Comments on: Talking about the time

By: Bill Rohwer

Bill Rohwer — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:25:37 +0000

Gentile Serena,

Your response is utilissima! Ti ringrazio moltissimo. I especially appreciate the decisiveness of the rule about usage with ‘essere.’ One of the difficulties for us stranieri in Italia is the subtlety of the differences between what we’ve learned in our grammar courses, on the one hand, and the common usages by Italians, on another hand, and the approved usages by very-educated Italians on still another hand (?).

Communque, grazie mille ancora,

Bill

By: Serena

Serena — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:37:35 +0000

Salve Bill, scusa per il ritardo – sorry for the delay, but I had to look up the answers to your question, and I’m still confused. I can say that generally “presto/in anticipo” (early), and “tardi/in ritardo” (late) are synonyms, but there are a few rules that we can follow: a) with the verb “essere” (to be) we always use “in anticipo/in ritardo”: “sono in ritardo per l’appuntamento” (I’m late for the appointment); b) “presto” and “tardi” are more vague, so they are used in expressions such as “Ieri sera sono andata a dormire presto perche’ ero stanchissima” (last night I went to sleep early because I was very tired); c) “In anticipo/in ritardo” are more precise so they are used when expressing the amount of time: “il treno e’ arrivato 10 minuti in ritardo” (the train arrived 10 minutes late). Finally, “in anticipo” also translates “in advance”, so it’s used in expressions such as “le consumazioni al bar si pagano in anticipo” (drinks at the bar are paid in advance”.

A presto.

By: Serena

Serena — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:36:04 +0000

I’m not sure about the ‘lista degli falsi amici’ but ‘ogni’ is a bit tricky in certain situations because it can mean both ‘any’ and ‘every’, so I’m going to do a blog about it as it might help other readers. Stay tuned!

A presto, Serena

By: cinzia

cinzia — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:13:37 +0000

Ciao Serena! Grazie per la bella risposta. Non avevo idea che “ogni altro giorno” si usa per dire “any other day”. Allora possiamo aggiungere questa “espressione” alla lista degli amici falsi!

By: Serena

Serena — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:22:56 +0000

Salve Cinzia, Just out of interest I did a search for “ogni altro giorno” on Google Italiano, and it gives 10,600 results. Here is a typical sentence from one of those results: “Oggi a Trieste, come ogni altro giorno, alle 2 di mattina non c’e gia’ piu’ niente da fare…tutti i bar sono chiusi …..etc” which translates as “Today in Trieste, like any other day, at 2 in the morning there is nothing left to do…all the bars are closed ….” I quote this simply to illustrate that “ogni altro giorno” means “any other day”, not “alternate days” which would be “un giorno si’ un giorno no” or “a giorni alterni”. The moral of the story is a. always do an Italian search with an Italian search engine such as Google Italiano, and b. don’t rely on the internet as a dictionary based on the number of results it gives!

By: Bill Rohwer

Bill Rohwer — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:38:41 +0000

Ottimo e molto utile. Grazie.

Per favore chiarifica i contesti in cui si usa ‘presto’ invece ‘in anticipo’ e anche i contesti in cui si usa ‘tardi’ e ‘in ritardo.”

Ad esempio, “Mi scusi, sono arrivato [presto] oppure [in anticipo].” Un altro: “Mi dispiace che sia [molto tardi] o [molto in ritardo].”

Grazie in anticipo,

Bill Rohwer

By: cinzia

cinzia — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:37:18 +0000

I have a question for you Serena! Do any Italians you know say “ogni altro giorno”? Mi hanno insegnato che e’ sbagliato dirlo cosi’ che si deve dire “un giorno si’, un giorno no”. Ho appena fatto un Google search e’ ho trovato 16,400 risultati per “ogni altro giorno”. Si puo’ dire? Mi incuriosce sapere il tuo parere. Cinzia

By: Laurentiius

Laurentiius — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:51:23 +0000

Growing-up with an Italian mother. She used the word, “subito,” a lot; and I assumed it meant, “soon.” Because, she would say it so often when my dad would say: “Are you ready yet, lets go!” Mom would say, “si’ subito,” and continue with what she was doing.

On visits to Italy, I used it too, thinking all the while it meant, “soon!” One day, finally, my cousin frustrated asked me: “Why do you say, your coming “subito,” and then don’t come? That was the day I learnt the true meaning of the word, “subito.”

But, I must confess, if you say, “subito,” everyone stops nagging you ( for a little while). lol