande filmgrande casa

grande amico

grande idea[sometimes] grande

uomo

gran musicistagran filmgran casaGran Bretagna[sometimes] grandrsquoamicogran

amico[sometimes] grandrsquoideagran ideagrandrsquouomo

great musiciangreat filmbig houseGreat Britaingreat friend

great ideagreat man

Unit 3 21

Note that when santo means lsquoholyrsquo or lsquoblessedrsquo it is regular il santo padre(the Holy Father) una santa donna (a holy woman)

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

14 The forms of the possessive adjectives (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquo etc) are asfollows

Note that the masculine plural forms miei tuoi and suoi are irregular Note that loro is invariable and does not change

Possessive adjectives are always used before the noun they refer to Unlike inEnglish they are always preceded by the article and they must agree with theowned object not with the owner

15 When mio tuo suo nostro and vostro (not loro) are used with a noundenoting family relationship (eg fratello (brother) sorella (sister) padre(father) madre (mother) ) in the singular they are not preceded by the definitearticle

Santo StefanoSan FrancescoSan Pietro

Saint StephenSaint FrancisSaint Peter

SantrsquoAntonioSantrsquoAnnaSanta Caterina

Saint AnthonySaint AnneSaint Catherine

Masculinesingularmiotuosuonostrovostroloro

Femininesingularmiatuasuanostravostraloro

Masculinepluralmieituoisuoinostrivostriloro

Femininepluralmietuesuenostrevostreloro

myyourhisheritsouryourtheir

Luisa e i suoi fratelli [mp]Carlo e le sue sorelle [fp]Livia e il suo amico [ms]Ettore e la sua amica [fs]la mia lettera [fs]i tuoi libri [mp]la nostra scuola [fs]le vostre idee [fp]la loro stanza [fs]i loro genitori [mp]

Luisa and her brothersCarlo and his sistersLivia and her (male) friendEttore and his (female) friendmy letteryour booksour schoolyour ideastheir roomtheir parents

22 Unit 3

16 The forms of the possessive pronouns (lsquominersquo lsquoyoursrsquo etc) are the sameas those of the possessive adjectives and are always preceded by the definitearticle

17 As we shall see (Unit 4 paragraph 5) in Italian there is a form used toaddress people formally In the formal way of addressing people the posses-sive adjectives and pronouns used are Suo for the singular and Vostro (orLoro if a higher degree of formality is required) for the plural

mio padretua madretuo fratellosua ziai tuoi fratelli [pl]le sue zie [pl]il loro padre

my fatheryour motheryour brotherhisher auntyour brothershisher auntstheir father

Masculinesingularil mioil tuoil suoil nostroil vostroil loro

Femininesingularla miala tuala suala nostrala vostrala loro

Masculineplurali mieii tuoii suoii nostrii vostrii loro

Femininepluralle miele tuele suele nostrele vostrele loro

mineyourshishersitsoursyourstheirs

La tua casa egrave grande ma la loro egravepiccola

I tuoi CD sono qui i nostri sono ligrave

Your house is big but theirs is small

Your CDs are here ours are there

AdjectivesLa Sua auto egrave pronta Signora FerreroEcco i Suoi libri SignoreSignori Bianco la Vostra stanza egrave

pronta(Signori Bianco la Loro stanza egrave

pronta)

Your carrsquos ready Mrs FerreroHere are your books( Sir)

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) your roomis ready

PronounsLa loro auto egrave in strada ma la Sua egrave

in garage SignoraProfessore questi libri sono i Suoi

Their carrsquos in the street but yoursis in the garage( Madam)

These books are yours( ProfessorSir)

Unit 3 23

Demonstrative pronouns

18 Questo and quello are also used as demonstrative pronouns (this (one)that (one) these (ones) those (ones) ) But note that when quello is used as ademonstrative pronoun its endings are not modelled on the definite article(cf paragraph 10) but are the same as those of questo (ie quello [ms] quella[fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp])

Exercise 1

Complete the phrases by choosing the form of the adjective that agrees withthe noun

Examples le ragazze (italiano) italiane (quello) acqua (caldo) quellrsquocalda

1 un libro (interessante) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 la gonna (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 i vestiti (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 le camicie (rosso) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 gli insegnanti (egoista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 un (bello) albero mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 un collega (razzista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 le situazioni (comico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 le donne (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 i capelli (lungo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Questa stanza egrave la Vostra SignoriBianco

(Questa stanza egrave la Loro SignoriBianco)

This room is yours( Mr and MrsBianco)

(This room is yours Mr and MrsBianco)

Questa egrave AnnaQuesta egrave la tua stanza e quella egrave la

miaQuesti sono gli eserciziQuello egrave il nuovo computerQuelle sono le AlpiQuesti biscotti sono buoni ma

preferisco quelli

This is AnnaThis is my room and that onersquos

yoursThese are the exercisesThat is the new computerThose are the AlpsThese biscuits are nice but I prefer

those

24 Unit 3

11 (quello) ragazzo (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 (questo) esercizi (facile) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 (quello) (bello) specchi mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 (questo) (bello) donne mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 (quello) alberi (morto) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 (questo) amici (inglese)mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 (quello) attiviste (spagnolo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 (quello) (bello) attore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 (quello) uova (fresco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 (quello) turisti (greco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Exercise 2

Choose the right adjective for each noun or pair of nouns

Examples Queste scarpe sono (rossanuovebelli) nuove Anna e Francosono (franceseitalianeitaliani) italiani

1 La casa egrave (vecchionuovigrande) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 Ho un vestito (rosanuovalunghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 Le professoresse sono (intelligentefrancesinoiosa) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 La crisi egrave (serioseviolentigrave) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 I colleghi (italianeottimistapacifisti) arrivano domani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 Queste macchine sono (velocenuovitedesche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 Questo bambino egrave (capricciosepigrobeneducata) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 Quei film sono (inglesedivertentelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 Le cameriere sono (giovanegrecabelghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 Il pianista non egrave (stancabelgavecchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 Ho le dita (pulitisporchelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 Quel signore ha un carattere (simpatichecortesienergico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 Questi blue-jeans sono (resistentipraticheamericana) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 Le maglie sono (vecchioblubianchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 Le cantanti sono (spagnolitedeschiscozzesi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 Il treno e lrsquoauto sono (velociinquinantecomodo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 Paola Claudia e Anna sono (italianibellisimpatiche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 Claudio e Patrizia sono (gentileitalianicontenta) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 Gianfranco Piero e Giorgio sono (feliceottimistiitaliane) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 I signori e le signore sono (soddisfattigrecoaffollate) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Unit 3 25

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences by adding the correct form of the possessive adjectiveand where necessary the article

Examples Conosco Luisa e (suo) fratelli i suoi (Mio) madre egrave bella Mia

1 (Loro) bambini sono cortesi mdashmdashmdash2 (Suo) occhi sono blu mdashmdashmdash3 Questa egrave (mio) bici mdashmdashmdash4 Quanti anni hanno (tuo) sorelle mdashmdashmdash5 (Vostro) macchina egrave nuova mdashmdashmdash6 (Nostro) lavoro egrave interessante mdashmdashmdash7 (Mio) amici sono in vacanza mdashmdashmdash8 (Loro) casa egrave grande mdashmdashmdash9 (Tuo) madre egrave simpatica mdashmdashmdash

10 Grazie per (Suo) lettera Signore mdashmdashmdash

Exercise 4

Answer the questions using possessive pronouns

Example lsquoEgrave la Sua macchina Signor Rossirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave la miarsquo

1 lsquoEgrave il cellulare di Annarsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo2 lsquoEgrave la Vostra casa Signori Zolarsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo3 lsquoSono i miei CDrsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo4 lsquoEgrave il Suo ufficiorsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoSono i suoi librirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoSono le mie letterersquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoEgrave la casa dei tuoi amicirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoSono i nostri vestitirsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo9 lsquoSono le camicie di Paolorsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoSono i vostri bagaglirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

26 Unit 3

Exercise 5

Complete the sentences by choosing the right form of the adjectives andpronouns

Example (Questo) non egrave (tuo) stanza egrave (mio) Questa non egrave la tuastanza egrave la mia

1 (Questo) signori sono (nostro) ospiti (tedesco)2 (Suo) colleghi sono (ottimista) Signora3 (Questo) sono (vostro) stanze4 Io ho (mio) documenti Lei ha (Suo) Signore5 (Questo) sono (mio) CD (quello) sono (tuo)6 (Nostro) professore egrave (entusiasta) comrsquoegrave (vostro)7 (Quello) sono (mio) magliette (questo) sono (tuo)8 (Quello) esercizi sono (divertente) ma (questo) egrave (difficile)9 (Mio) bagagli sono (pesante) ma (vostro) sono (leggero)

10 (Quello) acqua (minerale) egrave (gassato) ma (questo) egrave (liscio)

Unit 3 27

UNIT FOURThe present tense of essere and avere

1 Like their counterparts in many other languages the Italian verbs essere(to be) and avere (to have) are irregular Here are the forms of the presenttense

As shown in the examples it is not usually necessary to use the subject pro-nouns before the verb since the forms for the different persons are different ndashsei can only be second person singular (tu) siete can only be second personplural (voi) etc Even with sono the context always shows whether it means lsquoIamrsquo or lsquothey arersquo

The pronoun is only required for emphasis or to mark a contrast

Essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

To beI amyou [sing] arehesheit iswe areyou [pl] arethey are

Avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo(voi) avete(loro) hanno

To haveI havehave gotyou [sing] havehave gothesheit hashas gotwe havehave gotyou [pl] havehave gotthey havehave got

Sono medicoSiamo cuginiSiete stranieriPaola e Anna sono alteClaudio egrave mio fratelloHo un cellulareHai il mio indirizzoHanno un esameAnna ha una chitarra nuova

Irsquom a doctorWe are cousinsYou are foreignersPaola and Anna are tallClaudio is my brotherIrsquove got a mobile phoneYou have my addressThey have an examAnnarsquos got a new guitar

Io sono medico e lui egrave insegnanteTu hai una bella bici ma io ho una

macchina

Irsquom a doctor and hersquos a teacherYoursquove got a nice bike but Irsquove got a

car

Subject pronouns

2 The Italian subject pronouns are

For the third person the following pronouns can still be found in some textsbut are not normally used in contemporary Italian

Lui (third person singular pronoun) replaces a masculine noun (like the Eng-lish lsquohersquo) lei replaces a feminine noun (like the English lsquoshersquo)

Lui lei and loro are only used to refer to persons In referring to objectsItalian normally avoids using the obsolete forms esso essa essi esse andomits the pronoun altogether

Interrogative form

3 The interrogative is formed by adding a question mark at the end of thesentence

Person1st2nd3rd3rd

1st2nd3rd

SingulariotuluileiPluralnoivoiloro

Iyouheshe

weyouthey

egli [m] esso [m]ella [f] essa [f]essi [m] esse [f]

instead of the singular luiinstead of the singular leiinstead of the plural loro

Lui egrave Paolo lei egrave AnnalsquoCosrsquoegraversquo lsquoEgrave una chiaversquoEgrave la chitarra di AnnaSono i libri di Paolo

He is Paolo she is AnnalsquoWhat is itrsquo lsquoItrsquos a keyrsquoItrsquos Annarsquos guitarThey are Paolorsquos books

Sei prontoSiete stranieriHai il mio indirizzoAvete amici italianiHanno un esame

Are you readyAre you foreignersHave you got my addressHave you any Italian friendsHave they got an exam

Unit 4 29

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non (ie lsquonotrsquo) before the verb

Formal form

5 In Italian there is a formal way of addressing people which is used withpeople we do not know or when some degree of formality is required Whenthe formal form is required the pronoun used for the singular for both menand women is Lei (third person singular) the pronoun used for the plural isnormally Voi but in situations when a high degree of formality is requiredLoro can be used

6 There are some spelling mistakes involving essere and avere which arecommonly made by learners be careful to remember the followingdifferences

Claudio non egrave mio fratelloNon siamo italianiNon siete stranieriNon hai il mio indirizzoNon hanno un esameNon abbiamo amici italianiNon ho la minima idea di cosa

regalare a Paola

Claudio is not my brotherWersquore not ItalianArenrsquot you foreignersHavenrsquot you got my addressThey donrsquot have an examWe havenrsquot got any Italian friendsI havenrsquot the slightest idea what to

give Paola

Lei egrave molto gentile SignoreLei non egrave troppo alta SignoraSignora Belli (Lei) ha la patente

Professore (Lei) ha tempoSignor Neri (Lei) egrave prontoSignori Conti (Voi) siete italiani (Signori Conti Loro sono italiani)

Yoursquore very kind( Sir)Yoursquore not too tall( Madam)Mrs Belli have you got a driving

licenceHave you got time( ProfessorSir)Mr Neri are you ready

Mr and Mrs Conti are you Italian

egrave (hesheit is)ho (I have)hai (you have)ha (hesheit has)hanno (they have)

e (and)o (or)ai (to the)a (to)anno (year)

30 Unit 4

Use of essere and avere

7 The verbs essere and avere are normally used as the verbs lsquoto bersquo and lsquotohaversquo are used in English Essere is usually followed by an adjective or anoun

Avere is normally followed by a noun (or a noun accompanied by anadjective)

8 The verb avere followed by a noun is also used in a number of idiomaticexpressions which correspond to English expressions using lsquoto bersquo followedby an adjective or an adverbial phrase

Siete studenti [noun]Daniela egrave medico [noun]Tu e Anna siete cugini [noun]Siete gentili [adjective]Gli amici di Paul sono italiani

[adjective]

Are you students [noun]Daniela is a doctor [noun]Are you and Anna cousins [noun]You are kind [adjective]Paulrsquos friends are Italian [adjective]

Hai il libroNon ho tempoAbbiamo molti amiciHanno una casa grandePaolo e io abbiamo una macchina

Have you got the bookI havenrsquot timeWe have a lot of friendsThey have a big housePaolo and I have got a car

avere caldoavere fameavere freddoavere pauraavere ragioneavere seteavere sonnoavere tortoavere fretta

to be hotto be hungryto be coldto be afraidto be rightto be thirstyto be sleepyto be wrongto be in a hurry

Abbiamo fameAvete ragioneMarina ha fretta(Lei) ha sete SignoraNon hai freddo Claudia

We are hungryYoursquore rightMarina is in a hurryAre you thirsty( Madam)Arenrsquot you cold Claudia

Unit 4 31

9 Avere is also used in Italian to express age

Crsquoegrave and ci sono

10 The verb essere is used in the expressions crsquoegrave (there is) followed by asingular noun and ci sono (there are) followed by a plural noun

11 Note that crsquoegrave and ci sono are not usually emphatic So in the Englishsentences in paragraph 10 the voice stress does not fall on lsquotherersquo but on thenoun that follows it (ie on lsquoletterrsquo lsquolittleplenty of timersquo lsquoproblemrsquo etc)Thus crsquoegrave and ci sono sometimes do not correspond to lsquothere isrsquo or lsquothere arersquoas in the following examples

12 The interrogative is formed by simply adding a question mark at the endof the sentence or with a lsquoquestion wordrsquo (see Unit 9)

13 The negative is formed by placing non before crsquoegrave or ci sono

Francesca ha 17 anniIl figlio di Gianni ha un annoQuanti anni hai

Francesca is 17 (years old)Giannirsquos son is oneHow old are you

Crsquoegrave una lettera per teCrsquoegrave poco tempoCrsquoegrave molto tempoCrsquoegrave un problemaCi sono due ingressiNel negozio ci sono molti clienti

Therersquos a letter for youTherersquos littlenot much timeTherersquos plenty of timeTherersquos a problemThere are two entrancesThere are a lot of customers in the shop

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono [ie she hasjust rung]

Ci sono i tuoi amici che ti aspettano[ie they have just arrived]

Luisarsquos on the phone [not TherersquosLuisa on the phone]

Your friends are waiting for you[not There are your friendswaiting for you]

Crsquoegrave il Professor Gatti

Crsquoegrave molto trafficoQuanti ingressi ci sono

Is Professor Gatti thereanywherearound[ie Irsquod like to seetalk to Professor Gatti]

Is there a lot of trafficHow many entrances are there

Non crsquoegrave tempoDomani non crsquoegrave lezioneNon ci sono clienti

There is no timeThere is no class tomorrowThere arenrsquot any customers

32 Unit 4

In Italian the double negative is used non + nessuno

14 Note that in negative sentences giving general information it is moreusual to use the plural non ci sono than the singular non crsquoegrave

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of essere

Example Alberto mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash a Roma egrave

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of avere

Example Jenny e John mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash una figlia hanno

Non crsquoegrave tempoNon ci sono clientiNon crsquoegrave nessuno

Is there no timeArenrsquot there any customersThere is nobody

Non ci sono farmacie Non ci sono scuole Non ci sono artisti nella mia

famiglia

There isnrsquot ais no pharmacyThere arenrsquot anyare no pharmaciesThere isnrsquot ais no schoolThere arenrsquot anyare no schoolsThere arenrsquot anyare no artists in my family

1 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash italiani2 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash scozzese3 (io) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash felice4 Gli studenti mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash in

biblioteca5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto gentili6 Lei mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash medico7 La cena mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash pronta8 I libri mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sulla

scrivania9 Tu e Jim mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amici

10 Paolo e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash giovani11 Gli impiegati mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash gentili12 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash simpatici13 Enrico non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash biondo14 Gli italiani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash allegri15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amica di Giulia16 Laura mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash magra17 Lrsquoesercizio mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash difficile18 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash straniero19 Tu e Billy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stranieri20 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stanca Signora

1 (noi) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo2 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash la macchina3 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molti amici

4 I Signori Illy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash due figli5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash i libri6 Sandro mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sempre fretta

Unit 4 33

Exercise 3

Taking the words in the two columns below write negative and interrogativesentences using the verb avere

Example tu fretta Non hai fretta Hai fretta

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative and negativesentences using the verb essere

Example io italiana Sono italiana Non sono italiana

7 Il professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash moltistudenti

8 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il libro9 Marco e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sete

10 Quanti anni (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il biglietto12 Domenico mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un

fratello13 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un esame14 (loro) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash figli

15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash lrsquoindirizzo diLuca

16 Carlo non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash latelevisione

17 I nostri amici mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash deiproblemi

18 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto lavoro19 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash 16 anni20 Professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo

1 io2 il professore3 la Signorina Berti4 Lei [formal]5 voi6 loro7 Carla e Andrea

ragionecaldosetesonnopaurafreddofame

1 io2 tu3 il dottore4 la professoressa5 Lei [formal]6 noi7 voi8 le tue amiche

stancopigragiovanesimpaticaaltomagreintelligenticontente

34 Unit 4

Exercise 5

Imagine the things in the office using all the words in the list write sentencesusing crsquoegrave or ci sono

Examples una scrivania Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una scrivania quattro sedieNellrsquoufficio ci sono quattro sedie

1 una sedia 2 due poltrone 3 tre computer 4 una stampante 5 un tele-fono 6 la fotocopiatrice 7 due radiatori 8 una porta 9 tre finestre

Exercise 6

Imagine what is in the village using all the words in the list make affirmativeor negative sentences paying attention to the negative form (non ci sono +plural noun)

Example tabaccaio tabaccai In questo paese crsquoegrave un tabaccaio ci sonotre tabaccai non ci sono tabaccai

1 museo musei 2 discoteca discoteche 3 panetteria panetterie 4 cinemacinema 5 biblioteca biblioteche 6 scuola scuole 7 ufficio postale ufficipostali 8 libreria librerie 9 giardino pubblico giardini pubblici 10 ris-torante ristoranti

Unit 4 35

UNIT FIVEThe present tense of regular (and someirregular) verbs

Use of the present tense

1 The present tense (or simply lsquothe presentrsquo) is used to state that an action isoccurring at the present time It corresponds basically to the English simplepresent (lsquoI eatrsquo) and present continuous (lsquoI am eatingrsquo)

2 The present can also be used to refer to the future either the near future orone that is considered fairly certain

3 The present is also used to refer to an action which started in the past and isstill going on here it corresponds to the English present perfect

Mio padre lavora per la BBCMio padre lavora in giardinoDi solito guardo la televisioneStasera guardo la televisioneNon guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisioneStasera non guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisione

stasera

My father works for the BBCMy fatherrsquos working in the gardenNormally I watch TVIrsquom watching TV this eveningI donrsquot watch TVWhy donrsquot you watch TVIrsquom not watching TV this eveningWhy arenrsquot you watching TV this

evening

Il treno parte fra cinque minuti

Parto domaniDomani mattina porto Luca alla

stazioneLrsquoestate prossima lavoro con mio

zio

The train leavesis leaving in fiveminutes

I leaveI am leaving tomorrowTomorrow morning Irsquoll takeIrsquom taking-

Irsquom going to take Luca to the stationNext summer Irsquoll workIrsquom working-

going to work with my uncle

Lavoriamo qui da un mese Wersquove been working here for a month

The forms of the present tense

4 Italian verbs are divided into three main groups the conjugations Theconjugation a verb belongs to is determined by the ending of its infinitive

The forms of the present depend on which conjugation the verb belongs toThe present is formed by changing the ending of the infinitive as follows

5 Regular verbs in -are are conjugated as follows

As we saw in Unit 4 the subject pronoun is normally omitted in the conju-gation of Italian verbs

Mio cugino abita a Roma da treanni

Conosco Giulia da tre anniNon vedo Dario da mesi

My cousinrsquos livedbeen living in Rome forthree years

I have known Giulia for three yearsI havenrsquot seen Dario for months

First conjugation-are

Second conjugation-ere

Third conjugation-ire

Person1st2nd3rd

1st2nd3rd

Singular(io)(tu)(luilei)

Plural(noi)(voi)(loro)

Infinitive in -are-o-i-a

-iamo-ate-ano

Infinitive in -ere-o-i-e

-iamo-ete-ono

Infinitive in -ire(-isc)-o(-isc)-i(-isc)-e

-iamo-ite(-isc)-ono

Endings-o-i-a-iamo-ate-ano

Parlare(io) parlo(tu) parli(luilei) parla(noi) parliamo(voi) parlate(loro) parlano

To speaktalkI speakyou speakhesheit speakswe speakyou speakthey speak

Andrea e Carla lavorano in ItaliaParlo italianoParlate moltoAbitiamo a Genova

Andrea and Carla work in ItalyI speak ItalianYou talk a lotWe live in Genoa

Unit 5 37

6 Verbs ending in -care and -gare (first conjugation) add h before the endingsof the second person singular (-i) and the first person plural (-iamo) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g

7 Verbs ending in -iare (first conjugation) normally have only one i in thesecond person singular and the first person plural

8 Regular verbs in -ere are conjugated as follows

Cercare(io) cerco(tu) cerchi(luilei) cerca(noi) cerchiamo(voi) cercate(loro) cercano

To look forI look foryou look forhesheit looks forwe look foryou look forthey look for

Pagare(io) pago(tu) paghi(luilei) paga(noi) paghiamo(voi) pagate(loro) pagano

To payI payyou payhesheit payswe payyou paythey pay

Cerchi MarcoGiochiamo a pallonePercheacute litighi con tuo fratelloPaghiamo sempre il conto

Are you looking for MarcoWe play footballWhy are you arguing with your brotherWe always pay the bill

Cominciare(io) comincio(tu) cominci(luilei) comincia(noi) cominciamo(voi) cominciate(loro) cominciano

To startbeginI startbeginyou startbeginhesheit startsbeginswe startbeginyou startbeginthey startbegin

Mangiare(io) mangio(tu) mangi(luilei) mangia(noi) mangiamo(voi) mangiate(loro) mangiano

To eatI eatyou eathesheit eatswe eatyou eatthey eat

Quando cominci la scuolaCominciamo la partitaMangi troppoStasera mangiamo fuori

When do you start schoolWersquore starting the gameYou eat too muchThis evening wersquore eating out

Endings-o-i-e-iamo-ete-ono

Prendere(io) prendo(tu) prendi(luilei) prende(noi) prendiamo(voi) prendete(loro) prendono

To takegetI takegetyou takegethesheit takesgetswe takegetyou takegetthey takeget

38 Unit 5

9 Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) and -gere (or -ggere) change the sound ofc (or sc) and g (or -gg) which become lsquohardrsquo before the endings of the firstperson singular (-o) and the third person plural (-ono) So care needs to betaken in speaking these verbs

Prendo il prossimo trenoPrendiamo questa stradaAnna scrive una letteraMarco e Martina ridono molto

Irsquom gettingtaking the next trainWe take this roadAnna is writing a letterMarco and Martina laugh a lot

Vincere(io) vinco(tu) vinci(luilei) vince(noi) vinciamo(voi) vincete(loro) vincono

Spoken like Englishkchchchchk

To winI winyou winhesheit winswe winyou winthey win

Conoscere(io) conosco(tu) conosci(luilei) conosce(noi) conosciamo(voi) conoscete(loro) conoscono

Spoken like Englishskshshshshsk

To knowI knowyou knowhesheit knowswe knowyou knowthey know

Leggere(io) leggo(tu) leggi(luilei) legge(noi) leggiamo(voi) leggete(loro) leggono

Spoken like Englishg [as in lsquogorsquo]jjjjg [as in lsquogorsquo]

To readI readyou readhesheit readswe readyou readthey read

Vince sempreNon conosco i tuoi genitoriLeggono il giornaleNon piango mai

Heshe always winsI donrsquot know your parentsTheyrsquore reading the paperI never cry

Unit 5 39

10 Regular verbs in -ire are conjugated as follows

11 Many verbs in -ire (eg capire (to understand) costruire (to build) finire(to finishto end) preferire (to prefer) pulire (to clean) ) follow a slightlydifferent pattern adding -isc- before the singular endings and the thirdperson plural

There is no way of telling which is the right pattern for a verb in -ire otherthan to check in a dictionary

Interrogative form

12 As we saw in Unit 4 the interrogative is formed by adding a questionmark at the end of the sentence

Endings-o-i

Partire(io) parto(tu) parti

To leaveI leaveyou leave

-e-iamo-ite-ono

(luilei) parte(noi) partiamo(voi) partite(loro) partono

hesheit leaveswe leaveyou leavethey leave

Il treno parte alle 800I miei amici partono domaniMia sorella dormeTutte le mattine apriamo le finestre

The train leaves at eightMy friends are leaving tomorrowMy sister is sleepingasleepEvery morning we open the windows

Endings-isc-o-isc-i-isc-e-iamo-ite-isc-ono

Capire(io) capisco(tu) capisci(luilei) capisce(noi) capiamo(voi) capite(loro) capiscono

To understandI understandyou understandhesheit understandswe understandyou understandthey understand

Marina capisce tuttoLa lezione finisce alle 1300Preferisco parlare italiano

Marina understands everythingThe lessonclass finishes at 1 pmI prefer speakingto speak Italian

Carla resta a casaPrendi sempre la macchina fotograficaQuando partiteCapisci tutto

Is Carla staying at homeDo you always take the cameraWhen are you leavingDo you understand everything

40 Unit 5

Negative form

13 The negative is formed by putting non (not) before the verb

Formal form

14 As we saw in Unit 4 the pronouns used for the formal form are Lei for thesingular (for both women and men) and Voi for the plural (the pronoun Lorois much more formal)

Present tense of some irregular verbs

15 In Italian as in most languages there are a number of irregular verbswhose conjugation is best learned by heart and with use Here is the conjuga-tion of some of the more frequently used irregular verbs

Non parlo italianoNon prendiamo la macchina

fotograficaGiulia e Susanna non partonoNon capisce niente

I donrsquot speak ItalianWersquore not taking the camera

Arenrsquot Giulia and Susanna leavingHeshe doesnrsquot understand anything

(Lei) Parla italianoNon prende un taxi Professor

MasiPartite Signori Bianco( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco)

Do you speak ItalianArenrsquot you taking a taxi Professor

MasiAre you leaving( Mr and Mrs

Bianco)

Dare (to give)dogravedaidagravediamodatedanno

Andare (to go)vadovaivaandiamoandatevanno

Stare (to staylivefeel)stostaistastiamostatestanno

Uscire (to go outleave)escoesciesceusciamousciteescono

Sapere (to know)sosaisasappiamosapetesanno

Venire (to come)vengovienivieneveniamovenitevengono

Unit 5 41

The verb riuscire (to succeedmanagebe able to) follows the same pattern asuscire

It is important not to confuse sapere and conoscere (paragraph 9) Bothmean lsquoto knowrsquo but they are not always interchangeable The basic differenceis that sapere generally means lsquoto knowbe aware ofto have knowledge of afactrsquo (but see also paragraph 17 below) whereas conoscere means lsquoto beacquaintedfamiliar withrsquo or sometimes lsquoto meetmake the acquaintance ofrsquo(eg in the expression piacere di conoscerti pleased to meet you) Thus sapereis never used for people and conoscere is never followed by a phrase contain-ing a verb

Dovere (mustto haveto)devodevidevedobbiamodovetedevono

Dire (to saytell)dicodicidicediciamoditedicono

Potere (canmayto beable)possopuoipuogravepossiamopotetepossono

Fare (to domake)facciofaifafacciamofatefanno

Volere (to wishtowant)vogliovuoivuolevogliamovoletevogliono

Bere (to drink)bevobevibevebeviamobevetebevono

Cosa failsquoCome stairsquo lsquoSto bene graziersquoMia zia sta a BolognaVado al cinemaStasera non escoDomani esco prestoNon riesco a capireNon riesco a chiudere la portaAdesso sapete tutto

What are you doinglsquoHow are yoursquo lsquoIrsquom fine thank yoursquoMy aunt lives in BolognaIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom not going out tonightIrsquom leaving early tomorrowI canrsquot understandI canrsquot manage to close the doorNow you know everything

Sappiamo giagrave che crsquoegrave scioperodomani

Sai che ora egraveSai percheacuteNon so che cosa fareConosco le regole del gioco

We already know that there is a striketomorrow

Do you know what time it isDo you know whyI donrsquot know what to doI know the rules of the game

42 Unit 5

16 Dovere potere and volere usually need to be followed by another verb inthe infinitive

17 The verb sapere is another that is often followed by a verb in the infinitiveused in this way it expresses the ability to do something (in the sense of lsquotoknow how torsquo do something)

18 A few verbs end in -urre (like condurre (to leaddrivemanage) tradurre (totranslate) produrre (to produce) etc) all have the following pattern

Exercise 1

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io conoscere) tua mamma conosco

Ho conosciuto il padre di PiaNon conosco il tuo ragazzoConosci questa cittagrave

I (have) met Piarsquos fatherI donrsquot know your boyfriendDo you know this town

Dobbiamo fare gli eserciziPosso parlare con LuigiPuoi telefonare domaniNon vogliono uscire

Wersquove got to do the exercisesMay I talk to LuigiYou can phone tomorrowThey donrsquot want to go out

So nuotarePaolo non sa ballareSai usare quello scanner

I can swim [ie I know how to]Paolo canrsquot dance [ie he doesnrsquot know how to]Can youDo you know how to use that scanner

Endings-uc-o-uc-i-uc-e-uc-iamo-uc-ete-uc-ono

Produrre(io) produco(tu) produci(luilei) produce(noi) produciamo(voi) producete(loro) producono

To produceI produceyou producehesheit produceswe produceyou producethey produce

Questa fabbrica produce automobiliTraducono dal francese

This factory produces carsThey translate from French

1 Claudio (arrivare) con il prossimotreno

2 Anna (vivere) a Roma

3 Non (noi mangiare) spesso fuori4 (tu cercare) casa5 Stasera (voi prendere) lrsquoautobus

Unit 5 43

Exercise 2

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example (io bere) molta acqua bevo

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 You [pl] have got to talk to Marcello2 Wersquore leaving tonight3 Wersquore getting the next bus4 You [polite] can go to the cinema Mr Buchan5 We know how to use those mobile phones6 She always prefers reading the paper7 The babyrsquos asleep8 Irsquom coming to Turin this summer

6 Il treno di Giorgio (partire) alle18

7 Tutti i giorni (noi leggere) ilgiornale

8 (tu pulire) il bagno9 (io conoscere) molti italiani

10 I giochi (finire) sempre alle 1711 Non (noi guidare) lrsquoauto12 Anna e io (giocare) a carte13 Percheacute non (voi tornare) in

Scozia

14 Non (tu capire) nulla15 Giorgio e Paola non (spendere)

molto16 Dove (Lei abitare) Signor Verdi17 (Voi pagare) lrsquoaffitto Signori

Rossi18 (tu viaggiare) molto19 Non (tu ricevere) molte lettere20 Piero e Gianni (lasciare) il cane a

casa

1 Stasera (loro) andare al cinema2 La nostra fabbrica (produrre)

pasta3 Domani (noi dare) una festa4 (tu andare) spesso in spiaggia5 (voi fare) gli esercizi6 Non (noi riuscire) a capire7 (voi venire) a casa8 Non (io potere) uscire oggi9 (loro volere) dormire

10 (tu dire) la veritagrave

11 Tu e Claudia (potere) partire12 (io volere) studiare13 Dove (tu stare) adesso14 Le mie sorelle non (sapere)

nuotare15 Cosa (loro fare) stasera16 I vicini (dovere) rimanere a casa17 (noi tradurre) in italiano18 Luigi (dovere) lavorare19 (voi sapere) cantare20 I nostri amici (venire) a Roma

44 Unit 5

9 They often go out in the evening10 The boys are playing football tomorrow

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Are you going out tonight Mother2 What are we doing tomorrow3 Can you [sing] open that door4 Do you [sing] want a coffee5 Can you play the piano Francesco6 What are you [sing] looking for7 Are you [polite] drinking coffee or mineral water Madam8 Do you [sing] and Jim know my parents9 Are you [sing] well today

10 What are they building

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Donrsquot you [polite] speak English Mrs Vialli2 My German friends canrsquot sing in Italian3 I donrsquot earn a lot4 Isnrsquot she giving a party for her birthday5 Arenrsquot you [sing] working with Giulia6 Theyrsquove not seen Mr Moro for three years7 Why do you never go to Florence Claudio8 I canrsquot manage to shut this window9 Why arenrsquot you [pl] drinking coffee this morning

10 Arenrsquot you [pl] coming tomorrow

Unit 5 45

UNIT SIXAdverbs

1 English adverbs are usually formed by adding lsquo-lyrsquo to an adjective (eglsquothinlyrsquo lsquocleverlyrsquo) Italian adverbs are usually just as easy to form -mente isadded to the feminine singular form of the adjective

When the adjective ends in -le or -re preceded by a vowel the final e isdropped before adding -mente

2 In Italian there are also many adverbs which do not end in -mente Here aresome

lenta + -menterapida + -mentesemplice + -mentefrequente + -mente

lentamenterapidamentesemplicementefrequentemente

slowlyquicklysimplyfrequently

gentile + -menteutile + -mentemaggiore + -menteregolare + -mente

gentilmenteutilmentemaggiormenteregolarmente

kindly politelyusefullymainlyregularly

Il tempo cambia rapidamenteLa nonna cammina lentamenteEnrico risponde sempre gentilmenteFaccio i compiti regolarmente

The weather changes quicklyGranny walks slowlyEnrico always answers politelyI do my homework regularly

abbastanza

ancorabenedavantidentrodietrodopo

enoughfairlyratherquite

stillwellat the frontin frontin(side)at the backbehindlaterafterwards

fortefuorigiagravelontanomalenon ancoranon maipiano

loudlyhardoutoutsidealreadyfar (away)badlynot yetneverslowlyquietly

Note that with non ancora and non mai non is always placed beforethe verb and ancoramai after it

3 Adverbs can qualify verbs adjectives or even other adverbs

4 Some words denoting quantity can be used both as adverbs and as adjec-tives moltotanto (a lot (of)verymany) troppo (too muchtoo many) andpoco (fewlittlenot muchnot very) When used as adverbs they are invariablebut when used as adjectives they agree in gender and number with the nounthey refer to

piugravepiuttostoprestoprima

quasisempre

morerathersoonearlyearlierbeforehand

firstalmostalways

soprasottospessosubitotardivicinovolentieri

aboveupstairsbelowdownstairsoftenimmediatelyright awaylatenear(by)willinglygladly

Questo film egrave abbastanza belloPartiamo tardi dopo le 11Andiamo spesso in discotecaVengo subitoParto prestoParliamo piano perchegrave Carla

dormePuograve parlare piano per favore

Non sono italianoAbita vicino SignoraVai lontanoPiove fortePuoi parlare piugrave forteMangiamo fuori

Egrave ancora estateNon egrave ancora estateNon esco maiLorenzo non telefona mai

This film is rather goodWersquore leaving late after 11We often go to the discoIrsquom coming (immediately)Irsquom leaving earlysoonWersquore talking quietly because Carlarsquos

asleepCould you speak slowly please Irsquom not

ItalianDo you live nearby (Madam)Are you going farItrsquos raining hardCan you speak loudermore loudlyWersquore eating out [eg in a restaurant]

outside [ie in the open]Itrsquos still summerItrsquos not summer yetI never go outLorenzo never phones

Dormo bene [verb + adverb]Dormo molto bene [adverb + adverb]La casa egrave molto piccola [adverb + adjective]

I sleep wellI sleep very wellThe house is very small

Unit 6 47

Adverbial expressions

5 Having a lot of words ending in -mente can often sound heavy To avoidthis Italian sometimes uses adverbial phrases instead of single words Thesedo the same job as one-word adverbs and indeed they do usually correspondto one-word English adverbs in lsquo-lyrsquo These adverbial expressions are mostoften constructed with con (with) sometimes with senza (without) followedby a noun

Adverblavorare moltotantomoltotanto lontanomoltotanto difficilelavorare troppotroppo lontanotroppo difficilelavorare pocopoco lontanopoco difficile

Adjectivemolto (tanto)troppopoco lavoro [ms]molta (tanta)troppapoca acqua [fs]molti (tanti)troppipochi esercizi [mp]molte (tante)troppepoche lettere [fp]

to work a lotvery farvery difficultto work too muchtoo fartoo difficultto work littlenot to work muchnot very farnot very difficult

a lot oftoo muchnot much worka lot oftoo muchnot much watermanytoo manynot many exercisesmanytoo manynot many letters

Mio padre lavora troppo [adverb]Questa musica egrave molto bella [adverb]Luisa dorme poco [adverb]

Dormi troppo poco [adverbs]

Abbiamo molto tempo [adjective]Luisa mangia poca pasta [adjective]

Ho molti amici [adjective]lsquoPercheacute fai questorsquo lsquoCi sono molte

ragionirsquo [adjective]

My father works too muchThis music is very beautifulLuisa sleeps littledoesnrsquot sleep

muchYou sleep too littledonrsquot sleep

enoughWe have a lot of timeLuisa eats little pastadoesnrsquot eat a

lot of pastaI have a lot of friendslsquoWhy are you doing thisrsquo lsquoThere

are many reasonsrsquo

con difficoltagravecon eleganzacon lentezzacon rapiditagravecon semplicitagrave

with difficultyelegantlyslowlyrapidlyquicklysimply

48 Unit 6

There are also a number of adverbial expressions that use other prepositionsthan con Here are some of the most common

Another adverbial expression that is sometimes used is in modoin maniera(ie lsquoin a wayrsquo) followed by an adjective the adjective is masculine when usedwith modo and feminine when used with maniera

Exercise 1

Change the adjectives into adverbs

Example lento lentamente

senza eleganzasenza complicazionisenza dubbio

inelegantlyuncomplicatedlyundoubtedly

a poco a pocoa voltein ritardoin tempodi solitodi sicuro

little by littlesometimeslateon timeusuallysurelycertainly

Anna veste con eleganzaSpieghi tutto senza complicazioni

A volte non capisco quello che dice

Anna dresses elegantlyYou explain everything

uncomplicatedlySometimes I donrsquot understand what

he says

in modo vagoin maniera vagain modo stranoin maniera stranain modo semplicein maniera semplice

vaguelyin a vague waystrangelyin a strange waysimplyin a simple way

Risponde sempre in modo vagoQuel cane cammina in maniera strana

Heshe always answers vaguelyThat dogrsquos walking oddlyin a

strange way

1 dolce2 tranquillo3 semplice4 allegro5 maggiore

6 irregolare7 probabile8 chiaro9 facile

10 veloce

11 lento12 utile13 attento14 rapido15 leggero

Unit 6 49

Exercise 2

Supply the correct form of moltotanto troppo or poco (adverbs or adjectives)

Examples Anna egrave (molto) alta molto Ho (molto) sete molta

Exercise 3

Replace the words in English with the appropriate expression from the list

a volte di sicuro con pazienza senza esitazione in modo nervoso intempo con semplicitagrave di solito con prudenza a poco a poco in manierabrusca con coraggio

Examples (sometimes) non voglio giocare a pallone a volte Laura veste(simply) con semplicitagrave

1 Dobbiamo agire (cautiously)2 Andrea spiega tutto (patiently)3 Paolo guarda i professori (nervously)4 (little by little) Gianni capisce il problema5 Tullio risponde (unhesitatingly)6 (usually) rientra nel pomeriggio7 Lei non fa piugrave (in time) a prendere il treno delle sette8 Esprime (courageously) le sue opinioni9 Domenica vengo (for sure)

10 Il Signor Capello risponde (bluntly) a tutte le nostre domande

1 Claudia mangia (molto) dolci2 Il tuo vestito egrave (molto) bello3 Monica ha (poco) amici4 Tu spendi (troppo)5 In mensa ci sono (troppo)

studenti6 Davanti al cinema crsquoegrave (tanto)

gente7 Mangi (troppo)8 Stefano abita (molto) lontano9 Giulia mangia sempre (poco)

10 Judy ha (molto) amiche italiane

11 Sto (poco) bene12 Abitate in una casa (molto) bella13 Signora egrave (molto) stanca14 Ci sono (poco) biscotti15 Siete (molto) gentili16 Hai (poco) pazienza17 Marco e Luisa hanno (molto)

fame18 Il giardino non egrave (molto) grande19 Non devi invitare (troppo)

persone20 Abbiamo (poco) riviste

50 Unit 6

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sometimes I eat in the canteen2 The swimming pool is quite big3 We often go out with our friends4 Have you [sing] got enough money5 You [sing] have to speak slowly6 Marina never eats cheese7 Francesca always arrives late8 Irsquove been waiting for almost forty minutes9 Carla and Andrea are out

10 Are your [sing] parents well

Unit 6 51

UNIT SEVENDirect object pronouns (1)

1 A direct object is the person or thing that the verb directly impacts onInvito Elena (Irsquom inviting Elena) Uso il computer tutti i giorni (I use thecomputer every day)

A direct object pronoun replaces a noun used as a direct object itmust therefore agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to Directobject pronouns normally come before the verb In the following examplesthe pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the direct object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Elena la invito a cena[la replaces and agrees with Elena (fs)]

Quando vedo Lorenzo lo invito a cena[lo replaces and agrees with Lorenzo(ms)]

Scrivo le cartoline e poi le imbuco[le replaces and agrees with lecartoline (fp)]

Appena compro i biscotti li mangio[li replaces and agrees with i biscotti(mp)]

Prendo il giornale e lo leggo subito[lo replaces and agrees with ilgiornale (ms)]

When I see Elena Irsquoll inviteher to dinner

When I see Lorenzo Irsquoll invitehim to dinner

I write the postcards andthen post them

As soon as I buy biscuits Ieat them

I get the paper and read itimmediately

Subjectiotuluileinoivoiloro

Direct objectmitilo [m]la [f]civili [m]le [f]

meyouhimheritusyouthem

3 We saw in Unit 3 that if an adjective refers to two or more nouns that aredifferent in gender it has the masculine plural form eg Laura e Piero sonoitaliani (Laura and Piero are Italian) The same principle applies to directobject pronouns

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

5 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Note that verbs in -urre drop the second r as well as the final vowel lo devotradurre or devo tradurlo

Giacomo mi invita spesso a cenaSe vuoi ti aiutoLo conosco beneLa vedo tutti i giorniVi invito alla festa

Giacomo often invites me to dinnerIf you want Irsquoll help youI know him wellI see her every dayIrsquom inviting you to the party

lsquoConosci Laura [f] e Piero [m]rsquo lsquoSigraveli [mp] conosco benersquo

lsquoUsi il computer [m] e la stampante[f]rsquo lsquoSigrave li [mp] uso spessorsquo

lsquoDo you know Laura and Pierorsquo lsquoYesI know them wellrsquo

lsquoDo you use the computer and theprinterrsquo lsquoYes I often use themrsquo

Non lo conosco beneNon vi invito alla festaNon li vedo spessoNon ti capisco

I donrsquot know him wellIrsquom not inviting you to the partyI donrsquot often see themI donrsquot understand you

La devo chiamareTi voglio invitareLo puoi prendereLo so fareLo devo tradurre

ororororor

Devo chiamarlaVoglio invitartiPuoi prenderloSo farloDevo tradurlo

I must call herI want to invite youYou can take itI canknow how to do itIrsquove got to translate it

Unit 7 53

6 The pronoun lo [ms] is often used to replace a whole clause

7 When the pronouns lo and la are used with the verb avere they are short-ened to lrsquo and are often preceded by the particle ce

The plural pronouns li and le however are never shortened and are onlyrarely used with ce

Formal form

8 The direct object pronouns used for the formal form are La for the singular(for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronouns Li and Le canalso be used for the masculine and feminine respectively but this is particu-larly formal)

lsquoSai che oggi egrave il compleanno diCarlarsquo lsquoSigrave lo sorsquo [lo = oggi egrave ilcompleanno di Carla]

lsquoDove sono le chiavirsquo lsquoNon lo sorsquo[lo = dove sono le chiavi]

lsquoDevi cambiare la cartucciarsquo lsquoLofaccio subitorsquo [lo = cambiare lacartuccia]

lsquoDo you know that itrsquos Carlarsquosbirthday todayrsquo lsquoYes I dorsquo [lit YesI know it]

lsquoWhere are the keysrsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo[lit I donrsquot know it]

lsquoYoursquove got to replace the cartridgersquolsquoIrsquoll do it straight awayrsquo

lsquoHai la cartucciarsquo lsquoSigrave ce lrsquohorsquo

Non posso leggere il libro di PrimoLevi percheacute non ce lrsquoho

lsquoAvete lrsquoindirizzo di Annarsquo lsquoSigrave celrsquoabbiamorsquo

lsquoHave you got the cartridgersquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot itrsquo

I canrsquot read Primo Levirsquos bookbecause I havenrsquot got it

lsquoHave you got Annarsquos addressrsquo lsquoYeswe haveYes wersquove got itrsquo

lsquoHai le parole di questacanzonersquo lsquoNo non (ce) le horsquo

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo

lsquoHave you got the lyrics of this songrsquolsquoNo I havenrsquot No Irsquove not got themrsquo

lsquoHave you got the booksrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove gotthemYes I haversquo

Professor Masi La accompagno inaeroporto

Signora La accompagno in aeroportoSignori Bianco Vi accompagno in

aeroporto (Signori Bianco Li accompagno in

aeroporto) Signore Vi accompagno in aeroporto (Signore Le accompagno in aeroporto)

Professor Masi Irsquoll take you to theairport

Irsquoll take you to the airport Madam

Mr and Mrs Bianco Irsquoll take you tothe airport

(Ladies) Irsquoll take you to theairport

54 Unit 7

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct directobject pronoun

Example Luigi compra il pane Luigi lo compra

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Lo faccio Non lo faccio

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

1 Anna guarda la televisione2 Invitiamo i nostri amici3 Scrivete le cartoline4 Leggono il giornale5 Suono la chitarra6 Preparo la cena7 Chiamo Roberto8 Faccio gli esercizi9 Invito Maria e Giovanna

10 Chiudete le finestre

11 Lorenzo corregge gli errori12 Prendono il treno13 Porto i CD14 Cerco i miei libri15 Pia beve lrsquoacqua minerale16 Paola finisce il lavoro17 Accompagno Carlo e Anna18 Vedi le tue amiche oggi19 Ascolto la radio20 Luca lava i piatti

1 Le voglio2 Li compriamo3 Ci chiamano4 Silvia li invita5 I Signori Bianchi lo prendono

6 Mi invitate7 Vi aspetto8 La vedo domani9 Ti accompagno alla stazione

10 Lo guardiamo

1 Lo vogliamo vedere2 Non ti posso aiutare3 Mi puoi accompagnare4 La vuoi sentire5 Ci devono chiamare

6 Vi voglio invitare7 Le vuole conoscere8 Non li potete fare9 Mi devi ascoltare

10 Non La posso aiutare Signora

Unit 7 55

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate direct object pronouns

Examples Marco telefona agli amici e mdashmdash invita alla festa li Guido nonsta bene devo chiamarmdashmdash lo

1 Compro il giornale e mdashmdash leggo2 Scrivo le cartoline e mdashmdash spedisco3 Laura fa i panini e poi mdashmdash mangia4 Compro i fiori e mdashmdash metto in un vaso5 Apriamo la finestra e poi mdashmdash chiudiamo6 Non riesco a fare questo esercizio mdashmdash aiuti7 Prendiamo i libri e mdashmdash portiamo a scuola8 Professor Bartoli mdashmdash posso aiutare9 I Signori Pieri partono mdashmdash accompagni in aeroporto

10 Hai molte amiche mdashmdash inviti tutte11 Se non usi la bici mdashmdash prendo io12 Ci sono molti errori mdashmdash dovete correggere13 Claudio telefona a Giulia e mdashmdash invita alla festa14 Partite mdashmdash porto in stazione15 Crsquoegrave un film alla televisione ma non mdashmdash guardiamo16 Alma parte volete salutarmdashmdash17 La sorella di Matteo egrave molto simpatica mdashmdash conosco bene18 Gli esercizi sono difficili ma mdashmdash so fare19 Se vuoi delle caramelle mdashmdash puoi prendere20 lsquoSai che Alessandro suona il sassofono in un grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash sorsquo

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquore inviting you [pl] to the party2 Irsquove got a lot of friends and I often see them3 Signora Fusi can I call you tomorrow4 Are you [sing] helping us next week5 I have to see you [sing]6 Olga and Anna are leaving tomorrow and I want to take them to the

station7 I canrsquot help you [pl]8 lsquoAre you [sing] bringing the guitarrsquo lsquoNo I havenrsquot got itrsquo9 Tullio buys these magazines and reads them

10 Can you [sing] take me to school tomorrow

56 Unit 7

UNIT EIGHTPrepositions

1 The most common Italian prepositions are the following

The meaning of tra and fra is the same

These prepositions often correspond to the English counterparts we givehere However as we shall see each of them also has a number of othermeanings corresponding to other English prepositions

2 The prepositions di a da in and su when used together with a nounpreceded by the definite article always combine with the article

The preposition con normally combines only with il and i as col and coi thisform is common in spoken Italian though con il and con i are often found inthe written language

diadainconsupertrafra

oftofrominwithonforamong between

diadainsu

ildelaldalnelsul

lodelloallodallonellosullo

lrsquodellrsquoallrsquodallrsquonellrsquosullrsquo

ladellaalladallanellasulla

ideiaidaineisui

glidegliaglidaglineglisugli

ledellealledallenellesulle

con con ilcol

con lo(collo)

con lrsquo(collrsquo)

con la(colla)

con icoi

con gli(cogli)

con le(colle)

Using prepositions

3 As in many other languages there is so much variation in how Italianprepositions are used that it is not feasible to give simple rules covering everypossibility To appreciate the problem you only have to look at a few of thepossible uses of the preposition di

Sometimes Italian even has a preposition where English does not here aresome typical examples

Since there is not a simple set of rules governing prepositions in Italian whatwe are going to do is show some typical uses of the common ones listedabove The more you hear and read Italian the more you will encounterdifferent uses of these and other prepositions the best way of mastering themis to learn them and practise them as you go along

4 Di is typically used to express

di + il ragazzoa + lo studenteda + lrsquoalbergoin + la scuolasu + i divanicon + i libricon + le chiaviper + gli insegnantifra + i calciatori

del ragazzoallo studentedallrsquoalbergonella scuolasui divanicoi libricon le chiaviper gli insegnantifra i calciatori

of the boyto the studentfrom the hotelin the schoolon the sofaswith the bookswith the keysfor the teachersamong the footballers

il presidente della repubblica the president of the republicIl libro egrave di Calvino The book is by CalvinoSono di Roma Irsquom from RomeDi pomeriggio fanno sempre la

siestaThey always have a nap in the

afternoon

lrsquoauto di AnnaVuoi della fruttaCi sono alcune migliaia di persone

nella piazzaHo una bella camicia di seta

Annarsquos carDo you want (someany) fruitThere are a few thousand people in

the squareIrsquove got a lovely silk shirt

possessionmaterialtimesubject

La moto di Luca egrave rossauna giacca di pelleDi sera non escouna lezione di storia

Lucarsquos motorbike is reda leather jacketI donrsquot go out in the evening(s)a history lesson

58 Unit 8

The most common uses of di are the ones which correspond to the Englishpossessive (rsquos) and the noun + noun structure

Di is frequently used in partitive constructions ie to express the Englishlsquosomersquo or lsquoanyrsquo in such sentences as lsquoIrsquod like some breadrsquo lsquoHave you anypastarsquo lsquoWersquove got (some) pasta and (some) olivesrsquo

Di is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likecredere (to believe) pensare (to think) dire (to say) sperare (to hope) finire(to finish) smettere (to stop)

5 A is typically used to express

il libro del professorela sorella di Monicail casco di Sebastianola politica del governouna buca delle lettereun racconto di fateil professore di scienzeun panino di formaggio

the teacherrsquos bookMonicarsquos sisterSebastianorsquos helmetthe governmentrsquos policygovernment policya letter boxa fairy talethe science teachera cheese roll

Devo comprare del panePrendo della pastaCrsquoegrave dellrsquoacqua in frigoEsco con degli amiciVuoi dei libri in italianoCi sono delle case sulla collina

Irsquove got to get (some) breadIrsquom getting (some) pastaTherersquos (some) water in the fridgeIrsquom going out with (some) friendsDo you want (some) books in ItalianThere are (some) houses on the hill

Finisco di leggere il giornale e poiesco

Paolo pensa di essere intelligenteAnna crede di riuscire a passare

lrsquoesameLa mamma dice di essere stancaDevo smettere di perdere tempo

I finish reading the paper and then Igo out

Paolo thinks he is intelligentAnna believes she can pass the exam

Mum says shersquos tiredI must stop wasting time

place

time

Abito a LondraVado al cinemaSono a casaLa casa si trova a 100 metri

dal mareParto alle 17Vado in Olanda a luglio

I live in LondonIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom at homeThe house is 100 metres from

the seaIrsquom leaving at 1700Irsquom going to Holland in July

Unit 8 59

A is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likeandare (to go) venire (to come) cominciare (to startbegin) continuare (tocontinue) riuscire (canto be ablemanage)

6 Da is typically used to express

Da is always used to mean lsquoatat the house ofrsquo a person or people

Da is also used followed by an infinitive after molto (a lot) poco (little) niente(nothing) qualcosa (something)

indirect object

quality

meansmanner

Diamo il libro a Silvia

Scrivete ai vostri genitori

Vuoi un gelato al limone

La giacca egrave fatta a manoImpari tutto a memoria

Stasera mangiamo patateal vapore

Wersquore giving the book toSilvia

Do you write to yourparents

Do you want a lemon ice-cream

The jacketrsquos made by handDo you learn everything by

heartWersquore having steamed

potatoes tonight [ietheyrsquore cooked with steam]

lsquoDove vairsquo lsquoVado a lavorarersquoVieni a studiare in bibliotecaComincio a capirePaolo continua a parlareNon riesco a sentire cosa dice

lsquoWhere are you goingrsquo lsquoIrsquom going to workrsquoAre you coming to work in the libraryIrsquom beginning to understandPaolo continueskeeps on talkingI canrsquot hear what hersquos saying

placetime

function

Parto da MilanoStudio italiano da un mese

aperto dalle 9 alle 10Sono scarpe da tennis

Irsquom leaving from MilanI have been studying Italian for a

monthopen (from) 9 to 10 (orsquoclock)Theyrsquore tennis shoes

Abiti da tua ziaLavoro da Anna staseraDevo andare dal dentista

Do you live at your auntrsquosIrsquom working at Annarsquos tonightI have to go to the dentist

Ho molto da fareHa poco da direNon crsquoegrave niente da bereVuoi qualcosa da mangiare

Irsquove got a lot to doHe has littleHersquos not got much to sayTherersquos nothing to drinkDo you want something to eat

60 Unit 8

7 In is typically used to express

NB in piedi means lsquostandingrsquo lsquoon footrsquo is a piedi

8 Con is typically used to express

9 Su is typically used to express

When the preposition su is used with a personal pronoun the pronoun is alsopreceded by di Conto su di lui (Irsquom counting on him)

10 Per is typically used to express

place

time

means

Vivo in campagnaAbbiamo una casa in Francianel 2006nel ventesimo secoloAndiamo in trenoin autoin bici

I live in the countryWe have a house in Francein 2006in the twentieth centuryWersquore going by traincaron

our bikes

company

means

manner

quality

Vado al cinema con LucaParlo con AnnaDevo scrivere con una

penna rossaPago con un assegno

Parla con accento stranieroParla con lentezzauna signora con i capelli

grigi

Irsquom going to the cinema with LucaIrsquom talking towith AnnaIrsquove got to write with a red pen

Irsquom paying with a chequebycheque

He speaks with a foreign accentHe speaks slowlya lady with grey hair

place

subject

I tuoi libri sono sulla scrivaniail ponte sullo stretto di Messina

un libro sul calcio

Your books are on the deskthe bridge over the Strait of

Messinaa book onabout football

placetime

meanscause

aim

price

Partiamo per la montagnaEsco per 10 minutiPer le 11 sono a casaMando il file per emailuna multa per eccesso di velocitagrave

Studio per passare lrsquoesame

per 15 euro

We are leaving for the mountainsIrsquom going out for 10 minutesIrsquoll be home byfor 11Irsquoll send the file by emaila fine for speedingspeeding

fineIrsquom studying (in order) to pass

the examfor 15 euros

Unit 8 61

11 Tra and fra are typically used to express

Prepositions of place

12 Here are some examples of the different prepositions used to denoteplace

Another preposition used to denote place is lungo (along) lungo il fiume(along the river)

13 A is normally used with names of town and villages and with cardinalpoints

14 In is normally used with names of regions and nations with geographicalareas and with shops

With mare (sea) the preposition a is used (al mare lsquoat the seasidersquo)

place

time

tra Milano e Torinofra compagni di classefra due ore

between Milan and Turinamong classmatesin two hourstwo hoursrsquo

time

Sono di FerraraLa domenica vado al cinemaSono a scuolaVengo da FerraraAbito da mia nonnaLuisa egrave in camera suaDevi camminare sul marciapiediil ponte sullrsquoArnoPartite per DublinoNovara egrave fra Torino e MilanoSiamo tra amici

I amcome from FerraraOn Sundays I go to the cinemaIrsquom at schoolIrsquom coming from FerraraI live at my grannyrsquosLuisa is in her roomYou have to walk on the pavementthe bridge over the ArnoAre you leaving for DublinNovara is between Turin and MilanWe are among friends

Vado a PisaAbito a LondraPasso le vacanze a CogneAndiamo a nordCogne egrave a sud di Aosta

Irsquom going to PisaI live in LondonI spend my holidays in CogneWe are going northCogne is south of Aosta

Vado in ToscanaAbito in InghilterraPasso le vacanze in montagnaCompro il pane in panetteria

Irsquom going to TuscanyI live in EnglandI spend my holidays in the mountainsI buy bread at the bakerythe bakerrsquos

62 Unit 8

Prepositions of time

15 Some examples of the different prepositions used to denote time

16 Di is used with the days of the week and parts of the day

In these cases di is always used without the definite article

17 A is used with names of festivities months and hours of the day

18 In is used with years centuries and seasons

Di domenica non lavoroDi sera guardo la tvDonatella arriva alle 7A Natale rimaniamo a casaLa scuola finisce a giugnonel 2000nel diciottesimo secoloIn autunno piove molto

I donrsquot work on SundaysIn the evenings I watch TVDonatella will arrive at sevenAt Christmas we stay at homeSchool ends in Junein 2000in the eighteenth centuryIn autumn it rains a lot

Di lunedigrave andiamo in piscinaDi mattina vado a scuola

On Mondays we go to the swimming poolIn the morning I go to school

A Pasqua Piera va in ItaliaIl museo riapre a marzoIl treno parte alle 12Di solito mangiano a

mezzogiorno

At Easter Piera is going to ItalyThe museum reopenswill reopen in MarchThe train is leaving at 12They normally eat at midday

Sono nato nel 1990Studio il turismo nel XIX secolo

Gli esami sono in primavera

I was born in 1990Irsquom studying tourism in the nineteenth

centuryThe exams arewill be in the spring

Unit 8 63

A or in

19 Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether to use a or in so we listbelow common expressions using these two prepositions

a casaa scuolaa lettoa lezione

(at) homeatto schoolinto bedin classto (onersquos) class

a tavolaa destraa sinistraa norda suda esta ovesta colazionea pranzoa cenaa mezzogiornoa mezzanottea 101112 [etc] annia metagraveallrsquoombraal soleal baral ristorantealla stazione

to the table [ie come and sit down]at table(onto the) rightleft(into the) northsoutheastwestatfor breakfastlunchdinner supper or teaat middaymidnightat teneleventwelve [etc] (years of age)in the middlemid-in the shadein the sunin the baratto the restaurantatinto the station

in pizzeriain discotecain cittagravein centroin chiesain mensain camerain bagnoin classein palestrain casermain prigionein ufficioin piscina

intoat athe pizzeriapizza parlourinto the discointo towninto the city centreinto churchinto the canteeninto the bedroominto the bathroominto the classroominto the gyminto the barracksinto prisoninto the officeatto the swimming bath

64 Unit 8

Compound prepositions

20 Italian also has a number of lsquocompound prepositionsrsquo eg accanto alsquonext tobesidersquo invece di lsquoinstead ofrsquo Some of these are always in the com-pound form others include di only when followed by a personal pronoun Wegive here a list of the most common ones

When these prepositions are used with a personal pronoun the pronoun ispreceded by the preposition di (see Unit 14)

Exercise 1

Combine the prepositions and the definite articles

Example (di) il figlio del figlio

davanti avicino afuori dadiprima dilontano dacontrodentrodietrodopo

in front ofoppositenearnextclose tooutsidebeforefar froma long way fromagainstinsidebehindafter

senzasoprasottoverso

withoutonaboveunderbelowtowards

La farmacia egrave davanti alsupermercato

Abito lontano dal centroLrsquoalbergo egrave vicino alla stazioneNon esco senza di voi

The pharmacy is opposite thesupermarket

I live a long way from the city centreThe hotel is close to the stationIrsquom not going out without you

di1 la mamma2 lo zio3 gli amici4 il parco5 lrsquoauto6 i paesi7 le stanze

a8 il mare9 lo stadio

10 la stazione11 i ragazzi12 gli uomini13 le donne14 lrsquoospedale

da15 la zia16 lo studente17 il dentista18 lrsquoaeroporto19 gli uffici20 le colleghe21 i ministri

in22 lrsquoalbergo23 lo stipendio24 la casa25 gli anni26 i cassetti27 le camere28 il frigo

su29 il tavolo30 la sedia31 lo scaffale32 le spalle33 i libri34 gli alberi35 lrsquoidea

Unit 8 65

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example Vengo mdashmdashmdash (la) stazione dalla

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example I tuoi libri sono mdashmdashmdash (il) tavolo sul

1 Carla abita mdashmdashmdash Budapest2 Parigi egrave mdashmdashmdash Francia3 Mangiate mdashmdashmdash (il) ristorante4 Torniamo mdashmdashmdash unrsquoora5 Hai molto mdashmdashmdash fare6 Devi scrivere mdashmdashmdash (la) nonna7 Esco mdashmdashmdash Massimo8 Filippo va mdashmdashmdash (il) dentista9 Quellrsquoauto egrave mdashmdashmdash (il) padre di

Silvia10 Scrivo una lettera mdashmdashmdash (i) miei

genitori11 Vado mdashmdashmdash Milano mdashmdashmdash treno

12 Vieni mdashmdashmdash (il) cinema mdashmdashmdashme

13 Le chiavi sono mdashmdashmdash (il)cassetto

14 La lezione finisce mdashmdashmdash (le) 1115 Studiamo italiano mdashmdashmdash due

mesi16 Il museo apre mdashmdashmdash (le) 90017 Compro le rose mdashmdashmdash la zia18 Posso parlare mdashmdashmdash Elisa19 Vuoi mdashmdashmdash (il) dolce20 Il mio compleanno egrave mdashmdashmdash

giugno

1 Domani rimango mdashmdashmdash casa2 Sabato andiamo mdashmdashmdash centro3 Vado mdashmdashmdash nuotare mdashmdashmdash

piscina4 Livia egrave mdashmdashmdash letto sta poco

bene5 Puoi comprare una bottiglia

mdashmdashmdash aceto6 Regalo i CD mdashmdashmdash (il) mio

ragazzo7 Napoli egrave mdashmdashmdash sud di Roma8 Domani cominciamo mdashmdashmdash

lavorare9 Parto mdashmdashmdash Roma alle 14 e

arrivo mdashmdashmdash Torino alle 2110 Ho fame crsquoegrave qualcosa mdashmdashmdash

mangiare

11 Imprestate la bici mdashmdashmdashMaurizio

12 Vai a scuola mdashmdashmdash autobus13 Bardonecchia egrave mdashmdashmdash

montagna14 Prendo un gelato mdashmdashmdash (la)

fragola15 Cosa fate mdashmdashmdash Natale16 Piero va mdashmdashmdash (il) supermercato17 Il padre mdashmdashmdash (la) mia amica egrave

avvocato18 mdashmdashmdash pizzeria crsquoegrave sempre molta

gente19 Paola dorme mdashmdashmdash (la) stanza

vicina alla mia20 Leggo un libro mdashmdashmdash

fantascienza

66 Unit 8

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 I finish working at six2 Antoniorsquos leaving for Genoa3 Gemma was born in 20014 Fabia never goes out in the evening5 Mr and Mrs Bancroft live in the country in an old villa6 The libraryrsquos behind the gym7 You [sing] canrsquot go out without me8 Do you [pl] live far from the school9 Isabellarsquos aunt lives in Greve in Tuscany

10 Shersquos got a leather skirt11 Angus is from Edinburgh in Scotland12 You have to turn right after the church( Madam)13 Wersquore eating at a pizzeria tonight14 These flowers are for your [sing] mother15 At Christmas wersquore going skiing in the mountains16 I live near the prison17 Margaretrsquos been living in Turin for five years18 The train for Aosta leaves from platform 719 Wersquore giving Luisa a CD of Russian music20 I always buy the bread at Bellirsquos

Unit 8 67

UNIT NINEQuestions

In this unit we will look at the most common ways of asking questions inItalian We have already seen (Units 4 and 5) that the order of the words inthe sentence does not change in the interrogative form now we need to lookat some Italian lsquoquestion wordsrsquo

1 Chi

Chi means lsquowhowhomrsquo or sometimes lsquowhich ofrsquo and is only used to refer topeople Chi is invariable ndash that is the same form is used for masculine andfeminine singular and plural

When an adjective refers to chi it must be in the masculine singular formunless it refers to an all-female group

Chi egrave quellrsquouomoChi egrave quella ragazzaChi sono i tuoi amiciChi sono quelle ragazzeChi vuole venire al cinema

con meChi viene a cenaCon chi esciA chi scriveteChi ha una pennaChi non va in gita domaniChi non invitiChi di loro parla italiano

Who is that manWho is that girlWho are your friendsWho are those girlsWho wants to come to the cinema with me

Whorsquos coming for dinnerWho(m) are you going out withWho(m) are you writing toWhorsquos got a pen [ie has anyone got a pen]Whorsquos not going on the trip tomorrowWho(m) arenrsquot you invitingWhich of them speaks Italian

Chi egrave prontoChi egrave soddisfattoChi non egrave stancoChi di voi (ragazze) egrave prontaChi di voi (Signori) egrave italiano

Who is readyWho is satisfiedWho isnrsquot tiredWhich of you (girls) is readyWhich of you (gentlemen) is Italian

2 Che cosa Cosa Che

All three mean lsquowhatrsquo and are used when referring to objects Che cosaCosa and Che are invariable in gender and number

Che is also used as an adjective meaning lsquowhat (sorttype of)rsquo

3 Come

Come means lsquohowrsquo

Come can sometimes mean lsquowhatrsquo as in Come dici (What did you say)Comrsquoegrave Edimburgoil nuovo professore (Whatrsquos Edinburghthe new teacherlike)

4 Dove

Dove means lsquowherersquo

Cosrsquoegrave quelloChe cosrsquoegrave quella luceCosa sono quei segniChe sono quelle costruzioniChe succedeChe cosa voleteCosa studiCosa posso fare per LeiA che pensate

Whatrsquos thatWhatrsquos that lightWhat are those marksWhat are those buildingsWhatrsquos happeningWhat do you wantWhat are you studyingdo you studyWhat can I do for youWhat are you thinking about

Che lavoro faiChe musica ascolti di solitoChe film vai a vedereChe auto compra tuo padre

Whatrsquos your job [lit what work do you do]What (sort of) music do you usually listen toWhat film are you going to seeWhat (make of) car is your father going to

buy

Come sta SignoraCome vaCome fate la pizza

How are you MadamHowrsquos it goingHow do you make (a) pizza

Dove abitiDove andateDove sono le chiaviDovrsquoegrave il mio libro

Where do you liveWhere are you goingWhere are the keysWhere is my book

Unit 9 69

5 Quando

Quando means lsquowhenrsquo

6 Percheacute

Percheacute means lsquowhyrsquo

Come mai has a similar meaning corresponding to the English lsquohow comersquo

7 Quanto

Quanto means lsquohow muchrsquo when referring to quantity and lsquohow longrsquo lsquohowfarrsquo lsquohow tallrsquo etc when it refers to time distance height etc

Quanto can also be used as an adjective or pronoun In such cases it agrees ingender and number with the noun it refers to quanto [ms] quanta [fs] (howmuch) quanti [mp] quante [fp] (how many)

Quando partono i tuoi amiciQuando comincia il filmQuando arriva il trenoQuando egrave lo sciopero dei treni

When are your friends leavingWhen does the film startWhen does the train arriveWhenrsquos the railtrain strike

Percheacute ridonoPercheacute Giulia non va a scuolaPercheacute non studi

Why are they laughingWhy isnrsquot Giulia going to schoolWhy donrsquot you study

Come mai non mangiCome mai siete in ritardo

How come yoursquore not eatingHow come you are late

Quanto pesaQuanto costa questa magliettaQuanto dura il filmQuanto egrave alta tua sorellaQuantrsquoegrave

How muchWhat does it weighHow muchWhat does this T-shirt costHow long does the film lastHow tall is your sisterHow much is it

Quanto pane devo comprareQuanta pasta vuoiQuanti esercizi dobbiamo fareQuante ragazze ci sono in classe

tuaQuanto tempo abbiamo

lsquoCi sono molte personersquo lsquoQuantersquolsquoDobbiamo comprare del panersquo

lsquoQuantorsquo

How much bread do I have to buyHow much pasta do you wantHow many exercises have we got to doHow many girls are there in your class

How much time is thereHow longhave we got

lsquoThere are a lot of peoplersquo lsquoHow manyrsquolsquoWe must get (some) breadrsquo lsquoHow

muchrsquo

70 Unit 9

8 Quale

Quale means lsquowhichrsquo (or sometimes lsquowhatrsquo) It is used either as an adjective oras a pronoun and therefore agrees with the noun it refers to quale lsquowhich(one)rsquo quali lsquowhich (ones)rsquo The use of quale rather than che usually impliesthat there is a choice as for example if there are some books lying on thetable Quale libro leggi lsquoWhich book are you readingrsquo

Qual (without an apostrophe) is used before the forms of essere startingwith a vowel used in this way it sometimes means lsquowhatrsquo rather than lsquowhichrsquo

9 As is seen in some of the examples in paragraphs 2 3 4 and 7 cosa checosa come dove and quanto can also be shortened before the forms of esserestarting with a vowel becoming cosrsquo che cosrsquo comrsquo dovrsquo and quantrsquo (all withan apostrophe)

Quale canzone preferisciQuali esercizi facciamoQuali sono i tuoi librilsquoCompro due giornalirsquo lsquoQualirsquoQual egrave la canzone piugrave famosaQual egrave il Suo indirizzonumero di

telefono

Which song do you preferWhich exercises are we doingWhich are your bookslsquoIrsquom buying two papersrsquo lsquoWhich onesrsquoWhichWhat is the best-known songWhatrsquos your addressphone number

Cosrsquoera quel rumoreChe cosrsquoegrave successoComrsquoera lo spettacoloDovrsquoegrave la stazioneQuantrsquoegrave costato

What was that noiseWhat happenedHow was the showWhere is the stationHow much did it cost

Unit 9 71

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with chi or checosache cosa as appropriate

Examples mdashmdashmdash mi cerca chi mdashmdashmdash fate checosache cosa

Exercise 2

Complete the questions with an appropriate word (che come dove quandopercheacute or qualequaliqual)

Examples lsquomdashmdashmdash non esci staserarsquo lsquoDevo studiarersquo percheacute lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave latua bicirsquo lsquoQuellarsquo qual

1 mdashmdashmdash sono quei signori2 mdashmdashmdash di loro egrave tuo cugino3 Con mdashmdashmdash uscite stasera4 mdashmdashmdash posso fare per te5 mdashmdashmdash studiate6 mdashmdashmdash viene con me7 mdashmdashmdash accompagna Luca8 mdashmdashmdash vuoi bere9 Di mdashmdashmdash egrave questo libro

10 mdashmdashmdash succede

11 Per mdashmdashmdash lavori12 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Caffegrave o te13 A mdashmdashmdash telefoni14 mdashmdashmdash viene alla festa15 mdashmdashmdash dici16 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Gianni o Piero17 mdashmdashmdash leggi18 Da mdashmdashmdash vai a cena19 mdashmdashmdash vuoi fare stasera20 mdashmdashmdash apre la porta

1 lsquomdashmdashmdash abitatersquo lsquoA Milanorsquo2 lsquomdashmdashmdash parte lrsquoautobusrsquo lsquoAlle

800rsquo3 lsquomdashmdashmdash non studirsquo lsquoNon sto

benersquo4 lsquomdashmdashmdash sta Professorersquo lsquoBene

graziersquo5 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo compleannorsquo lsquoIl

20 aprilersquo6 lsquomdashmdashmdash lavoro fa tuo padrersquo lsquoIl

medicorsquo7 lsquomdashmdashmdash strada devo prenderersquo

lsquoQuella a destrarsquo8 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave la mensarsquo lsquoDietro la

palestrarsquo9 lsquomdashmdashmdash sei in ritardorsquo lsquoCrsquoegrave

sciopero degli autobusrsquo10 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo indirizzorsquo lsquoVia

Garibaldi 22rsquo

11 lsquomdashmdashmdash genere di musicaascoltatersquo lsquoRockrsquo

12 lsquomdashmdashmdash materia preferiscirsquolsquoScienzersquo

13 lsquomdashmdashmdash ti vesti per la festarsquo lsquoConla gonna lungarsquo

14 lsquomdashmdashmdash metto la bicirsquo lsquoIn garagersquo15 lsquomdashmdashmdash non venite con noirsquo

lsquoAbbiamo sonnorsquo16 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave il parcheggiorsquo lsquoDavanti

al cinemarsquo17 lsquomdashmdashmdash comincia la scuolarsquo lsquoA

settembrersquo18 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave la capitale dellrsquoItaliarsquo

lsquoRomarsquo19 lsquomdashmdashmdash non vai in vacanzarsquo lsquoNon

ho soldirsquo20 lsquomdashmdashmdash libri leggirsquo lsquoRomanzi di

avventurersquo

72 Unit 9

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct form of quanto

Examples mdashmdashmdashmdash anni hai quanti mdashmdashmdashmdash costa questa magliettaquanto

Exercise 4

1 How many rolls do you [pl] want2 Where are you [pl] going for lunch3 Who are those people4 What are you [sing] doing on Sunday5 When are you [pl] going on holiday6 Why isnrsquot Luisa leaving7 Which is your [sing] bike8 What film are you [sing] watching9 Which of them is Italian

10 When does the train arrive

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash persone vengono2 Fra mdashmdashmdashmdash tempo partite3 mdashmdashmdashmdash fratelli ha Luisa4 mdashmdashmdashmdash esercizi fate5 mdashmdashmdashmdash stanze ha la tua casa6 mdashmdashmdashmdash gente inviti7 mdashmdashmdashmdash sei alto8 mdashmdashmdashmdash pagine dobbiamo

studiare9 mdashmdashmdashmdash mesi rimanete in Italia

10 mdashmdashmdashmdash guadagni

11 mdashmdashmdashmdash frutta devo comprare12 mdashmdashmdashmdash costano quei jeans13 mdashmdashmdashmdash autobus devi prendere14 mdashmdashmdashmdash dura il concerto15 Da mdashmdashmdashmdash studiate italiano16 mdashmdashmdashmdash cartoline spedisci17 mdashmdashmdashmdash spendi al mese18 mdashmdashmdashmdash amiche hai19 mdashmdashmdashmdash libri devi leggere20 mdashmdashmdashmdash egrave lontana la discoteca

Unit 9 73

UNIT TENIndirect object pronouns (1)

1 We saw in Unit 7 that a direct object is the person or thing that the verbdirectly impacts on An indirect object is the person or thing that theaction is happening to or for Scrivo a Carla domani (Irsquoll write to Carlatomorrow) Mando cartoline a tutti i miei amici (I send cards to all myfriends) In English the indirect object can usually be preceded by lsquotorsquo orlsquoforrsquo but these are very often omitted compare lsquoI gave the book to Karenrsquoand lsquoI gave Karen the bookrsquo or lsquoIrsquoll pour a glass for Janersquo and lsquoIrsquoll pourJane a glassrsquo

An indirect object pronoun replaces a noun used as an indirect object lsquoIgave the book to herI gave her the bookrsquo lsquoIrsquoll pour her a glassIrsquoll pour a glassfor herrsquo

In Italian an indirect object pronoun replaces a noun preceded by thepreposition a it has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers toIndirect object pronouns normally come before the verb In the followingexamples the pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the indirect object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Maria le racconto tutto[le stands for a Maria (fs)]

Non telefono a Carlo gli scrivo[gli stands for a Carlo (ms)]

Paolo non ci dice mai la veritagrave[ci stands for a noi]

When I see Maria Irsquoll tell hereverything

Irsquom not going to phone Carlo Irsquollwrite to him

Paolo never tells us the truth

mitigli [m]le [f]civigli [m and f]

to meto youto himitherto usto youto them

The third person plural pronoun gli is used for both masculine and feminineFor the third person plural loro can be used instead of gli but it alwaysfollows the verb the meaning is the same but the use of loro is far lessfrequent and is more formal

Negative form

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 When an indirect object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usu-ally after verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Mi mandi una cartolina da Roma

Vi scrivo appena arrivoEgrave il compleanno di Anna le regalo

un CDSe Dario non ha lrsquoauto gli dograve un

passaggioTi impresto i soldilsquoScrivi agli ziirsquo lsquoNo gli telefono

domaniNo telefono loro domanirsquo

Gli dico la veritagraveDico loro la veritagrave

Will you send me a postcard fromRome

Irsquoll write to you as soon as I arriveItrsquos Annarsquos birthday Irsquom giving her a

CDIf Dario hasnrsquot got his car Irsquoll give

him a liftIrsquoll lend you the moneylsquoAre you going to write to your

unclesrsquo lsquoNo Irsquoll phone themtomorrowrsquo

Irsquom going to tell them the truth

Non ti impresto i soldiNon le scrivo le telefonoNon gli rispondo

I wonrsquot lend you the moneyIrsquom not going to write (to her) Irsquoll phone herIrsquom not going to reply toanswer him

Le voglio parlareGli devo scrivereMi potete telefonareMi sai dire quando

orororor

Voglio parlarleDevo scrivergliPotete telefonarmiSai dirmi quando

I want to talk to herI must write to himthemCan you phone meCan you tell me when

Unit 10 75

Formal form

5 The indirect object pronouns used for the formal form are Le for thesingular (for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronoun Loro ndashafter the verb ndash can also be used but this is very formal)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct indirectobject pronoun

Example Scrivete a Luigi Gli scrivete

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Gli scrivo Non gli scrivo

Le rispondo subito Signor ColliLe dograve un passaggio Signora BanfiSignori Bianco Vi telefono domani (Signori Bianco telefono Loro

domani)

Irsquoll answer you immediately Mr ColliIrsquoll give you a lift Mrs Banfi

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) Irsquoll phone youtomorrow

1 Telefoniamo a Carla2 Spedisco le cartoline ai miei amici3 Silvia racconta una storia al

bambino4 Regalo un libro alla zia5 Anna scrive alle amiche

6 Porto i fiori alla nonna7 Scriviamo ai nostri compagni8 Olga e Silvia parlano a Giulia9 La nonna legge un libro ai nipoti

10 Cosa regalate a Marco

1 Le parlo di lavoro2 Mi telefoni3 Vi regalo dei libri4 Gli offrite qualcosa5 Gli amici le offrono un gelato

6 Ci scrivete7 Ti mando una cartolina8 Vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo mi dice la veritagrave

10 Gli spedisco il pacco

76 Unit 10

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate indirect object pronouns

Examples Mauro ha molti amici e mdashmdash telefona spesso gli Livia vuoleparlare con te devi telefonarmdashmdash le

1 lsquoTelefonate a Luisarsquo lsquoNo mdashmdash scriviamo una letterarsquo2 Se mi chiedi qualcosa mdashmdash rispondo3 lsquoCosa regali a tuo padrersquo lsquomdashmdash regalo una cravattarsquo4 Se vedi le mie amiche puoi dirmdashmdash che le aspetto per domani5 Signora posso offrirmdashmdash un caffegrave6 lsquoCi portate un regalo dallrsquoItaliarsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash portiamo un panettonersquo7 lsquoCosa vuoi dirmdashmdashrsquo lsquoVi voglio dire la veritagraversquo8 Gianni mdashmdash presento mia sorella9 lsquoQuando telefoni ai nonnirsquo lsquomdashmdash telefono domani serarsquo

10 Professore mdashmdash devo parlare11 Non so fare questo esercizio mdashmdash dai una mano12 Domani egrave il compleanno di Anna devo farmdashmdash gli auguri13 Paolo dice sempre bugie non mdashmdash dovete credere14 Telefono a Michele e mdashmdash chiedo un prestito15 Se non avete lrsquoauto mdashmdash dograve un passaggio16 Se Carla e Pietro hanno bisogno di soldi mdashmdash posso fare un prestito17 lsquoQuanto ti danno allrsquoorarsquo lsquomdashmdash danno 15 eurorsquo18 Appena vedo Silvia mdashmdash rendo i libri19 Se vuoi mdashmdash impresto la mia bici20 Ettore egrave un buon amico e mdashmdash racconto sempre tutto

1 Le possiamo scrivere2 Ti devo parlare3 Gli voglio regalare una chitarra4 Ci puoi telefonare5 Vi devono offrire qualcosa

6 Mi potete dire tutto7 Le posso parlare Signora8 Non gli dovete scrivere9 Non ti posso rispondere

10 Le voglio credere

Unit 10 77

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Can you [sing] tell Lucia that I want to speak to her2 As soon as I arrive in Rome Irsquoll phone you [pl]3 I have to ask you a favour Madam4 Are you [sing] giving them your phone number5 They always tell us interesting things6 They always send me a card when they go to Italy7 For her birthday Irsquom giving her flowers8 Irsquove got to give you [sing] Lucarsquos books9 If you [pl] want Irsquoll tell you a story

10 Massimo writes to me every week

78 Unit 10

UNIT ELEVENPiacere and similar verbs

1 Piacere corresponds to lsquoto likersquo but it is used in a different way from itsEnglish counterpart In Italian the subject of the verbsentence is the thingor person one likes the person who likes something is denoted by an indirectobject pronoun (see Unit 10)

2 Piacere is an irregular verb mostly used in the third person singular(piace) and plural (piacciono) As can be seen in the examples piace is usedif the thing that one likes is a singular noun or pronoun or the infinitiveof a verb piacciono is used if the things that one likes are a plural noun orpronoun

Singular noun or pronoun

Verb

Mi piace lo sportTi piace ballare

Mi piacciono i gatti

I like sport [lit sport is pleasing to me]Do you like dancing [lit is dancing pleasing to

you]I like cats [lit cats are pleasing to me]

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

la mia cittagravequestoquestail calciola musica rockil tennisquelloquella

I like my home townYou like this (one)Heshe likes footballWe like rock musicYou like tennisThey like that one

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

leggereandare in bicisciareguardare la tvdormireballare

I like to readreadingYou like to cyclecyclingHeshe likes to skiskiingWe like to watchwatching TVYou like to sleepsleepingThey like to dancedancing

Plural noun or pronoun

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 As usual for the polite form in the singular the feminine pronoun (Le) isused for both men and women for the plural Vi is normally used

Loro is a much more formal way of addressing people in the plural it isalways placed after the verb

5 When the person who likes something is denoted not by a pronoun but bya noun the noun must be preceded by the preposition a

6 To mark a contrast the stressed forms of the pronouns (a me a te aluia lei a noi a voi a loro ndash see Unit 14) are used instead of the unstressedforms

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiacciono

questiquestele ciliegiei romanziquelliquellegli scherzile auto veloci

I like theseYou like cherriesHeshe likes novelsWe like thoseYou like practical jokesThey like fast cars

Non mi piace la pizzaNon ti piace questoquestaNon le piace sciareNon ci piacciono i videogiochi

I donrsquot like pizzaDonrsquot you like this (one)She doesnrsquot like skiingWe donrsquot like video games

Le piacciono i funghi SignoraVanni

Le piace leggere Signor VanniNon Le piace quelloquellaNon Le piace sciareSignori Conti Vi piace lrsquoItaliaSignori Conti piace Loro lrsquoItalia

Do you like mushrooms Mrs Vanni

Do you like reading Mr VanniDonrsquot you like that oneDonrsquot you like skiingDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs ContiDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs Conti

A Claudia non piace andare a scuolaAllo zio Davide piace la musica

classicaA Piera non piacciono questiquesteAi miei nonni piace dormireA Franco e Luisa piace viaggiare

Claudia doesnrsquot like going to schoolUncle Davide likes classical music

Piera doesnrsquot like theseMy grandparents like sleepingFranco and Luisa like travelling

80 Unit 11

7 There are other verbs which are used in the same way as piacere mancare(to miss) [lit lsquoto be lackingmissingrsquo] servire (to need) [lit lsquoto be usefulrsquo] bastare(to be enoughsufficient) and sembrare and parere (to seem)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct pronoun

Example A Sara non piace il caffegrave Non le piace il caffegrave

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Mi piace la pioggia Non mi piace la pioggia

A me piace il caffegrave a te piace il teA lui piacciono i gatti a lei noA noi piace il calcio a voi il tennisA loro piace nuotare a noi piace sciareA me piace questoquesta a Lei quello

quella

I like coffee you like teaHe likes cats she doesnrsquotWe like football you like tennisThey like swimming we like skiingI like this one you like that one

Mi manca il mio ragazzo

Non vi mancano i vostri genitori

Ti serve una pennaA Livia servono i tuoi consigliQuestiqueste non ci bastanoA me bastano 10 euro e a te

Il comportamento di Carlo misembrami pare strano

Non mi sembrami pare giusto

I miss my boyfriend [lit my boyfriendis lacking to me]

Donrsquot you miss your parents [lit arenrsquotyour parents lacking to you]

Do you need a penLivia needs your adviceThese arenrsquot enough for us10 euros are sufficient for me ndash are they

for youhow about youCarlorsquos behaviour seems strange to me

It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot thinkitrsquos fair

1 A Federica non piacciono i carciofi2 A Giampiero non piace guidare3 A Massimo piace viaggiare4 A Tullio e Anna piace il mare5 Ai miei amici piace ballare

6 A me e a Marco non piace il pesce7 A te e a Marina piace nuotare8 A Mara piacciono i film francesi9 Alla mamma non piace stirare

10 Allo zio piace andare in moto

Unit 11 81

Exercise 3

Write sentences expressing your taste

Example cavalli (Non) mi piacciono i cavalli

1 la frutta 2 il calcio 3 le fragole 4 giocare a tennis 5 uscire con gli amici6 i gatti 7 la pizza 8 i dolci 9 ballare 10 le vacanze

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative or negativesentences using the verb piacere

Example Maria le patate A Maria (non) piacciono le patate

Exercise 5

Supply the correct form of the verbs in brackets

Example Quei libri mi (sembrare) interessanti sembrano

1 Ci (bastare) questo pane2 Vi (sembrare) bello quel film3 Ci (piacere) le auto sportive4 A Sebastiano (mancare) la mamma5 lsquoVoglio comprare una motorsquo lsquoTi (servire) dei soldirsquo6 A Livio (mancare) i soldi per le vacanze

1 Le piace andare in centro il sabato2 Ti piace la musica classica3 Gli piacciono i funghi4 Vi piace guardare la televisione5 Mi piacciono i film di fantascienza

6 Gli piace la scuola7 Ci piacciono le canzoni italiane8 Le piacciono gli spaghetti9 Mi piace sciare

10 Vi piace la cioccolata al latte

1 Luigi2 il professore3 mia sorella4 i miei cugini5 il primo ministro

il caffegrave senza zuccherole poesie di Leopardiandare al cinemai film di Fellinila politica

82 Unit 11

7 Quello che dici mi (sembrare) interessante8 Mi (servire) delle scarpe nuove9 Quale di quei due libri ti (parere) migliore

10 Non ti (bastare) 20 euro

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian using the verbs piacere sembrare servire mancare orbastare

1 An hour isnrsquot enough for me2 Giovanni needs a pen3 Lynnersquos missing her Italian friends4 Do you [sing] like chocolate5 She doesnrsquot like going to the cinema6 Do you [pl] need a lift7 They need a pen and a notebook8 Do you find the show boring Madam9 Do you [sing] need help

10 I like reading

Unit 11 83

UNIT TWELVEThe present perfect tense

Use of the present perfect

1 The present perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) is one of the two most used pasttenses of the indicative in Italian (the other is the imperfect (lsquoimperfettorsquo) )The present perfect is often used like the English present perfect (eg lsquoI haveseen itrsquo lsquoShe has gone homersquo) to state that an action has happened in the pastbut that its effects are still lasting in the present However in Northern Italyand in the language of the media it is also equivalent to the English simplepast (eg lsquoI saw itrsquo lsquoShe went homersquo) referring to actions which happened in amore distant past and have no immediate consequences in the presentIndeed it more often corresponds to the English simple past than to theEnglish present perfect In other words in Italian the difference betweenpresent perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) and simple past (lsquopassato remotorsquo) is notalways marked and it is always possible to use the former

2 The present perfect is a compound tense and is formed as in English withthe present tense of the auxiliary verb followed by the past participle of theverb

Napoleone egrave morto il 5 maggio 1821Lrsquoestate scorsa siamo andati in

vacanza sul lago di GardaNina egrave nata in RussiaLrsquoanno scorso mi hanno regalato

una mountain bike

Napoleon died on 5 May 1821Last summer we went to Lake Garda

for oura holidayNina was born in RussiaLast year they gave me a mountain

bike

Ho visto un bel filmHa telefonato MarcoSono rimasto a casaAnna egrave uscitaSono andati in piscina

I sawhave seen a lovely filmMarco phonedhas phonedI stayedhave stayed at homeAnna went outhas gone outDid they goHave they gone to the swimming

pool

As the examples confirm the lsquopassato prossimorsquo may correspond to either thesimple past or the present perfect in English But there are also other differ-ences between the Italian and English structures there is only one auxiliaryverb in English (lsquoto haversquo) but in Italian there is a choice of two avere andessere when essere is used the past participle has to agree in gender andnumber with the subject finally whether to use avere or essere is not usually afree choice We will look at all these differences in detail but first we need tolook at the forms of the Italian past participle

Forms of the past participle

3 The regular forms of the past participle are obtained by changing theending of the infinitive as follows

Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) keep the lsquosoftrsquo sound of c (or sc) andtherefore add an i before the -uto ending (-iuto)

The past participle of verbs in -urre ends in -otto

Infinitive in -are-ato

Infinitive in -ere-uto

Infinitive in -ire-ito

Infinitiveparlaremangiarecaderevolerepiacereconoscerepartirecapire

Past participleparlatomangiatocadutovolutopiaciutoconosciutopartitocapito

(to speak) spoken(to eat) eaten(to fall) fallen(to want) wanted(to like) liked(to knowmeet for the first time) knownmet(to leave) left(to understand) understood

Infinitivecondurretradurreprodurre

Past participlecondottotradottoprodotto

(to leaddrivemanage) leddrivenmanaged(to translate) translated(to produce) produced

Unit 12 85

4 In Italian as in most languages many verbs have an irregular past parti-ciple which is best learned by heart and with use Here is a list of the mostfrequently used

Stato is also the past participle of stare The regular forms perduto and veduto are rarely used

The present perfect

5 The present perfect in Italian is formed with the present indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

Infinitiveaccendereaprireberechiederechiuderedecideredireesserefareleggeremettereperdereprendererendererimanererispondereromperescenderescriverespegnerespenderesuccederetoglierevederevenirevincerevivere

Past participleaccesoapertobevutochiestochiusodecisodettostatofattolettomessopersoperdutopresoresorimastorispostorottoscesoscrittospentospesosuccessotoltovistovedutovenutovintovissuto

(to turn onswitch on) turned onswitched on(to open) opened(to drink) drunk(to ask) asked(to close) closed(to decide) decided(to saytell) saidtold(to be) been(to domake) donemade(to read) read(to putput on) putput on(to lose) lost(to take) taken(to returngive back) returnedgiven back(to remainstay) remainedstayed(to answer) answered(to break) broken(to go downdescend) gone downdescended(to write) written(to turn offswitch off) turned offswitched off(to spend) spent(to happen) happened(to take awayoff) taken awayoff(to see) seen(to come) come(to win) won(to live) lived

86 Unit 12

6 As can be seen when the present perfect is formed with avere the pastparticiple does not change but when the present perfect is formed with esserethe past participle behaves like an adjective agreeing in gender and numberwith the subject of the verb Here are some examples

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Present of avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I wrotehave writtenyou wrotehave writtenhesheit wrotehas writtenwe wrotehave written

(voi) avete(loro) hanno

scrittoscritto

you wrotehave writtenthey wrotehave written

Present of essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I wenthave goneyou wenthave gonehesheit wenthas gonewe wenthave goneyou wenthave gonethey wenthave gone

AvereLivia ha guardato la televisioneHai comprato il pane

Ha prenotato Signor Ferro

EssereMonica egrave uscita [fs]Pietro egrave stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia sono rimaste a

casa [fp]Giulia e Sebastiano sono partiti

[mp]Sono andata al cinema [fs]

Siamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando egravearrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando egravearrivata [fs]

Livia (has) watched TVDid you buyHave you bought the

breadDid you bookHave you booked Mr

Ferro

Monica went outMonicarsquos gone outPietrorsquos been illFabia and Silvia (have) stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano (have) left

I wentIrsquove been to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We (have) arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When did you arrive Mr Poli

When did you arrive Mrs Poli

Unit 12 87

Present perfect of avere and essere

7 Avere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary essere

8 Like the present the present perfect of essere can be used with the pronounci (see Unit 4) crsquoegrave statostata (there washas been) ci sono statistate (therewerehave been)

Essere or avere

9 Deciding whether to use essere or avere can be a bit of a problem The onlyfirm rules are those governing transitive verbs (ie verbs which can have adirect object) and reflexive verbs (see Unit 20) Transitive verbs always useavere reflexive verbs always use essere

As for intransitive verbs some use avere and others essere In general it canbe said that verbs of movement (such as andare (to go) venire (to come)partire (to leave) uscire (to go out) entrare (to go income in)) or non-movement (such as rimanere (to remain) restare (to stayremain)) and verbsof state (such as essere diventare (to become) cambiare (to change) crescere(to grow)) use the auxiliary essere However this is not a hard and fast rulethere are intransitive verbs which take avere

ho avutohai avutoha avutoabbiamo avutoavete avutohanno avuto

I hadhave hadyou hadhave hadhesheit hadhas hadwe hadhave hadyou hadhave hadthey hadhave had

sono statostatasei statostataegrave statostatasiamo statistatesiete statistatesono statistate

I washave beenyou werehave beenhesheit washas beenwe werehave beenyou werehave beenthey werehave been

La settimana scorsa abbiamo avuto ospitiTanya ha avuto la varicellaNina egrave stata malataDes egrave stato mio studente

Last week we had guestsTanya has had chickenpoxNina has been illDes was a student of mine

Crsquoegrave stata unrsquoalluvioneCi sono stati troppo incidenti

There washas been a floodThere werehave been too many accidents

88 Unit 12

To help in choosing the right auxiliary here is a list of common verbs whichform the present perfect with essere

These verbs are normally only used in the third person singular and plural

Ho conosciuto i genitori di Gianni[transitive]

Avete spedito le vostre cartoline[transitive]

Quanto hai speso [transitive]Ieri sera siamo andati a un concerto

rock [intransitive]Domenica scorsa siamo rimasti a

casa [intransitive]Il tempo egrave cambiato [intransitive]Ho dormito bene [intransitive]

I (have) met Giannirsquos parents

Did you sendHave you sent yourpostcards

How much did you spendLast night we went to a rock concert

Last Sunday we stayed at home

The weatherrsquos changedI slept well

Infinitiveandarearrivarebastare

costare

crescerediventareentrareesseremorire

nascerepartirepiacere

restarerimanere(ri)tornareriuscire

sembrarestaresuccedere

uscirevenire

Present perfectsono andato-asono arrivato-aegrave bastato-asono bastati-eegrave costato-asono costati-esono cresciuto-asono diventato-asono entrato-asono stato-aegrave morto-asono morti-esono nato-asono partito-aegrave piaciuto-asono piaciuti-esono restato-asono rimasto-asono (ri)tornato-asono riuscito-a

sono sembrato-asono stato-aegrave successo-asono successi-esono uscito-asono venuto-a

I wenthave goneI arrivedhave arrivedit washas been enoughthey werehave been enoughit costhas costthey costhave costI grewhave grownI becamehave becomeI wenthave gone inI enteredhave enteredI washave beenhesheit diedhas died

I was bornI lefthave leftit pleasedhas pleasedthey pleasedhave pleasedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI came backhave come backI succeededmanagedI have succeeded

managedI seemedhave seemedI stoodstayedI have stoodstayedit happenedhas happenedthey happenedhave happenedI went outhave gone outI camehave come

Unit 12 89

Note that succedere is an impersonal verb something or things can happenbut succedere cannot be used like the English lsquoI happened to be in Romersquo etc

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the auxiliary

11 The adverbs ancora (again) mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) and giagrave (already)are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (eg Ho giagrave risposto(Irsquove already replied)) When they are used in the negative ndash non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) (see also Unit 6 paragraph 2) ndash non is placed before theauxiliary

I soldi sono bastatiQuanto egrave costata quella biciLa bici egrave costata piugrave di 900 euroMolti civili sono mortiLe egrave piaciuto il film SignoraDa allora sono succese molte

cose

The money was enoughHow much did that bicycle costThe bike cost over 900 eurosMany civilians diedhave diedDid you like the film( Madam)Since then many things have happened

After that many things happened

Ieri non sono andato a scuolaLisa non egrave riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon hai telefonato a Fabia

I didnrsquot go to school yesterdayLisa didnrsquot managehasnrsquot managed to

finish that jobDidnrsquot you phoneHavenrsquot you phoned

Fabia

Sei ancora andato in biblioteca

Siete mai stati su un ghiacciaioHai piugrave visto i tuoi amiciNon abbiamo ancora preso il

bigliettoPaola non egrave mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non ha piugrave telefonato

Did you goHave you been to the libraryagain

Have you ever been on a glacierHave you (ever) seen your friends againWe havenrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola has never been to VeniceCarlo didnrsquot phonehasnrsquot (ever) phoned

again

90 Unit 12

Dovere potere volere

12 The present perfect of dovere potere and volere is normally formed withthe auxiliary avere but when they are followed by a verb which forms thepresent perfect with essere they may take essere as well if essere is used thepast participle of the verb agrees with the subject

Remember that it is never wrong to use avere

Exercise 1

Supply the correct endings for the past participles ensuring that they agreewith the subject

Example Le mie amiche sono uscitmdash uscite

1 Francesca e Filippo sono restatmdash a casa2 Giulia e Susanna non sono uscitmdash ieri sera3 Nicoletta egrave andatmdash in vacanza4 I miei amici sono arrivatmdash domenica scorsa5 Quando Fabia egrave entratmdash ha visto gli amici6 Pierluigi non egrave riuscitmdash a finire il lavoro7 Professor Rossi quando egrave arrivatmdash8 Ti egrave piaciutmdash la partita9 Quanto sono costatmdash quei libri

10 Quando egrave natmdash tua sorella

I nostri amici hanno dovuto partire I nostri amici sono dovuti partireCecilia non ha potuto andare in Irlanda Cecilia non egrave potuta andare in IrlandaPercheacute non avete voluto uscire Percheacute non siete voluti uscire

Our friends had to leave

Cecilia couldnrsquot go to Ireland

Why didnrsquot you want to go out

Ho dovuto lavorareMaria ha dovuto rimanere a casaElena non ha potuto telefonare

Elena e Sergio non hanno potutoentrare

I (have) had to workMaria (has) had to stay at homeElena couldnrsquothasnrsquot been able to

phoneElena and Sergio couldnrsquothavenrsquot

been able to get in

Unit 12 91

Exercise 2

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Anna (partire) ieri egrave partita

Exercise 3

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Il dottore (uscire) egrave uscito

1 Dove (tu comprare) quellescarpe

2 Ettore (regalare) un portafoglioa Luisa

3 Ieri sera (noi andare) a unconcerto

4 Dove (voi trovare) quei fogli5 (tu spegnere) la luce6 Quanta gente (venire) alla festa7 Signora Depaoli (portare) i

documenti8 (voi prendere) il giornale9 Ieri (io vedere) le mie amiche

10 Non (tu potere) finire il lavoro

11 (io dovere) studiare molto perquesto esame

12 Franco (uscire) tardi e (perdere)lrsquoautobus

13 Chi ti (scrivere) quella lettera14 (noi giocare) a pallone tutto il

pomeriggio15 Federica (cominciare) il nuovo

lavoro16 Lorenzo non (volere) uscire17 Dove (tu mettere) i libri18 (tu potere) parlare col professore19 (voi avere) tempo per fare tutto20 (tu leggere) il giornale di oggi

1 (noi dovere) lavorare tutto ilgiorno

2 Dove (voi mangiare)3 A che ora (tu partire)4 Chi (telefonare)5 Claudia (volere) restare a casa6 (tu conoscere) il fratello di

Piero7 Silvia (dovere) andare in

ospedale8 (voi accompagnare) Lina alla

stazione9 Chi (vincere) il campionato

10 (tu finire) i compiti

11 Non (io capire) nulla12 (tu portare) i libri in biblioteca13 Non (noi riuscire) a finire in

tempo14 Cosa (voi decidere)15 Carla (avere) la febbre16 Ugo e Marina non (venire) a cena

da noi17 Che cosa (voi fare) domenica18 Il treno (partire) con mezzrsquoora di

ritardo19 La nonna (essere) contenta di

vedermi20 Chi (tradurre) questo libro

92 Unit 12

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquove already done this exercise2 I havenrsquot finished reading the paper yet3 Stefanorsquos never been to Rome4 I didnrsquot see Roberto again after the party5 Have you [pl] already paid the bill6 Giulia hasnrsquot started working yet7 Carlo couldnrsquot work any more8 Irsquove never met her parents9 Have you [sing] written the letters already

10 Irsquove never seen that film

Unit 12 93

UNIT THIRTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns (2)

1 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the present perfect (orany other compound tense) the past participle must agree in gender andnumber with the pronoun

Particular care must be taken when the gender is not shown in the pronounas in the last three examples

Note that when the polite form is used the past participle always agreeswith the feminine pronoun La not with the gender of the person beingspoken to

lsquoHai invitato Anna e Sararsquo lsquoSigrave leho invitatersquo

lsquoAvete portato i librirsquo lsquoSigrave liabbiamo portatirsquo

Ho comprato delle rose e leho date a Luisa

lsquoChi ha scritto questa musicarsquolsquoLrsquoha scritta Bob Marleyrsquo

lsquoDove hai comprato quellescarpersquo lsquoLe ho comprate almercatorsquo

Ho 25 compagni di classe e li hoinvitati tutti alla mia festa dicompleanno

Non ci hanno invitati alla festa

Mauro mi ha accompagnata allastazione

Ti hanno invitata

lsquoDid you invite Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYes Iinvited themrsquo

lsquoHave you brought the booksrsquo lsquoYeswersquove brought themrsquo

I bought some roses and gave them toLuisa

lsquoWho wrote this musicrsquo lsquoBob Marleywrote itrsquo

lsquoWhere did you buy those shoesrsquo lsquoIbought them at the marketrsquo

I have 25 classmates and Irsquove invited allof them to my birthday party

They didnrsquot invite us to the party [weare all males or mixed males andfemales]

Mauro took me to the station [thespeaker is female]

Did they invite you [the personaddressed is female]

2 The rule given above does not apply to indirect object pronouns with thesethe past participle of the verb never changes

3 As we saw in Units 7 and 10 when a direct or indirect object pronounoccurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive

In these sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or anyother compound tense) there is no agreement of the past participle even withdirect object pronouns

However when the direct object pronoun is not attached to the infinitive thepast participle must agree with it

Signor Belli chi Lrsquoha invitataDottor Ranieri Lrsquoabbiamo vista

ieri sera alla televisione

Who invited you Mr BelliWe saw you on television last night

Dr Ranieri

lsquoHai telefonato a Anna e SararsquolsquoSigrave gli ho telefonatorsquo

Quando egrave venuta Livia le ho offertoun gelato

Ho parlato con Carla e le ho dettotutto

Non ci hanno scritto

lsquoDid you phone Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYesI phoned themrsquo

When Livia came I offered her an icecream

I spoke to Carla and told hereverything

They didnrsquot write to us

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave hodovuto leggerli tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non ho ancora potutoleggerla

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non ha volutoinvitarle alla festa

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonabbiamo saputo farlirsquo

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave li hodovuti leggere tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non lrsquoho ancora potuta leggere

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non le ha voluteinvitare alla festa

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

Unit 13 95

4 In contemporary spoken Italian (and sometimes in written Italian as well)agreement of the past participle with first and second person direct objectpronouns tends not to be observed this is the case with both singular (mi ti) andplural (ci vi) so quite often you will hear (or read) sentences like the following

However the agreement is always made with the third person pronouns (lola li le)

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the direct object pronouns making sure that thepast participle agrees

Example Ho visto Gianna e mdashmdash ho invitatmdash lrsquoho invitata

1 Ho comprato dei fiori e mdashmdash ho messmdash in un vaso2 La zia egrave partita e mdashmdash ho accompagnatmdashalla stazione3 Ho visto delle belle scarpe e mdashmdashho compratmdash4 Lara ha aperto le finestre ma Luca mdashmdash ha chiusmdash5 Mi hanno regalato dei biscotti e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdash tutti6 Luisa non hai sentito che Claudio mdashmdash ha chiamatmdash7 Gaetano ha preso il giornale e mdashmdashha lettmdash8 lsquoVi hanno invitati alla festarsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash hanno invitatmdashrsquo9 lsquoHai preso i biglietti per il concertorsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho presmdashrsquo

10 Cerchi i libri mdashmdash ho datmdash a Giovanni

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonli abbiamo saputi farersquo

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoSusanna chi ti ha accompagnatorsquo[instead of ti ha accompagnata]

lsquoMi ha accompagnato Sebastianorsquo[instead of mi ha accompagnata]

Ci ha invitato alla festa [instead ofci ha invitati]

Vi ho visto entrare al cinema[instead of vi ho visti]

lsquoSusanna who went withtook yoursquo

lsquoSebastiano went withtook mersquo

HeShe has asked us to the party

I saw you go into the cinema

Lrsquoha accompagnata SebastianoLi ho invitati alla festalsquoQuando hai visto Carla e Liviarsquo

lsquoLe ho viste ierirsquo

Sebastiano went withtook herIrsquove asked them to the partylsquoWhen did you see Carla and Liviarsquo lsquoI

saw them yesterdayrsquo

96 Unit 13

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct direct or indirect object pronounmaking sure that the past participle agrees where necessary

Examples Non ho telefonato a Maria mdashmdashmdash ho scrittmdash le ho scrittoHo comprato una minigonna rossa e mdashho indossatmdash per lafesta lrsquoho indossata

1 Ho incontrato Lina e mdashmdash ho offertmdash un caffegrave2 Cerco Paola e Gianni mdashmdash avete vistmdash3 Non ho la bicicletta perchegrave mdashmdashho imprestatmdash a Filippo4 Non ho scritto a Paola mdashmdash ho telefonatmdash5 Dove sono le chiavi Chi mdashmdash ha presmdash6 Parlo bene lrsquoitaliano e il tedesco percheacute mdashmdash ho studiatmdash per sette anni7 Ieri ho visto Alessandro e mdashmdash ha presentatmdash sua sorella8 Caterina chi mdashmdash ha accompagnatmdash ieri sera9 Oggi egrave il compleanno di Daniela mdashmdash hai mandatmdash gli auguri

10 Gianna egrave una vecchia amica mdashmdashho conosciutmdash otto anni fa11 lsquoDove avete lasciato la bicirsquo lsquomdashmdashabbiamo lasciatmdash in stradarsquo12 Hai telefonato a Giacomo Che cosa mdashmdash hai dettmdash13 lsquoHai comprato i francobollirsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashrsquo14 Signora Lrsquoho cercata ieri ma non mdashmdashho trovatmdash15 Sebastiano ha molte amiche e io mdashmdash ho conosciutmdash tutte16 lsquoCosa hai detto a Matteorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho dettmdash nullarsquo17 lsquoChi ha pagato il contorsquo lsquomdashmdashha pagatmdash mia madrersquo18 lsquoCosa hai raccontato a Giuliarsquo lsquomdashmdash ho raccontatmdash la veritagraversquo19 Professore chi mdashmdashha accompagnatmdash in aeroporto20 Questa egrave una rivista molto interessante mdashmdashho lettmdash tutta

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as shown in the example

Example Ho dovuto comprarle Le ho dovute comprare

1 Non ho saputo farli2 Ho voluto vederli3 Non abbiamo potuto chiamarlo4 Hanno potuto aiutarvi5 Abbiamo dovuto invitarla

6 Non ha saputo tradurle7 Avete dovuto accompagnarle8 Ha voluto mangiarla9 Hai potuto vederli

10 Non hanno voluto farle

Unit 13 97

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sabina hasnrsquot invited me [f]2 Who called you [fs]3 We phoned them yesterday4 I looked for you [mp] but I didnrsquot find you5 Chiara took us to the bus stop6 I sent you [pl] a postcard ndash did you receive it7 My grandparents gave me 100 euros but Irsquove already spent it [Say lsquospent

themrsquo]8 I bought two rolls and ate them9 lsquoHave you [sing] switched the light offrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove switched it offrsquo

10 Carla hasnrsquot been able to help them [f]

98 Unit 13

UNIT FOURTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns(3 stressed forms)

1 Direct and indirect object pronouns do not only have the unstressed (orweak) forms that we saw in Units 7 10 and 13 they also have stressed(or strong) forms

As usual the pronoun Lei (third person singular feminine) and the pronounLoro (third person plural) are used for the formal form

2 The stressed forms of direct object and indirect object pronouns are usedto give emphasis to the pronoun or to stress a contrast unlike unstressedforms they normally come after the verb except when used with the verbspiacere sembrare servire bastare parere and mancare (see Unit 11) Stressedforms always refer to people not objects

Direct object stressed forms Indirect object stressed formsmeteluileiLeinoivoiloroLoro

a mea tea luia leia Leia noia voia loroa Loro

Chiamo voi non loroVedo lei ma non vedo luiAspetto Francesco non teInvito solo teInvito solo Lei Signor PaoliA me non piace il caffegraveA me sembra giustoTelefono a te ma non a loroBilly scrive a noi e non ai suoi

genitoriDevi rendere i soldi a me non a mio

fratello

Irsquom callingphoning you not themI can see her but I canrsquot see himIrsquom waiting for Francesco not youIrsquom only inviting youIrsquom only inviting you Mr PaoliI donrsquot like coffeeI think itrsquos fairIt seems fair to meIrsquoll phone you but not themBilly writes to us and not his parents

Yoursquove got to give me the money notmy brother

Note the difference between the two sentences lsquoNon mi piace il caffegraversquo andlsquoA me non piace il caffegraversquo The first simply states that I donrsquot like coffee whilethe second puts the emphasis on the pronoun lsquomersquo implying that there arepeople who do like coffee but I am not one of them The same applies tothe sentences lsquoMi sembra giustorsquo and lsquoA me sembra giustorsquo the secondsentence stresses the fact that there are other people who donrsquot think itrsquosfair

3 As the above examples suggest stressed direct and indirect object pro-nouns cannot be used to refer to objects When referring to objects the nounhas to be repeated (as is also generally the case in English)

4 The stressed forms of the object pronouns are used after all prepositions(see Unit 8) not just a This is true even when no emphasis is required

When su sopra dopo contro are used with a personal pronoun the pro-noun is preceded by the preposition di (see Unit 8 paragraphs 9 20)

5 The stressed forms are also always used when the verb has two pronoundirect or indirect objects even where no emphasis is required

lsquoPrendi la frutta e il dolcersquo lsquoPrendola frutta ma non il dolcersquo [NotlsquoPrendo lei ma non luirsquo]

lsquoPorti la chitarra e i CDrsquo lsquoPorto iCD ma non la chitarrarsquo [NotlsquoPorto loro ma non leirsquo]

lsquoAre you having the fruit and thesweetrsquo lsquoIrsquom having the fruit butnot the sweetrsquo

lsquoAre you bringing the guitar and theCDsrsquo lsquoIrsquoll bring the CDs but notthe guitarrsquo [or at a pinch lsquoIrsquoll bringthem but not itrsquo]

Vengo con Lei SignoraChi di loro non vuole venirePuoi dormire da me staseraFaccio questo per tePuoi contare su di meDopo di te ci sono ioNon ho nulla contro di voi

Irsquom coming with you( Madam)Which of them doesnrsquot want to comeYou can sleep at my place tonightIrsquom doing this for youYou can count on meAfter you itrsquos memy turnIrsquove got nothing against you

Ho visto te e lui in cittagrave [not Ti e lo hovisto in cittagrave]

Invito voi e loro [not Vi e li invito]Scrive a te e a me [not Ti e mi scrive]Regaliamo fiori a loro e a lei [not

Gli e le regaliamo fiori]

I saw you and him in town

Irsquom inviting you and themHe writes to you and meWersquore giving flowers to them and

her

100 Unit 14

6 Stressed forms are always used after anchepure (also too) neanchenemmenoneppure (not even neither) come (as like) quanto (as much as)eccetto (che)meno (che)tranne (che)salvo (che) (except but)

The forms eccetto chemeno chetranne chesalvo che are used when there is apreposition before the pronoun

7 Note that when the stressed forms of the direct object pronouns are used ina sentence with the verb in a compound tense (see Unit 13 paragraph 1) thepast participle does not agree with the pronoun

Exercise 1

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones

Examples Mario chiama (them) non (you [pl]) loro voi La nonna hadato i soldi a (you [sing]) e non a (me) te me

1 Prima accompagno (her) a scuola poi (you [sing]) in palestra2 Dovete invitare anche (them)3 Non egrave venuto nessuno nemmeno (her)4 Hanno invitato (us) e non (you [pl])5 Allrsquoesame hanno promosso tutti tranne (me)6 Credo a tutti meno che a (him)

Invito anche voiDevi fare come meMaria lavora quanto teDevi chiedere anche a noiNon credo neppure a luiVengono tutti meno lui

Faccio questo per tutti meno cheper lei

Anna telefona a tutti salvo che aloro

Sandro esce con tutti salvo checon noi

Sono tutti contro di noi

Irsquom inviting you as wellYou should do as I dodo it like meMaria works as much as you (do)You have to ask us as wellI donrsquot believe him eitherTheyrsquore all coming except him

Everyone but himrsquos comingIrsquom doingIrsquoll do this for everyone

exceptbut herAnna phones everyone exceptbut

themSandro goes out with everybody

exceptbut usThey are all against us

Ho chiamato voi non loroHo visto lei ma non ho visto luiLucia ha invitato loro ma non lui

I called you not themI saw her but I didnrsquot see himLucia has invited them but not him

Unit 14 101

7 Carla vuole bene a (me) quanto a (you [sing])8 A (you [polite]) credo Professore9 Voglio presentare i miei amici anche a (you [pl])

10 A (her) come a (them) non sembra giusto

Exercise 2

Translate the following sentences where necessary underlining the em-phasised words

Examples Dovete invitare anche me You should invite me as welltoo Ame manca il sole a te no Irsquom missing the sun ndash arenrsquot you orI miss the sun ndash donrsquot you

1 Nessuno suona la batteria come me2 Tutti gli studenti hanno fatto il compito meno lui3 Sergio chiama te non me4 Accompagno anche te5 Capisco quanto te6 Mauro dice la veritagrave a tutti tranne che a me7 Dovete telefonare anche a me8 Claudia impresta i dischi a noi non a voi9 Do il mio indirizzo a tutti salvo che a lei

10 Regalo un libro a lei e un disco a lui

Exercise 3

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones as you did inExercise 1

1 Chi di (you [pl]) non puograve venire alla festa2 Allrsquoesame orale sono passato subito dopo di (him)3 Sopra di (them) abita una signora molto gentile4 Abbiamo deciso fra (us)5 Esci con (her) anche stasera

102 Unit 14

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian using the stressed form of the pronouns

1 Everyonersquos against me2 Are you [sing] coming with me3 Irsquove bought a present for you [sing]4 You [sing] canrsquot count on him5 Can I sleep at your [pl] place tonight

Unit 14 103

UNIT FIFTEENRelative pronouns

1 The Italian relative pronouns correspond to the English lsquowhorsquo lsquowhichrsquolsquothatrsquo lsquowhomrsquo lsquowhosersquo They have two forms invariable (che cui) and vari-able (il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp])

The invariable forms which can replace all nouns (masculine feminine sin-gular plural) are the most frequently used

2 The invariable form che is used for masculine feminine singular and pluralnouns it can be either a subject or a direct object

Il treno che prendo la mattina egravesempre molto affollato

La storia che ho letto egrave stranaLa ragazza chela quale ha tele-

fonato ha bisogno di un favoreGli amici chei quali sono venuti a

trovarmi sono irlandesiHai ancora le chiavi che ti ho dato

Il ragazzo con cuicol quale esci egravemolto simpatico

La ragazza a cuialla quale ho datoi libri egrave una mia amica

The train (that) I get in the morning isalways very crowded

The story (that) Irsquove read is strangeThe girl who phoned needs a favour

The friends who came to see me areIrish

Have you still got the keys (that) I gaveyou

The boy with whom you are going outyoursquore going out with is very nice

The girl to whom I gave the booksIgave the books to is a friend of mine

Il gruppo che [subject ms] suonastasera egrave molto conosciuto

Il cantante che [direct object ms]abbiamo sentito ieri sera non egravemolto bravo

Le scarpe che [direct object fp] hocomprato sono care

The group who are playing tonightare very well known

The singer (whom) we heard last nightisnrsquot very good

The shoes (that) I bought areexpensive

In Italian collective nouns (eg il gruppo lsquothe grouprsquo la squadra lsquothesquadteamrsquo) are always followed by the singular of the verb never the plural

3 When a preposition is needed before the invariable relative pronoun (eg ifit stands for an indirect object) the form used is cui

The preposition a can sometimes be omitted before cui The Italian for lsquothe reasonreasons whyrsquo is always la ragionele ragioni percui never percheacute

4 The variable forms il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp] areused as subject indirect object and ndash very rarely ndash as direct object They mustagree in gender and number with the noun they replace

Non conosco i ragazzi che [subjectmp] sono appena arrivati

I donrsquot know the boys who have justarrived

Lo zio a cui scrivo sempre arrivadomani

La vicina per cui ho fatto la spesami ha invitato a cena

Non conosci la persona (a) cui devotelefonare

Il dentista da cui vado egrave moltobravo

Nella cittagrave in cui abito ci sono molticinema

Gli amici con cui esco sono italianiNon capisco la ragione per cui

Paola non egrave venutaNon ho ancora letto le notizie di cui

parli

The uncle I always write toto whom Ialways write is arriving tomorrow

The neighbour I went shopping forforwhom I went shopping has invitedme to dinner

You donrsquot know the person (that) Ihave to phone

The dentist I go to is very good

There are a lot of cinemas in the townin which I live

The friends I go out with are ItalianI donrsquot understand (the reason) why

Paola didnrsquot comeI havenrsquot read the news yoursquore talking

about yet

Paolo il quale egrave sempre in ritardonon egrave ancora arrivato

Ho parlato con una ragazza la qualemi ha dato tutte le informazioni

Tullio e Anna sono amici i quali miinvitano spesso

Ci sono due signore le quali nonhanno prenotato

Lrsquoamica con la quale sono andatain vacanza si chiama Elisa

Paolo who is always late still hasnrsquotarrived

I spoke to a girl who gave me all theinformation

Tullio and Anna are friends who ofteninvite me round

There are two ladies who havenrsquotbooked

The friend with whom I went onholidayI went away with is calledElisa

Unit 15 105

Remember to combine the definite article with the preposition (see Unit 8paragraph 2) when using the variable forms

5 When a relative pronoun is preceded by in or a and these denote place itis often replaced in contemporary Italian by the adverb dove Da dove or didove can be used when the relative pronoun is preceded by the prepositionda

6 The relative pronouns (both variable and invariable) can be used in con-junction with the demonstrative pronouns colui and quello

Colui can only refer to people It has three forms colui [ms] colei [fs]coloro [mp and fp] these combine with checui or il qualela qualei qualilequali as follows

Quello has four forms quello [ms] quella [fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp]these only combine with checui and can refer to both objects andpeople

The use of quello che etc to refer to a person is rather informal unlike coluichecolui il quale etc which are quite formal

Questa egrave lrsquoamica della quale ti hoparlato

Lrsquoinsegnante al quale ho parlato egravestato molto gentile

This is the friend I told you about

The teacher I spoke to was very kind

Milano egrave la cittagrave dove [for in cui]vive Walter

Questo egrave il negozio dove [for in cui]lavora Pia

La stazione dove [for a cui] deveandare non egrave lontana da qui

La scuola da dovedi dove [for dacui] viene Enrico egrave molto buona

Milan is the city where Walter lives

This is the shop where Pia works

The station hersquos got to go to isnrsquot farfrom here

The school Enrico went to [lit comesfrom] is very good

colui che or colui il qualecolei che or colei la qualecoloro che or coloro i qualicoloro le quali

he whoshe whothose who

quello chequella chequelli chequelle che

that which he who the one whichwhothat which she who the one whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwho

106 Unit 15

7 When referring to people the pronoun chi (who anyone who the personpeople who) is often used instead of the more formal lsquodouble relativersquo (coluicoleicoloro che colui il quale etc) Chi is always used with the verb in thethird person singular past participles and adjectives are always in the mascu-line singular

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples La ragazza mdashmdash ho invitato egrave mia cugina che Il ragazzoa mdashmdash devo telefonare egrave Matteo cui

1 Il film mdashmdash mi hai consigliato egrave molto bello2 La palestra in mdashmdash vado non egrave lontana

Colui che pensa questo sbagliaQuello che pensa questo sbagliaPossono entrare solo coloro che

coloro i quali hanno lrsquoinvitoPossono entrare solo quelli che

hanno lrsquoinvitoColoro a cuiai quali scrivo sono

amici di mio fratelloQuelli a cui scrivo sono amici di

mio fratelloQuelli che sono sul tavolo sono i

libri di TullioCi sono due case quella in cui abita

Giorgio egrave la piugrave grande

He who thinks this is wrongAnyone who thinks this is wrongOnly those who have an invitation

may comego inOnly people with an invitation can

comego inThose Irsquom writing to are friends of my

brother(rsquos)The people Irsquom writing to are friends

of my brother(rsquos)ThoseThe ones (which are) on the

table are Tulliorsquos booksThere are two houses the one Giorgio

lives in is the bigger

Chi pensa questo sbagliaPuograve entrare solo chi ha lrsquoinvito

Non ho visto chi egrave entratoEsco con chi mi invita

Lavoro per chi mi pagaRipeto la spiegazione per chi

non ha capitoHai risposto a chi ti ha scritto

Anyone who thinks this is wrongOnly people who have an invitation can

come ingo inI didnrsquot see who came inwent inIrsquoll go out with anyone who invitesasks

meIrsquoll work for anyone who pays meIrsquoll repeat the explanation for those

anyone who didnrsquot understandHave you replied to the personpeople

who wrote to you

Unit 15 107

3 I bambini mdashmdash sono venuti sono i miei cugini4 Non conosco le persone con mdashmdash esci5 La torta mdashmdash ha fatto tua mamma egrave molto buona6 Quando mi rendi i CD mdashmdash ti ho imprestato7 Lrsquoargomento di mdashmdash parla Paolo non mi interessa8 La ragione per mdashmdash non siamo venuti egrave semplice9 La cittagrave in mdashmdash sono nato non egrave molto grande

10 Come egrave andato lrsquoesame mdashmdash hai dato ieri

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples Hai comprato le cose mdashmdash ti ho chiesto che La discotecain mdashmdash andiamo egrave in centro cui

1 Nella biblioteca in mdashmdash vado a studiare fa sempre freddo2 Gli amici da mdashmdash siamo andati sono molto simpatici3 La stanza in mdashmdash dorme Luigi egrave la piugrave luminosa4 Non mi piace la musica mdashmdash ascolti tu5 Hai giagrave letto il libro mdashmdash ti hanno regalato6 Gli esercizi mdashmdash avete fatto sono tutti giusti7 Quello egrave il muro su mdashmdash vogliamo mettere i poster8 Vuoi leggere la lettera mdashmdash mi ha scritto Angela9 Il medico da mdashmdash vanno i miei genitori egrave molto giovane

10 Di chi egrave la bici con mdashmdash sei arrivato

Exercise 3

Replace che and cui with il quale la quale i quali or le quali (remember tocombine the definite article and the preposition where necessary)

Example Gli amici da cui andiamo in vacanza sono simpatici dai quali

1 Mia madre che egrave infermiera lavora in un ospedale2 Chi egrave la ragazza con cui sei uscito3 Gli esami di cui ha parlato il professore sono a giugno4 Il campeggio in cui siamo stati egrave vicino al mare5 Tutte le ragazze a cui ho telefonato hanno accettato lrsquoinvito6 Franco che egrave un bravo attore ha trovato lavoro in un teatro7 Il parrucchiere da cui vado egrave un amico8 Le cugine di Chiara che abitano vicino a me sono simpatiche

108 Unit 15

9 Le amiche di cui ti ho parlato arrivano domani10 I nostri amici che sono tutti italiani non parlano inglese

Exercise 4

Supply the correct double relative pronoun (coluicoleicoloro che)

Example mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno biglietti possono entrare coloro che

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha scritto questo libro egrave la sorella di Piero2 mdashmdashmdashmdash ci hanno invitati sono amici di Luisa3 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha vinto il premio egrave Antonio4 mdashmdashmdashmdash dagrave le informazioni deve parlare inglese e spagnolo5 mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno parlato sono persone molto importanti

Exercise 5

Complete using the correct pronouns (chi or quelloquellaquelliquelle che)

Examples mdashmdash non ha il biglietto non entra chi mdashmdash hai fatto non sonoerrori gravi quelli che

1 Non conosco mdashmdash ha scritto questa lettera2 La spiegazione egrave mdashmdash ti ho dato3 Il controllore egrave mdashmdash controlla i biglietti4 Vince il premio mdashmdash finisce per primo5 mdashmdash ti ho imprestato sono i libri che devi leggere6 mdashmdash abbiamo comprato egrave unrsquoauto economica7 mdashmdash fa la spesa al mercato spende meno8 mdashmdash abbiamo prenotato egrave un hotel di lusso9 mdashmdash non puograve venire deve telefonare per avvertire

10 mdashmdash ho visto in quel negozio sono scarpe molto belle

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian

1 The book which I want to buy is too expensive2 The lady I spoke to is German3 The people who phoned live in America4 The town I live in isnrsquot very big

Unit 15 109

5 Anyone who wants to go to university must be able to read and write6 Paolo whorsquos lost his mobile is not happy7 I like that song but I prefer the ones we heard last night8 This is Fabiorsquos sister who lent me her bike9 Did you [sing] see who ate the peaches

10 Whorsquos the man you [pl] sold the tickets to

110 Unit 15

UNIT SIXTEENThe imperfect tense

1 The imperfect is together with the present perfect one of the most usedpast tenses in Italian It is called lsquoimperfectrsquo because generally speakingthere is no reference to the beginning or end of the action it expresseseither the length of time the action lasted is not relevant or the action isseen as the background to another action or two actions took place at thesame time and lasted the same length of time Here are some typicalexamples

As you can see from the examples the Italian imperfect corresponds to sev-eral different English forms We will look at the different meanings and usesof this tense but first we will look at its forms

The forms of the imperfect

2 The forms of the imperfect are very regular Here are the endings for thethree conjugations (-are -ere -ire)

Mio nonno lavorava in India

Mia nonna era infermieraMentre io entravo Elena usciva

Quando ho cominciato la scuolaavevo cinque anni

Elena egrave arrivata mentre io uscivoClaudia parlava con unrsquoamica

quando egrave arrivato lrsquoautobusQuando ero al mare nuotavo tutti i

giorni

My grandfather used to work inIndia

My grandmother was a nurseAs I was going in Elena was coming

outWhen I started school I was five

Elena arrived as I was going outClaudia was talking to a friend when

the bus arrivedWhen I was at the seaside I wentused

to go swimming every day

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

The verb avere also follows this same regular pattern

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-avo-avi-ava-avamo-avate-avano

-ere-evo-evi-eva-evamo-evate-evano

-ire-ivo-ivi-iva-ivamo-ivate-ivano

Parlareparlavoparlaviparlavaparlavamoparlavateparlavano

To speakI spokewas speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakhesheit spokewas speakingused to speakwe spokewere speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakthey spokewere speakingused to speak

Prendereprendevoprendeviprendevaprendevamoprendevateprendevano

To takegetI tookwas takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takehesheit tookwas takingused to takewe tookwere takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takethey tookwere takingused to take

avevoaveviavevaavevamoavevateavevano

I hadwas havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havehesheit hadwas havingused to havewe hadwere havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havethey hadwere havingused to have

Partirepartivopartivipartivapartivamo

To leaveI leftwas leavingused to leaveyou leftwere leavingused to leavehesheit leftwas leavingused to leavewe leftwere leavingused to leave

partivatepartivano

you leftwere leavingused to leavethey leftwere leavingused to leave

112 Unit 16

3 Not many verbs are irregular in the imperfect Essere is one

Like the present the imperfect of essere can be used with the pronoun ci (seeUnit 4) crsquoera (there was) crsquoerano (there were)

Other irregular verbs are bere dire and fare

Mio nonno parlava molto benelrsquoitaliano

Mentre prendevamo il caffegrave egravesuonato il telefono

Quando Carla aveva 5 anni abitavaa Roma

Sono arrivato quando il trenopartiva

Mio fratello andava a scuola inautobus

Di solito Gianni e sua sorellaandavano al cinema insieme

Quando Maurizio lavorava in quelsupermercato lo pagavanopochissimo

Mentre Sebastiano leggeva ilgiornale io ho finito i compiti

My grandfather spoke Italian verywell

While we were having coffee thetelephone rang

When Carla was five she lived inRome

I arrived as the train was leaving

My brother used to go to school bybus

Usually Gianni and his sister went tothe cinema together

When Maurizio worked in thatsupermarket they paid him verylittle

While Sebastiano was reading thepaper I finished my homework

eroerieraeravamoeravateerano

I wasused to beyou wereused to behesheit wasused to bewe wereused to beyou wereused to bethey wereused to be

bevevobevevibevevabevevamobevevatebevevano

I drankwas drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkhesheit drankwas drinkingused to drinkwe drankwere drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkthey drankwere drinkingused to drink

dicevodicevi

I saidwas sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to say

dicevadicevamodicevatedicevano

hesheit saidwas sayingused to saywe saidwere sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to saythey saidwere sayingused to say

Unit 16 113

All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

4 The negative is formed as usual by putting non before the verb

facevofacevifacevafacevamofacevatefacevano

I didwas doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dohesheit didwas doingused to dowe didwere doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dothey didwere doingused to do

-ucevo

-ucevi

-uceva

-ucevamo

-ucevate

-ucevano

traducevo

traducevi

traduceva

traducevamo

traducevate

traducevano

I translatedwas translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

hesheit translatedwas translatingused totranslate

we translatedwere translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

they translatedwere translatingused totranslate

Quando ero bambino abitavo aParma

Ieri il tempo era belloAl concerto crsquoerano piugrave di 900

personeMia sorella beveva solo acqua

minerale ora beve anche acquadi rubinetto

Cosa diceviCosa faceva Signora quando non

lavoravaLrsquointerprete traduceva ma nessuno

ascoltava

When I was a child I lived in Parma

Yesterday the weather was lovelyThere were more than 900 people at

the concertMy sister only used to drink mineral

water now she drinks tap water aswell

What were you sayingWhat did you do( Madam) when you

werenrsquot workingdidnrsquot workThe interpreter was translating but

nobody was listening

Di solito la domenica non uscivoQuando hai telefonato non facevo

niente di speciale

I didnrsquot usually go out on SundaysWhen you phoned I wasnrsquot doing

anything special

114 Unit 16

Use of the imperfect

5 The imperfect is used for descriptions of situations in the past when it isnot necessary (or important) to say how long an action lasted This generallyhappens with verbs like essere sembrare and avere and with verbs expressingwill desire or intention possibility or ability but it can happen with otherverbs as well

6 The imperfect is also used to express actions which were habitual or hap-pened repeatedly in the past

7 Since the imperfect is used when it is not relevant how long the actionlasted it is not used when it is stated how many times or for how longsomething happened

Crsquoerano molte persone cheaspettavano il treno

Ieri sera sembravi molto stancoMia nonna era molto alta e aveva i

capelli bianchiFaceva freddo in montagnaCosa voleviDue anni fa abitavo a MilanoSuo padre era medico

There were a lot of people (who were)waiting for the train

You looked very tired last nightMy grandmother was very tall and

had white hairWas it cold in the mountainsWhat did you wantwere you wantingTwo years ago I was living in MilanHis father was a doctor

Lrsquoestate scorsa giocavamo semprea tennis

Quando ero in vacanza andavo alcinema tutti i giorni

Tutte le mattine a colazione Giuliaprendeva solo del caffegrave

Cenavamo alle otto

Last summer we played tennis all thetime

When I was on holiday I went to thecinema every day

Every morning Giulia just had coffeefor breakfast

We used to have dinner at eight

Lrsquoestate scorsa sono andato alcinema 25 volte

Last summer I went to the cinema 25times

Ha fatto molto freddo per due giorniGiulia ha lavorato qui da gennaio a

giugnoHo abitato a Milano per due anniIeri abbiamo lavorato tutto il giornoIeri sono stato in biblioteca dalle

nove alle undici

It was very cold for two daysGiulia worked here from January to

JuneI lived in Milan for two yearsYesterday we worked all dayYesterday I was in the library from

nine till 11

Unit 16 115

8 When a sentence refers to two or more events which happened in the pastit is helpful to think in terms of lsquoforegroundrsquo and lsquobackgroundrsquo as in thesetwo English examples lsquoWhile I was doing the dishes [continuous back-ground] I heard [foreground] the doorbellrsquo lsquoI saw [foreground] Juve a coupleof times when I was [continuous background] in Turinrsquo In Italian in caseslike these the imperfect expresses the continuous lsquobackgroundrsquo action againstwhich the lsquoforegroundrsquo action is seen to occur

Note that mentre (while) in the past is always followed by the imperfect

If the two events happened at the same time and lasted for the same length oftime then both verbs are in the imperfect

Mentre dormivate ho preparato lacolazione

Mia madre ha conosciuto mio padrequando abitava a Firenze

Mauro non ha preso lrsquoombrelloanche se pioveva

Marco ha telefonato quando eravateal cinema

Non sono uscita percheacute pioveva

While you were sleepingasleep Iprepared breakfast

My mother met my father when shewas living in Florence

Mauro didnrsquot take the umbrella eventhough it was raining

Marco phoned when you were at thecinema

I didnrsquot go out because it was raining

Mentre noi facevamo il compito dimatematica Carla ripassavafilosofia

Mentre Alessandro preparava lacena Claudia leggeva il giornale

Quando io lavoravo alsupermercato mia sorellalavorava in un cinema

While we were doing our mathshomework Carla was revisingphilosophy

While Alessandro was preparingdinner Claudia was reading thenewspaper

When I worked in the supermarketmy sister worked in a cinema

Il gatto miagolava percheacute avevafame

The cat was miaowing because it washungry

116 Unit 16

Exercise 1

Supply the imperfect of the verb in brackets

Example Silvio (lavorare) molto lavorava

Exercise 2

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verb in brackets

Examples (io comprare) la macchina due anni fa ho comprato Drsquoestate(noi andare) in spiaggia ogni mattina andavamo

1 Elena a che ora (tu partire) ieri2 Chi (essere) Dante Alighieri3 (io studiare) per due ore4 Di solito (noi mangiare) in mensa5 Claudia (rimanere) in casa tutto il giorno6 Mia nonna (avere) gli occhi azzurri7 Nicoletta e Luigina non (sembrare) sorelle8 Ieri Andrea (spendere) 150 euro9 Signora dove (andare) in vacanza lrsquoanno scorso

10 I loro amici (essere) sempre allegri

1 Il nonno di Piero (parlare) seilingue

2 Laura (passare) sempre lrsquoestateal mare

3 Che lavoro (fare) tua nonna4 Mentre (io studiare) Maria

(riposare)5 Il treno (partire) sempre in

ritardo6 Dove (lavorare) Nicola7 Paolo non (dire) mai la veritagrave8 Ieri (fare) freddo9 Da bambini (noi abitare) in

campagna

10 (voi essere) stanchi ieri sera11 (loro andare) in piscina tutti i

giorni12 Lei (essere) infermiera Signora13 Non (noi uscire) mai di domenica14 (tu sapere) la veritagrave15 (io conoscere) bene suo cugino16 Paolo (amare) Francesca17 (voi dormire) ancora18 I miei amici (essere) studenti19 (tu avere) fame20 (loro dovere) partire

Unit 16 117

Exercise 3

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verbs inbrackets

Example Mentre (noi guardare) la televisione Isabella (ascoltare) laradio guardavamo ascoltava

1 Marco (arrivare) tardi percheacute il treno (essere) in ritardo2 (io conoscere) Susanna quando (io abitare) a Napoli3 Quanti anni (tu avere) quando (tu cominciare) a lavorare4 Sergio (telefonare) proprio mentre (io fare) il bagno5 Anna e Giacomo (venire) a piedi percheacute lrsquoauto (essere) guasta6 Non (loro fare) la spesa percheacute non (loro sapere) cosa comprare7 Cosa (loro dire) quando (loro vedere) Gianni ieri sera8 Massimo non (venire) alla festa percheacute (avere) mal di testa9 (noi arrivare) alla stazione proprio mentre il treno (partire)

10 (io imprestare) la bici a Giulia percheacute la sua (essere) rotta

Exercise 4

Put the text into a past tense changing the verbs in italics to either the presentperfect or the imperfect

Sabato sera in un locale del centro suona un gruppo rock che piace molto aMassimo cosigrave i miei amici e io decidiamo di andare a questo concerto Arrivi-amo davanti al locale con molto anticipo mancano tre ore allrsquoinizio ma cisono giagrave molte persone Massimo egrave molto impaziente Dopo una mezzrsquooramentre aspettiamo sentiamo suonare il cellulare di Massimo e lui rispondeVediamo che Massimo egrave preoccupato e quando finisce di parlare ci spiega Egravesuo padre che lo chiama percheacute ha bisogno di aiuto la sua auto egrave guasta e nonsa come tornare a casa Massimo parte subito per andare a prenderlo eaccompagnarlo a casa anche se ha paura di perdere il concerto Per fortunaperograve Massimo riesce a tornare dopo unrsquoora proprio mentre aprono le porte

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 How long did you [sing] spend in Bologna2 We went to the cinema last night3 You [pl] seemed happy

118 Unit 16

4 Gemmarsquos father was a sailor5 Claudia and Monica didnrsquot come on holiday with us this time6 My parents usually went out at eight7 My father worked in India for three years8 What time did you [pl] get the bus yesterday morning9 Last year we did gym on Monday mornings

10 Where did you [sing] buy those shoes11 I didnrsquot call you [sing] because you were asleep12 When you [pl] were living in London I was living in Paris13 How old was Susanna when she went to university14 While I was watching the television Anna came in and switched it off15 Paolo and Giulia didnrsquot come because Paolo was too tired

Unit 16 119

UNIT SEVENTEENThe pronouns ne and ci

The pronoun ne

1 The pronoun ne is used to refer to a part of a whole corresponding to lsquoof it-themrsquo as in lsquosome of itthemrsquo lsquotwo of themrsquo etc It is normally used togetherwith quantities whether expressed in numbers or in any other way (kiloslitres metres slices cups lsquotoo muchlittlersquo lsquoenoughrsquo etc) it is always placedbefore the verb

Note however that ne is not used in cases where English would say lsquoall of itrsquolsquoall of themrsquo etc Compare the following examples

La torta era molto buona e neho mangiate due fette

lsquoQuanti fratelli hairsquo lsquoNe ho duersquo

lsquoHa degli euro Signor WattrsquolsquoSigrave ne ho 50rsquo

lsquoHai tutti i CD di Frank ZapparsquolsquoNo ne ho solo trersquo

lsquoMangi la fruttarsquo lsquoSigrave ne mangiomoltarsquo

lsquoHai abbastanza soldirsquo lsquoSigrave ne hoabbastanzarsquo

Se crsquoegrave ancora del te ne prendounrsquoaltra tazza

Se compri le mele ne prendi unchilo anche per me

lsquoVolete ancora del cioccolatorsquolsquoNo grazie non ne vogliamopiugraversquo

The cake was very good and I ate twoslices (of it)

lsquoHow many brothers and sisters do youhaversquo lsquoI have two (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got any euros Mr WattrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got 50 (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got all Frank Zapparsquos CDsrsquolsquoNo Irsquove only got three (of them)rsquo

lsquoDo you eat fruitrsquo lsquoYes I eat a lot (ofit)rsquo

lsquoHave you got enough moneyrsquo lsquoYes Ihave enough (of it)rsquo

If therersquos still some tea Irsquoll haveanother cup (of it)

If yoursquore buying apples will you get akilo (of them) for me as well

lsquoDo you want some more chocolatersquolsquoNo thanks we donrsquot want anymore (of it)rsquo

2 The pronoun ne is invariable and can thus replace any noun whethermasculine feminine singular or plural

3 As we have seen ne is used when referring to partial quantities howeverexpressed Some expressions which require the use of ne are the adverbabbastanza (enoughquite) the adjectives molto poco troppo alcunialcune(someany (plural) ) and the pronoun qualcunoqualcuna (someany) which isalways singular

4 Ne is also used in negative expressions such as non affatto (not atall) non nessunonessuna (not anyone) non piugrave (not any more)

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliounorsquo

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoLi vogliotuttirsquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiate duersquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoLeho mangiate tuttersquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want one (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want them allall of themrsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atetwo (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atethem allall of themrsquo

lsquoQuanto zucchero [ms] comprirsquolsquoNe compro due chilirsquo

lsquoQuanta farina [fs] comprirsquo lsquoNecompro solo mezzo chilorsquo

lsquoQuanti amici [mp] invitirsquo lsquoNeinvito trersquo

lsquoQuante mele [fp] vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliotre chilirsquo

lsquoHow much sugar are you buyingrsquolsquoIrsquom getting two kilosrsquo

lsquoHow much flour are you going togetrsquo lsquoIrsquom only getting half a kilorsquo

lsquoHow many friends are you invitingrsquolsquoIrsquom inviting threersquo

lsquoHow many apples do you wantrsquo lsquoIwant three kilosrsquo

Non ho comprato del pane percheacute neho ancora abbastanza

lsquoHai molti CDrsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho moltirsquo

lsquoHai tutti i libri che ti servonorsquo lsquoNone ho solo alcunirsquo

Quei biscotti sono molto buoni neprendo ancora qualcuno

I didnrsquot buy any bread because Irsquovestill got enough

lsquoHave you got many CDsrsquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot a lotrsquo

lsquoHave you got all the books youneedrsquo lsquoNo Irsquove only got a fewrsquo

Those biscuits are very good Irsquoll havesome more

lsquoBevi molto caffegraversquo lsquoNo non ne bevoaffattorsquo

Ho invitato dieci amici ma non neegrave venuto nessuno

lsquoDo you drink much coffeersquo lsquoNo Idonrsquot drink it at allrsquo

I invited ten friends but none of themcame

Unit 17 121

As these examples show the negative is formed by putting non before ne

Agreement of the past participle

When ne is used with a verb in the present perfect (or any other compoundtense) there are certain rules governing the agreement of the pastparticiple

5 When ne is used in a sentence where the quantity is expressed by a numberthe past participle must agree in gender with the noun it replaces and innumber (ie singular or plural) with the quantity of what ne stands for Takethis question

In the answer to this question the ending of comprato will depend on thegender of rivista (feminine) and on whether you bought one magazine(singular) or more than one (plural)

The same applies when ne replaces a masculine noun

Here the ending of fatto must be masculine but whether it is singular orplural will depend on how many exercises have been done

The same rule applies when the quantity is expressed by qualcunoqualcuna(remember that this is always singular) or alcunialcune (plural)

lsquoHai ancora soldirsquo lsquoNo non ne hopiugraversquo

lsquoHave you still got moneyrsquo lsquoNo Irsquovegot none leftrsquo

Quante riviste hai comprato How many magazines did you buy

Ne ho comprata una [fs]Ne ho comprate due [fp]

I bought oneI bought two

Quanti esercizi [m] avete fatto How many exercises haveyou done

Ne abbiamo fatto uno solo [ms]Ne abbiamo fatti quattro [mp]

Wersquove only done oneWersquove done four

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatto solo qualcuno

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatti solo alcuni

I was supposed to do a lot of exercisesbut I only did a few

122 Unit 17

6 When the quantity is expressed by an adverb or an adjective the pastparticiple agrees with the noun replaced by ne

7 When the quantity is expressed by a noun the past participle canagree either with the quantity (this is more usual) or with the noun replacedby ne

8 When ne occurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive Insuch cases when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any other com-pound tense) the past participle does not agree

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprata qualcunarsquo

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprate alcunersquo

lsquoHow many magazines did you buyrsquolsquoI bought a fewrsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza pane [ms]rsquolsquoSigrave ne ho comprato abbastanzarsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza patatine[fp]rsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho comprate abbastanzarsquo

lsquoQuanta pasta [fs] avete mangiatorsquolsquoNe abbiamo mangiata moltarsquo

lsquoQuante persone [fp] hai invitatorsquolsquoNe ho invitate pochersquo

lsquoQuanti esercizi [mp] hai fattorsquolsquoNe ho fatti alcunirsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough breadrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough crispsrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHow much pasta did you eatrsquolsquoWe ate a lotrsquo

lsquoHow many people did you invitersquolsquoI only invited a fewrsquo

lsquoHow many exercises did you dorsquolsquoI did a fewrsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuta una tazza [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave [ms] hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuto una tazzarsquo

lsquoQuanto pane hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiata una fetta [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto pane [ms] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiato una fettarsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiato un pacchetto [ms]rsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle [fp] hai mangiatorsquolsquoNe ho mangiate un pacchettorsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe homangiata una scatola [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti [mp] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiati una scatolarsquo

lsquoHow much coffee did you drinkrsquolsquoI drank a cuprsquo

lsquoHow much bread did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a slicersquo

lsquoHow many sweets did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a packetrsquo

lsquoHow many biscuits did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a boxrsquo

Unit 17 123

However if ne is not attached to the infinitive the past participle must agreein the same way as in the rules given in paragraphs 5ndash7

9 Another use of ne is is to replace a noun (or a pronoun) preceded by thepreposition di (as in Parliamo del libro di Primo Levi lsquoWersquore talking aboutPrimo Levirsquos bookrsquo)

When ne is used in this way the past participle does not agreee

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoHo dovutoleggerne trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ho potutofarne solo alcuni

Il compito era difficile e ho saputofarne solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The homework was difficult and Icould only do part of it

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoNe ho dovutileggere trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ne hopotuti fare solo alcuni

Gli esercizi erano difficili e ne ho saputa fare solo una parte [fs]

Gli esercizi [mp] erano difficili e ne ho saputi fare solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The exercises were difficult and Icould only do part of them

Conosco questo film ieri neparlavano alla radio

Egrave un libro di successo tutti neparlano

Hai visto lo spettacolo Che nepensi

Ha molti problemi ma non neparla mai

I know this film they were talkingabout it on the radio yesterday

Itrsquos a popular book everybodyrsquostalking about it

Did you see the show What do youthink of it

He has a lot of problems but henever talks about them

Marco aveva dei problemi e ne haparlato con Anna

Questi sono libri di successo e tuttine hanno parlato

Marco had problems and talkedabout them with Anna

These are popular books andeverybodyrsquos been talking aboutthem

124 Unit 17

The pronoun ci

10 The pronoun ci is used to replace a noun denoting a place it correspondsto the English lsquotherersquo We have already seen this pronoun used with the verbessere in expressions like crsquoegrave and ci sono (Unit 4) but it can be used with otherverbs always preceding them

As the examples suggest ci is used more often in this kind of sentence thanlsquotherersquo is in English

11 Ci always comes before the verb Like the other unstressed pronounsthough it can be attached to the infinitive of a verb (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere)

Exercise 1

Supply the pronoun ne making sure that the past participle and the adjectiveor pronoun agree where necessary

Examples lsquoQuante lettere hai scrittorsquo lsquo mdashmdash ho scrittmdashmdash alcunmdashmdashrsquo Neho scritte alcune Mi piacciono i biscotti e mdashmdash homangiatmdashmdash moltmdashmdash ne ho mangiati molti lsquoQuanti libri hailettorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo Non ne ho lettonessuno

1 lsquoQuante cartoline hai mandatorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho mandatmdashmdash 12rsquo2 lsquoHai comprato i biscottirsquo lsquo Sigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashmdash una scatolarsquo

lsquoQuando vai in bibliotecarsquo lsquoCi vadooggi pomeriggiorsquo

Conosco bene Bologna ci ho passatodue anni

lsquoOgni quanto va in palestrarsquo lsquoNon civado mairsquo

lsquoWhen are you going to the libraryrsquolsquoIrsquom going (there) this afternoonrsquo

I know Bologna well I spent twoyears there

lsquoHow often do you go to the gymrsquo lsquoInever go (there)rsquo

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non sapevo andarci

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non ci sapevo andare

Vado al mercato vuoi venirci anche tu

Vado al mercato ci vuoi venire anche tu

I had to go to Fiesole but I didnrsquotknow how to get there

Irsquom going to the market would youlike to come (as well)

Unit 17 125

3 lsquoHai fatto i compitirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash la metagraversquo4 lsquoQuante persone sono venutersquo lsquomdashmdash sono venutmdashmdash pochmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoQuanti errori hai fattorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoHai chiuso tutte le finestrersquo lsquoNo mdashmdash ho lasciatmdashmdash una apertmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoQuanti amici hanno invitatorsquo lsquomdashmdash hanno invitatmdashmdash moltmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash duersquo9 lsquoQuanta pasta avete compratorsquo lsquomdashmdash abbiamo compratmdashmdash pocmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdashnessunmdashmdashrsquo

11 lsquoQuanti francobolli hai presorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho presmdashmdash abbastanzarsquo12 Avevo molte riviste e mdashmdash ho datmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash a Luigi13 Ci piacciono i film comici e ieri sera mdashmdash abbiamo vistmdashmdash tre14 Ho fatto una torta e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdash due fette15 La zia ha portato dei cioccolatini ma Piero non mdashmdash ha mangiatmdashmdash

nessunmdashmdash16 Abbiamo molti videogiochi e mdashmdash abbiamo datmdashmdash qualcunmdashmdash a

Michele17 Crsquoerano molti libri interessanti e mdashmdash ho presmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash18 Hanno venduto molti CD e mdashmdash sono rimastmdashmdash solo alcunmdashmdash molto

carmdashmdash19 Crsquoerano molte ragazze ma Marco non mdashmdash ha invitatmdashmdash nessunmdashmdash20 Ho comprato tre magliette e mdashmdash ho regalatmdashmdash due a mio fratello

Exercise 2

Complete with the appropriate pronouns direct object or ne

Examples lsquoQuanti amici hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho moltirsquo ne lsquoQuanti amici invitirsquolsquomdashmdash invito tuttirsquo li

1 lsquoHai fatto tutti gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash ho fatto nessunorsquo2 lsquoQuante sorelle hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho duersquo3 Avevo molti CD dei Beatles ma mdashmdash ho imprestati tutti4 lsquoHai fatto il compitorsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdashho ancora fattorsquo5 lsquoVuoi del dolcersquo lsquoNo grazie non mdashmdash vogliorsquo6 Stamattina ho comprato due riviste e mdashmdash ho lette nel pomeriggio7 lsquoHai fatto molti sbaglirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fatto uno solorsquo8 Il dolce era molto buono e mdashmdash ho mangiate tre fette9 Mi piacciono i film di Fellini e mdashmdash ho visti tutti

10 Ho comprato tre libri ma non mdashmdash ho letto nessuno11 Avevo due biglietti da 10 euro ma mdashmdash ho perso uno12 Ieri ho preso lo stipendio ma mdashmdashho giagrave speso tutto13 Se ci sono ancora dei biscotti mdashmdash prendo due o tre

126 Unit 17

14 Era un argomento interessante e mdashmdash abbiamo parlato molto15 Il film era noioso e mdashmdash abbiamo visto solo metagrave16 Carla parte mdashmdash accompagno alla stazione17 Lo zucchero egrave finito mdashmdash compri tu18 lsquoVuoi dello zucchero nel caffegraversquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash voglio due cucchiainirsquo19 Ho comprato tre brioches e mdashmdash ho mangiate due20 lsquoConoscete tutti i componenti del grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash conosciamo tuttirsquo

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as in the example

Example Ne vuoi prendere ancora Vuoi prenderne ancora

1 Ne dovete parlare col professore2 Ne vuoi fare un altro3 Non ne dobbiamo prendere4 Ne potete mangiare5 Ne devo fare sei6 Non ne possiamo parlare7 Ne posso assaggiare uno8 Non ne deve portare Signora9 Ne vogliono comprare qualcuno

10 Non ne possono bere

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences as in the example Make sure that the past participleagrees where necessary

Example Ha voluto portarne un porsquo [fs] Ne ha voluta portare un porsquo

1 Ho dovuto darne due [m] a Marisa2 Hai potuto comprarne [fp]3 Quante hai dovuto farne4 Non hanno voluto mangiarne [fs]5 Ha dovuto leggerne quattro [mp]6 Non abbiamo potuto prenderne [fp]7 Ho dovuto scriverne due [fp]8 Ho potuto leggerne solo due pagine9 Avete dovuto rifarne molti

10 Non hanno potuto assaggiarne [fs]

Unit 17 127

Exercise 5

Identify the words that can be replaced by the pronoun ci and rewrite thesentences with ci in the right place

Example Vai a Roma in aereo a Roma Ci vai in aereo

1 Abitiamo in questa casa da tre anni2 Stefano lavora al Museo di Storia Naturale da febbraio3 Volete venire alla festa di Marco4 Paola e Livia vanno al cinema due volte alla settimana5 La Signora Bini va sempre al supermercato a piedi6 Rimango in Italia per tre settimane7 Giulia viene sempre a scuola in bici8 Ho passato tre ore in coda allrsquoufficio postale9 Siete andati a cena a casa di Pietro

10 Passiamo le vacanze a Sorrento

128 Unit 17

UNIT EIGHTEENThe future tense

Use of the future

1 The future tense is of course used to refer to events which will happen inthe future as in the following examples

2 The future is also used to express probability or a guess

3 The future can also correspond to the English present progressive (lsquoIrsquomgoing to rsquo etc)

4 In general the future tense is used less in Italian than in English and it isoften possible when talking about something which we are almost sure willhappen to use the present

Venerdigrave andremo in piscinaNon so quando partirograveVerragrave anche lrsquoanno prossimo

Signora

On Friday wersquoll go to the swimming poolI donrsquot know when Irsquoll leaveWill you comebe coming again next

year( Madam)

Anna non risponde saragrave fuori

Saranno le 5La madre di Pietro avragrave 30 anniChi saragrave

Annarsquos not answering she mustshersquoll beout

Itrsquos probablyItrsquoll be about 5 orsquoclockPietrorsquos mother must be around 30Who can that be

Gli parlerograve prestoPorterograve i miei CDGli direte la veritagrave

Irsquom going to talkIrsquoll be talking to them soonIrsquom going to bringIrsquoll be bringing my CDsAre you going to tell him the truth

5 However in certain cases Italian uses the future where English uses thepresent Take this English sentence lsquoWhenIf I earnam earning good moneyIrsquoll buy a carrsquo Here lsquowhenrsquo and lsquoifrsquo actually refer to an action in the future incases like this Italian normally uses the future tense

The forms of the future indicative

6 The future endings for the three conjugations are as follows

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Partono domani

Viene anche lrsquoanno prossimoSignora

Lrsquoanno prossimo sono allrsquouniversitagrave

Theyrsquoll leaveTheyrsquore leavingtomorrow

Will you comebe coming again nextyear( Madam)

Next year Irsquoll be at university

Se guadagnerograve bene comprerograve unamacchina

Quando arriveragrave le mostreremo ilcentro commerciale

If I earnam earning good money Irsquollbuy a car

When she arrives wersquoll show her theshopping mall

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ere-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ire-irograve-irai-iragrave-iremo-irete-iranno

Parlareparlerograveparleraiparleragraveparleremoparlereteparleranno

To speakI will speakyou will speakhesheit will speakwe will speakyou will speakthey will speak

130 Unit 18

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

7 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the future inorder to keep the hard sound of c and g

Prendereprenderograveprenderai

To takegetI will takegetyou will takeget

prenderagraveprenderemoprendereteprenderanno

hesheit will takegetwe will takegetyou will takegetthey will takeget

Partirepartirogravepartiraipartiragravepartiremopartiretepartiranno

To leaveI will leaveyou will leavehesheit will leavewe will leaveyou will leavethey will leave

Dopo un mese in Italia parleraimeglio italiano

Prenderograve il treno delle 8Partiranno domani mattina presto

Domenica prossima finirograve dilavorare verso le 5

After a month in Italy yoursquoll speakItalian better

Irsquoll get the eight orsquoclock trainThey will leave early tomorrow

morningNext Sunday Irsquoll finish work at about

five

Cercarecercherogravecercheraicercheragravecercheremocercheretecercheranno

Pagarepagherogravepagheraipagheragravepagheremopagheretepagheranno

Quando arriveremo a Romacercheremo un albergo economico

Mio padre pagheragrave tutte le spese

When we arrive in Rome wersquoll lookfor a cheap hotel

My father will pay all the expenses

Unit 18 131

8 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the future

Future of some irregular verbs

9 Essere and avere are irregular

10 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

Cominciarecomincerogravecominceraicominceragrave

Mangiaremangerogravemangeraimangeragrave

cominceremocominceretecominceranno

mangeremomangeretemangeranno

Comincerograve a lavorare venerdigraveprossimo

Mangerai in mensa

Irsquoll start work(ing) next Friday

Will you eatbe eating in the canteen

Esseresarogravesaraisaragravesaremosaretesaranno

Avereavrograveavraiavragraveavremoavreteavranno

Se domenica saragrave bello lavoreremoin giardino

Se avrograve tempo ti aiuterograve

If the weather is good on Sunday wersquollwork in the garden

If Irsquove got time Irsquoll help you

Daredarogravedaraidaragravedaremodaretedaranno

Farefarogravefaraifaragravefaremofaretefaranno

Starestarogravestaraistaragravestaremostaretestaranno

132 Unit 18

11 Andare cadere (to fall) dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow thesame pattern as avere

Mia sorella daragrave una festa per ilsuo compleanno

Cosa farai dopo lrsquouniversitagrave

Domani starai meglio

My sister will giveis giving a party forher birthday

What will you doare you doing afteruniversity

Yoursquoll feel better tomorrow

Andareandrograveandraiandragraveandremoandreteandranno

Caderecadrogravecadraicadragravecadremocadretecadranno

Doveredovrogravedovraidovragravedovremodovretedovranno

Poterepotrogravepotraipotragravepotremopotretepotranno

Saperesaprogravesapraisapragravesapremosapretesapranno

Vederevedrogravevedraivedragravevedremovedretevedranno

Viverevivrogravevivraivivragravevivremovivretevivranno

Andremo alla festa solo se ciinviteranno

Il governo egrave impopolare e cadragravepresto

Credo che dovrograve partire prestoNon so se potrograve venire

Non sapremo mai la veritagraveQuando vedrai i tuoi amici

Wersquoll only go to the party if they inviteus

The government is unpopular and willsoon fall

I think Irsquoll have to leave earlyI donrsquot know whether Irsquoll be able to

comeWe will never know the truthWhen will youare you going to see

your friends

Unit 18 133

12 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere (to keephold) have the following pattern

13 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

14 As usual the negative is formed by putting non before the verb

-rrograve-rrai-rragrave

Bereberrograveberraiberragrave

Rimanererimarrograverimarrairimarragrave

Venireverrograveverraiverragrave

Volerevorrogravevorraivorragrave

Tenereterrograveterraiterragrave

-rremo-rrete-rranno

berremoberreteberranno

rimarremorimarreterimarranno

verremoverreteverranno

vorremovorretevorranno

terremoterreteterranno

Sono sicuro che mio fratello nonberragrave mai quella tisana

Quanto tempo rimarrete in ItaliaSignori Boi

Hanno detto che verranno a trovarci

Irsquom sure my brother will never drinkthat herbal tea

How long will youare you going tostay in Italy Mrs and Mr Boi

They said theyrsquoll come and see usNon so se vorrograve andare

allrsquouniversitagrave dopo il liceo

Dove terrai la bici

I donrsquot know whether Irsquoll want to goto university after secondaryschool

Where are you going to keep the bike

-urrograve-urrai-urragrave-urremo-urrete-urranno

Tradurretradurrogravetradurraitradurragravetradurremotradurretetradurranno

Carlo non parla tedesco ma uninterprete tradurragrave tutto per lui

Carlo doesnrsquot speak German but aninterpreter is going towill translateeverything for him

Non andrograve alla festaNon rimarremo moltoNon gli parlerograve mai piugrave

Irsquom not going to the partyWe wonrsquot stay longIrsquoll never speak to him again

134 Unit 18

Exercise 1

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io partire) tanto presto partirograve

Exercise 2

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io dovere) andare a scuola dovrograve

Exercise 3

Change the verbs in italics into the future

Domani mattina esco di casa presto devo prendere il treno per Firenze alle615 Arrivo a Firenze verso ora di pranzo e Lorenzo viene a prendermi alla

1 I miei amici (arrivare) domani2 Quando (voi parlare) con Maria3 (lui telefonare) domani4 Gli (tu dire) tutto5 Domani (io scrivere) ai nonni6 Domenica (io dormire) fino a

tardi7 (noi cominciare) a lavorare

domani8 Quando (tu finire) il compito9 Stasera (io prendere) lrsquoauto

10 Mi (tu chiamare)11 Dove (voi abitare)12 (loro portare) il dolce13 Cosa le (voi dire)14 Chi (tradurre) dal tedesco15 Domani (noi pagare) lrsquoaffitto16 (tu mangiare) con noi17 Mi (Lei scrivere) Signora18 Paul (cercare) casa a Torino19 Che treno (loro prendere)20 Chi (pagare)

1 (io andare) in vacanza2 (noi essere) contenti di vedervi3 Quanto tempo (tu rimanere) a

Roma4 (io venire) appena (io potere)5 (Lei dovere) partire Signora6 (lei venire) quando (lei volere)7 Domani non (noi avere) tempo8 Non so se (io potere) uscire9 Quando (tu vedere) Anna

10 (voi fare) una festa

11 Non (loro stare) a casa mia12 Non lo (lui sapere) mai13 Gli (tu fare) un regalo14 (voi essere) a casa tutto il giorno15 (voi dovere) lavorare domani16 Non (io andare) piugrave in quel bar17 Quando (tu sapere) il risultato18 Quando (tu venire) Maria19 Cosa (voi fare) domenica20 (loro tenere) il cane in giardino

Unit 18 135

stazione Prima andiamo a casa sua dove lascio i bagagli e poi andiamoinsieme a pranzo da Ernestina Nel pomeriggio vediamo Carlo che ci porta avedere la sua nuova casa Torniamo a casa di Lorenzo abbastanza prestopercheacute vengono degli amici a cena e dobbiamo preparare Dopo cena usciamoma anche se facciamo tardi non egrave un problema percheacute possiamo dormire lamattina dopo

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Who will be able to help me2 Next summer wersquoll do an Italian course3 Will you [sing] read all these books4 I wonrsquot go to the library tomorrow5 When will you arrive Signora Pasini6 On Sunday theyrsquoll go out7 What will you [sing] do8 Itrsquoll be about ten orsquoclock9 Will you [sing] bring your CDs for the party

10 Wonrsquot you [pl] come to the cinema with us

136 Unit 18

UNIT NINETEENThe past perfect tense

Use of the past perfect

1 The past perfect (or pluperfect) normally indicates a past event whichhappened before another past event as in the English lsquoI had finished shower-ing when I heard the doorbellrsquo lsquoBy the time it finished I had had enoughrsquo It isthus normally used in sentences where there is another past tense or someother reference to a past event

It is also often used on its own where a more recent event is referred to orimplied in the context

2 Sometimes when the past perfect is used on its own the event nearer to thepresent is purely implicit

Quando sono arrivato [presentperfect] avevano appena finito[past perfect] di cenare

Quel giorno ero [imperfect] moltocontenta percheacute avevo passato[past perfect] lrsquoesame

Prima di imprestare [infinitive]lrsquoauto a Marco avevo fatto[past perfect] il pieno

When I arrived they had just finisheddinner

That day I was very happy because Irsquodpassed the exam

Before lending the car to Marco Irsquodfilled up

Avevo fatto quella torta per te nonper Paolo

Tullio aveva portato i CD

Francesca era uscita

I made that tart for you not for Paolo[eg thatrsquos why Irsquom so annoyed thatPaolorsquos eaten it]

Tullio had brought the CDs [eg theones I told you we were listening to]

Francesca had gone out [eg which iswhy I didnrsquot see her last night]

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto ma prima) non ti avevo visto [ieIrsquove seen you now but I hadnrsquot before]

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito) [ie Ihadnrsquot heard you before but I have now]

Forming the past perfect

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

4 As regards agreement of the past participle the past perfect obeys exactlythe same rules as the present perfect if the auxiliary is avere the past parti-ciple does not change but if it is essere the past participle behaves like anadjective agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb as inthese examples

Scusa non ti avevo visto Egrave moltoche aspetti

Sorry I didnrsquot see you Have you beenwaiting long

Scusa non ti avevo sentito Sorry I didnrsquot hear you

Imperfect of avere(io) avevo(tu) avevi(luilei) aveva(noi) avevamo(voi) avevate(loro) avevano

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I had writtenyou had writtenhesheit had writtenwe had writtenyou had writtenthey had written

Imperfect of essere(io) ero(tu) eri(luilei) era(noi) eravamo(voi) eravate(loro) erano

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I had goneyou had gonehesheit had gonewe had goneyou had gonethey had gone

AvereLivia aveva guardato la televisioneAvevi comprato il paneAveva prenotato Signor Ferro

Livia had watched televisionHad you bought the breadHad you booked Mr Ferro

138 Unit 19

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Past perfect of avere and essere

5 Avere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary essere

EssereMonica era uscita [fs]Pietro era stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia erano rimaste a casa

[fp]Giulia e Sebastiano erano partiti

[mp]Ero andata al cinema [fs]

Eravamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando eraarrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando eraarrivata [fs]

Monica had gone outPietro had been illFabia and Silvia had stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano had left

I had beengone to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We had arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When had you arrived Mr Poli

When had you arrived Mrs Poli

avevo avutoavevi avutoaveva avutoavevamo avutoavevate avutoavevano avuto

I had hadyou had hadhesheit had hadwe had hadyou had hadthey had had

ero statostataeri statostataera statostataeravamo statistateeravate statistateerano statistate

I had beenyou had beenhesheit had beenwe had beenyou had beenthey had been

Non aveva avuto tempo di finire illavoro

Tanya aveva avuto la varicella

He hadnrsquot had time to finish the job

Tanya had had chickenpox

Unit 19 139

Negative form

6 The negative is formed in the same way as for the present perfect byplacing non before the verb

7 As with the present perfect the adverbs mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) andgiagrave (already) are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (egAvevo giagrave risposto lsquoIrsquod already repliedrsquo) With the negatives non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) non is placed before the auxiliary

Exercise 1

Supply the past perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Dove (tu comprare) quelle scarpe avevi comprato

Nina era stata malataDes era stato mio studente

Nina had been illDes had been a student of mine

Non ero andato a scuolaLisa non era riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon avevi telefonato la settimana

prima

I hadnrsquot beengone to schoolLisa hadnrsquot managed to finish that job

Had you not phoned the previousweek

Eravate mai stati su un ghiacciaioAvevi piugrave visto i tuoi amici

Non avevamo ancora preso ilbiglietto

Paola non era mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non aveva piugrave telefonato

Had you ever been on a glacierHad you (ever) seen your friends

againWe hadnrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola had never been to VeniceCarlo hadnrsquot (ever) phoned again

1 Maria (finire) di cenare2 Anna (arrivare) il giorno prima3 Scusi Signora non La (io vedere)4 (tu spegnere) la luce5 (voi prendere) il giornale6 Prima di lavorare in Italia Jim

(lavorare) in Francia

7 Hai perso la lettera che ti(scrivere) Antonio

8 Alessandro non (preparare)lrsquoesame

9 Non (tu riuscire) a finire il lavoro10 Gli (noi chiedere) dei CD11 Caterina (stare) male

140 Unit 19

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct tense of the verb inbrackets (present perfect imperfect or past perfect)

Example Carlo (raccontare) che (lui passare) lrsquoesame ma non (essere)vero Carlo ha raccontato che aveva passato lrsquoesame ma nonera vero

1 Quando (io arrivare) i miei amici (uscire) da poco2 Silvia non (conoscere) la persona che le (telefonare)3 (tu fare) un dolce Ma ti (io dire) che sono a dieta4 Ernestina (essere) stanca percheacute (camminare) molto5 Carlo non (venire) con noi percheacute (dovere) fare un lavoro che gli (loro

dare) la sera prima6 Silvio (essere) molto contento percheacute (vincere) la gara di sci7 Carla (portare) sempre la maglia che le (regalare) suo fratello8 (io comprare) i libri che mi (voi consigliare)9 Mauro (spendere) tutti i soldi che (lui guadagnare)

10 Francesca (invitare) tutti gli amici che (andare) in vacanza con lei lrsquoannoprima

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 Paola still hadnrsquot been to Scotland2 Irsquod finished the job but I was very tired3 The girls had never gone into that church4 Arianna finished the tart her grandmother had made5 lsquoWhat had you [sing] said to Fabiorsquo lsquoI hadnrsquot said anything to himrsquo6 Maria had had to stay at home7 How much had your [pl] car cost

12 (io mangiare) un panino maavevo ancora fame

13 Ti (piacere) la partita14 Cecilia (andare) in vacanza15 Le mie amiche (uscire)16 Non (io capire) nulla

17 Il treno (partire) in orario18 Sergio (rimanere) in ufficio19 Paolo non (volere) lavorare con

noi20 Gina (essere) contenta di vedermi

Unit 19 141

8 Theyrsquod bought the ticket the previous day9 I hadnrsquot got the bike any longer because Irsquod given it to Anna

10 She was born in Russia but shersquod been living in Italy for many yearswhen I met her

142 Unit 19

UNIT TWENTYReflexive pronouns

1 Reflexive pronouns correspond to lsquomyselfrsquo lsquoyourselfrsquo etc in phrases likelsquoyou flatter yourselfrsquo lsquothe catrsquos licking itselfrsquo lsquothe recorderrsquos switched itselfoffrsquo In such cases the subject and the object of the verb are the same personor thing

These examples show how the reflexive pronouns are the direct objects ofthe verbs lavare guardare and vestire and denote the same person as thesubject

There are very many verbs which can be used in the reflexive form in Italianand which do not correspond to English reflexive verbs Here is a list of someof the most common ones

Ti guardi sempre allo specchio

Mi lavoAnna si veste per la festa

You always look at yourself in themirror

I get washed [lit I wash myself]Annarsquos getting dressed for the party

[lit Annarsquos dressing herself]

addormentarsialzarsiannoiarsidimenticarsilavarsioffendersiricordarsiriposarsisbagliarsiscusarsisedersisentirsisvegliarsivestirsi

to fall asleep [lit to send oneself to sleep]to get up [lit to raise oneself]to getbe bored [lit to bore oneself]to forget [lit to forget oneself]to get washed [lit to wash oneself]to take offence [lit to offend oneself]to remember [lit to recall oneself]to rest [lit to rest oneself]to be wrongmistaken [lit to mistake oneself]to apologise [lit to excuse oneself]to sit down [lit to seat oneself]to feel (well ill etc) [lit to feel oneself]to wake up [lit to waken oneself]to get dressed [lit to dress oneself]

2 The forms of the reflexive pronouns are as follows

Note that the third person singular and plural pronoun si is the same formasculine and feminine

As can be seen from the examples reflexive pronouns are always placedbefore the verb

3 The negative is formed as usual by placing non before the pronoun

4 For the formal form the pronoun si (third person singular and plural) isused In the plural however the pronoun vi is most frequently used

5 The plural forms of the reflexive pronouns (ci vi si) are also used asreciprocal pronouns corresponding to the English lsquoeach otherrsquo

6 Reflexive pronouns can also be used in contemporary spoken Italian asindirect objects One such use is to stress that the action expressed by the verb

mitisicivisi

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

A che ora ti alzi la mattina

Paolo si sveglia sempre tardiMaria si annoiaI tuoi amici si sbagliano il

concerto non egrave staseraLe mie amiche si divertono

What time do you get up in themorning

Paolo always wakes up lateMaria is boredYour friends are wrong the concert is

not tonightMy friends are enjoying themselves

Lorenzo non si annoia maiNon ti diverti

Lorenzo never getsis never boredArenrsquot you enjoying yourself

Come si sente SignoraVi divertite Signori Rasi (Si divertono Signori Rasi)

How are you feeling MadamAre you enjoying yourselves( Mr and

Mrs Rasi)

Paolo e io non ci sopportiamoPercheacute vi guardateAlfredo e Pia non si parlano piugrave

Paolo and I canrsquot stand each otherWhy are you looking at each otherAlfredo and Pia donrsquot talk to each

other any more

144 Unit 20

is to the advantage of the subject (cf English lsquoIrsquom making myself a coffeersquo [iea coffee for myself] lsquoTheyrsquore going to have themselves some funrsquo [ie somefun for themselves])

7 Another common use of the Italian reflexive pronoun occurs in cases likethe following where English would use a possessive adjective (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquoetc) rather than a reflexive pronoun

8 When reflexive or reciprocal pronouns occur with a verb in the presentperfect (or any other compound tense) the auxiliary is always essere (even ifthe verb itself would form the past tenses with avere) and the past participlealways agrees with the subject

9 The reflexive pronouns like all unstressed pronouns can be attached tothe infinitive of a verb (mainly after dovere potere volere or sapere) Inthese sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any othercompound tense) the auxiliary is avere and the past participle does notagree

Mi mangio un paninoPercheacute non ci facciamo una partita

a cartePaolo si mangia sempre tutti i

biscotti

Irsquom going to eat a sandwichWhy donrsquot we have a game of cards

Paolo always eats all the biscuits

Mi lavo le maniTi metti il cappottoAnna si lava i capelli tutti i giorni

I wash my handsAre you going to put your coat onAnna washes her hair every day

Paolo si egrave svegliato tardiMaria si egrave annoiataVittorio a che ora ti sei alzatoPaolo e Francesca si sono sposati

Claudio e Anna si sono lavati lemani

Sabina si egrave mangiata un paninoSi sono fatti un caffegrave

Paolo woke up lateMaria got boredVittorio what time did you get upPaolo and Francesca have got

marriedClaudio and Anna washed their

handsSabina ate a sandwichThey made (themselves) a coffee

Devo alzarmi prestoMio fratello non vuole lavarsiPaolo e Francesca hanno voluto

sposarsiNon abbiamo potuto lavarci

Irsquove got to get up earlyMy brother doesnrsquot want to washPaolo and Francesca wanted to get

marriedWe couldnrsquot wash

Unit 20 145

However when the reflexive pronoun is not attached to the infinitive theauxiliary verb must be essere and the past participle does agree

Stressed forms

10 The reflexive pronouns also have stressed forms which are used like thestressed forms of other pronouns for emphasis and after a preposition Theseforms are often reinforced by the adjective stesso

Note that se does not have an accent when it is used with stesso

Exercise 1

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash alzi ti

Paolo e Francesca si sono volutisposare

Non ci siamo potuti lavareVi siete dovuti fermare per la notte

Paolo and Francesca wanted to getmarried

We couldnrsquot washDid you have to stop for the night

me or me stessostessate or te stessostessaseacute or se stessostessanoi or noi stessistessevoi or voi stessistesseseacute or se stessistesse

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Franca ama solo seacutese stessaPensi solo a tete stessoQuei due sono davvero noiosi

parlano solo di segravese stessi

Franca only loves herselfYou only think of yourselfThose two are really boring they only

talk about themselves

1 Quando mdashmdashmdash sposano2 Dove mdashmdashmdash siedo3 Nina non mdashmdashmdash veste mai di

rosso4 Come mdashmdashmdash sentite5 Nina e Bart mdashmdashmdash amano6 Dove mdashmdashmdash incontriamo

7 mdashmdashmdash lavo le mani8 Marina mdashmdashmdash guarda allo

specchio9 Silvano non mdashmdashmdash annoia mai

10 Carlo e Luca non mdashmdashmdashconoscono

11 Come mdashmdashmdash vestite

146 Unit 20

Exercise 2

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash sono alzati si

Exercise 3

Put the verbs into the present perfect

Example (tu [f] alzarsi) tardi ti sei alzata

12 Non mdashmdashmdash diverti13 mdashmdashmdash prendiamo un gelato14 Signora mdashmdashmdash sente bene15 Non mdashmdashmdash ricordate di me16 Livia e Sara mdashmdashmdash riposano

17 Paolo mdashmdashmdash sbaglia18 Come mdashmdashmdash chiami19 mdashmdashmdash scrivete spesso20 mdashmdashmdash offendono facilmente

1 Paolo mdashmdashmdash egrave offeso2 Anna mdashmdashmdash egrave arrabbiata3 Dove mdashmdashmdash siete conosciuti4 mdashmdashmdash sono alzati tardi5 Non mdashmdashmdash sei scusato con loro6 mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti subito7 Carla non mdashmdashmdash egrave messa il

cappotto8 Il bambino mdashmdashmdash egrave

addormentato9 Silvana e io mdashmdashmdash siamo viste

ieri

10 mdashmdashmdash sono mangiato un panino11 mdashmdashmdash siete vestiti molto bene12 Non mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti13 Daniela e Pino mdashmdashmdash odiano14 Quanta acqua mdashmdashmdash sei bevuto15 mdashmdashmdash sono tagliata un dito16 Percheacute mdashmdashmdash sei messo il golf 17 mdashmdashmdash facciamo una passeggiata18 Sergio non mdashmdashmdash egrave ancora

svegliato19 mdashmdashmdash sono sentita male20 mdashmdashmdash siete annoiati alla festa

1 Antonio e Lia (sposarsi)2 (tu [m] sbagliarsi)3 (voi [f] ricordare) il suo

compleanno4 Claudia (farsi) male5 (loro [m] incontrarsi) allo stadio6 (tu [m] perdersi)7 Signora non (divertirsi)8 (noi [m] bersi) un litro di acqua9 Non (io [m] annoiarsi)

10 (noi [f] alzarsi) presto

11 Non (tu [m] lavarsi) le mani12 (io [f] tagliarsi) i capelli13 Il treno (fermarsi)14 I miei zii (separarsi)15 Vittorio non (lamentarsi)16 Il professore (riposarsi)17 La professoressa (stancarsi)18 Non (tu [f] arrabbiarsi)19 (voi [m] offendersi)20 (loro [m] dimenticarsi) di noi

Unit 20 147

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences moving the pronoun and changing the auxiliary

Example Abbiamo dovuto alzarci [m] Ci siamo dovuti alzare

1 Non ho potuto lavarmi [f]2 Sandra e Roberto hanno voluto sposarsi3 Abbiamo dovuto scusarci [m]4 Luigi ha dovuto alzarsi alle sei5 Gianni non ha voluto mettersi il berretto6 Hai potuto curarti [m]7 Avete potuto riposarvi [m]8 Ho dovuto fermarmi [f]9 Percheacute hai voluto tingerti i capelli [m]

10 Non abbiamo potuto spiegarci [m]

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian using reflexivereciprocal pronouns

1 Are you [pl] enjoying yourselves2 Have you [f] washed your hands3 How are you feeling Madam4 You [pl] are wrong5 Where did you [fp] meet6 Why donrsquot you [sing] sit down7 Paolo always talks about himself8 Franca washed her hair9 Carlo apologised

10 I [f] got dressed

148 Unit 20

UNIT TWENTY-ONEThe imperative

1 The imperative is used in Italian as in English to express orders com-mands or strong requests

As well as orders and requests the imperative can also be used to expresswishes invitations encouragement and advice

Forms of the imperative

2 Regular verbs in -are -ere and -ire are conjugated as follows

GuardaEntrateChiedi a tuo padreVenga domani SignoraAndiamoDammi il libro

LookCome inAsk your fatherCome tomorrow MadamLetrsquos goGive me the book

Passa delle buone vacanzeTi ascolto dimmi tuttoNon ti preoccupareHai lrsquoaria stanca vai a letto

Have a good holidayIrsquom listening to you tell me everythingDonrsquot worryYou look tired go to bed

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Parlareparlaparliparliamoparlateparlino

To speakspeakspeaklet us speakspeakspeak

Some verbs ending in -ire add -isc- as in the present indicative (see Unit 5)

In the first person plural the meaning is more that of a suggestion than anorder made to a group of which we are part (cf the English lsquoLetrsquos have acoffeersquo) The third person singular and plural are only used for the politeform

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare keep the hard sound of c and g by addingh before the endings of the third person singular (Lei) and the first and thirdpersons plural (noi and Loro)

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Prendereprendiprendaprendiamoprendeteprendano

To takegettakegettakegetlet us takegettakegettakeget

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Partirepartipartapartiamopartitepartano

To leaveleaveleavelet us leaveleaveleave

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Finirefiniscifiniscafiniamofinitefiniscano

To finishfinishfinishlet us finishfinishfinish

Parlate con i vostri insegnantiPrendi un analgesicoPartiamo subitoFinisci il compitoPrenda la prima (strada) a destra

Speak to your teachersTake a painkillerLetrsquos leave immediatelyFinish your homeworkTake the first (street) on the right

Cercarecercacerchicerchiamocercatecerchino

Pagarepagapaghipaghiamopagatepaghino

150 Unit 21

4 Verbs ending in -iare have only one -i in the second person singular and thefirst and third persons plural

Forms of some irregular verbs

5 Essere and avere are irregular in the imperative

6 There are other verbs with irregular imperatives Here are some of the mostcommon

Cerchiamo casa in questa zonaPaghi il conto per favore Signora

Letrsquos look for a flat in this areaPay the bill please( Madam)

Cominciarecominciacomincicominciamocominciatecomincino

Mangiaremangiamangimangiamomangiatemangino

Cominci a lavorare SignoraMuoio di fame mangiamo qualcosa

Start working( Madam)Irsquom starving letrsquos eat something

Esseresiisiasiamosiatesiano

Avereabbiabbiaabbiamoabbiateabbiano

Siate gentiliAbbi pazienzaSia pronta per le 10 Signora

Be kindBe patient [lit have patience]Be ready by 10( Madam)

Daredaidarsquodiadiamodatediano

Diredirsquodicadiciamoditedicano

Farefaifarsquofacciafacciamofatefacciano

Unit 21 151

The second person singular of these verbs has two forms the form with theapostrophe is normally used with unstressed pronouns (see paragraph 10)

7 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Formal form

8 We have already seen the forms used for the polite form Care must betaken not to confuse imperative and present polite and familiar formsCompare

Starestaistarsquostiastiamostatestiano

Saperesappisappiasappiamosappiatesappiano

Andarevaivarsquovadaandiamoandatevadano

Uscireesciescausciamousciteescano

Venirevienivengaveniamovenitevengano

Berebevibevabeviamobevetebevano

State attentiFaifarsquo il compitoVieni subito quiVenga avanti SignoraSappi che io non sono drsquoaccordo

Dirsquo la veritagrave

Pay attention [lit be attentive]Do your homeworkCome here at onceCome forward( Madam)I want you to know that I donrsquot agree

[lit know that I donrsquot agree]Tell the truth

-uci-uca-uciamo-ucete-ucano

Tradurretraducitraducatraduciamotraducetetraducano

Traduciamo insieme queste frasi

Traduca per favore

Letrsquos translate these sentencestogether

Translate please

152 Unit 21

In the plural as usual the second person is more commonly used than thethird

Negative form

9 For the second person singular the negative is formed with the infinitive ofthe verb preceded by non For the other persons the usual rule applies andnon precedes the form of the imperative As an example here is the negativeconjugation of parlare

familiarformal

(tu)(Lei)

Imperativeparlaparli

Presentparliparla

familiarformalfamiliarformal

(tu)(Lei)(tu)(Lei)

leggileggaescifinisciescafinisca

leggileggeescifinisciescefinisce

Parla col direttore [familiarimperative]

Parli col direttore Signora [formalimperative]

Parli col direttore [familiarpresent]

Parla col direttore Signora [formalpresent]

Speak to the manager

Speak to the manager( Madam)

Are you speaking to the manager

Are you speaking to the manager(Madam)

Parlate col controllore (Parlino col controllore)Abbiate pazienza Signori (Abbiano pazienza Signori)

Speak to the conductor

Be patient (ladies and) gentlemen

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

non parlarenon parlinon parliamonon parlatenon parlino

Non essere scorteseNon dite bugieNon avere fretta

Donrsquot be rudeDonrsquot tell liesDonrsquot rush

Unit 21 153

Position of unstressed pronouns

10 When the imperative is used in an affirmative sentence with an unstressedpronoun (direct object indirect object reflexive ne ci) the pronoun is alwaysattached to the verb if it is in a second person form (tu or voi) or the firstperson plural form (noi)

Note that when an unstressed pronoun is used with the forms darsquo farsquo dirsquo starsquoand varsquo (see paragraph 6) the first consonant of the pronoun (except gli) isdoubled

In negative sentences there is an extra option the pronoun can be placedbefore the verb (and after non)

11 In the polite form (third person singular and plural Lei and Loro) thepronouns are always placed before the verb

Quel libro egrave per te prendiloChiediamole aiutoSe hai dei problemi parlane

Alzatevi ragazziTelefonagli (or Telefona loro ndash see

Unit 10 paragraph 2)

That book is for you take itLetrsquos ask her for helpIf you are having problems talk about

themGet up boysPhone them

Se sai la veritagrave dillaDammi la pennaDanne un porsquo a tuo fratelloFammi un piacereVallo a comprareVacci subitoDille la veritagraveDigli la veritagrave

If you know the truth tell itGive me the penGive some to your brotherDo me a favourGo and buy itGo there at onceTell her the truthTell him the truth

Non lo prendere or Non prenderloNon le chiediamo aiuto or Non

chiediamole aiutoNon ne parlare or Non parlarneNon vi alzate or Non alzatevi

Donrsquot take itLetrsquos not ask her for help

Donrsquot talk about itDonrsquot get up

Quel libro egrave per Lei lo prendaLe scriva una mailNe parlino al controlloreSi alzi Signora

That book is for you take itWrite her an emailSpeak to the conductor about itGet up( Madam)

154 Unit 21

Exercise 1

Supply the imperative of the verb in brackets

Example (tu pagare) il conto paga

Exercise 2

Supply the polite form for these sentences

Example Paga il conto paghi

Exercise 3

Change the imperatives into the negative

Examples Dormi Non dormire Alzati Non alzarti or Non ti alzare

1 (tu comprare) il pane2 (noi uscire) subito3 (Lei stare) tranquilla Signora4 (tu mettere) in ordine5 (voi essere) gentili6 (Lei venire) Professore7 (tu dare) una mano a tuo fratello8 (tu finire) i compiti9 (comprare) questa borsa Signora

10 (noi fare) una pausa

11 (tu avere) fiducia in lei12 (Lei parlare) piugrave forte Signora13 (tu andare) fuori14 (tu dire) tutto quello che sai15 (Lei fare) attenzione Signora16 (voi scrivere) le cartoline17 (tu fare) attenzione18 (Loro entrare) Signori19 (voi aprire) le finestre20 (tu rispondere) al telefono

1 Chiudi la porta per favore2 Vai al terzo piano3 Sorridi4 Dirsquo tutto5 Fai presto

6 Sii paziente7 Traduci per favore8 Accendi la luce9 Stai fermo

10 Entra

1 Partite subito2 Rispondi alla sua domanda3 Andate in discoteca4 Scenda Signora5 Usciamo6 Finisci i biscotti7 Ascolta

8 Prenda quella strada9 Telefona a Giuseppe

10 Dirsquo quello che pensi11 Tagliati i capelli12 Dalle il libro13 Parlagli14 Scrivetemi

Unit 21 155

Exercise 4

Change the imperatives into the affirmative

Examples Non parlate Parlate Non mi guardare Guardami

Exercise 5

Change the verb into the imperative and replace the words in italics with theappropriate pronoun

Example Devi dire la veritagrave Dilla

15 Dillo16 Invitali17 Prendilo

18 Mettiti il berretto19 Portatele dei fiori20 Fallo

1 Non andare in piscina2 Non prendete lrsquoautobus3 Non invitare Giacomo4 Non guardiamo quel film5 Non cominciare6 Non faccia la spesa al mercato7 Non mettano lrsquoauto in garage8 Non fare cosigrave9 Non andare al parco

10 Non stare sul balcone

11 Non mandarmi una cartolina12 Non fatelo13 Non darmi i tuoi libri14 Non mi rispondere15 Non ci andare16 Non lo mangiate17 Non lo leggete18 Non ci aspetti Professore19 Non dirgli il tuo nome20 Non darle il tuo indirizzo

1 Dovete parlare a Laura2 Devi prendere i libri3 Signora deve firmare il foglio4 Dovete parlare del problema5 Dobbiamo andare al

supermercato6 Devi fare gli esercizi7 Dovete restare a scuola8 Dobbiamo chiedere il permesso9 Devi correggere gli sbagli

10 Dovete prendere il treno

11 Signori devono aspettare il tram12 Devi mandare gli auguri13 Dovete comprare la frutta14 Signor Rossi deve portare una

foto15 Dovete aiutare i vostri amici16 Devi rendere il libro17 Dobbiamo chiedere a Lina18 Devi telefonare ai nonni19 Devi bere del caffegrave20 Dovete studiare filosofia

156 Unit 21

UNIT TWENTY-TWOThe pronoun si

The pronoun si is used as an impersonal subject either in sentences without aspecified subject or in sentences with a passive meaning In both it is alwaysput before the verb

Si in sentences where the subject is not specified

1 Si is used as an impersonal subject in sentences where the subject is notspecified It corresponds to the English lsquoonersquo or lsquoyoursquo (as in lsquoOne neverknowsYou never know whatrsquos just round the cornerrsquo) or lsquotheyrsquo meaning anumber of unspecified people (as in lsquoThey eat kangaroo in Australiarsquo)When si is used in this way the verb is always in the third personsingular

As the examples suggest si is often used for rules or general advice

2 With verbs like essere diventare sembrare etc followed by a noun or anadjective si requires the noun to be plural (even though the verb is alwayssingular) and the adjective to be masculine plural

Si esce da questa portalsquoSono stato al marersquo lsquoSi vede sei

abbronzatorsquoSi paga alla cassaCrsquoegrave stato un incidente e non si

passaAllrsquoostello della gioventugrave si spende

menoPer andare al museo si passa da

piazza Garibaldi

You go out by this doorlsquoIrsquove been at the seasidersquo lsquoIt shows [lit

one sees] yoursquove got a tanrsquoYou payOne pays at the tillTherersquos been an accident and you canrsquot

get throughYou spend less in a youth hostel

To get to the museum you go throughpiazza Garibaldi

Si in sentences with a passive meaning

3 Si is also used as an impersonal subject in sentences which have a passivemeaning like this one lsquoIn Nuova Zelanda si parla inglesersquo The correspond-ing sentence in English would have either a passive verb (lsquoEnglish is spoken inNew Zealandrsquo) or an impersonal one (lsquoOne speaksThey speak English inNew Zealandrsquo)

In this type of sentence the verb can be in either the third person singularor the third person plural The singular is used if the noun that accompaniesthe verb is singular

The plural is used when the noun that accompanies the verb is plural

Quando si egrave studenti si egrave poveriSe si mangia troppo si diventa

grassiQuando si egrave malati si rimane a

casaQuando si egrave giovani si egrave ottimistiSe si veste in nero si sembra magri

When one is a student one is poorIf you eat too much you get fat

When you are ill you stay at home

When one is young one is an optimistIf you dress in black you look slim

Il biglietto [sing] si prendeallrsquoingresso

Il sale [sing] si compra intabaccheria

Al mercato si vende la frutta [sing]migliore

Si deve lavare lrsquoinsalata [sing]prima di mangiarla

In biblioteca si puograve leggere ilgiornale [sing]

The ticket is obtainedYou get yourticket at the door

Salt is boughtYou buy salt at thetobacconistrsquos

The best fruit is sold at the market

Lettuce should be washed before youeat itYou should wash lettucebefore eating it

In the library you can read the paperThe paper can be read in the library

Anche le cartoline [pl] si compranoin tabaccheria

I lamponi [pl] si mangiano inestate

In vacanza si fanno molte fotografie[pl]

Si devono comprare i biglietti [pl]in anticipo

In quel Cine Club si possono vederemolti film [pl]

Postcards are also boughtYou alsobuy postcards at the tobacconistrsquos

Raspberries are eaten in summer

A lot of pictures are taken on holidayOn holiday you take a lot ofpictures

Tickets should be purchased inadvance

A lot of films can be seenYou can seea lot of films at that cine club

158 Unit 22

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

Si used with the auxiliary essere

5 When si occurs with a verb in the present perfect (or any compound tense)the auxiliary is essere the past participle must therefore agree with the subjectof the passive verb

The same applies when si is not used in a passive function but purely as animpersonal subject (lsquoonersquo lsquoyoursquo lsquotheyrsquo etc)

Si used with reflexive verbs

6 When si is used with a reflexive verb the reflexive or reciprocal pronoun isci not si the resulting form is thus ci si

Non si fuma in aereo

Non si devono aprire le finestre

Therersquos no smoking [lit one does notsmoke] in planes

The windows mustnrsquot be openedOnemustnrsquot open the windows

Su questo argomento si sono scrittimolti libri

In Piemonte si egrave sempre prodottodel buon vino

In questa scuola si sono semprecominciate le lezioni alle 8

Quando si egrave finita lrsquouniversitagrave sicerca lavoro

Many books have been written on thissubject

In Piedmont good wine has alwaysbeen producedthey have alwaysproduced good wine

In this school lessons have always(been) started at eight orsquoclock

When university has been finishedWhen you have finished universityyou look for a job

Quando non si egrave riusciti a risolvereun problema non si egrave soddisfatti

Dopo che si egrave stati malati si egravesempre deboli

When one hasnrsquot managed to solve aproblem one is dissatisfied

Yoursquore always weak when yoursquove beenill

A volte in vacanza ci si annoiaSe in vacanza ci si egrave annoiati si egrave

contenti di tornare a scuola

Sometimes you get bored on holidayIf yoursquove been bored in the holidays

yoursquore glad to go back to school

Unit 22 159

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb

Examples Dal balcone si (vedere) le montagne vedono A Natale si(mangiare) il panettone mangia

1 Si (fare) attenzione quando si (attraversare) la strada2 In Svizzera si (parlare) tre lingue3 Di domenica non si (lavorare)4 Negli uffici pubblici non si (fumare)5 Si (dovere) aiutare gli anziani6 In quella discoteca non si (entrare) con le scarpe da ginnastica7 Certi segreti non si (potere) mantenere8 Per entrare nel centro della cittagrave si (pagare) un pedaggio9 In quel bosco si (trovare) molti funghi

10 Al mercato si (comprare) la verdura piugrave fresca

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences with the correct form of the verbs and the adjectives ornouns in brackets

Examples Quando si (essere malato) si (andare) a letto Quando si egravemalati si va a letto Quando si (essere studente) si (dovere)studiare Quando si egrave studenti si deve studiare

1 Quando si (avere) freddo (lavorare) male2 Quando si (avere) la febbre si (restare) a casa3 Quando si (cominciare) a studiare una lingua si (fare) degli sbagli4 Quando si (guidare) non si (usare) il cellulare5 Quando si (avere) fame si (mangiare)6 Quando si (essere stanco) si (fare) molti sbagli7 Quando si (essere avvocato) si (conoscere) la legge8 Quando non si (avere) soldi non si (fare) spese inutili9 Quando si (avere) tanti amici si (essere fortunato)

10 Quando si (mangiare) troppi dolci si (ingrassare)

Quando ci si alza presto la giornatasembra troppo lunga

When you get up early the day seemstoo long

160 Unit 22

Exercise 3

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si

Examples Non devi mangiare con le mani Non si mangia con le maniNon devi raccogliere i fiori Non si raccolgono i fiori

1 Non devi mettere i piedi sulla scrivania2 La mattina devi fare colazione3 Dopo pranzo devi lavare i piatti4 Non devi parlare con gli sconosciuti5 Non devi andare in bicicletta sul marciapiedi6 Non devi mangiare durante le lezioni7 Non devi guardarti tanto allo specchio8 In biblioteca devi parlare a bassa voce9 Non devi guardare la televisione tutto il giorno

10 Il giorno prima degli esami devi studiare

Exercise 4

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si Payattention to the use of the past tense

Example QuandoDopo che hai parcheggiato lrsquoauto in salita devimettere il freno a mano QuandoDopo che si egrave parcheggiatalrsquoauto in salita si deve mettere il freno a mano

1 Dopo che hai fatto il bagno in mare fai la doccia2 Dopo che hai superato un esame sei contento3 Dopo che hai finito di lavorare vai a casa4 Dopo che sei salito sullrsquoaereo non puoi usare il cellulare5 Quando sei cresciuto in campagna conosci i nomi di tante piante

Unit 22 161

UNIT TWENTY-THREEThe present conditional

Use of the present conditional

1 The present conditional expresses an action which depends on a conditionas in this English example lsquoIf I could I would go at oncersquo In this example thecondition is expressed with lsquoifrsquo (ie lsquoon condition thatrsquo) The present con-ditional is often used even when the condition is not actually mentioned asin lsquoIrsquom sure she would love a night outrsquo Basically the use of the Italianpresent conditional is similar to the English

The present conditional in Italian can express wishes or intentions opinionsor advice requests in polite form doubts and conjectures

The forms of the present conditional

2 The present conditional is formed in the same way as the future but withdifferent endings

Vorrei ballare tutta la seraMi daresti un passaggioFareste meglio restare a casa

I would like to dance all nightWould you give me a liftYoursquod do better to stay at home

Prenderei un caffegravePotreste andare a piediMi daresti una manoSapresti fare questo lavoroQuesta potrebbe essere la soluzione

Irsquod like a coffeeYou could go on footWouldcould you give me a handWould you know how to do that jobThis could be the solution

Be sure not to confuse the spelling of these endings (all with -emmo) withthe corresponding ones of the future (all with -emo)

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)

-are-erei-eresti

-ere-erei-eresti

-ire-irei-iresti

(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-irebbe-iremmo-ireste-irebbero

Parlareparlereiparlerestiparlerebbeparleremmoparleresteparlerebbero

To speakI would speakyou would speakhesheit would speakwe would speakyou would speakthey would speak

Prendereprendereiprenderestiprenderebbeprenderemmoprenderesteprenderebbero

To takegetI would takeyou would takehesheit would takewe would takeyou would takethey would take

Finirefinireifinirestifinirebbefiniremmofinirestefinirebbero

To finishI would finishyou would finishhesheit would finishwe would finishyou would finishthey would finish

Con Marco parleresti italianoScriverei una cartolina alla ziaFiniremmo questo lavoro prima di

partire

With Marco you would speak ItalianI would write a postcard to my auntWersquod finish this job before leaving

Unit 23 163

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the presentconditional in order to keep the hard sound of c and g

4 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the present conditional

Present conditional of some irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are grouped in the same way as for the future tense

5 Essere and avere are irregular

Cercarecerchereicercheresticercherebbecercheremmocercherestecercherebbero

Pagarepaghereipagherestipagherebbepagheremmopagherestepagherebbero

Al suo posto cercherei un altrolavoro

La Signora pagherebbe il conto

If I were him [lit in his place] Irsquod lookfor another job

The lady would pay the bill

Cominciarecomincereicominceresticomincerebbecominceremmocomincerestecomincerebbero

Mangiaremangereimangerestimangerebbemangeremmomangerestemangerebbero

Senza di lui non cominceremmo lariunione

Mangeresti la carne di canguro

We wouldnrsquot start the meeting withouthim

Would you eat kangaroo meat

Esseresareisarestisarebbesaremmosarestesarebbero

Avereavreiavrestiavrebbeavremmoavresteavrebbero

Sarei contenta di rivedere CarloAvresti un minuto per me

I would be happy to see Carlo againCould you spare me a minute [lit

would you have a minute for me]

164 Unit 23

6 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

7 Andare cadere dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow the samepattern as avere

8 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere have the following pattern

dareidarestidarebbedaremmodarestedarebbero

fareifarestifarebbefaremmofarestefarebbero

stareistarestistarebbestaremmostarestestarebbero

Darei una festaMi faresti un favoreAl posto tuo starei tranquillo

I would give a partyWould you do me a favourI wouldnrsquot worry if I were you [lit in

your place Irsquod be calm]

andreiandrestiandrebbeandremmoandresteandrebbero

cadreicadresticadrebbecadremmocadrestecadrebbero

dovreidovrestidovrebbedovremmodovrestedovrebbero

potreipotrestipotrebbepotremmopotrestepotrebbero

sapreisaprestisaprebbesapremmosaprestesaprebbero

vedreivedrestivedrebbevedremmovedrestevedrebbero

vivreivivrestivivrebbevivremmovivrestevivrebbero

Quando andreste in vacanzaDomenica dovrei lavorarePotresti aiutarmi

When would you go on holidayOn Sunday I ought to workYou could help me [ie why arenrsquot

you helping me]

-rrei-rresti-rrebbe-rremmo-rreste-rrebbero

berreiberrestiberrebbeberremmoberresteberrebbero

rimarreirimarrestirimarrebberimarremmorimarresterimarrebbero

verreiverrestiverrebbeverremmoverresteverrebbero

vorreivorrestivorrebbevorremmovorrestevorrebbero

terreiterrestiterrebbeterremmoterresteterrebbero

Unit 23 165

The present conditional of volere is often used to expresses wishes andrequests in a polite form corresponding to the English lsquowould likersquo

9 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the verb

Exercise 1

Supply the present conditional of the verb in brackets

Example Stasera non (io uscire) uscirei

Rimarrei ancora un porsquo con voi madevo prendere il treno

Verresti al cinema con me

Vorrei un caffegraveVorrei anche un chilo di mele

I would stay with you a bit longer butIrsquove got to get the train

Would you come to the cinema withme

Irsquod like a coffeeIrsquod like a kilo of apples as well

-urrei-urresti-urrebbe-urremmo-urreste-urrebbero

tradurreitradurrestitradurrebbetradurremmotradurrestetradurrebbero

Lrsquointerprete tradurrebbe tutto per te The interpreter would translateeverything for you

Non capiresti nullaNon vorremmo partireNon tradurrei cosigrave

You wouldnrsquot understand a thingWe wouldnrsquot want to leaveI wouldnrsquot translate (it) like that

1 (tu leggere) quel libro di nuovo2 (io potere) aiutarvi3 (voi avere) voglia di uscire4 Mi (tu svegliare)5 (loro volere) venire a cena6 (tu pagare) anche per me

7 Non (io fare) quel lavoro8 (noi dovere) studiare9 (tu sapere) guidare un trattore

10 Claudia (rimanere) a casa11 Al posto tuo non (io aprire) la

porta

166 Unit 23

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences changing the italicised verbs into the presentconditional

Example Veniamo volentieri Verremmo volentieri

1 Voglio due panini2 Dovete studiare di piugrave3 Lucia va in vacanza4 Fate una pausa5 Possiamo parlarti6 Maurizio cambia lavoro7 Mi dai un consiglio8 Vi piace andare a Venezia9 I nostri amici devono arrivare oggi

10 Non esce mai senza permesso

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian using the present conditional

1 Paola could help me2 We would gladly come3 I wouldnrsquot go to the library in the evenings4 When would you start Signora Vialli5 Pietro would like to invite you [sing] to the party6 Wersquod be happy to see you [pl]7 They would keep the dog in the garden8 I would have to leave early9 Irsquod like another biscuit

10 Would you know the result Mr Spadavecchia

12 (tu dovere) telefonare a Pia13 A Liz (piacere) vivere in Italia14 Mi (potere) aspettare Signora15 Mauro (essere) la persona giusta16 Mi (voi dare) un passaggio17 (io bere) volentieri qualcosa

18 Non (loro abitare) mai in una casacome questa

19 Chi (tradurre) dallrsquoarabo20 (tu accompagnare) Silvia alla

stazione

Unit 23 167

KEY TO EXERCISES

UNIT 1

Exercise 1

1 m 2 f 3 m 4 f 5 f 6 m 7 m 8 m 9 m 10 mf 11 m 12 f13 mf 14 m 15 f 16 f 17 mf 18 m 19 m 20 f

Exercise 2

1 ragazzi 2 marche 3 chiavi 4 abitanti 5 zii 6 fiumi 7 stazioni8 ragazze 9 energie 10 pomeriggi 11 banche 12 pianisti 13 clienti14 indirizzi 15 occhi 16 ristoranti 17 televisioni 18 calendari19 francesi 20 laghi

Exercise 3

1 nome 2 via 3 figlio 4 mano 5 opinione 6 cliente 7 occhio 8 per-sona 9 marca 10 problema 11 ciliegia 12 caffegrave 13 medico14 attivista 15 ginocchio 16 bugia 17 tedesco 18 test 19 uomo20 amica

UNIT 2

Exercise 1

1 la 2 la 3 il 4 la 5 lrsquo or le 6 il 7 i 8 lrsquo 9 lo 10 gli 11 le12 lo or gli 13 lrsquo 14 la 15 la or le 16 gli 17 le 18 le 19 la or le20 lrsquo

Exercise 2

1 una 2 una 3 un 4 uno 5 una 6 un 7 unrsquo 8 una 9 un 10 uno

11 unrsquo 12 uno 13 una 14 unrsquo 15 uno 16 un 17 uno 18 un19 uno 20 unrsquo

Exercise 3

1 lo 2 una 3 le 4 unrsquo 5 la 6 il 7 unrsquo 8 lrsquo un 9 il 10 lo

UNIT 3

Exercise 1

1 interessante 2 bianca 3 bianchi 4 rosse 5 egoisti 6 bellrsquo7 razzista 8 comiche 9 simpatiche 10 lunghi 11 quel simpatico12 questi facili 13 quei begli 14 queste belle 15 quegli morti16 questi inglesi 17 quelle spagnole 18 quel bellrsquo 19 quelle fresche20 quei greci

Exercise 2

1 grande 2 rosa 3 francesi 4 grave 5 pacifisti 6 tedesche 7 pigro8 lunghi 9 belghe 10 belga 11 sporche 12 energico 13 resistenti14 blu 15 scozzesi 16 veloci 17 simpatiche 18 italiani 19 ottimisti20 soddisfatti

Exercise 3

1 i loro 2 i suoi 3 la mia 4 le tue 5 la vostra 6 il nostro 7 i miei 8 laloro 9 tua 10 la Sua

Exercise 4

1 il suo 2 la nostra 3 i tuoi 4 il mio 5 i suoi 6 le tue or le Sue 7 laloro 8 i vostri or i Loro 9 le sue 10 i nostri

Exercise 5

1 questi i nostri tedeschi 2 i Suoi ottimisti 3 queste le vostre 4 i miei iSuoi 5 questi i miei quelli i tuoi 6 il nostro entusiasta il vostro7 quelle le mie queste le tue 8 quegli divertenti questo difficile 9 i mieipesanti i vostri leggeri 10 quellrsquo minerale gassata questa liscia

Key to exercises 169

UNIT 4

Exercise 1

1 siamo 2 sei 3 sono 4 sono 5 siete 6 egrave 7 egrave 8 sono 9 siete10 siamo 11 sono 12 siete 13 egrave 14 sono 15 sei 16 egrave 17 egrave18 sono 19 siete 20 egrave

Exercise 2

1 abbiamo 2 ha 3 ho 4 hanno 5 avete 6 ha 7 ha 8 hai9 abbiamo 10 hai 11 avete 12 ha 13 abbiamo 14 hanno 15 hai16 ha 17 hanno 18 hai 19 ho 20 ha

Exercise 3

1 Non ho ragione Ho ragione 2 Il professore non ha caldo Il professoreha caldo 3 La Signorina Berti non ha sete La Signorina Berti ha sete4 Lei non ha sonno Lei ha sonno 5 Non avete paura Avete paura6 Non hanno freddo Hanno freddo 7 Carla e Andrea non hanno fameCarla e Andrea hanno fame

Exercise 4

1 Sono stanco Non sono stanco 2 Sei pigra Non sei pigra 3 Il dottore egravegiovane Il dottore non egrave giovane 4 La professoressa egrave simpatica La profes-soressa non egrave simpatica 5 Lei egrave alto Lei non egrave alto 6 Siamo magre Nonsiamo magre 7 Siete intelligenti Non siete intelligenti 8 Le tue amichesono contente Le tue amiche non sono contente

Exercise 5

1 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una sedia 2 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono due poltrone 3 Nellrsquouf-ficio ci sono tre computer 4 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una stampante 5 Nellrsquoufficiocrsquoegrave un telefono 6 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave la fotocopiatrice 7 Nellrsquoufficio ci sonodue radiatori 8 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una porta 9 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono trefinestre

Exercise 6

1 In questo paese crsquoegrave un museo ci sono tre musei non ci sono musei 2 Inquesto paese crsquoegrave una discoteca ci sono due discoteche non ci sono disco-teche 3 In questo paese crsquoegrave una panetteria ci sono quattro panetterie nonci sono panetterie 4 In questo paese crsquoegrave un cinema ci sono due cinemanon ci sono cinema 5 In questo paese crsquoegrave una biblioteca ci sono due

170 Key to exercises

biblioteche non ci sono biblioteche 6 In questo paese crsquoegrave una scuola cisono due scuole non ci sono scuole 7 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ufficio postaleci sono due uffici postali non ci sono uffici postali 8 In questo paese crsquoegraveuna libreria ci sono quattro librerie non ci sono librerie 9 In questo paesecrsquoegrave un giardino pubblico ci sono tre giardini pubblici non ci sono giardinipubblici 10 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ristorante ci sono sei ristoranti non cisono ristoranti

UNIT 5

Exercise 1

1 arriva 2 vive 3 mangiamo 4 cerchi 5 prendete 6 parte 7 leg-giamo 8 pulisci 9 conosco 10 finiscono 11 guidiamo 12 giochiamo13 tornate 14 capisci 15 spendono 16 abita 17 pagate 18 viaggi19 ricevi 20 lasciano

Exercise 2

1 vanno 2 produce 3 diamo 4 vai 5 fate 6 riusciamo 7 venite8 posso 9 vogliono 10 dici 11 potete 12 voglio 13 stai 14 sanno15 fanno 16 devono 17 traduciamo 18 deve 19 sapete 20 vengono

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlare con Marcello 2 Partiamo stasera 3 Prendiamo il pros-simo autobus 4 (Lei) puograve andare al cinema Signor Buchan 5 Sappiamousare quei cellulari 6 Preferisce sempre leggere il giornale 7 Il bam-bino dorme 8 Vengo a Torino questrsquoestate 9 Escono spesso la sera10 I ragazzi giocano a pallone domani

Exercise 4

1 Esci stasera mamma 2 Cosa facciamo domani 3 Puoi aprire quellaporta 4 Vuoi un caffegrave 5 Sai suonare il piano Francesco 6 Cosa cer-chi 7 (Lei) beve caffegrave o acqua minerale Signora 8 Tu e Jim conoscetei miei genitori 9 Stai bene oggi 10 Cosa costruiscono

Exercise 5

1 (Lei) non parla inglese Signora Vialli 2 I miei amici tedeschi non sannocantare in italiano 3 Non guadagno molto 4 Non dagrave una festa per il suocompleanno 5 Non lavori con Giulia 6 Non vedono il Signor Moro datre anni 7 Percheacute non vai mai a Firenze Claudio 8 Non riesco a chiudere

Key to exercises 171

questa finestra 9 Percheacute non bevete caffegrave stamattina 10 Non venitedomani

UNIT 6

Exercise 1

1 dolcemente 2 tranquillamente 3 semplicemente 4 allegramente5 maggiormente 6 irregolarmente 7 probabilmente 8 chiaramente9 facilmente 10 velocemente 11 lentamente 12 utilmente13 attentamente 14 rapidamente 15 leggermente

Exercise 2

1 molti 2 molto 3 pochi 4 troppo 5 troppi 6 tanta 7 troppo8 molto 9 poco 10 molte 11 poco 12 molto 13 molto 14 pochi15 molto 16 poca 17 molta 18 molto 19 troppe 20 poche

Exercise 3

1 con prudenza 2 con pazienza 3 in modo nervoso 4 a poco a poco5 senza esitazione 6 di solito 7 in tempo 8 con coraggio 9 di sicuro10 in maniera brusca

Exercise 4

1 A volte mangio in mensa 2 La piscina egrave abbastanza grande 3 Usciamospesso con i nostri amici 4 Hai abbastanza soldi 5 Devi parlare lenta-mente or piano 6 Marina non mangia mai (il) formaggio 7 Francescaarriva sempre tardi or in ritardo 8 Aspetto da quasi quaranta minuti9 Carla e Andrea sono fuori 10 I tuoi genitori stanno bene

UNIT 7

Exercise 1

1 Anna la guarda 2 Li invitiamo 3 Le scrivete 4 Lo leggono 5 Lasuono 6 La preparo 7 Lo chiamo 8 Li faccio 9 Le invito 10 Lechiudete 11 Lorenzo li corregge 12 Lo prendono 13 Li porto 14 Licerco 15 Pia la beve 16 Paola lo finisce 17 Li accompagno 18 Le vedioggi 19 La ascolto 20 Luca li lava

172 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 Non le voglio 2 Non li compriamo 3 Non ci chiamano 4 Silvia non liinvita 5 I Signori Bianchi non lo prendono 6 Non mi invitate 7 Non viaspetto 8 Non la vedo domani 9 Non ti accompagno alla stazione10 Non lo guardiamo

Exercise 3

1 Vogliamo vederlo 2 Non posso aiutarti 3 Puoi accompagnarmi4 Vuoi sentirla 5 Devono chiamarci 6 Voglio invitarvi 7 Vuole cono-scerle 8 Non potete farli 9 Devi ascoltarmi 10 Non posso aiutarLaSignora

Exercise 4

1 lo 2 le 3 li 4 li 5 la 6 mi 7 li 8 La 9 li 10 le 11 la 12 li13 la 14 vi 15 lo 16 la 17 la 18 li 19 le 20 lo

Exercise 5

1 Vi invitiamo alla festa 2 Ho molti amici e li vedo spesso 3 Signora FusiLa posso chiamare or posso chiamarLa domani 4 Ci aiuti la settimanaprossima 5 Ti devo vedere or Devo vederti 6 Olga e Anna partono doma-ni e le voglio accompagnareportare or voglio accompagnarleportarle allastazione 7 Non vi posso aiutare or non posso aiutarvi 8 lsquoPorti la chi-tarrarsquo lsquoNo non ce lrsquohorsquo 9 Tullio compra queste riviste e le legge 10 Mipuoi portareaccompagnare or puoi portarmiaccompagnarmi a scuoladomani

UNIT 8

Exercise 1

1 della mamma 2 dello zio 3 degli amici 4 del parco 5 dellrsquoauto 6 deipaesi 7 delle stanze 8 al mare 9 allo stadio 10 alla stazione 11 airagazzi 12 agli uomini 13 alle donne 14 allrsquoospedale 15 dalla zia16 dallo studente 17 dal dentista 18 dallrsquoaeroporto 19 dagli uffici20 dalle colleghe 21 dai ministri 22 nellrsquoalbergo 23 nello stipendio24 nella casa 25 negli anni 26 nei cassetti 27 nelle camere 28 nelfrigo 29 sul tavolo 30 sulla sedia 31 sullo scaffale 32 sulle spalle33 sui libri 34 sugli alberi 35 sullrsquoidea

Key to exercises 173

Exercise 2

1 a 2 in 3 al 4 fra or tra 5 da 6 alla 7 con 8 dal 9 del 10 ai11 a in 12 al con 13 nel 14 alle 15 da 16 alle 17 per 18 con19 del 20 a

Exercise 3

1 a 2 in 3 a in 4 a 5 di 6 al 7 a 8 a 9 da a 10 da 11 a12 in 13 in 14 alla 15 a or per 16 al 17 della 18 in 19 nella 20 di

Exercise 4

1 Finisco di lavorare alle 6 2 Antonio parte per Genova 3 Gemma egrave natanel 2001 4 Fabia non esce mai di sera 5 I Signori Bancroft abitano incampagna in una vecchia villa 6 La biblioteca egrave dietro la palestra 7 Nonpuoi uscire senza di me 8 Abitate lontano dalla scuola 9 La zia di Isa-bella vive a Greve in Toscana 10 Ha una gonna di pelle 11 Angus egrave diEdimburgo in Scozia 12 Deve girare a destra dopo la chiesa( Signora)13 Stasera mangiamo in pizzeria 14 Questi fiori sono per tua madre 15 Aor per Natale andiamo a sciare in montagna 16 Abito vicino alla pri-gione 17 Margaret vive a Torino da cinque anni 18 Il treno per Aostaparte dal binario 7 19 Regaliamo or diamo a Luisa un CD di musicarussa 20 Compro sempre il pane da Belli

UNIT 9

Exercise 1

1 chi 2 chi 3 chi 4 che or cosa or che cosa 5 che or cosa or che cosa6 chi 7 chi 8 che or cosa or che cosa 9 chi 10 che or cosa or che cosa11 chi 12 che or cosa or che cosa 13 chi 14 chi 15 che or cosa or checosa 16 chi 17 che or cosa or che cosa 18 chi 19 che or cosa or checosa 20 chi

Exercise 2

1 dove 2 quando 3 percheacute 4 come 5 quando 6 che 7 che or quale8 dovrsquo 9 percheacute 10 qual 11 che or quale 12 che or quale 13 come14 dove 15 percheacute 16 dovrsquo 17 quando 18 qual 19 percheacute 20 che orquali

174 Key to exercises

Exercise 3

1 quante 2 quanto 3 quanti 4 quanti 5 quante 6 quanta 7 quanto8 quante 9 quanti 10 quanto 11 quanta 12 quanto 13 quanti14 quanto 15 quanto 16 quante 17 quanto 18 quante 19 quanti20 quanto

Exercise 4

1 Quanti panini volete 2 Dove andate a pranzo 3 Chi sono quelle per-sone 4 CheCosaChe cosa fai domenica 5 Quando andate in vacanza6 Percheacute Luisa non parte 7 Qual egrave la tua bici 8 CheQuale film guardi9 Chi di loro egrave italianoitaliana 10 Quando arriva il treno

UNIT 10

Exercise 1

1 Le telefoniamo 2 Gli spedisco or spedisco loro le cartoline 3 Silvia gliracconta una storia 4 Le regalo un libro 5 Anna gli scrive or scrive loro6 Le porto i fiori 7 Gli scriviamo or scriviamo loro 8 Olga e Silvia leparlano 9 Gli legge or legge loro un libro 10 Cosa gli regalate

Exercise 2

1 Non le parlo di lavoro 2 Non mi telefoni 3 Non vi regalo dei libri4 Non gli offrite qualcosa 5 Gli amici non le offrono un gelato 6 Non ciscrivete 7 Non ti mando una cartolina 8 Non vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo non mi dice la veritagrave 10 Non gli spedisco il pacco

Exercise 3

1 Possiamo scriverle 2 Devo parlarti 3 Voglio regalargli una chitarra4 Puoi telefonarci 5 Devono offrirvi qualcosa 6 Potete dirmi tutto7 Posso parlarLe Signora 8 Non dovete scrivergli 9 Non posso rispon-derti 10 Voglio crederle

Exercise 4

1 le 2 ti 3 gli 4 gli 5 Le 6 vi 7 ci 8 ti 9 gli 10 Le 11 mi 12 le13 gli 14 gli 15 vi 16 gli 17 mi 18 le 19 ti 20 gli

Key to exercises 175

Exercise 5

1 Puoi dire a Lucia che le voglio parlare or voglio parlarle 2 Appena arrivoa Roma vi telefono 3 Devo chiederLe or Le devo chiedere un favoreSignora 4 Gli dai il tuo numero di telefono 5 Ci dicono or raccontanosempre (delle) cose interessanti 6 Mi mandano sempre una cartolinaquando vanno in Italia 7 Per il suo compleanno le dograve dei fiori 8 Devodarti or ti devo dare i libri di Luca 9 Se volete vi racconto una storia10 Massimo mi scrive ogni settimana or tutte le settimane

UNIT 11

Exercise 1

1 Non le piacciono i carciofi 2 Non gli piace guidare 3 Gli piace viag-giare 4 Gli piace il mare 5 Gli piace ballare 6 Non ci piace il pesce7 Vi piace nuotare 8 Le piacciono i film francesi 9 Non le piace stirare10 Gli piace andare in moto

Exercise 2

1 Non le piace andare in centro il sabato 2 Non ti piace la musica clas-sica 3 Non gli piacciono i funghi 4 Non vi piace guardare la televi-sione 5 Non mi piacciono i film di fantascienza 6 Non gli piace lascuola 7 Non ci piacciono le canzoni italiane 8 Non le piacciono glispaghetti 9 Non mi piace sciare 10 Non vi piace la cioccolata al latte

Exercise 3

1 (Non) mi piace la frutta 2 (Non) mi piace il calcio 3 (Non) mi piac-ciono le fragole 4 (Non) mi piace giocare a tennis 5 (Non) mi piace uscirecon gli amici 6 (Non) mi piacciono i gatti 7 (Non) mi piace la pizza8 (Non) mi piacciono i dolci 9 (Non) mi piace ballare 10 (Non) mi piac-ciono le vacanze

Exercise 4

1 A Luigi (non) piace il caffegrave senza zucchero 2 Al professore (non) piac-ciono le poesie di Leopardi 3 A mia sorella (non) piace andare al cinema4 Ai miei cugini (non) piacciono i film di Fellini 5 Al primo ministro (non)piace la politica

176 Key to exercises

Exercise 5

1 basta 2 sembra 3 piacciono 4 manca 5 servono 6 mancano7 sembra 8 servono 9 pare 10 bastano

Exercise 6

1 Unrsquoora non mi basta 2 A Giovanni serve una penna 3 A Lynne man-cano gli or i suoi amici italiani 4 Ti piace la cioccolata or il cioccolato5 Non le piace andare al cinema 6 Vi serve un passaggio 7 Gli servonouna penna e un quaderno 8 Le sembra noioso lo spettacolo Signora9 Ti serve aiuto 10 Mi piace leggere

UNIT 12

Exercise 1

1 restati 2 uscite 3 andata 4 arrivati 5 entrata 6 riuscito 7 arrivato8 piaciuta 9 costati 10 nata

Exercise 2

1 hai comprato 2 ha regalato 3 siamo andati or andate 4 avete trovato5 hai spento 6 egrave venuta 7 ha portato 8 avete preso 9 ho visto 10 haipotuto 11 ho dovuto 12 egrave uscito ha perso 13 ha scritto 14 abbiamogiocato 15 ha cominciato 16 ha voluto or egrave voluto 17 hai messo 18 haipotuto 19 avete avuto 20 hai letto

Exercise 3

1 abbiamo dovuto 2 avete mangiato 3 sei partito or partita 4 ha te-lefonato 5 ha voluto or egrave voluta 6 hai conosciuto 7 ha dovuto or egravedovuta 8 avete accompagnato 9 ha vinto 10 hai finito 11 ho capito12 hai portato 13 siamo riusciti or riuscite 14 avete deciso 15 ha avuto16 sono venuti 17 avete fatto 18 egrave partito 19 egrave stata 20 ha tradotto

Exercise 4

1 Abbiamo giagrave fatto questo esercizio 2 Non ho ancora finito di leggere ilgiornale 3 Stefano non egrave mai andato or stato a Roma 4 Non ho piugrave vistoRoberto dopo la festa 5 Avete giagrave pagato il conto 6 Giulia non haancora cominciato a lavorare 7 Carlo non ha piugrave potuto lavorare 8 Nonho mai conosciuto i suoi genitori 9 Hai giagrave scritto le lettere 10 Non homai visto quel film

Key to exercises 177

UNIT 13

Exercise 1

1 li ho messi 2 lrsquoho accompagnata 3 le ho comprate 4 le ha chiuse 5 liho mangiati 6 ti ha chiamata 7 lrsquoha letto 8 ci hanno invitati 9 li hopresi 10 li ho dati

Exercise 2

1 le ho offerto 2 li avete visti 3 lrsquoho imprestata 4 le ho telefonato 5 le haprese 6 li ho studiati 7 mi ha presentato 8 ti ha accompagnata 9 le haimandato 10 lrsquoho conosciuta 11 lrsquoabbiamo lasciata 12 gli hai detto 13 liho comprati 14 Lrsquoho trovata 15 le ho conosciute 16 gli ho detto 17 lrsquohapagato 18 le ho raccontato 19 Lrsquoha accompagnata 20 lrsquoho letta tutta

Exercise 3

1 Non li ho saputi fare 2 Li ho voluti vedere 3 Non lrsquoabbiamo potutochiamare 4 Vi hanno potuti aiutare or potute aiutare 5 Lrsquoabbiamodovuta invitare 6 Non le ha sapute tradurre 7 Le avete dovuteaccompagnare 8 Lrsquoha voluta mangiare 9 Li hai potuti vedere 10 Nonle hanno volute fare

Exercise 4

1 Sabina non mi ha invitata 2 Chi ti ha chiamata 3 Gli abbiamo te-lefonato ieri 4 Vi ho cercati ma non vi ho trovati 5 Chiara ci haaccompagnati or portati alla fermata dellrsquoautobus 6 Vi ho mandato unacartolina lrsquoavete ricevuta 7 I (miei) nonni mi hanno regalato 100 euro mali ho giagrave spesi 8 Ho comprato due panini e li ho mangiati 9 lsquoHai spento lalucersquo lsquoSigrave lrsquoho spentarsquo 10 Carla non ha potuto aiutarle or Carla non le hapotute aiutare

UNIT 14

Exercise 1

1 lei te 2 loro 3 lei 4 noi voi 5 me 6 lui 7 me te 8 Lei 9 voi10 lei loro

Exercise 2

1 Nobody plays drums like me 2 Every student but him did the home-work 3 Sergio calls or phones you not me 4 Irsquoll take or go with or

178 Key to exercises

accompany you as well 5 I understand as much as you do or as much asyou 6 Mauro tells everyone the truth but or except me 7 You should oryou must or you have to phone me as well 8 Claudiarsquos lending us therecords not you 9 Irsquom giving or I give or Irsquoll give my address to everyonebut her 10 Irsquom giving her a book and him a record

Exercise 3

1 voi 2 lui 3 loro 4 noi 5 lei

Exercise 4

1 Tutti sono contro di me 2 Vieni con me 3 Ho comprato un regalo perte 4 Non puoi contare su di lui 5 Posso dormire da voi stasera

UNIT 15

Exercise 1

1 che 2 cui 3 che 4 cui 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 cui 9 cui 10 che

Exercise 2

1 cui 2 cui 3 cui 4 che 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 che 9 cui 10 cui

Exercise 3

1 la quale 2 con la quale 3 dei quali 4 nel quale 5 alle quali 6 ilquale 7 dal quale 8 le quali 9 delle quali 10 i quali

Exercise 4

1 colei che 2 coloro che 3 colui che 4 colui or colei che 5 coloro che

Exercise 5

1 chi 2 quella che 3 chi or quello che 4 chi 5 quelli che 6 quella che7 chi 8 quello che 9 chi 10 quelle che

Exercise 6

1 Il libro che voglio comprare egrave troppo caro 2 La signora con cui or con laquale ho parlato egrave tedesca 3 Le persone che or le quali hanno telefonatovivono or abitano in America 4 La cittagrave dove or in cui or nella quale vivo or

Key to exercises 179

abito non egrave molto grande 5 Colui che or chi vuole andare allrsquouniversitagravedeve sapere leggere e scrivere 6 Paolo che or il quale ha perso il (suo)cellulare non egrave contento or felice 7 Quella canzone mi piace or Mi piacequella canzone ma preferisco quelle che abbiamo sentito ieri sera 8 Questaegrave or Ecco la sorella di Fabio la quale or che mi ha prestato la sua bici 9 Haivisto chi or colui che or colei che ha mangiato le pesche 10 Chi egrave lrsquouomo cuior a cui or al quale avete venduto i biglietti

UNIT 16

Exercise 1

1 parlava 2 passava 3 faceva 4 studiavo riposava 5 partiva 6 lavo-rava 7 diceva 8 faceva 9 abitavamo 10 eravate 11 andavano12 era 13 uscivamo 14 sapevi 15 conoscevo 16 amava 17 dormivate18 erano 19 avevi 20 dovevano

Exercise 2

1 sei partita 2 era 3 ho studiato 4 mangiavamo 5 egrave rimasta 6 aveva7 sembravano 8 ha speso 9 egrave andata 10 erano

Exercise 3

1 egrave arrivato era 2 ho conosciuto abitavo 3 avevi hai cominciato 4 hatelefonato facevo 5 sono venuti era 6 hanno fatto sapevano 7 hannodetto hanno visto 8 egrave venuto aveva 9 siamo arrivati or arrivate partiva10 ho imprestato era

Exercise 4

suonava piaceva abbiamo deciso siamo arrivati mancavano crsquoerano eraaspettavamo abbiamo sentito ha risposto abbiamo visto era ha finitoha spiegato era chiamava aveva era sapeva egrave partito aveva egrave riuscitoaprivano

Exercise 5

1 Quanto tempo hai passato a Bologna 2 Siamo andati or andate alcinema ieri sera 3 Sembravate felici 4 Il padre di Gemma faceva il mari-naio or era marinaio 5 Claudia e Monica non sono venute in vacanza connoi questa volta 6 I miei genitori di solito uscivano alle 8 7 Mio padre halavorato in India per 3 anni 8 A che ora avete preso lrsquoautobus ieri mattina9 Lrsquoanno scorso facevamo ginnastica il or di lunedigrave mattina 10 Dove hai

180 Key to exercises

comprato quelle scarpe 11 Non ti ho chiamato or chiamata percheacute dormivi12 Quando voi abitavate or vivevate a Londra io abitavo or vivevo a Parigi13 Quanti anni aveva Susanna quando egrave andata allrsquouniversitagrave 14 Mentreguardavo la televisione Anna egrave entrata e lrsquoha spenta 15 Paolo e Giulia nonsono venuti percheacute Paolo era troppo stanco

UNIT 17

Exercise 1

1 ne ho mandate 2 ne ho comprata or ne ho comprati 3 ne ho fatti or ne hofatta 4 ne sono venute poche 5 non ne ho fatto nessuno 6 ne ho lasciatauna aperta 7 ne hanno invitati molti 8 ne ho letti 9 ne abbiamo com-prata poca 10 non ne ho mangiata nessuna 11 ne ho presi 12 ne ho datealcune 13 ne abbiamo visti 14 ne ho mangiate 15 non ne ha mangiatonessuno 16 ne abbiamo dato qualcuno 17 ne ho presi alcuni 18 ne sonorimasti alcuni cari 19 non ne ha invitata nessuna 20 ne ho regalate

Exercise 2

1 ne 2 ne 3 li 4 lrsquo 5 ne 6 le 7 ne 8 ne 9 li 10 ne 11 ne 12 lrsquo13 ne 14 ne 15 ne 16 la 17 lo 18 ne 19 ne 20 li

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlarne col professore 2 Vuoi farne un altro 3 Non dobbiamoprenderne 4 Potete mangiarne 5 Devo farne sei 6 Non possiamo par-larne 7 Posso assaggiarne uno 8 Non deve portarne Signora 9 Voglio-no comprarne qualcuno 10 Non possono berne

Exercise 4

1 Ne ho dovuti dare due a Marisa 2 Ne hai potute comprare 3 Quantene hai dovute fare 4 Non ne hanno voluta mangiare 5 Ne ha dovutileggere quattro 6 Non ne abbiamo potute prendere 7 Ne ho dovute scri-vere due 8 Ne ho potute leggere solo due pagine 9 Ne avete dovuti rifaremolti 10 Non ne hanno potuta assaggiare

Exercise 5

1 in questa casa Ci abitiamo da tre anni 2 al Museo di Storia NaturaleStefano ci lavora da febbraio 3 alla festa di Marco Ci volete venire orVolete venirci 4 al cinema Paolo e Livia ci vanno due volte alla set-timana 5 al supermercato La Signora Bini ci va sempre a piedi 6 in

Key to exercises 181

Italia Ci rimango per tre settimane 7 a scuola Giulia ci viene sempre inbici 8 allrsquoufficio postale Ci ho passato tre ore in coda 9 a casa di PietroCi siete andati a cena 10 a Sorrento Ci passiamo le vacanze

UNIT 18

Exercise 1

1 arriveranno 2 parlerete 3 telefoneragrave 4 dirai 5 scriverograve 6 dormirograve7 cominceremo 8 finirai 9 prenderograve 10 chiamerai 11 abiterete12 porteranno 13 direte 14 tradurragrave 15 pagheremo 16 mangerai17 scriveragrave 18 cercheragrave 19 prenderanno 20 pagheragrave

Exercise 2

1 andrograve 2 saremo 3 rimarrai 4 verrograve potrograve 5 dovragrave 6 verragrave vorragrave7 avremo 8 potrograve 9 vedrai 10 farete 11 staranno 12 sapragrave 13 farai14 sarete 15 dovrete 16 andrograve 17 saprai 18 verrai 19 farete20 terranno

Exercise 3

uscirograve dovrograve arriverograve verragrave andremo lascerograve andremo vedremo porteragravetorneremo verranno dovremo usciremo faremo saragrave potremo

Exercise 4

1 Chi potragrave aiutarmi 2 Lrsquoestate prossima faremo un corso di italiano3 Leggerai tutti questi libri 4 Non andrograve in biblioteca domani 5 Quandoarriveragrave Signora Pasini 6 Domenica usciranno 7 Cosa farai8 Saranno le 10 9 Porterai i tuoi CD per la festa 10 Non verrete con noial cinema

UNIT 19

Exercise 1

1 aveva finito 2 era arrivata 3 avevo vista 4 avevi spento 5 avevatepreso 6 aveva lavorato 7 aveva scritto 8 aveva preparato 9 eri riuscitoor riuscita 10 avevamo chiesto 11 era stata 12 avevo mangiato 13 erapiaciuta 14 era andata 15 erano uscite 16 avevo capito 17 era partito18 era rimasto 19 aveva voluto 20 era stata

182 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 sono arrivato or arrivata erano usciti 2 conosceva aveva telefonato3 hai fatto avevo detto 4 era aveva camminato 5 egrave venuto doveva or hadovuto avevano dato 6 era aveva vinto 7 portava aveva regalato 8 hocomprato avevate consigliato 9 ha speso aveva guadagnato 10 ha invi-tato erano andati

Exercise 3

1 Paola non era ancora andata or stata in Scozia 2 Avevo finito il lavoroma ero molto stanco or stanca 3 Le ragazze non erano mai entrate in quellachiesa 4 Arianna ha finito la torta che aveva fatto sua nonna 5 lsquoCosaavevi detto a Fabiorsquo lsquoNon gli avevo detto nullarsquo 6 Maria aveva dovuto orera dovuta rimanere or restare a casa 7 Quanto era costata la vostramacchina or auto 8 Avevano comprato or preso il biglietto il giornoprima 9 Non avevo piugrave la bici percheacute lrsquoavevo data a Anna 10 Era nata inRussia ma abitava da molti anni in Italia quando lrsquoho conosciuta

UNIT 20

Exercise 1

1 si 2 mi 3 si 4 vi 5 si 6 ci 7 mi 8 si 9 si 10 si 11 vi 12 ti13 ci 14 si 15 vi 16 si 17 si 18 ti 19 vi 20 si

Exercise 2

1 si 2 si 3 vi 4 si 5 ti 6 ci 7 si 8 si 9 ci 10 mi 11 vi 12 ci13 si 14 ti 15 mi 16 ti 17 ci 18 si 19 mi 20 vi

Exercise 3

1 si sono sposati 2 ti sei sbagliato 3 vi siete ricordate 4 si egrave fatta 5 sisono incontrati 6 ti sei perso 7 si egrave divertita 8 ci siamo bevuti 9 mi sonoannoiato 10 ci siamo alzate 11 ti sei lavato 12 mi sono tagliata 13 si egravefermato 14 si sono separati 15 si egrave lamentato 16 si egrave riposato 17 si egravestancata 18 ti sei arrabbiata 19 vi siete offesi 20 si sono dimenticati

Exercise 4

1 Non mi sono potuta lavare 2 Sandra e Roberto si sono voluti sposare3 Ci siamo dovuti scusare 4 Luigi si egrave dovuto alzare alle sei 5 Gianni nonsi egrave voluto mettere il berretto 6 Ti sei potuto curare 7 Vi siete potuti

Key to exercises 183

riposare 8 Mi sono dovuta fermare 9 Percheacute ti sei voluto tingere icapelli 10 Non ci siamo potuti spiegare

Exercise 5

1 Vi divertite 2 Ti sei lavata le mani 3 Come si sente Signora 4 Visbagliate 5 Dove vi siete conosciute or incontrate 6 Percheacute non ti siedi7 Paolo parla sempre di segrave or se stesso 8 Franca si egrave lavata i capelli9 Carlo si egrave scusato 10 Mi sono vestita

UNIT 21

Exercise 1

1 compra 2 usciamo 3 stia 4 metti 5 siate 6 venga 7 dai or darsquo8 finisci 9 compri 10 facciamo 11 abbi 12 parli 13 vai or varsquo 14 dirsquo15 faccia 16 scrivete 17 fai or farsquo 18 entrino 19 aprite 20 rispondi

Exercise 2

1 chiuda 2 vada 3 sorrida 4 dica 5 faccia 6 sia 7 traduca8 accenda 9 stia 10 entri

Exercise 3

1 non partite 2 non rispondere 3 non andate 4 non scenda 5 nonusciamo 6 non finire 7 non ascoltare 8 non prenda 9 non telefonare10 non dire 11 non tagliarti or non ti tagliare 12 non darle or non le dare13 non parlargli or non gli parlare 14 non scrivetemi or non mi scrivete15 non dirlo or non lo dire 16 non invitarli or non li invitare 17 nonprenderlo or non lo prendere 18 non metterti or non ti mettere 19 nonportatele or non le portate 20 non farlo or non lo fare

Exercise 4

1 vai or varsquo 2 prendete 3 invita 4 guardiamo 5 comincia 6 faccia7 mettano 8 fai or farsquo 9 vai or varsquo 10 stai or starsquo 11 mandami12 fatelo 13 dammi 14 rispondimi 15 vacci 16 mangiatelo 17 leg-getelo 18 ci aspetti 19 digli 20 dalle

Exercise 5

1 parlatele 2 prendili 3 lo firmi 4 parlatene 5 andiamoci 6 falli7 restateci 8 chiediamolo 9 correggili 10 prendetelo 11 lo aspettino

184 Key to exercises

12 mandali 13 compratela 14 la porti 15 aiutateli 16 rendilo 17 chie-diamole 18 telefonagli or telefona loro 19 bevine 20 studiatela

UNIT 22

Exercise 1

1 fa attraversa 2 parlano 3 lavora 4 fuma 5 devono 6 entra 7 pos-sono 8 paga 9 trovano 10 compra

Exercise 2

1 Quando si ha freddo si lavora male 2 Quando si ha la febbre si resta acasa 3 Quando si comincia a studiare una lingua si fanno degli sbagli4 Quando si guida non si usa il cellulare 5 Quando si ha fame si mangia6 Quando si egrave stanchi si fanno molti sbagli 7 Quando si egrave avvocati si cono-sce la legge 8 Quando non si hanno soldi non si fanno spese inutili9 Quando si hanno tanti amici si egrave fortunati 10 Quando si mangiano troppidolci si ingrassa

Exercise 3

1 Non si mettono i piedi sulla scrivania 2 La mattina si fa colazione3 Dopo pranzo si lavano i piatti 4 Non si parla con gli sconosciuti 5 Nonsi va in bicicletta sul marciapiedi 6 Non si mangia durante le lezioni7 Non ci si guarda tanto allo specchio 8 In biblioteca si parla a bassavoce 9 Non si guarda la televisione tutto il giorno 10 Il giorno primadegli esami si studia

Exercise 4

1 Dopo che si egrave fatto il bagno in mare si fa la doccia 2 Dopo che si egravesuperato un esame si egrave contenti 3 Dopo che si egrave finito di lavorare si va acasa 4 Dopo che si egrave saliti sullrsquoaereo non si puograve usare il cellulare5 Quando si egrave cresciuti in campagna si conoscono i nomi di tante piante

UNIT 23

Exercise 1

1 leggeresti 2 potrei 3 avreste 4 sveglieresti 5 vorrebbero 6 paghe-resti 7 farei 8 dovremmo 9 sapresti 10 rimarrebbe 11 aprirei12 dovresti 13 piacerebbe 14 potrebbe 15 sarebbe 16 dareste 17 ber-rei 18 abiterebbero 19 tradurrebbe 20 accompagneresti

Key to exercises 185

Exercise 2

1 Vorrei due panini 2 Dovreste studiare di piugrave 3 Lucia andrebbe invacanza 4 Fareste una pausa 5 Potremmo parlarti 6 Maurizio cam-bierebbe lavoro 7 Mi daresti un consiglio 8 Vi piacerebbe andare a Ve-nezia 9 I nostri amici dovrebbero arrivare oggi 10 Non uscirebbe maisenza permesso

Exercise 3

1 Paola potrebbe aiutarmi or mi potrebbe aiutare 2 Verremmo volentieri3 Non andrei in biblioteca la or di sera 4 Quando comincerebbe SignoraVialli 5 Pietro vorrebbe invitarti or ti vorrebbe invitare alla festa6 Saremmo contenti or felici di vedervi 7 Terrebbero il cane in giardino8 Dovrei partire presto 9 Vorrei un altro biscotto 10 Saprebbe il risultatoSignor Spadavecchia

186 Key to exercises

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS

adjective a word that describes a noun or pronoun eg the green door itrsquosvery old Johnrsquos skinny shersquos most objectionable

a demonstrative adjective describes something as being pointed out (lsquodem-onstratedrsquo) eg thisthat computer thesethose railings

a possessive adjective describes something as belonging to someone orsomething eg myheritsouryour behaviour is quite normal

adverb a word which gives information about a verb an adjective oranother adverb eg she sang loudly itrsquoll finish soon Irsquove got it somewhere itrsquosincrediblyvery funny she sang incrediblyvery loudly

agreement a feature whereby the form of one word changes depending onthe form of another word it is linked with In English the most obviousexample is in the difference between singular and plural so we say lsquoThis is theroadrsquo and lsquoThese are the roadsrsquo but not eg lsquoThis are the roadsrsquo lsquoThese is theroadsrsquo etc In Italian agreement is far more detailed and widespread than inEnglish

article a word which has no meaning on its own but is placed before anoun to show whether it is specific or non-specific

a definite article shows that the noun refers to a specific thing or person egthe airline the pilot the passengers

an indefinite article shows that the noun does not refer to a specific thingor person eg an airline a pilot passengers [no plural indefinitearticle]

auxiliary verb a verb that helps another verb to make its form eg we havedone it it had been agreed

conjugation a group of verbs which have the same endings as one anotherin all tenses eg in Italian verbs of the first conjugation have an infinitiveending in -are (comprare lsquoto buyrsquo cantare lsquoto singrsquo) and the same endingsin the present (comprano lsquothey buyrsquo cantano lsquothey singrsquo) the imperfect

(compravano lsquothey boughtrsquo cantavano lsquothey sangrsquo) the future (compre-ranno lsquothey will buyrsquo canteranno lsquothey will singrsquo) etc

gender not the same thing as the actual sex of a living creature grammat-ical gender is arbitrary in Italian all nouns are either masculine or feminineeven if they denote inanimate objects eg il libro [m] lsquothe bookrsquo la casa [f]lsquothe housersquo etc

infinitive the form in which verbs are usually given in word lists etc egvendere lsquoto sellrsquo dormire lsquoto sleeprsquo

noun the name of a thing person place animal plant idea eg the greendoor John is skinny love is a wonderful thing I love cats and roses

number a feature of nouns pronouns and any words that agree with them(notably in Italian adjectives articles and verbs) which shows whether thereis just one or more than one of the thing or person in question If there isone then the noun pronoun etc is singular eg the mobile a child Isheheitif there is more than one then the noun pronoun etc is plural eg themobiles the children wethey In Italian the form of the word usually makesit clear whether it is singular or plural but in English it is often impossible totell from the word on its own eg one sheep fifty sheep Jim you are brilliantyou are all brilliant

object the noun or pronoun affected by the action of the verb

a direct object is directly impinged on by the action eg I sent a letter thedog drank its water yoursquove shut the door she cooked it I love him

an indirect object is the thingperson to or for whichwhom the action isperformed eg I sent a letter to Jim I gave her a CD [ie a CD to her] hebuilt a snowman for Catherine I made her a puppet [ie a puppet for her]

participle a form of the verb that lsquoparticipatesrsquo in characteristics of bothverb and adjective ie it both indicates an action and describes something

the present participle in English ends in -ing and is used descriptively evenwith verbs in a past tense eg shersquos running Wayne was shouting

the past participle in English (as in Italian) is mostly used to form thepresent perfect tense eg the frog has jumped in shersquos run away it can alsobe used purely as an adjective eg itrsquos small but perfectly formed thatrsquos atorn handkerchief

passive a passive verb is the opposite to an active one Here is an activeverb lsquoKylie drew that cartoonrsquo in this sentence the thing that has somethingdone to it (the cartoon) is the object of the active verb Now here is the sameidea expressed with a passive verb lsquoThat cartoon was drawn by Kyliersquo in thissentence the thing that has something done to it is actually the subject of thepassive verb Many ideas can be expressed both actively and passively eg

188 Glossary

preposition a word usually placed in front of a noun or pronoun to showthe relation between it and another noun or pronoun eg the cat sat on themat Irsquove shown them to him the doorrsquos opposite the bus stop you just gothrough it

pronoun a word that stands for (lsquoprorsquo) a noun

demonstrative pronouns stand for particular people or things that arelsquopointed torsquo eg thisthat [ie lsquothis onethat onersquo] is a dandelion thesethoseare filthy

interrogative pronouns stand for people or things about which a questionis being asked eg what are you doing which of them did best who wonwho(m) did you vote for

personal pronouns usually stand for people eg she lost her mobile theyare happy we phoned them you gave us a fright

possessive pronouns stand for things mentioned as belonging to someoneeg this tuna sandwich is mine [ie lsquomy onersquo] those are yoursherstheirs etc

reciprocal pronouns stand for two or more people or things whichreciprocate an action eg they like each otherone another we all gave eachotherone another birthday presents

reflexive pronouns stand for people or things that are both the subjectand the object of the verb eg yoursquore wearing yourselves out thedogrsquoll scratch itself the computer switched itself off she bought herselfsomething nice

relative pronouns usually stand for people or things already mentionedeg the idiot who conceded the penalty the DVDs whichthat were on thetable the one politician whom everyone trusts

subject the noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb eg Micksang solo the grass is green you have grown they say it will be easy theallegation was denied he was tripped over

tense the form of a verb that corresponds to a particular segment of timeeg I eat [present] I shall eat [future] I have eaten [present perfect] I ate[simple past] I was eating [past progressive] I had eaten [past perfect]

ActiveJim clapped Tony [object] on the

backShe alone dismissed the idea

[object]They sell wild mushrooms [object]

here

PassiveTony [subject] was clapped on the back

by JimThe idea [subject] was dismissed by her

aloneWild mushrooms [subject] are sold here

(by them)

Glossary 189

verb the word that indicates the performance of an action or the existenceof a state eg she jumped out of her skin I shall get a mobile that is nice theyhave been very happy

190 Glossary

INDEX

a uses of 59ndash60 62 63ndash4adjectives 17ndash22 in -co and -go 18ndash19

with articles 14 definition of 187demonstrative 20 possessive 22ndash3preceding the noun 19ndash20 singularand plural 17ndash19 158

adverbial expressions 48ndash9adverbs 46ndash8 from adjectives 46

definition of 187 with the pastperfect 140 with the present perfect90

agreement of adjectives and nouns 17definition of 187

alcuno 121 122anche 101andare future 133 imperative 152

present 41 present conditional 165articles definite 9ndash11 definition of 187

indefinite 11ndash13 uses of 13ndash14 22ndash3auxiliary verbs definition of 187ndash8 see

also avere essereavere future 132 imperative 151

imperfect 112 present 28 presentconditional 164 present perfect 88used as auxiliary 86ndash7 88ndash90 usesof 31ndash2

bastare 81bello 20bere future 134 imperative 152

imperfect 113 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

buono 21

cadere future 133 present conditional165

crsquoegraveci sono 32ndash3 in imperfect 113 inpresent perfect 88

che (relative pronoun) 104ndash5cheche cosa 69 71chi 68 107ci with avere (ce) 54 with si as an

impersonal pronoun 159ndash60lsquotherersquo 125

coluicoleicoloro 106ndash7come 69 70 71 101compound prepositions 65con uses of 61conditional see present conditionalconjugations 37conoscere 39 vs sapere 42ndash3cosa 69 71cui 104 105

da uses of 36ndash7 60dare future 132 imperative 151 present

41 present conditional 165definite article 9ndash11 13ndash14 with

possessives 22ndash3 with prepositions57ndash8

demonstrative adjectives 20demonstrative pronouns 24 definition of

189di uses of 58ndash9 63dire imperative 151 imperfect 113

past participle 86 present 42direct object definition of 188direct object pronouns 52ndash4 formal form

54 with the imperative 154 with thepresent perfect (or any othercompound tense) 94ndash5 95ndash6stressed forms 99ndash101

dove 69 71 106dovere 43 future 133 present 42

present conditional 165present perfect 91

eccetto (che) 101essere with ci 32ndash3 88 113 as auxiliary

86ndash7 88ndash90 as auxiliary withimpersonal si 159 future 132imperative 151 imperfect 113present 28 present conditional 164present perfect 88 with reflexivepronouns 145 uses of 31

fare future 132 imperative 151imperfect 114 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

formal form 30 41 direct objectpronouns 54 in imperative152ndash3 indirect object pronouns76 with piacere 80 possessiveadjectives and pronouns 23ndash4

future 129ndash34 avere and essere 132 withifwhen 130 irregular verbs 132ndash4negative form 134 verbs in -care-gare and -iare 131ndash2 uses of129ndash30 verbs in -urre 134

gender 1ndash3 6 definition of 188grande 21

lsquohow muchmanyrsquo 70 71lsquohowrsquo 69 71

lsquoifrsquo with future tense 130imperative 149ndash54 essere 151 formal

form 152ndash3 irregular verbs 151ndash2negative form 153 154 withpronouns 154 uses of 149verbs in -urre 152

imperfect 111ndash17 of essere 113negative form 114 uses 115ndash17verbs in -urre 114

impersonal subject pronoun si 157ndash60in uses of 61 62 63 64indefinite article 11ndash13indirect object definition of 188indirect object pronouns 74ndash6

formal form 76 with theimperative 154 negative form 75with the present perfect 95stressed forms 99ndash101

infinitive 37 definition of 188 fornegative imperative 153

interrogative form 29 40interrogative pronouns definition of 189irregular plurals of nouns 5

irregular verbs future 132ndash4 imperative151ndash2 imperfect 113ndash14 pastparticiple 86 present 41ndash3present conditional 164ndash6

lsquoknowingrsquo 42ndash3

Lei Loro and Voi 30 41 see also formalform

mancare 81meno (che) 101mentre 116modomaniera 49molto 47 48 121

ne 120ndash4 negative form 122 with pastparticiple 122ndash4

neanche 101negative form 30 32ndash3 with direct object

pronouns 53 future 134 imperative153 154 imperfect 114 withindirect object pronouns 75 with ne122 past perfect 140 present 41present conditional 166 presentperfect 90 verbs with si 159

nemmeno 101neppure 101non see negative formnon ancoramai 47nouns definition of 188 ending in -ca

-co -ga -go -cia -gia 6ndash7gender 1ndash3 6 singular andplural 4ndash7

number definition of 188 nouns 4ndash7

parere 81partitive constructions with di 59passive definition of 188ndash9 using si 158past participle 85ndash6 definition 188 with

ne 122ndash4past perfect 137ndash40 with avere or essere

as auxiliaries 138 of avere andessere 139 negative form 140 usesof 137ndash8

per uses of 61percheacute 70personal pronouns definition of 189

see also pronounspiacere 79ndash81place see prepositions of placeplurals of adjectives 17ndash19

192 Index

plurals of nouns 4ndash7poco 47 48 121possession with di 58 59possessive adjectives 22ndash3possessive pronouns 23ndash4 definition of

189potere future 133 present 42 43 present

conditional 165 present perfect 91prepositions 57ndash65 compound 65

with definite article 57ndash8 definitionof 189 with pronouns 100 105106

prepositions of place 59 60 61 62prepositions of time 59 60 61 63present conditional 162ndash6 essere 164

irregular verbs 164ndash6 negative form166

present participle definition of 188present perfect 84ndash91 with direct object

pronouns 94ndash5 95ndash6 of avere andessere 88 with indirect objectpronouns 95 with ne 122ndash4negative form 90 potere dovere andvolere 91 of reflexive verbs 145using avere 86ndash7 88ndash9using essere 86ndash7 88ndash90 145uses of 84ndash5

present tense 36ndash43 avere and essere 28irregular verbs 41ndash3 uses of 36ndash7verbs in -are 37 verbs in -care and-gare 38 verbs in -cere and -gere 39verbs in -ere 38ndash9 verbs in -iare 38verbs in -ire 40 verbs with -isc-40 verbs in -urre 43

pronouns definition of 189demonstrative 24 direct object52ndash4 94ndash5 95ndash6 99ndash101 with theimperative 154 indirect object 74ndash696 99ndash101 possessive 23ndash4 afterprepositions 100 reflexive 143ndash6relative 104ndash7 stressed forms99ndash101 subject 28ndash9 see also cine si

pure 101

qualcuno 121 122quale 71(illa) quale (relative pronoun) 104

105ndash6quando 70 130quanto 70 71 101 121 123 124quello 20 24

quello che (relative pronoun) 106questions 29 40 68ndash71questo 20 24

reciprocal pronouns definition of 189reflexive pronouns 143ndash6 stressed form

146reflexive verbs 88 143 with si

(impersonal subject) 159ndash60relative pronouns 104ndash7 definition of

189rimanere future 134 present

conditional 165riuscire 42

salvo (che) 101santo 21ndash2sapere 42ndash3 vs conoscere 42ndash3 future

133 imperative 152 present 41present conditional 165

sembrare 81servire 81si impersonal 157ndash60 with essere as

auxiliary 159 negative form 159with reflexive verbs 159ndash60sentences with a passive meaning158

singular and plural adjectives 17ndash19 158lsquosomesomeonersquo 121 122spelling of adjectives in -co and -go

18ndash19 essere and avere 30 plurals ofnouns in -ca -co -ga -go -cia -gia6ndash7

stare future 132 imperative 152 present41 present conditional 165

stesso 146su uses of 61subject definition of 189subject pronouns 28ndash9

tanto 47 48tenere future 134 present conditional

165tense definition of 189lsquothatrsquo (relative pronoun) 104lsquothatthosersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24lsquothere isarersquo 32ndash3lsquothisthesersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24time see prepositions of timetra and fra uses of 62

Index 193

tranne (che) 101transitive verbs 88troppo 47 48 121

uscire imperative 152 present 41

vedere future 133 present conditional165

venire future 134 imperative 152past participle 86 present 41present conditional 165

verbs conjugations 37 definition of 190future 129ndash34 imperative 149ndash54imperfect 111ndash17 past perfect137ndash40 present 28 36ndash43 presentconditional 162ndash6 present perfect84ndash91 reflexive 143 see alsoirregular verbs

verbs in -urre future 134 imperative 152imperfect 114 past participle 85

present 43 present conditional166

vivere future 133 past participle 86present conditional 165

volere future 134 present 42 43present conditional 165 presentperfect 91

lsquowhatrsquo 69 71lsquowhenrsquo with future tense 130lsquowhenrsquo 70lsquowherersquo as alternative to relative pronoun

106lsquowherersquo 69 71lsquowhichrsquo 71lsquowhilersquo with imperfect tense 116lsquowhorsquo 68lsquowhomrsquo as a lsquoquestion wordrsquo 68 relative

pronoun 105 106lsquowhyrsquo 70

194 Index

• BOOK COVER
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• UNIT ONE Nouns gender and number
• UNIT TWO Definite and indefinite articles
• UNIT THREE Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns
• UNIT FOUR The present tense of essere and avere
• UNIT FIVE The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs
• UNIT SIX Adverbs
• UNIT SEVEN Direct object pronouns (1)
• UNIT EIGHT Prepositions
• UNIT NINE Questions
• UNIT TEN Indirect object pronouns (1)
• UNIT ELEVEN Piacere and similar verbs
• UNIT TWELVE The present perfect tense
• UNIT THIRTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (2)
• UNIT FOURTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms)
• UNIT FIFTEEN Relative pronouns
• UNIT SIXTEEN The imperfect tense
• UNIT SEVENTEEN The pronouns ne and ci
• UNIT EIGHTEEN The future tense
• UNIT NINETEEN The past perfect tense
• UNIT TWENTY Reflexive pronouns
• UNIT TWENTY-ONE The imperative
• UNIT TWENTY-TWO The pronoun si
• UNIT TWENTY-THREE The present conditional
• KEY TO EXERCISES
• GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
• INDEX

20 Reflexive pronouns 143

21 The imperative 149

22 The pronoun si 157

23 The present conditional 162

Key to exercises 168

Glossary of technical terms 187

Index 191

vi Contents

INTRODUCTION

If you are an English-speaking learner preparing GCSE Scottish StandardGrade (credit level) or similar examination or simply learning the languagefor everyday use this grammar and workbook is for you You will typically beeither following a course at school college or evening class or teaching your-self from a published course This book is not itself a course but a self-helpreferencerevision grammar with exercises designed to reinforce your graspof the points dealt with unit by unit You will find it a help to have access to agood ItalianndashEnglish dictionary when working through the book

Since this is not a self-contained course the grammar points are usuallygiven on their own out of context Of course this is artificial because ineveryday life when we say or write something it is always in a situation orcontext To compensate for this artificiality the grammar points are illus-trated with abundant examples which are often reused with variationsunder different headings This is partly to strengthen your grasp of grammarand vocabulary but mostly to help you learn how to manipulate the Italianlanguage in a wide range of situations Giving plenty of examples is a moreeffective way of helping you develop the ability to communicate in Italianthan giving you lists of rules with just one or two examples

At the end of each unit there are several sets of exercises If you workthrough these you will find that they consolidate your understanding of thevarious points introduced in the unit and also that they give you the con-fidence to have a go at expressing yourself in a range of situations andcontexts

The aim of the examples and exercises is to strengthen awareness of thespecific points dealt with in the unit they are not intended to cover all thepossible uses of a given word or grammatical structure

At the end of the book there is a key to all the exercises and a glossary ofgrammatical terms with examples

SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

f femininefp feminine pluralfs feminine singularlit literallym masculinemp masculine pluralms masculine singularpl pluralsing singular

Square brackets indicate an explanatory comment attached to an exampleeg

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono Thatrsquos Luisa on the phone[ie she has just rung]Quanto zucchero [ms] vuoi How much sugar do you wantlsquoDovrsquoegrave Annarsquo lsquoNo lo sorsquo lsquoWherersquos Annarsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo

[lit I donrsquot know it]

Round brackets in an example show that the material in brackets is optionaleg

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo lsquoHave you got the booksrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got themrsquo

Ne ho mangiati due I ate two (of them)A chi scrivete Who(m) are you writing to

Round brackets round an entire sentence show that while possible this is aformal form that is not often used eg

( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco) Are you leaving( Mr and MrsBianco)

A slash shows alternative ways of saying something eg

Gli dicoDico loro la veritagrave I tell them the truth (Here gli dico and dicoloro are alternative ways of saying lsquoI tell themrsquo)Non mi sembra giusto It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot think itrsquos fair(Here the English sentences are alternatives to one another)

Signs and abbreviations ix

UNIT ONENouns gender and number

Gender masculine and feminine

1 All Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine The best way to remem-ber the gender of a noun is to learn it along with its definite article (ie theword meaning lsquothersquo) In this unit nouns will therefore be given along withtheir definite articles but there will be no discussion of the articles as suchDefinite and indefinite articles are the subject of Unit 2

Most nouns in the singular end in -o -a or -e

2 Italian nouns ending in -o are usually masculine

3 Italian nouns ending in -a are usually feminine

4 Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine Unless anoun ending in -e denotes a person whose gender is defined (eg lsquohusbandrsquolsquowifersquo) there are virtually no rules to determine its gender which must there-fore be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

lrsquouomo [m]il fratello [m]il pomeriggio [m]il treno [m]

manbrotherafternoontrain

la donna [f]la sorella [f]la sera [f]la bicicletta [f]

womansistereveningbicycle

To help you to determine the gender of some nouns ending in -e here is arule nouns ending in -sione or -zione are feminine

Sometimes the gender of a noun ending in -e can be determined by thegender of the person it refers to masculine when it refers to a male femininewhen it refers to a female

5 Some nouns ending in -a and referring to persons are masculine when theyrefer to a male and feminine when they refer to a female

There are some exceptions eg la persona (person) and la guida (touristguide) are always feminine even when they refer to a male while the feminineof il poeta (poet) is la poetessa

6 There are some nouns ending in -a which are masculine and some nounsending in -o which are feminine

Masculineil padreil ristoranteil saleil cognome

fatherrestaurantsaltsurname

Femininela madrela nottela lucela chiave

mothernightlightkey

la televisione [f]la pensione [f]la produzione [f]la stazione [f]

televisionpensionproductionstation

illa cantante [mf]illa cliente [mf]illa parente [mf]lrsquoinglese [mf]

(malefemale) singer(malefemale) customer(malefemale) relativeEnglishmanEnglishwoman

illa collega [mf]lrsquoatleta [mf]illa batterista [mf]illa pianista [mf]

(malefemale) colleague(malefemale) athlete(malefemale) drummer(malefemale) pianist

Masculineil cinemail papagraveil problema

cinemadadproblem

Femininelrsquoautola fotola mano

carphotohand

2 Unit 1

Some nouns of this type are abbreviations and have kept the gender of thefull word cinema stands for cinematografo [m] auto for automobile [f] fotofor fotografia [f] etc Such cases apart there is no rule for determining genderwhich has to be learned by heart or checked in a dictionary

7 Some nouns end in -i The vast majority are feminine but there aresome exceptions

Two exceptions are lrsquoalibi (alibi) and lo sci (ski) which are masculine

8 Foreign nouns unless they refer to a female are generally masculine

9 Occasionally the gender of a foreign noun is the same as it is for thecorresponding Italian word

la new wave is feminine because onda (wave) is femininela mail (e-mail message) is feminine because posta (mail) is feminine

10 The following rules can help in determining the gender of nouns

bull All months of the year and days of the week are masculine apart fromdomenica (Sunday) which is feminine

bull All names of towns and cities are feminine apart from Il Cairo [m]bull All names of languages are masculinebull Names of countries are normally feminine when they end in -a and

masculine when they end in any other letter

lrsquoanalisi [f]lrsquoipotesi [f]la crisi [f]

analysishypothesiscrisis

il bar [m]il camion [m]il rock [m]lrsquohostess [f]

barlorryrock (music)stewardess

la Francia [f]la Spagna [f]il Belgio [m]il Paraguay [m]

FranceSpainBelgiumParaguay

Unit 1 3

Number singular and plural

11 Masculine nouns ending in -o and all nouns ending in -e end in -i in theplural

Nouns ending in -ie have only one -i in the plural

12 Nouns ending in -io have only one i in the plural But if the -i is stressed(-io) the plural has two (-ii)

13 Feminine nouns ending in -a take -e in the plural

14 Masculine nouns ending in -a take -i in the plural

15 When a noun ending in -a denotes a person its plural ending depends onwhether it is masculine or feminine If it refers to a male the plural ends in -iif it refers to a female the plural ends in -e

Singularil treno [m]il nome [m]la notte [f]la stazione [f]la pensione [f]illa parente [mf]la moglie [f]

trainnamenounnightstationpensionrelativewife

Plurali trenii nomile nottile stazionile pensioniile parentile mogli

trainsnamesnounsnightsstationspensionsrelativeswives

Singularil bacio [m]il desiderio [m]lrsquoinizio [m]lo zio [m]il mormorio [m]

kisswishbeginningunclemurmur

Plurali bacii desiderigli inizigli ziii mormorii

kisseswishesbeginningsunclesmurmurs

Singularla sorella [f]la lettera [f]la sera [f]

sisterletterevening

Pluralle sorellele letterele sere

sisterslettersevenings

Singularil problema [m]il sistema [m]

problemsystem

Plurali problemii sistemi

problemssystems

4 Unit 1

For an explanation of the -h- in these endings see paragraph 20 below

16 Nouns ending in -i do not change in the plural

17 Foreign nouns and nouns stressed on the last vowel do not change in theplural

18 A number of nouns are irregular in the plural Eg la mano [f] (hand)becomes le mani in the plural lrsquouomo [m] (man) becomes gli uomini in theplural Here are some nouns which do not change in the plural because theyare abbreviations (cf above paragraph 6)

Some nouns are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural Here area few

Singularil pianista [m] (male) pianistla pianista [f] (female) pianistil collega [m] (male) colleaguela collega [f] (female) colleague

Plurali pianisti [m] (male) pianistsle pianiste [f] (female) pianistsi colleghi [m] (male) colleaguesle colleghe [f] (female) colleagues

Singularlrsquoanalisi [f]la crisi [f]

analysiscrisis

Pluralle analisile crisi

analysescrises

Singularil bar [m]lo sport [m]la cittagrave [f]la virtugrave [f]

barsportcityvirtue

Plurali bargli sportle cittagravele virtugrave

barssportscitiesvirtues

Singularlrsquoauto [f]la radio [f]la moto [f]la foto [f]il cinema [m]

carradiomotorbikephotocinema

Pluralle autole radiole motole fotoi cinema

carsradiosmotorbikesphotoscinemas

Singularil dito [m]il centinaio [m]il migliaio [m]il miglio [m]il paio [m]lrsquouovo [m]

finger(about) a hundred(about) a thousandmilepairegg

Pluralle dita [f]le centinaia [f]le migliaia [f]le miglia [f]le paia [f]le uova [f]

fingershundredsthousandsmilespairseggs

Unit 1 5

19 Note that in Italian the masculine form of a noun is also used when thegender is not important A noun in the plural may therefore designate anyone of three different sets of people

Spelling

Care is needed in spelling some plurals

20 Nouns ending in -ca or -ga always add h (-che or -ghe) in order to keepthe hard sound of c and g in the plural We saw the example of illa collega inparagraph 15 Here are some more

21 Nouns ending in -co and -go normally add h (-chi or -ghi) and keep thehard sound but some nouns change the sound of c and g in the plural (-ci or-gi) It is always best to check in a dictionary

gli amici

gli insegnanti

i colleghi

either a specific set of male friends [as in lsquoYour friends(Luigi and Giovanni) have arrivedrsquo]or a specific mixed set of male and female friends [as inlsquoYour friends (Luigi and Anna) have arrivedrsquo]or friends in general [whether male and female does notmatter as in lsquoEverybody needs friendsrsquo]either a specific set of male teachersor a specific mixed set of male and female teachersor teachers in general [regardless of gender]either a specific set of male colleaguesor a specific mixed set of male and female colleaguesor colleagues in general [regardless of gender]

Singularlrsquoamica [f]la tasca [f]la riga [f]

(female) friendpocketline ruler

Pluralle amichele taschele righe

(female) friendspocketslines rulers

Singularil bosco [m]il gioco [m]il parco [m]il lago [m]lrsquoamico [m]il medico [m]il biologo [m]

woodgameparklake(male) frienddoctorbiologist

Plurali boschii giochii parchii laghigli amicii medicii biologi

woodsgamesparkslakes(male) friendsdoctorsbiologists

6 Unit 1

22 Nouns ending in -cia or -gia keep the i in the plural (-cie or -gie) when the iis stressed or when c or g is preceded by a vowel But if -cia or -gia ispreceded by a consonant the i is lost in the plural

Exercise 1

With the help of a dictionary where necessary decide what gender the nounsare and write m f or mf after each one

Examples la notte f illa pianista mf il fratello m

Exercise 2

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the plurals of thenouns

Examples la notte le notti il nome i nomi il treno i trenila sera le sere

Singularla farmacia [f]la bugia [f]la camicia [f]la ciliegia [f]lrsquoarancia [f]la doccia [f]la spiaggia [f]

pharmacylieshirtblousecherryorangeshowerbeach

Pluralle farmaciele bugiele camiciele ciliegiele arancele doccele spiagge

pharmaciesliesshirtsblousescherriesorangesshowersbeaches

1 il giorno mdashmdash2 la sera mdashmdash3 lrsquouomo mdashmdash4 lrsquoinfermiera mdashmdash5 la stanza mdashmdash6 lrsquoorecchio mdashmdash7 il caffegrave mdashmdash8 lo zucchero mdashmdash9 il fiume mdashmdash

10 lrsquoolandese mdashmdash

11 lrsquouovo mdashmdash12 la camicia mdashmdash13 lrsquoatleta mdashmdash14 lrsquoanimale mdashmdash15 la strada mdashmdash16 lrsquoacqua mdashmdash17 lrsquoabitante mdashmdash18 lrsquoocchio mdashmdash19 il sole mdashmdash20 la canzone mdashmdash

Unit 1 7

Exercise 3

With the help of a dictionary where necessary fill in the singulars of thenouns

Examples la casa le case il libro i libri il mese i mesila moglie le mogli

1 il ragazzo2 la marca3 la chiave4 lrsquoabitante5 lo zio6 il fiume7 la stazione8 la ragazza9 lrsquoenergia

10 il pomeriggio

i mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

11 la banca12 il pianista13 la cliente14 lrsquoindirizzo15 lrsquoocchio16 il ristorante17 la televisione18 il calendario19 il francese20 il lago

le mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashgli mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashle mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdashi mdashmdashmdashmdash

1 il mdashmdashmdashmdash2 la mdashmdashmdashmdash3 il mdashmdashmdashmdash4 la mdashmdashmdashmdash5 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash6 il mdashmdashmdashmdash7 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash8 la mdashmdashmdashmdash9 la mdashmdashmdashmdash

10 il mdashmdashmdashmdash

i nomile viei figlile manile opinionii clientigli occhile personele marchei problemi

11 la mdashmdashmdashmdash12 il mdashmdashmdashmdash13 il mdashmdashmdashmdash14 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash15 il mdashmdashmdashmdash16 la mdashmdashmdashmdash17 il mdashmdashmdashmdash18 il mdashmdashmdashmdash19 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash20 lrsquomdashmdashmdashmdash

le ciliegiei caffegravei medicigli attivistile ginocchiale bugiei tedeschii testgli uominile amiche

8 Unit 1

UNIT TWODefinite and indefinite articles

Definite article

1 In Italian the definite article (English lsquothersquo) has different forms dependingon the gender (masculinefeminine) and number (singularplural) of the fol-lowing word and on the letter (or sound) with which the following wordbegins Here are the forms

2 The feminine forms are used before feminine words la and lrsquo for the singu-lar and le for the plural

la is used before words beginning with a consonantlrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel (a e i o u) or hle is used as the plural for both la and lrsquo

3 There are three different forms for the masculine singular il lo and lrsquo andtwo for the plural i and gli All these forms are used before masculine words

Feminine

Masculine

Singularlalrsquoillolrsquo

Pluralleleigligli

the

Singularla ragazzala casala stanzalrsquoautolrsquoesperienzalrsquohostess

Pluralle ragazzele casele stanzele autole esperienzele hostess

the girl(s)the house(s)the room(s)the car(s)the experience(s)the stewardess(es)

lrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or hlo is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantil is used in all other casesi is used as the plural of ilgli is used as the plural of both lrsquo and lo

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of chef pronounced in Italian asin English (ie lsquoshrsquo)

Lo is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

The use of logli is due to the initial sound of juventino pronounced asi + vowel (ie like the lsquoyrsquo in English lsquoyouthrsquo)

4 Care is needed in using the article with nouns ending in -e or -a which canrefer both to male or female persons (see Unit 1 paragraphs 4 and 5)

Singularlrsquoarticololrsquouomolrsquohotello ziolo gnomolo psicologolo cheflo spettacololo scioperoil baril ristoranteil senso

Pluralgli articoligli uominigli hotelgli ziigli gnomigli psicologigli chefgli spettacoligli scioperii bari ristorantii sensi

the article(s)the manmenthe hotel(s)the uncle(s)the gnome(s)the psychologist(s)the chef(s)the show(s)the strike(s)the bar(s)the restaurant(s)the sense(s)

Singularlo ionelo yuppielo xenofobolo juventino

Pluralgli ionigli yuppiegli xenofobigli juventini

the ion(s)the yuppie(s)the xenophobe(s)the Juventus fan(s)

Singularil cantante [m]

la cantante [f]

the (male)singer

the (female)singer

Plurali cantanti [m]

le cantanti [f]

the singers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) singers

10 Unit 2

Remember that as we saw in Unit 1 paragraph 19 the masculine plural formcan also denote a class of people in general as well as a group of males or amixed group of males and females eg i cantanti [m] can denote either agroup of male singers or a mixed group of male and female singers or singersin general

Indefinite article

5 Like the definite article the indefinite article (English lsquoaanrsquo) has differentforms depending on the gender of the word it refers to and the letter (orsound) with which the following word begins There is no plural for theindefinite article Here are the forms

6 The feminine forms unrsquo and una are used before feminine words

unrsquo is used before words beginning with a vowel or huna is used before words beginning with a consonant

Singularlrsquoinsegnante [m]

lrsquoinsegnante [f]

il collega [m]

la collega [f]

lrsquoatleta [m]

lrsquoatleta [f]

the (male)teacher

the (female)teacher

the (male)colleague

the (female)colleague

the (male)athlete

the (female)athlete

Pluralgli insegnanti [m]

le insegnanti [f]

i colleghi [m]

le colleghe [f]

gli atleti [m]

le atlete [f]

the teachers [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) teachers

the colleagues [maleor male andfemale mixed]

the (female)colleagues

the athletes [male ormale and femalemixed]

the (female) athletes

Feminine

Masculine

unrsquounaununo

aan

unrsquoautounrsquoesperienzaunrsquohostess

a caran experiencea stewardess

Unit 2 11

7 The masculine forms uno and un are used before masculine words

uno is used before words starting with z gn ps s + consonantun is used before all other words

Uno (like lo) is also used before masculine words starting with i + vowel x y

8 As with the definite article care is needed in choosing the right article touse with nouns ending in -e or -a which can refer to either male or femalepersons

In the case of nouns starting with a vowel the only difference between thearticles is the apostrophe

una ragazzauna casauna stanza

a girla housea room

uno ziouno gnomouno psicologouno chefuno spettacoloun articoloun uomoun hobbyun barun ristoranteun senso

an unclea gnomea psychologista chefa showan articlea mana hobbya bara restauranta sense

uno ioneuno yuppieuno xenofobouno juventino

an iona yuppiea xenophobea Juventus fan

un cantante [m]una cantante [f]un insegnante [m]unrsquoinsegnante [f]un collega [m]una collega [f]un atleta [m]unrsquoatleta [f]

a singer (male)a singer (female)a teacher (male)a teacher (female)a colleague (male)a colleague (female)an athlete (male)an athlete (female)

12 Unit 2

9 It may be useful to compare the use of the definite and indefinite article intable form

Use of the articles

10 The use of the articles is often the same in Italian as in English but thereare cases (mostly concerning the definite article) where the two languagesdiffer Here are the most common instances

bull In Italian the definite article is used before a noun used in a generalsense

bull Italian uses the definite article before a title followed by a surnameexcept when addressing the person directly

Note that some masculine titles notably Signore Professore and Dottoredrop the final vowel when used before the name of the person becomingSignor Professor Dottor etc

bull The Italian definite article is always used with years eg il 1990 il 2000bull The definite article is normally used in Italian with names of countries

and regions eg lrsquoInghilterra (England) la Toscana (Tuscany) il Porto-gallo (Portugal) lrsquoEuropa (Europe) But the rule may be different whenusing a preposition eg in Italia (in Italy) (see Unit 8 paragraph 14)

Masculineun is used when il and lrsquo are useduno is used when lo is used

Feminineunrsquo is used when lrsquo is useduna is used when la is used

Amo la musica rockle vacanzeLa musica rock egrave popolareLe vacanze sono sempre troppo corteIl tempo volaLe auto inquinano lrsquoambienteLa disoccupazione egrave diffusa

I love rock musicholidaysRock music is popularHolidays are always too shortTime fliesCars pollute the environmentUnemployment is widespread

La Signora Urbani egrave gentileLa Dottoressa Vanni non crsquoegraveIl Dottor Marchi egrave occupatoBuongiorno Signor CarliBuongiorno DottoreScusi Signore

MrsMs Urbani is kindDoctor Vanni isnrsquot hereDoctor Marchi is busyGood morning Mr CarliGood morning DoctorExcuse me( Sir)

Unit 2 13

11 In some cases a definite article is used in Italian where an indefinite article(or a possessive adjective ndash see Unit 3) is used in English Here are someinstances

There are also cases when there is no article in Italian but the definite orindefinite article is used in English

Definite and indefinite article before an adjective

12 As we shall see (Unit 3) a noun can sometimes be preceded by an adjec-tive so that the adjective comes between the article and the noun (eg unabella donna a beautiful woman) In such cases the form of the articledepends on the spelling of the adjective not the noun

Antonio ha il naso lungoHai la patenteAvete lrsquoombrelloHo il raffreddoreDove passi le vacanze di solito

Di pomeriggio faccio il compitoHai il biglietto

Antonio has a long noseHave you got a driving licenceHave you got an umbrellaI have got a coldWhere do you normally spend your

holidaysIn the afternoon I do my homeworkHave you got ayour ticket

Andiamo in montagnaStasera andiamo a teatroAccompagno Anna in aeroportoAndiamo in macchinaCarlo egrave medicoSono studenteNon ha marito

Wersquore going to the mountainsWersquore going to the theatre this eveningIrsquom taking Anna to the airportWersquore going in thea carCarlo is a doctorIrsquom a studentShe hasnrsquot got a husband

la casauna casalrsquoautounrsquoauto

the housea housethe cara car

lrsquoultima casaunrsquoottima casala prima autouna bella auto

the last housean excellent housethe first cara beautiful car

14 Unit 2

Exercise 1

Insert the definite article before the nouns

Examples lrsquoacqua la stanza le esperienze il ristorante lo ziogli uomini

Exercise 2

Insert the indefinite article before the nouns

Examples unrsquoauto una ragazza un articolo uno spettacoloun insegnante [m] unrsquoatleta [f]

1 mdashmdash figlia2 mdashmdash zia3 mdashmdash problema4 mdashmdash mano5 mdashmdash auto6 mdashmdash fratello7 mdashmdash libri8 mdashmdash entrata9 mdashmdash studio

10 mdashmdash zii

11 mdashmdash notti12 mdashmdash sport13 mdashmdash uovo14 mdashmdash xenofobia15 mdashmdash tivugrave16 mdashmdash amici17 mdashmdash pianiste18 mdashmdash dita19 mdashmdash crisi20 mdashmdash inglese

1 mdashmdash sorella2 mdashmdash ciliegia3 mdashmdash amico4 mdashmdash zio5 mdashmdash zia6 mdashmdash aereo7 mdashmdash amica8 mdashmdash cantante [f]9 mdashmdash migliaio

10 mdashmdash specchio

11 mdashmdash arancia12 mdashmdash psichiatra [m]13 mdashmdash sigaretta14 mdashmdash insegnante [f]15 mdashmdash gnu16 mdashmdash artista [m]17 mdashmdash sbaglio18 mdashmdash figlio19 mdashmdash yogurt20 mdashmdash analisi

Unit 2 15

Exercise 3

Insert the correct article in the blank spaces

Example Maria ha una casa (Maria has a house)

1 mdashmdash zio di Maria arriva domani (Mariarsquos uncle arrives tomorrow)2 Paolo scrive mdashmdash lettera (Paolo is writing a letter)3 Hai mdashmdash mani pulite (Have you got clean hands)4 Egrave mdashmdash amica di Patrizia (Shersquos a friend of Patriziarsquos)5 Laura non ha mdashmdash patente (Laura hasnrsquot got a driving licence)6 Crsquoegrave mdashmdash Signor Totti (Is Mr Totti here)7 Egrave mdashmdash insegnante molto capace (Shersquos a very capable teacher)8 mdashmdash inquinamento egrave mdashmdash problema preoccupante (Pollution is a

worrying problem)9 mdashmdash nuovo stadio egrave piugrave grande (The new stadium is bigger)

10 Ho mdashmdash stesso CD (Irsquove got the same CD)

16 Unit 2

UNIT THREEAdjectives possessive and demonstrativepronouns

1 Adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun theyrefer to if the noun is masculine singular the adjective must be masculinesingular if the noun is feminine singular the adjective must be feminine singu-lar etc Adjectives therefore change their forms accordingly But rememberthat when an adjective is listed in a dictionary or a grammar it is given in itsmasculine singular form In the masculine singular most Italian adjectivesend in -o or in -e

2 Adjectives ending in -o have four different forms -o for the masculinesingular (italiano) -a for feminine singular (italiana) -i for the masculineplural (italiani) and -e for the feminine plural (italiane)

3 Adjectives ending in -e have only two forms -e for the masculine andfeminine singular (francese) and -i for the masculine and feminine plural(francesi) With adjectives ending in -e there is thus no difference between themasculine and the feminine form

italianonuovofrancesegrande

ItaliannewFrenchbig

lrsquoarbitro [ms] italianogli arbitri [mp] italianila cameriera [fs] italianale cameriere [fp] italianelo stadio [ms] nuovogli stadi [mp] nuovila casa [fs] nuovale case [fp] nuove

the Italian refereethe Italian refereesthe Italian waitressthe Italian waitressesthe new stadiumthe new stadiastadiumsthe new housethe new houses

4 Some adjectives end in -a like the following

These adjectives have three forms -a for the masculine and feminine singular(ottimista) -i for the masculine plural (ottimisti) and -e for the feminine plural(ottimiste) There is thus only one form for the masculine and femininesingular

For an explanation of the -h- in belghe see paragraph 6 below

5 There are also some invariable adjectives eg blu (dark blue) rosa (pink)dispari (odd) pari (even) which do not change

6 Care is needed in spelling the plural of adjectives ending in -co and -goThere is no fixed rule for the masculine forms which may keep the hard

lrsquoarbitro [ms] francesegli arbitri [mp] francesila cameriera [fs] francesele cameriere [fp] francesilo stadio [ms] grandegli stadi [mp] grandila casa [fs] grandele case [fp] grandi

the French refereethe French refereesthe French waitressthe French waitressesthe big stadiumthe big stadiastadiumsthe big housethe big houses

ottimistapacifistabelgaentusiastaidiota

optimisticpacifistBelgianenthusiasticidiotic

il corteo [ms] pacifistalrsquoidea [fs] pacifistai cortei [mp] pacifistile idee [fp] pacifisteil ragazzo [ms] belgala ragazza [fs] belgai ragazzi [mp] belgile ragazze [fp] belghe

the pacifist rallythe pacifist ideathe pacifist ralliesthe pacifist ideasthe Belgian boythe Belgian girlthe Belgian boysthe Belgian girls

il vestito rosala penna blui numeri disparile pagine pari

the pink garmentdresssuitthe blue penthe odd numbersthe even pages

18 Unit 3

sound of c and g and add h (-chi -ghi) or change the sound of c and g in theplural (-ci -gi) The feminine plural forms always add h (-che -ghe) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g If in doubt check in a dictionary the bestway to remember these sorts of plural is through practice

The adjective belga as we have seen keeps the hard sound of g in the femi-nine plural by adding h (belghe) but it changes the sound in the masculineplural (belgi)

7 As can be seen in the examples the adjective normally comes after thenoun it refers to and (unless it is invariable) it must agree in gender andnumber with the noun It must also agree in gender and number withthe noun even where it is separated from it by another word such as averb

When the adjective refers to two or more nouns which are different in genderit is masculine plural

8 In some cases the adjective can also precede the noun it refers to When theadjective comes before the noun the meaning of the noun becomes differentas in these examples

Masculinesingulargrecopraticopubblicoriccofrescolargo

Masculinepluralgrecipraticipubbliciricchifreschilarghi

Femininesingulargrecapraticapubblicariccafrescalarga

Femininepluralgrechepratichepubblichericchefreschelarghe

Greekpracticalpublicrichfreshwide

Lorenzo egrave italianoLorenzo e Vittorio sono italianiAnna egrave italianaAnna e Claudia sono italiane

Lorenzo is ItalianLorenzo and Vittorio are ItalianAnna is ItalianAnna and Claudia are Italian

Lorenzo Anna e Claudia sonoitaliani

Sabine e Kurt sono tedeschiIl computer e la stampante sono

nuoviIl bagno e la cucina sono piccoli

I pantaloni e la camicia sono nuovi

Lorenzo Anna and Claudia areItalian

Sabine and Kurt are GermanThe computer and the printer are new

The bathroom and the kitchen aresmall

The trousers and the shirt are new

Unit 3 19

9 The demonstrative adjectives questo (this) and quello (that) like theirEnglish counterparts always precede the noun they refer to

For an explanation of the forms of quello see paragraph 10

10 The forms of the adjectives quello and bello (beautifulhandsomenice-fine) change in the same way as the definite article Here are the formsfollowed in brackets by the corresponding forms of the definite article

The feminine singular form bellrsquo is rarely used and bella is preferred evenbefore a vowel

Note that when bello comes after the noun the full form is used lo spettacoloegrave bello unrsquoesperienza bella e interessante etc

un vecchio amicoun amico vecchiola povera donnala donna povera

an old [ie long-standing] friendan oldelderly friend [ie a friend who is old]the poor [ie unfortunate] womanthe poor woman [ie she has no money]

questo ragazzoquesta ragazzaquesti ragazziqueste ragazzequel ragazzoquella ragazzaquei ragazziquelle ragazze

this boythis girlthese boysthese girlsthat boythat girlthose boysthose girls

Masculine

Feminine

Singularquelbelquellobelloquellrsquobellrsquoquellabellaquellrsquobellrsquo

(il)(lo)(lrsquo)(la)(lrsquo)

Pluralqueibeiqueglibegliqueglibegliquellebellequellebelle

(i)(gli)(gli)(le)(le)

quel filmbello spettacoloquellrsquoesempioquella canzonebella esperienzaquel bel film

that filmlovely showthat examplethat songbeautiful experiencethat beautiful film

bei filmquegli spettacolibegli esempibelle canzoniquelle esperienzequei bei film

beautiful filmsthose showsfine examplesbeautiful songsthose experiencesthose beautiful

films

20 Unit 3

11 The forms of the adjective buono (good) when used before a singularnoun change in the same way as the indefinite article

Nowadays the form buona is preferred to buonrsquo

Note that when buono comes after the noun the full form is used questolibro egrave buono il caffegrave egrave buono etc

12 The adjective grande (biggreat) when used before the noun may changeto the invariable form gran or in some expressions to grandrsquo nowadays thefull form grande is preferred in most cases

Note that before plural nouns grande is regular grandi musicisti grandi caseetc

Note also that when grande comes after the noun the full form is alwaysused quel film egrave grande la casa egrave grande etc

13 The adjective santo (saint) is another that has different forms when usedbefore a noun

santo is only used before masculine names starting with s + consonantsan is used before masculine names starting with a consonant (other than

s + consonant)santrsquo is used before masculine or feminine names starting with a vowelsanta is used before feminine names starting with a consonant

Masculine

Feminine

buonbuonobuonrsquobuonabuona

(un)(uno)(unrsquo)(una)

buon librobuon amicobuon caffegravebuono studente

good bookgood friendgood coffeegood student

buona ideabuona esperienzabuona memoria

good ideagood experiencegood memory

grande musicistagrande filmgrande casa

grande amico

grande idea[sometimes] grande

uomo

gran musicistagran filmgran casaGran Bretagna[sometimes] grandrsquoamicogran

amico[sometimes] grandrsquoideagran ideagrandrsquouomo

great musiciangreat filmbig houseGreat Britaingreat friend

great ideagreat man

Unit 3 21

Note that when santo means lsquoholyrsquo or lsquoblessedrsquo it is regular il santo padre(the Holy Father) una santa donna (a holy woman)

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

14 The forms of the possessive adjectives (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquo etc) are asfollows

Note that the masculine plural forms miei tuoi and suoi are irregular Note that loro is invariable and does not change

Possessive adjectives are always used before the noun they refer to Unlike inEnglish they are always preceded by the article and they must agree with theowned object not with the owner

15 When mio tuo suo nostro and vostro (not loro) are used with a noundenoting family relationship (eg fratello (brother) sorella (sister) padre(father) madre (mother) ) in the singular they are not preceded by the definitearticle

Santo StefanoSan FrancescoSan Pietro

Saint StephenSaint FrancisSaint Peter

SantrsquoAntonioSantrsquoAnnaSanta Caterina

Saint AnthonySaint AnneSaint Catherine

Masculinesingularmiotuosuonostrovostroloro

Femininesingularmiatuasuanostravostraloro

Masculinepluralmieituoisuoinostrivostriloro

Femininepluralmietuesuenostrevostreloro

myyourhisheritsouryourtheir

Luisa e i suoi fratelli [mp]Carlo e le sue sorelle [fp]Livia e il suo amico [ms]Ettore e la sua amica [fs]la mia lettera [fs]i tuoi libri [mp]la nostra scuola [fs]le vostre idee [fp]la loro stanza [fs]i loro genitori [mp]

Luisa and her brothersCarlo and his sistersLivia and her (male) friendEttore and his (female) friendmy letteryour booksour schoolyour ideastheir roomtheir parents

22 Unit 3

16 The forms of the possessive pronouns (lsquominersquo lsquoyoursrsquo etc) are the sameas those of the possessive adjectives and are always preceded by the definitearticle

17 As we shall see (Unit 4 paragraph 5) in Italian there is a form used toaddress people formally In the formal way of addressing people the posses-sive adjectives and pronouns used are Suo for the singular and Vostro (orLoro if a higher degree of formality is required) for the plural

mio padretua madretuo fratellosua ziai tuoi fratelli [pl]le sue zie [pl]il loro padre

my fatheryour motheryour brotherhisher auntyour brothershisher auntstheir father

Masculinesingularil mioil tuoil suoil nostroil vostroil loro

Femininesingularla miala tuala suala nostrala vostrala loro

Masculineplurali mieii tuoii suoii nostrii vostrii loro

Femininepluralle miele tuele suele nostrele vostrele loro

mineyourshishersitsoursyourstheirs

La tua casa egrave grande ma la loro egravepiccola

I tuoi CD sono qui i nostri sono ligrave

Your house is big but theirs is small

Your CDs are here ours are there

AdjectivesLa Sua auto egrave pronta Signora FerreroEcco i Suoi libri SignoreSignori Bianco la Vostra stanza egrave

pronta(Signori Bianco la Loro stanza egrave

pronta)

Your carrsquos ready Mrs FerreroHere are your books( Sir)

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) your roomis ready

PronounsLa loro auto egrave in strada ma la Sua egrave

in garage SignoraProfessore questi libri sono i Suoi

Their carrsquos in the street but yoursis in the garage( Madam)

These books are yours( ProfessorSir)

Unit 3 23

Demonstrative pronouns

18 Questo and quello are also used as demonstrative pronouns (this (one)that (one) these (ones) those (ones) ) But note that when quello is used as ademonstrative pronoun its endings are not modelled on the definite article(cf paragraph 10) but are the same as those of questo (ie quello [ms] quella[fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp])

Exercise 1

Complete the phrases by choosing the form of the adjective that agrees withthe noun

Examples le ragazze (italiano) italiane (quello) acqua (caldo) quellrsquocalda

1 un libro (interessante) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 la gonna (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 i vestiti (bianco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 le camicie (rosso) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 gli insegnanti (egoista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 un (bello) albero mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 un collega (razzista) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 le situazioni (comico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 le donne (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 i capelli (lungo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Questa stanza egrave la Vostra SignoriBianco

(Questa stanza egrave la Loro SignoriBianco)

This room is yours( Mr and MrsBianco)

(This room is yours Mr and MrsBianco)

Questa egrave AnnaQuesta egrave la tua stanza e quella egrave la

miaQuesti sono gli eserciziQuello egrave il nuovo computerQuelle sono le AlpiQuesti biscotti sono buoni ma

preferisco quelli

This is AnnaThis is my room and that onersquos

yoursThese are the exercisesThat is the new computerThose are the AlpsThese biscuits are nice but I prefer

those

24 Unit 3

11 (quello) ragazzo (simpatico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 (questo) esercizi (facile) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 (quello) (bello) specchi mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 (questo) (bello) donne mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 (quello) alberi (morto) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 (questo) amici (inglese)mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 (quello) attiviste (spagnolo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 (quello) (bello) attore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 (quello) uova (fresco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 (quello) turisti (greco) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Exercise 2

Choose the right adjective for each noun or pair of nouns

Examples Queste scarpe sono (rossanuovebelli) nuove Anna e Francosono (franceseitalianeitaliani) italiani

1 La casa egrave (vecchionuovigrande) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash2 Ho un vestito (rosanuovalunghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash3 Le professoresse sono (intelligentefrancesinoiosa) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash4 La crisi egrave (serioseviolentigrave) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash5 I colleghi (italianeottimistapacifisti) arrivano domani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash6 Queste macchine sono (velocenuovitedesche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash7 Questo bambino egrave (capricciosepigrobeneducata) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash8 Quei film sono (inglesedivertentelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash9 Le cameriere sono (giovanegrecabelghe) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

10 Il pianista non egrave (stancabelgavecchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 Ho le dita (pulitisporchelunghi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash12 Quel signore ha un carattere (simpatichecortesienergico) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash13 Questi blue-jeans sono (resistentipraticheamericana) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash14 Le maglie sono (vecchioblubianchi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash15 Le cantanti sono (spagnolitedeschiscozzesi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash16 Il treno e lrsquoauto sono (velociinquinantecomodo) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash17 Paola Claudia e Anna sono (italianibellisimpatiche) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash18 Claudio e Patrizia sono (gentileitalianicontenta) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash19 Gianfranco Piero e Giorgio sono (feliceottimistiitaliane) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash20 I signori e le signore sono (soddisfattigrecoaffollate) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash

Unit 3 25

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences by adding the correct form of the possessive adjectiveand where necessary the article

Examples Conosco Luisa e (suo) fratelli i suoi (Mio) madre egrave bella Mia

1 (Loro) bambini sono cortesi mdashmdashmdash2 (Suo) occhi sono blu mdashmdashmdash3 Questa egrave (mio) bici mdashmdashmdash4 Quanti anni hanno (tuo) sorelle mdashmdashmdash5 (Vostro) macchina egrave nuova mdashmdashmdash6 (Nostro) lavoro egrave interessante mdashmdashmdash7 (Mio) amici sono in vacanza mdashmdashmdash8 (Loro) casa egrave grande mdashmdashmdash9 (Tuo) madre egrave simpatica mdashmdashmdash

10 Grazie per (Suo) lettera Signore mdashmdashmdash

Exercise 4

Answer the questions using possessive pronouns

Example lsquoEgrave la Sua macchina Signor Rossirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave la miarsquo

1 lsquoEgrave il cellulare di Annarsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo2 lsquoEgrave la Vostra casa Signori Zolarsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo3 lsquoSono i miei CDrsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo4 lsquoEgrave il Suo ufficiorsquo lsquoNo non egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoSono i suoi librirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoSono le mie letterersquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoEgrave la casa dei tuoi amicirsquo lsquoSigrave egrave mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoSono i nostri vestitirsquo lsquoNo non sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo9 lsquoSono le camicie di Paolorsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoSono i vostri bagaglirsquo lsquoSigrave sono mdashmdashmdashmdashmdashrsquo

26 Unit 3

Exercise 5

Complete the sentences by choosing the right form of the adjectives andpronouns

Example (Questo) non egrave (tuo) stanza egrave (mio) Questa non egrave la tuastanza egrave la mia

1 (Questo) signori sono (nostro) ospiti (tedesco)2 (Suo) colleghi sono (ottimista) Signora3 (Questo) sono (vostro) stanze4 Io ho (mio) documenti Lei ha (Suo) Signore5 (Questo) sono (mio) CD (quello) sono (tuo)6 (Nostro) professore egrave (entusiasta) comrsquoegrave (vostro)7 (Quello) sono (mio) magliette (questo) sono (tuo)8 (Quello) esercizi sono (divertente) ma (questo) egrave (difficile)9 (Mio) bagagli sono (pesante) ma (vostro) sono (leggero)

10 (Quello) acqua (minerale) egrave (gassato) ma (questo) egrave (liscio)

Unit 3 27

UNIT FOURThe present tense of essere and avere

1 Like their counterparts in many other languages the Italian verbs essere(to be) and avere (to have) are irregular Here are the forms of the presenttense

As shown in the examples it is not usually necessary to use the subject pro-nouns before the verb since the forms for the different persons are different ndashsei can only be second person singular (tu) siete can only be second personplural (voi) etc Even with sono the context always shows whether it means lsquoIamrsquo or lsquothey arersquo

The pronoun is only required for emphasis or to mark a contrast

Essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

To beI amyou [sing] arehesheit iswe areyou [pl] arethey are

Avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo(voi) avete(loro) hanno

To haveI havehave gotyou [sing] havehave gothesheit hashas gotwe havehave gotyou [pl] havehave gotthey havehave got

Sono medicoSiamo cuginiSiete stranieriPaola e Anna sono alteClaudio egrave mio fratelloHo un cellulareHai il mio indirizzoHanno un esameAnna ha una chitarra nuova

Irsquom a doctorWe are cousinsYou are foreignersPaola and Anna are tallClaudio is my brotherIrsquove got a mobile phoneYou have my addressThey have an examAnnarsquos got a new guitar

Io sono medico e lui egrave insegnanteTu hai una bella bici ma io ho una

macchina

Irsquom a doctor and hersquos a teacherYoursquove got a nice bike but Irsquove got a

car

Subject pronouns

2 The Italian subject pronouns are

For the third person the following pronouns can still be found in some textsbut are not normally used in contemporary Italian

Lui (third person singular pronoun) replaces a masculine noun (like the Eng-lish lsquohersquo) lei replaces a feminine noun (like the English lsquoshersquo)

Lui lei and loro are only used to refer to persons In referring to objectsItalian normally avoids using the obsolete forms esso essa essi esse andomits the pronoun altogether

Interrogative form

3 The interrogative is formed by adding a question mark at the end of thesentence

Person1st2nd3rd3rd

1st2nd3rd

SingulariotuluileiPluralnoivoiloro

Iyouheshe

weyouthey

egli [m] esso [m]ella [f] essa [f]essi [m] esse [f]

instead of the singular luiinstead of the singular leiinstead of the plural loro

Lui egrave Paolo lei egrave AnnalsquoCosrsquoegraversquo lsquoEgrave una chiaversquoEgrave la chitarra di AnnaSono i libri di Paolo

He is Paolo she is AnnalsquoWhat is itrsquo lsquoItrsquos a keyrsquoItrsquos Annarsquos guitarThey are Paolorsquos books

Sei prontoSiete stranieriHai il mio indirizzoAvete amici italianiHanno un esame

Are you readyAre you foreignersHave you got my addressHave you any Italian friendsHave they got an exam

Unit 4 29

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non (ie lsquonotrsquo) before the verb

Formal form

5 In Italian there is a formal way of addressing people which is used withpeople we do not know or when some degree of formality is required Whenthe formal form is required the pronoun used for the singular for both menand women is Lei (third person singular) the pronoun used for the plural isnormally Voi but in situations when a high degree of formality is requiredLoro can be used

6 There are some spelling mistakes involving essere and avere which arecommonly made by learners be careful to remember the followingdifferences

Claudio non egrave mio fratelloNon siamo italianiNon siete stranieriNon hai il mio indirizzoNon hanno un esameNon abbiamo amici italianiNon ho la minima idea di cosa

regalare a Paola

Claudio is not my brotherWersquore not ItalianArenrsquot you foreignersHavenrsquot you got my addressThey donrsquot have an examWe havenrsquot got any Italian friendsI havenrsquot the slightest idea what to

give Paola

Lei egrave molto gentile SignoreLei non egrave troppo alta SignoraSignora Belli (Lei) ha la patente

Professore (Lei) ha tempoSignor Neri (Lei) egrave prontoSignori Conti (Voi) siete italiani (Signori Conti Loro sono italiani)

Yoursquore very kind( Sir)Yoursquore not too tall( Madam)Mrs Belli have you got a driving

licenceHave you got time( ProfessorSir)Mr Neri are you ready

Mr and Mrs Conti are you Italian

egrave (hesheit is)ho (I have)hai (you have)ha (hesheit has)hanno (they have)

e (and)o (or)ai (to the)a (to)anno (year)

30 Unit 4

Use of essere and avere

7 The verbs essere and avere are normally used as the verbs lsquoto bersquo and lsquotohaversquo are used in English Essere is usually followed by an adjective or anoun

Avere is normally followed by a noun (or a noun accompanied by anadjective)

8 The verb avere followed by a noun is also used in a number of idiomaticexpressions which correspond to English expressions using lsquoto bersquo followedby an adjective or an adverbial phrase

Siete studenti [noun]Daniela egrave medico [noun]Tu e Anna siete cugini [noun]Siete gentili [adjective]Gli amici di Paul sono italiani

[adjective]

Are you students [noun]Daniela is a doctor [noun]Are you and Anna cousins [noun]You are kind [adjective]Paulrsquos friends are Italian [adjective]

Hai il libroNon ho tempoAbbiamo molti amiciHanno una casa grandePaolo e io abbiamo una macchina

Have you got the bookI havenrsquot timeWe have a lot of friendsThey have a big housePaolo and I have got a car

avere caldoavere fameavere freddoavere pauraavere ragioneavere seteavere sonnoavere tortoavere fretta

to be hotto be hungryto be coldto be afraidto be rightto be thirstyto be sleepyto be wrongto be in a hurry

Abbiamo fameAvete ragioneMarina ha fretta(Lei) ha sete SignoraNon hai freddo Claudia

We are hungryYoursquore rightMarina is in a hurryAre you thirsty( Madam)Arenrsquot you cold Claudia

Unit 4 31

9 Avere is also used in Italian to express age

Crsquoegrave and ci sono

10 The verb essere is used in the expressions crsquoegrave (there is) followed by asingular noun and ci sono (there are) followed by a plural noun

11 Note that crsquoegrave and ci sono are not usually emphatic So in the Englishsentences in paragraph 10 the voice stress does not fall on lsquotherersquo but on thenoun that follows it (ie on lsquoletterrsquo lsquolittleplenty of timersquo lsquoproblemrsquo etc)Thus crsquoegrave and ci sono sometimes do not correspond to lsquothere isrsquo or lsquothere arersquoas in the following examples

12 The interrogative is formed by simply adding a question mark at the endof the sentence or with a lsquoquestion wordrsquo (see Unit 9)

13 The negative is formed by placing non before crsquoegrave or ci sono

Francesca ha 17 anniIl figlio di Gianni ha un annoQuanti anni hai

Francesca is 17 (years old)Giannirsquos son is oneHow old are you

Crsquoegrave una lettera per teCrsquoegrave poco tempoCrsquoegrave molto tempoCrsquoegrave un problemaCi sono due ingressiNel negozio ci sono molti clienti

Therersquos a letter for youTherersquos littlenot much timeTherersquos plenty of timeTherersquos a problemThere are two entrancesThere are a lot of customers in the shop

Crsquoegrave Luisa al telefono [ie she hasjust rung]

Ci sono i tuoi amici che ti aspettano[ie they have just arrived]

Luisarsquos on the phone [not TherersquosLuisa on the phone]

Your friends are waiting for you[not There are your friendswaiting for you]

Crsquoegrave il Professor Gatti

Crsquoegrave molto trafficoQuanti ingressi ci sono

Is Professor Gatti thereanywherearound[ie Irsquod like to seetalk to Professor Gatti]

Is there a lot of trafficHow many entrances are there

Non crsquoegrave tempoDomani non crsquoegrave lezioneNon ci sono clienti

There is no timeThere is no class tomorrowThere arenrsquot any customers

32 Unit 4

In Italian the double negative is used non + nessuno

14 Note that in negative sentences giving general information it is moreusual to use the plural non ci sono than the singular non crsquoegrave

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of essere

Example Alberto mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash a Roma egrave

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct form of avere

Example Jenny e John mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash una figlia hanno

Non crsquoegrave tempoNon ci sono clientiNon crsquoegrave nessuno

Is there no timeArenrsquot there any customersThere is nobody

Non ci sono farmacie Non ci sono scuole Non ci sono artisti nella mia

famiglia

There isnrsquot ais no pharmacyThere arenrsquot anyare no pharmaciesThere isnrsquot ais no schoolThere arenrsquot anyare no schoolsThere arenrsquot anyare no artists in my family

1 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash italiani2 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash scozzese3 (io) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash felice4 Gli studenti mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash in

biblioteca5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto gentili6 Lei mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash medico7 La cena mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash pronta8 I libri mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sulla

scrivania9 Tu e Jim mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amici

10 Paolo e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash giovani11 Gli impiegati mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash gentili12 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash simpatici13 Enrico non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash biondo14 Gli italiani mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash allegri15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash amica di Giulia16 Laura mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash magra17 Lrsquoesercizio mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash difficile18 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash straniero19 Tu e Billy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stranieri20 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash stanca Signora

1 (noi) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo2 (Lei) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash la macchina3 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molti amici

4 I Signori Illy mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash due figli5 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash i libri6 Sandro mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sempre fretta

Unit 4 33

Exercise 3

Taking the words in the two columns below write negative and interrogativesentences using the verb avere

Example tu fretta Non hai fretta Hai fretta

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative and negativesentences using the verb essere

Example io italiana Sono italiana Non sono italiana

7 Il professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash moltistudenti

8 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il libro9 Marco e io mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash sete

10 Quanti anni (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash11 (voi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash il biglietto12 Domenico mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un

fratello13 (noi) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash un esame14 (loro) non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash figli

15 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash lrsquoindirizzo diLuca

16 Carlo non mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash latelevisione

17 I nostri amici mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash deiproblemi

18 (tu) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash molto lavoro19 (io) mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash 16 anni20 Professore mdashmdashmdashmdashmdash tempo

1 io2 il professore3 la Signorina Berti4 Lei [formal]5 voi6 loro7 Carla e Andrea

ragionecaldosetesonnopaurafreddofame

1 io2 tu3 il dottore4 la professoressa5 Lei [formal]6 noi7 voi8 le tue amiche

stancopigragiovanesimpaticaaltomagreintelligenticontente

34 Unit 4

Exercise 5

Imagine the things in the office using all the words in the list write sentencesusing crsquoegrave or ci sono

Examples una scrivania Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una scrivania quattro sedieNellrsquoufficio ci sono quattro sedie

1 una sedia 2 due poltrone 3 tre computer 4 una stampante 5 un tele-fono 6 la fotocopiatrice 7 due radiatori 8 una porta 9 tre finestre

Exercise 6

Imagine what is in the village using all the words in the list make affirmativeor negative sentences paying attention to the negative form (non ci sono +plural noun)

Example tabaccaio tabaccai In questo paese crsquoegrave un tabaccaio ci sonotre tabaccai non ci sono tabaccai

1 museo musei 2 discoteca discoteche 3 panetteria panetterie 4 cinemacinema 5 biblioteca biblioteche 6 scuola scuole 7 ufficio postale ufficipostali 8 libreria librerie 9 giardino pubblico giardini pubblici 10 ris-torante ristoranti

Unit 4 35

UNIT FIVEThe present tense of regular (and someirregular) verbs

Use of the present tense

1 The present tense (or simply lsquothe presentrsquo) is used to state that an action isoccurring at the present time It corresponds basically to the English simplepresent (lsquoI eatrsquo) and present continuous (lsquoI am eatingrsquo)

2 The present can also be used to refer to the future either the near future orone that is considered fairly certain

3 The present is also used to refer to an action which started in the past and isstill going on here it corresponds to the English present perfect

Mio padre lavora per la BBCMio padre lavora in giardinoDi solito guardo la televisioneStasera guardo la televisioneNon guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisioneStasera non guardo la televisionePercheacute non guardi la televisione

stasera

My father works for the BBCMy fatherrsquos working in the gardenNormally I watch TVIrsquom watching TV this eveningI donrsquot watch TVWhy donrsquot you watch TVIrsquom not watching TV this eveningWhy arenrsquot you watching TV this

evening

Il treno parte fra cinque minuti

Parto domaniDomani mattina porto Luca alla

stazioneLrsquoestate prossima lavoro con mio

zio

The train leavesis leaving in fiveminutes

I leaveI am leaving tomorrowTomorrow morning Irsquoll takeIrsquom taking-

Irsquom going to take Luca to the stationNext summer Irsquoll workIrsquom working-

going to work with my uncle

Lavoriamo qui da un mese Wersquove been working here for a month

The forms of the present tense

4 Italian verbs are divided into three main groups the conjugations Theconjugation a verb belongs to is determined by the ending of its infinitive

The forms of the present depend on which conjugation the verb belongs toThe present is formed by changing the ending of the infinitive as follows

5 Regular verbs in -are are conjugated as follows

As we saw in Unit 4 the subject pronoun is normally omitted in the conju-gation of Italian verbs

Mio cugino abita a Roma da treanni

Conosco Giulia da tre anniNon vedo Dario da mesi

My cousinrsquos livedbeen living in Rome forthree years

I have known Giulia for three yearsI havenrsquot seen Dario for months

First conjugation-are

Second conjugation-ere

Third conjugation-ire

Person1st2nd3rd

1st2nd3rd

Singular(io)(tu)(luilei)

Plural(noi)(voi)(loro)

Infinitive in -are-o-i-a

-iamo-ate-ano

Infinitive in -ere-o-i-e

-iamo-ete-ono

Infinitive in -ire(-isc)-o(-isc)-i(-isc)-e

-iamo-ite(-isc)-ono

Endings-o-i-a-iamo-ate-ano

Parlare(io) parlo(tu) parli(luilei) parla(noi) parliamo(voi) parlate(loro) parlano

To speaktalkI speakyou speakhesheit speakswe speakyou speakthey speak

Andrea e Carla lavorano in ItaliaParlo italianoParlate moltoAbitiamo a Genova

Andrea and Carla work in ItalyI speak ItalianYou talk a lotWe live in Genoa

Unit 5 37

6 Verbs ending in -care and -gare (first conjugation) add h before the endingsof the second person singular (-i) and the first person plural (-iamo) in orderto keep the hard sound of c and g

7 Verbs ending in -iare (first conjugation) normally have only one i in thesecond person singular and the first person plural

8 Regular verbs in -ere are conjugated as follows

Cercare(io) cerco(tu) cerchi(luilei) cerca(noi) cerchiamo(voi) cercate(loro) cercano

To look forI look foryou look forhesheit looks forwe look foryou look forthey look for

Pagare(io) pago(tu) paghi(luilei) paga(noi) paghiamo(voi) pagate(loro) pagano

To payI payyou payhesheit payswe payyou paythey pay

Cerchi MarcoGiochiamo a pallonePercheacute litighi con tuo fratelloPaghiamo sempre il conto

Are you looking for MarcoWe play footballWhy are you arguing with your brotherWe always pay the bill

Cominciare(io) comincio(tu) cominci(luilei) comincia(noi) cominciamo(voi) cominciate(loro) cominciano

To startbeginI startbeginyou startbeginhesheit startsbeginswe startbeginyou startbeginthey startbegin

Mangiare(io) mangio(tu) mangi(luilei) mangia(noi) mangiamo(voi) mangiate(loro) mangiano

To eatI eatyou eathesheit eatswe eatyou eatthey eat

Quando cominci la scuolaCominciamo la partitaMangi troppoStasera mangiamo fuori

When do you start schoolWersquore starting the gameYou eat too muchThis evening wersquore eating out

Endings-o-i-e-iamo-ete-ono

Prendere(io) prendo(tu) prendi(luilei) prende(noi) prendiamo(voi) prendete(loro) prendono

To takegetI takegetyou takegethesheit takesgetswe takegetyou takegetthey takeget

38 Unit 5

9 Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) and -gere (or -ggere) change the sound ofc (or sc) and g (or -gg) which become lsquohardrsquo before the endings of the firstperson singular (-o) and the third person plural (-ono) So care needs to betaken in speaking these verbs

Prendo il prossimo trenoPrendiamo questa stradaAnna scrive una letteraMarco e Martina ridono molto

Irsquom gettingtaking the next trainWe take this roadAnna is writing a letterMarco and Martina laugh a lot

Vincere(io) vinco(tu) vinci(luilei) vince(noi) vinciamo(voi) vincete(loro) vincono

Spoken like Englishkchchchchk

To winI winyou winhesheit winswe winyou winthey win

Conoscere(io) conosco(tu) conosci(luilei) conosce(noi) conosciamo(voi) conoscete(loro) conoscono

Spoken like Englishskshshshshsk

To knowI knowyou knowhesheit knowswe knowyou knowthey know

Leggere(io) leggo(tu) leggi(luilei) legge(noi) leggiamo(voi) leggete(loro) leggono

Spoken like Englishg [as in lsquogorsquo]jjjjg [as in lsquogorsquo]

To readI readyou readhesheit readswe readyou readthey read

Vince sempreNon conosco i tuoi genitoriLeggono il giornaleNon piango mai

Heshe always winsI donrsquot know your parentsTheyrsquore reading the paperI never cry

Unit 5 39

10 Regular verbs in -ire are conjugated as follows

11 Many verbs in -ire (eg capire (to understand) costruire (to build) finire(to finishto end) preferire (to prefer) pulire (to clean) ) follow a slightlydifferent pattern adding -isc- before the singular endings and the thirdperson plural

There is no way of telling which is the right pattern for a verb in -ire otherthan to check in a dictionary

Interrogative form

12 As we saw in Unit 4 the interrogative is formed by adding a questionmark at the end of the sentence

Endings-o-i

Partire(io) parto(tu) parti

To leaveI leaveyou leave

-e-iamo-ite-ono

(luilei) parte(noi) partiamo(voi) partite(loro) partono

hesheit leaveswe leaveyou leavethey leave

Il treno parte alle 800I miei amici partono domaniMia sorella dormeTutte le mattine apriamo le finestre

The train leaves at eightMy friends are leaving tomorrowMy sister is sleepingasleepEvery morning we open the windows

Endings-isc-o-isc-i-isc-e-iamo-ite-isc-ono

Capire(io) capisco(tu) capisci(luilei) capisce(noi) capiamo(voi) capite(loro) capiscono

To understandI understandyou understandhesheit understandswe understandyou understandthey understand

Marina capisce tuttoLa lezione finisce alle 1300Preferisco parlare italiano

Marina understands everythingThe lessonclass finishes at 1 pmI prefer speakingto speak Italian

Carla resta a casaPrendi sempre la macchina fotograficaQuando partiteCapisci tutto

Is Carla staying at homeDo you always take the cameraWhen are you leavingDo you understand everything

40 Unit 5

Negative form

13 The negative is formed by putting non (not) before the verb

Formal form

14 As we saw in Unit 4 the pronouns used for the formal form are Lei for thesingular (for both women and men) and Voi for the plural (the pronoun Lorois much more formal)

Present tense of some irregular verbs

15 In Italian as in most languages there are a number of irregular verbswhose conjugation is best learned by heart and with use Here is the conjuga-tion of some of the more frequently used irregular verbs

Non parlo italianoNon prendiamo la macchina

fotograficaGiulia e Susanna non partonoNon capisce niente

I donrsquot speak ItalianWersquore not taking the camera

Arenrsquot Giulia and Susanna leavingHeshe doesnrsquot understand anything

(Lei) Parla italianoNon prende un taxi Professor

MasiPartite Signori Bianco( (Loro) Partono Signori Bianco)

Do you speak ItalianArenrsquot you taking a taxi Professor

MasiAre you leaving( Mr and Mrs

Bianco)

Dare (to give)dogravedaidagravediamodatedanno

Andare (to go)vadovaivaandiamoandatevanno

Stare (to staylivefeel)stostaistastiamostatestanno

Uscire (to go outleave)escoesciesceusciamousciteescono

Sapere (to know)sosaisasappiamosapetesanno

Venire (to come)vengovienivieneveniamovenitevengono

Unit 5 41

The verb riuscire (to succeedmanagebe able to) follows the same pattern asuscire

It is important not to confuse sapere and conoscere (paragraph 9) Bothmean lsquoto knowrsquo but they are not always interchangeable The basic differenceis that sapere generally means lsquoto knowbe aware ofto have knowledge of afactrsquo (but see also paragraph 17 below) whereas conoscere means lsquoto beacquaintedfamiliar withrsquo or sometimes lsquoto meetmake the acquaintance ofrsquo(eg in the expression piacere di conoscerti pleased to meet you) Thus sapereis never used for people and conoscere is never followed by a phrase contain-ing a verb

Dovere (mustto haveto)devodevidevedobbiamodovetedevono

Dire (to saytell)dicodicidicediciamoditedicono

Potere (canmayto beable)possopuoipuogravepossiamopotetepossono

Fare (to domake)facciofaifafacciamofatefanno

Volere (to wishtowant)vogliovuoivuolevogliamovoletevogliono

Bere (to drink)bevobevibevebeviamobevetebevono

Cosa failsquoCome stairsquo lsquoSto bene graziersquoMia zia sta a BolognaVado al cinemaStasera non escoDomani esco prestoNon riesco a capireNon riesco a chiudere la portaAdesso sapete tutto

What are you doinglsquoHow are yoursquo lsquoIrsquom fine thank yoursquoMy aunt lives in BolognaIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom not going out tonightIrsquom leaving early tomorrowI canrsquot understandI canrsquot manage to close the doorNow you know everything

Sappiamo giagrave che crsquoegrave scioperodomani

Sai che ora egraveSai percheacuteNon so che cosa fareConosco le regole del gioco

We already know that there is a striketomorrow

Do you know what time it isDo you know whyI donrsquot know what to doI know the rules of the game

42 Unit 5

16 Dovere potere and volere usually need to be followed by another verb inthe infinitive

17 The verb sapere is another that is often followed by a verb in the infinitiveused in this way it expresses the ability to do something (in the sense of lsquotoknow how torsquo do something)

18 A few verbs end in -urre (like condurre (to leaddrivemanage) tradurre (totranslate) produrre (to produce) etc) all have the following pattern

Exercise 1

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io conoscere) tua mamma conosco

Ho conosciuto il padre di PiaNon conosco il tuo ragazzoConosci questa cittagrave

I (have) met Piarsquos fatherI donrsquot know your boyfriendDo you know this town

Dobbiamo fare gli eserciziPosso parlare con LuigiPuoi telefonare domaniNon vogliono uscire

Wersquove got to do the exercisesMay I talk to LuigiYou can phone tomorrowThey donrsquot want to go out

So nuotarePaolo non sa ballareSai usare quello scanner

I can swim [ie I know how to]Paolo canrsquot dance [ie he doesnrsquot know how to]Can youDo you know how to use that scanner

Endings-uc-o-uc-i-uc-e-uc-iamo-uc-ete-uc-ono

Produrre(io) produco(tu) produci(luilei) produce(noi) produciamo(voi) producete(loro) producono

To produceI produceyou producehesheit produceswe produceyou producethey produce

Questa fabbrica produce automobiliTraducono dal francese

This factory produces carsThey translate from French

1 Claudio (arrivare) con il prossimotreno

2 Anna (vivere) a Roma

3 Non (noi mangiare) spesso fuori4 (tu cercare) casa5 Stasera (voi prendere) lrsquoautobus

Unit 5 43

Exercise 2

Supply the present tense of the verb in brackets

Example (io bere) molta acqua bevo

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 You [pl] have got to talk to Marcello2 Wersquore leaving tonight3 Wersquore getting the next bus4 You [polite] can go to the cinema Mr Buchan5 We know how to use those mobile phones6 She always prefers reading the paper7 The babyrsquos asleep8 Irsquom coming to Turin this summer

6 Il treno di Giorgio (partire) alle18

7 Tutti i giorni (noi leggere) ilgiornale

8 (tu pulire) il bagno9 (io conoscere) molti italiani

10 I giochi (finire) sempre alle 1711 Non (noi guidare) lrsquoauto12 Anna e io (giocare) a carte13 Percheacute non (voi tornare) in

Scozia

14 Non (tu capire) nulla15 Giorgio e Paola non (spendere)

molto16 Dove (Lei abitare) Signor Verdi17 (Voi pagare) lrsquoaffitto Signori

Rossi18 (tu viaggiare) molto19 Non (tu ricevere) molte lettere20 Piero e Gianni (lasciare) il cane a

casa

1 Stasera (loro) andare al cinema2 La nostra fabbrica (produrre)

pasta3 Domani (noi dare) una festa4 (tu andare) spesso in spiaggia5 (voi fare) gli esercizi6 Non (noi riuscire) a capire7 (voi venire) a casa8 Non (io potere) uscire oggi9 (loro volere) dormire

10 (tu dire) la veritagrave

11 Tu e Claudia (potere) partire12 (io volere) studiare13 Dove (tu stare) adesso14 Le mie sorelle non (sapere)

nuotare15 Cosa (loro fare) stasera16 I vicini (dovere) rimanere a casa17 (noi tradurre) in italiano18 Luigi (dovere) lavorare19 (voi sapere) cantare20 I nostri amici (venire) a Roma

44 Unit 5

9 They often go out in the evening10 The boys are playing football tomorrow

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Are you going out tonight Mother2 What are we doing tomorrow3 Can you [sing] open that door4 Do you [sing] want a coffee5 Can you play the piano Francesco6 What are you [sing] looking for7 Are you [polite] drinking coffee or mineral water Madam8 Do you [sing] and Jim know my parents9 Are you [sing] well today

10 What are they building

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Donrsquot you [polite] speak English Mrs Vialli2 My German friends canrsquot sing in Italian3 I donrsquot earn a lot4 Isnrsquot she giving a party for her birthday5 Arenrsquot you [sing] working with Giulia6 Theyrsquove not seen Mr Moro for three years7 Why do you never go to Florence Claudio8 I canrsquot manage to shut this window9 Why arenrsquot you [pl] drinking coffee this morning

10 Arenrsquot you [pl] coming tomorrow

Unit 5 45

UNIT SIXAdverbs

1 English adverbs are usually formed by adding lsquo-lyrsquo to an adjective (eglsquothinlyrsquo lsquocleverlyrsquo) Italian adverbs are usually just as easy to form -mente isadded to the feminine singular form of the adjective

When the adjective ends in -le or -re preceded by a vowel the final e isdropped before adding -mente

2 In Italian there are also many adverbs which do not end in -mente Here aresome

lenta + -menterapida + -mentesemplice + -mentefrequente + -mente

lentamenterapidamentesemplicementefrequentemente

slowlyquicklysimplyfrequently

gentile + -menteutile + -mentemaggiore + -menteregolare + -mente

gentilmenteutilmentemaggiormenteregolarmente

kindly politelyusefullymainlyregularly

Il tempo cambia rapidamenteLa nonna cammina lentamenteEnrico risponde sempre gentilmenteFaccio i compiti regolarmente

The weather changes quicklyGranny walks slowlyEnrico always answers politelyI do my homework regularly

abbastanza

ancorabenedavantidentrodietrodopo

enoughfairlyratherquite

stillwellat the frontin frontin(side)at the backbehindlaterafterwards

fortefuorigiagravelontanomalenon ancoranon maipiano

loudlyhardoutoutsidealreadyfar (away)badlynot yetneverslowlyquietly

Note that with non ancora and non mai non is always placed beforethe verb and ancoramai after it

3 Adverbs can qualify verbs adjectives or even other adverbs

4 Some words denoting quantity can be used both as adverbs and as adjec-tives moltotanto (a lot (of)verymany) troppo (too muchtoo many) andpoco (fewlittlenot muchnot very) When used as adverbs they are invariablebut when used as adjectives they agree in gender and number with the nounthey refer to

piugravepiuttostoprestoprima

quasisempre

morerathersoonearlyearlierbeforehand

firstalmostalways

soprasottospessosubitotardivicinovolentieri

aboveupstairsbelowdownstairsoftenimmediatelyright awaylatenear(by)willinglygladly

Questo film egrave abbastanza belloPartiamo tardi dopo le 11Andiamo spesso in discotecaVengo subitoParto prestoParliamo piano perchegrave Carla

dormePuograve parlare piano per favore

Non sono italianoAbita vicino SignoraVai lontanoPiove fortePuoi parlare piugrave forteMangiamo fuori

Egrave ancora estateNon egrave ancora estateNon esco maiLorenzo non telefona mai

This film is rather goodWersquore leaving late after 11We often go to the discoIrsquom coming (immediately)Irsquom leaving earlysoonWersquore talking quietly because Carlarsquos

asleepCould you speak slowly please Irsquom not

ItalianDo you live nearby (Madam)Are you going farItrsquos raining hardCan you speak loudermore loudlyWersquore eating out [eg in a restaurant]

outside [ie in the open]Itrsquos still summerItrsquos not summer yetI never go outLorenzo never phones

Dormo bene [verb + adverb]Dormo molto bene [adverb + adverb]La casa egrave molto piccola [adverb + adjective]

I sleep wellI sleep very wellThe house is very small

Unit 6 47

Adverbial expressions

5 Having a lot of words ending in -mente can often sound heavy To avoidthis Italian sometimes uses adverbial phrases instead of single words Thesedo the same job as one-word adverbs and indeed they do usually correspondto one-word English adverbs in lsquo-lyrsquo These adverbial expressions are mostoften constructed with con (with) sometimes with senza (without) followedby a noun

Adverblavorare moltotantomoltotanto lontanomoltotanto difficilelavorare troppotroppo lontanotroppo difficilelavorare pocopoco lontanopoco difficile

Adjectivemolto (tanto)troppopoco lavoro [ms]molta (tanta)troppapoca acqua [fs]molti (tanti)troppipochi esercizi [mp]molte (tante)troppepoche lettere [fp]

to work a lotvery farvery difficultto work too muchtoo fartoo difficultto work littlenot to work muchnot very farnot very difficult

a lot oftoo muchnot much worka lot oftoo muchnot much watermanytoo manynot many exercisesmanytoo manynot many letters

Mio padre lavora troppo [adverb]Questa musica egrave molto bella [adverb]Luisa dorme poco [adverb]

Dormi troppo poco [adverbs]

Abbiamo molto tempo [adjective]Luisa mangia poca pasta [adjective]

Ho molti amici [adjective]lsquoPercheacute fai questorsquo lsquoCi sono molte

ragionirsquo [adjective]

My father works too muchThis music is very beautifulLuisa sleeps littledoesnrsquot sleep

muchYou sleep too littledonrsquot sleep

enoughWe have a lot of timeLuisa eats little pastadoesnrsquot eat a

lot of pastaI have a lot of friendslsquoWhy are you doing thisrsquo lsquoThere

are many reasonsrsquo

con difficoltagravecon eleganzacon lentezzacon rapiditagravecon semplicitagrave

with difficultyelegantlyslowlyrapidlyquicklysimply

48 Unit 6

There are also a number of adverbial expressions that use other prepositionsthan con Here are some of the most common

Another adverbial expression that is sometimes used is in modoin maniera(ie lsquoin a wayrsquo) followed by an adjective the adjective is masculine when usedwith modo and feminine when used with maniera

Exercise 1

Change the adjectives into adverbs

Example lento lentamente

senza eleganzasenza complicazionisenza dubbio

inelegantlyuncomplicatedlyundoubtedly

a poco a pocoa voltein ritardoin tempodi solitodi sicuro

little by littlesometimeslateon timeusuallysurelycertainly

Anna veste con eleganzaSpieghi tutto senza complicazioni

A volte non capisco quello che dice

Anna dresses elegantlyYou explain everything

uncomplicatedlySometimes I donrsquot understand what

he says

in modo vagoin maniera vagain modo stranoin maniera stranain modo semplicein maniera semplice

vaguelyin a vague waystrangelyin a strange waysimplyin a simple way

Risponde sempre in modo vagoQuel cane cammina in maniera strana

Heshe always answers vaguelyThat dogrsquos walking oddlyin a

strange way

1 dolce2 tranquillo3 semplice4 allegro5 maggiore

6 irregolare7 probabile8 chiaro9 facile

10 veloce

11 lento12 utile13 attento14 rapido15 leggero

Unit 6 49

Exercise 2

Supply the correct form of moltotanto troppo or poco (adverbs or adjectives)

Examples Anna egrave (molto) alta molto Ho (molto) sete molta

Exercise 3

Replace the words in English with the appropriate expression from the list

a volte di sicuro con pazienza senza esitazione in modo nervoso intempo con semplicitagrave di solito con prudenza a poco a poco in manierabrusca con coraggio

Examples (sometimes) non voglio giocare a pallone a volte Laura veste(simply) con semplicitagrave

1 Dobbiamo agire (cautiously)2 Andrea spiega tutto (patiently)3 Paolo guarda i professori (nervously)4 (little by little) Gianni capisce il problema5 Tullio risponde (unhesitatingly)6 (usually) rientra nel pomeriggio7 Lei non fa piugrave (in time) a prendere il treno delle sette8 Esprime (courageously) le sue opinioni9 Domenica vengo (for sure)

10 Il Signor Capello risponde (bluntly) a tutte le nostre domande

1 Claudia mangia (molto) dolci2 Il tuo vestito egrave (molto) bello3 Monica ha (poco) amici4 Tu spendi (troppo)5 In mensa ci sono (troppo)

studenti6 Davanti al cinema crsquoegrave (tanto)

gente7 Mangi (troppo)8 Stefano abita (molto) lontano9 Giulia mangia sempre (poco)

10 Judy ha (molto) amiche italiane

11 Sto (poco) bene12 Abitate in una casa (molto) bella13 Signora egrave (molto) stanca14 Ci sono (poco) biscotti15 Siete (molto) gentili16 Hai (poco) pazienza17 Marco e Luisa hanno (molto)

fame18 Il giardino non egrave (molto) grande19 Non devi invitare (troppo)

persone20 Abbiamo (poco) riviste

50 Unit 6

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sometimes I eat in the canteen2 The swimming pool is quite big3 We often go out with our friends4 Have you [sing] got enough money5 You [sing] have to speak slowly6 Marina never eats cheese7 Francesca always arrives late8 Irsquove been waiting for almost forty minutes9 Carla and Andrea are out

10 Are your [sing] parents well

Unit 6 51

UNIT SEVENDirect object pronouns (1)

1 A direct object is the person or thing that the verb directly impacts onInvito Elena (Irsquom inviting Elena) Uso il computer tutti i giorni (I use thecomputer every day)

A direct object pronoun replaces a noun used as a direct object itmust therefore agree in gender and number with the noun it refers to Directobject pronouns normally come before the verb In the following examplesthe pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the direct object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Elena la invito a cena[la replaces and agrees with Elena (fs)]

Quando vedo Lorenzo lo invito a cena[lo replaces and agrees with Lorenzo(ms)]

Scrivo le cartoline e poi le imbuco[le replaces and agrees with lecartoline (fp)]

Appena compro i biscotti li mangio[li replaces and agrees with i biscotti(mp)]

Prendo il giornale e lo leggo subito[lo replaces and agrees with ilgiornale (ms)]

When I see Elena Irsquoll inviteher to dinner

When I see Lorenzo Irsquoll invitehim to dinner

I write the postcards andthen post them

As soon as I buy biscuits Ieat them

I get the paper and read itimmediately

Subjectiotuluileinoivoiloro

Direct objectmitilo [m]la [f]civili [m]le [f]

meyouhimheritusyouthem

3 We saw in Unit 3 that if an adjective refers to two or more nouns that aredifferent in gender it has the masculine plural form eg Laura e Piero sonoitaliani (Laura and Piero are Italian) The same principle applies to directobject pronouns

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

5 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Note that verbs in -urre drop the second r as well as the final vowel lo devotradurre or devo tradurlo

Giacomo mi invita spesso a cenaSe vuoi ti aiutoLo conosco beneLa vedo tutti i giorniVi invito alla festa

Giacomo often invites me to dinnerIf you want Irsquoll help youI know him wellI see her every dayIrsquom inviting you to the party

lsquoConosci Laura [f] e Piero [m]rsquo lsquoSigraveli [mp] conosco benersquo

lsquoUsi il computer [m] e la stampante[f]rsquo lsquoSigrave li [mp] uso spessorsquo

lsquoDo you know Laura and Pierorsquo lsquoYesI know them wellrsquo

lsquoDo you use the computer and theprinterrsquo lsquoYes I often use themrsquo

Non lo conosco beneNon vi invito alla festaNon li vedo spessoNon ti capisco

I donrsquot know him wellIrsquom not inviting you to the partyI donrsquot often see themI donrsquot understand you

La devo chiamareTi voglio invitareLo puoi prendereLo so fareLo devo tradurre

ororororor

Devo chiamarlaVoglio invitartiPuoi prenderloSo farloDevo tradurlo

I must call herI want to invite youYou can take itI canknow how to do itIrsquove got to translate it

Unit 7 53

6 The pronoun lo [ms] is often used to replace a whole clause

7 When the pronouns lo and la are used with the verb avere they are short-ened to lrsquo and are often preceded by the particle ce

The plural pronouns li and le however are never shortened and are onlyrarely used with ce

Formal form

8 The direct object pronouns used for the formal form are La for the singular(for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronouns Li and Le canalso be used for the masculine and feminine respectively but this is particu-larly formal)

lsquoSai che oggi egrave il compleanno diCarlarsquo lsquoSigrave lo sorsquo [lo = oggi egrave ilcompleanno di Carla]

lsquoDove sono le chiavirsquo lsquoNon lo sorsquo[lo = dove sono le chiavi]

lsquoDevi cambiare la cartucciarsquo lsquoLofaccio subitorsquo [lo = cambiare lacartuccia]

lsquoDo you know that itrsquos Carlarsquosbirthday todayrsquo lsquoYes I dorsquo [lit YesI know it]

lsquoWhere are the keysrsquo lsquoI donrsquot knowrsquo[lit I donrsquot know it]

lsquoYoursquove got to replace the cartridgersquolsquoIrsquoll do it straight awayrsquo

lsquoHai la cartucciarsquo lsquoSigrave ce lrsquohorsquo

Non posso leggere il libro di PrimoLevi percheacute non ce lrsquoho

lsquoAvete lrsquoindirizzo di Annarsquo lsquoSigrave celrsquoabbiamorsquo

lsquoHave you got the cartridgersquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot itrsquo

I canrsquot read Primo Levirsquos bookbecause I havenrsquot got it

lsquoHave you got Annarsquos addressrsquo lsquoYeswe haveYes wersquove got itrsquo

lsquoHai le parole di questacanzonersquo lsquoNo non (ce) le horsquo

lsquoHai i librirsquo lsquoSigrave (ce) li horsquo

lsquoHave you got the lyrics of this songrsquolsquoNo I havenrsquot No Irsquove not got themrsquo

lsquoHave you got the booksrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove gotthemYes I haversquo

Professor Masi La accompagno inaeroporto

Signora La accompagno in aeroportoSignori Bianco Vi accompagno in

aeroporto (Signori Bianco Li accompagno in

aeroporto) Signore Vi accompagno in aeroporto (Signore Le accompagno in aeroporto)

Professor Masi Irsquoll take you to theairport

Irsquoll take you to the airport Madam

Mr and Mrs Bianco Irsquoll take you tothe airport

(Ladies) Irsquoll take you to theairport

54 Unit 7

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct directobject pronoun

Example Luigi compra il pane Luigi lo compra

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Lo faccio Non lo faccio

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

1 Anna guarda la televisione2 Invitiamo i nostri amici3 Scrivete le cartoline4 Leggono il giornale5 Suono la chitarra6 Preparo la cena7 Chiamo Roberto8 Faccio gli esercizi9 Invito Maria e Giovanna

10 Chiudete le finestre

11 Lorenzo corregge gli errori12 Prendono il treno13 Porto i CD14 Cerco i miei libri15 Pia beve lrsquoacqua minerale16 Paola finisce il lavoro17 Accompagno Carlo e Anna18 Vedi le tue amiche oggi19 Ascolto la radio20 Luca lava i piatti

1 Le voglio2 Li compriamo3 Ci chiamano4 Silvia li invita5 I Signori Bianchi lo prendono

6 Mi invitate7 Vi aspetto8 La vedo domani9 Ti accompagno alla stazione

10 Lo guardiamo

1 Lo vogliamo vedere2 Non ti posso aiutare3 Mi puoi accompagnare4 La vuoi sentire5 Ci devono chiamare

6 Vi voglio invitare7 Le vuole conoscere8 Non li potete fare9 Mi devi ascoltare

10 Non La posso aiutare Signora

Unit 7 55

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate direct object pronouns

Examples Marco telefona agli amici e mdashmdash invita alla festa li Guido nonsta bene devo chiamarmdashmdash lo

1 Compro il giornale e mdashmdash leggo2 Scrivo le cartoline e mdashmdash spedisco3 Laura fa i panini e poi mdashmdash mangia4 Compro i fiori e mdashmdash metto in un vaso5 Apriamo la finestra e poi mdashmdash chiudiamo6 Non riesco a fare questo esercizio mdashmdash aiuti7 Prendiamo i libri e mdashmdash portiamo a scuola8 Professor Bartoli mdashmdash posso aiutare9 I Signori Pieri partono mdashmdash accompagni in aeroporto

10 Hai molte amiche mdashmdash inviti tutte11 Se non usi la bici mdashmdash prendo io12 Ci sono molti errori mdashmdash dovete correggere13 Claudio telefona a Giulia e mdashmdash invita alla festa14 Partite mdashmdash porto in stazione15 Crsquoegrave un film alla televisione ma non mdashmdash guardiamo16 Alma parte volete salutarmdashmdash17 La sorella di Matteo egrave molto simpatica mdashmdash conosco bene18 Gli esercizi sono difficili ma mdashmdash so fare19 Se vuoi delle caramelle mdashmdash puoi prendere20 lsquoSai che Alessandro suona il sassofono in un grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash sorsquo

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquore inviting you [pl] to the party2 Irsquove got a lot of friends and I often see them3 Signora Fusi can I call you tomorrow4 Are you [sing] helping us next week5 I have to see you [sing]6 Olga and Anna are leaving tomorrow and I want to take them to the

station7 I canrsquot help you [pl]8 lsquoAre you [sing] bringing the guitarrsquo lsquoNo I havenrsquot got itrsquo9 Tullio buys these magazines and reads them

10 Can you [sing] take me to school tomorrow

56 Unit 7

UNIT EIGHTPrepositions

1 The most common Italian prepositions are the following

The meaning of tra and fra is the same

These prepositions often correspond to the English counterparts we givehere However as we shall see each of them also has a number of othermeanings corresponding to other English prepositions

2 The prepositions di a da in and su when used together with a nounpreceded by the definite article always combine with the article

The preposition con normally combines only with il and i as col and coi thisform is common in spoken Italian though con il and con i are often found inthe written language

diadainconsupertrafra

oftofrominwithonforamong between

diadainsu

ildelaldalnelsul

lodelloallodallonellosullo

lrsquodellrsquoallrsquodallrsquonellrsquosullrsquo

ladellaalladallanellasulla

ideiaidaineisui

glidegliaglidaglineglisugli

ledellealledallenellesulle

con con ilcol

con lo(collo)

con lrsquo(collrsquo)

con la(colla)

con icoi

con gli(cogli)

con le(colle)

Using prepositions

3 As in many other languages there is so much variation in how Italianprepositions are used that it is not feasible to give simple rules covering everypossibility To appreciate the problem you only have to look at a few of thepossible uses of the preposition di

Sometimes Italian even has a preposition where English does not here aresome typical examples

Since there is not a simple set of rules governing prepositions in Italian whatwe are going to do is show some typical uses of the common ones listedabove The more you hear and read Italian the more you will encounterdifferent uses of these and other prepositions the best way of mastering themis to learn them and practise them as you go along

4 Di is typically used to express

di + il ragazzoa + lo studenteda + lrsquoalbergoin + la scuolasu + i divanicon + i libricon + le chiaviper + gli insegnantifra + i calciatori

del ragazzoallo studentedallrsquoalbergonella scuolasui divanicoi libricon le chiaviper gli insegnantifra i calciatori

of the boyto the studentfrom the hotelin the schoolon the sofaswith the bookswith the keysfor the teachersamong the footballers

il presidente della repubblica the president of the republicIl libro egrave di Calvino The book is by CalvinoSono di Roma Irsquom from RomeDi pomeriggio fanno sempre la

siestaThey always have a nap in the

afternoon

lrsquoauto di AnnaVuoi della fruttaCi sono alcune migliaia di persone

nella piazzaHo una bella camicia di seta

Annarsquos carDo you want (someany) fruitThere are a few thousand people in

the squareIrsquove got a lovely silk shirt

possessionmaterialtimesubject

La moto di Luca egrave rossauna giacca di pelleDi sera non escouna lezione di storia

Lucarsquos motorbike is reda leather jacketI donrsquot go out in the evening(s)a history lesson

58 Unit 8

The most common uses of di are the ones which correspond to the Englishpossessive (rsquos) and the noun + noun structure

Di is frequently used in partitive constructions ie to express the Englishlsquosomersquo or lsquoanyrsquo in such sentences as lsquoIrsquod like some breadrsquo lsquoHave you anypastarsquo lsquoWersquove got (some) pasta and (some) olivesrsquo

Di is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likecredere (to believe) pensare (to think) dire (to say) sperare (to hope) finire(to finish) smettere (to stop)

5 A is typically used to express

il libro del professorela sorella di Monicail casco di Sebastianola politica del governouna buca delle lettereun racconto di fateil professore di scienzeun panino di formaggio

the teacherrsquos bookMonicarsquos sisterSebastianorsquos helmetthe governmentrsquos policygovernment policya letter boxa fairy talethe science teachera cheese roll

Devo comprare del panePrendo della pastaCrsquoegrave dellrsquoacqua in frigoEsco con degli amiciVuoi dei libri in italianoCi sono delle case sulla collina

Irsquove got to get (some) breadIrsquom getting (some) pastaTherersquos (some) water in the fridgeIrsquom going out with (some) friendsDo you want (some) books in ItalianThere are (some) houses on the hill

Finisco di leggere il giornale e poiesco

Paolo pensa di essere intelligenteAnna crede di riuscire a passare

lrsquoesameLa mamma dice di essere stancaDevo smettere di perdere tempo

I finish reading the paper and then Igo out

Paolo thinks he is intelligentAnna believes she can pass the exam

Mum says shersquos tiredI must stop wasting time

place

time

Abito a LondraVado al cinemaSono a casaLa casa si trova a 100 metri

dal mareParto alle 17Vado in Olanda a luglio

I live in LondonIrsquom going to the cinemaIrsquom at homeThe house is 100 metres from

the seaIrsquom leaving at 1700Irsquom going to Holland in July

Unit 8 59

A is also used followed by a verb in the infinitive after certain verbs likeandare (to go) venire (to come) cominciare (to startbegin) continuare (tocontinue) riuscire (canto be ablemanage)

6 Da is typically used to express

Da is always used to mean lsquoatat the house ofrsquo a person or people

Da is also used followed by an infinitive after molto (a lot) poco (little) niente(nothing) qualcosa (something)

indirect object

quality

meansmanner

Diamo il libro a Silvia

Scrivete ai vostri genitori

Vuoi un gelato al limone

La giacca egrave fatta a manoImpari tutto a memoria

Stasera mangiamo patateal vapore

Wersquore giving the book toSilvia

Do you write to yourparents

Do you want a lemon ice-cream

The jacketrsquos made by handDo you learn everything by

heartWersquore having steamed

potatoes tonight [ietheyrsquore cooked with steam]

lsquoDove vairsquo lsquoVado a lavorarersquoVieni a studiare in bibliotecaComincio a capirePaolo continua a parlareNon riesco a sentire cosa dice

lsquoWhere are you goingrsquo lsquoIrsquom going to workrsquoAre you coming to work in the libraryIrsquom beginning to understandPaolo continueskeeps on talkingI canrsquot hear what hersquos saying

placetime

function

Parto da MilanoStudio italiano da un mese

aperto dalle 9 alle 10Sono scarpe da tennis

Irsquom leaving from MilanI have been studying Italian for a

monthopen (from) 9 to 10 (orsquoclock)Theyrsquore tennis shoes

Abiti da tua ziaLavoro da Anna staseraDevo andare dal dentista

Do you live at your auntrsquosIrsquom working at Annarsquos tonightI have to go to the dentist

Ho molto da fareHa poco da direNon crsquoegrave niente da bereVuoi qualcosa da mangiare

Irsquove got a lot to doHe has littleHersquos not got much to sayTherersquos nothing to drinkDo you want something to eat

60 Unit 8

7 In is typically used to express

NB in piedi means lsquostandingrsquo lsquoon footrsquo is a piedi

8 Con is typically used to express

9 Su is typically used to express

When the preposition su is used with a personal pronoun the pronoun is alsopreceded by di Conto su di lui (Irsquom counting on him)

10 Per is typically used to express

place

time

means

Vivo in campagnaAbbiamo una casa in Francianel 2006nel ventesimo secoloAndiamo in trenoin autoin bici

I live in the countryWe have a house in Francein 2006in the twentieth centuryWersquore going by traincaron

our bikes

company

means

manner

quality

Vado al cinema con LucaParlo con AnnaDevo scrivere con una

penna rossaPago con un assegno

Parla con accento stranieroParla con lentezzauna signora con i capelli

grigi

Irsquom going to the cinema with LucaIrsquom talking towith AnnaIrsquove got to write with a red pen

Irsquom paying with a chequebycheque

He speaks with a foreign accentHe speaks slowlya lady with grey hair

place

subject

I tuoi libri sono sulla scrivaniail ponte sullo stretto di Messina

un libro sul calcio

Your books are on the deskthe bridge over the Strait of

Messinaa book onabout football

placetime

meanscause

aim

price

Partiamo per la montagnaEsco per 10 minutiPer le 11 sono a casaMando il file per emailuna multa per eccesso di velocitagrave

Studio per passare lrsquoesame

per 15 euro

We are leaving for the mountainsIrsquom going out for 10 minutesIrsquoll be home byfor 11Irsquoll send the file by emaila fine for speedingspeeding

fineIrsquom studying (in order) to pass

the examfor 15 euros

Unit 8 61

11 Tra and fra are typically used to express

Prepositions of place

12 Here are some examples of the different prepositions used to denoteplace

Another preposition used to denote place is lungo (along) lungo il fiume(along the river)

13 A is normally used with names of town and villages and with cardinalpoints

14 In is normally used with names of regions and nations with geographicalareas and with shops

With mare (sea) the preposition a is used (al mare lsquoat the seasidersquo)

place

time

tra Milano e Torinofra compagni di classefra due ore

between Milan and Turinamong classmatesin two hourstwo hoursrsquo

time

Sono di FerraraLa domenica vado al cinemaSono a scuolaVengo da FerraraAbito da mia nonnaLuisa egrave in camera suaDevi camminare sul marciapiediil ponte sullrsquoArnoPartite per DublinoNovara egrave fra Torino e MilanoSiamo tra amici

I amcome from FerraraOn Sundays I go to the cinemaIrsquom at schoolIrsquom coming from FerraraI live at my grannyrsquosLuisa is in her roomYou have to walk on the pavementthe bridge over the ArnoAre you leaving for DublinNovara is between Turin and MilanWe are among friends

Vado a PisaAbito a LondraPasso le vacanze a CogneAndiamo a nordCogne egrave a sud di Aosta

Irsquom going to PisaI live in LondonI spend my holidays in CogneWe are going northCogne is south of Aosta

Vado in ToscanaAbito in InghilterraPasso le vacanze in montagnaCompro il pane in panetteria

Irsquom going to TuscanyI live in EnglandI spend my holidays in the mountainsI buy bread at the bakerythe bakerrsquos

62 Unit 8

Prepositions of time

15 Some examples of the different prepositions used to denote time

16 Di is used with the days of the week and parts of the day

In these cases di is always used without the definite article

17 A is used with names of festivities months and hours of the day

18 In is used with years centuries and seasons

Di domenica non lavoroDi sera guardo la tvDonatella arriva alle 7A Natale rimaniamo a casaLa scuola finisce a giugnonel 2000nel diciottesimo secoloIn autunno piove molto

I donrsquot work on SundaysIn the evenings I watch TVDonatella will arrive at sevenAt Christmas we stay at homeSchool ends in Junein 2000in the eighteenth centuryIn autumn it rains a lot

Di lunedigrave andiamo in piscinaDi mattina vado a scuola

On Mondays we go to the swimming poolIn the morning I go to school

A Pasqua Piera va in ItaliaIl museo riapre a marzoIl treno parte alle 12Di solito mangiano a

mezzogiorno

At Easter Piera is going to ItalyThe museum reopenswill reopen in MarchThe train is leaving at 12They normally eat at midday

Sono nato nel 1990Studio il turismo nel XIX secolo

Gli esami sono in primavera

I was born in 1990Irsquom studying tourism in the nineteenth

centuryThe exams arewill be in the spring

Unit 8 63

A or in

19 Sometimes it can be difficult to know whether to use a or in so we listbelow common expressions using these two prepositions

a casaa scuolaa lettoa lezione

(at) homeatto schoolinto bedin classto (onersquos) class

a tavolaa destraa sinistraa norda suda esta ovesta colazionea pranzoa cenaa mezzogiornoa mezzanottea 101112 [etc] annia metagraveallrsquoombraal soleal baral ristorantealla stazione

to the table [ie come and sit down]at table(onto the) rightleft(into the) northsoutheastwestatfor breakfastlunchdinner supper or teaat middaymidnightat teneleventwelve [etc] (years of age)in the middlemid-in the shadein the sunin the baratto the restaurantatinto the station

in pizzeriain discotecain cittagravein centroin chiesain mensain camerain bagnoin classein palestrain casermain prigionein ufficioin piscina

intoat athe pizzeriapizza parlourinto the discointo towninto the city centreinto churchinto the canteeninto the bedroominto the bathroominto the classroominto the gyminto the barracksinto prisoninto the officeatto the swimming bath

64 Unit 8

Compound prepositions

20 Italian also has a number of lsquocompound prepositionsrsquo eg accanto alsquonext tobesidersquo invece di lsquoinstead ofrsquo Some of these are always in the com-pound form others include di only when followed by a personal pronoun Wegive here a list of the most common ones

When these prepositions are used with a personal pronoun the pronoun ispreceded by the preposition di (see Unit 14)

Exercise 1

Combine the prepositions and the definite articles

Example (di) il figlio del figlio

davanti avicino afuori dadiprima dilontano dacontrodentrodietrodopo

in front ofoppositenearnextclose tooutsidebeforefar froma long way fromagainstinsidebehindafter

senzasoprasottoverso

withoutonaboveunderbelowtowards

La farmacia egrave davanti alsupermercato

Abito lontano dal centroLrsquoalbergo egrave vicino alla stazioneNon esco senza di voi

The pharmacy is opposite thesupermarket

I live a long way from the city centreThe hotel is close to the stationIrsquom not going out without you

di1 la mamma2 lo zio3 gli amici4 il parco5 lrsquoauto6 i paesi7 le stanze

a8 il mare9 lo stadio

10 la stazione11 i ragazzi12 gli uomini13 le donne14 lrsquoospedale

da15 la zia16 lo studente17 il dentista18 lrsquoaeroporto19 gli uffici20 le colleghe21 i ministri

in22 lrsquoalbergo23 lo stipendio24 la casa25 gli anni26 i cassetti27 le camere28 il frigo

su29 il tavolo30 la sedia31 lo scaffale32 le spalle33 i libri34 gli alberi35 lrsquoidea

Unit 8 65

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example Vengo mdashmdashmdash (la) stazione dalla

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions and where necessarycombine them with the definite article

Example I tuoi libri sono mdashmdashmdash (il) tavolo sul

1 Carla abita mdashmdashmdash Budapest2 Parigi egrave mdashmdashmdash Francia3 Mangiate mdashmdashmdash (il) ristorante4 Torniamo mdashmdashmdash unrsquoora5 Hai molto mdashmdashmdash fare6 Devi scrivere mdashmdashmdash (la) nonna7 Esco mdashmdashmdash Massimo8 Filippo va mdashmdashmdash (il) dentista9 Quellrsquoauto egrave mdashmdashmdash (il) padre di

Silvia10 Scrivo una lettera mdashmdashmdash (i) miei

genitori11 Vado mdashmdashmdash Milano mdashmdashmdash treno

12 Vieni mdashmdashmdash (il) cinema mdashmdashmdashme

13 Le chiavi sono mdashmdashmdash (il)cassetto

14 La lezione finisce mdashmdashmdash (le) 1115 Studiamo italiano mdashmdashmdash due

mesi16 Il museo apre mdashmdashmdash (le) 90017 Compro le rose mdashmdashmdash la zia18 Posso parlare mdashmdashmdash Elisa19 Vuoi mdashmdashmdash (il) dolce20 Il mio compleanno egrave mdashmdashmdash

giugno

1 Domani rimango mdashmdashmdash casa2 Sabato andiamo mdashmdashmdash centro3 Vado mdashmdashmdash nuotare mdashmdashmdash

piscina4 Livia egrave mdashmdashmdash letto sta poco

bene5 Puoi comprare una bottiglia

mdashmdashmdash aceto6 Regalo i CD mdashmdashmdash (il) mio

ragazzo7 Napoli egrave mdashmdashmdash sud di Roma8 Domani cominciamo mdashmdashmdash

lavorare9 Parto mdashmdashmdash Roma alle 14 e

arrivo mdashmdashmdash Torino alle 2110 Ho fame crsquoegrave qualcosa mdashmdashmdash

mangiare

11 Imprestate la bici mdashmdashmdashMaurizio

12 Vai a scuola mdashmdashmdash autobus13 Bardonecchia egrave mdashmdashmdash

montagna14 Prendo un gelato mdashmdashmdash (la)

fragola15 Cosa fate mdashmdashmdash Natale16 Piero va mdashmdashmdash (il) supermercato17 Il padre mdashmdashmdash (la) mia amica egrave

avvocato18 mdashmdashmdash pizzeria crsquoegrave sempre molta

gente19 Paola dorme mdashmdashmdash (la) stanza

vicina alla mia20 Leggo un libro mdashmdashmdash

fantascienza

66 Unit 8

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 I finish working at six2 Antoniorsquos leaving for Genoa3 Gemma was born in 20014 Fabia never goes out in the evening5 Mr and Mrs Bancroft live in the country in an old villa6 The libraryrsquos behind the gym7 You [sing] canrsquot go out without me8 Do you [pl] live far from the school9 Isabellarsquos aunt lives in Greve in Tuscany

10 Shersquos got a leather skirt11 Angus is from Edinburgh in Scotland12 You have to turn right after the church( Madam)13 Wersquore eating at a pizzeria tonight14 These flowers are for your [sing] mother15 At Christmas wersquore going skiing in the mountains16 I live near the prison17 Margaretrsquos been living in Turin for five years18 The train for Aosta leaves from platform 719 Wersquore giving Luisa a CD of Russian music20 I always buy the bread at Bellirsquos

Unit 8 67

UNIT NINEQuestions

In this unit we will look at the most common ways of asking questions inItalian We have already seen (Units 4 and 5) that the order of the words inthe sentence does not change in the interrogative form now we need to lookat some Italian lsquoquestion wordsrsquo

1 Chi

Chi means lsquowhowhomrsquo or sometimes lsquowhich ofrsquo and is only used to refer topeople Chi is invariable ndash that is the same form is used for masculine andfeminine singular and plural

When an adjective refers to chi it must be in the masculine singular formunless it refers to an all-female group

Chi egrave quellrsquouomoChi egrave quella ragazzaChi sono i tuoi amiciChi sono quelle ragazzeChi vuole venire al cinema

con meChi viene a cenaCon chi esciA chi scriveteChi ha una pennaChi non va in gita domaniChi non invitiChi di loro parla italiano

Who is that manWho is that girlWho are your friendsWho are those girlsWho wants to come to the cinema with me

Whorsquos coming for dinnerWho(m) are you going out withWho(m) are you writing toWhorsquos got a pen [ie has anyone got a pen]Whorsquos not going on the trip tomorrowWho(m) arenrsquot you invitingWhich of them speaks Italian

Chi egrave prontoChi egrave soddisfattoChi non egrave stancoChi di voi (ragazze) egrave prontaChi di voi (Signori) egrave italiano

Who is readyWho is satisfiedWho isnrsquot tiredWhich of you (girls) is readyWhich of you (gentlemen) is Italian

2 Che cosa Cosa Che

All three mean lsquowhatrsquo and are used when referring to objects Che cosaCosa and Che are invariable in gender and number

Che is also used as an adjective meaning lsquowhat (sorttype of)rsquo

3 Come

Come means lsquohowrsquo

Come can sometimes mean lsquowhatrsquo as in Come dici (What did you say)Comrsquoegrave Edimburgoil nuovo professore (Whatrsquos Edinburghthe new teacherlike)

4 Dove

Dove means lsquowherersquo

Cosrsquoegrave quelloChe cosrsquoegrave quella luceCosa sono quei segniChe sono quelle costruzioniChe succedeChe cosa voleteCosa studiCosa posso fare per LeiA che pensate

Whatrsquos thatWhatrsquos that lightWhat are those marksWhat are those buildingsWhatrsquos happeningWhat do you wantWhat are you studyingdo you studyWhat can I do for youWhat are you thinking about

Che lavoro faiChe musica ascolti di solitoChe film vai a vedereChe auto compra tuo padre

Whatrsquos your job [lit what work do you do]What (sort of) music do you usually listen toWhat film are you going to seeWhat (make of) car is your father going to

buy

Come sta SignoraCome vaCome fate la pizza

How are you MadamHowrsquos it goingHow do you make (a) pizza

Dove abitiDove andateDove sono le chiaviDovrsquoegrave il mio libro

Where do you liveWhere are you goingWhere are the keysWhere is my book

Unit 9 69

5 Quando

Quando means lsquowhenrsquo

6 Percheacute

Percheacute means lsquowhyrsquo

Come mai has a similar meaning corresponding to the English lsquohow comersquo

7 Quanto

Quanto means lsquohow muchrsquo when referring to quantity and lsquohow longrsquo lsquohowfarrsquo lsquohow tallrsquo etc when it refers to time distance height etc

Quanto can also be used as an adjective or pronoun In such cases it agrees ingender and number with the noun it refers to quanto [ms] quanta [fs] (howmuch) quanti [mp] quante [fp] (how many)

Quando partono i tuoi amiciQuando comincia il filmQuando arriva il trenoQuando egrave lo sciopero dei treni

When are your friends leavingWhen does the film startWhen does the train arriveWhenrsquos the railtrain strike

Percheacute ridonoPercheacute Giulia non va a scuolaPercheacute non studi

Why are they laughingWhy isnrsquot Giulia going to schoolWhy donrsquot you study

Come mai non mangiCome mai siete in ritardo

How come yoursquore not eatingHow come you are late

Quanto pesaQuanto costa questa magliettaQuanto dura il filmQuanto egrave alta tua sorellaQuantrsquoegrave

How muchWhat does it weighHow muchWhat does this T-shirt costHow long does the film lastHow tall is your sisterHow much is it

Quanto pane devo comprareQuanta pasta vuoiQuanti esercizi dobbiamo fareQuante ragazze ci sono in classe

tuaQuanto tempo abbiamo

lsquoCi sono molte personersquo lsquoQuantersquolsquoDobbiamo comprare del panersquo

lsquoQuantorsquo

How much bread do I have to buyHow much pasta do you wantHow many exercises have we got to doHow many girls are there in your class

How much time is thereHow longhave we got

lsquoThere are a lot of peoplersquo lsquoHow manyrsquolsquoWe must get (some) breadrsquo lsquoHow

muchrsquo

70 Unit 9

8 Quale

Quale means lsquowhichrsquo (or sometimes lsquowhatrsquo) It is used either as an adjective oras a pronoun and therefore agrees with the noun it refers to quale lsquowhich(one)rsquo quali lsquowhich (ones)rsquo The use of quale rather than che usually impliesthat there is a choice as for example if there are some books lying on thetable Quale libro leggi lsquoWhich book are you readingrsquo

Qual (without an apostrophe) is used before the forms of essere startingwith a vowel used in this way it sometimes means lsquowhatrsquo rather than lsquowhichrsquo

9 As is seen in some of the examples in paragraphs 2 3 4 and 7 cosa checosa come dove and quanto can also be shortened before the forms of esserestarting with a vowel becoming cosrsquo che cosrsquo comrsquo dovrsquo and quantrsquo (all withan apostrophe)

Quale canzone preferisciQuali esercizi facciamoQuali sono i tuoi librilsquoCompro due giornalirsquo lsquoQualirsquoQual egrave la canzone piugrave famosaQual egrave il Suo indirizzonumero di

telefono

Which song do you preferWhich exercises are we doingWhich are your bookslsquoIrsquom buying two papersrsquo lsquoWhich onesrsquoWhichWhat is the best-known songWhatrsquos your addressphone number

Cosrsquoera quel rumoreChe cosrsquoegrave successoComrsquoera lo spettacoloDovrsquoegrave la stazioneQuantrsquoegrave costato

What was that noiseWhat happenedHow was the showWhere is the stationHow much did it cost

Unit 9 71

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with chi or checosache cosa as appropriate

Examples mdashmdashmdash mi cerca chi mdashmdashmdash fate checosache cosa

Exercise 2

Complete the questions with an appropriate word (che come dove quandopercheacute or qualequaliqual)

Examples lsquomdashmdashmdash non esci staserarsquo lsquoDevo studiarersquo percheacute lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave latua bicirsquo lsquoQuellarsquo qual

1 mdashmdashmdash sono quei signori2 mdashmdashmdash di loro egrave tuo cugino3 Con mdashmdashmdash uscite stasera4 mdashmdashmdash posso fare per te5 mdashmdashmdash studiate6 mdashmdashmdash viene con me7 mdashmdashmdash accompagna Luca8 mdashmdashmdash vuoi bere9 Di mdashmdashmdash egrave questo libro

10 mdashmdashmdash succede

11 Per mdashmdashmdash lavori12 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Caffegrave o te13 A mdashmdashmdash telefoni14 mdashmdashmdash viene alla festa15 mdashmdashmdash dici16 mdashmdashmdash preferisci Gianni o Piero17 mdashmdashmdash leggi18 Da mdashmdashmdash vai a cena19 mdashmdashmdash vuoi fare stasera20 mdashmdashmdash apre la porta

1 lsquomdashmdashmdash abitatersquo lsquoA Milanorsquo2 lsquomdashmdashmdash parte lrsquoautobusrsquo lsquoAlle

800rsquo3 lsquomdashmdashmdash non studirsquo lsquoNon sto

benersquo4 lsquomdashmdashmdash sta Professorersquo lsquoBene

graziersquo5 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo compleannorsquo lsquoIl

20 aprilersquo6 lsquomdashmdashmdash lavoro fa tuo padrersquo lsquoIl

medicorsquo7 lsquomdashmdashmdash strada devo prenderersquo

lsquoQuella a destrarsquo8 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave la mensarsquo lsquoDietro la

palestrarsquo9 lsquomdashmdashmdash sei in ritardorsquo lsquoCrsquoegrave

sciopero degli autobusrsquo10 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave il tuo indirizzorsquo lsquoVia

Garibaldi 22rsquo

11 lsquomdashmdashmdash genere di musicaascoltatersquo lsquoRockrsquo

12 lsquomdashmdashmdash materia preferiscirsquolsquoScienzersquo

13 lsquomdashmdashmdash ti vesti per la festarsquo lsquoConla gonna lungarsquo

14 lsquomdashmdashmdash metto la bicirsquo lsquoIn garagersquo15 lsquomdashmdashmdash non venite con noirsquo

lsquoAbbiamo sonnorsquo16 lsquomdashmdashmdashegrave il parcheggiorsquo lsquoDavanti

al cinemarsquo17 lsquomdashmdashmdash comincia la scuolarsquo lsquoA

settembrersquo18 lsquomdashmdashmdash egrave la capitale dellrsquoItaliarsquo

lsquoRomarsquo19 lsquomdashmdashmdash non vai in vacanzarsquo lsquoNon

ho soldirsquo20 lsquomdashmdashmdash libri leggirsquo lsquoRomanzi di

avventurersquo

72 Unit 9

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences with the correct form of quanto

Examples mdashmdashmdashmdash anni hai quanti mdashmdashmdashmdash costa questa magliettaquanto

Exercise 4

1 How many rolls do you [pl] want2 Where are you [pl] going for lunch3 Who are those people4 What are you [sing] doing on Sunday5 When are you [pl] going on holiday6 Why isnrsquot Luisa leaving7 Which is your [sing] bike8 What film are you [sing] watching9 Which of them is Italian

10 When does the train arrive

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash persone vengono2 Fra mdashmdashmdashmdash tempo partite3 mdashmdashmdashmdash fratelli ha Luisa4 mdashmdashmdashmdash esercizi fate5 mdashmdashmdashmdash stanze ha la tua casa6 mdashmdashmdashmdash gente inviti7 mdashmdashmdashmdash sei alto8 mdashmdashmdashmdash pagine dobbiamo

studiare9 mdashmdashmdashmdash mesi rimanete in Italia

10 mdashmdashmdashmdash guadagni

11 mdashmdashmdashmdash frutta devo comprare12 mdashmdashmdashmdash costano quei jeans13 mdashmdashmdashmdash autobus devi prendere14 mdashmdashmdashmdash dura il concerto15 Da mdashmdashmdashmdash studiate italiano16 mdashmdashmdashmdash cartoline spedisci17 mdashmdashmdashmdash spendi al mese18 mdashmdashmdashmdash amiche hai19 mdashmdashmdashmdash libri devi leggere20 mdashmdashmdashmdash egrave lontana la discoteca

Unit 9 73

UNIT TENIndirect object pronouns (1)

1 We saw in Unit 7 that a direct object is the person or thing that the verbdirectly impacts on An indirect object is the person or thing that theaction is happening to or for Scrivo a Carla domani (Irsquoll write to Carlatomorrow) Mando cartoline a tutti i miei amici (I send cards to all myfriends) In English the indirect object can usually be preceded by lsquotorsquo orlsquoforrsquo but these are very often omitted compare lsquoI gave the book to Karenrsquoand lsquoI gave Karen the bookrsquo or lsquoIrsquoll pour a glass for Janersquo and lsquoIrsquoll pourJane a glassrsquo

An indirect object pronoun replaces a noun used as an indirect object lsquoIgave the book to herI gave her the bookrsquo lsquoIrsquoll pour her a glassIrsquoll pour a glassfor herrsquo

In Italian an indirect object pronoun replaces a noun preceded by thepreposition a it has to agree in gender and number with the noun it refers toIndirect object pronouns normally come before the verb In the followingexamples the pronouns are in italics

2 The forms of the indirect object pronouns are as follows

Quando vedo Maria le racconto tutto[le stands for a Maria (fs)]

Non telefono a Carlo gli scrivo[gli stands for a Carlo (ms)]

Paolo non ci dice mai la veritagrave[ci stands for a noi]

When I see Maria Irsquoll tell hereverything

Irsquom not going to phone Carlo Irsquollwrite to him

Paolo never tells us the truth

mitigli [m]le [f]civigli [m and f]

to meto youto himitherto usto youto them

The third person plural pronoun gli is used for both masculine and feminineFor the third person plural loro can be used instead of gli but it alwaysfollows the verb the meaning is the same but the use of loro is far lessfrequent and is more formal

Negative form

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 When an indirect object pronoun is used with a verb in the infinitive (usu-ally after verbs like dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to theinfinitive which drops the final vowel

Each pair of sentences has exactly the same meaning ndash the form used makesno difference

Mi mandi una cartolina da Roma

Vi scrivo appena arrivoEgrave il compleanno di Anna le regalo

un CDSe Dario non ha lrsquoauto gli dograve un

passaggioTi impresto i soldilsquoScrivi agli ziirsquo lsquoNo gli telefono

domaniNo telefono loro domanirsquo

Gli dico la veritagraveDico loro la veritagrave

Will you send me a postcard fromRome

Irsquoll write to you as soon as I arriveItrsquos Annarsquos birthday Irsquom giving her a

CDIf Dario hasnrsquot got his car Irsquoll give

him a liftIrsquoll lend you the moneylsquoAre you going to write to your

unclesrsquo lsquoNo Irsquoll phone themtomorrowrsquo

Irsquom going to tell them the truth

Non ti impresto i soldiNon le scrivo le telefonoNon gli rispondo

I wonrsquot lend you the moneyIrsquom not going to write (to her) Irsquoll phone herIrsquom not going to reply toanswer him

Le voglio parlareGli devo scrivereMi potete telefonareMi sai dire quando

orororor

Voglio parlarleDevo scrivergliPotete telefonarmiSai dirmi quando

I want to talk to herI must write to himthemCan you phone meCan you tell me when

Unit 10 75

Formal form

5 The indirect object pronouns used for the formal form are Le for thesingular (for both women and men) and Vi for the plural (the pronoun Loro ndashafter the verb ndash can also be used but this is very formal)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct indirectobject pronoun

Example Scrivete a Luigi Gli scrivete

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Gli scrivo Non gli scrivo

Le rispondo subito Signor ColliLe dograve un passaggio Signora BanfiSignori Bianco Vi telefono domani (Signori Bianco telefono Loro

domani)

Irsquoll answer you immediately Mr ColliIrsquoll give you a lift Mrs Banfi

(Mr and Mrs Bianco) Irsquoll phone youtomorrow

1 Telefoniamo a Carla2 Spedisco le cartoline ai miei amici3 Silvia racconta una storia al

bambino4 Regalo un libro alla zia5 Anna scrive alle amiche

6 Porto i fiori alla nonna7 Scriviamo ai nostri compagni8 Olga e Silvia parlano a Giulia9 La nonna legge un libro ai nipoti

10 Cosa regalate a Marco

1 Le parlo di lavoro2 Mi telefoni3 Vi regalo dei libri4 Gli offrite qualcosa5 Gli amici le offrono un gelato

6 Ci scrivete7 Ti mando una cartolina8 Vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo mi dice la veritagrave

10 Gli spedisco il pacco

76 Unit 10

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences changing the position of the pronoun

Example Li devi comprare Devi comprarli

Exercise 4

Complete the sentences with the appropriate indirect object pronouns

Examples Mauro ha molti amici e mdashmdash telefona spesso gli Livia vuoleparlare con te devi telefonarmdashmdash le

1 lsquoTelefonate a Luisarsquo lsquoNo mdashmdash scriviamo una letterarsquo2 Se mi chiedi qualcosa mdashmdash rispondo3 lsquoCosa regali a tuo padrersquo lsquomdashmdash regalo una cravattarsquo4 Se vedi le mie amiche puoi dirmdashmdash che le aspetto per domani5 Signora posso offrirmdashmdash un caffegrave6 lsquoCi portate un regalo dallrsquoItaliarsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash portiamo un panettonersquo7 lsquoCosa vuoi dirmdashmdashrsquo lsquoVi voglio dire la veritagraversquo8 Gianni mdashmdash presento mia sorella9 lsquoQuando telefoni ai nonnirsquo lsquomdashmdash telefono domani serarsquo

10 Professore mdashmdash devo parlare11 Non so fare questo esercizio mdashmdash dai una mano12 Domani egrave il compleanno di Anna devo farmdashmdash gli auguri13 Paolo dice sempre bugie non mdashmdash dovete credere14 Telefono a Michele e mdashmdash chiedo un prestito15 Se non avete lrsquoauto mdashmdash dograve un passaggio16 Se Carla e Pietro hanno bisogno di soldi mdashmdash posso fare un prestito17 lsquoQuanto ti danno allrsquoorarsquo lsquomdashmdash danno 15 eurorsquo18 Appena vedo Silvia mdashmdash rendo i libri19 Se vuoi mdashmdash impresto la mia bici20 Ettore egrave un buon amico e mdashmdash racconto sempre tutto

1 Le possiamo scrivere2 Ti devo parlare3 Gli voglio regalare una chitarra4 Ci puoi telefonare5 Vi devono offrire qualcosa

6 Mi potete dire tutto7 Le posso parlare Signora8 Non gli dovete scrivere9 Non ti posso rispondere

10 Le voglio credere

Unit 10 77

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 Can you [sing] tell Lucia that I want to speak to her2 As soon as I arrive in Rome Irsquoll phone you [pl]3 I have to ask you a favour Madam4 Are you [sing] giving them your phone number5 They always tell us interesting things6 They always send me a card when they go to Italy7 For her birthday Irsquom giving her flowers8 Irsquove got to give you [sing] Lucarsquos books9 If you [pl] want Irsquoll tell you a story

10 Massimo writes to me every week

78 Unit 10

UNIT ELEVENPiacere and similar verbs

1 Piacere corresponds to lsquoto likersquo but it is used in a different way from itsEnglish counterpart In Italian the subject of the verbsentence is the thingor person one likes the person who likes something is denoted by an indirectobject pronoun (see Unit 10)

2 Piacere is an irregular verb mostly used in the third person singular(piace) and plural (piacciono) As can be seen in the examples piace is usedif the thing that one likes is a singular noun or pronoun or the infinitiveof a verb piacciono is used if the things that one likes are a plural noun orpronoun

Singular noun or pronoun

Verb

Mi piace lo sportTi piace ballare

Mi piacciono i gatti

I like sport [lit sport is pleasing to me]Do you like dancing [lit is dancing pleasing to

you]I like cats [lit cats are pleasing to me]

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

la mia cittagravequestoquestail calciola musica rockil tennisquelloquella

I like my home townYou like this (one)Heshe likes footballWe like rock musicYou like tennisThey like that one

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piacepiacepiacepiacepiacepiace

leggereandare in bicisciareguardare la tvdormireballare

I like to readreadingYou like to cyclecyclingHeshe likes to skiskiingWe like to watchwatching TVYou like to sleepsleepingThey like to dancedancing

Plural noun or pronoun

3 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

4 As usual for the polite form in the singular the feminine pronoun (Le) isused for both men and women for the plural Vi is normally used

Loro is a much more formal way of addressing people in the plural it isalways placed after the verb

5 When the person who likes something is denoted not by a pronoun but bya noun the noun must be preceded by the preposition a

6 To mark a contrast the stressed forms of the pronouns (a me a te aluia lei a noi a voi a loro ndash see Unit 14) are used instead of the unstressedforms

mi (to me)ti (to you)glile (to himher)ci (to us)vi (to you)gli (to them)

piaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiaccionopiacciono

questiquestele ciliegiei romanziquelliquellegli scherzile auto veloci

I like theseYou like cherriesHeshe likes novelsWe like thoseYou like practical jokesThey like fast cars

Non mi piace la pizzaNon ti piace questoquestaNon le piace sciareNon ci piacciono i videogiochi

I donrsquot like pizzaDonrsquot you like this (one)She doesnrsquot like skiingWe donrsquot like video games

Le piacciono i funghi SignoraVanni

Le piace leggere Signor VanniNon Le piace quelloquellaNon Le piace sciareSignori Conti Vi piace lrsquoItaliaSignori Conti piace Loro lrsquoItalia

Do you like mushrooms Mrs Vanni

Do you like reading Mr VanniDonrsquot you like that oneDonrsquot you like skiingDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs ContiDo you like Italy Mr and Mrs Conti

A Claudia non piace andare a scuolaAllo zio Davide piace la musica

classicaA Piera non piacciono questiquesteAi miei nonni piace dormireA Franco e Luisa piace viaggiare

Claudia doesnrsquot like going to schoolUncle Davide likes classical music

Piera doesnrsquot like theseMy grandparents like sleepingFranco and Luisa like travelling

80 Unit 11

7 There are other verbs which are used in the same way as piacere mancare(to miss) [lit lsquoto be lackingmissingrsquo] servire (to need) [lit lsquoto be usefulrsquo] bastare(to be enoughsufficient) and sembrare and parere (to seem)

Exercise 1

Rewrite the sentences replacing the words in italics with the correct pronoun

Example A Sara non piace il caffegrave Non le piace il caffegrave

Exercise 2

Change the sentences into the negative

Example Mi piace la pioggia Non mi piace la pioggia

A me piace il caffegrave a te piace il teA lui piacciono i gatti a lei noA noi piace il calcio a voi il tennisA loro piace nuotare a noi piace sciareA me piace questoquesta a Lei quello

quella

I like coffee you like teaHe likes cats she doesnrsquotWe like football you like tennisThey like swimming we like skiingI like this one you like that one

Mi manca il mio ragazzo

Non vi mancano i vostri genitori

Ti serve una pennaA Livia servono i tuoi consigliQuestiqueste non ci bastanoA me bastano 10 euro e a te

Il comportamento di Carlo misembrami pare strano

Non mi sembrami pare giusto

I miss my boyfriend [lit my boyfriendis lacking to me]

Donrsquot you miss your parents [lit arenrsquotyour parents lacking to you]

Do you need a penLivia needs your adviceThese arenrsquot enough for us10 euros are sufficient for me ndash are they

for youhow about youCarlorsquos behaviour seems strange to me

It doesnrsquot seem fair to meI donrsquot thinkitrsquos fair

1 A Federica non piacciono i carciofi2 A Giampiero non piace guidare3 A Massimo piace viaggiare4 A Tullio e Anna piace il mare5 Ai miei amici piace ballare

6 A me e a Marco non piace il pesce7 A te e a Marina piace nuotare8 A Mara piacciono i film francesi9 Alla mamma non piace stirare

10 Allo zio piace andare in moto

Unit 11 81

Exercise 3

Write sentences expressing your taste

Example cavalli (Non) mi piacciono i cavalli

1 la frutta 2 il calcio 3 le fragole 4 giocare a tennis 5 uscire con gli amici6 i gatti 7 la pizza 8 i dolci 9 ballare 10 le vacanze

Exercise 4

Taking the words in the two columns below write affirmative or negativesentences using the verb piacere

Example Maria le patate A Maria (non) piacciono le patate

Exercise 5

Supply the correct form of the verbs in brackets

Example Quei libri mi (sembrare) interessanti sembrano

1 Ci (bastare) questo pane2 Vi (sembrare) bello quel film3 Ci (piacere) le auto sportive4 A Sebastiano (mancare) la mamma5 lsquoVoglio comprare una motorsquo lsquoTi (servire) dei soldirsquo6 A Livio (mancare) i soldi per le vacanze

1 Le piace andare in centro il sabato2 Ti piace la musica classica3 Gli piacciono i funghi4 Vi piace guardare la televisione5 Mi piacciono i film di fantascienza

6 Gli piace la scuola7 Ci piacciono le canzoni italiane8 Le piacciono gli spaghetti9 Mi piace sciare

10 Vi piace la cioccolata al latte

1 Luigi2 il professore3 mia sorella4 i miei cugini5 il primo ministro

il caffegrave senza zuccherole poesie di Leopardiandare al cinemai film di Fellinila politica

82 Unit 11

7 Quello che dici mi (sembrare) interessante8 Mi (servire) delle scarpe nuove9 Quale di quei due libri ti (parere) migliore

10 Non ti (bastare) 20 euro

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian using the verbs piacere sembrare servire mancare orbastare

1 An hour isnrsquot enough for me2 Giovanni needs a pen3 Lynnersquos missing her Italian friends4 Do you [sing] like chocolate5 She doesnrsquot like going to the cinema6 Do you [pl] need a lift7 They need a pen and a notebook8 Do you find the show boring Madam9 Do you [sing] need help

10 I like reading

Unit 11 83

UNIT TWELVEThe present perfect tense

Use of the present perfect

1 The present perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) is one of the two most used pasttenses of the indicative in Italian (the other is the imperfect (lsquoimperfettorsquo) )The present perfect is often used like the English present perfect (eg lsquoI haveseen itrsquo lsquoShe has gone homersquo) to state that an action has happened in the pastbut that its effects are still lasting in the present However in Northern Italyand in the language of the media it is also equivalent to the English simplepast (eg lsquoI saw itrsquo lsquoShe went homersquo) referring to actions which happened in amore distant past and have no immediate consequences in the presentIndeed it more often corresponds to the English simple past than to theEnglish present perfect In other words in Italian the difference betweenpresent perfect (lsquopassato prossimorsquo) and simple past (lsquopassato remotorsquo) is notalways marked and it is always possible to use the former

2 The present perfect is a compound tense and is formed as in English withthe present tense of the auxiliary verb followed by the past participle of theverb

Napoleone egrave morto il 5 maggio 1821Lrsquoestate scorsa siamo andati in

vacanza sul lago di GardaNina egrave nata in RussiaLrsquoanno scorso mi hanno regalato

una mountain bike

Napoleon died on 5 May 1821Last summer we went to Lake Garda

for oura holidayNina was born in RussiaLast year they gave me a mountain

bike

Ho visto un bel filmHa telefonato MarcoSono rimasto a casaAnna egrave uscitaSono andati in piscina

I sawhave seen a lovely filmMarco phonedhas phonedI stayedhave stayed at homeAnna went outhas gone outDid they goHave they gone to the swimming

pool

As the examples confirm the lsquopassato prossimorsquo may correspond to either thesimple past or the present perfect in English But there are also other differ-ences between the Italian and English structures there is only one auxiliaryverb in English (lsquoto haversquo) but in Italian there is a choice of two avere andessere when essere is used the past participle has to agree in gender andnumber with the subject finally whether to use avere or essere is not usually afree choice We will look at all these differences in detail but first we need tolook at the forms of the Italian past participle

Forms of the past participle

3 The regular forms of the past participle are obtained by changing theending of the infinitive as follows

Verbs ending in -cere (or -scere) keep the lsquosoftrsquo sound of c (or sc) andtherefore add an i before the -uto ending (-iuto)

The past participle of verbs in -urre ends in -otto

Infinitive in -are-ato

Infinitive in -ere-uto

Infinitive in -ire-ito

Infinitiveparlaremangiarecaderevolerepiacereconoscerepartirecapire

Past participleparlatomangiatocadutovolutopiaciutoconosciutopartitocapito

(to speak) spoken(to eat) eaten(to fall) fallen(to want) wanted(to like) liked(to knowmeet for the first time) knownmet(to leave) left(to understand) understood

Infinitivecondurretradurreprodurre

Past participlecondottotradottoprodotto

(to leaddrivemanage) leddrivenmanaged(to translate) translated(to produce) produced

Unit 12 85

4 In Italian as in most languages many verbs have an irregular past parti-ciple which is best learned by heart and with use Here is a list of the mostfrequently used

Stato is also the past participle of stare The regular forms perduto and veduto are rarely used

The present perfect

5 The present perfect in Italian is formed with the present indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

Infinitiveaccendereaprireberechiederechiuderedecideredireesserefareleggeremettereperdereprendererendererimanererispondereromperescenderescriverespegnerespenderesuccederetoglierevederevenirevincerevivere

Past participleaccesoapertobevutochiestochiusodecisodettostatofattolettomessopersoperdutopresoresorimastorispostorottoscesoscrittospentospesosuccessotoltovistovedutovenutovintovissuto

(to turn onswitch on) turned onswitched on(to open) opened(to drink) drunk(to ask) asked(to close) closed(to decide) decided(to saytell) saidtold(to be) been(to domake) donemade(to read) read(to putput on) putput on(to lose) lost(to take) taken(to returngive back) returnedgiven back(to remainstay) remainedstayed(to answer) answered(to break) broken(to go downdescend) gone downdescended(to write) written(to turn offswitch off) turned offswitched off(to spend) spent(to happen) happened(to take awayoff) taken awayoff(to see) seen(to come) come(to win) won(to live) lived

86 Unit 12

6 As can be seen when the present perfect is formed with avere the pastparticiple does not change but when the present perfect is formed with esserethe past participle behaves like an adjective agreeing in gender and numberwith the subject of the verb Here are some examples

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Present of avere(io) ho(tu) hai(luilei) ha(noi) abbiamo

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I wrotehave writtenyou wrotehave writtenhesheit wrotehas writtenwe wrotehave written

(voi) avete(loro) hanno

scrittoscritto

you wrotehave writtenthey wrotehave written

Present of essere(io) sono(tu) sei(luilei) egrave(noi) siamo(voi) siete(loro) sono

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I wenthave goneyou wenthave gonehesheit wenthas gonewe wenthave goneyou wenthave gonethey wenthave gone

AvereLivia ha guardato la televisioneHai comprato il pane

Ha prenotato Signor Ferro

EssereMonica egrave uscita [fs]Pietro egrave stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia sono rimaste a

casa [fp]Giulia e Sebastiano sono partiti

[mp]Sono andata al cinema [fs]

Siamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando egravearrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando egravearrivata [fs]

Livia (has) watched TVDid you buyHave you bought the

breadDid you bookHave you booked Mr

Ferro

Monica went outMonicarsquos gone outPietrorsquos been illFabia and Silvia (have) stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano (have) left

I wentIrsquove been to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We (have) arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When did you arrive Mr Poli

When did you arrive Mrs Poli

Unit 12 87

Present perfect of avere and essere

7 Avere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the present perfect with the auxiliary essere

8 Like the present the present perfect of essere can be used with the pronounci (see Unit 4) crsquoegrave statostata (there washas been) ci sono statistate (therewerehave been)

Essere or avere

9 Deciding whether to use essere or avere can be a bit of a problem The onlyfirm rules are those governing transitive verbs (ie verbs which can have adirect object) and reflexive verbs (see Unit 20) Transitive verbs always useavere reflexive verbs always use essere

As for intransitive verbs some use avere and others essere In general it canbe said that verbs of movement (such as andare (to go) venire (to come)partire (to leave) uscire (to go out) entrare (to go income in)) or non-movement (such as rimanere (to remain) restare (to stayremain)) and verbsof state (such as essere diventare (to become) cambiare (to change) crescere(to grow)) use the auxiliary essere However this is not a hard and fast rulethere are intransitive verbs which take avere

ho avutohai avutoha avutoabbiamo avutoavete avutohanno avuto

I hadhave hadyou hadhave hadhesheit hadhas hadwe hadhave hadyou hadhave hadthey hadhave had

sono statostatasei statostataegrave statostatasiamo statistatesiete statistatesono statistate

I washave beenyou werehave beenhesheit washas beenwe werehave beenyou werehave beenthey werehave been

La settimana scorsa abbiamo avuto ospitiTanya ha avuto la varicellaNina egrave stata malataDes egrave stato mio studente

Last week we had guestsTanya has had chickenpoxNina has been illDes was a student of mine

Crsquoegrave stata unrsquoalluvioneCi sono stati troppo incidenti

There washas been a floodThere werehave been too many accidents

88 Unit 12

To help in choosing the right auxiliary here is a list of common verbs whichform the present perfect with essere

These verbs are normally only used in the third person singular and plural

Ho conosciuto i genitori di Gianni[transitive]

Avete spedito le vostre cartoline[transitive]

Quanto hai speso [transitive]Ieri sera siamo andati a un concerto

rock [intransitive]Domenica scorsa siamo rimasti a

casa [intransitive]Il tempo egrave cambiato [intransitive]Ho dormito bene [intransitive]

I (have) met Giannirsquos parents

Did you sendHave you sent yourpostcards

How much did you spendLast night we went to a rock concert

Last Sunday we stayed at home

The weatherrsquos changedI slept well

Infinitiveandarearrivarebastare

costare

crescerediventareentrareesseremorire

nascerepartirepiacere

restarerimanere(ri)tornareriuscire

sembrarestaresuccedere

uscirevenire

Present perfectsono andato-asono arrivato-aegrave bastato-asono bastati-eegrave costato-asono costati-esono cresciuto-asono diventato-asono entrato-asono stato-aegrave morto-asono morti-esono nato-asono partito-aegrave piaciuto-asono piaciuti-esono restato-asono rimasto-asono (ri)tornato-asono riuscito-a

sono sembrato-asono stato-aegrave successo-asono successi-esono uscito-asono venuto-a

I wenthave goneI arrivedhave arrivedit washas been enoughthey werehave been enoughit costhas costthey costhave costI grewhave grownI becamehave becomeI wenthave gone inI enteredhave enteredI washave beenhesheit diedhas died

I was bornI lefthave leftit pleasedhas pleasedthey pleasedhave pleasedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI stayedremainedI have stayedremainedI came backhave come backI succeededmanagedI have succeeded

managedI seemedhave seemedI stoodstayedI have stoodstayedit happenedhas happenedthey happenedhave happenedI went outhave gone outI camehave come

Unit 12 89

Note that succedere is an impersonal verb something or things can happenbut succedere cannot be used like the English lsquoI happened to be in Romersquo etc

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the auxiliary

11 The adverbs ancora (again) mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) and giagrave (already)are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (eg Ho giagrave risposto(Irsquove already replied)) When they are used in the negative ndash non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) (see also Unit 6 paragraph 2) ndash non is placed before theauxiliary

I soldi sono bastatiQuanto egrave costata quella biciLa bici egrave costata piugrave di 900 euroMolti civili sono mortiLe egrave piaciuto il film SignoraDa allora sono succese molte

cose

The money was enoughHow much did that bicycle costThe bike cost over 900 eurosMany civilians diedhave diedDid you like the film( Madam)Since then many things have happened

After that many things happened

Ieri non sono andato a scuolaLisa non egrave riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon hai telefonato a Fabia

I didnrsquot go to school yesterdayLisa didnrsquot managehasnrsquot managed to

finish that jobDidnrsquot you phoneHavenrsquot you phoned

Fabia

Sei ancora andato in biblioteca

Siete mai stati su un ghiacciaioHai piugrave visto i tuoi amiciNon abbiamo ancora preso il

bigliettoPaola non egrave mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non ha piugrave telefonato

Did you goHave you been to the libraryagain

Have you ever been on a glacierHave you (ever) seen your friends againWe havenrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola has never been to VeniceCarlo didnrsquot phonehasnrsquot (ever) phoned

again

90 Unit 12

Dovere potere volere

12 The present perfect of dovere potere and volere is normally formed withthe auxiliary avere but when they are followed by a verb which forms thepresent perfect with essere they may take essere as well if essere is used thepast participle of the verb agrees with the subject

Remember that it is never wrong to use avere

Exercise 1

Supply the correct endings for the past participles ensuring that they agreewith the subject

Example Le mie amiche sono uscitmdash uscite

1 Francesca e Filippo sono restatmdash a casa2 Giulia e Susanna non sono uscitmdash ieri sera3 Nicoletta egrave andatmdash in vacanza4 I miei amici sono arrivatmdash domenica scorsa5 Quando Fabia egrave entratmdash ha visto gli amici6 Pierluigi non egrave riuscitmdash a finire il lavoro7 Professor Rossi quando egrave arrivatmdash8 Ti egrave piaciutmdash la partita9 Quanto sono costatmdash quei libri

10 Quando egrave natmdash tua sorella

I nostri amici hanno dovuto partire I nostri amici sono dovuti partireCecilia non ha potuto andare in Irlanda Cecilia non egrave potuta andare in IrlandaPercheacute non avete voluto uscire Percheacute non siete voluti uscire

Our friends had to leave

Cecilia couldnrsquot go to Ireland

Why didnrsquot you want to go out

Ho dovuto lavorareMaria ha dovuto rimanere a casaElena non ha potuto telefonare

Elena e Sergio non hanno potutoentrare

I (have) had to workMaria (has) had to stay at homeElena couldnrsquothasnrsquot been able to

phoneElena and Sergio couldnrsquothavenrsquot

been able to get in

Unit 12 91

Exercise 2

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Anna (partire) ieri egrave partita

Exercise 3

Supply the present perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Il dottore (uscire) egrave uscito

1 Dove (tu comprare) quellescarpe

2 Ettore (regalare) un portafoglioa Luisa

3 Ieri sera (noi andare) a unconcerto

4 Dove (voi trovare) quei fogli5 (tu spegnere) la luce6 Quanta gente (venire) alla festa7 Signora Depaoli (portare) i

documenti8 (voi prendere) il giornale9 Ieri (io vedere) le mie amiche

10 Non (tu potere) finire il lavoro

11 (io dovere) studiare molto perquesto esame

12 Franco (uscire) tardi e (perdere)lrsquoautobus

13 Chi ti (scrivere) quella lettera14 (noi giocare) a pallone tutto il

pomeriggio15 Federica (cominciare) il nuovo

lavoro16 Lorenzo non (volere) uscire17 Dove (tu mettere) i libri18 (tu potere) parlare col professore19 (voi avere) tempo per fare tutto20 (tu leggere) il giornale di oggi

1 (noi dovere) lavorare tutto ilgiorno

2 Dove (voi mangiare)3 A che ora (tu partire)4 Chi (telefonare)5 Claudia (volere) restare a casa6 (tu conoscere) il fratello di

Piero7 Silvia (dovere) andare in

ospedale8 (voi accompagnare) Lina alla

stazione9 Chi (vincere) il campionato

10 (tu finire) i compiti

11 Non (io capire) nulla12 (tu portare) i libri in biblioteca13 Non (noi riuscire) a finire in

tempo14 Cosa (voi decidere)15 Carla (avere) la febbre16 Ugo e Marina non (venire) a cena

da noi17 Che cosa (voi fare) domenica18 Il treno (partire) con mezzrsquoora di

ritardo19 La nonna (essere) contenta di

vedermi20 Chi (tradurre) questo libro

92 Unit 12

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Wersquove already done this exercise2 I havenrsquot finished reading the paper yet3 Stefanorsquos never been to Rome4 I didnrsquot see Roberto again after the party5 Have you [pl] already paid the bill6 Giulia hasnrsquot started working yet7 Carlo couldnrsquot work any more8 Irsquove never met her parents9 Have you [sing] written the letters already

10 Irsquove never seen that film

Unit 12 93

UNIT THIRTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns (2)

1 When a direct object pronoun is used with a verb in the present perfect (orany other compound tense) the past participle must agree in gender andnumber with the pronoun

Particular care must be taken when the gender is not shown in the pronounas in the last three examples

Note that when the polite form is used the past participle always agreeswith the feminine pronoun La not with the gender of the person beingspoken to

lsquoHai invitato Anna e Sararsquo lsquoSigrave leho invitatersquo

lsquoAvete portato i librirsquo lsquoSigrave liabbiamo portatirsquo

Ho comprato delle rose e leho date a Luisa

lsquoChi ha scritto questa musicarsquolsquoLrsquoha scritta Bob Marleyrsquo

lsquoDove hai comprato quellescarpersquo lsquoLe ho comprate almercatorsquo

Ho 25 compagni di classe e li hoinvitati tutti alla mia festa dicompleanno

Non ci hanno invitati alla festa

Mauro mi ha accompagnata allastazione

Ti hanno invitata

lsquoDid you invite Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYes Iinvited themrsquo

lsquoHave you brought the booksrsquo lsquoYeswersquove brought themrsquo

I bought some roses and gave them toLuisa

lsquoWho wrote this musicrsquo lsquoBob Marleywrote itrsquo

lsquoWhere did you buy those shoesrsquo lsquoIbought them at the marketrsquo

I have 25 classmates and Irsquove invited allof them to my birthday party

They didnrsquot invite us to the party [weare all males or mixed males andfemales]

Mauro took me to the station [thespeaker is female]

Did they invite you [the personaddressed is female]

2 The rule given above does not apply to indirect object pronouns with thesethe past participle of the verb never changes

3 As we saw in Units 7 and 10 when a direct or indirect object pronounoccurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive

In these sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or anyother compound tense) there is no agreement of the past participle even withdirect object pronouns

However when the direct object pronoun is not attached to the infinitive thepast participle must agree with it

Signor Belli chi Lrsquoha invitataDottor Ranieri Lrsquoabbiamo vista

ieri sera alla televisione

Who invited you Mr BelliWe saw you on television last night

Dr Ranieri

lsquoHai telefonato a Anna e SararsquolsquoSigrave gli ho telefonatorsquo

Quando egrave venuta Livia le ho offertoun gelato

Ho parlato con Carla e le ho dettotutto

Non ci hanno scritto

lsquoDid you phone Anna and Sararsquo lsquoYesI phoned themrsquo

When Livia came I offered her an icecream

I spoke to Carla and told hereverything

They didnrsquot write to us

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave hodovuto leggerli tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non ho ancora potutoleggerla

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non ha volutoinvitarle alla festa

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonabbiamo saputo farlirsquo

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoHai letto tutti i librirsquo lsquoSigrave li hodovuti leggere tuttirsquo

Carmen mi ha scritto una letterama non lrsquoho ancora potuta leggere

Daniela ha molte compagne discuola ma non le ha voluteinvitare alla festa

lsquoDid you read all the booksrsquo lsquoYes Ihad to read all of themrsquo

Carmen wrote me a letter but I stillhavenrsquot been able to read it

Danielarsquos got a lot of school friendsbut she didnrsquot want towouldnrsquot askthem to the party

Unit 13 95

4 In contemporary spoken Italian (and sometimes in written Italian as well)agreement of the past participle with first and second person direct objectpronouns tends not to be observed this is the case with both singular (mi ti) andplural (ci vi) so quite often you will hear (or read) sentences like the following

However the agreement is always made with the third person pronouns (lola li le)

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the direct object pronouns making sure that thepast participle agrees

Example Ho visto Gianna e mdashmdash ho invitatmdash lrsquoho invitata

1 Ho comprato dei fiori e mdashmdash ho messmdash in un vaso2 La zia egrave partita e mdashmdash ho accompagnatmdashalla stazione3 Ho visto delle belle scarpe e mdashmdashho compratmdash4 Lara ha aperto le finestre ma Luca mdashmdash ha chiusmdash5 Mi hanno regalato dei biscotti e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdash tutti6 Luisa non hai sentito che Claudio mdashmdash ha chiamatmdash7 Gaetano ha preso il giornale e mdashmdashha lettmdash8 lsquoVi hanno invitati alla festarsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash hanno invitatmdashrsquo9 lsquoHai preso i biglietti per il concertorsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho presmdashrsquo

10 Cerchi i libri mdashmdash ho datmdash a Giovanni

lsquoAvete fatto gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo nonli abbiamo saputi farersquo

lsquoDid you do the exercisesrsquo lsquoNo wecouldnrsquotdidnrsquot know how to dothemrsquo

lsquoSusanna chi ti ha accompagnatorsquo[instead of ti ha accompagnata]

lsquoMi ha accompagnato Sebastianorsquo[instead of mi ha accompagnata]

Ci ha invitato alla festa [instead ofci ha invitati]

Vi ho visto entrare al cinema[instead of vi ho visti]

lsquoSusanna who went withtook yoursquo

lsquoSebastiano went withtook mersquo

HeShe has asked us to the party

I saw you go into the cinema

Lrsquoha accompagnata SebastianoLi ho invitati alla festalsquoQuando hai visto Carla e Liviarsquo

lsquoLe ho viste ierirsquo

Sebastiano went withtook herIrsquove asked them to the partylsquoWhen did you see Carla and Liviarsquo lsquoI

saw them yesterdayrsquo

96 Unit 13

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the correct direct or indirect object pronounmaking sure that the past participle agrees where necessary

Examples Non ho telefonato a Maria mdashmdashmdash ho scrittmdash le ho scrittoHo comprato una minigonna rossa e mdashho indossatmdash per lafesta lrsquoho indossata

1 Ho incontrato Lina e mdashmdash ho offertmdash un caffegrave2 Cerco Paola e Gianni mdashmdash avete vistmdash3 Non ho la bicicletta perchegrave mdashmdashho imprestatmdash a Filippo4 Non ho scritto a Paola mdashmdash ho telefonatmdash5 Dove sono le chiavi Chi mdashmdash ha presmdash6 Parlo bene lrsquoitaliano e il tedesco percheacute mdashmdash ho studiatmdash per sette anni7 Ieri ho visto Alessandro e mdashmdash ha presentatmdash sua sorella8 Caterina chi mdashmdash ha accompagnatmdash ieri sera9 Oggi egrave il compleanno di Daniela mdashmdash hai mandatmdash gli auguri

10 Gianna egrave una vecchia amica mdashmdashho conosciutmdash otto anni fa11 lsquoDove avete lasciato la bicirsquo lsquomdashmdashabbiamo lasciatmdash in stradarsquo12 Hai telefonato a Giacomo Che cosa mdashmdash hai dettmdash13 lsquoHai comprato i francobollirsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashrsquo14 Signora Lrsquoho cercata ieri ma non mdashmdashho trovatmdash15 Sebastiano ha molte amiche e io mdashmdash ho conosciutmdash tutte16 lsquoCosa hai detto a Matteorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho dettmdash nullarsquo17 lsquoChi ha pagato il contorsquo lsquomdashmdashha pagatmdash mia madrersquo18 lsquoCosa hai raccontato a Giuliarsquo lsquomdashmdash ho raccontatmdash la veritagraversquo19 Professore chi mdashmdashha accompagnatmdash in aeroporto20 Questa egrave una rivista molto interessante mdashmdashho lettmdash tutta

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as shown in the example

Example Ho dovuto comprarle Le ho dovute comprare

1 Non ho saputo farli2 Ho voluto vederli3 Non abbiamo potuto chiamarlo4 Hanno potuto aiutarvi5 Abbiamo dovuto invitarla

6 Non ha saputo tradurle7 Avete dovuto accompagnarle8 Ha voluto mangiarla9 Hai potuto vederli

10 Non hanno voluto farle

Unit 13 97

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Sabina hasnrsquot invited me [f]2 Who called you [fs]3 We phoned them yesterday4 I looked for you [mp] but I didnrsquot find you5 Chiara took us to the bus stop6 I sent you [pl] a postcard ndash did you receive it7 My grandparents gave me 100 euros but Irsquove already spent it [Say lsquospent

themrsquo]8 I bought two rolls and ate them9 lsquoHave you [sing] switched the light offrsquo lsquoYes Irsquove switched it offrsquo

10 Carla hasnrsquot been able to help them [f]

98 Unit 13

UNIT FOURTEENDirect and indirect object pronouns(3 stressed forms)

1 Direct and indirect object pronouns do not only have the unstressed (orweak) forms that we saw in Units 7 10 and 13 they also have stressed(or strong) forms

As usual the pronoun Lei (third person singular feminine) and the pronounLoro (third person plural) are used for the formal form

2 The stressed forms of direct object and indirect object pronouns are usedto give emphasis to the pronoun or to stress a contrast unlike unstressedforms they normally come after the verb except when used with the verbspiacere sembrare servire bastare parere and mancare (see Unit 11) Stressedforms always refer to people not objects

Direct object stressed forms Indirect object stressed formsmeteluileiLeinoivoiloroLoro

a mea tea luia leia Leia noia voia loroa Loro

Chiamo voi non loroVedo lei ma non vedo luiAspetto Francesco non teInvito solo teInvito solo Lei Signor PaoliA me non piace il caffegraveA me sembra giustoTelefono a te ma non a loroBilly scrive a noi e non ai suoi

genitoriDevi rendere i soldi a me non a mio

fratello

Irsquom callingphoning you not themI can see her but I canrsquot see himIrsquom waiting for Francesco not youIrsquom only inviting youIrsquom only inviting you Mr PaoliI donrsquot like coffeeI think itrsquos fairIt seems fair to meIrsquoll phone you but not themBilly writes to us and not his parents

Yoursquove got to give me the money notmy brother

Note the difference between the two sentences lsquoNon mi piace il caffegraversquo andlsquoA me non piace il caffegraversquo The first simply states that I donrsquot like coffee whilethe second puts the emphasis on the pronoun lsquomersquo implying that there arepeople who do like coffee but I am not one of them The same applies tothe sentences lsquoMi sembra giustorsquo and lsquoA me sembra giustorsquo the secondsentence stresses the fact that there are other people who donrsquot think itrsquosfair

3 As the above examples suggest stressed direct and indirect object pro-nouns cannot be used to refer to objects When referring to objects the nounhas to be repeated (as is also generally the case in English)

4 The stressed forms of the object pronouns are used after all prepositions(see Unit 8) not just a This is true even when no emphasis is required

When su sopra dopo contro are used with a personal pronoun the pro-noun is preceded by the preposition di (see Unit 8 paragraphs 9 20)

5 The stressed forms are also always used when the verb has two pronoundirect or indirect objects even where no emphasis is required

lsquoPrendi la frutta e il dolcersquo lsquoPrendola frutta ma non il dolcersquo [NotlsquoPrendo lei ma non luirsquo]

lsquoPorti la chitarra e i CDrsquo lsquoPorto iCD ma non la chitarrarsquo [NotlsquoPorto loro ma non leirsquo]

lsquoAre you having the fruit and thesweetrsquo lsquoIrsquom having the fruit butnot the sweetrsquo

lsquoAre you bringing the guitar and theCDsrsquo lsquoIrsquoll bring the CDs but notthe guitarrsquo [or at a pinch lsquoIrsquoll bringthem but not itrsquo]

Vengo con Lei SignoraChi di loro non vuole venirePuoi dormire da me staseraFaccio questo per tePuoi contare su di meDopo di te ci sono ioNon ho nulla contro di voi

Irsquom coming with you( Madam)Which of them doesnrsquot want to comeYou can sleep at my place tonightIrsquom doing this for youYou can count on meAfter you itrsquos memy turnIrsquove got nothing against you

Ho visto te e lui in cittagrave [not Ti e lo hovisto in cittagrave]

Invito voi e loro [not Vi e li invito]Scrive a te e a me [not Ti e mi scrive]Regaliamo fiori a loro e a lei [not

Gli e le regaliamo fiori]

I saw you and him in town

Irsquom inviting you and themHe writes to you and meWersquore giving flowers to them and

her

100 Unit 14

6 Stressed forms are always used after anchepure (also too) neanchenemmenoneppure (not even neither) come (as like) quanto (as much as)eccetto (che)meno (che)tranne (che)salvo (che) (except but)

The forms eccetto chemeno chetranne chesalvo che are used when there is apreposition before the pronoun

7 Note that when the stressed forms of the direct object pronouns are used ina sentence with the verb in a compound tense (see Unit 13 paragraph 1) thepast participle does not agree with the pronoun

Exercise 1

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones

Examples Mario chiama (them) non (you [pl]) loro voi La nonna hadato i soldi a (you [sing]) e non a (me) te me

1 Prima accompagno (her) a scuola poi (you [sing]) in palestra2 Dovete invitare anche (them)3 Non egrave venuto nessuno nemmeno (her)4 Hanno invitato (us) e non (you [pl])5 Allrsquoesame hanno promosso tutti tranne (me)6 Credo a tutti meno che a (him)

Invito anche voiDevi fare come meMaria lavora quanto teDevi chiedere anche a noiNon credo neppure a luiVengono tutti meno lui

Faccio questo per tutti meno cheper lei

Anna telefona a tutti salvo che aloro

Sandro esce con tutti salvo checon noi

Sono tutti contro di noi

Irsquom inviting you as wellYou should do as I dodo it like meMaria works as much as you (do)You have to ask us as wellI donrsquot believe him eitherTheyrsquore all coming except him

Everyone but himrsquos comingIrsquom doingIrsquoll do this for everyone

exceptbut herAnna phones everyone exceptbut

themSandro goes out with everybody

exceptbut usThey are all against us

Ho chiamato voi non loroHo visto lei ma non ho visto luiLucia ha invitato loro ma non lui

I called you not themI saw her but I didnrsquot see himLucia has invited them but not him

Unit 14 101

7 Carla vuole bene a (me) quanto a (you [sing])8 A (you [polite]) credo Professore9 Voglio presentare i miei amici anche a (you [pl])

10 A (her) come a (them) non sembra giusto

Exercise 2

Translate the following sentences where necessary underlining the em-phasised words

Examples Dovete invitare anche me You should invite me as welltoo Ame manca il sole a te no Irsquom missing the sun ndash arenrsquot you orI miss the sun ndash donrsquot you

1 Nessuno suona la batteria come me2 Tutti gli studenti hanno fatto il compito meno lui3 Sergio chiama te non me4 Accompagno anche te5 Capisco quanto te6 Mauro dice la veritagrave a tutti tranne che a me7 Dovete telefonare anche a me8 Claudia impresta i dischi a noi non a voi9 Do il mio indirizzo a tutti salvo che a lei

10 Regalo un libro a lei e un disco a lui

Exercise 3

Replace the English words with the correct Italian ones as you did inExercise 1

1 Chi di (you [pl]) non puograve venire alla festa2 Allrsquoesame orale sono passato subito dopo di (him)3 Sopra di (them) abita una signora molto gentile4 Abbiamo deciso fra (us)5 Esci con (her) anche stasera

102 Unit 14

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian using the stressed form of the pronouns

1 Everyonersquos against me2 Are you [sing] coming with me3 Irsquove bought a present for you [sing]4 You [sing] canrsquot count on him5 Can I sleep at your [pl] place tonight

Unit 14 103

UNIT FIFTEENRelative pronouns

1 The Italian relative pronouns correspond to the English lsquowhorsquo lsquowhichrsquolsquothatrsquo lsquowhomrsquo lsquowhosersquo They have two forms invariable (che cui) and vari-able (il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp])

The invariable forms which can replace all nouns (masculine feminine sin-gular plural) are the most frequently used

2 The invariable form che is used for masculine feminine singular and pluralnouns it can be either a subject or a direct object

Il treno che prendo la mattina egravesempre molto affollato

La storia che ho letto egrave stranaLa ragazza chela quale ha tele-

fonato ha bisogno di un favoreGli amici chei quali sono venuti a

trovarmi sono irlandesiHai ancora le chiavi che ti ho dato

Il ragazzo con cuicol quale esci egravemolto simpatico

La ragazza a cuialla quale ho datoi libri egrave una mia amica

The train (that) I get in the morning isalways very crowded

The story (that) Irsquove read is strangeThe girl who phoned needs a favour

The friends who came to see me areIrish

Have you still got the keys (that) I gaveyou

The boy with whom you are going outyoursquore going out with is very nice

The girl to whom I gave the booksIgave the books to is a friend of mine

Il gruppo che [subject ms] suonastasera egrave molto conosciuto

Il cantante che [direct object ms]abbiamo sentito ieri sera non egravemolto bravo

Le scarpe che [direct object fp] hocomprato sono care

The group who are playing tonightare very well known

The singer (whom) we heard last nightisnrsquot very good

The shoes (that) I bought areexpensive

In Italian collective nouns (eg il gruppo lsquothe grouprsquo la squadra lsquothesquadteamrsquo) are always followed by the singular of the verb never the plural

3 When a preposition is needed before the invariable relative pronoun (eg ifit stands for an indirect object) the form used is cui

The preposition a can sometimes be omitted before cui The Italian for lsquothe reasonreasons whyrsquo is always la ragionele ragioni percui never percheacute

4 The variable forms il quale [ms] la quale [fs] i quali [mp] le quali [fp] areused as subject indirect object and ndash very rarely ndash as direct object They mustagree in gender and number with the noun they replace

Non conosco i ragazzi che [subjectmp] sono appena arrivati

I donrsquot know the boys who have justarrived

Lo zio a cui scrivo sempre arrivadomani

La vicina per cui ho fatto la spesami ha invitato a cena

Non conosci la persona (a) cui devotelefonare

Il dentista da cui vado egrave moltobravo

Nella cittagrave in cui abito ci sono molticinema

Gli amici con cui esco sono italianiNon capisco la ragione per cui

Paola non egrave venutaNon ho ancora letto le notizie di cui

parli

The uncle I always write toto whom Ialways write is arriving tomorrow

The neighbour I went shopping forforwhom I went shopping has invitedme to dinner

You donrsquot know the person (that) Ihave to phone

The dentist I go to is very good

There are a lot of cinemas in the townin which I live

The friends I go out with are ItalianI donrsquot understand (the reason) why

Paola didnrsquot comeI havenrsquot read the news yoursquore talking

about yet

Paolo il quale egrave sempre in ritardonon egrave ancora arrivato

Ho parlato con una ragazza la qualemi ha dato tutte le informazioni

Tullio e Anna sono amici i quali miinvitano spesso

Ci sono due signore le quali nonhanno prenotato

Lrsquoamica con la quale sono andatain vacanza si chiama Elisa

Paolo who is always late still hasnrsquotarrived

I spoke to a girl who gave me all theinformation

Tullio and Anna are friends who ofteninvite me round

There are two ladies who havenrsquotbooked

The friend with whom I went onholidayI went away with is calledElisa

Unit 15 105

Remember to combine the definite article with the preposition (see Unit 8paragraph 2) when using the variable forms

5 When a relative pronoun is preceded by in or a and these denote place itis often replaced in contemporary Italian by the adverb dove Da dove or didove can be used when the relative pronoun is preceded by the prepositionda

6 The relative pronouns (both variable and invariable) can be used in con-junction with the demonstrative pronouns colui and quello

Colui can only refer to people It has three forms colui [ms] colei [fs]coloro [mp and fp] these combine with checui or il qualela qualei qualilequali as follows

Quello has four forms quello [ms] quella [fs] quelli [mp] quelle [fp]these only combine with checui and can refer to both objects andpeople

The use of quello che etc to refer to a person is rather informal unlike coluichecolui il quale etc which are quite formal

Questa egrave lrsquoamica della quale ti hoparlato

Lrsquoinsegnante al quale ho parlato egravestato molto gentile

This is the friend I told you about

The teacher I spoke to was very kind

Milano egrave la cittagrave dove [for in cui]vive Walter

Questo egrave il negozio dove [for in cui]lavora Pia

La stazione dove [for a cui] deveandare non egrave lontana da qui

La scuola da dovedi dove [for dacui] viene Enrico egrave molto buona

Milan is the city where Walter lives

This is the shop where Pia works

The station hersquos got to go to isnrsquot farfrom here

The school Enrico went to [lit comesfrom] is very good

colui che or colui il qualecolei che or colei la qualecoloro che or coloro i qualicoloro le quali

he whoshe whothose who

quello chequella chequelli chequelle che

that which he who the one whichwhothat which she who the one whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwhothose which those who the ones whichwho

106 Unit 15

7 When referring to people the pronoun chi (who anyone who the personpeople who) is often used instead of the more formal lsquodouble relativersquo (coluicoleicoloro che colui il quale etc) Chi is always used with the verb in thethird person singular past participles and adjectives are always in the mascu-line singular

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples La ragazza mdashmdash ho invitato egrave mia cugina che Il ragazzoa mdashmdash devo telefonare egrave Matteo cui

1 Il film mdashmdash mi hai consigliato egrave molto bello2 La palestra in mdashmdash vado non egrave lontana

Colui che pensa questo sbagliaQuello che pensa questo sbagliaPossono entrare solo coloro che

coloro i quali hanno lrsquoinvitoPossono entrare solo quelli che

hanno lrsquoinvitoColoro a cuiai quali scrivo sono

amici di mio fratelloQuelli a cui scrivo sono amici di

mio fratelloQuelli che sono sul tavolo sono i

libri di TullioCi sono due case quella in cui abita

Giorgio egrave la piugrave grande

He who thinks this is wrongAnyone who thinks this is wrongOnly those who have an invitation

may comego inOnly people with an invitation can

comego inThose Irsquom writing to are friends of my

brother(rsquos)The people Irsquom writing to are friends

of my brother(rsquos)ThoseThe ones (which are) on the

table are Tulliorsquos booksThere are two houses the one Giorgio

lives in is the bigger

Chi pensa questo sbagliaPuograve entrare solo chi ha lrsquoinvito

Non ho visto chi egrave entratoEsco con chi mi invita

Lavoro per chi mi pagaRipeto la spiegazione per chi

non ha capitoHai risposto a chi ti ha scritto

Anyone who thinks this is wrongOnly people who have an invitation can

come ingo inI didnrsquot see who came inwent inIrsquoll go out with anyone who invitesasks

meIrsquoll work for anyone who pays meIrsquoll repeat the explanation for those

anyone who didnrsquot understandHave you replied to the personpeople

who wrote to you

Unit 15 107

3 I bambini mdashmdash sono venuti sono i miei cugini4 Non conosco le persone con mdashmdash esci5 La torta mdashmdash ha fatto tua mamma egrave molto buona6 Quando mi rendi i CD mdashmdash ti ho imprestato7 Lrsquoargomento di mdashmdash parla Paolo non mi interessa8 La ragione per mdashmdash non siamo venuti egrave semplice9 La cittagrave in mdashmdash sono nato non egrave molto grande

10 Come egrave andato lrsquoesame mdashmdash hai dato ieri

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns che or cui

Examples Hai comprato le cose mdashmdash ti ho chiesto che La discotecain mdashmdash andiamo egrave in centro cui

1 Nella biblioteca in mdashmdash vado a studiare fa sempre freddo2 Gli amici da mdashmdash siamo andati sono molto simpatici3 La stanza in mdashmdash dorme Luigi egrave la piugrave luminosa4 Non mi piace la musica mdashmdash ascolti tu5 Hai giagrave letto il libro mdashmdash ti hanno regalato6 Gli esercizi mdashmdash avete fatto sono tutti giusti7 Quello egrave il muro su mdashmdash vogliamo mettere i poster8 Vuoi leggere la lettera mdashmdash mi ha scritto Angela9 Il medico da mdashmdash vanno i miei genitori egrave molto giovane

10 Di chi egrave la bici con mdashmdash sei arrivato

Exercise 3

Replace che and cui with il quale la quale i quali or le quali (remember tocombine the definite article and the preposition where necessary)

Example Gli amici da cui andiamo in vacanza sono simpatici dai quali

1 Mia madre che egrave infermiera lavora in un ospedale2 Chi egrave la ragazza con cui sei uscito3 Gli esami di cui ha parlato il professore sono a giugno4 Il campeggio in cui siamo stati egrave vicino al mare5 Tutte le ragazze a cui ho telefonato hanno accettato lrsquoinvito6 Franco che egrave un bravo attore ha trovato lavoro in un teatro7 Il parrucchiere da cui vado egrave un amico8 Le cugine di Chiara che abitano vicino a me sono simpatiche

108 Unit 15

9 Le amiche di cui ti ho parlato arrivano domani10 I nostri amici che sono tutti italiani non parlano inglese

Exercise 4

Supply the correct double relative pronoun (coluicoleicoloro che)

Example mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno biglietti possono entrare coloro che

1 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha scritto questo libro egrave la sorella di Piero2 mdashmdashmdashmdash ci hanno invitati sono amici di Luisa3 mdashmdashmdashmdash ha vinto il premio egrave Antonio4 mdashmdashmdashmdash dagrave le informazioni deve parlare inglese e spagnolo5 mdashmdashmdashmdash hanno parlato sono persone molto importanti

Exercise 5

Complete using the correct pronouns (chi or quelloquellaquelliquelle che)

Examples mdashmdash non ha il biglietto non entra chi mdashmdash hai fatto non sonoerrori gravi quelli che

1 Non conosco mdashmdash ha scritto questa lettera2 La spiegazione egrave mdashmdash ti ho dato3 Il controllore egrave mdashmdash controlla i biglietti4 Vince il premio mdashmdash finisce per primo5 mdashmdash ti ho imprestato sono i libri che devi leggere6 mdashmdash abbiamo comprato egrave unrsquoauto economica7 mdashmdash fa la spesa al mercato spende meno8 mdashmdash abbiamo prenotato egrave un hotel di lusso9 mdashmdash non puograve venire deve telefonare per avvertire

10 mdashmdash ho visto in quel negozio sono scarpe molto belle

Exercise 6

Translate into Italian

1 The book which I want to buy is too expensive2 The lady I spoke to is German3 The people who phoned live in America4 The town I live in isnrsquot very big

Unit 15 109

5 Anyone who wants to go to university must be able to read and write6 Paolo whorsquos lost his mobile is not happy7 I like that song but I prefer the ones we heard last night8 This is Fabiorsquos sister who lent me her bike9 Did you [sing] see who ate the peaches

10 Whorsquos the man you [pl] sold the tickets to

110 Unit 15

UNIT SIXTEENThe imperfect tense

1 The imperfect is together with the present perfect one of the most usedpast tenses in Italian It is called lsquoimperfectrsquo because generally speakingthere is no reference to the beginning or end of the action it expresseseither the length of time the action lasted is not relevant or the action isseen as the background to another action or two actions took place at thesame time and lasted the same length of time Here are some typicalexamples

As you can see from the examples the Italian imperfect corresponds to sev-eral different English forms We will look at the different meanings and usesof this tense but first we will look at its forms

The forms of the imperfect

2 The forms of the imperfect are very regular Here are the endings for thethree conjugations (-are -ere -ire)

Mio nonno lavorava in India

Mia nonna era infermieraMentre io entravo Elena usciva

Quando ho cominciato la scuolaavevo cinque anni

Elena egrave arrivata mentre io uscivoClaudia parlava con unrsquoamica

quando egrave arrivato lrsquoautobusQuando ero al mare nuotavo tutti i

giorni

My grandfather used to work inIndia

My grandmother was a nurseAs I was going in Elena was coming

outWhen I started school I was five

Elena arrived as I was going outClaudia was talking to a friend when

the bus arrivedWhen I was at the seaside I wentused

to go swimming every day

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

The verb avere also follows this same regular pattern

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-avo-avi-ava-avamo-avate-avano

-ere-evo-evi-eva-evamo-evate-evano

-ire-ivo-ivi-iva-ivamo-ivate-ivano

Parlareparlavoparlaviparlavaparlavamoparlavateparlavano

To speakI spokewas speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakhesheit spokewas speakingused to speakwe spokewere speakingused to speakyou spokewere speakingused to speakthey spokewere speakingused to speak

Prendereprendevoprendeviprendevaprendevamoprendevateprendevano

To takegetI tookwas takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takehesheit tookwas takingused to takewe tookwere takingused to takeyou tookwere takingused to takethey tookwere takingused to take

avevoaveviavevaavevamoavevateavevano

I hadwas havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havehesheit hadwas havingused to havewe hadwere havingused to haveyou hadwere havingused to havethey hadwere havingused to have

Partirepartivopartivipartivapartivamo

To leaveI leftwas leavingused to leaveyou leftwere leavingused to leavehesheit leftwas leavingused to leavewe leftwere leavingused to leave

partivatepartivano

you leftwere leavingused to leavethey leftwere leavingused to leave

112 Unit 16

3 Not many verbs are irregular in the imperfect Essere is one

Like the present the imperfect of essere can be used with the pronoun ci (seeUnit 4) crsquoera (there was) crsquoerano (there were)

Other irregular verbs are bere dire and fare

Mio nonno parlava molto benelrsquoitaliano

Mentre prendevamo il caffegrave egravesuonato il telefono

Quando Carla aveva 5 anni abitavaa Roma

Sono arrivato quando il trenopartiva

Mio fratello andava a scuola inautobus

Di solito Gianni e sua sorellaandavano al cinema insieme

Quando Maurizio lavorava in quelsupermercato lo pagavanopochissimo

Mentre Sebastiano leggeva ilgiornale io ho finito i compiti

My grandfather spoke Italian verywell

While we were having coffee thetelephone rang

When Carla was five she lived inRome

I arrived as the train was leaving

My brother used to go to school bybus

Usually Gianni and his sister went tothe cinema together

When Maurizio worked in thatsupermarket they paid him verylittle

While Sebastiano was reading thepaper I finished my homework

eroerieraeravamoeravateerano

I wasused to beyou wereused to behesheit wasused to bewe wereused to beyou wereused to bethey wereused to be

bevevobevevibevevabevevamobevevatebevevano

I drankwas drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkhesheit drankwas drinkingused to drinkwe drankwere drinkingused to drinkyou drankwere drinkingused to drinkthey drankwere drinkingused to drink

dicevodicevi

I saidwas sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to say

dicevadicevamodicevatedicevano

hesheit saidwas sayingused to saywe saidwere sayingused to sayyou saidwere sayingused to saythey saidwere sayingused to say

Unit 16 113

All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

4 The negative is formed as usual by putting non before the verb

facevofacevifacevafacevamofacevatefacevano

I didwas doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dohesheit didwas doingused to dowe didwere doingused to doyou didwere doingused to dothey didwere doingused to do

-ucevo

-ucevi

-uceva

-ucevamo

-ucevate

-ucevano

traducevo

traducevi

traduceva

traducevamo

traducevate

traducevano

I translatedwas translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

hesheit translatedwas translatingused totranslate

we translatedwere translatingused totranslate

you translatedwere translatingused totranslate

they translatedwere translatingused totranslate

Quando ero bambino abitavo aParma

Ieri il tempo era belloAl concerto crsquoerano piugrave di 900

personeMia sorella beveva solo acqua

minerale ora beve anche acquadi rubinetto

Cosa diceviCosa faceva Signora quando non

lavoravaLrsquointerprete traduceva ma nessuno

ascoltava

When I was a child I lived in Parma

Yesterday the weather was lovelyThere were more than 900 people at

the concertMy sister only used to drink mineral

water now she drinks tap water aswell

What were you sayingWhat did you do( Madam) when you

werenrsquot workingdidnrsquot workThe interpreter was translating but

nobody was listening

Di solito la domenica non uscivoQuando hai telefonato non facevo

niente di speciale

I didnrsquot usually go out on SundaysWhen you phoned I wasnrsquot doing

anything special

114 Unit 16

Use of the imperfect

5 The imperfect is used for descriptions of situations in the past when it isnot necessary (or important) to say how long an action lasted This generallyhappens with verbs like essere sembrare and avere and with verbs expressingwill desire or intention possibility or ability but it can happen with otherverbs as well

6 The imperfect is also used to express actions which were habitual or hap-pened repeatedly in the past

7 Since the imperfect is used when it is not relevant how long the actionlasted it is not used when it is stated how many times or for how longsomething happened

Crsquoerano molte persone cheaspettavano il treno

Ieri sera sembravi molto stancoMia nonna era molto alta e aveva i

capelli bianchiFaceva freddo in montagnaCosa voleviDue anni fa abitavo a MilanoSuo padre era medico

There were a lot of people (who were)waiting for the train

You looked very tired last nightMy grandmother was very tall and

had white hairWas it cold in the mountainsWhat did you wantwere you wantingTwo years ago I was living in MilanHis father was a doctor

Lrsquoestate scorsa giocavamo semprea tennis

Quando ero in vacanza andavo alcinema tutti i giorni

Tutte le mattine a colazione Giuliaprendeva solo del caffegrave

Cenavamo alle otto

Last summer we played tennis all thetime

When I was on holiday I went to thecinema every day

Every morning Giulia just had coffeefor breakfast

We used to have dinner at eight

Lrsquoestate scorsa sono andato alcinema 25 volte

Last summer I went to the cinema 25times

Ha fatto molto freddo per due giorniGiulia ha lavorato qui da gennaio a

giugnoHo abitato a Milano per due anniIeri abbiamo lavorato tutto il giornoIeri sono stato in biblioteca dalle

nove alle undici

It was very cold for two daysGiulia worked here from January to

JuneI lived in Milan for two yearsYesterday we worked all dayYesterday I was in the library from

nine till 11

Unit 16 115

8 When a sentence refers to two or more events which happened in the pastit is helpful to think in terms of lsquoforegroundrsquo and lsquobackgroundrsquo as in thesetwo English examples lsquoWhile I was doing the dishes [continuous back-ground] I heard [foreground] the doorbellrsquo lsquoI saw [foreground] Juve a coupleof times when I was [continuous background] in Turinrsquo In Italian in caseslike these the imperfect expresses the continuous lsquobackgroundrsquo action againstwhich the lsquoforegroundrsquo action is seen to occur

Note that mentre (while) in the past is always followed by the imperfect

If the two events happened at the same time and lasted for the same length oftime then both verbs are in the imperfect

Mentre dormivate ho preparato lacolazione

Mia madre ha conosciuto mio padrequando abitava a Firenze

Mauro non ha preso lrsquoombrelloanche se pioveva

Marco ha telefonato quando eravateal cinema

Non sono uscita percheacute pioveva

While you were sleepingasleep Iprepared breakfast

My mother met my father when shewas living in Florence

Mauro didnrsquot take the umbrella eventhough it was raining

Marco phoned when you were at thecinema

I didnrsquot go out because it was raining

Mentre noi facevamo il compito dimatematica Carla ripassavafilosofia

Mentre Alessandro preparava lacena Claudia leggeva il giornale

Quando io lavoravo alsupermercato mia sorellalavorava in un cinema

While we were doing our mathshomework Carla was revisingphilosophy

While Alessandro was preparingdinner Claudia was reading thenewspaper

When I worked in the supermarketmy sister worked in a cinema

Il gatto miagolava percheacute avevafame

The cat was miaowing because it washungry

116 Unit 16

Exercise 1

Supply the imperfect of the verb in brackets

Example Silvio (lavorare) molto lavorava

Exercise 2

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verb in brackets

Examples (io comprare) la macchina due anni fa ho comprato Drsquoestate(noi andare) in spiaggia ogni mattina andavamo

1 Elena a che ora (tu partire) ieri2 Chi (essere) Dante Alighieri3 (io studiare) per due ore4 Di solito (noi mangiare) in mensa5 Claudia (rimanere) in casa tutto il giorno6 Mia nonna (avere) gli occhi azzurri7 Nicoletta e Luigina non (sembrare) sorelle8 Ieri Andrea (spendere) 150 euro9 Signora dove (andare) in vacanza lrsquoanno scorso

10 I loro amici (essere) sempre allegri

1 Il nonno di Piero (parlare) seilingue

2 Laura (passare) sempre lrsquoestateal mare

3 Che lavoro (fare) tua nonna4 Mentre (io studiare) Maria

(riposare)5 Il treno (partire) sempre in

ritardo6 Dove (lavorare) Nicola7 Paolo non (dire) mai la veritagrave8 Ieri (fare) freddo9 Da bambini (noi abitare) in

campagna

10 (voi essere) stanchi ieri sera11 (loro andare) in piscina tutti i

giorni12 Lei (essere) infermiera Signora13 Non (noi uscire) mai di domenica14 (tu sapere) la veritagrave15 (io conoscere) bene suo cugino16 Paolo (amare) Francesca17 (voi dormire) ancora18 I miei amici (essere) studenti19 (tu avere) fame20 (loro dovere) partire

Unit 16 117

Exercise 3

Supply the correct tense (present perfect or imperfect) of the verbs inbrackets

Example Mentre (noi guardare) la televisione Isabella (ascoltare) laradio guardavamo ascoltava

1 Marco (arrivare) tardi percheacute il treno (essere) in ritardo2 (io conoscere) Susanna quando (io abitare) a Napoli3 Quanti anni (tu avere) quando (tu cominciare) a lavorare4 Sergio (telefonare) proprio mentre (io fare) il bagno5 Anna e Giacomo (venire) a piedi percheacute lrsquoauto (essere) guasta6 Non (loro fare) la spesa percheacute non (loro sapere) cosa comprare7 Cosa (loro dire) quando (loro vedere) Gianni ieri sera8 Massimo non (venire) alla festa percheacute (avere) mal di testa9 (noi arrivare) alla stazione proprio mentre il treno (partire)

10 (io imprestare) la bici a Giulia percheacute la sua (essere) rotta

Exercise 4

Put the text into a past tense changing the verbs in italics to either the presentperfect or the imperfect

Sabato sera in un locale del centro suona un gruppo rock che piace molto aMassimo cosigrave i miei amici e io decidiamo di andare a questo concerto Arrivi-amo davanti al locale con molto anticipo mancano tre ore allrsquoinizio ma cisono giagrave molte persone Massimo egrave molto impaziente Dopo una mezzrsquooramentre aspettiamo sentiamo suonare il cellulare di Massimo e lui rispondeVediamo che Massimo egrave preoccupato e quando finisce di parlare ci spiega Egravesuo padre che lo chiama percheacute ha bisogno di aiuto la sua auto egrave guasta e nonsa come tornare a casa Massimo parte subito per andare a prenderlo eaccompagnarlo a casa anche se ha paura di perdere il concerto Per fortunaperograve Massimo riesce a tornare dopo unrsquoora proprio mentre aprono le porte

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian

1 How long did you [sing] spend in Bologna2 We went to the cinema last night3 You [pl] seemed happy

118 Unit 16

4 Gemmarsquos father was a sailor5 Claudia and Monica didnrsquot come on holiday with us this time6 My parents usually went out at eight7 My father worked in India for three years8 What time did you [pl] get the bus yesterday morning9 Last year we did gym on Monday mornings

10 Where did you [sing] buy those shoes11 I didnrsquot call you [sing] because you were asleep12 When you [pl] were living in London I was living in Paris13 How old was Susanna when she went to university14 While I was watching the television Anna came in and switched it off15 Paolo and Giulia didnrsquot come because Paolo was too tired

Unit 16 119

UNIT SEVENTEENThe pronouns ne and ci

The pronoun ne

1 The pronoun ne is used to refer to a part of a whole corresponding to lsquoof it-themrsquo as in lsquosome of itthemrsquo lsquotwo of themrsquo etc It is normally used togetherwith quantities whether expressed in numbers or in any other way (kiloslitres metres slices cups lsquotoo muchlittlersquo lsquoenoughrsquo etc) it is always placedbefore the verb

Note however that ne is not used in cases where English would say lsquoall of itrsquolsquoall of themrsquo etc Compare the following examples

La torta era molto buona e neho mangiate due fette

lsquoQuanti fratelli hairsquo lsquoNe ho duersquo

lsquoHa degli euro Signor WattrsquolsquoSigrave ne ho 50rsquo

lsquoHai tutti i CD di Frank ZapparsquolsquoNo ne ho solo trersquo

lsquoMangi la fruttarsquo lsquoSigrave ne mangiomoltarsquo

lsquoHai abbastanza soldirsquo lsquoSigrave ne hoabbastanzarsquo

Se crsquoegrave ancora del te ne prendounrsquoaltra tazza

Se compri le mele ne prendi unchilo anche per me

lsquoVolete ancora del cioccolatorsquolsquoNo grazie non ne vogliamopiugraversquo

The cake was very good and I ate twoslices (of it)

lsquoHow many brothers and sisters do youhaversquo lsquoI have two (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got any euros Mr WattrsquolsquoYes Irsquove got 50 (of them)rsquo

lsquoHave you got all Frank Zapparsquos CDsrsquolsquoNo Irsquove only got three (of them)rsquo

lsquoDo you eat fruitrsquo lsquoYes I eat a lot (ofit)rsquo

lsquoHave you got enough moneyrsquo lsquoYes Ihave enough (of it)rsquo

If therersquos still some tea Irsquoll haveanother cup (of it)

If yoursquore buying apples will you get akilo (of them) for me as well

lsquoDo you want some more chocolatersquolsquoNo thanks we donrsquot want anymore (of it)rsquo

2 The pronoun ne is invariable and can thus replace any noun whethermasculine feminine singular or plural

3 As we have seen ne is used when referring to partial quantities howeverexpressed Some expressions which require the use of ne are the adverbabbastanza (enoughquite) the adjectives molto poco troppo alcunialcune(someany (plural) ) and the pronoun qualcunoqualcuna (someany) which isalways singular

4 Ne is also used in negative expressions such as non affatto (not atall) non nessunonessuna (not anyone) non piugrave (not any more)

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliounorsquo

lsquoQuanti panini vuoirsquo lsquoLi vogliotuttirsquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiate duersquo

lsquoQuante arance hai mangiatorsquo lsquoLeho mangiate tuttersquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want one (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many sandwiches do you wantrsquolsquoI want them allall of themrsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atetwo (of them)rsquo

lsquoHow many oranges did you eatrsquo lsquoI atethem allall of themrsquo

lsquoQuanto zucchero [ms] comprirsquolsquoNe compro due chilirsquo

lsquoQuanta farina [fs] comprirsquo lsquoNecompro solo mezzo chilorsquo

lsquoQuanti amici [mp] invitirsquo lsquoNeinvito trersquo

lsquoQuante mele [fp] vuoirsquo lsquoNe vogliotre chilirsquo

lsquoHow much sugar are you buyingrsquolsquoIrsquom getting two kilosrsquo

lsquoHow much flour are you going togetrsquo lsquoIrsquom only getting half a kilorsquo

lsquoHow many friends are you invitingrsquolsquoIrsquom inviting threersquo

lsquoHow many apples do you wantrsquo lsquoIwant three kilosrsquo

Non ho comprato del pane percheacute neho ancora abbastanza

lsquoHai molti CDrsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho moltirsquo

lsquoHai tutti i libri che ti servonorsquo lsquoNone ho solo alcunirsquo

Quei biscotti sono molto buoni neprendo ancora qualcuno

I didnrsquot buy any bread because Irsquovestill got enough

lsquoHave you got many CDsrsquo lsquoYes Irsquovegot a lotrsquo

lsquoHave you got all the books youneedrsquo lsquoNo Irsquove only got a fewrsquo

Those biscuits are very good Irsquoll havesome more

lsquoBevi molto caffegraversquo lsquoNo non ne bevoaffattorsquo

Ho invitato dieci amici ma non neegrave venuto nessuno

lsquoDo you drink much coffeersquo lsquoNo Idonrsquot drink it at allrsquo

I invited ten friends but none of themcame

Unit 17 121

As these examples show the negative is formed by putting non before ne

Agreement of the past participle

When ne is used with a verb in the present perfect (or any other compoundtense) there are certain rules governing the agreement of the pastparticiple

5 When ne is used in a sentence where the quantity is expressed by a numberthe past participle must agree in gender with the noun it replaces and innumber (ie singular or plural) with the quantity of what ne stands for Takethis question

In the answer to this question the ending of comprato will depend on thegender of rivista (feminine) and on whether you bought one magazine(singular) or more than one (plural)

The same applies when ne replaces a masculine noun

Here the ending of fatto must be masculine but whether it is singular orplural will depend on how many exercises have been done

The same rule applies when the quantity is expressed by qualcunoqualcuna(remember that this is always singular) or alcunialcune (plural)

lsquoHai ancora soldirsquo lsquoNo non ne hopiugraversquo

lsquoHave you still got moneyrsquo lsquoNo Irsquovegot none leftrsquo

Quante riviste hai comprato How many magazines did you buy

Ne ho comprata una [fs]Ne ho comprate due [fp]

I bought oneI bought two

Quanti esercizi [m] avete fatto How many exercises haveyou done

Ne abbiamo fatto uno solo [ms]Ne abbiamo fatti quattro [mp]

Wersquove only done oneWersquove done four

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatto solo qualcuno

Dovevo fare molti esercizi ma ne ho fatti solo alcuni

I was supposed to do a lot of exercisesbut I only did a few

122 Unit 17

6 When the quantity is expressed by an adverb or an adjective the pastparticiple agrees with the noun replaced by ne

7 When the quantity is expressed by a noun the past participle canagree either with the quantity (this is more usual) or with the noun replacedby ne

8 When ne occurs in a sentence together with a verb in the infinitive (usuallyafter dovere potere volere or sapere) it can be attached to the infinitive Insuch cases when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any other com-pound tense) the past participle does not agree

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprata qualcunarsquo

lsquoQuante riviste hai compratorsquo lsquoNeho comprate alcunersquo

lsquoHow many magazines did you buyrsquolsquoI bought a fewrsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza pane [ms]rsquolsquoSigrave ne ho comprato abbastanzarsquo

lsquoHai comprato abbastanza patatine[fp]rsquo lsquoSigrave ne ho comprate abbastanzarsquo

lsquoQuanta pasta [fs] avete mangiatorsquolsquoNe abbiamo mangiata moltarsquo

lsquoQuante persone [fp] hai invitatorsquolsquoNe ho invitate pochersquo

lsquoQuanti esercizi [mp] hai fattorsquolsquoNe ho fatti alcunirsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough breadrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHave you bought enough crispsrsquolsquoYes Irsquove bought enoughrsquo

lsquoHow much pasta did you eatrsquolsquoWe ate a lotrsquo

lsquoHow many people did you invitersquolsquoI only invited a fewrsquo

lsquoHow many exercises did you dorsquolsquoI did a fewrsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuta una tazza [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto caffegrave [ms] hai bevutorsquo lsquoNe ho bevuto una tazzarsquo

lsquoQuanto pane hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiata una fetta [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanto pane [ms] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiato una fettarsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNeho mangiato un pacchetto [ms]rsquo

lsquoQuante caramelle [fp] hai mangiatorsquolsquoNe ho mangiate un pacchettorsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe homangiata una scatola [fs]rsquo

lsquoQuanti biscotti [mp] hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNe ho mangiati una scatolarsquo

lsquoHow much coffee did you drinkrsquolsquoI drank a cuprsquo

lsquoHow much bread did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a slicersquo

lsquoHow many sweets did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a packetrsquo

lsquoHow many biscuits did you eatrsquolsquoI ate a boxrsquo

Unit 17 123

However if ne is not attached to the infinitive the past participle must agreein the same way as in the rules given in paragraphs 5ndash7

9 Another use of ne is is to replace a noun (or a pronoun) preceded by thepreposition di (as in Parliamo del libro di Primo Levi lsquoWersquore talking aboutPrimo Levirsquos bookrsquo)

When ne is used in this way the past participle does not agreee

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoHo dovutoleggerne trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ho potutofarne solo alcuni

Il compito era difficile e ho saputofarne solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The homework was difficult and Icould only do part of it

lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquoNe ho dovutileggere trersquo

Crsquoerano molti esercizi ma ne hopotuti fare solo alcuni

Gli esercizi erano difficili e ne ho saputa fare solo una parte [fs]

Gli esercizi [mp] erano difficili e ne ho saputi fare solo una parte

lsquoHow many books did you readrsquo lsquoIhad to read threersquo

There were a lot of exercises but Icould only do a few

The exercises were difficult and Icould only do part of them

Conosco questo film ieri neparlavano alla radio

Egrave un libro di successo tutti neparlano

Hai visto lo spettacolo Che nepensi

Ha molti problemi ma non neparla mai

I know this film they were talkingabout it on the radio yesterday

Itrsquos a popular book everybodyrsquostalking about it

Did you see the show What do youthink of it

He has a lot of problems but henever talks about them

Marco aveva dei problemi e ne haparlato con Anna

Questi sono libri di successo e tuttine hanno parlato

Marco had problems and talkedabout them with Anna

These are popular books andeverybodyrsquos been talking aboutthem

124 Unit 17

The pronoun ci

10 The pronoun ci is used to replace a noun denoting a place it correspondsto the English lsquotherersquo We have already seen this pronoun used with the verbessere in expressions like crsquoegrave and ci sono (Unit 4) but it can be used with otherverbs always preceding them

As the examples suggest ci is used more often in this kind of sentence thanlsquotherersquo is in English

11 Ci always comes before the verb Like the other unstressed pronounsthough it can be attached to the infinitive of a verb (usually after doverepotere volere or sapere)

Exercise 1

Supply the pronoun ne making sure that the past participle and the adjectiveor pronoun agree where necessary

Examples lsquoQuante lettere hai scrittorsquo lsquo mdashmdash ho scrittmdashmdash alcunmdashmdashrsquo Neho scritte alcune Mi piacciono i biscotti e mdashmdash homangiatmdashmdash moltmdashmdash ne ho mangiati molti lsquoQuanti libri hailettorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo Non ne ho lettonessuno

1 lsquoQuante cartoline hai mandatorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho mandatmdashmdash 12rsquo2 lsquoHai comprato i biscottirsquo lsquo Sigrave mdashmdash ho compratmdashmdash una scatolarsquo

lsquoQuando vai in bibliotecarsquo lsquoCi vadooggi pomeriggiorsquo

Conosco bene Bologna ci ho passatodue anni

lsquoOgni quanto va in palestrarsquo lsquoNon civado mairsquo

lsquoWhen are you going to the libraryrsquolsquoIrsquom going (there) this afternoonrsquo

I know Bologna well I spent twoyears there

lsquoHow often do you go to the gymrsquo lsquoInever go (there)rsquo

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non sapevo andarci

Dovevo andare a Fiesole ma non ci sapevo andare

Vado al mercato vuoi venirci anche tu

Vado al mercato ci vuoi venire anche tu

I had to go to Fiesole but I didnrsquotknow how to get there

Irsquom going to the market would youlike to come (as well)

Unit 17 125

3 lsquoHai fatto i compitirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash la metagraversquo4 lsquoQuante persone sono venutersquo lsquomdashmdash sono venutmdashmdash pochmdashmdashrsquo5 lsquoQuanti errori hai fattorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho fattmdashmdash nessunmdashmdashrsquo6 lsquoHai chiuso tutte le finestrersquo lsquoNo mdashmdash ho lasciatmdashmdash una apertmdashmdashrsquo7 lsquoQuanti amici hanno invitatorsquo lsquomdashmdash hanno invitatmdashmdash moltmdashmdashrsquo8 lsquoQuanti libri hai lettorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho lettmdashmdash duersquo9 lsquoQuanta pasta avete compratorsquo lsquomdashmdash abbiamo compratmdashmdash pocmdashmdashrsquo

10 lsquoQuante caramelle hai mangiatorsquo lsquoNon mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdashnessunmdashmdashrsquo

11 lsquoQuanti francobolli hai presorsquo lsquomdashmdash ho presmdashmdash abbastanzarsquo12 Avevo molte riviste e mdashmdash ho datmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash a Luigi13 Ci piacciono i film comici e ieri sera mdashmdash abbiamo vistmdashmdash tre14 Ho fatto una torta e mdashmdash ho mangiatmdashmdash due fette15 La zia ha portato dei cioccolatini ma Piero non mdashmdash ha mangiatmdashmdash

nessunmdashmdash16 Abbiamo molti videogiochi e mdashmdash abbiamo datmdashmdash qualcunmdashmdash a

Michele17 Crsquoerano molti libri interessanti e mdashmdash ho presmdashmdash alcunmdashmdash18 Hanno venduto molti CD e mdashmdash sono rimastmdashmdash solo alcunmdashmdash molto

carmdashmdash19 Crsquoerano molte ragazze ma Marco non mdashmdash ha invitatmdashmdash nessunmdashmdash20 Ho comprato tre magliette e mdashmdash ho regalatmdashmdash due a mio fratello

Exercise 2

Complete with the appropriate pronouns direct object or ne

Examples lsquoQuanti amici hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho moltirsquo ne lsquoQuanti amici invitirsquolsquomdashmdash invito tuttirsquo li

1 lsquoHai fatto tutti gli esercizirsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdash ho fatto nessunorsquo2 lsquoQuante sorelle hairsquo lsquomdashmdash ho duersquo3 Avevo molti CD dei Beatles ma mdashmdash ho imprestati tutti4 lsquoHai fatto il compitorsquo lsquoNo non mdashmdashho ancora fattorsquo5 lsquoVuoi del dolcersquo lsquoNo grazie non mdashmdash vogliorsquo6 Stamattina ho comprato due riviste e mdashmdash ho lette nel pomeriggio7 lsquoHai fatto molti sbaglirsquo lsquomdashmdash ho fatto uno solorsquo8 Il dolce era molto buono e mdashmdash ho mangiate tre fette9 Mi piacciono i film di Fellini e mdashmdash ho visti tutti

10 Ho comprato tre libri ma non mdashmdash ho letto nessuno11 Avevo due biglietti da 10 euro ma mdashmdash ho perso uno12 Ieri ho preso lo stipendio ma mdashmdashho giagrave speso tutto13 Se ci sono ancora dei biscotti mdashmdash prendo due o tre

126 Unit 17

14 Era un argomento interessante e mdashmdash abbiamo parlato molto15 Il film era noioso e mdashmdash abbiamo visto solo metagrave16 Carla parte mdashmdash accompagno alla stazione17 Lo zucchero egrave finito mdashmdash compri tu18 lsquoVuoi dello zucchero nel caffegraversquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash voglio due cucchiainirsquo19 Ho comprato tre brioches e mdashmdash ho mangiate due20 lsquoConoscete tutti i componenti del grupporsquo lsquoSigrave mdashmdash conosciamo tuttirsquo

Exercise 3

Rewrite the sentences as in the example

Example Ne vuoi prendere ancora Vuoi prenderne ancora

1 Ne dovete parlare col professore2 Ne vuoi fare un altro3 Non ne dobbiamo prendere4 Ne potete mangiare5 Ne devo fare sei6 Non ne possiamo parlare7 Ne posso assaggiare uno8 Non ne deve portare Signora9 Ne vogliono comprare qualcuno

10 Non ne possono bere

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences as in the example Make sure that the past participleagrees where necessary

Example Ha voluto portarne un porsquo [fs] Ne ha voluta portare un porsquo

1 Ho dovuto darne due [m] a Marisa2 Hai potuto comprarne [fp]3 Quante hai dovuto farne4 Non hanno voluto mangiarne [fs]5 Ha dovuto leggerne quattro [mp]6 Non abbiamo potuto prenderne [fp]7 Ho dovuto scriverne due [fp]8 Ho potuto leggerne solo due pagine9 Avete dovuto rifarne molti

10 Non hanno potuto assaggiarne [fs]

Unit 17 127

Exercise 5

Identify the words that can be replaced by the pronoun ci and rewrite thesentences with ci in the right place

Example Vai a Roma in aereo a Roma Ci vai in aereo

1 Abitiamo in questa casa da tre anni2 Stefano lavora al Museo di Storia Naturale da febbraio3 Volete venire alla festa di Marco4 Paola e Livia vanno al cinema due volte alla settimana5 La Signora Bini va sempre al supermercato a piedi6 Rimango in Italia per tre settimane7 Giulia viene sempre a scuola in bici8 Ho passato tre ore in coda allrsquoufficio postale9 Siete andati a cena a casa di Pietro

10 Passiamo le vacanze a Sorrento

128 Unit 17

UNIT EIGHTEENThe future tense

Use of the future

1 The future tense is of course used to refer to events which will happen inthe future as in the following examples

2 The future is also used to express probability or a guess

3 The future can also correspond to the English present progressive (lsquoIrsquomgoing to rsquo etc)

4 In general the future tense is used less in Italian than in English and it isoften possible when talking about something which we are almost sure willhappen to use the present

Venerdigrave andremo in piscinaNon so quando partirograveVerragrave anche lrsquoanno prossimo

Signora

On Friday wersquoll go to the swimming poolI donrsquot know when Irsquoll leaveWill you comebe coming again next

year( Madam)

Anna non risponde saragrave fuori

Saranno le 5La madre di Pietro avragrave 30 anniChi saragrave

Annarsquos not answering she mustshersquoll beout

Itrsquos probablyItrsquoll be about 5 orsquoclockPietrorsquos mother must be around 30Who can that be

Gli parlerograve prestoPorterograve i miei CDGli direte la veritagrave

Irsquom going to talkIrsquoll be talking to them soonIrsquom going to bringIrsquoll be bringing my CDsAre you going to tell him the truth

5 However in certain cases Italian uses the future where English uses thepresent Take this English sentence lsquoWhenIf I earnam earning good moneyIrsquoll buy a carrsquo Here lsquowhenrsquo and lsquoifrsquo actually refer to an action in the future incases like this Italian normally uses the future tense

The forms of the future indicative

6 The future endings for the three conjugations are as follows

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Partono domani

Viene anche lrsquoanno prossimoSignora

Lrsquoanno prossimo sono allrsquouniversitagrave

Theyrsquoll leaveTheyrsquore leavingtomorrow

Will you comebe coming again nextyear( Madam)

Next year Irsquoll be at university

Se guadagnerograve bene comprerograve unamacchina

Quando arriveragrave le mostreremo ilcentro commerciale

If I earnam earning good money Irsquollbuy a car

When she arrives wersquoll show her theshopping mall

(io)(tu)(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-are-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ere-erograve-erai-eragrave-eremo-erete-eranno

-ire-irograve-irai-iragrave-iremo-irete-iranno

Parlareparlerograveparleraiparleragraveparleremoparlereteparleranno

To speakI will speakyou will speakhesheit will speakwe will speakyou will speakthey will speak

130 Unit 18

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

7 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the future inorder to keep the hard sound of c and g

Prendereprenderograveprenderai

To takegetI will takegetyou will takeget

prenderagraveprenderemoprendereteprenderanno

hesheit will takegetwe will takegetyou will takegetthey will takeget

Partirepartirogravepartiraipartiragravepartiremopartiretepartiranno

To leaveI will leaveyou will leavehesheit will leavewe will leaveyou will leavethey will leave

Dopo un mese in Italia parleraimeglio italiano

Prenderograve il treno delle 8Partiranno domani mattina presto

Domenica prossima finirograve dilavorare verso le 5

After a month in Italy yoursquoll speakItalian better

Irsquoll get the eight orsquoclock trainThey will leave early tomorrow

morningNext Sunday Irsquoll finish work at about

five

Cercarecercherogravecercheraicercheragravecercheremocercheretecercheranno

Pagarepagherogravepagheraipagheragravepagheremopagheretepagheranno

Quando arriveremo a Romacercheremo un albergo economico

Mio padre pagheragrave tutte le spese

When we arrive in Rome wersquoll lookfor a cheap hotel

My father will pay all the expenses

Unit 18 131

8 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the future

Future of some irregular verbs

9 Essere and avere are irregular

10 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

Cominciarecomincerogravecominceraicominceragrave

Mangiaremangerogravemangeraimangeragrave

cominceremocominceretecominceranno

mangeremomangeretemangeranno

Comincerograve a lavorare venerdigraveprossimo

Mangerai in mensa

Irsquoll start work(ing) next Friday

Will you eatbe eating in the canteen

Esseresarogravesaraisaragravesaremosaretesaranno

Avereavrograveavraiavragraveavremoavreteavranno

Se domenica saragrave bello lavoreremoin giardino

Se avrograve tempo ti aiuterograve

If the weather is good on Sunday wersquollwork in the garden

If Irsquove got time Irsquoll help you

Daredarogravedaraidaragravedaremodaretedaranno

Farefarogravefaraifaragravefaremofaretefaranno

Starestarogravestaraistaragravestaremostaretestaranno

132 Unit 18

11 Andare cadere (to fall) dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow thesame pattern as avere

Mia sorella daragrave una festa per ilsuo compleanno

Cosa farai dopo lrsquouniversitagrave

Domani starai meglio

My sister will giveis giving a party forher birthday

What will you doare you doing afteruniversity

Yoursquoll feel better tomorrow

Andareandrograveandraiandragraveandremoandreteandranno

Caderecadrogravecadraicadragravecadremocadretecadranno

Doveredovrogravedovraidovragravedovremodovretedovranno

Poterepotrogravepotraipotragravepotremopotretepotranno

Saperesaprogravesapraisapragravesapremosapretesapranno

Vederevedrogravevedraivedragravevedremovedretevedranno

Viverevivrogravevivraivivragravevivremovivretevivranno

Andremo alla festa solo se ciinviteranno

Il governo egrave impopolare e cadragravepresto

Credo che dovrograve partire prestoNon so se potrograve venire

Non sapremo mai la veritagraveQuando vedrai i tuoi amici

Wersquoll only go to the party if they inviteus

The government is unpopular and willsoon fall

I think Irsquoll have to leave earlyI donrsquot know whether Irsquoll be able to

comeWe will never know the truthWhen will youare you going to see

your friends

Unit 18 133

12 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere (to keephold) have the following pattern

13 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

14 As usual the negative is formed by putting non before the verb

-rrograve-rrai-rragrave

Bereberrograveberraiberragrave

Rimanererimarrograverimarrairimarragrave

Venireverrograveverraiverragrave

Volerevorrogravevorraivorragrave

Tenereterrograveterraiterragrave

-rremo-rrete-rranno

berremoberreteberranno

rimarremorimarreterimarranno

verremoverreteverranno

vorremovorretevorranno

terremoterreteterranno

Sono sicuro che mio fratello nonberragrave mai quella tisana

Quanto tempo rimarrete in ItaliaSignori Boi

Hanno detto che verranno a trovarci

Irsquom sure my brother will never drinkthat herbal tea

How long will youare you going tostay in Italy Mrs and Mr Boi

They said theyrsquoll come and see usNon so se vorrograve andare

allrsquouniversitagrave dopo il liceo

Dove terrai la bici

I donrsquot know whether Irsquoll want to goto university after secondaryschool

Where are you going to keep the bike

-urrograve-urrai-urragrave-urremo-urrete-urranno

Tradurretradurrogravetradurraitradurragravetradurremotradurretetradurranno

Carlo non parla tedesco ma uninterprete tradurragrave tutto per lui

Carlo doesnrsquot speak German but aninterpreter is going towill translateeverything for him

Non andrograve alla festaNon rimarremo moltoNon gli parlerograve mai piugrave

Irsquom not going to the partyWe wonrsquot stay longIrsquoll never speak to him again

134 Unit 18

Exercise 1

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io partire) tanto presto partirograve

Exercise 2

Supply the future tense of the verb in brackets

Example Non (io dovere) andare a scuola dovrograve

Exercise 3

Change the verbs in italics into the future

Domani mattina esco di casa presto devo prendere il treno per Firenze alle615 Arrivo a Firenze verso ora di pranzo e Lorenzo viene a prendermi alla

1 I miei amici (arrivare) domani2 Quando (voi parlare) con Maria3 (lui telefonare) domani4 Gli (tu dire) tutto5 Domani (io scrivere) ai nonni6 Domenica (io dormire) fino a

tardi7 (noi cominciare) a lavorare

domani8 Quando (tu finire) il compito9 Stasera (io prendere) lrsquoauto

10 Mi (tu chiamare)11 Dove (voi abitare)12 (loro portare) il dolce13 Cosa le (voi dire)14 Chi (tradurre) dal tedesco15 Domani (noi pagare) lrsquoaffitto16 (tu mangiare) con noi17 Mi (Lei scrivere) Signora18 Paul (cercare) casa a Torino19 Che treno (loro prendere)20 Chi (pagare)

1 (io andare) in vacanza2 (noi essere) contenti di vedervi3 Quanto tempo (tu rimanere) a

Roma4 (io venire) appena (io potere)5 (Lei dovere) partire Signora6 (lei venire) quando (lei volere)7 Domani non (noi avere) tempo8 Non so se (io potere) uscire9 Quando (tu vedere) Anna

10 (voi fare) una festa

11 Non (loro stare) a casa mia12 Non lo (lui sapere) mai13 Gli (tu fare) un regalo14 (voi essere) a casa tutto il giorno15 (voi dovere) lavorare domani16 Non (io andare) piugrave in quel bar17 Quando (tu sapere) il risultato18 Quando (tu venire) Maria19 Cosa (voi fare) domenica20 (loro tenere) il cane in giardino

Unit 18 135

stazione Prima andiamo a casa sua dove lascio i bagagli e poi andiamoinsieme a pranzo da Ernestina Nel pomeriggio vediamo Carlo che ci porta avedere la sua nuova casa Torniamo a casa di Lorenzo abbastanza prestopercheacute vengono degli amici a cena e dobbiamo preparare Dopo cena usciamoma anche se facciamo tardi non egrave un problema percheacute possiamo dormire lamattina dopo

Exercise 4

Translate into Italian

1 Who will be able to help me2 Next summer wersquoll do an Italian course3 Will you [sing] read all these books4 I wonrsquot go to the library tomorrow5 When will you arrive Signora Pasini6 On Sunday theyrsquoll go out7 What will you [sing] do8 Itrsquoll be about ten orsquoclock9 Will you [sing] bring your CDs for the party

10 Wonrsquot you [pl] come to the cinema with us

136 Unit 18

UNIT NINETEENThe past perfect tense

Use of the past perfect

1 The past perfect (or pluperfect) normally indicates a past event whichhappened before another past event as in the English lsquoI had finished shower-ing when I heard the doorbellrsquo lsquoBy the time it finished I had had enoughrsquo It isthus normally used in sentences where there is another past tense or someother reference to a past event

It is also often used on its own where a more recent event is referred to orimplied in the context

2 Sometimes when the past perfect is used on its own the event nearer to thepresent is purely implicit

Quando sono arrivato [presentperfect] avevano appena finito[past perfect] di cenare

Quel giorno ero [imperfect] moltocontenta percheacute avevo passato[past perfect] lrsquoesame

Prima di imprestare [infinitive]lrsquoauto a Marco avevo fatto[past perfect] il pieno

When I arrived they had just finisheddinner

That day I was very happy because Irsquodpassed the exam

Before lending the car to Marco Irsquodfilled up

Avevo fatto quella torta per te nonper Paolo

Tullio aveva portato i CD

Francesca era uscita

I made that tart for you not for Paolo[eg thatrsquos why Irsquom so annoyed thatPaolorsquos eaten it]

Tullio had brought the CDs [eg theones I told you we were listening to]

Francesca had gone out [eg which iswhy I didnrsquot see her last night]

Implied here is something like (Ora ti ho visto ma prima) non ti avevo visto [ieIrsquove seen you now but I hadnrsquot before]

Implied here is something like Non ti avevo sentito (ma ora ti ho sentito) [ie Ihadnrsquot heard you before but I have now]

Forming the past perfect

3 The past perfect in Italian is formed with the imperfect indicative of avereor essere (auxiliary verbs) followed by the past participle of the verb Here aretwo examples one using avere and the other essere

4 As regards agreement of the past participle the past perfect obeys exactlythe same rules as the present perfect if the auxiliary is avere the past parti-ciple does not change but if it is essere the past participle behaves like anadjective agreeing in gender and number with the subject of the verb as inthese examples

Scusa non ti avevo visto Egrave moltoche aspetti

Sorry I didnrsquot see you Have you beenwaiting long

Scusa non ti avevo sentito Sorry I didnrsquot hear you

Imperfect of avere(io) avevo(tu) avevi(luilei) aveva(noi) avevamo(voi) avevate(loro) avevano

Past participle of scriverescrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscrittoscritto

I had writtenyou had writtenhesheit had writtenwe had writtenyou had writtenthey had written

Imperfect of essere(io) ero(tu) eri(luilei) era(noi) eravamo(voi) eravate(loro) erano

Past participle of andareandatoandataandatoandataandatoandataandatiandateandatiandateandatiandate

I had goneyou had gonehesheit had gonewe had goneyou had gonethey had gone

AvereLivia aveva guardato la televisioneAvevi comprato il paneAveva prenotato Signor Ferro

Livia had watched televisionHad you bought the breadHad you booked Mr Ferro

138 Unit 19

When the polite form is used and the auxiliary is essere the past participleagrees with the gender of the person being spoken to not with Lei

Past perfect of avere and essere

5 Avere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary avere

Essere forms the past perfect with the auxiliary essere

EssereMonica era uscita [fs]Pietro era stato malato [ms]Fabia e Silvia erano rimaste a casa

[fp]Giulia e Sebastiano erano partiti

[mp]Ero andata al cinema [fs]

Eravamo arrivati tardi [mp]

Signor Poli Lei quando eraarrivato [ms]

Signora Poli Lei quando eraarrivata [fs]

Monica had gone outPietro had been illFabia and Silvia had stayed at home

Giulia and Sebastiano had left

I had beengone to the cinema [thespeaker is female]

We had arrived late [the speakers aremales or a mixed group]

When had you arrived Mr Poli

When had you arrived Mrs Poli

avevo avutoavevi avutoaveva avutoavevamo avutoavevate avutoavevano avuto

I had hadyou had hadhesheit had hadwe had hadyou had hadthey had had

ero statostataeri statostataera statostataeravamo statistateeravate statistateerano statistate

I had beenyou had beenhesheit had beenwe had beenyou had beenthey had been

Non aveva avuto tempo di finire illavoro

Tanya aveva avuto la varicella

He hadnrsquot had time to finish the job

Tanya had had chickenpox

Unit 19 139

Negative form

6 The negative is formed in the same way as for the present perfect byplacing non before the verb

7 As with the present perfect the adverbs mai (ever) piugrave (moreagain) andgiagrave (already) are normally placed between the auxiliary and the verb (egAvevo giagrave risposto lsquoIrsquod already repliedrsquo) With the negatives non ancora(not yet) non mai (never) non piugrave (not any morenot againno longer) non is placed before the auxiliary

Exercise 1

Supply the past perfect of the verb in brackets

Example Dove (tu comprare) quelle scarpe avevi comprato

Nina era stata malataDes era stato mio studente

Nina had been illDes had been a student of mine

Non ero andato a scuolaLisa non era riuscita a finire quel

lavoroNon avevi telefonato la settimana

prima

I hadnrsquot beengone to schoolLisa hadnrsquot managed to finish that job

Had you not phoned the previousweek

Eravate mai stati su un ghiacciaioAvevi piugrave visto i tuoi amici

Non avevamo ancora preso ilbiglietto

Paola non era mai stata a VeneziaCarlo non aveva piugrave telefonato

Had you ever been on a glacierHad you (ever) seen your friends

againWe hadnrsquot bought the ticket yet

Paola had never been to VeniceCarlo hadnrsquot (ever) phoned again

1 Maria (finire) di cenare2 Anna (arrivare) il giorno prima3 Scusi Signora non La (io vedere)4 (tu spegnere) la luce5 (voi prendere) il giornale6 Prima di lavorare in Italia Jim

(lavorare) in Francia

7 Hai perso la lettera che ti(scrivere) Antonio

8 Alessandro non (preparare)lrsquoesame

9 Non (tu riuscire) a finire il lavoro10 Gli (noi chiedere) dei CD11 Caterina (stare) male

140 Unit 19

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences using the correct tense of the verb inbrackets (present perfect imperfect or past perfect)

Example Carlo (raccontare) che (lui passare) lrsquoesame ma non (essere)vero Carlo ha raccontato che aveva passato lrsquoesame ma nonera vero

1 Quando (io arrivare) i miei amici (uscire) da poco2 Silvia non (conoscere) la persona che le (telefonare)3 (tu fare) un dolce Ma ti (io dire) che sono a dieta4 Ernestina (essere) stanca percheacute (camminare) molto5 Carlo non (venire) con noi percheacute (dovere) fare un lavoro che gli (loro

dare) la sera prima6 Silvio (essere) molto contento percheacute (vincere) la gara di sci7 Carla (portare) sempre la maglia che le (regalare) suo fratello8 (io comprare) i libri che mi (voi consigliare)9 Mauro (spendere) tutti i soldi che (lui guadagnare)

10 Francesca (invitare) tutti gli amici che (andare) in vacanza con lei lrsquoannoprima

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian

1 Paola still hadnrsquot been to Scotland2 Irsquod finished the job but I was very tired3 The girls had never gone into that church4 Arianna finished the tart her grandmother had made5 lsquoWhat had you [sing] said to Fabiorsquo lsquoI hadnrsquot said anything to himrsquo6 Maria had had to stay at home7 How much had your [pl] car cost

12 (io mangiare) un panino maavevo ancora fame

13 Ti (piacere) la partita14 Cecilia (andare) in vacanza15 Le mie amiche (uscire)16 Non (io capire) nulla

17 Il treno (partire) in orario18 Sergio (rimanere) in ufficio19 Paolo non (volere) lavorare con

noi20 Gina (essere) contenta di vedermi

Unit 19 141

8 Theyrsquod bought the ticket the previous day9 I hadnrsquot got the bike any longer because Irsquod given it to Anna

10 She was born in Russia but shersquod been living in Italy for many yearswhen I met her

142 Unit 19

UNIT TWENTYReflexive pronouns

1 Reflexive pronouns correspond to lsquomyselfrsquo lsquoyourselfrsquo etc in phrases likelsquoyou flatter yourselfrsquo lsquothe catrsquos licking itselfrsquo lsquothe recorderrsquos switched itselfoffrsquo In such cases the subject and the object of the verb are the same personor thing

These examples show how the reflexive pronouns are the direct objects ofthe verbs lavare guardare and vestire and denote the same person as thesubject

There are very many verbs which can be used in the reflexive form in Italianand which do not correspond to English reflexive verbs Here is a list of someof the most common ones

Ti guardi sempre allo specchio

Mi lavoAnna si veste per la festa

You always look at yourself in themirror

I get washed [lit I wash myself]Annarsquos getting dressed for the party

[lit Annarsquos dressing herself]

addormentarsialzarsiannoiarsidimenticarsilavarsioffendersiricordarsiriposarsisbagliarsiscusarsisedersisentirsisvegliarsivestirsi

to fall asleep [lit to send oneself to sleep]to get up [lit to raise oneself]to getbe bored [lit to bore oneself]to forget [lit to forget oneself]to get washed [lit to wash oneself]to take offence [lit to offend oneself]to remember [lit to recall oneself]to rest [lit to rest oneself]to be wrongmistaken [lit to mistake oneself]to apologise [lit to excuse oneself]to sit down [lit to seat oneself]to feel (well ill etc) [lit to feel oneself]to wake up [lit to waken oneself]to get dressed [lit to dress oneself]

2 The forms of the reflexive pronouns are as follows

Note that the third person singular and plural pronoun si is the same formasculine and feminine

As can be seen from the examples reflexive pronouns are always placedbefore the verb

3 The negative is formed as usual by placing non before the pronoun

4 For the formal form the pronoun si (third person singular and plural) isused In the plural however the pronoun vi is most frequently used

5 The plural forms of the reflexive pronouns (ci vi si) are also used asreciprocal pronouns corresponding to the English lsquoeach otherrsquo

6 Reflexive pronouns can also be used in contemporary spoken Italian asindirect objects One such use is to stress that the action expressed by the verb

mitisicivisi

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

A che ora ti alzi la mattina

Paolo si sveglia sempre tardiMaria si annoiaI tuoi amici si sbagliano il

concerto non egrave staseraLe mie amiche si divertono

What time do you get up in themorning

Paolo always wakes up lateMaria is boredYour friends are wrong the concert is

not tonightMy friends are enjoying themselves

Lorenzo non si annoia maiNon ti diverti

Lorenzo never getsis never boredArenrsquot you enjoying yourself

Come si sente SignoraVi divertite Signori Rasi (Si divertono Signori Rasi)

How are you feeling MadamAre you enjoying yourselves( Mr and

Mrs Rasi)

Paolo e io non ci sopportiamoPercheacute vi guardateAlfredo e Pia non si parlano piugrave

Paolo and I canrsquot stand each otherWhy are you looking at each otherAlfredo and Pia donrsquot talk to each

other any more

144 Unit 20

is to the advantage of the subject (cf English lsquoIrsquom making myself a coffeersquo [iea coffee for myself] lsquoTheyrsquore going to have themselves some funrsquo [ie somefun for themselves])

7 Another common use of the Italian reflexive pronoun occurs in cases likethe following where English would use a possessive adjective (lsquomyrsquo lsquoyourrsquoetc) rather than a reflexive pronoun

8 When reflexive or reciprocal pronouns occur with a verb in the presentperfect (or any other compound tense) the auxiliary is always essere (even ifthe verb itself would form the past tenses with avere) and the past participlealways agrees with the subject

9 The reflexive pronouns like all unstressed pronouns can be attached tothe infinitive of a verb (mainly after dovere potere volere or sapere) Inthese sentences when the main verb is in the present perfect (or any othercompound tense) the auxiliary is avere and the past participle does notagree

Mi mangio un paninoPercheacute non ci facciamo una partita

a cartePaolo si mangia sempre tutti i

biscotti

Irsquom going to eat a sandwichWhy donrsquot we have a game of cards

Paolo always eats all the biscuits

Mi lavo le maniTi metti il cappottoAnna si lava i capelli tutti i giorni

I wash my handsAre you going to put your coat onAnna washes her hair every day

Paolo si egrave svegliato tardiMaria si egrave annoiataVittorio a che ora ti sei alzatoPaolo e Francesca si sono sposati

Claudio e Anna si sono lavati lemani

Sabina si egrave mangiata un paninoSi sono fatti un caffegrave

Paolo woke up lateMaria got boredVittorio what time did you get upPaolo and Francesca have got

marriedClaudio and Anna washed their

handsSabina ate a sandwichThey made (themselves) a coffee

Devo alzarmi prestoMio fratello non vuole lavarsiPaolo e Francesca hanno voluto

sposarsiNon abbiamo potuto lavarci

Irsquove got to get up earlyMy brother doesnrsquot want to washPaolo and Francesca wanted to get

marriedWe couldnrsquot wash

Unit 20 145

However when the reflexive pronoun is not attached to the infinitive theauxiliary verb must be essere and the past participle does agree

Stressed forms

10 The reflexive pronouns also have stressed forms which are used like thestressed forms of other pronouns for emphasis and after a preposition Theseforms are often reinforced by the adjective stesso

Note that se does not have an accent when it is used with stesso

Exercise 1

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash alzi ti

Paolo e Francesca si sono volutisposare

Non ci siamo potuti lavareVi siete dovuti fermare per la notte

Paolo and Francesca wanted to getmarried

We couldnrsquot washDid you have to stop for the night

me or me stessostessate or te stessostessaseacute or se stessostessanoi or noi stessistessevoi or voi stessistesseseacute or se stessistesse

myselfyourselfhimselfherselfitselfourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Franca ama solo seacutese stessaPensi solo a tete stessoQuei due sono davvero noiosi

parlano solo di segravese stessi

Franca only loves herselfYou only think of yourselfThose two are really boring they only

talk about themselves

1 Quando mdashmdashmdash sposano2 Dove mdashmdashmdash siedo3 Nina non mdashmdashmdash veste mai di

rosso4 Come mdashmdashmdash sentite5 Nina e Bart mdashmdashmdash amano6 Dove mdashmdashmdash incontriamo

7 mdashmdashmdash lavo le mani8 Marina mdashmdashmdash guarda allo

specchio9 Silvano non mdashmdashmdash annoia mai

10 Carlo e Luca non mdashmdashmdashconoscono

11 Come mdashmdashmdash vestite

146 Unit 20

Exercise 2

Insert the correct reflexivereciprocal pronouns in the blank spaces

Example A che ora mdashmdashmdash sono alzati si

Exercise 3

Put the verbs into the present perfect

Example (tu [f] alzarsi) tardi ti sei alzata

12 Non mdashmdashmdash diverti13 mdashmdashmdash prendiamo un gelato14 Signora mdashmdashmdash sente bene15 Non mdashmdashmdash ricordate di me16 Livia e Sara mdashmdashmdash riposano

17 Paolo mdashmdashmdash sbaglia18 Come mdashmdashmdash chiami19 mdashmdashmdash scrivete spesso20 mdashmdashmdash offendono facilmente

1 Paolo mdashmdashmdash egrave offeso2 Anna mdashmdashmdash egrave arrabbiata3 Dove mdashmdashmdash siete conosciuti4 mdashmdashmdash sono alzati tardi5 Non mdashmdashmdash sei scusato con loro6 mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti subito7 Carla non mdashmdashmdash egrave messa il

cappotto8 Il bambino mdashmdashmdash egrave

addormentato9 Silvana e io mdashmdashmdash siamo viste

ieri

10 mdashmdashmdash sono mangiato un panino11 mdashmdashmdash siete vestiti molto bene12 Non mdashmdashmdash siamo capiti13 Daniela e Pino mdashmdashmdash odiano14 Quanta acqua mdashmdashmdash sei bevuto15 mdashmdashmdash sono tagliata un dito16 Percheacute mdashmdashmdash sei messo il golf 17 mdashmdashmdash facciamo una passeggiata18 Sergio non mdashmdashmdash egrave ancora

svegliato19 mdashmdashmdash sono sentita male20 mdashmdashmdash siete annoiati alla festa

1 Antonio e Lia (sposarsi)2 (tu [m] sbagliarsi)3 (voi [f] ricordare) il suo

compleanno4 Claudia (farsi) male5 (loro [m] incontrarsi) allo stadio6 (tu [m] perdersi)7 Signora non (divertirsi)8 (noi [m] bersi) un litro di acqua9 Non (io [m] annoiarsi)

10 (noi [f] alzarsi) presto

11 Non (tu [m] lavarsi) le mani12 (io [f] tagliarsi) i capelli13 Il treno (fermarsi)14 I miei zii (separarsi)15 Vittorio non (lamentarsi)16 Il professore (riposarsi)17 La professoressa (stancarsi)18 Non (tu [f] arrabbiarsi)19 (voi [m] offendersi)20 (loro [m] dimenticarsi) di noi

Unit 20 147

Exercise 4

Rewrite the sentences moving the pronoun and changing the auxiliary

Example Abbiamo dovuto alzarci [m] Ci siamo dovuti alzare

1 Non ho potuto lavarmi [f]2 Sandra e Roberto hanno voluto sposarsi3 Abbiamo dovuto scusarci [m]4 Luigi ha dovuto alzarsi alle sei5 Gianni non ha voluto mettersi il berretto6 Hai potuto curarti [m]7 Avete potuto riposarvi [m]8 Ho dovuto fermarmi [f]9 Percheacute hai voluto tingerti i capelli [m]

10 Non abbiamo potuto spiegarci [m]

Exercise 5

Translate into Italian using reflexivereciprocal pronouns

1 Are you [pl] enjoying yourselves2 Have you [f] washed your hands3 How are you feeling Madam4 You [pl] are wrong5 Where did you [fp] meet6 Why donrsquot you [sing] sit down7 Paolo always talks about himself8 Franca washed her hair9 Carlo apologised

10 I [f] got dressed

148 Unit 20

UNIT TWENTY-ONEThe imperative

1 The imperative is used in Italian as in English to express orders com-mands or strong requests

As well as orders and requests the imperative can also be used to expresswishes invitations encouragement and advice

Forms of the imperative

2 Regular verbs in -are -ere and -ire are conjugated as follows

GuardaEntrateChiedi a tuo padreVenga domani SignoraAndiamoDammi il libro

LookCome inAsk your fatherCome tomorrow MadamLetrsquos goGive me the book

Passa delle buone vacanzeTi ascolto dimmi tuttoNon ti preoccupareHai lrsquoaria stanca vai a letto

Have a good holidayIrsquom listening to you tell me everythingDonrsquot worryYou look tired go to bed

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Parlareparlaparliparliamoparlateparlino

To speakspeakspeaklet us speakspeakspeak

Some verbs ending in -ire add -isc- as in the present indicative (see Unit 5)

In the first person plural the meaning is more that of a suggestion than anorder made to a group of which we are part (cf the English lsquoLetrsquos have acoffeersquo) The third person singular and plural are only used for the politeform

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare keep the hard sound of c and g by addingh before the endings of the third person singular (Lei) and the first and thirdpersons plural (noi and Loro)

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Prendereprendiprendaprendiamoprendeteprendano

To takegettakegettakegetlet us takegettakegettakeget

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Partirepartipartapartiamopartitepartano

To leaveleaveleavelet us leaveleaveleave

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

Finirefiniscifiniscafiniamofinitefiniscano

To finishfinishfinishlet us finishfinishfinish

Parlate con i vostri insegnantiPrendi un analgesicoPartiamo subitoFinisci il compitoPrenda la prima (strada) a destra

Speak to your teachersTake a painkillerLetrsquos leave immediatelyFinish your homeworkTake the first (street) on the right

Cercarecercacerchicerchiamocercatecerchino

Pagarepagapaghipaghiamopagatepaghino

150 Unit 21

4 Verbs ending in -iare have only one -i in the second person singular and thefirst and third persons plural

Forms of some irregular verbs

5 Essere and avere are irregular in the imperative

6 There are other verbs with irregular imperatives Here are some of the mostcommon

Cerchiamo casa in questa zonaPaghi il conto per favore Signora

Letrsquos look for a flat in this areaPay the bill please( Madam)

Cominciarecominciacomincicominciamocominciatecomincino

Mangiaremangiamangimangiamomangiatemangino

Cominci a lavorare SignoraMuoio di fame mangiamo qualcosa

Start working( Madam)Irsquom starving letrsquos eat something

Esseresiisiasiamosiatesiano

Avereabbiabbiaabbiamoabbiateabbiano

Siate gentiliAbbi pazienzaSia pronta per le 10 Signora

Be kindBe patient [lit have patience]Be ready by 10( Madam)

Daredaidarsquodiadiamodatediano

Diredirsquodicadiciamoditedicano

Farefaifarsquofacciafacciamofatefacciano

Unit 21 151

The second person singular of these verbs has two forms the form with theapostrophe is normally used with unstressed pronouns (see paragraph 10)

7 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Formal form

8 We have already seen the forms used for the polite form Care must betaken not to confuse imperative and present polite and familiar formsCompare

Starestaistarsquostiastiamostatestiano

Saperesappisappiasappiamosappiatesappiano

Andarevaivarsquovadaandiamoandatevadano

Uscireesciescausciamousciteescano

Venirevienivengaveniamovenitevengano

Berebevibevabeviamobevetebevano

State attentiFaifarsquo il compitoVieni subito quiVenga avanti SignoraSappi che io non sono drsquoaccordo

Dirsquo la veritagrave

Pay attention [lit be attentive]Do your homeworkCome here at onceCome forward( Madam)I want you to know that I donrsquot agree

[lit know that I donrsquot agree]Tell the truth

-uci-uca-uciamo-ucete-ucano

Tradurretraducitraducatraduciamotraducetetraducano

Traduciamo insieme queste frasi

Traduca per favore

Letrsquos translate these sentencestogether

Translate please

152 Unit 21

In the plural as usual the second person is more commonly used than thethird

Negative form

9 For the second person singular the negative is formed with the infinitive ofthe verb preceded by non For the other persons the usual rule applies andnon precedes the form of the imperative As an example here is the negativeconjugation of parlare

familiarformal

(tu)(Lei)

Imperativeparlaparli

Presentparliparla

familiarformalfamiliarformal

(tu)(Lei)(tu)(Lei)

leggileggaescifinisciescafinisca

leggileggeescifinisciescefinisce

Parla col direttore [familiarimperative]

Parli col direttore Signora [formalimperative]

Parli col direttore [familiarpresent]

Parla col direttore Signora [formalpresent]

Speak to the manager

Speak to the manager( Madam)

Are you speaking to the manager

Are you speaking to the manager(Madam)

Parlate col controllore (Parlino col controllore)Abbiate pazienza Signori (Abbiano pazienza Signori)

Speak to the conductor

Be patient (ladies and) gentlemen

(tu)(Lei)(noi)(voi)(Loro)

non parlarenon parlinon parliamonon parlatenon parlino

Non essere scorteseNon dite bugieNon avere fretta

Donrsquot be rudeDonrsquot tell liesDonrsquot rush

Unit 21 153

Position of unstressed pronouns

10 When the imperative is used in an affirmative sentence with an unstressedpronoun (direct object indirect object reflexive ne ci) the pronoun is alwaysattached to the verb if it is in a second person form (tu or voi) or the firstperson plural form (noi)

Note that when an unstressed pronoun is used with the forms darsquo farsquo dirsquo starsquoand varsquo (see paragraph 6) the first consonant of the pronoun (except gli) isdoubled

In negative sentences there is an extra option the pronoun can be placedbefore the verb (and after non)

11 In the polite form (third person singular and plural Lei and Loro) thepronouns are always placed before the verb

Quel libro egrave per te prendiloChiediamole aiutoSe hai dei problemi parlane

Alzatevi ragazziTelefonagli (or Telefona loro ndash see

Unit 10 paragraph 2)

That book is for you take itLetrsquos ask her for helpIf you are having problems talk about

themGet up boysPhone them

Se sai la veritagrave dillaDammi la pennaDanne un porsquo a tuo fratelloFammi un piacereVallo a comprareVacci subitoDille la veritagraveDigli la veritagrave

If you know the truth tell itGive me the penGive some to your brotherDo me a favourGo and buy itGo there at onceTell her the truthTell him the truth

Non lo prendere or Non prenderloNon le chiediamo aiuto or Non

chiediamole aiutoNon ne parlare or Non parlarneNon vi alzate or Non alzatevi

Donrsquot take itLetrsquos not ask her for help

Donrsquot talk about itDonrsquot get up

Quel libro egrave per Lei lo prendaLe scriva una mailNe parlino al controlloreSi alzi Signora

That book is for you take itWrite her an emailSpeak to the conductor about itGet up( Madam)

154 Unit 21

Exercise 1

Supply the imperative of the verb in brackets

Example (tu pagare) il conto paga

Exercise 2

Supply the polite form for these sentences

Example Paga il conto paghi

Exercise 3

Change the imperatives into the negative

Examples Dormi Non dormire Alzati Non alzarti or Non ti alzare

1 (tu comprare) il pane2 (noi uscire) subito3 (Lei stare) tranquilla Signora4 (tu mettere) in ordine5 (voi essere) gentili6 (Lei venire) Professore7 (tu dare) una mano a tuo fratello8 (tu finire) i compiti9 (comprare) questa borsa Signora

10 (noi fare) una pausa

11 (tu avere) fiducia in lei12 (Lei parlare) piugrave forte Signora13 (tu andare) fuori14 (tu dire) tutto quello che sai15 (Lei fare) attenzione Signora16 (voi scrivere) le cartoline17 (tu fare) attenzione18 (Loro entrare) Signori19 (voi aprire) le finestre20 (tu rispondere) al telefono

1 Chiudi la porta per favore2 Vai al terzo piano3 Sorridi4 Dirsquo tutto5 Fai presto

6 Sii paziente7 Traduci per favore8 Accendi la luce9 Stai fermo

10 Entra

1 Partite subito2 Rispondi alla sua domanda3 Andate in discoteca4 Scenda Signora5 Usciamo6 Finisci i biscotti7 Ascolta

8 Prenda quella strada9 Telefona a Giuseppe

10 Dirsquo quello che pensi11 Tagliati i capelli12 Dalle il libro13 Parlagli14 Scrivetemi

Unit 21 155

Exercise 4

Change the imperatives into the affirmative

Examples Non parlate Parlate Non mi guardare Guardami

Exercise 5

Change the verb into the imperative and replace the words in italics with theappropriate pronoun

Example Devi dire la veritagrave Dilla

15 Dillo16 Invitali17 Prendilo

18 Mettiti il berretto19 Portatele dei fiori20 Fallo

1 Non andare in piscina2 Non prendete lrsquoautobus3 Non invitare Giacomo4 Non guardiamo quel film5 Non cominciare6 Non faccia la spesa al mercato7 Non mettano lrsquoauto in garage8 Non fare cosigrave9 Non andare al parco

10 Non stare sul balcone

11 Non mandarmi una cartolina12 Non fatelo13 Non darmi i tuoi libri14 Non mi rispondere15 Non ci andare16 Non lo mangiate17 Non lo leggete18 Non ci aspetti Professore19 Non dirgli il tuo nome20 Non darle il tuo indirizzo

1 Dovete parlare a Laura2 Devi prendere i libri3 Signora deve firmare il foglio4 Dovete parlare del problema5 Dobbiamo andare al

supermercato6 Devi fare gli esercizi7 Dovete restare a scuola8 Dobbiamo chiedere il permesso9 Devi correggere gli sbagli

10 Dovete prendere il treno

11 Signori devono aspettare il tram12 Devi mandare gli auguri13 Dovete comprare la frutta14 Signor Rossi deve portare una

foto15 Dovete aiutare i vostri amici16 Devi rendere il libro17 Dobbiamo chiedere a Lina18 Devi telefonare ai nonni19 Devi bere del caffegrave20 Dovete studiare filosofia

156 Unit 21

UNIT TWENTY-TWOThe pronoun si

The pronoun si is used as an impersonal subject either in sentences without aspecified subject or in sentences with a passive meaning In both it is alwaysput before the verb

Si in sentences where the subject is not specified

1 Si is used as an impersonal subject in sentences where the subject is notspecified It corresponds to the English lsquoonersquo or lsquoyoursquo (as in lsquoOne neverknowsYou never know whatrsquos just round the cornerrsquo) or lsquotheyrsquo meaning anumber of unspecified people (as in lsquoThey eat kangaroo in Australiarsquo)When si is used in this way the verb is always in the third personsingular

As the examples suggest si is often used for rules or general advice

2 With verbs like essere diventare sembrare etc followed by a noun or anadjective si requires the noun to be plural (even though the verb is alwayssingular) and the adjective to be masculine plural

Si esce da questa portalsquoSono stato al marersquo lsquoSi vede sei

abbronzatorsquoSi paga alla cassaCrsquoegrave stato un incidente e non si

passaAllrsquoostello della gioventugrave si spende

menoPer andare al museo si passa da

piazza Garibaldi

You go out by this doorlsquoIrsquove been at the seasidersquo lsquoIt shows [lit

one sees] yoursquove got a tanrsquoYou payOne pays at the tillTherersquos been an accident and you canrsquot

get throughYou spend less in a youth hostel

To get to the museum you go throughpiazza Garibaldi

Si in sentences with a passive meaning

3 Si is also used as an impersonal subject in sentences which have a passivemeaning like this one lsquoIn Nuova Zelanda si parla inglesersquo The correspond-ing sentence in English would have either a passive verb (lsquoEnglish is spoken inNew Zealandrsquo) or an impersonal one (lsquoOne speaksThey speak English inNew Zealandrsquo)

In this type of sentence the verb can be in either the third person singularor the third person plural The singular is used if the noun that accompaniesthe verb is singular

The plural is used when the noun that accompanies the verb is plural

Quando si egrave studenti si egrave poveriSe si mangia troppo si diventa

grassiQuando si egrave malati si rimane a

casaQuando si egrave giovani si egrave ottimistiSe si veste in nero si sembra magri

When one is a student one is poorIf you eat too much you get fat

When you are ill you stay at home

When one is young one is an optimistIf you dress in black you look slim

Il biglietto [sing] si prendeallrsquoingresso

Il sale [sing] si compra intabaccheria

Al mercato si vende la frutta [sing]migliore

Si deve lavare lrsquoinsalata [sing]prima di mangiarla

In biblioteca si puograve leggere ilgiornale [sing]

The ticket is obtainedYou get yourticket at the door

Salt is boughtYou buy salt at thetobacconistrsquos

The best fruit is sold at the market

Lettuce should be washed before youeat itYou should wash lettucebefore eating it

In the library you can read the paperThe paper can be read in the library

Anche le cartoline [pl] si compranoin tabaccheria

I lamponi [pl] si mangiano inestate

In vacanza si fanno molte fotografie[pl]

Si devono comprare i biglietti [pl]in anticipo

In quel Cine Club si possono vederemolti film [pl]

Postcards are also boughtYou alsobuy postcards at the tobacconistrsquos

Raspberries are eaten in summer

A lot of pictures are taken on holidayOn holiday you take a lot ofpictures

Tickets should be purchased inadvance

A lot of films can be seenYou can seea lot of films at that cine club

158 Unit 22

Negative form

4 The negative is formed by putting non before the pronoun

Si used with the auxiliary essere

5 When si occurs with a verb in the present perfect (or any compound tense)the auxiliary is essere the past participle must therefore agree with the subjectof the passive verb

The same applies when si is not used in a passive function but purely as animpersonal subject (lsquoonersquo lsquoyoursquo lsquotheyrsquo etc)

Si used with reflexive verbs

6 When si is used with a reflexive verb the reflexive or reciprocal pronoun isci not si the resulting form is thus ci si

Non si fuma in aereo

Non si devono aprire le finestre

Therersquos no smoking [lit one does notsmoke] in planes

The windows mustnrsquot be openedOnemustnrsquot open the windows

Su questo argomento si sono scrittimolti libri

In Piemonte si egrave sempre prodottodel buon vino

In questa scuola si sono semprecominciate le lezioni alle 8

Quando si egrave finita lrsquouniversitagrave sicerca lavoro

Many books have been written on thissubject

In Piedmont good wine has alwaysbeen producedthey have alwaysproduced good wine

In this school lessons have always(been) started at eight orsquoclock

When university has been finishedWhen you have finished universityyou look for a job

Quando non si egrave riusciti a risolvereun problema non si egrave soddisfatti

Dopo che si egrave stati malati si egravesempre deboli

When one hasnrsquot managed to solve aproblem one is dissatisfied

Yoursquore always weak when yoursquove beenill

A volte in vacanza ci si annoiaSe in vacanza ci si egrave annoiati si egrave

contenti di tornare a scuola

Sometimes you get bored on holidayIf yoursquove been bored in the holidays

yoursquore glad to go back to school

Unit 22 159

Exercise 1

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb

Examples Dal balcone si (vedere) le montagne vedono A Natale si(mangiare) il panettone mangia

1 Si (fare) attenzione quando si (attraversare) la strada2 In Svizzera si (parlare) tre lingue3 Di domenica non si (lavorare)4 Negli uffici pubblici non si (fumare)5 Si (dovere) aiutare gli anziani6 In quella discoteca non si (entrare) con le scarpe da ginnastica7 Certi segreti non si (potere) mantenere8 Per entrare nel centro della cittagrave si (pagare) un pedaggio9 In quel bosco si (trovare) molti funghi

10 Al mercato si (comprare) la verdura piugrave fresca

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences with the correct form of the verbs and the adjectives ornouns in brackets

Examples Quando si (essere malato) si (andare) a letto Quando si egravemalati si va a letto Quando si (essere studente) si (dovere)studiare Quando si egrave studenti si deve studiare

1 Quando si (avere) freddo (lavorare) male2 Quando si (avere) la febbre si (restare) a casa3 Quando si (cominciare) a studiare una lingua si (fare) degli sbagli4 Quando si (guidare) non si (usare) il cellulare5 Quando si (avere) fame si (mangiare)6 Quando si (essere stanco) si (fare) molti sbagli7 Quando si (essere avvocato) si (conoscere) la legge8 Quando non si (avere) soldi non si (fare) spese inutili9 Quando si (avere) tanti amici si (essere fortunato)

10 Quando si (mangiare) troppi dolci si (ingrassare)

Quando ci si alza presto la giornatasembra troppo lunga

When you get up early the day seemstoo long

160 Unit 22

Exercise 3

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si

Examples Non devi mangiare con le mani Non si mangia con le maniNon devi raccogliere i fiori Non si raccolgono i fiori

1 Non devi mettere i piedi sulla scrivania2 La mattina devi fare colazione3 Dopo pranzo devi lavare i piatti4 Non devi parlare con gli sconosciuti5 Non devi andare in bicicletta sul marciapiedi6 Non devi mangiare durante le lezioni7 Non devi guardarti tanto allo specchio8 In biblioteca devi parlare a bassa voce9 Non devi guardare la televisione tutto il giorno

10 Il giorno prima degli esami devi studiare

Exercise 4

Change the sentences into impersonal form by using the pronoun si Payattention to the use of the past tense

Example QuandoDopo che hai parcheggiato lrsquoauto in salita devimettere il freno a mano QuandoDopo che si egrave parcheggiatalrsquoauto in salita si deve mettere il freno a mano

1 Dopo che hai fatto il bagno in mare fai la doccia2 Dopo che hai superato un esame sei contento3 Dopo che hai finito di lavorare vai a casa4 Dopo che sei salito sullrsquoaereo non puoi usare il cellulare5 Quando sei cresciuto in campagna conosci i nomi di tante piante

Unit 22 161

UNIT TWENTY-THREEThe present conditional

Use of the present conditional

1 The present conditional expresses an action which depends on a conditionas in this English example lsquoIf I could I would go at oncersquo In this example thecondition is expressed with lsquoifrsquo (ie lsquoon condition thatrsquo) The present con-ditional is often used even when the condition is not actually mentioned asin lsquoIrsquom sure she would love a night outrsquo Basically the use of the Italianpresent conditional is similar to the English

The present conditional in Italian can express wishes or intentions opinionsor advice requests in polite form doubts and conjectures

The forms of the present conditional

2 The present conditional is formed in the same way as the future but withdifferent endings

Vorrei ballare tutta la seraMi daresti un passaggioFareste meglio restare a casa

I would like to dance all nightWould you give me a liftYoursquod do better to stay at home

Prenderei un caffegravePotreste andare a piediMi daresti una manoSapresti fare questo lavoroQuesta potrebbe essere la soluzione

Irsquod like a coffeeYou could go on footWouldcould you give me a handWould you know how to do that jobThis could be the solution

Be sure not to confuse the spelling of these endings (all with -emmo) withthe corresponding ones of the future (all with -emo)

Regular verbs ending in -are are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ere are conjugated as follows

Regular verbs ending in -ire are conjugated as follows

(io)(tu)

-are-erei-eresti

-ere-erei-eresti

-ire-irei-iresti

(luilei)(noi)(voi)(loro)

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-erebbe-eremmo-ereste-erebbero

-irebbe-iremmo-ireste-irebbero

Parlareparlereiparlerestiparlerebbeparleremmoparleresteparlerebbero

To speakI would speakyou would speakhesheit would speakwe would speakyou would speakthey would speak

Prendereprendereiprenderestiprenderebbeprenderemmoprenderesteprenderebbero

To takegetI would takeyou would takehesheit would takewe would takeyou would takethey would take

Finirefinireifinirestifinirebbefiniremmofinirestefinirebbero

To finishI would finishyou would finishhesheit would finishwe would finishyou would finishthey would finish

Con Marco parleresti italianoScriverei una cartolina alla ziaFiniremmo questo lavoro prima di

partire

With Marco you would speak ItalianI would write a postcard to my auntWersquod finish this job before leaving

Unit 23 163

3 Verbs ending in -care and -gare add h before the endings of the presentconditional in order to keep the hard sound of c and g

4 Verbs ending in -ciare and -giare drop -i in the present conditional

Present conditional of some irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are grouped in the same way as for the future tense

5 Essere and avere are irregular

Cercarecerchereicercheresticercherebbecercheremmocercherestecercherebbero

Pagarepaghereipagherestipagherebbepagheremmopagherestepagherebbero

Al suo posto cercherei un altrolavoro

La Signora pagherebbe il conto

If I were him [lit in his place] Irsquod lookfor another job

The lady would pay the bill

Cominciarecomincereicominceresticomincerebbecominceremmocomincerestecomincerebbero

Mangiaremangereimangerestimangerebbemangeremmomangerestemangerebbero

Senza di lui non cominceremmo lariunione

Mangeresti la carne di canguro

We wouldnrsquot start the meeting withouthim

Would you eat kangaroo meat

Esseresareisarestisarebbesaremmosarestesarebbero

Avereavreiavrestiavrebbeavremmoavresteavrebbero

Sarei contenta di rivedere CarloAvresti un minuto per me

I would be happy to see Carlo againCould you spare me a minute [lit

would you have a minute for me]

164 Unit 23

6 Dare fare and stare follow the same pattern as essere

7 Andare cadere dovere potere sapere vedere and vivere follow the samepattern as avere

8 A third group of irregular verbs comprising bere rimanere venire volereand tenere have the following pattern

dareidarestidarebbedaremmodarestedarebbero

fareifarestifarebbefaremmofarestefarebbero

stareistarestistarebbestaremmostarestestarebbero

Darei una festaMi faresti un favoreAl posto tuo starei tranquillo

I would give a partyWould you do me a favourI wouldnrsquot worry if I were you [lit in

your place Irsquod be calm]

andreiandrestiandrebbeandremmoandresteandrebbero

cadreicadresticadrebbecadremmocadrestecadrebbero

dovreidovrestidovrebbedovremmodovrestedovrebbero

potreipotrestipotrebbepotremmopotrestepotrebbero

sapreisaprestisaprebbesapremmosaprestesaprebbero

vedreivedrestivedrebbevedremmovedrestevedrebbero

vivreivivrestivivrebbevivremmovivrestevivrebbero

Quando andreste in vacanzaDomenica dovrei lavorarePotresti aiutarmi

When would you go on holidayOn Sunday I ought to workYou could help me [ie why arenrsquot

you helping me]

-rrei-rresti-rrebbe-rremmo-rreste-rrebbero

berreiberrestiberrebbeberremmoberresteberrebbero

rimarreirimarrestirimarrebberimarremmorimarresterimarrebbero

verreiverrestiverrebbeverremmoverresteverrebbero

vorreivorrestivorrebbevorremmovorrestevorrebbero

terreiterrestiterrebbeterremmoterresteterrebbero

Unit 23 165

The present conditional of volere is often used to expresses wishes andrequests in a polite form corresponding to the English lsquowould likersquo

9 All verbs ending in -urre have the following pattern

Negative form

10 The negative is formed by putting non before the verb

Exercise 1

Supply the present conditional of the verb in brackets

Example Stasera non (io uscire) uscirei

Rimarrei ancora un porsquo con voi madevo prendere il treno

Verresti al cinema con me

Vorrei un caffegraveVorrei anche un chilo di mele

I would stay with you a bit longer butIrsquove got to get the train

Would you come to the cinema withme

Irsquod like a coffeeIrsquod like a kilo of apples as well

-urrei-urresti-urrebbe-urremmo-urreste-urrebbero

tradurreitradurrestitradurrebbetradurremmotradurrestetradurrebbero

Lrsquointerprete tradurrebbe tutto per te The interpreter would translateeverything for you

Non capiresti nullaNon vorremmo partireNon tradurrei cosigrave

You wouldnrsquot understand a thingWe wouldnrsquot want to leaveI wouldnrsquot translate (it) like that

1 (tu leggere) quel libro di nuovo2 (io potere) aiutarvi3 (voi avere) voglia di uscire4 Mi (tu svegliare)5 (loro volere) venire a cena6 (tu pagare) anche per me

7 Non (io fare) quel lavoro8 (noi dovere) studiare9 (tu sapere) guidare un trattore

10 Claudia (rimanere) a casa11 Al posto tuo non (io aprire) la

porta

166 Unit 23

Exercise 2

Rewrite the sentences changing the italicised verbs into the presentconditional

Example Veniamo volentieri Verremmo volentieri

1 Voglio due panini2 Dovete studiare di piugrave3 Lucia va in vacanza4 Fate una pausa5 Possiamo parlarti6 Maurizio cambia lavoro7 Mi dai un consiglio8 Vi piace andare a Venezia9 I nostri amici devono arrivare oggi

10 Non esce mai senza permesso

Exercise 3

Translate into Italian using the present conditional

1 Paola could help me2 We would gladly come3 I wouldnrsquot go to the library in the evenings4 When would you start Signora Vialli5 Pietro would like to invite you [sing] to the party6 Wersquod be happy to see you [pl]7 They would keep the dog in the garden8 I would have to leave early9 Irsquod like another biscuit

10 Would you know the result Mr Spadavecchia

12 (tu dovere) telefonare a Pia13 A Liz (piacere) vivere in Italia14 Mi (potere) aspettare Signora15 Mauro (essere) la persona giusta16 Mi (voi dare) un passaggio17 (io bere) volentieri qualcosa

18 Non (loro abitare) mai in una casacome questa

19 Chi (tradurre) dallrsquoarabo20 (tu accompagnare) Silvia alla

stazione

Unit 23 167

KEY TO EXERCISES

UNIT 1

Exercise 1

1 m 2 f 3 m 4 f 5 f 6 m 7 m 8 m 9 m 10 mf 11 m 12 f13 mf 14 m 15 f 16 f 17 mf 18 m 19 m 20 f

Exercise 2

1 ragazzi 2 marche 3 chiavi 4 abitanti 5 zii 6 fiumi 7 stazioni8 ragazze 9 energie 10 pomeriggi 11 banche 12 pianisti 13 clienti14 indirizzi 15 occhi 16 ristoranti 17 televisioni 18 calendari19 francesi 20 laghi

Exercise 3

1 nome 2 via 3 figlio 4 mano 5 opinione 6 cliente 7 occhio 8 per-sona 9 marca 10 problema 11 ciliegia 12 caffegrave 13 medico14 attivista 15 ginocchio 16 bugia 17 tedesco 18 test 19 uomo20 amica

UNIT 2

Exercise 1

1 la 2 la 3 il 4 la 5 lrsquo or le 6 il 7 i 8 lrsquo 9 lo 10 gli 11 le12 lo or gli 13 lrsquo 14 la 15 la or le 16 gli 17 le 18 le 19 la or le20 lrsquo

Exercise 2

1 una 2 una 3 un 4 uno 5 una 6 un 7 unrsquo 8 una 9 un 10 uno

11 unrsquo 12 uno 13 una 14 unrsquo 15 uno 16 un 17 uno 18 un19 uno 20 unrsquo

Exercise 3

1 lo 2 una 3 le 4 unrsquo 5 la 6 il 7 unrsquo 8 lrsquo un 9 il 10 lo

UNIT 3

Exercise 1

1 interessante 2 bianca 3 bianchi 4 rosse 5 egoisti 6 bellrsquo7 razzista 8 comiche 9 simpatiche 10 lunghi 11 quel simpatico12 questi facili 13 quei begli 14 queste belle 15 quegli morti16 questi inglesi 17 quelle spagnole 18 quel bellrsquo 19 quelle fresche20 quei greci

Exercise 2

1 grande 2 rosa 3 francesi 4 grave 5 pacifisti 6 tedesche 7 pigro8 lunghi 9 belghe 10 belga 11 sporche 12 energico 13 resistenti14 blu 15 scozzesi 16 veloci 17 simpatiche 18 italiani 19 ottimisti20 soddisfatti

Exercise 3

1 i loro 2 i suoi 3 la mia 4 le tue 5 la vostra 6 il nostro 7 i miei 8 laloro 9 tua 10 la Sua

Exercise 4

1 il suo 2 la nostra 3 i tuoi 4 il mio 5 i suoi 6 le tue or le Sue 7 laloro 8 i vostri or i Loro 9 le sue 10 i nostri

Exercise 5

1 questi i nostri tedeschi 2 i Suoi ottimisti 3 queste le vostre 4 i miei iSuoi 5 questi i miei quelli i tuoi 6 il nostro entusiasta il vostro7 quelle le mie queste le tue 8 quegli divertenti questo difficile 9 i mieipesanti i vostri leggeri 10 quellrsquo minerale gassata questa liscia

Key to exercises 169

UNIT 4

Exercise 1

1 siamo 2 sei 3 sono 4 sono 5 siete 6 egrave 7 egrave 8 sono 9 siete10 siamo 11 sono 12 siete 13 egrave 14 sono 15 sei 16 egrave 17 egrave18 sono 19 siete 20 egrave

Exercise 2

1 abbiamo 2 ha 3 ho 4 hanno 5 avete 6 ha 7 ha 8 hai9 abbiamo 10 hai 11 avete 12 ha 13 abbiamo 14 hanno 15 hai16 ha 17 hanno 18 hai 19 ho 20 ha

Exercise 3

1 Non ho ragione Ho ragione 2 Il professore non ha caldo Il professoreha caldo 3 La Signorina Berti non ha sete La Signorina Berti ha sete4 Lei non ha sonno Lei ha sonno 5 Non avete paura Avete paura6 Non hanno freddo Hanno freddo 7 Carla e Andrea non hanno fameCarla e Andrea hanno fame

Exercise 4

1 Sono stanco Non sono stanco 2 Sei pigra Non sei pigra 3 Il dottore egravegiovane Il dottore non egrave giovane 4 La professoressa egrave simpatica La profes-soressa non egrave simpatica 5 Lei egrave alto Lei non egrave alto 6 Siamo magre Nonsiamo magre 7 Siete intelligenti Non siete intelligenti 8 Le tue amichesono contente Le tue amiche non sono contente

Exercise 5

1 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una sedia 2 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono due poltrone 3 Nellrsquouf-ficio ci sono tre computer 4 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una stampante 5 Nellrsquoufficiocrsquoegrave un telefono 6 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave la fotocopiatrice 7 Nellrsquoufficio ci sonodue radiatori 8 Nellrsquoufficio crsquoegrave una porta 9 Nellrsquoufficio ci sono trefinestre

Exercise 6

1 In questo paese crsquoegrave un museo ci sono tre musei non ci sono musei 2 Inquesto paese crsquoegrave una discoteca ci sono due discoteche non ci sono disco-teche 3 In questo paese crsquoegrave una panetteria ci sono quattro panetterie nonci sono panetterie 4 In questo paese crsquoegrave un cinema ci sono due cinemanon ci sono cinema 5 In questo paese crsquoegrave una biblioteca ci sono due

170 Key to exercises

biblioteche non ci sono biblioteche 6 In questo paese crsquoegrave una scuola cisono due scuole non ci sono scuole 7 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ufficio postaleci sono due uffici postali non ci sono uffici postali 8 In questo paese crsquoegraveuna libreria ci sono quattro librerie non ci sono librerie 9 In questo paesecrsquoegrave un giardino pubblico ci sono tre giardini pubblici non ci sono giardinipubblici 10 In questo paese crsquoegrave un ristorante ci sono sei ristoranti non cisono ristoranti

UNIT 5

Exercise 1

1 arriva 2 vive 3 mangiamo 4 cerchi 5 prendete 6 parte 7 leg-giamo 8 pulisci 9 conosco 10 finiscono 11 guidiamo 12 giochiamo13 tornate 14 capisci 15 spendono 16 abita 17 pagate 18 viaggi19 ricevi 20 lasciano

Exercise 2

1 vanno 2 produce 3 diamo 4 vai 5 fate 6 riusciamo 7 venite8 posso 9 vogliono 10 dici 11 potete 12 voglio 13 stai 14 sanno15 fanno 16 devono 17 traduciamo 18 deve 19 sapete 20 vengono

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlare con Marcello 2 Partiamo stasera 3 Prendiamo il pros-simo autobus 4 (Lei) puograve andare al cinema Signor Buchan 5 Sappiamousare quei cellulari 6 Preferisce sempre leggere il giornale 7 Il bam-bino dorme 8 Vengo a Torino questrsquoestate 9 Escono spesso la sera10 I ragazzi giocano a pallone domani

Exercise 4

1 Esci stasera mamma 2 Cosa facciamo domani 3 Puoi aprire quellaporta 4 Vuoi un caffegrave 5 Sai suonare il piano Francesco 6 Cosa cer-chi 7 (Lei) beve caffegrave o acqua minerale Signora 8 Tu e Jim conoscetei miei genitori 9 Stai bene oggi 10 Cosa costruiscono

Exercise 5

1 (Lei) non parla inglese Signora Vialli 2 I miei amici tedeschi non sannocantare in italiano 3 Non guadagno molto 4 Non dagrave una festa per il suocompleanno 5 Non lavori con Giulia 6 Non vedono il Signor Moro datre anni 7 Percheacute non vai mai a Firenze Claudio 8 Non riesco a chiudere

Key to exercises 171

questa finestra 9 Percheacute non bevete caffegrave stamattina 10 Non venitedomani

UNIT 6

Exercise 1

1 dolcemente 2 tranquillamente 3 semplicemente 4 allegramente5 maggiormente 6 irregolarmente 7 probabilmente 8 chiaramente9 facilmente 10 velocemente 11 lentamente 12 utilmente13 attentamente 14 rapidamente 15 leggermente

Exercise 2

1 molti 2 molto 3 pochi 4 troppo 5 troppi 6 tanta 7 troppo8 molto 9 poco 10 molte 11 poco 12 molto 13 molto 14 pochi15 molto 16 poca 17 molta 18 molto 19 troppe 20 poche

Exercise 3

1 con prudenza 2 con pazienza 3 in modo nervoso 4 a poco a poco5 senza esitazione 6 di solito 7 in tempo 8 con coraggio 9 di sicuro10 in maniera brusca

Exercise 4

1 A volte mangio in mensa 2 La piscina egrave abbastanza grande 3 Usciamospesso con i nostri amici 4 Hai abbastanza soldi 5 Devi parlare lenta-mente or piano 6 Marina non mangia mai (il) formaggio 7 Francescaarriva sempre tardi or in ritardo 8 Aspetto da quasi quaranta minuti9 Carla e Andrea sono fuori 10 I tuoi genitori stanno bene

UNIT 7

Exercise 1

1 Anna la guarda 2 Li invitiamo 3 Le scrivete 4 Lo leggono 5 Lasuono 6 La preparo 7 Lo chiamo 8 Li faccio 9 Le invito 10 Lechiudete 11 Lorenzo li corregge 12 Lo prendono 13 Li porto 14 Licerco 15 Pia la beve 16 Paola lo finisce 17 Li accompagno 18 Le vedioggi 19 La ascolto 20 Luca li lava

172 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 Non le voglio 2 Non li compriamo 3 Non ci chiamano 4 Silvia non liinvita 5 I Signori Bianchi non lo prendono 6 Non mi invitate 7 Non viaspetto 8 Non la vedo domani 9 Non ti accompagno alla stazione10 Non lo guardiamo

Exercise 3

1 Vogliamo vederlo 2 Non posso aiutarti 3 Puoi accompagnarmi4 Vuoi sentirla 5 Devono chiamarci 6 Voglio invitarvi 7 Vuole cono-scerle 8 Non potete farli 9 Devi ascoltarmi 10 Non posso aiutarLaSignora

Exercise 4

1 lo 2 le 3 li 4 li 5 la 6 mi 7 li 8 La 9 li 10 le 11 la 12 li13 la 14 vi 15 lo 16 la 17 la 18 li 19 le 20 lo

Exercise 5

1 Vi invitiamo alla festa 2 Ho molti amici e li vedo spesso 3 Signora FusiLa posso chiamare or posso chiamarLa domani 4 Ci aiuti la settimanaprossima 5 Ti devo vedere or Devo vederti 6 Olga e Anna partono doma-ni e le voglio accompagnareportare or voglio accompagnarleportarle allastazione 7 Non vi posso aiutare or non posso aiutarvi 8 lsquoPorti la chi-tarrarsquo lsquoNo non ce lrsquohorsquo 9 Tullio compra queste riviste e le legge 10 Mipuoi portareaccompagnare or puoi portarmiaccompagnarmi a scuoladomani

UNIT 8

Exercise 1

1 della mamma 2 dello zio 3 degli amici 4 del parco 5 dellrsquoauto 6 deipaesi 7 delle stanze 8 al mare 9 allo stadio 10 alla stazione 11 airagazzi 12 agli uomini 13 alle donne 14 allrsquoospedale 15 dalla zia16 dallo studente 17 dal dentista 18 dallrsquoaeroporto 19 dagli uffici20 dalle colleghe 21 dai ministri 22 nellrsquoalbergo 23 nello stipendio24 nella casa 25 negli anni 26 nei cassetti 27 nelle camere 28 nelfrigo 29 sul tavolo 30 sulla sedia 31 sullo scaffale 32 sulle spalle33 sui libri 34 sugli alberi 35 sullrsquoidea

Key to exercises 173

Exercise 2

1 a 2 in 3 al 4 fra or tra 5 da 6 alla 7 con 8 dal 9 del 10 ai11 a in 12 al con 13 nel 14 alle 15 da 16 alle 17 per 18 con19 del 20 a

Exercise 3

1 a 2 in 3 a in 4 a 5 di 6 al 7 a 8 a 9 da a 10 da 11 a12 in 13 in 14 alla 15 a or per 16 al 17 della 18 in 19 nella 20 di

Exercise 4

1 Finisco di lavorare alle 6 2 Antonio parte per Genova 3 Gemma egrave natanel 2001 4 Fabia non esce mai di sera 5 I Signori Bancroft abitano incampagna in una vecchia villa 6 La biblioteca egrave dietro la palestra 7 Nonpuoi uscire senza di me 8 Abitate lontano dalla scuola 9 La zia di Isa-bella vive a Greve in Toscana 10 Ha una gonna di pelle 11 Angus egrave diEdimburgo in Scozia 12 Deve girare a destra dopo la chiesa( Signora)13 Stasera mangiamo in pizzeria 14 Questi fiori sono per tua madre 15 Aor per Natale andiamo a sciare in montagna 16 Abito vicino alla pri-gione 17 Margaret vive a Torino da cinque anni 18 Il treno per Aostaparte dal binario 7 19 Regaliamo or diamo a Luisa un CD di musicarussa 20 Compro sempre il pane da Belli

UNIT 9

Exercise 1

1 chi 2 chi 3 chi 4 che or cosa or che cosa 5 che or cosa or che cosa6 chi 7 chi 8 che or cosa or che cosa 9 chi 10 che or cosa or che cosa11 chi 12 che or cosa or che cosa 13 chi 14 chi 15 che or cosa or checosa 16 chi 17 che or cosa or che cosa 18 chi 19 che or cosa or checosa 20 chi

Exercise 2

1 dove 2 quando 3 percheacute 4 come 5 quando 6 che 7 che or quale8 dovrsquo 9 percheacute 10 qual 11 che or quale 12 che or quale 13 come14 dove 15 percheacute 16 dovrsquo 17 quando 18 qual 19 percheacute 20 che orquali

174 Key to exercises

Exercise 3

1 quante 2 quanto 3 quanti 4 quanti 5 quante 6 quanta 7 quanto8 quante 9 quanti 10 quanto 11 quanta 12 quanto 13 quanti14 quanto 15 quanto 16 quante 17 quanto 18 quante 19 quanti20 quanto

Exercise 4

1 Quanti panini volete 2 Dove andate a pranzo 3 Chi sono quelle per-sone 4 CheCosaChe cosa fai domenica 5 Quando andate in vacanza6 Percheacute Luisa non parte 7 Qual egrave la tua bici 8 CheQuale film guardi9 Chi di loro egrave italianoitaliana 10 Quando arriva il treno

UNIT 10

Exercise 1

1 Le telefoniamo 2 Gli spedisco or spedisco loro le cartoline 3 Silvia gliracconta una storia 4 Le regalo un libro 5 Anna gli scrive or scrive loro6 Le porto i fiori 7 Gli scriviamo or scriviamo loro 8 Olga e Silvia leparlano 9 Gli legge or legge loro un libro 10 Cosa gli regalate

Exercise 2

1 Non le parlo di lavoro 2 Non mi telefoni 3 Non vi regalo dei libri4 Non gli offrite qualcosa 5 Gli amici non le offrono un gelato 6 Non ciscrivete 7 Non ti mando una cartolina 8 Non vi restituisco il libro9 Paolo non mi dice la veritagrave 10 Non gli spedisco il pacco

Exercise 3

1 Possiamo scriverle 2 Devo parlarti 3 Voglio regalargli una chitarra4 Puoi telefonarci 5 Devono offrirvi qualcosa 6 Potete dirmi tutto7 Posso parlarLe Signora 8 Non dovete scrivergli 9 Non posso rispon-derti 10 Voglio crederle

Exercise 4

1 le 2 ti 3 gli 4 gli 5 Le 6 vi 7 ci 8 ti 9 gli 10 Le 11 mi 12 le13 gli 14 gli 15 vi 16 gli 17 mi 18 le 19 ti 20 gli

Key to exercises 175

Exercise 5

1 Puoi dire a Lucia che le voglio parlare or voglio parlarle 2 Appena arrivoa Roma vi telefono 3 Devo chiederLe or Le devo chiedere un favoreSignora 4 Gli dai il tuo numero di telefono 5 Ci dicono or raccontanosempre (delle) cose interessanti 6 Mi mandano sempre una cartolinaquando vanno in Italia 7 Per il suo compleanno le dograve dei fiori 8 Devodarti or ti devo dare i libri di Luca 9 Se volete vi racconto una storia10 Massimo mi scrive ogni settimana or tutte le settimane

UNIT 11

Exercise 1

1 Non le piacciono i carciofi 2 Non gli piace guidare 3 Gli piace viag-giare 4 Gli piace il mare 5 Gli piace ballare 6 Non ci piace il pesce7 Vi piace nuotare 8 Le piacciono i film francesi 9 Non le piace stirare10 Gli piace andare in moto

Exercise 2

1 Non le piace andare in centro il sabato 2 Non ti piace la musica clas-sica 3 Non gli piacciono i funghi 4 Non vi piace guardare la televi-sione 5 Non mi piacciono i film di fantascienza 6 Non gli piace lascuola 7 Non ci piacciono le canzoni italiane 8 Non le piacciono glispaghetti 9 Non mi piace sciare 10 Non vi piace la cioccolata al latte

Exercise 3

1 (Non) mi piace la frutta 2 (Non) mi piace il calcio 3 (Non) mi piac-ciono le fragole 4 (Non) mi piace giocare a tennis 5 (Non) mi piace uscirecon gli amici 6 (Non) mi piacciono i gatti 7 (Non) mi piace la pizza8 (Non) mi piacciono i dolci 9 (Non) mi piace ballare 10 (Non) mi piac-ciono le vacanze

Exercise 4

1 A Luigi (non) piace il caffegrave senza zucchero 2 Al professore (non) piac-ciono le poesie di Leopardi 3 A mia sorella (non) piace andare al cinema4 Ai miei cugini (non) piacciono i film di Fellini 5 Al primo ministro (non)piace la politica

176 Key to exercises

Exercise 5

1 basta 2 sembra 3 piacciono 4 manca 5 servono 6 mancano7 sembra 8 servono 9 pare 10 bastano

Exercise 6

1 Unrsquoora non mi basta 2 A Giovanni serve una penna 3 A Lynne man-cano gli or i suoi amici italiani 4 Ti piace la cioccolata or il cioccolato5 Non le piace andare al cinema 6 Vi serve un passaggio 7 Gli servonouna penna e un quaderno 8 Le sembra noioso lo spettacolo Signora9 Ti serve aiuto 10 Mi piace leggere

UNIT 12

Exercise 1

1 restati 2 uscite 3 andata 4 arrivati 5 entrata 6 riuscito 7 arrivato8 piaciuta 9 costati 10 nata

Exercise 2

1 hai comprato 2 ha regalato 3 siamo andati or andate 4 avete trovato5 hai spento 6 egrave venuta 7 ha portato 8 avete preso 9 ho visto 10 haipotuto 11 ho dovuto 12 egrave uscito ha perso 13 ha scritto 14 abbiamogiocato 15 ha cominciato 16 ha voluto or egrave voluto 17 hai messo 18 haipotuto 19 avete avuto 20 hai letto

Exercise 3

1 abbiamo dovuto 2 avete mangiato 3 sei partito or partita 4 ha te-lefonato 5 ha voluto or egrave voluta 6 hai conosciuto 7 ha dovuto or egravedovuta 8 avete accompagnato 9 ha vinto 10 hai finito 11 ho capito12 hai portato 13 siamo riusciti or riuscite 14 avete deciso 15 ha avuto16 sono venuti 17 avete fatto 18 egrave partito 19 egrave stata 20 ha tradotto

Exercise 4

1 Abbiamo giagrave fatto questo esercizio 2 Non ho ancora finito di leggere ilgiornale 3 Stefano non egrave mai andato or stato a Roma 4 Non ho piugrave vistoRoberto dopo la festa 5 Avete giagrave pagato il conto 6 Giulia non haancora cominciato a lavorare 7 Carlo non ha piugrave potuto lavorare 8 Nonho mai conosciuto i suoi genitori 9 Hai giagrave scritto le lettere 10 Non homai visto quel film

Key to exercises 177

UNIT 13

Exercise 1

1 li ho messi 2 lrsquoho accompagnata 3 le ho comprate 4 le ha chiuse 5 liho mangiati 6 ti ha chiamata 7 lrsquoha letto 8 ci hanno invitati 9 li hopresi 10 li ho dati

Exercise 2

1 le ho offerto 2 li avete visti 3 lrsquoho imprestata 4 le ho telefonato 5 le haprese 6 li ho studiati 7 mi ha presentato 8 ti ha accompagnata 9 le haimandato 10 lrsquoho conosciuta 11 lrsquoabbiamo lasciata 12 gli hai detto 13 liho comprati 14 Lrsquoho trovata 15 le ho conosciute 16 gli ho detto 17 lrsquohapagato 18 le ho raccontato 19 Lrsquoha accompagnata 20 lrsquoho letta tutta

Exercise 3

1 Non li ho saputi fare 2 Li ho voluti vedere 3 Non lrsquoabbiamo potutochiamare 4 Vi hanno potuti aiutare or potute aiutare 5 Lrsquoabbiamodovuta invitare 6 Non le ha sapute tradurre 7 Le avete dovuteaccompagnare 8 Lrsquoha voluta mangiare 9 Li hai potuti vedere 10 Nonle hanno volute fare

Exercise 4

1 Sabina non mi ha invitata 2 Chi ti ha chiamata 3 Gli abbiamo te-lefonato ieri 4 Vi ho cercati ma non vi ho trovati 5 Chiara ci haaccompagnati or portati alla fermata dellrsquoautobus 6 Vi ho mandato unacartolina lrsquoavete ricevuta 7 I (miei) nonni mi hanno regalato 100 euro mali ho giagrave spesi 8 Ho comprato due panini e li ho mangiati 9 lsquoHai spento lalucersquo lsquoSigrave lrsquoho spentarsquo 10 Carla non ha potuto aiutarle or Carla non le hapotute aiutare

UNIT 14

Exercise 1

1 lei te 2 loro 3 lei 4 noi voi 5 me 6 lui 7 me te 8 Lei 9 voi10 lei loro

Exercise 2

1 Nobody plays drums like me 2 Every student but him did the home-work 3 Sergio calls or phones you not me 4 Irsquoll take or go with or

178 Key to exercises

accompany you as well 5 I understand as much as you do or as much asyou 6 Mauro tells everyone the truth but or except me 7 You should oryou must or you have to phone me as well 8 Claudiarsquos lending us therecords not you 9 Irsquom giving or I give or Irsquoll give my address to everyonebut her 10 Irsquom giving her a book and him a record

Exercise 3

1 voi 2 lui 3 loro 4 noi 5 lei

Exercise 4

1 Tutti sono contro di me 2 Vieni con me 3 Ho comprato un regalo perte 4 Non puoi contare su di lui 5 Posso dormire da voi stasera

UNIT 15

Exercise 1

1 che 2 cui 3 che 4 cui 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 cui 9 cui 10 che

Exercise 2

1 cui 2 cui 3 cui 4 che 5 che 6 che 7 cui 8 che 9 cui 10 cui

Exercise 3

1 la quale 2 con la quale 3 dei quali 4 nel quale 5 alle quali 6 ilquale 7 dal quale 8 le quali 9 delle quali 10 i quali

Exercise 4

1 colei che 2 coloro che 3 colui che 4 colui or colei che 5 coloro che

Exercise 5

1 chi 2 quella che 3 chi or quello che 4 chi 5 quelli che 6 quella che7 chi 8 quello che 9 chi 10 quelle che

Exercise 6

1 Il libro che voglio comprare egrave troppo caro 2 La signora con cui or con laquale ho parlato egrave tedesca 3 Le persone che or le quali hanno telefonatovivono or abitano in America 4 La cittagrave dove or in cui or nella quale vivo or

Key to exercises 179

abito non egrave molto grande 5 Colui che or chi vuole andare allrsquouniversitagravedeve sapere leggere e scrivere 6 Paolo che or il quale ha perso il (suo)cellulare non egrave contento or felice 7 Quella canzone mi piace or Mi piacequella canzone ma preferisco quelle che abbiamo sentito ieri sera 8 Questaegrave or Ecco la sorella di Fabio la quale or che mi ha prestato la sua bici 9 Haivisto chi or colui che or colei che ha mangiato le pesche 10 Chi egrave lrsquouomo cuior a cui or al quale avete venduto i biglietti

UNIT 16

Exercise 1

1 parlava 2 passava 3 faceva 4 studiavo riposava 5 partiva 6 lavo-rava 7 diceva 8 faceva 9 abitavamo 10 eravate 11 andavano12 era 13 uscivamo 14 sapevi 15 conoscevo 16 amava 17 dormivate18 erano 19 avevi 20 dovevano

Exercise 2

1 sei partita 2 era 3 ho studiato 4 mangiavamo 5 egrave rimasta 6 aveva7 sembravano 8 ha speso 9 egrave andata 10 erano

Exercise 3

1 egrave arrivato era 2 ho conosciuto abitavo 3 avevi hai cominciato 4 hatelefonato facevo 5 sono venuti era 6 hanno fatto sapevano 7 hannodetto hanno visto 8 egrave venuto aveva 9 siamo arrivati or arrivate partiva10 ho imprestato era

Exercise 4

suonava piaceva abbiamo deciso siamo arrivati mancavano crsquoerano eraaspettavamo abbiamo sentito ha risposto abbiamo visto era ha finitoha spiegato era chiamava aveva era sapeva egrave partito aveva egrave riuscitoaprivano

Exercise 5

1 Quanto tempo hai passato a Bologna 2 Siamo andati or andate alcinema ieri sera 3 Sembravate felici 4 Il padre di Gemma faceva il mari-naio or era marinaio 5 Claudia e Monica non sono venute in vacanza connoi questa volta 6 I miei genitori di solito uscivano alle 8 7 Mio padre halavorato in India per 3 anni 8 A che ora avete preso lrsquoautobus ieri mattina9 Lrsquoanno scorso facevamo ginnastica il or di lunedigrave mattina 10 Dove hai

180 Key to exercises

comprato quelle scarpe 11 Non ti ho chiamato or chiamata percheacute dormivi12 Quando voi abitavate or vivevate a Londra io abitavo or vivevo a Parigi13 Quanti anni aveva Susanna quando egrave andata allrsquouniversitagrave 14 Mentreguardavo la televisione Anna egrave entrata e lrsquoha spenta 15 Paolo e Giulia nonsono venuti percheacute Paolo era troppo stanco

UNIT 17

Exercise 1

1 ne ho mandate 2 ne ho comprata or ne ho comprati 3 ne ho fatti or ne hofatta 4 ne sono venute poche 5 non ne ho fatto nessuno 6 ne ho lasciatauna aperta 7 ne hanno invitati molti 8 ne ho letti 9 ne abbiamo com-prata poca 10 non ne ho mangiata nessuna 11 ne ho presi 12 ne ho datealcune 13 ne abbiamo visti 14 ne ho mangiate 15 non ne ha mangiatonessuno 16 ne abbiamo dato qualcuno 17 ne ho presi alcuni 18 ne sonorimasti alcuni cari 19 non ne ha invitata nessuna 20 ne ho regalate

Exercise 2

1 ne 2 ne 3 li 4 lrsquo 5 ne 6 le 7 ne 8 ne 9 li 10 ne 11 ne 12 lrsquo13 ne 14 ne 15 ne 16 la 17 lo 18 ne 19 ne 20 li

Exercise 3

1 Dovete parlarne col professore 2 Vuoi farne un altro 3 Non dobbiamoprenderne 4 Potete mangiarne 5 Devo farne sei 6 Non possiamo par-larne 7 Posso assaggiarne uno 8 Non deve portarne Signora 9 Voglio-no comprarne qualcuno 10 Non possono berne

Exercise 4

1 Ne ho dovuti dare due a Marisa 2 Ne hai potute comprare 3 Quantene hai dovute fare 4 Non ne hanno voluta mangiare 5 Ne ha dovutileggere quattro 6 Non ne abbiamo potute prendere 7 Ne ho dovute scri-vere due 8 Ne ho potute leggere solo due pagine 9 Ne avete dovuti rifaremolti 10 Non ne hanno potuta assaggiare

Exercise 5

1 in questa casa Ci abitiamo da tre anni 2 al Museo di Storia NaturaleStefano ci lavora da febbraio 3 alla festa di Marco Ci volete venire orVolete venirci 4 al cinema Paolo e Livia ci vanno due volte alla set-timana 5 al supermercato La Signora Bini ci va sempre a piedi 6 in

Key to exercises 181

Italia Ci rimango per tre settimane 7 a scuola Giulia ci viene sempre inbici 8 allrsquoufficio postale Ci ho passato tre ore in coda 9 a casa di PietroCi siete andati a cena 10 a Sorrento Ci passiamo le vacanze

UNIT 18

Exercise 1

1 arriveranno 2 parlerete 3 telefoneragrave 4 dirai 5 scriverograve 6 dormirograve7 cominceremo 8 finirai 9 prenderograve 10 chiamerai 11 abiterete12 porteranno 13 direte 14 tradurragrave 15 pagheremo 16 mangerai17 scriveragrave 18 cercheragrave 19 prenderanno 20 pagheragrave

Exercise 2

1 andrograve 2 saremo 3 rimarrai 4 verrograve potrograve 5 dovragrave 6 verragrave vorragrave7 avremo 8 potrograve 9 vedrai 10 farete 11 staranno 12 sapragrave 13 farai14 sarete 15 dovrete 16 andrograve 17 saprai 18 verrai 19 farete20 terranno

Exercise 3

uscirograve dovrograve arriverograve verragrave andremo lascerograve andremo vedremo porteragravetorneremo verranno dovremo usciremo faremo saragrave potremo

Exercise 4

1 Chi potragrave aiutarmi 2 Lrsquoestate prossima faremo un corso di italiano3 Leggerai tutti questi libri 4 Non andrograve in biblioteca domani 5 Quandoarriveragrave Signora Pasini 6 Domenica usciranno 7 Cosa farai8 Saranno le 10 9 Porterai i tuoi CD per la festa 10 Non verrete con noial cinema

UNIT 19

Exercise 1

1 aveva finito 2 era arrivata 3 avevo vista 4 avevi spento 5 avevatepreso 6 aveva lavorato 7 aveva scritto 8 aveva preparato 9 eri riuscitoor riuscita 10 avevamo chiesto 11 era stata 12 avevo mangiato 13 erapiaciuta 14 era andata 15 erano uscite 16 avevo capito 17 era partito18 era rimasto 19 aveva voluto 20 era stata

182 Key to exercises

Exercise 2

1 sono arrivato or arrivata erano usciti 2 conosceva aveva telefonato3 hai fatto avevo detto 4 era aveva camminato 5 egrave venuto doveva or hadovuto avevano dato 6 era aveva vinto 7 portava aveva regalato 8 hocomprato avevate consigliato 9 ha speso aveva guadagnato 10 ha invi-tato erano andati

Exercise 3

1 Paola non era ancora andata or stata in Scozia 2 Avevo finito il lavoroma ero molto stanco or stanca 3 Le ragazze non erano mai entrate in quellachiesa 4 Arianna ha finito la torta che aveva fatto sua nonna 5 lsquoCosaavevi detto a Fabiorsquo lsquoNon gli avevo detto nullarsquo 6 Maria aveva dovuto orera dovuta rimanere or restare a casa 7 Quanto era costata la vostramacchina or auto 8 Avevano comprato or preso il biglietto il giornoprima 9 Non avevo piugrave la bici percheacute lrsquoavevo data a Anna 10 Era nata inRussia ma abitava da molti anni in Italia quando lrsquoho conosciuta

UNIT 20

Exercise 1

1 si 2 mi 3 si 4 vi 5 si 6 ci 7 mi 8 si 9 si 10 si 11 vi 12 ti13 ci 14 si 15 vi 16 si 17 si 18 ti 19 vi 20 si

Exercise 2

1 si 2 si 3 vi 4 si 5 ti 6 ci 7 si 8 si 9 ci 10 mi 11 vi 12 ci13 si 14 ti 15 mi 16 ti 17 ci 18 si 19 mi 20 vi

Exercise 3

1 si sono sposati 2 ti sei sbagliato 3 vi siete ricordate 4 si egrave fatta 5 sisono incontrati 6 ti sei perso 7 si egrave divertita 8 ci siamo bevuti 9 mi sonoannoiato 10 ci siamo alzate 11 ti sei lavato 12 mi sono tagliata 13 si egravefermato 14 si sono separati 15 si egrave lamentato 16 si egrave riposato 17 si egravestancata 18 ti sei arrabbiata 19 vi siete offesi 20 si sono dimenticati

Exercise 4

1 Non mi sono potuta lavare 2 Sandra e Roberto si sono voluti sposare3 Ci siamo dovuti scusare 4 Luigi si egrave dovuto alzare alle sei 5 Gianni nonsi egrave voluto mettere il berretto 6 Ti sei potuto curare 7 Vi siete potuti

Key to exercises 183

riposare 8 Mi sono dovuta fermare 9 Percheacute ti sei voluto tingere icapelli 10 Non ci siamo potuti spiegare

Exercise 5

1 Vi divertite 2 Ti sei lavata le mani 3 Come si sente Signora 4 Visbagliate 5 Dove vi siete conosciute or incontrate 6 Percheacute non ti siedi7 Paolo parla sempre di segrave or se stesso 8 Franca si egrave lavata i capelli9 Carlo si egrave scusato 10 Mi sono vestita

UNIT 21

Exercise 1

1 compra 2 usciamo 3 stia 4 metti 5 siate 6 venga 7 dai or darsquo8 finisci 9 compri 10 facciamo 11 abbi 12 parli 13 vai or varsquo 14 dirsquo15 faccia 16 scrivete 17 fai or farsquo 18 entrino 19 aprite 20 rispondi

Exercise 2

1 chiuda 2 vada 3 sorrida 4 dica 5 faccia 6 sia 7 traduca8 accenda 9 stia 10 entri

Exercise 3

1 non partite 2 non rispondere 3 non andate 4 non scenda 5 nonusciamo 6 non finire 7 non ascoltare 8 non prenda 9 non telefonare10 non dire 11 non tagliarti or non ti tagliare 12 non darle or non le dare13 non parlargli or non gli parlare 14 non scrivetemi or non mi scrivete15 non dirlo or non lo dire 16 non invitarli or non li invitare 17 nonprenderlo or non lo prendere 18 non metterti or non ti mettere 19 nonportatele or non le portate 20 non farlo or non lo fare

Exercise 4

1 vai or varsquo 2 prendete 3 invita 4 guardiamo 5 comincia 6 faccia7 mettano 8 fai or farsquo 9 vai or varsquo 10 stai or starsquo 11 mandami12 fatelo 13 dammi 14 rispondimi 15 vacci 16 mangiatelo 17 leg-getelo 18 ci aspetti 19 digli 20 dalle

Exercise 5

1 parlatele 2 prendili 3 lo firmi 4 parlatene 5 andiamoci 6 falli7 restateci 8 chiediamolo 9 correggili 10 prendetelo 11 lo aspettino

184 Key to exercises

12 mandali 13 compratela 14 la porti 15 aiutateli 16 rendilo 17 chie-diamole 18 telefonagli or telefona loro 19 bevine 20 studiatela

UNIT 22

Exercise 1

1 fa attraversa 2 parlano 3 lavora 4 fuma 5 devono 6 entra 7 pos-sono 8 paga 9 trovano 10 compra

Exercise 2

1 Quando si ha freddo si lavora male 2 Quando si ha la febbre si resta acasa 3 Quando si comincia a studiare una lingua si fanno degli sbagli4 Quando si guida non si usa il cellulare 5 Quando si ha fame si mangia6 Quando si egrave stanchi si fanno molti sbagli 7 Quando si egrave avvocati si cono-sce la legge 8 Quando non si hanno soldi non si fanno spese inutili9 Quando si hanno tanti amici si egrave fortunati 10 Quando si mangiano troppidolci si ingrassa

Exercise 3

1 Non si mettono i piedi sulla scrivania 2 La mattina si fa colazione3 Dopo pranzo si lavano i piatti 4 Non si parla con gli sconosciuti 5 Nonsi va in bicicletta sul marciapiedi 6 Non si mangia durante le lezioni7 Non ci si guarda tanto allo specchio 8 In biblioteca si parla a bassavoce 9 Non si guarda la televisione tutto il giorno 10 Il giorno primadegli esami si studia

Exercise 4

1 Dopo che si egrave fatto il bagno in mare si fa la doccia 2 Dopo che si egravesuperato un esame si egrave contenti 3 Dopo che si egrave finito di lavorare si va acasa 4 Dopo che si egrave saliti sullrsquoaereo non si puograve usare il cellulare5 Quando si egrave cresciuti in campagna si conoscono i nomi di tante piante

UNIT 23

Exercise 1

1 leggeresti 2 potrei 3 avreste 4 sveglieresti 5 vorrebbero 6 paghe-resti 7 farei 8 dovremmo 9 sapresti 10 rimarrebbe 11 aprirei12 dovresti 13 piacerebbe 14 potrebbe 15 sarebbe 16 dareste 17 ber-rei 18 abiterebbero 19 tradurrebbe 20 accompagneresti

Key to exercises 185

Exercise 2

1 Vorrei due panini 2 Dovreste studiare di piugrave 3 Lucia andrebbe invacanza 4 Fareste una pausa 5 Potremmo parlarti 6 Maurizio cam-bierebbe lavoro 7 Mi daresti un consiglio 8 Vi piacerebbe andare a Ve-nezia 9 I nostri amici dovrebbero arrivare oggi 10 Non uscirebbe maisenza permesso

Exercise 3

1 Paola potrebbe aiutarmi or mi potrebbe aiutare 2 Verremmo volentieri3 Non andrei in biblioteca la or di sera 4 Quando comincerebbe SignoraVialli 5 Pietro vorrebbe invitarti or ti vorrebbe invitare alla festa6 Saremmo contenti or felici di vedervi 7 Terrebbero il cane in giardino8 Dovrei partire presto 9 Vorrei un altro biscotto 10 Saprebbe il risultatoSignor Spadavecchia

186 Key to exercises

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS

adjective a word that describes a noun or pronoun eg the green door itrsquosvery old Johnrsquos skinny shersquos most objectionable

a demonstrative adjective describes something as being pointed out (lsquodem-onstratedrsquo) eg thisthat computer thesethose railings

a possessive adjective describes something as belonging to someone orsomething eg myheritsouryour behaviour is quite normal

adverb a word which gives information about a verb an adjective oranother adverb eg she sang loudly itrsquoll finish soon Irsquove got it somewhere itrsquosincrediblyvery funny she sang incrediblyvery loudly

agreement a feature whereby the form of one word changes depending onthe form of another word it is linked with In English the most obviousexample is in the difference between singular and plural so we say lsquoThis is theroadrsquo and lsquoThese are the roadsrsquo but not eg lsquoThis are the roadsrsquo lsquoThese is theroadsrsquo etc In Italian agreement is far more detailed and widespread than inEnglish

article a word which has no meaning on its own but is placed before anoun to show whether it is specific or non-specific

a definite article shows that the noun refers to a specific thing or person egthe airline the pilot the passengers

an indefinite article shows that the noun does not refer to a specific thingor person eg an airline a pilot passengers [no plural indefinitearticle]

auxiliary verb a verb that helps another verb to make its form eg we havedone it it had been agreed

conjugation a group of verbs which have the same endings as one anotherin all tenses eg in Italian verbs of the first conjugation have an infinitiveending in -are (comprare lsquoto buyrsquo cantare lsquoto singrsquo) and the same endingsin the present (comprano lsquothey buyrsquo cantano lsquothey singrsquo) the imperfect

(compravano lsquothey boughtrsquo cantavano lsquothey sangrsquo) the future (compre-ranno lsquothey will buyrsquo canteranno lsquothey will singrsquo) etc

gender not the same thing as the actual sex of a living creature grammat-ical gender is arbitrary in Italian all nouns are either masculine or feminineeven if they denote inanimate objects eg il libro [m] lsquothe bookrsquo la casa [f]lsquothe housersquo etc

infinitive the form in which verbs are usually given in word lists etc egvendere lsquoto sellrsquo dormire lsquoto sleeprsquo

noun the name of a thing person place animal plant idea eg the greendoor John is skinny love is a wonderful thing I love cats and roses

number a feature of nouns pronouns and any words that agree with them(notably in Italian adjectives articles and verbs) which shows whether thereis just one or more than one of the thing or person in question If there isone then the noun pronoun etc is singular eg the mobile a child Isheheitif there is more than one then the noun pronoun etc is plural eg themobiles the children wethey In Italian the form of the word usually makesit clear whether it is singular or plural but in English it is often impossible totell from the word on its own eg one sheep fifty sheep Jim you are brilliantyou are all brilliant

object the noun or pronoun affected by the action of the verb

a direct object is directly impinged on by the action eg I sent a letter thedog drank its water yoursquove shut the door she cooked it I love him

an indirect object is the thingperson to or for whichwhom the action isperformed eg I sent a letter to Jim I gave her a CD [ie a CD to her] hebuilt a snowman for Catherine I made her a puppet [ie a puppet for her]

participle a form of the verb that lsquoparticipatesrsquo in characteristics of bothverb and adjective ie it both indicates an action and describes something

the present participle in English ends in -ing and is used descriptively evenwith verbs in a past tense eg shersquos running Wayne was shouting

the past participle in English (as in Italian) is mostly used to form thepresent perfect tense eg the frog has jumped in shersquos run away it can alsobe used purely as an adjective eg itrsquos small but perfectly formed thatrsquos atorn handkerchief

passive a passive verb is the opposite to an active one Here is an activeverb lsquoKylie drew that cartoonrsquo in this sentence the thing that has somethingdone to it (the cartoon) is the object of the active verb Now here is the sameidea expressed with a passive verb lsquoThat cartoon was drawn by Kyliersquo in thissentence the thing that has something done to it is actually the subject of thepassive verb Many ideas can be expressed both actively and passively eg

188 Glossary

preposition a word usually placed in front of a noun or pronoun to showthe relation between it and another noun or pronoun eg the cat sat on themat Irsquove shown them to him the doorrsquos opposite the bus stop you just gothrough it

pronoun a word that stands for (lsquoprorsquo) a noun

demonstrative pronouns stand for particular people or things that arelsquopointed torsquo eg thisthat [ie lsquothis onethat onersquo] is a dandelion thesethoseare filthy

interrogative pronouns stand for people or things about which a questionis being asked eg what are you doing which of them did best who wonwho(m) did you vote for

personal pronouns usually stand for people eg she lost her mobile theyare happy we phoned them you gave us a fright

possessive pronouns stand for things mentioned as belonging to someoneeg this tuna sandwich is mine [ie lsquomy onersquo] those are yoursherstheirs etc

reciprocal pronouns stand for two or more people or things whichreciprocate an action eg they like each otherone another we all gave eachotherone another birthday presents

reflexive pronouns stand for people or things that are both the subjectand the object of the verb eg yoursquore wearing yourselves out thedogrsquoll scratch itself the computer switched itself off she bought herselfsomething nice

relative pronouns usually stand for people or things already mentionedeg the idiot who conceded the penalty the DVDs whichthat were on thetable the one politician whom everyone trusts

subject the noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb eg Micksang solo the grass is green you have grown they say it will be easy theallegation was denied he was tripped over

tense the form of a verb that corresponds to a particular segment of timeeg I eat [present] I shall eat [future] I have eaten [present perfect] I ate[simple past] I was eating [past progressive] I had eaten [past perfect]

ActiveJim clapped Tony [object] on the

backShe alone dismissed the idea

[object]They sell wild mushrooms [object]

here

PassiveTony [subject] was clapped on the back

by JimThe idea [subject] was dismissed by her

aloneWild mushrooms [subject] are sold here

(by them)

Glossary 189

verb the word that indicates the performance of an action or the existenceof a state eg she jumped out of her skin I shall get a mobile that is nice theyhave been very happy

190 Glossary

INDEX

a uses of 59ndash60 62 63ndash4adjectives 17ndash22 in -co and -go 18ndash19

with articles 14 definition of 187demonstrative 20 possessive 22ndash3preceding the noun 19ndash20 singularand plural 17ndash19 158

adverbial expressions 48ndash9adverbs 46ndash8 from adjectives 46

definition of 187 with the pastperfect 140 with the present perfect90

agreement of adjectives and nouns 17definition of 187

alcuno 121 122anche 101andare future 133 imperative 152

present 41 present conditional 165articles definite 9ndash11 definition of 187

indefinite 11ndash13 uses of 13ndash14 22ndash3auxiliary verbs definition of 187ndash8 see

also avere essereavere future 132 imperative 151

imperfect 112 present 28 presentconditional 164 present perfect 88used as auxiliary 86ndash7 88ndash90 usesof 31ndash2

bastare 81bello 20bere future 134 imperative 152

imperfect 113 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

buono 21

cadere future 133 present conditional165

crsquoegraveci sono 32ndash3 in imperfect 113 inpresent perfect 88

che (relative pronoun) 104ndash5cheche cosa 69 71chi 68 107ci with avere (ce) 54 with si as an

impersonal pronoun 159ndash60lsquotherersquo 125

coluicoleicoloro 106ndash7come 69 70 71 101compound prepositions 65con uses of 61conditional see present conditionalconjugations 37conoscere 39 vs sapere 42ndash3cosa 69 71cui 104 105

da uses of 36ndash7 60dare future 132 imperative 151 present

41 present conditional 165definite article 9ndash11 13ndash14 with

possessives 22ndash3 with prepositions57ndash8

demonstrative adjectives 20demonstrative pronouns 24 definition of

189di uses of 58ndash9 63dire imperative 151 imperfect 113

past participle 86 present 42direct object definition of 188direct object pronouns 52ndash4 formal form

54 with the imperative 154 with thepresent perfect (or any othercompound tense) 94ndash5 95ndash6stressed forms 99ndash101

dove 69 71 106dovere 43 future 133 present 42

present conditional 165present perfect 91

eccetto (che) 101essere with ci 32ndash3 88 113 as auxiliary

86ndash7 88ndash90 as auxiliary withimpersonal si 159 future 132imperative 151 imperfect 113present 28 present conditional 164present perfect 88 with reflexivepronouns 145 uses of 31

fare future 132 imperative 151imperfect 114 past participle 86present 42 present conditional 165

formal form 30 41 direct objectpronouns 54 in imperative152ndash3 indirect object pronouns76 with piacere 80 possessiveadjectives and pronouns 23ndash4

future 129ndash34 avere and essere 132 withifwhen 130 irregular verbs 132ndash4negative form 134 verbs in -care-gare and -iare 131ndash2 uses of129ndash30 verbs in -urre 134

gender 1ndash3 6 definition of 188grande 21

lsquohow muchmanyrsquo 70 71lsquohowrsquo 69 71

lsquoifrsquo with future tense 130imperative 149ndash54 essere 151 formal

form 152ndash3 irregular verbs 151ndash2negative form 153 154 withpronouns 154 uses of 149verbs in -urre 152

imperfect 111ndash17 of essere 113negative form 114 uses 115ndash17verbs in -urre 114

impersonal subject pronoun si 157ndash60in uses of 61 62 63 64indefinite article 11ndash13indirect object definition of 188indirect object pronouns 74ndash6

formal form 76 with theimperative 154 negative form 75with the present perfect 95stressed forms 99ndash101

infinitive 37 definition of 188 fornegative imperative 153

interrogative form 29 40interrogative pronouns definition of 189irregular plurals of nouns 5

irregular verbs future 132ndash4 imperative151ndash2 imperfect 113ndash14 pastparticiple 86 present 41ndash3present conditional 164ndash6

lsquoknowingrsquo 42ndash3

Lei Loro and Voi 30 41 see also formalform

mancare 81meno (che) 101mentre 116modomaniera 49molto 47 48 121

ne 120ndash4 negative form 122 with pastparticiple 122ndash4

neanche 101negative form 30 32ndash3 with direct object

pronouns 53 future 134 imperative153 154 imperfect 114 withindirect object pronouns 75 with ne122 past perfect 140 present 41present conditional 166 presentperfect 90 verbs with si 159

nemmeno 101neppure 101non see negative formnon ancoramai 47nouns definition of 188 ending in -ca

-co -ga -go -cia -gia 6ndash7gender 1ndash3 6 singular andplural 4ndash7

number definition of 188 nouns 4ndash7

parere 81partitive constructions with di 59passive definition of 188ndash9 using si 158past participle 85ndash6 definition 188 with

ne 122ndash4past perfect 137ndash40 with avere or essere

as auxiliaries 138 of avere andessere 139 negative form 140 usesof 137ndash8

per uses of 61percheacute 70personal pronouns definition of 189

see also pronounspiacere 79ndash81place see prepositions of placeplurals of adjectives 17ndash19

192 Index

plurals of nouns 4ndash7poco 47 48 121possession with di 58 59possessive adjectives 22ndash3possessive pronouns 23ndash4 definition of

189potere future 133 present 42 43 present

conditional 165 present perfect 91prepositions 57ndash65 compound 65

with definite article 57ndash8 definitionof 189 with pronouns 100 105106

prepositions of place 59 60 61 62prepositions of time 59 60 61 63present conditional 162ndash6 essere 164

irregular verbs 164ndash6 negative form166

present participle definition of 188present perfect 84ndash91 with direct object

pronouns 94ndash5 95ndash6 of avere andessere 88 with indirect objectpronouns 95 with ne 122ndash4negative form 90 potere dovere andvolere 91 of reflexive verbs 145using avere 86ndash7 88ndash9using essere 86ndash7 88ndash90 145uses of 84ndash5

present tense 36ndash43 avere and essere 28irregular verbs 41ndash3 uses of 36ndash7verbs in -are 37 verbs in -care and-gare 38 verbs in -cere and -gere 39verbs in -ere 38ndash9 verbs in -iare 38verbs in -ire 40 verbs with -isc-40 verbs in -urre 43

pronouns definition of 189demonstrative 24 direct object52ndash4 94ndash5 95ndash6 99ndash101 with theimperative 154 indirect object 74ndash696 99ndash101 possessive 23ndash4 afterprepositions 100 reflexive 143ndash6relative 104ndash7 stressed forms99ndash101 subject 28ndash9 see also cine si

pure 101

qualcuno 121 122quale 71(illa) quale (relative pronoun) 104

105ndash6quando 70 130quanto 70 71 101 121 123 124quello 20 24

quello che (relative pronoun) 106questions 29 40 68ndash71questo 20 24

reciprocal pronouns definition of 189reflexive pronouns 143ndash6 stressed form

146reflexive verbs 88 143 with si

(impersonal subject) 159ndash60relative pronouns 104ndash7 definition of

189rimanere future 134 present

conditional 165riuscire 42

salvo (che) 101santo 21ndash2sapere 42ndash3 vs conoscere 42ndash3 future

133 imperative 152 present 41present conditional 165

sembrare 81servire 81si impersonal 157ndash60 with essere as

auxiliary 159 negative form 159with reflexive verbs 159ndash60sentences with a passive meaning158

singular and plural adjectives 17ndash19 158lsquosomesomeonersquo 121 122spelling of adjectives in -co and -go

18ndash19 essere and avere 30 plurals ofnouns in -ca -co -ga -go -cia -gia6ndash7

stare future 132 imperative 152 present41 present conditional 165

stesso 146su uses of 61subject definition of 189subject pronouns 28ndash9

tanto 47 48tenere future 134 present conditional

165tense definition of 189lsquothatrsquo (relative pronoun) 104lsquothatthosersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24lsquothere isarersquo 32ndash3lsquothisthesersquo (demonstrative adjectives

pronouns) 20 24time see prepositions of timetra and fra uses of 62

Index 193

tranne (che) 101transitive verbs 88troppo 47 48 121

uscire imperative 152 present 41

vedere future 133 present conditional165

venire future 134 imperative 152past participle 86 present 41present conditional 165

verbs conjugations 37 definition of 190future 129ndash34 imperative 149ndash54imperfect 111ndash17 past perfect137ndash40 present 28 36ndash43 presentconditional 162ndash6 present perfect84ndash91 reflexive 143 see alsoirregular verbs

verbs in -urre future 134 imperative 152imperfect 114 past participle 85

present 43 present conditional166

vivere future 133 past participle 86present conditional 165

volere future 134 present 42 43present conditional 165 presentperfect 91

lsquowhatrsquo 69 71lsquowhenrsquo with future tense 130lsquowhenrsquo 70lsquowherersquo as alternative to relative pronoun

106lsquowherersquo 69 71lsquowhichrsquo 71lsquowhilersquo with imperfect tense 116lsquowhorsquo 68lsquowhomrsquo as a lsquoquestion wordrsquo 68 relative

pronoun 105 106lsquowhyrsquo 70

194 Index

• BOOK COVER
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• UNIT ONE Nouns gender and number
• UNIT TWO Definite and indefinite articles
• UNIT THREE Adjectives possessive and demonstrative pronouns
• UNIT FOUR The present tense of essere and avere
• UNIT FIVE The present tense of regular (and some irregular) verbs
• UNIT SIX Adverbs
• UNIT SEVEN Direct object pronouns (1)
• UNIT EIGHT Prepositions
• UNIT NINE Questions
• UNIT TEN Indirect object pronouns (1)
• UNIT ELEVEN Piacere and similar verbs
• UNIT TWELVE The present perfect tense
• UNIT THIRTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (2)
• UNIT FOURTEEN Direct and indirect object pronouns (3 stressed forms)
• UNIT FIFTEEN Relative pronouns
• UNIT SIXTEEN The imperfect tense
• UNIT SEVENTEEN The pronouns ne and ci
• UNIT EIGHTEEN The future tense
• UNIT NINETEEN The past perfect tense
• UNIT TWENTY Reflexive pronouns
• UNIT TWENTY-ONE The imperative
• UNIT TWENTY-TWO The pronoun si
• UNIT TWENTY-THREE The present conditional
• KEY TO EXERCISES
• GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
• INDEX