beginner-eng

Imagine the scene: you’re finally in Italy. You walk into a bar full of people, you see everyone order in three seconds flat… and then it’s your turn. What do you say? And what if later you get a headache and walk into a pharmacy? And what if at dinner an Italian friend fills your plate for the third time and you’re stuffed to the brim? Would you know what to say — and above all how to manage gracefully — in all these situations?

“Te lo do“, “me ne dai un po’?“, “gliel’ho già detto“… Has it ever happened to you to hear Italians fire off these little words all stuck together and think: “But what are they saying?! Where do all these letters come from?!“. If the answer is yes, today is your lucky day. Let’s test your knowledge of combined pronouns with 23 questions, from the simplest to the Bonus Round for true experts.

Have you ever wondered why, on August 15th, Italy seems to suddenly disappear? Cities empty out, shops pull down their shutters and on the beaches you can’t find a single centimeter of free sand. But what exactly is being celebrated on this day, and why is this festival called “Ferragosto”, a word that at first glance seems to combine “ferro” [iron] and the month of “agosto” [August]? Small spoiler: iron has nothing to do with it. In this guide you’ll discover the millenary history of Ferragosto, from the Romans to today, and you’ll also learn the summer expressions that Italians actually use.

“Non ho visto nessuno.” But how?! Two negations in the same sentence? In math, minus times minus makes plus… but does it work like that in Italian? And above all: is it right or is it a mistake? The double negative is one of those topics that separates those who “study” Italian from those who actually speak it like a native. Let’s discover together the 8 most common traps and how you can avoid them.

You’ve been studying Italian for months, you know grammar by heart, you can even conjugate irregular verbs… then you arrive in Italy, you sit at a bar, you hear two guys chatting and you barely understand anything! The reason is simple: no textbook teaches you slang, those informal and living words that Italians actually use every day. Let’s discover together the 20 slang expressions to understand — and speak — like a real Italian.

Have you ever tried to report someone else’s words and didn’t know which verb tense to use? Were you unsure whether you needed the subjunctive or the indicative? Indirect speech is one of the trickiest topics in Italian grammar, and even advanced students make mistakes. In this article, you’ll discover how to correctly report what someone said, asked, or ordered.