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Category: Italian Grammar

Your guide to Italian grammar: understand how Italian works and learn the most important rules and principles to build a good foundation.

  • The Trapassato Prossimo: When Something Happened Before Something Else

    Italian Grammar - Tricky Topics Clarified

    Have you ever told a story about the past… but starting from before the main event? Welcome to the fascinating world of the trapassato prossimo, the Italian past perfect. This tense lets you describe an action that happened even earlier than another past action.

    La tensione cresce

    Let’s read a short exchange between two friends, Marco and Giulia:

    Giulia: Ehi, sembri sconvolto! Tutto bene?
    Marco: Lascia perdere! Ero uscito di casa presto…
    Giulia: Sì?
    Marco: Avevo preso l’autobus…
    Giulia: E poi? Dai!
    Marco: Quando sono arrivato ho visto che avevo dimenticato il portafoglio a casa.
    Giulia: Ma no! E cosa hai fatto?
    Marco: Niente… sono tornato indietro, ma a quel punto avevo già perso il colloquio di lavoro.

    A dialogue between two friends using the Italian trapassato prossimo.
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  • Gli articoli determinativi: How to Use Definite Articles in Italian

    Italian Grammar - Tricky Topics Clarified

    L’amore. Gli spaghetti. La nonna. Il vino. L’Italia. What are the little words you see before all these nouns? They all mean the; they are all definite articles. What are they and why so many different ones? How to use definite articles in Italian? In this article I will answer these questions and I will help you make sense of this tricky feature of the Italian language.

    What are definite articles?

    Basic rule, which applies to many different languages, including English: definite articles are used to refer to a specific thing or person. So:

    THE house you see is mine. = LA casa che vedi è mia.

    THE black dog is mine. = IL cane nero è mio.

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  • How to Be Polite in Italian: the Present Conditional

    Italian Grammar - Tricky Topics Clarified

    Vuoi fare bella figura? Usa il condizionale presente!

    What is a bella figura? It’s a good impression. Read this article if you want to make a bella figura!

    Your new friend: the present conditional

    The present conditional tense is extremely versatile: mastering its usage in Italian will enhance your communication skills and leave a positive impression. This tense is very common in everyday conversation, from chatting with friends to ordering your favourite meal at your go-to restaurant in Italy, so the use of the conditional is a practical skill that is never too early to acquire.

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  • Ti sei lavato i denti? Italian Reflexive Verbs

    Italian Grammar - Tricky Topics Clarified

    Italian reflexive verbs, a simple subject that can sometimes confuse even advanced learners!

    Simply put, a reflexive verb is a verb conjugated with reflexive pronouns. We call them reflexive because, in most cases, the action performed by the subject reflects on the subject: I’m enjoying myself, mi diverto.

    In Italian these verbs are quite common, and you are likely to encounter them early on because many verbs that describe our daily routine are reflexive: alzarsi, lavarsi, pettinarsi, and so on.

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  • Viva l’Italia! The Subjunctive Mood in Italian

    Italian Grammar - Tricky Topics Clarified

    The subjunctive is the most elegant mood of the Italian language, and at some point you need to at least be able to identify it when you hear it. If you can also use it correctly, then you will be well on your way to fluency. This article will introduce all you need to know on the Italian subjunctive mood.

    What is the subjunctive mood?

    What is the subjunctive mood – il congiuntivo? Il congiuntivo congiunge – the subjunctive joins two clauses. Most of the times (but not always!), you will find it in a dependent clause, a statement that is connected to another one by the conjunction (congiunzione) CHE, that or which.

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  • Imperfetto o passato prossimo? How to talk about the past in Italian

    Italian Grammar - Tricky Topics Clarified

    Italian has several past tenses, but the passato prossimo and the imperfetto are the two most common ones. The imperfetto does not exist in English, but it can be translated using the past simple or the past continuous. The passato prossimo is a compound tense, similar to the English present perfect, but it can also be translated with the past simple. How do we choose between one or the other?

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  • Essere o avere? How to form compound tenses in Italian

    Italian Grammar - Tricky Topics Clarified

    What is all the fuss about essere and avere in Italian? Why do we bring up this topic so often in our grammar lessons? Essere and avere have their own meanings, be and have, but they are also used to form compound tenses.

    What is a compound tense? The English present perfect, for example: I have done. Have is an auxiliary here, it helps or supports the verb to do. English has many auxiliaries, but to form compound tenses it uses have. In Italian, instead, we can use have, avere, or be, essere. So we say Io ho fatto and Io sono andato. We cannot say *Io ho andato, it would sound awful! But how to choose? There are a few rules that can help us remember.

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