GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS in Italian: Learn How to Analyse All the Elements of a Phrase

In order to comprehend and speak a language properly, having a complete knowledge of grammar is fundamental! Therefore, in the following lesson we are going to see in detail all the parts of speech that include the elements of a clause to identify when we deal with grammatical analysis. In addition at the end of the video related to this lesson, you’ll find some sentences that will help you to practice with grammar analysis.

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The 9 parts of speech in grammatical analysis  

1) article 

Type: – definite (il, lo, la, i, gli, le) (the)

– indefinite (un, uno, una) (a/an)

– partitive (del, dello, della, dei, degli, delle) (some)

Gender: masculine or feminine

Number: singular or plural

2)  noun (or substantive)

Type: – proper: it uniquely identifies a person or an entity (Mario, Rossi, Milano…)

– common: it generically identifies the elements by referring to their category (cuoco muro, cane…) (cook, wall, dog…)

– concrete: it indicates people, animals and objects that can be perceived through our senses, namely: sight, touch, hearing, smell, taste (casa, mattone, macchina…) (house, brick, car…)

– abstract: it indicates ideas, sensations, concepts that are not tangible, that can’t be perceived through the five senses (amore, gioia, odio…) (love, joy, hate…)

– individual: it indicates a single person or entity ( persona, animale, cosa, concetto) (person, animal, thing, concept)

– collective: it indicates a set of things, group of people or aggregation of animals  (stormo, branco, gente…) (flock, pack, people…)

Gender: masculine or feminine

Number: singular or plural

Morphological structure: – primitive: it is formed by a root and an inflection (uomo, vaso, casa…) (man, vase, house…)

– derivative: it is formed with the addition of prefixes and/or suffixes (cittadino, ingiustizia) (citizen, injustice)

– compound: if it is formed by two or more words (camposanto, sordomuto, benestare…) (graveyard, deaf-mute, aproval)

– modified: diminutives, augmentative terms, pet terms, derogatory terms (casina, casona, casetta, casaccia)

3)  adjective

Type: – qualifying: it describes the quality of someone or something (bello, brutto, semplice, interessante…) (nice, ugly, simple, interesting…)

– possessive (mio, tuo, suo, nostro, vostro, loro) (my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their)

– demonstrative (questo, quello, codesto, stesso, medesimo) (this, these, that, those)

– indefinite (tutto, alcuno, molto, tanto, ciascuno, poco, nessuno, altro, certo, parecchio, quanto, troppo, tale, vario, alquanto, diverso, altrettanto, qualche, qualsiasi, qualunque, ogni) (every, any, (too/as) much, other, different, quite…)

– numeral: cardinal (uno, due, tre… ) (one, two, three…)/ ordinal (primo, secondo, terzo…) (first, second, third)/ multiplicative (doppio, triplo, quadruplo…) / distributive (a uno a uno, a due a due…)

– interrogative / exclamatory (che, quale, quanto) (what, which, how much)

Gender: masculine or feminine

Number: singular or plural

Structure (regarding only qualifying adjectives): – primitive: consisting only of a root and a suffix (alto, dritto, onesto, rosso…) (high, straight, honest, red…)

– derivative: formed with the adding of prefixes and/or suffixes (criticabile, ombroso, infelice…) (questionable, shady, unhappy…)

– compound: formed by two or more words (sacrosanto, agrodolce…) (sacrosanct, bittersweet…)

– modified: formed with diminutives, augmentations, nicknames, pejorative terms (bellino, birbantello, golosone, poveraccio)

Degree (regarding only qualifying adjectives): – positive (base form)

– comparative: of minority, (meno… di… ) (less… than…)/ equality (tanto… quanto…) (as… as…) / of majority (più… di…) (more… than)

– superlative: relative (il più … di) (the most…) / absolute (-issimo) (very…)

4)  pronoun 

Type: – personal as a subject (io, tu, noi, voi…) ( I, you, we, you…)

– personal as a complement (me, te, ci…)

– possessive (il mio, il tuo…) (mine, your…)

– demonstrative (questo, codesto, quello, stesso, medesimo, costui, colui, ciò)

– indefinite (uno, qualcuno, ognuno, nessuno, alcuno, altro, chiunque, qualcosa, alcunché, checché, niente, nulla, poco, molto, alquanto, diverso, vario, parecchio, tanto, troppo, altrettanto, tutto, certo) (anybody, everybody, nobody, somebody, anyone, everyone, no one, someone, anything, everything, nothing, something, whatever, rather,likewise, little, much, definitely)

– mixed (chi, quanto: chi fa la, l’aspetti; quanto detto non è vero…) (who, what: what goes round comes around; what was said)- relative (che, cui, chi, il quale) (who, whom, whose, which, that)

– interrogative / exclamatory (chi, che, quale, quanto) (who, whom, which, how much)

Gender: masculine or feminine

Number: singular or plural

Person (for personal pronouns): first, second, third

Function (for personal pronouns used as complement): direct object (complemento oggetto), indirect object (complemento di termine)

5) verb 

Conjugation: – are (first)

– ere (second)

– ire (third)

– propria (to be and to have)

Form: – active (mangio, dorme…) (I eat, he/she sleeps…)

– passive (è bevuto, sono stato spiato…) (it’s drunk, I was being watched…)

– reflexive (si sveglia, mi lavo…) (he/she wakes up, I have a bathe…)

– pronominal (ce la faccio…) (I can do it)

Type: – transitive (holding a direct object)

– intransitive (not holding a direct object)

Mood and Tense: – indicative (present, present perfect, past simple, future simple, future perfect)

– subjunctive (present, past, imperfect, past perfect)

– conditional (present, past)

– imperative

– infinitive (present, past)

– participle (present, past)

– gerundive (present, past)

Number: singular or plural

Person: first, second or third

6)  adverb

Category: – adverb: invariable word that specifies circumstances and and ways in which an event or an action takes place (bene, male, velocemente…) (good, bad, quickly)

– adverbial locution: namely group of words with the function of adverb (a poco a poco, all’improvviso, in un batter d’occhio, alla svelta…) (gradually, suddenly, in no time)

Type: – of manner: it indicates the way an action is carried out (lentamente, onestamente, facilmente, faccia a faccia, a gattoni…) (slowly, honestly, easily, face-to-face, on all fours)

– of time: it indicates the circumstance or the period in which something happens (ora, adesso, ancora, oggi, domani, ieri, recentemente, tardi, una volta, per tempo, all’improvviso…) (right now, still, tomorrow, yesterday, recently, late, once, intime, suddenly…)

– of place: it indicates the place where the action occurs or where people or things are (qui, lì, vicino, ovunque, altrove, qua sotto, là sopra…) (here, there, everywhere, elsewhere, down below, up there…)

– of quantity: it indicates, indefinitely, the quantity of the word, verb or adjective that accompanies (poco, molto, abbastanza, almeno, circa, niente…) (little, enough, very, at least, about, not…)

– of affirmation: it confirms or enhances the meaning of the element to which it relates (proprio, appunto, precisamente, davvero, affatto, senza dubbio…)

– negating:  it expresses a negative evaluation in relation to the given information (non, nemmeno, neanche, neppure, niente affatto…) (even, neither, not at all…)

– for doubt: it indicates some uncertainty (se, forse, magari, chissà, probabilmente, quasi quasi…) (if, maybe, probably, who knows…)

– interrogative: it introduces a direct question (Where? When? How? Why?…)

– exclamatory: it introduces an exclamation (Come! Quanto!…) (How! How much!…)

– introductory: it announces, introduces something (Ecco!) (There!)

Degree: – positive (base form)

– comparative: of minority (meno… ) (less…)/ equality (tanto … quanto … ) (as… as…)/ majority (più…) (more…)

– superlative: relative (il più … possibile) (as… as possible) / absolute (-issimamente) (very…)

Alteration (possible): – diminutive (pianino…) (very…)

– augmentative (benone…) (pretty…)

– pejorative (malaccio…) (too…)

7) preposition

Category: – proper: namely a preposition in a strict sense (di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra)

– non-proper: adjective, verb or adverb with the function of preposition (davanti, dentro, dietro, fuori, lontano, lungo, mediante, oltre, secondo, senza, sopra, sotto, verso, vicino, durante, eccetto…) (in front, inside, behind, outside, through, via, without, above, below, towards, close to, during, except…)

– locuzione prepositiva: namely it’s formed by an adverbial locution + a preposition (in mezzo a, in cima a…) (between, on the top of) or by an adverb + a preposition (contrariamente a, lontano da, insieme a…) (in contrast to, along with…)

Morphological structure: – simple (di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra)

– articulated (del, al, dal, nel, sul…) (of, at, from, in, on the….)

8) conjugation 

Form: – conjugation: it unites two elements in a clause or two clauses in a period (e, o, perché, affinché, infatti…) (and, or, because, since, in fact…)

– locution: sequence of words with the function of conjugation (dal momento che, ogni volta che, anche se, a patto che…) (since, whenever, even if, as long as…)

Function and Type: – coordinating: it unites two clauses by bringing them on the same level

• copulative (e, ed, né, anche, pure, inoltre, perfino, neanche, nemmeno, neppure…) (and, (not) even yet, although, besides…)

• alternative (o, oppure, altrimenti, ovvero…) (or, otherwise, namely…)

• adversative (ma, però, eppure, tuttavia, al contrario, anzi, piuttosto, invece, mentre, eppure…) (but, however, on the contrary, actually, in fact, while, yet, but, still…)

• correlative (sia … sia, o … o, e …. e, né … né, non solo … ma anche, tanto … quanto, così … come) (both…and, either… or, neither … nor, not only… but also… )

– subordinating: it unites two clauses by putting them in a relationship of dependency

• causal (poiché, perché, siccome, dato che, visto che, giacché…) (since, because)

• declarative (che, come…) (that, like…)

• conditional (se, a condizione che, qualora, purché…) (if, on condition that, so long as)

• concessive (nonostante, sebbene, anche se, malgrado…) (despite, in spite, although)

• consecutive (tanto … che, così … che, a tal punto … che …) (so… that, to the point)

• finality (perché, affinché…) (so that, in order that)

• temporal (quando, mentre, finché, dopo che…) (when, while, after that….)

9) interjection (or exclamation)

Form: – proper: only used in exclamations (Ahi!, Oh!, Ah!, Uff!…)

– non-proper: used in exclamations, and more (Coraggio!, Peccato!…) (Come on!, Too bad!…)

– locution: two or more words used as an exclamation (Santo cielo!, Povero me!, Per amor del cielo!…) (My goodness!, Poor me!, For Heaven’s sake!)

Type: expressing – wonder (Davvero!, Diamine!, Accidenti!…) (Really! Gosh! Man!)

– pain (Ahi!, Ahimè!, Ohi!…) (Alas!)

– joy (Evviva!, Viva!…) (Hurray!…)

– doubt (Boh!, Mah!…)

– boredom (Uffa!, Auff!…) (what a bore!…)

Ok,our lesson is over. We are aware it’s not a simple topic but with some practice it’ll get easier. However, if you have doubts or questions, write a comment whenever you want! Instead, if you want study something else, have a look at the logical análisis in Italian!

In addition, we remind you that if you want to buy our t-shirts (and more!), you can find them on our e-shop: LearnAmo Collection!

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Esercizio: L’Analisi Grammaticale in Italiano

Test completo sull’analisi grammaticale italiana. Verifica la tua conoscenza delle parti del discorso, delle concordanze e delle funzioni sintattiche. Esercizio gratuito per studenti di italiano.

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