Level 5: Pensare

* * *

If you want to acquire the basics of the Italian language, continue with the next episode of Giulia, Giacomo and their friends (‘A1: Love’) and Pasta alla Carbonara (‘A2: Italian Cuisine’). Download the audio files from www.4Elisa.com and listen until you know them by heart. Then go onto Level 6.

However, if you want to acquire a more thorough knowledge of the Italian language, continue with sections B, ‘Action Words’, C, ‘Words’, D, ‘Rules’, etc.

Today is harvest time – after the rough Levels 3 and 4 you will get a hefty return on investment. What you have seen with the multiple variants of avere and essere will now project you on a formidable discovery orbit of thousands of Italian action words. As you are familiar with 14 Italian tenses and their endings, you will rapidly explore the three major groups of Italian action words: Group 1 words ending in –are, Group 2 ending in –ere, and Group 3 ending in –ire.

Let’s begin with Group 1 (–are) that includes amare to love, pensare to think, parlare to speak/talk, arrivare to arrive, and studiare to study. Group 2 words (-ere) will be presented in Level 6 and Group 3 (-ire) in Level 7. The three groups differ very little between each other; so what you learn today can easily be applied to Group 2 -ere and Group 3 -ire action words.

As always, make extensive use of the audios. Listen to them until you can understand every single word.

A1: Love (5)

Normal Speed

Slow Speed

Giulia and Sara observe Giacomo and Luca talking to Valeria.

Sara: Vedi, te l’avevo detto…	S.: Do you see, I told you so…
Giulia: Ma cosa trova Giacomo in quella ragazza? È forse carina? Ti piacciono i suoi capelli? E quel trucco osceno?	G.: What does he find so attractive in that girl? Is she that pretty? Do you like her hair? And that make-up isn’t obscene?
Sara: Non devono piacere a me. Ma se piacciono a Giacomo…	S.: They don’t have to please me. But if they please Giacomo…
Giulia: Non piacciono neanche a lui, ne sono sicura. Questa ragazza non è il suo tipo.	G.: Even he doesn’t like them, I’m sure. This girl isn’t his type.
Sara: Dai, andiamo via. Non stare qui a torturarti. Prendiamoci una bella cioccolata calda al Caffè Savoia.	S.: Come on, let’s go. Don’t stay here and torture yourself. Let’s get a nice hot chocolate at the Café Savoia.
Giulia: Ma guarda com’è vestita! Bah, meno male che ho lasciato Giacomo!	G.: But look how she’s dressed! Bah, thank goodness I left Giacomo!
Sara: Ecco una cosa sensata l’hai detta. Toglietelo dalla testa. Vieni, ti offro io la cioccolata.	S.: Finally you say something sensible. Get him out of your head. Come on, I’ll buy you a hot chocolate.

Words

te l’ho detto	I told you so
cosa?	what?
trovare	to find
forse	maybe, perhaps
piacere	to be liked, appreciated
il capello	hair
il trucco	make-up; trick
osceno/-a	obscene, indecent
se	if
neanche	not even
il tipo	type
andare via	to go away
stare	to stay, remain
non stare	don’t stay
qui	here
torturare	to torture, inflict pain
prendere	to take
prendiamoci	let’s take
la cioccolata	chocolate
caldo/-a	hot
come	how
essere vestito/ -a	to be dressed
bah	[interjection]
meno male che	thank goodness
	(good thing)
sensato/-a	reasonable
togliere (p.p.: tolto)	to remove, get off, take off
la testa	head
offrire (p.p.: offerto)	to offer

A2: Italian Cuisine (5)

Normal Speed

Slow Speed

{AUDIO} Pasta alla Carbonara – for hungry people…

Per 4 persone: 500 g di spaghetti. Condimento: 200 g di pancetta affumicata tagliata a cubetti (7-8 mm), 3 uova intere e 2 tuorli, 2 spicchi d’aglio, 20 g di parmigiano, 100 ml di latte, sale, pepe.	For 4 people: 500 g spaghetti. Dressing: 200 g smoked streaky bacon, cut into cubes (7-8 mm), 3 eggs and 2 egg yolks, 2 cloves of garlic, 20 g parmesan, 100 ml of milk, salt, pepper.
Mentre cuoce la pasta (vedi Level 1), sbattere in un recipiente (possibilmente di vetro) le 5 uova con il parmigiano, il latte, sale e pepe. In un’ampia padella soffriggere per 5 minuti la pancetta e l’aglio.	While the pasta is cooking (see Level 1), “stir vigorously” into a container (preferably glass) 5 eggs with parmesan cheese, milk, salt and pepper. In a large pan, sauté the bacon and garlic for 5 minutes.
Scolare la pasta e mescolarla con le uova; poi, per due minuti, finire la cottura nella padella della pancetta.	Drain the pasta and mix with the eggs mixture; then (put it all back into the pan with the bacon and) continue to cook the spaghetti for two more minutes while stirring.
Alla fine, rimettere la pasta nel recipiente di vetro. Servire e aggiungere pepe e parmigiano secondo il gusto.	Finally, put the pasta back in the glass container. Serve and add pepper and parmesan cheese to taste.

Words

la pancetta	streaky bacon
affumicato/-a	smoked
tagliare	to cut
il cubetto	cube
l’uovo, pl.: le uova	egg
intero/-a	whole, entire
il tuorlo	egg yolk
il latte	milk
sbattere	to beat
il vetro	glass
ampio/-a	large
soffriggere	to sauté
mescolare	to mix
finire	to finish, end
la cottura	cooking
rimettere	to put back
secondo	here: according to
il gusto	taste

B. Action Words

Group 1 action words, those ending in–are, include words such as amare to love, pensare to think, parlare to speak/talk, arrivare to arrive, and studiare to study. Because you are one of those people who use their brain day to day in life, pensare to think will guide you through Group 1.

Sextets of –are action words (Group 1)

Here is the overview of Group 1 action words. As always, you’ll find 1) the 7 simple tenses and 2) the passato prossimo as an example for the compound tenses.

{AUDIO}

	Infinito	pensare
	Participio passato	pensato
	Gerundio presente	pensando
	Imperativo	pensa \| pensi \| pensiamo \| pensate \| pensino

	Presente	Passato prossimo	Imperfetto
io	penso	ho pensato	pensavo
tu	pensi	hai pensato	pensavi
lui/lei	pensa	ha pensato	pensava

noi	pensiamo	abbiamo pensato	pensavamo
voi	pensate	avete pensato	pensavate
loro	pensano	hanno pensato	pensavano

	Futuro semplice	Condizionale pres.	Passato remoto
io	penserò	penserei	pensai
tu	penserai	penseresti	pensasti
lui/lei	penserà	penserebbe	pensò

noi	penseremo	penseremmo	pensammo
voi	penserete	pensereste	pensaste
loro	penseranno	penserebbero	pensarono

	Congiuntivo presente	Congiuntivo imperfetto
che io	pensi	pensassi
che tu	pensi	pensassi
che lui/lei	pensi	pensasse

che noi	pensiamo	pensassimo
che voi	pensiate	pensaste
che loro	pensino	pensassero

With the exception of the congiuntivo presente (pensi-pensi-pensi, etc.) and the passato remoto (pensai-pensasti-pensò | pensammo-pensaste-pensarono), most forms are familiar.

1. Presente and Passato prossimo

{AUDIO} In the left column, you see the presente of pensare, in English I think, you think, he/she thinks, etc. How do you obtain the six different forms? You cut the infinitive ending –are and add to the root pens– the endings –o, -i, -a | -iamo, -ate, -ano.

Presente		Passato prossimo
I, you think, he/she thinks we, you, they think		I, you, he/she thought we, you, they thought
(io)	penso	(io)	ho pensato
(tu)	pensi	(tu)	hai pensato
(lui/lei)	pensa	(lui/lei)	ha pensato

(noi)	pensiamo	(noi)	abbiamo pensato
(voi)	pensate	(voi)	avete pensato
(loro)	pensano	(loro)	hanno pensato

Penso dunque sono.

Cogito ergo sum.
I think, therefore I am.

Building the passato prossimo (I thought, etc.) is straightforward: combine ho-hai-ha | abbiamo-avete-hanno with the past participle. A single thought is sufficient to memorize it.

Now build the presente and passato prossimo sextets of the following action words:

amare / amato	to love / loved
parlare / parlato	to speak / spoken to talk / talked
trovare / trovato	to find / found
lavorare / lavorato	to work / worked

2. Imperfetto and Trapassato prossimo

{AUDIO} Do you remember the imperfetto endings of avere: avevo-avevi-avevo | avevamo-avevate-avevano?

The imperfetto endings of the –are group are only slightly different, they just exchange the first –e with an -a: –avo, –avi, –ava | –avamo, –avate, –avano.

Imperfetto		Trapassato prossimo
I, you, he/she thought/used to think we, you, they thought/used to think		I, you, he/she had thought we, you, they had thought
(io)	pensavo	(io)	avevo pensato
(tu)	pensavi	(tu)	avevi pensato
(lui/lei)	pensava	(lui/lei)	aveva pensato

(noi)	pensavamo	(noi)	avevamo pensato
(voi)	pensavate	(voi)	avevate pensato
(loro)	pensavano	(loro)	avevano pensato

Pensavo dunque ero.

I thought, therefore I was.

To build the trapassato prossimo (I had thought, etc.), combine avevo-avevi-aveva | avevamo-avevate-avevano with the past participle.

Please form the imperfetto and trapassato prossimo sextets of the following action words:

chiamare / chiamato	to call / called
comprare / comprato	to buy / bought
guardare / guardato	to look / looked
scusare / scusato	to excuse / excused
sperare / sperato	to hope / hoped

3. Futuro semplice and Futuro anteriore

{AUDIO} Remember the future of avere: avrò-avrai-avrà | avremo-avrete-avranno. The future endings are the same for all action words: –ò, –ai, –à | –emo, –ete, -anno. Just attach them to the future stem penser– (cut –are and add –er–).

Futuro		Futuro anteriore
I, you, he/she will think we, you, they will think		I, you, he/she will have thought we, you, they will have thought
(io)	penserò	(io)	avrò pensato
(tu)	penserai	(tu)	avrai pensato
(lui/lei)	penserà	(lui/lei)	avrà pensato

(noi)	penseremo	(noi)	avremo pensato
(voi)	penserete	(voi)	avrete pensato
(loro)	penseranno	(loro)	avranno pensato

Penserò dunque sarò.

I’ll think, therefore I’ll be.

To build the futuro anteriore (I will have thought, etc.), combine avrò-avrai-avrà | avremo-avrete-avranno with the past participle.

Please build the futuro and futuro anteriore sextets of the following action words:

	Future stem
ricordare / ricordato	ricorder–	to remember / remembered
ascoltare / ascoltato	ascolter–	to listen / listened
trattare / trattato	tratter–	to treat / treated
aspettare / aspettato	aspetter–	to wait / waited
portare / portato	porter–	to bring / brought

4. Condizionale presente and Condizionale passato

{AUDIO} Do you remember the avere endings of the condizionale presente: avrei-avresti-avrebbe | avremmo-avreste-avrebbero? Just take them as they are and attach them to the future stem penser– (cut –are and add –er–). The condizionale presente endings are the same for all action words!

Condizionale presente		Condizionale passato
I, you, he/she would think we, you, they would think		I, you, he/she would have thought we, you, they would have thought
(io)	penserei	(io)	avrei pensato
(tu)	penseresti	(tu)	avresti pensato
(lui/lei)	penserebbe	(lui/lei)	avrebbe pensato

(noi)	penseremmo	(noi)	avremmo pensato
(voi)	pensereste	(voi)	avreste pensato
(loro)	penserebbero	(loro)	avrebbero pensato

Penserei dunque sarei.

I’d think, therefore I’d be.

To build the condizionale passato (I would have thought, etc.), combine avrei-avresti-avrebbe | avremmo-avreste-avrebbero with the past participle.

Please build the condizionale presente and condizionale passato sextets of the following action words:

	Future stem
funzionare / funzionato	funzioner–	to function, to work
cambiare / cambiato	cambier–	to change
usare / usato	user–	to use
continuare / continuato	continuer–	to continue
mandare / mandato	mander–	to send

5. Congiuntivo presente and Congiuntivo passato

{AUDIO} Finally, something entirely new. For the congiuntivo presente, you need to cut the infinitive ending –are and add –i, –i, –i | –iamo, –iate, -ino.

Congiuntivo presente		Congiuntivo passato
…that I, you think, he/she thinks …that we, you, they think		…that I, you, he/she thought …that we, you, they thought
che io	pensi	che io	abbia pensato
che tu	pensi	che tu	abbia pensato
che lui/lei	pensi	che lui/lei	abbia pensato

che (noi)	pensiamo	che (noi)	abbiamo pensato
che (voi)	pensiate	che (voi)	abbiate pensato
che (loro)	pensino	che (loro)	abbiano pensato

Penso che non pensiate.

I think that you don’t think.

To build the congiuntivo passato (generally translated into English with a simple that I thought, etc.), combine abbia-abbia-abbia | abbiamo-abbiate-abbiano with the past participle.

Please form the congiuntivo presente and the congiuntivo passato with

liberare / liberato	to free / freed to release / released
provare / provato	to prove / proved to try / tried
calmare / calmato	to calm / calmed (down)
incontrare / incontrato	to meet / met
aiutare / aiutato	to help / helped

Please remember: the congiuntivo is used after action words that express doubts, thoughts, wishes, beliefs, and worries; in other words: after action words which express the idea that things can happen or not; that things could happen or not; or that things could have happened or not. In Level 4, you saw

Penso che…	I think that…
Credo che…	I believe that…
Immagino che…	I imagine that…

Here are some more phrases and action words that require the congiuntivo:

Mi piace che…	I’d like that…
Non suggerisco che…	I’m not suggesting that…
Non sono certo che…	I’m not sure that…
Ho l’impressione che…	I have the impression that…
Temo che…	I’m afraid that…
Voglio che…	I want that…
Dubito che…	I doubt that…

6. Congiuntivo imperfetto and Congiuntivo trapassato

{AUDIO} The congiuntivo imperfetto is charted territory: take the avere endings (avessi-avessi-avesse | avessimo-aveste-avessero) and exchange the initial -e with an -a: –assi, –assi, –asse | –assimo, –aste, –assero.

Congiuntivo imperfetto		Congiuntivo trapassato
…that I thought, etc.		…that I had thought, etc.
che io	pensassi	che io	avessi pensato
che tu	pensassi	che tu	avessi pensato
che (lui/lei)	pensasse	che (lui/lei)	avesse pensato

che (noi)	pensassimo	che (noi)	avessimo pensato
che (voi)	pensaste	che (voi)	aveste pensato
che (loro)	pensassero	che (loro)	avessero pensato

Pensavo che non pensaste mai a niente.

I thought that you never thought of anything.

To build the congiuntivo trapassato (to be translated into English with a simple that I had thought, etc.; in some cases: that I would have thought), combine avessi-avessi-avesse | avessimo-aveste-avessero with the past participle.

Please repeat the same exercise with the following action words:

abitare / abitato	to dwell / dwelt to live / lived
cantare / cantato	to sing / sung
lavare / lavato	to wash / washed
alzare / alzato	to lift / lifted to raise / raised
imparare / imparato	to learn / learned

7. Passato remoto and Trapassato remoto

{AUDIO} Finally, a second entirely new set of endings, the passato remoto: -ai, -asti, -ò | -ammo, -aste, –arono. You’ll find it mostly in prose or in history books, in particular the third person singular and plural (pensò he thought; pensarono they thought).

Passato remoto		Trapassato remoto
I, you, he/she thought we, you, they thought		I, you, he/she had thought we, you, they had thought
(io)	pensai	(io)	ebbi pensato
(tu)	pensasti	(tu)	avesti pensato
(lui/lei)	pensò	(lui/lei)	ebbe pensato

(noi)	pensammo	(noi)	avemmo pensato
(voi)	pensaste	(voi)	aveste pensato
(loro)	pensarono	(loro)	ebbero pensato

To build the trapassato remoto (I had thought, etc.), combine ebbi-avesti-ebbe | avemmo-aveste-ebbero with the past participle. The trapassato remoto is rarely used.

Being polite

You is not only you, and if you know any other language than English, you know that. In Italian, when you speak to just one person, ‘you’ is tu, but when you speak to more than one person, ‘you’ becomes voi. Thus, you are crazy translates into (tu) sei pazzo when you talk to a single person and (voi) siete pazzi when you have to deal with two or more crazy people.

In Italian, things are even more complicated than that, because tu is for family members, children or close friends only. When speaking to a person you don’t know (especially older people), or in formal situations, you must use Lei for both male and female. By capitalizing Lei, you distinguish it from lei she. When someone says to you lei|Lei è molto gentile, the meaning can be 1) she is very kind or 2) you are very kind, for example, when you are the professor, a stranger or the Presidente della Repubblica.

In very formal situations, for example in a court of justice, even voi is inadequate. In these rare cases you must use Loro when adressing two or more people (again capitalized to distinguish it from loro they).

You are has therefore four possible translations: tu sei–voi siete | Lei è–Loro sono. Please note that Lei requires the 3^rd person singular (Lei è, ha, pensa, etc.) and Loro requires the 3^rd person plural (Loro sono, hanno, pensano, etc.).

	One person	2 or more persons
1) Family and friends; young people	tu sei	voi siete
2) People you don’t know or who are much older than you	Lei è	voi siete or Loro sono (only in very formal situations)

Imperative: Orders and advice

{AUDIO} Orders and advice are part of everyday life: come here, give me that, don’t do that again. While the English system of orders and advice is as easy as one can imagine – think! versus don’t think! –, the Italian language enjoys a menagerie of six different forms. Allow yourself some time to become familiar with it, enjoy it!

	Positive advice or order ‘Think!’	Negative advice or order ‘Don’t think!’
Singular (1)
you (informal)	pensa!	non pensare!
you (formal)	pensi!	non pensi!

Plural (>1)
we	pensiamo!	non pensiamo!
you (informal)	pensate!	non pensate!
you (formal)	pensino!	non pensino!

You have noticed that in formal situations, when giving polite orders to your professors, strangers or to the Presidente della Repubblica Italiana, you must use the congiuntivo presente (pensi! | pensino!).

Important note

Whenever you see and learn an infinitive such as pensare to think, please be extremely vigilant. Behind EVERY SINGLE seemingly innocuous infinitive lies a hidden world of some 40 variants. Please get in the habit of ‘expanding’ action words to a few sextets. Somebody talks about amare to love? Think amo-ami-ama | amiamo-amate–amano or amerò-amerai-amerà | ameremo-amerete-ameranno. A person proposes accarezzare to caress? Think accarezzerei-accarezzeresti-accarezzerebbe | accarezzeremmo-accarezzereste-accarezzerebbero. That sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? Anyway, do it! This exercise will help you become comfortable with the Italian action words within weeks.

Dare + stare

{AUDIO} The present tense of dare to give and stare to be/stay.

	dare to give I give, etc.	stare to be/stay I am / I stay, etc.
io	do	sto	I
tu	dai	stai	you
lui/lei	dà	sta	he/she

noi	diamo	stiamo	we
voi	date	state	you
loro	danno	stanno	they

stare + Gerundium

{AUDIO} You’ll find stare often in combination with the gerundio (gerund) of action words. The gerundio is the same as the -ing form in English. stare + gerundio describe an action in progress:

Sto mangiando.	I am eating.
Stavo scrivendo.	I was writing.
Starò dormendo.	I will be sleeping.

As you see, the gerundio has the endings –ando for Group 1 action words and –endo for Group 2 and 3 (more about these two groups in levels 6 and 7):

Group 1: mangiare/mangiando

Group 2: scrivere/scrivendo

Group 3: dormire/dormendo

Some actions verbs have an irregular gerundio, for example fare (facendo) to do, dire (dicendo) to say, tradurre (traducendo) to translate. More about the gerundio in Level 11.

C. Words

Preview of Level 6

{AUDIO} In Level 6, you’ll find these words and their past participles (detto, venuto, creduto, etc.); please take a look:

dire / detto	to say / said
venire / venuto	to come / come
credere / creduto	to believe / believed
vedere / visto	to see / seen
perdere / perso	to lose / lost
uccidere / ucciso	to kill / killed
discutere / discusso	to discuss / discussed

chiedere / chiesto	to ask / asked
prendere / preso	to take / taken
vivere / vissuto	to live / lived
insistere / insistito	to insist / insisted
scrivere / scritto	to write / written
decidere / deciso	to decide / decided
ricevere / ricevuto	to receive / received

leggere / letto	to read / read
mettere / messo	to put / put
smettere / smesso	to stop / stopped
chiudere / chiuso	to close / closed
piangere / pianto	to weep / wept
correre / corso	to run / run
rispondere / risposto	to answer / answered

rompere / rotto	to break / broken
nascondere / nascosto	to hide / hidden
ridere / riso	to laugh / laughed
sorridere / sorriso	to smile / smiled
difendere / difeso	to defend / defended

D. Rules

In Level 4, we introduced the ‘o-a | i-e‘ scheme which is fundamental to Italian grammar. Please remember:

– o denotes generally the singular masculine, one boy, one man, one (male) cat

– a denotes generally the singular feminine, one girl, one woman, one female cat

– i is generally the sign of the plural masculine, two or more boys, two or more men, two or more (male) cats

– e is generally the sign of the plural feminine, two or more girls, two or more women, or two or more female cats.

Put into a table, these elements look like this:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	-o	-a
Plural	-i	-e

{AUDIO} We’ll now see in detail how to apply the ‘o-a | i-e’ scheme to

1. Nouns	(little) child: bambino–bambina bambini–bambine
2. Definite articles	the: il/lo–la \| i/gli-le
3. Indefinite articles	a: un(o)-una
4. Adjectives	good: buono–buona \| buoni–buone
5. Personal object pronouns (POPs)	him/her/them: lo–la \| li–le
6. Possessive adjectives	my: mio–mia \| miei–mie your: tuo–tua \| tuoi–tue his/her: suo–sua \| suoi–sue our: nostro-nostra \| nostri-nostre your (pl): vostro-vostra \| vostri-vostre
7. Demonstrative adjectives	this: questo–questa \| questi–queste that: quello–quella \| quelli–quelle

{AUDIO}

1. ‘O-A | I-E‘ and nouns

Let’s explore the ‘o-a | i-e’ scheme with the word bambino little boy and bambina little girl. With the plural forms, i.e., when you have more than one little boy or girl, the –o becomes –i and the –a becomes –e:

bambino little boy

bambini little boys

bambina little girl

bambine little girls

In synthesis:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	bambino	bambina
Plural	bambini	bambine

Following these transformational rules (o ð i | a ð e), you can now form the plural of tens of thousands of Italian nouns.

The exception to the rule? Nouns ending in –e which may be masculine or feminine and which form the plural in –i.: la situazione, le situazioni. You’ll find more exceptions in Level 12.

2. ‘O-A | I-E’ and the definite article

You have two types of articles, both in English and in Italian: definite articles and indefinite articles. The definite article the has four standard equivalents (il-i | la-le) plus some exceptions and complications (see below):

il bambino the young boy

i bambini the young boys

la bambina the young girl

le bambine the young girls

In synthesis:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	il bambino	la bambina
Plural	i bambini	le bambine

Exception 1

Because il and i don’t like to be in front of z or s+consonant (for example st, sp, sc[a,u,o], etc.) or complex consonant clusters (psicologo), you’ll use lo and gli:

Singular: lo studente the student

Plural: gli studenti the students

Exception 2

Il, la and i don’t like to be in front of a vowel, so il and la become l’ and i becomes gli:

l’antipasto the starter (menu)

l’arancia the orange

gli antipasti the starters

Further complications

To express the English the, you seem to get away with 7 article variants (il-i | la-le + lo-gli-l’), but there is another major complication: Italian articles tend to fuse with the five so-called prepositions a, da, di, in and su:

	Article
	il	i	la	le	l’	lo	gli
a	al	ai	alla	alle	all’	allo	agli
da	dal	dai	dalla	dalle	dall’	dallo	dagli
di	del	dei	della	delle	dell’	dello	degli
in	nel	nei	nella	nelle	nell’	nello	negli
su	sul	sui	sulla	sulle	sull’	sullo	sugli

What do you see?

a+il fuse to form al,

a+i fuse to form ai,

a+la fuse to alla,

a+le fuse to alle, etc.

For today, it will be sufficient that you take a look at the a and di rows, because these two are the most frequent prepositions. Di often describes ownership or possession, a often indicates a direction. Some examples:

il giardino della casa	the garden of the house
la macchina dell’amico	the car of the friend (the friend’s car)
andremo al Poetto	we’ll go to the Poetto (Cagliari city beach)
torniamo alla spiaggia!	let’s go back to the beach!

3. ‘O-A | I-E’ and the indefinite article

The indefinite article a has two equivalents in Italian:

un bambino a young boy

una bambina a young girl

Exception 1: un does not like to stay in front of z or s+consonant (for example, st, sp, sc[a,u,o], etc.) or complex consonant clusters (psicologo) and becomes uno:

uno studente a student

Exception 2: una doesn’t like to be in front of a vowel and becomes un’:

un’arancia an orange

4. ‘O-A | I-E’ and adjectives

Do you remember Level 2? The adjectives felice, gentile, dolce, etc., ending in –e, being both masculine and feminine and having a plural always ending in –i?

Singular	Plural
felice	felici	happy
gentile	gentili	kind
dolce	dolci	sweet
crudele	crudeli	cruel
divertente	divertenti	funny
superficiale	superficiali	superficial

Those are the so-called group 2 adjectives. Most adjectives, however, are in group 1 and follow the classical ‘o-a | i-e’ scheme. Here is contento happy, glad, with the standard ending in –o.

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	contento	contenta
Plural	contenti	contente

5. ‘O-A | I-E’ and personal object pronouns

When you say, ‘I see him’, ‘I see her’, or ‘I see them’, you use the so-called ‘personal objective pronouns’ (POP) him, her and them. Following the ‘o-a | i-e’ scheme, the Italian POPs of the third person are lo-la | li-le:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	lo	la
Plural	li	le

Lo amo. I love him.

La amo. I love her.

Li amo. I love them (boys or men).

Le amo. I love them (girls or women).

As you see, them translates into li and le, depending on the gender of the people you are talking about. You’ll find more about these very important personal object pronouns (mi-ti-lo/la | ci-vi-li/le) in Level 6.

6. ‘O-A | I-E’ and possessive adjectives

So-called ‘possessive adjectives’ indicate ownership or possession: my, your, his/her/its | our, your, their.

	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
my	il mio	la mia	i miei	le mie
your	il tuo	la tua	i tuoi	le tue
his/her/its	il suo	la sua	i suoi	le sue

our	il nostro	la nostra	i nostri	le nostre
your	il vostro	la vostra	i vostri	le vostre
their	il loro	la loro	i loro	le loro

Three important rules govern the use of the possessive adjectives:

Rule #1: Possessive adjectives are generally preceded by definite articles.

la mia macchina	my car
la tua casa	your house

Rule #2: Possessive adjectives are NOT preceded by definite articles when you talk about family members such as figlio son, figlia daughter, padre father, madre mother, fratello brother, sorella sister, marito husband, moglie wife etc.

mia moglie	my wife
tuo nonno	your grandfather

Rule #3: The sex (gender) and the how many (number) of suo, sua, suoi, sue depend on the object, not on the owner. What does that mean? If father Thomas owns a car, we would talk about that car as la sua macchina his car. If Thomas’ daughter Johanna also owns a car, we would still say la sua macchina her car. Why? Well, what counts is the gender of the car (la macchina), not the gender of Thomas or Johanna, the respective owners. More examples:

il suo mestiere	his/her profession
la sua casa	his/her house
I suoi amici	his/her friends
le sue macchine	his/her cars

7. ‘O-A | I-E’ and demonstrative adjectives

The so-called ‘demonstrative adjectives’ indicate whether an object is near (questo; see below, row #1) or far (quello; row #2), both in space and in time. In English, they are generally translated with this/these and that/those.

	Article
	il	i	la	le	l’*	lo	gli
#1	questo	questi	questa	queste	quest’	questo	questi
#2	quel	quei	quella	quelle	quell’	quello	quegli
					* only masc. sing.

Some examples:

questo paese	this country
questa città	this city
questi abitanti	these inhabitants
quest’uomo	this man

quell’uomo	that man
quello stato	that state
quegli abitanti	those inhabitants
quella città	that city
quel paese	that country

8. Acrobatics

{AUDIO} You have now an overview of nouns, articles, adjectives, personal objective pronouns, possessive adjectives and demonstrative adjectives. Binding them together can be pretty easy or rather complicated. These are easy:

Il ragazzo è contento. The boy is happy.

La ragazza è contenta. The girl is happy.

Le ragazze sono contente. The girls are happy.

However, as soon as you have to deal with longer sentences and exceptions from the ‘o-a | i-e’ rule, things become trickier:

La maggior parte degli animali dello stagno di Molentargius sono selvatici.

The majority of the animals in the Molentargius wet land are wild.

It will take you some time to mount such acrobatic constructions in autopilot mode. Happily, our human brain is hard-wired to achieve these feats in a reasonable time! More about you and your brain hardware in Level 10.

9. che (1)

{AUDIO} Che is a versatile word. For today, let’s just explore che as a relative pronoun. So-called relative pronouns relate to something mentioned earlier: in English, you can often omit them (see the first examples); in Italian you can’t. Che translates into who, whom, which or that.

la pasta alle vongole che abbiamo assaggiato avantieri	the spaghetti with clams [which] we tried the day before yesterday
la partita di tennis che vedremo dopodomani	the tennis match [that] we will see the day after tomorrow
la ragazza che ho incontrato l’anno scorso	the girl [whom] I met last year
la professoressa che preferisco	the professor [whom] I prefer

More about che in Level 6.

E. Dialogue

Normal Speed

Slow Speed

La Festa di Compleanno	The Birthday Party
– Ti posso fare una domanda? Sei davvero nato il primo gennaio o l’hai semplicemente inventato?	– May I ask you a question? Were you really born on January 1 or have you simply invented it?
– Io non ho inventato niente, ma forse i miei genitori, chi lo sa. Dai, perché non ci prendiamo un cappuccino al Caffè Savoia e parliamo della mia festa di compleanno. [Al barista] Gianni, ci prepari due cappuccini, per favore?	– I didn’t invent anything, but maybe my parents did, who knows. Come on, why don’t we take a cappuccino at the Savoia Café and talk about my birthday party. [To the bartender] Gianni, will you prepare us two cappuccinos, please?
– Quando farai la tua festa, il 31 dicembre o il primo gennaio?	– When will you have your party, on December 31 or January 1?
– Direi di cominciare prima, la notte di Capodanno, e di finire con la prima colazione dell’ 1.	– I would say to start earlier, on New Year’s Eve, and end with breakfast on the 1^st.
– E in quanti saremo?	– And how many of us will there be?
– Una cinquantina, non di più.	– Fifty or so, not more.
– Una cinquantina? Come farai entrare 50 persone nel tuo monolocale?	– Fifty? How will you get 50 people in your studio?
– Non preoccuparti, faremo la festa nella casa dei miei a Castiadas.	– Don’t worry, we’ll make the party in my family’s house at Castiadas.
– Wow, nella casa sulla collina? Fantastico! Non avremo vicini, non disturberemo nessuno e nessuno ci disturberà.	– Wow, the house on the hill? Fantastic! We won’t have neighbours, we won’t disturb anyone and no one will disturb us.
– Ecco la lista delle cose che ci occorrono. Cosa ne pensi?	– Here is the list of things (that) we need. What do you think?
– “Niente bibite preconfezionate, solo succo di frutta.” Succo di frutta… vino?	– “No prepackaged drinks, only fruit juice.” Juice… wine?
– No, 50 chili di arance per fare una bella spremuta. Ci arriveranno direttamente dal frutteto del nostro amico di Calasetta. Ma avremo anche 50 litri di vino di famiglia e 100 litri di acqua della sorgente di San Pietro.	– No, 50 kg of oranges to make a nice orange juice. They’ll come directly from the orchard of our friend in Calasetta. But we will also have 50 litres of family wine and 100 litres of water from St. Peter’s.
– Hmm, ecologico e sano… E da pappai?	– Hmm, ecological and healthy… And to eat?
– Ognuno porterà un antipasto: frittate ai piselli, involtini di primavera, panzanella, humus, taboulè… insomma, cucina del mondo. E bruschetta con olio di oliva.	– Everyone will bring an appetizer: omelettes with peas, spring rolls, panzanella, humus, tabouleh… well, world food. And bruschetta with olive oil.
– E come primo e secondo?	– And for ‘firsts’ and ‘seconds’? (‘first’ = pasta, spaghetti, rice, polenta, etc.; ‘second’ = meat or fish)
– Niente primo, niente secondo. Dagli antipasti passeremo all’insalata, al pecorino e alla macedonia di Amos. Alla fine, come dolce, avremo una specialità, il famoso…	– No ‘firsts’, no ‘seconds’. From the appetizers we’ll go to the salad, sheep cheese and Amos’s fruit salad. At the end, for dessert, we’ll have a specialty, the famous…
– …Cappello del Prete! Stravanau! Allora conosci la ricetta?	– … Priest’s Hat! Extraordinary. You know the recipe?
– No, viene Bastianeddu e lo prepara in persona. Lo sai che lui non ha mai dato la ricetta a nessuno.	– No, Sebastian will be there and he’ll prepare it personally. You know that he’s never given the recipe to anyone.
– È vero, me lo ero dimenticato. Il Cappello del Prete è un segreto di Stato!	– It’s true, I had forgotten about that. The Priest’s Hat is a state secret!

Words

il compleanno	birthday
fare una domanda	to ask a question
davvero	really
nascere (p.p.: nato)	to be born
il primo	first
gennaio	January
inventare	to invent, create
i genitori	parents
chi lo sa	who knows
il barista	barman
dicembre	December
direi	I would say
cominciare	to start, begin
la notte	night
finire	to end
in quanti saremo	how many we will be
una cinquantina	around 50
non di più	not more
fare entrare	to make stay, to pile in
il monolocale	studio
preoccuparsi	to worry
Castiadas	town in Sardinia
la collina	hill
il vicino	neighbour
disturbare	to disturb
la lista	list
occorrere	to require, need
niente	nothing; here: no
la bibita	drink, beverage
il succo di frutta	fruit juice
il vino	wine
il chilo	kg
l’arancia	orange
la spremuta	fresh-squeezed juice
il frutteto	orchard, grove
Calasetta	town in Sardinia
il litro	litre
vino di famiglia	home-made wine
l’acqua	water
la sorgente	source
San Pietro	place in Sardinia
ecologico	ecological, eco-friendly
pappai (Sardinian language)	to eat
ognuno	everyone, everybody
l’antipasto	starter, appetizer, antipasto
la frittata	omelette
il pisello	pea
l’involtino	roll
la primavera	spring
panzanella	Tuscan salad of bread and tomatoes
lo hummus (حُمُّص)	Levantine recipe made from chickpeas
taboulè (تبولة)	Levantine vegetarian dish
insomma	therefore, in other words
il mondo	world
la bruschetta	bruschetta
il primo	‘first’ starter dish with pasta, rice, polenta etc.
il secondo	‘second’ main dish with meat or fish
passare a	to go ahead with
l’insalata	salad
il dolce	dessert
la specialità	specialty
famoso	famous
il cappello	hat
il prete	priest
stravanau (Sardinian)	extra-ordinary
conoscere	to know
in persona	personally
nessuno	nobody
dimenticarsi	to forget
il segreto	secret
lo stato	state

F. Results & Preview

Can you say

parlo-parli-parla | parliamo-parlate-parlano

parlavo-parlavi-parlava | parlavamo-parlavate-parlavano

parlerò-parlerai-parlerà | parleremo-parlerete-parleranno

parlerei-parleresti-parlerebbe | parleremmo-parlereste-parlerebbero?

che parlassi-parlassi-parlasse | parlassimo-parlaste-parlassero?

And have you tried to attach these endings to the following action words?

amare	to love
pensare	to think
studiare	to study
lavorare	to work
arrivare	to arrive
trovare	to find

aspettare	to wait
comprare	to buy
guardare	to look
scusare	to excuse
sperare	to hope
ascoltare	to listen
portare	to bring, bear

Have you learned how to be polite and how to give orders? And do you know how to apply the all important ‘o-a | i-e’ scheme to words like:

1. Nouns	boy/girl	ragazzo–ragazza \| ragazzi–ragazze
2. Definite articles	the	il/lo–la \| i/gli-le
3. Indefinite articles	a	un(o)-una
4. Adjectives	in love	innamorato–innamorata innamorati–innamorate
5. Pronouns	him/her/them	lo–la \| li–le
6. Possessive adjectives	my	mio–mia \| miei–mie
6. Possessive adjectives	your	tuo–tua \| tuoi–tue
	his/her	suo–sua \| suoi–sue
	our	nostro-nostra \| nostri-nostre
	your (pl)	vostro-vostra \| vostri-vostre
	their	loro-loro \| loro-loro
7. Demonstrative adjectives	this	questo–questa \| questi–queste
7. Demonstrative adjectives	that	quello–quella \| quelli–quelle

Well then, you have been promoted to Level 6!

* * *

In Level 6, you will fist explore the group 2 action words in –ere. That will be the easy part. Then, you’ll learn how to do things to yourself with so-called reflexive action words. These come with the so-called POPs (personal object pronouns) mi-ti-si | ci-vi-si and use essere to form the compound tenses. Finally, you’ll get a full demonstration of personal pronouns, both POPs (weak and strong) and PSPs (personal subject pronouns). Mastering them is your last big intellectual challenge in Italian grammar. You’ll discover it all in just five pages. Five pages of headaches, perhaps, but, yes, you can!