DrakeCroft

What will the last lessons be about?
- the indefinites
- relative clause
- indirect speech
- syllabizing in Italian
- other little things

PREFACE

Why learn Italian. The Italian language surely is mostly connected with Italy, that is to say a lot of stereotypes. “Pizza, mafia, mandolin” or, Pavarotti (R.I.P.) or fashion (Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino), cars, (Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini etc) or art (Michelangelo, Raffaello, Leonardo [and the other ninja tortoises!] and so on. But Italy is not as magnificent as it used to be during the Renascence. I personally love the sound of Italian, and I’d learn it just for that! But you may ask: why should I learn Italian? Well a couldn’t say! I just like to see the smiling face of who is thinking “hey! You speak my language! Well done!”. Knowing  a foreign language can also help us to understand when someone wants to make fun of us. Which (unfortunately) is not so rare in Italy… As I said before I just like the sound of every language and my utopia is that everybody could speak his own language and understand all the others.

The Italian language got actually spoken by the masses only thanks to the television. Before that (although Italian was already officialised) people tended to speak only dialect.

Now dialects in northern Italy are less spoken (especially by the young people), except for some regions; in southern Italy they are still strongly spoken.

Except for the period of wars, Italians have always been separated (physically and mentally) by foreign powers like French, Spanish, Austro-Hungarian and still now there are some controversies between people from different regions and sometimes even from different cities in the same region.

Anyway, apart from history, some says that Italian is the clearest voice one can hear at the telephone, it has more than 90% of grammar in common with French and it is the European language whose pronunciation is the nearest to that of Japanese, as it bases itself on syllable nearly always ending with a vowel.

Furthermore, I personally believe that the language one speaks determines the way one thinks.

So enough chat! Let’s learn Italian!  

Lesson 0

PRONUNCIA – Pronunciation

The Italian language is quite famous because almost every word ends with a vowel! This makes it a very melodic language. Each letter must be pronounced, the final “e” as well! There are no vowel diphthongs and each vowels must (nearly always) be pronounced separately from the following or the previous one except for some consonant sounds which need a vowel (it’ll all be clear don’t worry). Just remember! There are only a few rules to pronounce some consonant sounds, some of which are common for a neo-Latin language, but are quite unusual for the other languages! Here the alphabet with the Italian pronunciation!

The Italian alphabet was composed only of 21 letters. “j, k, w, x, y” were not included. Now, due to the globalization, the mass medias and Internet, they are.

LETTER --> name of the letter --> IPA (international phonetic alphabet) --> example in other languages

A --> “a”       --> a --> like in English loud

B --> “bi”      --> b --> like in English bath

C --> “ci”      --> tʃ --> like in English cheese

               or   --> k --> like in English cake

D --> “di”      --> d --> like in French dance

E --> “e”        --> e --> like in English way

                or   --> ε --> like in English leg

F --> “ẹffe”   --> f --> like in English face

G --> “gi”      --> dʒ --> like in English joke

               or   --> g --> like in gas

H --> “ạcca" --> / --> it’s silent in Italian! Italians are not used to pronounce it even in English words like

                                  “hotel” or “hacker”, which are commonly used nowadays

I --> “i”          --> i --> like in English peach

J --> “jay”      --> j, dʒ --> you can find this letter in some cities names or people’s surnames (for example the            

                                     city of Jesolo or the surname Majella) and in these cases it is pronounced like in        

                                      yesterday. Otherwise it can be found in English words like jolly, joker, jazz, jeep and in 

                                     these cases it is pronounced like in English. This letter is also called “I lunga” (“long I”)

K --> “kạppa” --> k --> you can find this only in foreign words like koala, kilo, kamikaze, O. K. and it is

                                      pronounced like in English. Just one exception! “K. O.”, knock out, is pronounced

                                     “kappa – o”!

L --> “’ẹlle”      --> l --> like in English love

M --> “ẹmme” --> m --> like in English milk

N --> “’ẹnne”  --> n --> like in English number

O --> “o”         --> o --> like in English molest

                   or --> ͻ --> like in English lock

P --> “pi”        --> p --> like in English pie

Q --> “qu”      --> k --> like in English quality

R --> “’ẹrre”    --> r --> not exactly like in English! It is pronounced more like in Spanish. You have to vibrate

                                      your tongue against your palate to do this sound.

S --> “’ẹsse” --> s --> ATTENTION! It is pronounced like in English sword when it is written before a dull

                                    consonant like p, c (pronounced as “k”), t, f, or when it is written at the beginning of a

                                    word, followed by a vowel.

                  or --> z --> it is pronounced like in English as when it is written before a sonant consonant like b, g

                                     (pronounced as “g” and not as “j”), d, v, or when it is written between two vowels.

                                    There are of course some rare exceptions.

T --> “ti” --> t --> like in French tour

U --> “u” --> u --> like in English two

V --> “vi” --> v --> like in English voice

W --> “ vu dọppia” --> w, v --> you can find this only in foreign words like waffle, wafer, Luftwaffe, week-

                                                       end. The letter is pronounced like in the origin language.

X --> “ics” --> like in English (xylophone)

Y --> “ịpsilon” --> like in English (yellow)

Z --> “zẹta” --> ts, dz --> the pronunciation of this letter is quite complicated to explain! In words of Latin 

                                             origin with the group of letter “TION-“ (in Italian it has become –ZIONE) it’s  

                                             pronounced “ts”(exactly like a German would pronounce). When it is not a double 

                                             letter it is usually pronounced “dz”. When it is a double letter (like in words like

                                             azzụrro, rọzzo, azzerạre) it is pronounced “dz” but not always. There are lots of

                                             exceptions, so better learn the right pronunciation by heart. 

Just remember. Of course “I” and “U” become semivowels when they are before another vowel:

“ieri” (yesterday) is pronounced exactly like in English (j’εri – j’εstə:dεi) and “cuoio” (leather) is pronounced like in English “what” (kw’ͻjo - wͻt).

As I said before, in Italian there are no vowel diphthongs. Apart from the pronunciation of the foreign letters (foreign for us Italians of course!) j, k, w, x and y, and the letter S and Z which I already talked about, the letters C and G seem to be quite a problem! But don’t worry! Here there’s a simple explanation!

Sound “k” with the letter C: to make this sound you just have to learn this rule --> CA, CHE, CHI, CO, CU. The sound “k” before the letters “I” and “E” needs an “H”. So the pronunciation of these syllables is ka, ke, ki, ko, ku.

Sound “tʃ” with the letter C: to make this sound you just have to learn this rule --> CIA, CE, CI, CIO, CIU. The sound “tʃ” before the letters “A”, “O” and “U” needs an “I” (in these cases the letter “I” must not be pronounced separately). The pronunciation of these syllables is tʃa, tʃe, tʃi, tʃo, tʃu.

The letter “G” is just like “C”. It fallows the same rule --> GA, GHE, GHI, GO, GU are pronounced ga, ge, gi, go, gu.

GIA, GE, GI, GIO, GIU are pronounced dʒa, dʒe, dʒi, dʒo, dʒu.

ATTENTION! Some (quite rare) words are written with CIE or GIE instead of CE or GE, but the pronunciation doesn’t change. Even Italian people forget to write this “I” between C/G and E so don’t worry if you won’t remember this grammar rule! Two examples can be: “camịcie” plural of “camịcia”, shirt, or “ciliẹgie”, plural of “ciliẹgia”, cherry.

SOME OTHER SOUNDS

Three sounds are made with the combination of two or three letters.

GLI --> IPA  “ʎ”. This sound does not exist in  the English language but it exists a similar sound in Spanish, Portuguese and French. It is pronounced (not exactly but almost) like in Versailles (FR) or ilha  (P) or lluvia (SP). To make this sound (always followed by the letter “I”) just remember this rule à GLIA, GLIE, GLI, GLIO, GLIU. Some Italian words as example: “famịglia”, family, “mọglie”, wife, “fọgli”, sheets, “conịglio”, rabbit, (the syllable GLIU it’s not in our vocabularies but it can be found in some surnames though). 

SC + E or I --> IPA  “ʃ ”. This sound is like that of the word shock. In Italian it is always followed by a vowel sound but it must be written like that: SCIA, SCE, SCI, SCIO, SCIU (you read  ʃa, ʃe, ʃi, ʃo, ʃu). Just remember: in this case you don’t have to pronounce the letter “I”.

ATTENTION! The sound SCE is sometimes written SCIE. When? You’ll ask! You have to write SCIE in all the words that have to do with “science”, just like in English. For example: “sciẹnza”, science (you read ʃεntsa), “scienziạto”, scientist, “scientịfico”, scientific etc.

GN --> IPA “ɲ”. This sound does not exist in English. It is like champignon (FR) or niño (SP) or Ronaldinho (P).

Just fallow the rule: GNA, GNE, GNI, GNO, GNU, (you read ɲa, ɲe, ɲi, ɲo, ɲu). Some examples: “ignạro”, unaware, (you read iɲaro), “Agnẹse”, Agnes, “ignịfugo”, fireproof, “gnọmo”, gnome, “gnu”, gnu. This sound is always pronounced as if it was double, so very strongly.

LONG CONSONANTS

Italian recognizes the difference between single consonants and double consonants! Double consonants must be read just more slowly and strongly. You just need to give a lot of importance to a double consonant while you are speaking. At the beginning it can sound a little odd! Each consonant sound can be double (except for the sonant S, GLI and SC) and sometimes a double consonant can make the difference between very similar words. For example: “pala” – shovel and “palla” – ball. Here some examples of words with double consonant: “abbaiạre”, to bark; “accẹndere” , to switch on (you read atʃtʃεndere); “accạnto”, next to, near; “addịo”, good-bye; “affamạto”, hungry; “lẹggo”, I read; “piọggia”, rain; “pạlla”, ball; “mạmma”, mum (you read màmma and not mammà!); “nọnno”, grand-father; “appartamẹnto”, apartment; “soqquạdro”, utter confusion (“soqquadro” is the only word written with to “Q” and you read sokkwàdro), “arrivạre”, to arrive; “assolutamẹnte”, absolutely; “attenziọne”, attention; “avventụra”, adventure; “azzụrro”, light blue (you read "adzdz'urro"), pazzo (you read "p'atstso"). 

STRESS MATTERS

The stress in Italian words doesn’t follow a very fixed rule! It usually falls on the penultimate syllable but not always. Furthermore it is not written unless it is on the final vowel. I just wrote a dot under the stressed vowel in order to help you pronouncing the words correctly! So you have to learn it by heart! From the previous words you could understand that the stress can be on the penultimate, antepenultimate or the first syllable. It can even be at the end and ONLY in this case (once again) the stress is written too. Some examples: “virtù”, virtue; “libertà”, freedom; “più”, plus, more; “però”, but; etc. In some cases the accent can distinguish between some homophone words, for example: “dà”, he, she, it gives and “da”, a preposition translatable with from, by; "dì" , day (not very used) and “di”, preposition translatable with of. Just one more thing! The direction of the written stress is like in French! So “è” and “ò” are open vowels (you read “ε” and “ͻ”) while “é” is pronounced like “e”, grave sound. The other vowels have only an acute accent when they are at the end of a word.

CURIOSITIES

The Italian language is relatively young and the dialect influence on the way one speaks is still strong. In fact, in Italian dialects you can find a lot of foreign sounds that are not in the official language, like “aspirated” C (as if it was an English “H”) in Tuscany, many vocalic French sounds in dialect of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Veneto, a French “R” in the dialect of Parma and so on. The variety of our dialects is really impressive and it is due to the tormented history of the Italian peninsula. While in north Italy double letters are sometimes read as if they weren’t double, in south Italy people tend to pronounce double letter even if they are single. For this and other reasons the Italian voice-actors are asked to learn a neutral diction (way to speak and pronounce words based on the Tuscan way of speaking). Italian voice-actors are really great and watching a film in Italian or playing a videogame in Italian (I always play videogames many times in all the available languages!) is a perfect way to understand the right pronunciation of words!

Italian is also an open language; you’ll find several foreign words, but the problem is that Italian pronunciation is a bit too far from that of English or French, so many words are (unfortunately) often a bit mangled. You can find English words in technology or cars (like display, monitor, home theater, subwoofer, station wagon, start-and-stop , French words in fashion (lingerie, collant, collier, trousse, tailleur, pochette, foulard), cooking (pâté, croissant, baguette, crêpe, brie) or some other things (like passe-partout, the exclamations «touché», chapeau, some Spanish words (conquistadores, desaparesidos) and also some from other languages (Weltanschauung, kamikaze, chakra, yoga, matrioska, etc..)

Once we’ve learned the Italian pronunciation, it is very easy to read Italian (except for the stress maybe); on the contrary it can be a problem to write the sound “ku”. In fact even Italians are very often wrong!

The sound “ku” can be written in two ways: “qu” or “cu”. The consonant sound can also be double and in this case “kku” can be written like: “cqu” or “ccu”. A big problem isn’t it?

Some examples just to understand:

“quando” (you read ku’ando) – when

“cuore” (you read ku’ͻre) – heart

“equo” (you read ‘ekuo) – equal

“quaderno” (you read kuad’erno) – copy-book

“cuoco” (you read ku’ͻko) – cook, chef

“cuoio” (you read ku'ͻio) – leather

And

“acqua” (you read ‘akkua) – water

“taccuino” (you read takku’ino) – note-book

“accusare” (you read akkus’are) – to accuse

“acquedotto” (you read akkued’otto) – aqueduct

There is just 1 rule! Everything that has to do with water is written with “cq”.

Lesson 1

I PRONOMI SOGGETTO – The subject pronouns

1^st singular person: io --> I

2^nd singular person: tu --> you

3^rd singular person: egli (used for male people, more formal, you can find this written in books) --> he

                                    esso (used for masculine objects, formal, you can find this written in books) --> it

                                    lui (used for male people, used for both formal or informal situations) --> he

                                    essa (used for feminine objects, formal, you can find this written in books) --> it

                                    lei (used for female people, more often used for both formal or informal situations.  

                                         ATTENTION!! The pronoun “Lei, written with a capital letter, is used for the polite 

                                         form! Even for men!) --> she / You

1^st plural person: noi --> we

2^nd plural person: voi --> you (also used for the plural polite form with a capital letter)

3^rd plural person: essi (used for male people or masculine objects, more formal, you can find this written in

                                books) --> they

                                esse (used for female people or feminine objects, more formal, you can find this written

                                in books) --> they

                                loro (used for male or female people, more often used for both formal or informal

                                situations) --> they

REMEMBER! In Italian you are not obliged to say or write the subject pronouns every time! On the contrary it would sound really odd to hear them every time! They are very often to be implied, as they can be recognized by the verb! In fact each person has its own conjugation! Just like in Spanish!

 Lesson 2

I VERBI ẸSSERE E AVẸRE – The verbs to be and to have

ESSERE – to be

io sono --> I am /I’m

tu sei --> you are /you’re

lui, lei, Lei (and also egli, esso, essa) è (remember to WRITE the stress!) (you read “ε “) --> he,

                                                                     she is / he’s, she’s, You are

noi siạmo --> we are /we’re

voi, Voi siẹte --> you are /you’re, You are

loro (and also essi, esse) sono (ATTENTION! This conjugation is like the first one! An almost unique fact

                                                        speaking of verbs!) --> they are /they’re

AVERE – to have

io ho --> I have /I’ve

tu hai --> you have / you’ve

lui, lei, Lei (etc, like the verb “ to be”) ha --> he, she has /he’s, she’s, You have

noi abbiạmo --> we have / we’ve

voi, Voi avẹte --> you have / you’ve, You have

loro (etc…) hanno --> they have /they’ve

REMEMBER! The letter “H” is a silent letter in Italian! It’s used to distinguish the verbs from the conjunction “o” (or), the contracted preposition “ai” (often translatable with to the), the preposition “a” (often translatable with to) and the noun “anno” (year)!

Please forgive my grammar mistakes!