Duolingo

Basics - italian

Tips and notes

Welcome to the Italian course! Remember that you can click on the words to see tips of
possible translations.

Personal pronouns

The subject pronouns in Italian are:

Io - I
Tu - Singular You
Lui - He
Lei - She
Esso/Essa - It (archaic and literary)
Noi - We
Voi - Plural You / You all
Loro - They (speaking of people)
Essi/Esse - They (archaic and literary)
The verb is always conjugated to match the subject, and the subject is only specified for
clarity or emphasis.

Articles

Articles have to match gender and number of the noun they refer to.

The singular determinate articles (the) are:

Lo - masculine, used before Z, S+consonant, GN, and some rarer consonant clusters.
Il - masculine, used before consonants except the above.
La - feminine, used before all consonants.
L' - an elision of the above used before vowels.
The indeterminate articles (a/an) are:

Uno - masculine, used before Z, S+consonant, GN, and some rarer consonant clusters.
Un - masculine, used in all other cases.
 Una - feminine, used before all consonants.
Un' - feminine, used before vowels.

Plural articles

The plural definite articles (the) are:

Gli - for masculine nouns before vowels, Z, S+consonant, GN and some rarer consonant
clusters.
I - for masculine nouns in all other cases.
Le - for feminine nouns.
Articulated prepositions

When some prepositions are followed by a definite article they merge into a single word.

Article: il, lo, la, l', i, gli, le

Di + article: del, dello, della, dell', dei, degli, delle
A + article: al, allo, alla, all', ai, agli, alle
Da + article: dal, dallo, dalla, dall', dai, dagli, dalle
In + article: nel, nello, nella, nell', nei, negli, nelle
Su + article: sul, sullo, sulla, sull', sui, sugli, sulle
The compounds formed by con and per are archaic and literary, with the exception
of col (con + il) for which the contraction is optional.

Phrases

Tips and notes

Negations

In this section you'll use negations for the first time.

The English no has two main uses:

Particle (e.g. "no!"): this translates directly to the Italian no.

Determiner (e.g. "no one"): you'll learn the translations for this in a later section.
The English not almost always translates to the Italian non. However, while not often
follows the verb it negates or its auxiliary, the Italian non always precedes it.
 Greetings

Ciao is used both ways in Italian: when meeting (also salve) and when parting
(also arrivederci or addio).
Buongiorno and buonasera are normally used when meeting, although they can be used
when parting as well: the first is used in the first half of the day and the latter in the
remaining half.
Buonanotte is always used when parting, as it presumes that the day is over (same as
"good night").
Prego is a courtesy form used in many occasions to accompany a kind action, and it's the
customary answer to reply to received thanks.
Per favore, per piacere and per cortesia are courtesy forms used when asking for
something.

Foods

Tips and notes

Ingredients

Italian has three ways to express the presence of an ingredient in the name of a dish:

Dish di ingredient: the ingredient is the main or only component of the dish, e.g. "succo di
limone" (lemon juice). In this case the article is never used before the ingredient.
Dish con ingredient: the ingredient is a visible component of the dish or used as garnish,
e.g. "fragole con panna" (strawberries with cream). In this case a definite article can be
used before the ingredient.
Dish a ingredient: the dish has been flavored with the ingredient, or tastes like the
ingredient, e.g. "gelato al cioccolato" (chocolate ice cream). In this case the definite article
is mandatory before the ingredient, forming an articulated preposition with a.
When there is no room for confusion the three can occasionally be mixed up, e.g. "panino
al salame" is as common as "panino con salame"; however, in many cases using one
instead of the other can give hints on the dish's composition.

Questions

In this section you'll meet the first proper questions. In Italian word order doesn't change
in a question, meaning that the question mark at the end and the raising tone of voice are
usually the only differences between a question and a statement.

Tips
 It's important to keep in mind that the English idiom of "having food" being synonymous
with "eating food" doesn't apply to Italian, where "avere cibo" simply means owning food.

Plurals

Tips and notes

You already met some noun variations in gender and number in the past lessons.

The most common noun classes in Italian are the following:

Nouns ending in a in the singular and e in the plural, e.g. "la ragazza" / "le ragazze": most
nouns in this class are feminine.
Nouns ending in o in the singular and i in the plural, e.g. "il ragazzo" / "i ragazzi": most
nouns in this class are masculine.
Nouns ending in e in the singular and i in the plural, e.g. "il pesce" / "i pesci": nouns in this
class can be any gender.
Nouns ending in a in the singular and i in the plural, e.g. "il problema" / "i problemi": most
nouns in this class are masculine.

Possessives

Tips and notes

Italian possessives are in the form definite article (il, la, i, le) + possessive adjective. They
agree with the gender and number of the thing they describe:

My/Mine: "il mio", "la mia", "i miei", "le mie"

Your/Yours (sing): "il tuo", "la tua", "i tuoi", "le tue"
His/Hers/Its/Your (formal)/Yours (formal): "il suo", "la sua", "i suoi", "le sue"
Our/Ours: "il nostro", "la nostra", "i nostri", "le nostre"
Your/Yours (plur): "il vostro", "la vostra", "i vostri", "le vostre"
Their/Theirs: "il loro", "la loro", "i loro", "le loro"
il mio cane My dog ("Cane" is masculine singular, so we use "il" and "mio.")

la mia pizza My pizza ("Pizza" is feminine singular, so we use "la" and "mia.")

Even though in English the possessive in the third person (his, her, its) varies based on the
owner, remember that in Italian the gender and number are determined by the thing
being owned:
 il cane di Giulia > il suo cane ("Cane" is masculine, so we use the masculine, even though it
is her dog.)

In Italian an article is almost always mandatory before a possessive. The exceptions are:

It's not used before close family members, in the singular and not modified, e.g. "mio
padre" (my father), unless the possessive is "loro" (in which case the article is needed).
It's optional when the possessive adjective is alone following a form of "essere," e.g. "
mio" (it's mine).
It's not used in a small number of set phrases, e.g. "casa mia" (my home).
Possessive pronouns (possessives acting as a noun) are formed using the definite article
and the possessive. They agree with the object they describe, even if it is not explicitly
mentioned in the sentence:

Dov' la tua macchina? La mia qui. Where is your car? Mine is here. (It is understood that
"la mia" refers to my car, so it is feminine.)

Present

Tips and notes

In this section you'll learn some common verbs; let's have a look at the "tough" ones.

Conoscere vs Sapere
Both verbs translate the English "to know": that means that while the difference is obvious
to speakers of other languages (e.g. German kennen vs wissen, Spanish conocervs saber,
Latin cognoscere vs sapere), it might be particularly hard for native English speakers.

Conoscere means to be acquainted or familiar with someone or something: it's the way
you "know" persons, places, or news.
Sapere means to possess information about something: it's the way you know or learn
most facts.

Piacere
This is the first verb you'll meet with a different transitiveness compared to English: it
means "to like" but the one being liked is the subject! Again, this is something that
speakers of other languages might be familiar with (e.g. German gefllt mir, Spanish me
gusta, Latin placet mihi):

(en) Juliet (subject) likes Romeo (direct object)

(it) A Giulietta (indirect object) piace Romeo (subject) or
 (it) Romeo (subject) piace a Giulietta (indirect object).
Note that contrary to Spanish the indirect object doesn't need a reinforcement (A
Julieta le gusta Romeo), and instead using one is often regarded as a grammar mistake.

Prepositions

Tips and notes

Prepositions, just like in English, don't always make sense. For example, things that in
English are in something, in Italian may be at something. It very much depends on context,
and/or on the verb that precedes them (again, just like in English). However, you'll find
that most of the time English and Italian are not that different after all!

The main prepositions are di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra.

Tra and fra both mean between, or among, and they're almost completely interchangeable
nowadays. However, it's better not to use tra before a tr sound, or frabefore a fr sound.

Tra fratelli. = Between/Among brothers.

Fra tre persone. = Between/Among three people.
They can also mean in, when talking about time:

Incontriamoci tra/fra due ore. = Let's meet in two hours.

The main difference between English and Italian, however, is that some Italian
prepositions have to be combined with the article the whenever it ends up next to them.
As you can see, di and in change into de- and ne- respectively, but the rest are quite
predictable!

Italian English il lo la i gli le

di of, from del dello della dei degli delle

a to, at al allo alla ai agli alle

da from, by, dal dallo dalla dai dagli dalle

since

in in, into nel nello nella nei negli nelle

con with con il, con con con i, con con

col lo la coi gli le
 Italian English il lo la i gli le

su on, about sul sullo sulla sui sugli sulle

per for, through per il per per per i per per

lo la gli le

tra/fra between, tra il tra lo tra la tra i tra gli tra le

among

Occupations

Tips and notes

There are three ways to specify an occupation in Italian:

Fare + determinate article + profession (e.g. Faccio il medico): by far the most common
way. It describes the person's current role as an activity.
Essere + indeterminate article + profession (e.g. Sono un medico - I am a medic): similar to
the English construction, it describes the person's professional category. It can be used
even if the person doesn't currently work in the profession, and the indefinite article can
be dropped in informal contexts.
Lavorare come + profession (e.g. Lavoro come medico - I work as a medic): more formal
than the previous versions, it describes the current occupation but might not be the role
the person identifies with.