If you have been following my channel on YouTube you have now gained some knowledge and vocabulary in Italian… but up to now I hadn’t yet created a video on how to create a simple sentence in Italian. So since many of you are asking for it today I we are going to look at the basic word order.

Do not worry it’s easier than you think! At the end of the video there is a quick exercise to test if you understood everything correctly! Obviously if something is not clear please get in touch with me and I will personally get back with you with more information or extra exercises for you to practice!

Let’s begin with the simple sentences… la frase semplice.

So… what is a simple sentence in Italian… well here is some nice info for you… it’s basically the same as in English but there are a couple of things that you need to be careful with .

What Italians call FRASE SEMPLICE is basically a sentence where you only have one verb plus...

Today I want to talk about a simple concept that sometimes can be very hard for Italian language learners because it might be something that does not exist in your language… i’m talking about formal and informa speech.

What do I mean by that? Obviously also in English and in many other languages that do not grammatically distinguish between these two ways of speaking there are options that allow for you to be more or less formal, you might be able to use different words or maybe address people by their last name or calling them with Mr or Mrs. In Italian like in many other European languages like French and Spanish we use a specific verb conjugation form to express formality or informality.

Let me explain what I mean…

ok so you know that the subject pronouns in Italian are

• Io (I)
• Tu (You)
• Lui / lei (He / she)
• Noi (We)
• Voi (You)
• Loro (They)

In order to create the formal and informal versions of speech you need to focus on

• TU and on LEI

TU is the second...

Want to jump start your Italian? Try my free start course

You can download the full lesson with extra exercises by clicking here!

When do you use the Italian indefinite article?

You use it to talk about objects or people in a NON specific way

For example… think of the sentence in English: 

"The cat is on the table" vs. "A cat is on the table"

• In the first sentence you are using the definite article THE and you know that you are talking about a specific cat… you are talking about THAT CAT (the cat)
• In the second sentence you are using the article A so and indefinite article and when you say

A CAT is on the table you do not really know which cat is on the table, you are not talking about a specific cat... but a cat that you do not know.

The same thing happens with Italian!

The BIG difference is that you have to remember to match gender!

In this case you only have the singular form... no plural!

Let's look at the options that...

In this video you will learn how to say in Italian that you are not feeling well or that some part of your body hurts. If you need to review the vocabulary on body parts please also check out this video:

Learn Italian - Vocabulary on Body Parts (with a free download)

Let’s start with the most common sickness or symptoms of illness that you could probably have or feel: a basic cold.

To say that you have a cold you will say

Ho il raffreddore (I have a cold)

The typical symptoms of a cold are

• A sore throat and to say this you will say:
  • Ho il mal di gola / Mi fa male la gola

MALE - means that something hurts and GOLA mean throat

• You might have a headache… in this case you will say
  • Ho il mal di testa / Mi fa male la testa

once again… MALE - means that something hurts and TESTA means head

One of the first symptoms that I usually have when I have a cold is a runny nose.

In Italian the nose doesn’t run but it “drips”

• So you can say: ...

I often get asked questions like:

• How can I become fluent?
• How did you become bilingual?
• How can I truly start speaking perfectly in a second language?

I really truly consider myself super lucky because I grew up bilingual since I lived outside of Italy and I attended English speaking schools in both Switzerland and the US and at home we spoke Italian so at an early age I could perfectly speak and write in two languages and I was learning French along the side!

So yes! This is an easy way to learn because you know that there are many researches out there that prove that learning a second language early on in life is good for many reasons but it also means that it is easier for a young brain to store simultaneously all the information regarding two different languages..so this is how I became bilingual.

I always tell my students that you learn as you LIVE…. and you learn a language even if you do not live in a country where that specific language is spoken… I...

Are you ready to learn some Italian vocabulary on vegetables? If so check out my new YouTube video!

If you are interested to learn also the vocabulary about fruit you can check out the previous video that I have done on this topic... here is the link:

Learn Italian Vocabulary on Fruit!

Just like for the fruit video also for the veggies I have created a flashcard that you can download and keep as a mini dictionary that you can take anywhere that can be useful if you go out to dinner and you unfortunately do not find a menu in a language that you speak!

In the download you will also find a fun crossword exercise that can help you review and remember the vocabulary on fruit and vegetables.

Download here the flashcard on vegetables and the crossword exercise!

So veggies… ok Italians have a true passion for vegetables we love them so much that many of us have what is called ORTO!

L’orto is a vegetable garden and you can find one in many Italian backyards…...

In this video you will learn the nice way to express your feeling of anger or frustration... in Italian... I'm sure you all know very well the famous swear words in Italian... but do you know the soft versions?

Here below you can find the all written out...and if you want to know their meaning and usage please check out the video on my YouTube channel!

1. Eh che cavolo! 
2. Porca Vacca or Porca puzzola! 
3. Vai a quel paese! 
4. Caspiterina! 
5. Smettila di fare lo stupidino! 
6. Accidenti a te! 
7. Minzi! 
8. Caspita! 
9. Santa polenta! 
10. Che due bolle! 

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Are you ready to learn some new vocabulary today with me? I hope so… because today’s video talks about body parts.

How will this work… I will show you images of the different body parts and I will pronunce them for you… stop the video if you need to and pronounce them correctly with me!

Take note that I will not add the articles before the nouns… but if you want to you can… and in this way you can add a little extra practice with articles and gender of nouns…

You can also find some useful videos on articles and gender here:

• Click here for a video on Italian Articles
• Click here for a video on Gender of Nouns in Italian
• Click here for a video on Plural Singular in Italian

As always you can download a flashcard with all this information and you can practice with a little exercise at the end… the answers with the articles are in the box below the video!

Click here to download the flashcard

Remember to subscribe to my...

Learn 7 useful verbs that you will use when you will travel to Italy!

1. PRENOTARE – To book

This verb is obviously very useful because when you are visiting country most likely you will need to book in advance a room in a hotel or b&b or a table at a restaurant or tickets to a museum or a flight or maybe a train!

Let’s now look at this verb inside of a conversation... to see the translation check out the video here above!

• Salve! Chiamo perché vorrei prenotare una camera matrimoniale posso il vostro albergo per tre notti… è possibile?
• Certo! Mi dia le date e controllo subito la disponibilità!
• Vorrei prenotare per le notti del 10-11 e 12 agosto.

Sometimes you plan way ahead of your departure date… and unfortunately you have to cancel a reservation… in this case you will use the verb DISDIRE

2. DISDIRE – to cancel

This verb is very much linked to the first verb that we saw because you need to first make a...

In this new video I wanted to give you an extra exercise to have you practice a little bit more the  tricky CH sound that many of you have difficulty reading and writing out when you hear it. Towards the end of this video I have created a fun exercise… so check it out and practice with me!

If you have Italian origins you might easily have a last name that ends with a CHI… just like mine… my last name is MACCHI and the pronunciation is MACCHI not MACCI…

So maybe your last name is BIANCHI or MARCHI… I have met a lot of Italian Americans with this last name and I have to tell you that unfortunately you have been mispronouncing your name! Yup sorry guys! It is not Bianci (soft ci) or Marci (soft ci)… but the Italian pronunciation is BIANCHI or MARCHI with a strong hard K sound.

If you have a friend with this last name share the video with them… let see what they say! :)

There is another video on my channel with a super detailed...