Free Internet Italian Grammar

Tiber Island -- site of first known habitation in Rome (click image for larger view)

By TKWukitsch, Rome, 1999 (Revised, Washington, DC, 2008)

Optimized for horizontal resolution of 1024 or higher.

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Consonant Pairs

Sentences

Conjunctions

Coordinate Conjunctions (e, ma, and o)

Intensified Coordination (both...and, etc.)

Subordinate Conjunctions

Subordinate Clauses

Noun clauses

Sequence of Tenses in Noun Clauses

Direct and Indirect Address

Adverbial Clauses

Adverb Clauses of Time

Cause and Effect

Conditional Clauses

Possibility

Supposition

Comparative Clauses

Hypothetical Clauses: Subjunctive After Se and Impersonal Expressions

Other Clauses

Articles

Definite Article

Preposition-definite Article Contractions

Indefinite Article

Omission of the Article Top of Page

Partitive Construction (Plural Article - "some")

Interjections

Prepositions

Simple Prepositions

Combined Forms/Contractions

"Prepositioni Improprie"

Nouns

Gender and Number

Agreement

Quantity in Nouns

Non Count Nouns

Noun/Adjective Suffixes

Making Diminutives

Making Augmentatives

Making Pejoratives

Other Noun/Adjective Suffixes

Adjectives and Adverbs

Forming Adjectives

Adjective Agreement

Forming Adverbs

Comparison of Adverbs and Adjectives

Cardinal Adjectives: One, Every, Both, Many, Some, A Pair Or, A Few, Etc.

Ordinal Numbers as Adjectives

Indefinite Adjectives

Negative Adjectives

Possessives

Demonstratives Top of Page

Pronouns

Subject Pronouns

Object Pronouns

Disjunctive Pronouns

Relative Pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns

Doubled Pronouns

Imperative with Pronoun

Pronominal and Adverbial Particles: "Ne", "ci", and "vi"

Negation

Verbs

Conjugation: Tense, Person, and Number

First Conjugation (-are)

Third Conjugation (-ire)

Second Conjugation (-ere)

Avere and Essere

Avere

Essere

Indicative Mood

Present Tense

Future Tense

Other Ways of Expressing the Future

Imperfect Tense

Simple Past Tense

Compound or Perfect Tenses

Compound Indicative Top of Page

Compound Subjunctive

Present Perfect Tense

Future Perfect Tense

Pluperfect Tense

Past Anterior or Preterite Perfect Tense

Conditional Mood

Present Conditional

Past Conditional

Subjunctive Mood

Present Subjunctive

Imperfect Subjunctive

Perfect or Past Subjunctive

Pluperfect Subjunctive

Subjunctive Required in Dependent Clauses by Certain Verbs and Expressions

Subjunctive after Se and Impersonal Expressions

Imperatives

Familiar Imperative (tu and voi)

Polite form Imperative

Reflexive Verbs

Passive Voice

Passive Conjugation

Participles

Infinitive

Auxiliary Verbs

Verbs Conjugated with Essere

Irregular Verb List

Polite vs. familiar forms

Verb-Preposition Idioms Top of Page

Questions

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Adverbs

Punctuation Differences

Periods in Abbreviations

Comma in Expressions of Time

Quotation Marks (le virgolette)

Prefixes and Suffixes

Common Prefixes

Common Suffixes

Numbers

Cardinal Numbers

Formation

Ambiguity: Billions, Trillions, etc.

Collective Numbers (about ten, about twenty, etc., dozen)

Forming Collective Numerals

Mathematics

Fractions

Decimals (Frazione decimale)

Multiplicative numbers (double, triple, etc.)

Telephone numbers

Ordinal Numbers

Degree, Quality, or Position

"To the Nth Power" Top of Page

Time

"What time is it? "

Minutes

Quarter Hours (and Thirds)

"At what time?","When?"

Time Expressions

One Time, Two Times, many times, at times, sometimes, etc

Days, months, seasons, years, dates

Days of the Week

Months

SEASONS

DATES

Centuries

Idiomatic Verb Constructions

Piacere <to be pleasing to/to like>

Fare

Weather

Professions

to "Have something done"

Other Idiomatic Fare Expressions

Avere in "To be hungry, thirsty, etc."

Essere vs. Stare

C'e and Ci sono

Aver bisogno di and Bisognare

Volere

Dare

Andare

Sapere and Conoscere

The Italian Alphabet and pronunciation:

Top of Pagea as in mama

b as in boy

c as in cat, before a consonant or the vowels A, O, U

c like CH in chip, before the vowels I or E

d as in dollar

e (open) as in elbow

e (closed) as in egg

f as in forest

g as in girl, before consonants and the vowels A, O, U

g like J in jump, before the vowels I or E

h is silent

i like the e in the English word ego

j is only used in foreign words

k is only used in foreign words

l as in like

m as in motor

n as in nickel

o (open) as in over

o (closed) as in olive

p as in picture

q as in queen (as in English, followed by u)

r with a slight trill

s as the z in zebra

t as in table

u as in fruit

v as in vine (but sometimes like a w in older words)

w is only used in foreign words (the w sound can also be made, as in Latin, by using an oe combination)

x as in box

y is only used in foreign words

z as in TS combination in pits or the DS combination in pads

Consonant Pairs

Top of PageCH before I or E is pronounced as a ck sound as in click

GH before I or E is pronounced as a hard g sound as in gallop

RR is "trilled" more than a single R

SS is pronounced more like the S in English as in summer

ZZ as in pizza

SCI or

SCE is pronounced as an SH sound as in sheet

SCA, SCU,

SCHI or

SCHE is pronounced as SK in ski

GN almost always has the pronunciation of the NY combination as in vineyard

GU is pronounced like a GW sound as in language

Articles in Italian

Top of Page

DEFINITE ARTICLE ("articolo determinativo"):

in italian has a number of different forms, depending on whether the noun it accompanies is masculine or feminine, singular or plural. It also changes its form according to the initial letters of the word that follows it.MASCULINE SINGULAR, before:

single consonant: il "il teatro" <the theater>

double consonants: lo "lo specchio" <the mirror>

vowels: l' "l'orso" <the bear>

MASCULINE PLURAL, before:

single consonants: i "i denti" <the teeth>

double consonants: gli "gli stivali" <the boots>

vowels: gli "gli alberghi" <the hotels>

FEMININE SINGULAR, before:

consonants: la "la casa" <the house>

vowels: l' "l' anima" <the soul>

FEMININE PLURAL:

invariably: le "le regole" <the rules>

"Z" and "X" count as double consonants ("DS" and "KS").

"Lo" and "la" elide (lose their vowels and take an apostrophe) before words beginning with a vowel.

Definite articles are used with nouns which are abstract, general or collective:

"la vita" <life>;

"l'oro" <gold>;

"la gente" <people>.

They are used with parts of the body and articles of clothing, where English would use a possessive adjective:

"le mani" <her hands>;

"le scarpe" <his shoes>.

Definite articles are also used with titles preceding a last name, except in direct address:

"Il signor Bianchi è di Firenze." <Mr. Bianchi is from Florence.>

BUT;

"Buon giorno, signor Bianchi" <Hello, Mr. Bianchi>.

Another important use of the definite article is with possessive adjectives:

"Ho perso il mio libro" <I lost my book>.

The INDEFINITE ARTICLES ("articoli indeterminativi")are:

Top of PageMASCULINE, before:

single consonants: un "un teatro" <a theater>

double consonants: uno "uno specchio" <a mirror>

vowels: un "un orso" <a bear>

FEMININE, before:

consonants: una "una casa" <a house>

vowels: un' "un' anima" <a soul>

Omission of the Article:

Top of Page

The indefinite article is omitted after the verbs essere and diventare before nouns that indicate religion, profession, marital status, or titles:

Mario è dottore e Alfredo è avvocato. (Mario is a doctor and Alfredo is a lawyer.)

Io sono cattolica e lui è protestante. (I am Catholic and he is a Protestant.)

It is also omitted after che in exclamations:

Che bel uomo! (What a handsome man!)

Che peccato! (What a shame!)

The definite article is omitted after in with geographical terms if the terms are feminine and singular and not modified.

L'Emilia-Romagna è in Italia. (Emilia-Romagna is in Italy.)

It is omitted with names of cities.

Conosci Milano? (Do you know Milan?)

Avete mai visto Sorrento? (Have you ever seen Sorrento?)

In some common expressions.

a sinistra (to the left)

a destra (to the right)

in cima (on top)

"Some" or "any" is expressed in Italian in affirmative sentences by the partitive construction of di + the definite article.

Compro del formaggio e del pane. (I buy some cheese and some bread.)

Abbiamo dei parenti in Italia. (We have some relatives in Italy.)

Abbiamo comprato della carne. (We bought some meat.)

Plural Indefinite Articles: The partitive construction:

Top of Page

can be considered as the plural form of the indefinite article. It is never used in negative sentences and is often omitted in questions.

Non vendono pane qui. (They don't sell bread here.)

Vuole carne o pesce? (Does he want meat or fish?)

The partitive is also expressed with un po' di with singular nouns and alcuni,-ewith plural nouns:

Devo comprare un po'di verdura. (I need to buy some vegetables.)

(I want to buy some apples.)

Interjections:

An interjection is a word or expression often given increased emotive value in the stream of speech. Interjections are rarely used in formal or business writing. In print interjection is usually followed by an exclamation mark or a comma:

suvvia! = alas!

aiuto! = help!

hey! = hey!

oh! = wow!

ahi! = ouch!

bontà mia! = My goodness!

Ahi! Mi sono rotto una gamba! <Ouch! I broke my leg!>

Prepositions:

Top of Page

Prepositions are invariable connecting words preceding elements in a sentence (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs) that show the relationship between other elements or other sentences:

La bicicletta di Paolo è rotta. <Paolo's bicycle is broken.>

Mettilo sul tavolo. <Put it on the table.>

Dopo averci detto tutto ciò, lui sparì. <After telling us all that, he disappeared.>

Per quello che lei ci disse, cambiammo idea. <Because of what she told us, we changed our mind.>

Simple Prepositions

Top of Page

In Italian the basic or simple prepositions, are:

di (of)

a (at, to)

da (from)

in (in)

con (with)

su (on)

per (for)

tra (among, between)

fra (among, between)

sotto (under)

sopra (over)

Scrivo a Piero. <I'm writing to Piero.>

Poco lontano da qui, câè un ristorante. <Not too far from here, there is a restaurant.>

Carlo è tra quella folla. <Carlo is among that crowd.>

Some prepositions (a, da, di, in, su) contract and combine with the definite article to form a single word as shown in the chart below. (These are called preposizioni articolate.)

Top of Page

al ristorante (to the restaurant)

Metti il libro sul tavolo. (Put the book on the table.)

Metti il libro nellâarmadio. (Put the book in the closet.)

Potrò vederti domani dalle 5 alle 7. (I can see you tomorrow, from 5 to 7.)

Saltò giú dal secondo piano. (He jumped from the second floor.) ARTICLE

PREPOSITION IL LO L' LA I GLI LE

A AL ALLO ALL' ALLA AI AGLI ALLE

DI DEL DELLO DELL' DELLA DEI DEGLI DELLE

DA DAL DALLO DALL' DALLA DAI DAGLI DALLE

IN NEL NELLO NELL' NELLA NEI NEGLI NELLE

SU SUL SULLO SULL' SULLA SUI SUGLI SULLE

CON COL COLLO

(ARCHAIC) COLL'

(ARCHAIC) COLLA

(ARCHAIC) COI COGLI

(ARCHAIC) COLLE

(ARCHAIC)

Along with the simple prepositions there is a group words, called preposizioni improprie which are actually adverbs, adjectives or rarely verbs, but often they function as prepositions:

Top of Page

davanti (in front of)

avanti (in front of)

innanzi (in front of)

dietro (behind)

dentro (inside)

oltre (further)

presso (by)

fuori (outside)

sopra (over)

sotto (under)

su (on)

accanto (near by)

attorno (around)

intorno (around)

prima (before)

dopo (after)

lungo (along)

secondo (in accordance with)

vicino (near, close by)

Examples:

Vai fuori! (Go out!) (adverb)

Starò fuori città per qualche giorno. (I will be out of town for a few days.) (preposition)

Tu stai dietro. (You stay behind.) (adverb)

Lâaltro è dietro la casa. (The other is behind the house.) (preposition)

Mia nonna abita vicino. (My grandmother lives near by.) (adverb)

La casa di mia nonna è vicina. (My grandmother's house is close.) (adjective)

Mia nonna abita vicino a noi. (My grandmother lives near us.) (preposition)

Nouns: Gender and agreement

Top of Page

Gender and number

NOUNS ("sostantivi") can have two GENDERS ("generi"), masculine and feminine, and two NUMBERS, singular and plural.

Generally speaking, masculine nouns end in "-o" (plural "-i") and feminine nouns end in "-a" (plural "-e"):

"il libro" <the book>, "i libri" <the books>;

"la casa" <the house>, "le case" <the houses>.

There are exceptions:

Some feminine nouns end in "-o". they either form the plural in "-i":

"la mano" <the hand>, "le mani" <the hands>;

or (if foreign loanwords ) remain unchanged,

"la foto" <the photograph>, "le foto" <the photographs>.

Some masculine nouns end in "-a"; they form their plural in "-i":

"il problema" <the problem>, "i problemi" <the problems>.

Some masculine nouns change their gender to feminine in the plural, with a singular-type "-a" ending rather than the usual plural form "-e":

"l'uovo" <the egg> BUT "le uova" <the eggs>;

"il dito" <the finger> BUT "le dita" <the fingers>.

There are also a number of nouns which do not end in "-o" or "-a."

Nouns ending in "-e," whether masculine or feminine, invariably form the plural in "-i":

"il fiore" <the flower>, "I fiori" <the flowers>;

"la lezione" <the lesson>; "le lezioni"<the lessons>.

Nouns ending in "-i" or an accented vowel do not change in the plural:

"la crisi" <the crisis>, "le crisi" <the crises>;

"la virtù" <the virtue>, "le virtù" <the virtues>;

"la città" <the city>, "le città" <the cities>.

The same is true of one-syllable nouns, and of foreign loanwords ending in a consonant:

"il re" <the king>, "i re" <the kings>;

"il film" <the movie>, "i film" <the movies>.

Some nouns ending in "-a" or "-e" can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the gender of the person being named by the noun:

"il pianista" <the male pianist>; "la pianista" <the female pianist>;

"il cantante" <the male singer>, "la cantante" <the female singer>.

Other nouns change their ending according to gender:

"l'attore" <the actor>, "l'attrice" <the actress>;

"il gallo" <the rooster>, "la gallina" <the hen>;

"il cameriere" <the waiter>, "la cameriera" <the waitress>.

There are also nouns that have both genders, but with a different meaning for each:

"il fine" <the purpose>, "la fine" <the conclusion>;

"il tema" <the topic>, "la tema" <fear>.

Agreement:

Top of Page

A noun and its modifiers have the same gender and have number AGREEMENT. If a noun is feminine, its modifiers will be feminine:

"una antica chiesa" <an old church>.