These two adjectives are very common in Italian, so you definitely need to understand how to use them and I hope this article will help! In today's article, we are going to talk about two Italian adjectives: BUONO and BELLO. These two are probably the most common adjectives in Italian and we use them all the time but do you really know how to choose the correct one? Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! 1. BELLO These are the categories you would use bello in: Appearance : used to describe something or someone for their look. Marco è un bel ragazzo → Marco is a good-looking, handsome guy. Chiara è una bella ragazza → Chiara is a beautiful girl. Tutti gli italiani sono belli → All the Italians are good-looking/beautiful. Questa casa è molto bella → This house is very beautiful. Something that is well-done, well organized : Questo corso di italiano è molto bello → This Italian course is well-done, it works. Questa puntata è molto bella → this episode is good, it’s interesting or well-done (not necessary referred to the look of it). Size : something that is big, abundant: E’ una bella lista della spesa → It’s a big, long, conspicuous shopping list. To emphasize an idea : Questo è un bel problema → This is a pretty big problem. 2. BUONO Kindness : Francesca è buona → Francesca is kind. E’ importante fare una buona azione al mese → It’s important to do a good deed a month. I miei amici sono sempre buoni con me → My friends are always nice to me. To express that someone is good at what they do or what they are supposed to do: E’ un buon medico → He is a good doctor (he is good at doing his job). Quel ristorante è molto buono → That restaurant is very good. To say that something is useful or works for something else : Questo sciroppo è buono per la tosse → This syrup is good for treating a cough. Il mio nuovo cellulare è buono per fare le foto → My new cell phone is good for taking pictures. Something that is good to the taste or smell (food, drinks) Le tue lasagne sono molto buone → Your lasagne are very good. Il vino pugliese è buono → Pugliese wine is good. 3. Forms of BELLO and BUONO The adjectives buono and bello behave differently based on their position in the sentence : if positioned after the noun they refer to, they behave as normal four-ending adjectives ( bello/bella/belli/belle and buono/buona/buoni/buone ). If put before the noun they refer to, they behave a bit differently. Let's start with bello . Look at the chart below: Be + il = bel Be + lo = bello Be + la = bella Be + i = bei Be + gli = begli Be + le = belle Be + l’ = bell’ As you can see, what’s going on here is pretty obvious. You attach the definite article to the root of the adjective according to the chart above ( this doesn’t mean you don’t put the article before the adjective. That’s not a real article you are attaching. It’s just a particular ending so similar to definite articles that I call it “article ending” ). Let’s look at a few examples: Il ragazzo —> il ragazzo bello —> il bel ragazzo Gli alberi —> gli alberi belli —> i begli alberi La bambina —> la bambina bella —> la bella bambina As you can see, you can choose the position of the adjective. If you put it after the noun, you treat "bello" as a normal adjective, but if you put it before you'll have to choose the right form based on the definite article you would use. This is what you do : ⁃ Choose the right article for the word ⁃ Position "bello" after the noun treating it as normal adjective ⁃ Or position "bello" before the noun and change the ending according to the article you would’ve used. A lot of my students ask me if there is a difference between the position of the adjective. There’s practically none. Though I do understand the struggle of saying “begli” instead of “belli”, that’s why I often recommend my students to put the adjective after the noun. It’s much easier, and correct anyway. Now let's talk about buono . Basically, it works like the previous adjective, but instead of using definite articles as endings, it uses indefinite articles ( un, uno, una, un ). Again the use of "buono" depends on its position. If positioned after the noun it refers to, it has four regular endings ( buono/buona/buoni/buone ), exactly like the adjective "bello". Otherwise, it follows the following rules: Un amico —> un buon amico Un mattino —> un buon mattino Uno zaino —> un buono zaino Uno specchio —> un buono specchio Un’amica —> una buon’amica Una chiesa —> una buona chiesa In the plural you have only buoni and buone : Delle amiche —> le buone amiche Degli amici —> i buoni amici If you have any questions about this topic, don't hesitate to send me a message in the contact section of my website. A presto, Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

Using PIACERE in Italian is always confusing but it gets even more confusing when using it to express the idea of you liking someone. Read this article to understand the logic behind this tricky Italian verb! I am sure you know that “I like” is “Mi piace”, but do you know how to use PIACERE with people? “I like Italy” is “Mi piace l’Italia”, but what about “I like you”, “She likes me”, “We like you”, “They like us”. Well, it might seem a bit confusing at first, but I am going to walk you through the logic behind this verb so that you will know how to use it in conversation! Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! Before reading this article, make sure you've read my previous blog post on the verb PIACERE . By knowing the basics of this verb, it will be easier for you to understand how these rules work. Remember that the verb PIACERE works the other way around in Italian. We don’t say “I like something” but “ something is pleasing to me ”. Therefore we will have to figure out a way to say that “someone is pleasing to me/you/her” and so on? How do we do that? First of all, you need to know indirect object pronouns: Mi → to me Ti → to you Gli → to him Le → to her Ci → to us Vi → to you guys Gli/Loro → to them You can also review direct and indirect object pronouns with this blog post . Second, we need to conjugate the verb piacere in all its forms: (io) piaccio (tu) piaci (lui/lei) piace (noi) piacciamo (voi) piacete (loro) piacciono IMPORTANT: (io) piaccio does NOT mean I like ! Keep this in mind! You know that I like is “mi piace”. Once we’ve reviewed indirect object pronouns and the conjugation of the verb piacere let’s take a simple English sentence and let’s try to translate it: I like you We are not actually saying I like you but we’re saying you are pleasing to me , right? So what you’ll have to do is translate this bit by bit. Follow these easy steps: Start from the end of the sentence and translate the indirect object pronoun to me . If you look at the chart above, you should know that to me is mi . Keep this one in mind. Now we want to say you are pleasing to me , so we need to look for the YOU form of the verb piacere that is going to be piaci . Let's write down the whole thing Mi piaci = I like you! Done! As you can see, it's not that hard, it just needs some getting used to! Let's take a look at these other examples: We like you → You are pleasing to us → Ci piaci You like us → We are pleasing to you → Ti piacciamo They like me → I am pleasing to them → Gli piaccio We like her → She is pleasing to us → Ci piace She likes you (p.) → You (p.) are pleasing to her → Le piacete I hope that makes sense! If you have any questions about this topic, send me a message in the contact section of my website or on Instagram ! A presto, Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

I am sure you’ve heard of the pronoun NE in Italian many times but do you know how to use it? And what’s the difference between NE and normal direct object pronouns? We’ll go over all of this in today's lesson! Ne is a pronoun and that means that it replaces things in sentences. Ne has multiple uses but in today’s lesson, we will focus on its main uses. Then, in the future, we will cover more advanced uses of this pronoun. Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! 1. PARTITIVO Before we start diving into ne , I need to make sure you know what partitivo is. Partitivo is a specific part of the sentence introduced by a preposition or two adjectives to convey the idea of part of something (that’s why partitivo) or a quantity not specified in number . Let me give you some examples: Voglio del caffè = I want some coffee (a part of it not all of it) I want some delle mele = I bought some apples (quantity not specified in number) I can also say: Voglio alcune mele/ qualche mel a When the partitivo is singular (so we’re talking about a part of something) we will use: DI + definite article + a singular noun When you are referring to a quantity not specified in number you can use DI + definite article + a plural noun Alcuni/e (masculine and feminine) + a plural noun Qualche + a singular noun. Sometimes qualche + a singular noun confuses students because why would you use a singular noun to refer to multiple things? And you’re right, it’s confusing! But think about the word every in English. You would say every day but you mean multiple days! Qualche is the same thing! You use a singular noun, but the real meaning behind it is plural. Just to do a quick recap: Delle mele → some apples Alcune mele → some apples Qualche mela → some apples You’re saying exactly the same thing! 2. HOW TO USE NE Now that we know what partitivo is, we can move on to ne . This is because ne replaces a noun in the partitive sense (introduced by di + article, alcuni/e, qualche ) or a noun introduced by a number or an expression of quantity (poco, molto, tanto, chilo, litro). We need to see some examples: Hai molti vestiti ? Sì, ne ho molti! → Do you have many clothes? Yes, I have many (of them). Quante fette di pane vuoi? Ne voglio tre, grazie → How many slices of bread do you want? I want three (of them), thanks! Hai molti amici ? No, ne ho pochi! → Do you have many friends? No, I have few (of them) Vuoi dei cioccolatini ? Sì, ne voglio due, grazie! → Do you want some chocolate? Yes, I want two, thanks! One thing you can notice here, and this is very important, is that you can’t use NE alone in the sentence. If we go back to the first example you can’t say just ne ho , you need to add how many, so molti . Or tre , quattro , un chilo , pochi . Ne does not work alone in a sentence, therefore you need to add the quantity! One of the hardest things about NE is understanding its difference with direct object pronouns . If you don't know what direct object pronouns are, you can have a look at this article . For example, if I say: Compri le mele? And I want to say that I buy them, there’s no need to use NE because I am not expressing a quantity so I will say: Sì, le compro . But If I ask Quante mele compri , the person I am talking to is expecting a number (or quantity) from me in the answer so I a going to say: Ne compro 3, molte, un chilo , whatever! Just don't forget to add the quantity! ATTENZIONE : Just remember that when you’re using NE in a sentence with passato prossimo the past participle changes according to the gender and number of the object you replace: Hai mangiato la pizza ? Sì, ne ho mangiat e due! (of pizze) Quanti libri hai letto quest’estate? Ne ho letti tre! (of libri) If you have any questions about this topic, send me a message in the contact section of my website or on Instagram ! A presto, Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

Making mistakes is one of the most important things while learning a new language. Only by making mistakes you can improve your language skills and get better. However, some mistakes are more common than others so why not fix them right away? In today’s article, we are going to look at some common mistakes English speakers make in Italian. I will talk about English speakers specifically only because most of my students come from English-speaking countries and because I speak English fluently but maybe these mistakes also apply to other languages. If that’s the case, let me know! Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! 1. Misgendering nouns Using a feminine article with masculine words is very common but I want to talk about two words in particular: problema and paese . Problema is a weird one because it ends in -a but it’s actually masculine. Let me tell you that this exception actually applies to several -ma ending words like tema (essay, topic) . Since problema is masculine you are going to say IL PROBLEMA . Then we’ve got the word paese (country) . Honestly, -e ending words are the worst because they could be either masculine or feminine and you can’t really know. You can find some tipis to understand the gender of nouns in this article . Anyway, one of the most misgendered words in Italian is, in fact, paese . It’s not LA PAESE, but IL PAESE (country) as PAESE is masculine. 2. PER instead of DA Another very common mistake is the use of the preposition PER instead of DA to express how long you have been doing something (for). Let’s say you started studying Italian 4 months ago, so you’ve been studying Italian FOR four months. Well, that FOR in Italian does not translate PER, but actually DA . And also, and that’s actually good news for you, you don’t need to use any past tense but the present will do just fine, and that makes sense because the action is still ongoing in the present as you started studying 4 months ago but you still do now. So we would say: studio italiano da 4 mesi . Not per! P.S. Here's an article on DA vs PER . 3. Mi piace VS Mi piacciono Remember that the verb ‘like’ works in a completely different way in Italian compared to English. I’ve made two videos on this topic ( here and here ): one to say that you like things and the other one you like people. Just to do a quick recap, remember that if you want to say that you like something you’re going to say mi piace if the thing you like is singular and mi piacciono if the thing you like is plural. So: Mi piace la pasta Mi piacciono le lasagne 4. Makes sense? How would you say makes sense in Italian? Well, for sure you’re not going to say fa senso . That’s because: Fa senso : it’s gross (for example when looking at a gory scene in a movie) Ha senso : it makes sense 5. Frustrato This word is too strong in Italian. If you’re frustrated because you can’t speak Italian very well yet, don’t say sono frustrato/frustrata but say sono triste , sono un po' arrabbiato instead. Frustrato is too strong, and when we say frustrato we generally apply that to describe a person for their life-style (very very general and extremely negative) rather than frustrated for a specific reason. It’s too strong, tend to avoid it. 6. È bene Do not use è bene . Bene can't be used with the verb essere (except in one specific case that we are not going to cover today) because it’s an adverb . Bene means well . So many times my students watch my videos and then they say that è bene or era bene . Would you say that in English this video is well? No. So try to say è bello , è interessante . Ok, we are done with today’s lesson, I hope you liked it! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me in the contact section of my website. Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

Struggling with Italian Prepositions of time? In today's article, we are going to look at the differences between the preposition IN and the preposition TRA. In today's article, we are going to talk about two Italian prepositions (IN and TRA) that are used for many purposes, and one of them is to express time. They are a bit tricky but I am sure this article will help you understand which one to use. Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! 1. Preposition TRA Before talking about the use of TRA for time, let's repass really quickly its other main meanings: Between : il ristorante è tra la banca e le poste → the restaurant is between the bank and the postal office Among : tra tutti i dipendenti, tu sei il più bravo → among all employees, you are the best one Now, let's talk about the uses of TRA when it comes to time. The preposition TRA is used in terms of time to convey the idea of IN in English. This is the reason why it might be a bit confusing. TRA is used to talk about an event that will happen in a very specific and defined amount of time. Let's see a few examples to better understand: Partirò per l'Italia tra 2 mesi → I am leaving for Italy in two months (very specific, 2 months from now) Esco di casa tra 10 minuti → I am leaving the house in 10 minutes. Arrivo tra 2 secondi → I am coming in 2 seconds, I will be there in 2 seconds Tra 10 anni voglio essere un dottore → I want to be a doctor in 10 years. 2. Preposition IN The preposition IN , on the contrary, is used to talk about an action that took place or will take place in the future and we know exactly how long it took or it is going to take to perform that action. Ho letto il romanzo in 2 mesi → I 've read the novel in two months = it took me two months to read the novel Scriverò il libro in 1 anno → I will write the book in a year = It will take me a year to write the book. 3. IN vs TRA Finirò il progetto in una settimana VS Finirò il progetto tra una settimana In the first sentence, I am saying that it's going to take me a week to finish the project, no matter when I start. I could start now or in two years, the amount of time required to finish the project will still be one week. In the second sentence, I am saying that starting from now, a week from now the project will be finished. P.S. Many students ask me what the difference between TRA and FRA is. Well, they are exactly the same . Sometimes we choose one preposition over the other for phonetic reasons. Tra tre mesi might be a bit hard to pronounce as we have the TR sound twice. So, we might want to say fra tre mesi instead. Honestly though, I find myself saying tra tre mesi all the time and it does not sound weird to me at all, so no big deal! If you have any questions about this topic, don't hesitate to send me a message in the contact section of my website. A presto, Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

Is it buono or bene ? Which one should you use? Many students struggle in understanding the difference between BUONO and BENE because these two words both translate good (kind of). However, these two words are very different and are used in different situations, very different situations, and using one over the other might make your sentence sound weird. Let's see how to choose the correct one. Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! Let's start off by saying that BUONO is an adjective and BENE is an adverb . That means that BUONO is used to describe a thing, a person, so basically a noun. BENE instead is used to describe the way you do something, therefore a verb, an action. Keep this in mind: BUONO with NOUNS BENE with VERBS There's only one big exception to this rule and that is ESSERE (to be) that is the only verb in Italian that actually takes BUONO. And that makes sense because you would use ESSERE to describe things. For example, "pizza is good", la pizza è buona . It makes sense to use BUONO with ESSERE, but again it's the only verb you can use BUONO with. And guess what, if you can use BUONO with ESSERE that means you can't use BENE with ESSERE, never ever. Let's look at some examples with buono : La pasta al sugo è buona → Pasta with tomato sauce is good Gianni e Luca sono buoni → Gianni and Luca are good (kind) Ho bevuto un buon vino in Veneto → I drank a good wine in Veneto As you can see I am using BUONO to describe things. Specifically, BUONO is used to describe food and beverages or to say that someone is nice. I actually wrote an article on BUONO vs BELLO that you can read here . So BUONO means GOOD. Now let's try to make some examples with BENE: Come stai? Sto bene, grazie! → How are you? I am good, thanks! Of course, I am going to use BENE with this one and even though in English you're used to saying I am good , you know deep down that you should be saying I am well. I am good is totally acceptable now and it's not wrong at all, but you know that it should be I am well . Well, that's why in Italian we say Sto bene because we're using BENE as an adverb (well). Io parlo bene l'Italiano → I speak Italian well. Mia sorella non sa leggere bene ancora → My sister doesn't know how to read well yet. Ho mangiato bene al ristorante → I ate well at the restaurant. As you can see BENE can be used with all verbs! The big problem comes when people use BENE with the verb essere . For example, if you like this video and you want to say that it's good, how would you say this? Questo video è bene? NOPE, it doesn't work. Because you wouldn't say in English that this video is well , so try to say questo è un buon video , un video bello , un video utile , not bene . Com'è stata la vacanza? How was your vacation? È stata bene! → WRONG! You wouldn't say that the vacation was well but was good ! So you can say: è stata bella, divertente OR you can use BENE with a verb and say: è andata bene → it went well. Now you can use bene because you're using it with a verb ( andare ) and not essere ! I hope these examples helped! If you have any questions about this topic, don't hesitate to send me a message in the contact section of my website. A presto, Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

Reflexive verbs can be kind of tricky, however, do you know how to use them in the past? We are going to learn just this in today's video! You probably know how reflexive verbs work and if you don't, feel free to read this article that I wrote some time ago. In today's video, we are going to talk about reflexive verbs in the past. Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! 1. Quick recap of reflexive verbs in Italian Reflexive verbs are used when the action is performed by the subject on themselves or they are used to change the meaning of a verb. For example, "lavarsi" means "washing onself". But when you use the verb "sentirsi" you are just changing the meaning of the verb from sentire (to hear) to sentirsi (to feel). To form reflexive verbs you need to use a reflexive pronoun before the verb ( mi lavo, ti lavi, si lava... ) 2. Reflexive verbs in the past To form the past with reflexive verbs you have two options: either imperfetto or passato prossimo . Imperfetto is very easy: mi divertivo . With passato prossimo , remember that reflexive verbs always take essere as auxiliary verb, all the time, no exception! For this reason, you'll need to change the past participle according to the subject you have. For example, let's conjugate the verb divertirsi (to have fun) in passato prossimo : Io mi sono divertito/a Tu ti sei divertito/a Lui si è divertito Lei si è divertita Noi ci siamo divertiti/e Voi vi siete divertiti/e Loro si sono divertiti/e 3. Reflexive verbs in the past with a modal verb What about using a reflexive verb in the past with a modal verb ? Remember that modal verbs are dovere, potere, and volere and they always take an infinitive. For example, let's say you want to say something like " we had to wake up early this morning ", here you have two options! You are going to use the modal verb "have to/must", dovere , in passato prossimo and the infinitive of the verb "to wake up", svegliarsi . Since here you have an infinitive, you can place the reflexive pronoun either before the modal verb or attached to the infinitive of the verb "to wake up", svegliarsi . If you put the pronoun before the modal verb all is normal: Ci siamo dovuti svegliare (you use essere because dovere is being used with a verb taking essere and you change the past participle. Here it can be either dovuti or dovute ). Don't forget to add back the -e at the infinitive svegliare . If you put it after you have to change the auxiliary verb: Abbiamo dovuto svegliarci : in this case you attach -ci at the end of svegliare by dropping the final -e and you use avere , therefore there is no need to change the past participle. Both of them are correct, however, my advice is to use the one with essere. Other examples might be: Mi sono potuto divertire dopo l'esame/Ho potuto divertirmi dopo l'esame (I could have fun after the exam) Ti sei potuta riposare ieri?/Hai potuto riposarti ieri ? (Could you rest yesterday?) If you have any questions about this topic, don't hesitate to send me a message in the contact section of my website. A presto, Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

Today we will look at some more mistakes English speakers make in Italian. If you missed Part 1, check it out here ! 1. GUIDARE with places In Italian, we don't drive places. We do not drive home, we don't drive to Rome, we just go there or eventually we go there by car. I hear many students say phrases like "abbiamo guidato a Roma" or "sto guidando a casa". Unfortunately, these sentences are wrong. We could say: Siamo andati in macchina a Roma → We drove to Rome. Sto tornando a casa in macchina → I am driving home. If you say "Abbiamo guidato a Roma" it means that you're just driving around in Rome and if you say "Sto guidando a casa" it literally means that you are driving your car inside your house! We don't drive people either, but we take them places by car or "Accompagnare in macchina" them. For example: Porto mia sorella in stazione in macchina → I take my sister to the station by car. Accompagno il mio ragazzo a casa in macchina → I take my boyfriend home by car. 2. IN vs TRA Another very common mistake is using the preposition of time IN instead of TRA. I actually wrote an article on this topic that you can read here . The preposition TRA basically translates IN in English that's why it is a bit confusing. Let's look at two sentences using TRA and then IN: Finirò il progetto tra un mese : here you are saying that you will be done with the project in a month, so a month from now, the project will be over. We are talking about a defined and very specific moment in the future. Finirò il progetto in un mese : here you are saying that it will take you a month to finish the project, no matter when you start. IN is used to tell people how long it takes to do something in the future, present or past! 3. Possessive adjectives and articles You finally learned that possessive adjectives like "il mio", "il tuo" etc, require a definite article in Italian. Just remember that the definite article is NOT required when you have a possessive adjective preceding the name of a family member when it's singular and not modified. Let's look at this summary: All possessive adjectives take a definite article (according to the object that is owned) If you have a singular family member do NOT use article → mia sorella, tuo padre, nostra zia If the family mamber name is plural, use the article → le mie sorelle, le nostre zie If the name is altered (e.g. adds a suffix), the article comes back → il mio fratellino 4. Excited? Eccitato? Now let's talk about a very awkward mistake you don't want to be making. In English, you use the word excited a lot and personally I use it too when I speak English. Make sure not to translate this word with ECCITATO . This is because ECCITATO in Italian means something a little different, more sexual! It means sexually aroused, horny. So for sure you don't want to use this while saying how excited you are for your next trip to Italy! What could you use instead? Contento or felice → happy Emozionato → this is the actual translation but I find myself saying contento or felice more! Non vedo l’ora! → I am looking forward to it, I can't wait 5. The big 4 And now let's end this article with another mistake that is very very common and is about 4 verbs that I call "the big 4": I am talking about the verbs Ascoltare → to listen to Cercare → to look for Guardare → to look at, to watch Aspettare → to wait for The reason why these verbs are very important is that in English they always take a preposition but in Italian they don't! The fact they don't take a preposition not only changes the way you use them but also tells you that you will have to use a direct object pronoun with them and use the verb avere in passato prossimo . This is because they are transitive verbs . If you don't know what that means, no worries, it can get pretty practical! Just remember these three things: NO PREPOSITION VERB AVERE IN PASSATO PROSSIMO USE A DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUN WITH THEM Let's look at a few examples Mi piace ascoltare la musica in macchina → I like listening to music. Sto cercando un jeans chiaro, mi può aiutare? → I am looking for light colored jeans. Ho aspettato i miei amici per 2 ore! → I've waited for my friends for 2 hours! I hope you liked this article and found it useful! If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message in the contact section of my website. Also, make sure to read the first part of this article here ! A presto, Teacher Stefano

Do you know what complex prepositions or preposizioni articolate are? If you don't, then this article is for you! Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! Many of you asked me to talk about complex prepositions or preposizioni articolate in Italian and in today's article, we will see just that. Complex prepositions might seem intimidating at first, but no worries, as you practice, they will become the most natural thing in the world. All my students are scared at first when they learn prepositions but then they start using them and realize how natural they are! Let's start! Prepositions are little words used in Italian and English (and other languages) to convey different ideas (time, place, purpose, etc...) in a sentence. Prepositions can be simple or complex. Simple prepositions are: Di A Da In Con Su Per Tra/Fra Complex prepositions are the combination of a simple proposition with a definite article. Not all prepositions can be complexed with an article though! The only ones we can combine are: Di A Da In Su First, remember that the definite articles are: Il , lo, l' → masculine singular word Gli and i → masculine plural words La and l' → feminine singular words Le → femenine plural words If you don't remember how definite articles work, check out this blog post . So how do we combine definite articles with prepositions? It's very easy! You take the preposition and instead of adding the article itself, for phonetic reasons, you add these ending: l for il, llo for lo, ll' for l', gli for gli, i for i, lla for la, ll' for l' feminine and lle for le. Sometimes you will also need to change the preposition itself: Di → de In → ne Let's look at this useful table: Let's some examples: I go to university → Vado all' università I go to the doctor → Vado dal dottore I entered the shop → Sono entrato nel negozio I am on the terrace → Sono sulla terrazza These are my kids' toys → Questi sono i giochi dei miei figli Sometimes also CON can be complexed only with il and i: Il maestro è con i bambini → il maestro è coi bambini Vado a cena con il figlio di Rebecca → Vado a cena col figlio di rebecca You can choose to do this or not! It's really up to you and both of them work just fine! This rule of adding articles to prepositions is an actual pattern in the Italian language. We do the same thing with quello (that) and bello (beautiful). Take a look at this table: Some of you might also ask when we choose a simple preposition and when we choose a complex proposition. The rules behind this choice, are not related to prepositions themselves, but actually to definite articles' rules. So check out this video on my YouTube channel for more information on this! We are done with today's article! I hope you liked it! If you have any questions, send me a message in the contact section of my website. A presto, Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

How would you say I am going in Italian? Well, you could say both "vado" and "sto andando" depending on the context. Let's see how it works! Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! Ciao a tutti and welcome to a new article. In today's article, we are going to discuss the use of present and present progressive in Italian starting from the English I am going . Pretty much in English, you can use I am going for two reasons: if you're going somewhere right now, at this very moment, or if you will go somewhere, like if you're going to the beach next weekend. Unfortunately in Italian, we can't translate these two concepts in the same way, but we have two different tenses to express these two different ideas. Let's start with the present and let's look at an example: Vado al mare questo weekend → I am going to the beach this weekend (note we tend to use al mare vs in spiaggia ) Here I am using the present because although I am saying I am going in English, this is seen as a planned future. So yes, I am using the present to express a future action, mindblowing, isn't it? However, this is no normal future! It's a very specific type of future that I like to call planned future . You have planned to go to the beach, you've made this decision a few days ago, you know where you're going and who you're going with. Let's look at some other examples: Parto per gli Stati Uniti l'anno prossimo → I am leaving for the United States next year. Che fai stasera? → What are you doing tonight? Vieni con noi a Roma domani? → Are you coming to Rome with us tomorrow? So, the question is: when would we use the actual translation of I am going in Italian? The actual present progressive ? Well, it's very easy! We use our present progressive when we want to express the idea of an action that is happening right now, in this very moment. For example: Sto andando a lavoro. Ci sentiamo dopo! → I am going to work. Talk to you later! In this case, you're actually going to work now, maybe you are in the car driving there, or exiting your house to go to work. It's happening right now. Before looking at some other examples, let's see real quick how to form the present progressive in Italian. First, you need to conjugate the verb stare in the present, that is going to be the I am part of this tense. As you can see, in English you use the verb to be , but we use the verb stare instead. Let's conjugate the verb "stare" in the present: Io sto Tu stai Lui/Lei sta Noi stiamo Voi state Loro stanno After you have done this, you will need to add the gerundio of the verb you are conjugating. Except for irregular gerunds, forming the gerundio is very easy. You remove the ending of the infinitive and then add the endings of gerundio that are: ANDO → ARE verbs ENDO → ERE verbs ENDO → IRE verbs So for example: Parlare → parl ando Cadere → cad endo Sentire → sent endo So the present progressive for the verb parlare would be: Io sto parlando Tu stai parlando Lui/Lei sta parlando Noi stiamo parlando Voi state parlando Loro stanno parlando Now let's look at some other example sentences: Sto mangiando la pizza. Vuoi una fetta? → I am having a pizza. Do you want a slice? (note we always use the verb "mangiare" (to eat) in Italian when we are having food). Che stai facendo ? → What are you doing ? Luca e Gianni stanno giocando con i Lego. → Luca and Gianni are playing with Legos. Tutto chiaro? I hope this makes sense! If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message in the contact section of my website. A presto! Teacher Stefano

Do you know how to use adverbs of time? Let's learn how to use them and their position in a sentence. Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! Ciao and welcome to a new article! In today's article we are going to talk about adverbs of time, so words that are used to express an idea of time. These adverbs can be used with present or past tenses or both! Depending on the tense you have, you might need to change their position. In today's article though, we are going to focus on adverbs that are used with past tenses! With passato prossimo, these adverbs are always placed between the auxiliary verb and the past participle. So, if we take the passato prossimo "sono andato", I went, you would place these following adverbs between "sono", the auxiliary verb, and "andato", the past participle. 1. APPENA Appena means just and it is used to describe an action that you just did! Let's look at a few example: Sono appena tornato dalle vacanza → I've just come back from vacation. Siamo appena andati al supermercato ma abbiamo dimenticato il latte → We just went to the supermarket but we forgot milk. Note that when you use appena with a present, its meaning completely changes. In fact, it means as soon as. Appena torni, partiamo → As soon as you come back, we'll leave. Appena finiamo di mangiare, andiamo da tua zia → As soon as we finish eating, we'll go to your aunt. 2. GIÀ Già means already or yet and it's used to talk about an action that you did already in the past. Siamo già stati a Roma quindi preferiamo andare a Firenze → We've already been to Rome, so we prefer going to Florence. Hai già ascoltato il nuovo album? → Have you listened to the new album yet? 3. ANCORA Ancora means yet and we use it to describe an action that we still need to do. Non siamo ancora andati al ristorante → We haven't gone to the restaurant yet. Il treno non è ancora partito → The train has not left yet. 4. SEMPRE Sempre means always and it is mostly used to talk about an action you would always do in the past. Note that we tend to use sempre with imperfetto, because it describes a recurrent action, however it can also be used with passato prossimo: Andavo sempre in palestra l'anno scorso → I used to go to the gym all the time last year. Sei sempre stato un bravo ragazzo → You've always been a good boy. 5. MAI Mai means never or ever and don't forget it is always preceded by "non" in Italian, because we do double negations. Non sono mai stato in Italia → I have never been to Italy. Sei mai stata in Italia? → Have you ever been to Italy? We are done with today's article! If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message in the contact section of my website! A presto, Teacher Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!

How do we use and form the future tense in Italian? Let's find out in today's article! Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me! The future tense in Italian is pretty easy to form, however its uses can be kind of tricky. Of course, the future is used to talk about future actions, but we need to be more specific than that to fully understand how to use the future in Italian correctly. First of all, let's try to understand how to form the future. You probably know that in order to conjugate a verb in Italian, you need to remove the ending of the infinitive. For instance, if we had to conjugate the verb partire in the present, we would remove the -ire ending and then add the endings of the present: Parto Parti Parte Partiamo Partite Partono For the future it's not like that. We start off with the infinitive, get rid of the final -e and then add the endings of the future. The endings are the same for all conjugations (ARE, ERE, IRE) with a little twist for ARE verbs we will look at in a second! Let's look at the conjugation of partire in the future: Io partir ò Tu partir ai Lui/Lei partir à Noi partir emo Voi partir ete Loro partir anno Now, let's look at the conjugation of mettere: Io metter ò Tu metter ai Lui/Lei metter à Noi metter emo Voi metter ete Loro metter anno With ARE verbs, you have to remember to change the A of ARE into E. For example, let's conjugate the verb arrivare : Io arriv e r ò Tu arriv e r ai Lui/Lei arriv e r à Noi arriv e r e mo Voi arriv e r e te Loro arriv e r anno There are some irregular verbs in the future tense, look at this page to learn more about some of them. But for now let's focus on a very important one: essere . Io sar ò Tu sar ai Lui/Lei sar à Noi sar emo Voi sar ete Loro sar anno Now let's look at when the future is used. 1. Future actions The future is used to talk about future actions, of course! For example: Domani arriveranno i miei amici da Londra. Tomorrow my friends from London will arrive. However, when we talk about these kinds of future actions, that are close to us and "planned" we tend to use the present. So, we could also say: Domani arrivano i miei amici da Londra. If you are not sure about this use of the present, take a look at this video . 2. Projects We use the future to talk about future projects or plans we have. For example: L'anno prossimo mi iscriverò all'università. Next year I'm going to enroll at the university. A gennaio inizierò un corso di italiano. In January I will start an Italian course. Since these things might seem planned, the use of the present in this case is also acceptable, however when you're talking about future projects that are somewhat far in the future, the use of the future is recommended. 3. Making announcements When there are announcements to be made in airports or train stations, the use of the future is very common. Il treno arriverà con 20 minuti di ritardo al binario 10. The train will arrive 20 minutes late at Platform 10. L'aereo partirà con 1 ora di ritardo al gate 12. The plane will leave 1 hour late at gate 12. 4. Promises We use the future also to make promises. For example: Non preoccuparti, ti aiuterò io a studiare l'italiano. Don't worry, I'll help you study Italian. Ti prometto che sarò più gentile con te. I promise I will be nicer to you. 5. Predictions We also use the future to make predictions. In this case, the present would be incorrect because we are talking about something we are not 100% sure about. For example: Tra 30 anni tutte le macchine saranno elettriche. In 30 years all cars will be electric. Se non combattiamo il riscaldamento globale, tra 50 anni l'aria sarà irrespirabile. If we don't fight global warming, in 50 years the air will be unbreathable. There's also another interesting use of the future for doubts and suppositions, but I don't want this article to be overwhelming, so if you're interested in this topic, let me know! If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message in the contact section of my website! A presto, Teacher Stefano Do you want to take your Italian to the next level? Check out my Online Italian course for beginners "Be Italiano" and start learning today to become a real Italiano, like me!