Italian preposition DI

In Italian the preposition “DI” can have different meanings. It can be used to indicate:

Italian prepositions

Prepositions are small words used to connect two elements of a sentence. Without prepositions we can’t understand any sentence.

Learning to use prepositions correctly is one of the biggest difficulties students meet when they study Italian. But I always tell to my students that they don't need to worry, because the only way to learn them is to practice the language. The more you master the language, more you will learn how to use prepositions.

Italian vocabulary: La casa / The house (1)

Learn Italian words for describing your home.

Italian exercise: Articoli determinativi

Completa le frasi con gli articoli determinativi e scrivi le risposte nei commenti.

Italian possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives (aggettivi possessivi) are used to express possession; they tell us whom an object, a person or an animal belong to. They correspond to the English my, your, his, her, its, our, your and their.

Italian direct object pronouns

We already know Italian subject pronouns io, tu, lui/lei, noi, voi and loro which indicate the subject of the sentence who carries out the action. But besides the subject a sentence can have a direct object: the thing, person or animal who represents the recipient of the action of the verb.

Italian adjectives and their position

Italian adjectives must be put before or after the noun?

While in English adjectives always precede the noun, in Italian they are usually placed after the noun, even if some common adjectives (brutto = ugly, bello = beautiful, nuovo = new, cattivo = bad, grande = big, piccolo = small…) can be placed also before the noun.

Italian adjectives

Adjectives are words used to describe or modify a noun. In Italian adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they refer to. So if a noun is masculine, the adjective must be masculine as well.

Italian indefinite articles

Italian indefinite articles (articoli indeterminativi), which correspond to the English articles a/an, are used when we are thinking of one thing or person we don’t know in a specific way. As we have studied for definite articles, also these articles have different forms related to the gender and to the number of the noun they refer to.

Italian reflexive verbs

Today we study a group of verbs called “verbi riflessivi” (reflexive verbs). We already know the reflexive verb “chiamarsi” which is one of the first verbs the students learn in a Italian course. This verb, in fact, is used to introduce ourselves or to ask someone’s name. The expressions: “io mi chiamo ...”, “tu ti chiami ...” can be translated literally with “I call myself ...”, “you call yourself ...”.

Italian nouns (2)

As we have studied in the previous post, usually masculine nouns end with the vowel –o and feminine nouns end with the vowel –a. Nouns that end with the vowel –e, instead, can be masculine or feminine.

However, in Italian there are some nouns with particular ending that follow different rules and form the plural in a particular way.

NOUNS THAT END WITH –ISTA

In Italian there are some nouns that end with –ista, particularly those concerning professions. These nouns don’t change with the gender, so masculine and feminine nouns have the same form. But they change in the plural. Masculine nouns that end with –ISTA make the plural by changing the vowel –A with –I, while feminine nouns make the plural by changing the vowel –A with –E.

• il / la giornalista (the journalist) i giornalisti le giornaliste
• lo / la stilista (the fashion designer) gli stilisti le stiliste
• il / la tennista (the tennis player) i tennisti le tenniste
• il / la farmacista (the pharmacist) i farmacisti le farmaciste

Remember that some nouns that end with –ista don’t belong to this category but they are common feminine nouns (examples: rivista = magazine, intervista = interview, lista = list).

NOUNS THAT END WITH –CIA E –GIA

Nouns that end with –CIA and –GIA make the plural in a different way, depending on whether there is a vowel or a consonant before the final ending –cia and –gia. If there is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) before, we can form the plural by changing the vowel –A with –E.

• camicia / camicie = shirt / shirts
• ciliegia / ciliegie = cherry / cherries
• valigia / valigie = suitcase / suitcases

If there is a a consonant before –cia and –gia, we can form the plural by changing the vowel –A with –E, after we have cancelled the vowel -I.

• arancia / arance = orange / oranges
• roccia / rocce = rock / rocks
• spiaggia / spiagge = beach / beaches
• frangia / frange = fringe / fringes

NOUNS THAT END WITH –CO, –GO, –CA, –GA

Masculine nouns that end with –CO and –GO usually in the plural change the ending in –CHI and –GHI. The same rule apply to feminine nouns.

• cuoco / cuochi = chef / chefs
• fuoco / fuochi = fire / fires
• parco / parchi = park / parks
• albergo / alberghi = hotel / hotels
• lago / laghi = lake / lakes
• amica / amiche = friend / friends
• fabbrica / fabbriche = factory / factories
• strega / streghe = witch / witches

There are, however, many exceptions.

• amico / amici = friend / friends
• farmaco / farmaci = medicine / medicines
• medico / medici = doctor / doctors
• monaco / monaci = monk / monks
• sindaco / sindaci = mayor / mayors

Italian nouns (1)

In Italian, nouns can be classified according to the gender, in masculine (maschili) and feminine (femminili), and to the number, in singular (singolari) and plural (plurali). The ending vowel of a noun reveals its gender and its number.

Italian definite articles (2)

Once you know Italian definite articles, you have to deal with another problem: when it is necessary to put the article before a substantive and when it is not. While sometimes there are some grammar rules to follow, in other situations it’s only the custom of the language that determines when to use the article or not.

Italian definite articles (1)

Definite articles (articoli determinativi) are used when it is clear which thing or person we are talking about. While in English definite articles has only one form (the), in Italian they have different forms according to the gender (genere) and the number (numero) of the noun they refer to. This means that the articles we use with masculine nouns are different from those we use with feminine nouns and there is also a difference between singular and plural nouns.

Italian present tense

Today we study one of the most common Italian tense: the present tense of regular verbs.

Welcome to my Blog!

Da quando ho iniziato a insegnare l’italiano, mi sono resa conto che un numero sempre maggiore di persone è interessato al suo studio. Quindi ho pensato di creare un blog dedicato a quella che viene considerata da tutti come lingua di cultura: la lingua di Dante, del bel canto, della lirica e dell’arte.

Since I started teaching Italian, I realized that a great number of people is interested in learning my language. So I thought to create a blog dedicated to what is considered the language of culture: the language of Dante, of “bel canto”, opera and art.

Sebbene l'italiano, rispetto ad altre lingue straniere, abbia una diffusione geografica minore (Italia, Città del Vaticano, Repubblica di San Marino, Svizzera e alcune zone della Slovenia e della Croazia) risulta comunque essere tra le lingue più studiate al mondo.

Although Italian, compared to other foreign languages, has a smaller geographical spread (Italy, Città del Vaticano, San Marino Republic, Switzerland and some area of Slovenia and Croatia) it is one of the most studied language in the world.

Ma perché l’italiano è così amato? Oltre a ragioni di carattere culturale molte persone decidono di impararlo per motivi professionali, di cuore, per una riscoperta delle proprie radici e un avvicinamento alla cultura dei propri avi o semplicemente per piacere.

But why Italian is so popular? As well as cultural reasons many people decide to learn it for professional reasons, for love affairs, for a rediscovery of their own roots and the culture of their ancestors or simply for pleasure.

Non dimentichiamo inoltre che l’Italia, complice la bellezza paesaggistica, la ricchezza culturale, un’ottima cucina e un clima favorevole, da secoli attira visitatori da tutto il mondo.

Besides we must not forget that Italy, thanks to its landscape beauty, cultural richness, good food and good weather has attracted for centuries visitors from all over the world.