Posts under "Grammar"

Quanto Tempo?

Posted by Serena 4 Comments
Sep 9 2011

Let’s have a look at a couple of useful expressions that we use when we’re discussing time:

1. quanto tempo ci vuole? –  This common expression is used in an impersonal sense to mean ‘how much time is needed?’ e.g.: quanto tempo ci vuole per fare il pane in casa? – how much time is needed to make bread at home? or: quanto tempo ci vuole per andare a Parma in macchina? – how much time is needed to drive to Parma in the car?

The reply would be ci vogliono due ore (per fare il pane in casa) – you need two hours (literally: two hours are needed), or ci vuole mezz’ora (per andare a Parma in macchina) – you need half an hour (literally: half an hour is needed). As you can see, the answer can be in the plural ‘vogliono’ as in the first example, or the singular ‘vuole’ as in the second example, depending on the reply.

2. quanto tempo ci metti/mette? has the more personal sense of how long does it take you/it? As usual, this is easier to illustrate with examples: quanto tempo ci metti per fare il pane in casa? – how long do you take to make bread at home? or quanto tempo ci metti per andare a Parma in macchina? – how long do you take to drive to Parma?

We can use the same expression for things such as i mezzi publici – buses, trains etc.: l’autobus per Parma, quanto ci mette? – how long does the bus to Parma take? or quanto ci mette il traghetto da Livorno alla Sardegna? – how long does the ferry take from Livorno to Sardinia?

The reply depends on who or what is doing the action of ‘taking time’: ci metto due ore (per fare il pane in casa) – I take two hours, or ci metto mezz’ora (per andare a Parma in macchina) – I take half an hour, or l’autobus per Parma ci mette quaranta minuti – the bus to Parma takes forty minutes. Note that this time the reply remains in the singular because we are talking about how much time I take – ci metto or it (the bus) takes – ci mette, and not how many minutes or hours are needed, i.e. ci vuole un minuto – one minute is needed, ci vogliono due minuti – two minutes are needed, etc.

To finish with, a few example in the past tense:

1. quanto tempo ci vuole? – ‘how much time is needed?’ becomes quanto tempo ci è voluto? – ‘how much time was needed/did it/you need?’, e.g. quanto tempo ci è voluto per fare il pane in casa? -how much time did it/you need to make bread at home?

Once again, the reply will be in the singular: ci è voluta un’ora (per fare il pane in casa) – I needed an hour/an hour was needed, or the plural: ci sono volute due ore – I needed two hours/two hours were needed

2. quanto tempo ci metti/mette? – how long do you/does it take? becomes quanto tempo ci hai/ha messo? – how long did it take you/it?, e.g. quanto tempo ci hai messo per fare il pane in casa? – how long did you take to make bread at home? or quanto tempo ci hai messo per andare a Parma in macchina? – how long did you take to drive to Parma? or l’autobus per Parma, quanto ci ha messo? – how long did the bus take to get to Parma? or quanto ci ha messo il traghetto da Livorno alla Sardegna? – how long did the ferry take from Livorno to Sardinia?

Mia Mamma o La Mia Mamma?

Posted by Serena 3 Comments
Sep 7 2011

As promised in Wednesday’s blog, ‘La Famiglia – Part 2’, this article will explain when we use the articolo determinativo – definite article (the), i.e. il, lo, la, i, gli, le, when talking about family members.

The first thing to remember is that in Italian we always use the article before the possessive adjective (my, your,their, etc.), e.g. il mio libro - my book, la tua penna – your pen, le loro biciclette – their bicycles, etc. This rule is still valid when we talk about the family in the plural form, e.g.:

I miei genitori abitano a Pontremoli – (the) My parents live in Pontremoli

Le tue sorelle sono tutte sposate? – are (the) your sisters all married?

 

There is, however, an exception. If we are talking about a single member of the family we don’t use the article, e.g.:

mio marito è Inglese – my husband is English

mia cugina Francesca abita in Svizzera – my cousin Francesca lives in Switzerland

Che lavoro fa tuo padre? – What’s your father’s job?

 

Of course being Italian we have to have a few exceptions to the exception. We use the article if the word that describes the relative is in anyway modified, as in the following instances:

1. … the word that describes the relative is modified by a suffix, (highlighted in blue) e.g.:

La mia nipotina Margherita ha i capelli biondi e ricci – My little niece Margherita has blond curly hair

la mia cuginetta Francesca abita in Svizzera – my little cousin Francesca lives in Switzerland

Questo è il nostro zione Luciano – this is our dear uncle Luciano

These suffix normally add a feeling of affection.

 

2. … the word that describes the relative is modified by a prefix, (highlighted in blue) e.g.:

la tua bisnonnna si chiamava Dirce – your great-grandmother was called Dirce

Giovanni è il suo pronipote – Giovanni is his/her great-grandchild

 

3. … there is a second adjective, (highlighted in blue) e.g.:

la mia nonna materna si chiamava Vincenza – my maternal grandmother was called Vincenza

il mio caro marito è inglese – my dear husband is English

Luciano è il nostro zio preferito – Luciano is our favourite uncle

 

4. Finally, we use the definite article when the possessive adjective is loro – their, e.g.:

questa è la loro figlia – this is their daughter

Giuseppe è il loro nonno – Giuseppe is their grandfather

 

When I was a child I was taught never to say la mia mamma – (the) my mum, il mio papà – (the) my dad, and its variation il mio babbo – (the) my dad, but mia mamma, mio papà, mio babbo. However, modern grammar books now consider mamma, papà and babbo as modified affectionate forms of madre (mother) and padre (father). Therefore these instances fall within exception 1. above. For this reason they can be used with or without the article. It is also quite common these days to hear people using la mamma, il babbo etc. e.g. ‘come sta la mamma?’ – literally: ‘how is the mother?’, meaning ‘how is your mother?’

Imperfetto e Passato Prossimo – Quale Devo Usare?

Posted by Serena 12 Comments
Aug 8 2011

Occasionally students of Italian tell me that they are confused about whether to use the passato prossimo (present perfect) or the imperfetto (imperfect tense), and don’t really understand the difference between the two. A while ago I wrote a blog on the subject which you can find here: passato prossimo e imperfetto, but I think that it would be useful to revisit the topic in a more practical way by giving you a number of examples in which I’ll demonstrate how the two forms differ. To clarify things, I have highlighted the imperfetto in red, and the passato prossimo in green.

1.Imperfetto or Passato Prossimo:

We use the imperfetto when talking about something that used to happen regularly, something that happened repeatedly, or something that happened over a long but indefinite  period of time. The passato prossimo, on the other hand, is more precise, because it describes something that happened only once, at a very specific time, or for a limited period of time:

Imperfetto: da bambina andavo tutte le estati al mare (when I was a child I used to go to the beach every summer)

Passato Prossimo: l’estate scorsa sono andata al mare (last summer I went to the beach)

Imperfetto: quando ero in Inghilterra abitavo a Nottingham (when I was in England I used to live in Nottingham)

Passato Prossimo: ho abitato a Nottingham per tredici anni (I lived in Nottingham for thirteen years)

Imperfetto: da bambino a Giovanni piaceva il gelato al pistacchio (when Giovanni was a child he used to like pistachio ice cream)

Passato Prossimo: a Giovanni è piaciuto il gelato al pistacchio non appena l’ha assaggiato (Giovanni liked pistachio ice cream as soon as he tasted it)

Imperfetto: quand’eravamo in Inghilterra spesso andavamo a camminare nel Derbyshire (when we were in England we often went walking in Derbyshire)

Passato Prossimo: quand’eravamo in Inghilterra siamo andati a camminare nel Derbyshire un paio di volte (when we were in England we went walking in Derbyshire a couple of times)

Imperfetto: quand’ero all’università studiavo archeologia (when I was at university I studied archaeology)

Passato Prossimo: quand’ero all’università ho studiato archeologia per quattro anni (when I was at university I studied archaeology for four years)

 

2. Imperfetto and Passato Prossimo:

When we want to talk about a specific event we often use both the imperfetto and the  passato prossimo in the same sentence. In this case we use the imperfetto to set the scene, to say what was going on, or to clarify when something happened, and the passato prossimo to recount the specific event:

mentre facevo la spesa dal fruttivendolo è entrata Maria con il suo nuovo ragazzo (while I was shopping at the greengrocer Maria came in with her new boyfriend)

mentre scrivevo il blog ha telefonato Marco (Marco phoned while I was writing the blog)

quando abitavo in Inghilterra un’estate ho visitato la Scozia (when I lived in England I visited Scotland one summer)

Giorgio si è rotto la gamba mentre giocava a calcio (Giorgio broke his leg whilst playing football)

quand’ero all’università ho partecipato a due scavi archeologici (when I was at university I took part in two archaeological excavations)

 

Spero di essere stata chiara (I hope I’ve been clear)

Fa Male!

Posted by Serena 11 Comments
Jul 20 2011

In a recent blog I discussed some alternative translations of the verb ‘fare’. See: Il Verbo Fare

In this blog I’m going to look at one of the many idiosyncratic uses of fare. By combining fare with male (bad) we express the concept of ‘to hurt’. Let’s find out how it works with a few examples of its usage:

mi fa male il dito – my finger hurts. Here ‘fa’ (third person singular of fare) refers to il dito (my finger)

mi fanno male le dita – my fingers hurt. In this case ‘fanno’ (third person plural of fare) refers to le dita (my fingers)

ti fa male la gola? – does your throat hurt? (familiar)

ti fanno male i piedi? – do your feet hurt? (familiar)

le fa male la gola? – does your throat hurt? (formal)

le fanno male i piedi? – do your feet hurt? (formal)

gli fa male la testa – his head hurts

le fa male la testa – her head hurts, note that le (to her) and le (to you – formal) are written and pronounced in the same way

-

 

Farsi Male is the reflexive form of this construction. Here is how it works:

mi sono fatta male al dito – I’ve hurt my finger, note that if you are female you say mi sono fatta male, and if you are male you say mi sono fatto male

mi sono fatta male alle dita – I’ve hurt my fingers

ti sei fatto male alla gamba? – have you hurt your leg? (familiar)

si è fatto male? – did he hurt himself?, or – did you hurt yourself? (formal)

attento che ti fai male – be careful or you’ll hurt yourself

abbiamo fatto un incidente con la macchina … accidenti, vi siete fatti male? – we had an accident in the car … oh no!, did you hurt yourselves?

 

If there is anything that you don’t find clear please leave a comment and I’ll try to help you. Spero che non vi faccia male la testa!

Similitudini

Posted by Serena 8 Comments
Jul 17 2011

A few days ago a reader wrote to me saying that he really enjoyed Italian similitudini (similes) such as cieco come una talpa (‘as blind as a mole’), and asked if I knew any more of them. Here is a list of some popular similitudini:

dormire come un ghiro (‘to sleep like a dormouse’)

furbo come una volpe (‘as cunning as a fox’)

muto come un pesce (‘as dumb as a fish’, meaning ‘close-mouthed’)

brutto come un rospo (‘as ugly as a toad’) or brutto come la fame (‘as ugly as hunger’)

lento come una lumaca (‘as slow as a snail’)

affamato come un lupo (‘as hungry as a wolf’)

forte come un toro (‘as strong as a bull’)

coraggioso come un leone (‘as brave as a lion’)

delicato come un fiore (‘as delicate as a flower’)

ballare come un orso (‘to dance like a bear’, meaning ‘to dance clumsily’)

benvenuto come un cane in chiesa (‘as welcome as a dog in church’, meaning ‘unwelcome’)

buono come il pane (‘as good as bread’, meaning ‘to have a heart of gold’)

preciso come un orologio svizzero (‘as precise as a Swiss clock’)

sordo come una campana (‘as deaf as a bell’, meaning ‘as deaf as a post’)

essere fuori come un poggiolo (‘to be out like a balcony’, meaning ‘to be off one’s head’)

chiaro come il sole (‘as clear as the sun’, meaning ‘as clear as daylight’)

cantare come un usignolo (‘to sing like a nightingale’, meaning ‘to sing very sweetly’)

cadere come una pera cotta (‘to fall like a cooked pear’, meaning 1. ‘to be taken in’, or 2. ‘to fall head over heels in love’)

bucato come un colapasta (‘full of holes like a colander’)

This list could go on for ever! Feel free to add any that I have missed, or perhaps you would like to share an amusing simile from your own culture/language.

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