Niccolò Curini
Today we are going to tackle one of the trickiest Italian verbs for English speakers: the verb piacere / to like. But why is it so difficult? What is the problem? I have to admit that there are quite a few critical points, and in this article I will try to explain them in an …
These four little words starting with b- are known to most students of Italian from the very beginning of their learning process, and sometimes even before that. At the same time bene, buono, bravo and bello are very easy to confuse and their correct usage, especially during a spontaneous conversation, can take a long time …
Many of our readers often feel puzzled about the passive voice in Italian and how to use it correctly. Much of this confusion probably stems from the fact that many people aren’t familiar with what the passive voice is. In this article, our goal is to explain the passive voice and its usage in the …
The Italian conditional mood (il modo condizionale) gives us the possibility to formulate a sentence about what can or cannot happen in certain conditions. These conditions may be clearly stated, as in the formulation of a hypothesis, or implicit, as in the case of a polite request. Moreover, these same conditions could actually be expired, …
Ci and ne are two small particles that, despite being key elements of the Italian language, often appear arcane, and confuse even those who are no longer beginners. Not only do these particles have several meanings, but they can also be placed in different positions of the same sentence, and they can even (slightly) change …
One of the most insidious obstacles on the way to speaking correct Italian is distinguishing the different uses of the verbs conoscere and sapere which both translate as “to know”. The problem, in its simplest representation, is the following: In this article, we will first examine these two verbs separately, then we will look in …