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Italian Prepositions A and IN

 Do you hate prepositions as much as I do? :) Do not worry! In this video you will learn the difference between preposition A and IN and you will begin to like them.. maybe a tiny little bit!

Click here to download the PDF of the lesson (FREE!)

Looking for a super nice book only with prepositions? I suggest you check this one out:

When will you need to use preposition A:

Before the names of cities.

  • Vado a Milano
  • Vivo a Roma
  • Sono nata a Palermo
  • Studio a Napoli

BE CAREFUL!!! A becomes AD before the names of cities that starts with a vowel. 

  • Studio ad Amburgo
  • Vivo ad Alessandria 

A is also used in front of names of small states, or small cities such as:

  • Vado a San Marino
  • Abito a Sorrento

A is used in front of the names of small islands, for examples:

  • Vado a Malta
  • Vado a Ibiza
  • Vado a Capri

A is used with cardinals points:

  • A Sud, a Nord, a Est, a Ovest

A is also used with some verbs when they are followed by another action (and the infinitive verb is...

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Italian Verbs with Preposition Di and A

Some Italian verbs in order to make sense need to have a specific preposition after them… and we are talking about preposition DI or A. Take note that usually verbs are not followed by a preposition so this is a little exception that need to be studied. There isn’t a specific rule to help you understand this but you simply need to learn these verb conjunctions because some very common verbs will use a preposition A or DI and an infinitive verb.

For example verbs like:

  • Iniziare a fare qualcosa (to start doing something )
  • Finire di fare qualcosa  (to finish doing something)

My suggestion here is to try to study them as you meet them. Since these prepositions are usually not present in the English version of the verbs many of my students get confused when we study them together. As I always say try to make these sentences yours and learn them little by little. Now to help you do this let me go through a list of verbs that are followed by A + infinite...

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Learn Italian Vowels - Learn Italian Diphthongs

In this video you will learn to use and say different combination of Italian vowels.

Download here the PDF of the entire lesson and easily follow along with my video!

You can have different combinations of vowels.

Do you remember the Italian vowels?

They are A E I O U - remember that in Italian we have 5 vowel and 7 sounds… in my “vowel video” on my channel you can listen to the single sounds of these vowels. 

Remember that you pronounce almost all the letters when you are reading out a word in Italian. This is true also with vowels.

Take the word AIUOLA: this has 4 vowels together! Listen to the video and understand how I say it: 

AIUOLA 

Remember the simple rule…. you need to say all the letters out…

I do not want to hear GRAZI - or GRAZE —- no the sound is GRAZIE

GRAZIE! Say all the letters out! G R A Z I E 

There are different types of diphthongs: 

We call dittongo ascendente the combination where we have an I or a...

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Italian Pronoun CI

 Click here to get the PDF of the lesson!

In this video I’m going to explain how to use the Italian pronoun CI.

What do you need to remember with this:

CI refers to a PLACE so you will use it to refer to a place a location that you have already mentioned in your conversation.

Let me give you an example…

  • Quando vieni a Milano? (when will you come to Milan?)
  • Ci vengo sabato. (I will come on Saturday)

CI refers to Milano.

Instead of repeating and saying "Vengo a Milano sabato", you can substitute Milano with CI so your sentence will be "CI vengo sabato".

So remember CI = a place, it means HERE (QUI), in this place (in questo luogo) or over there in that place (là, in quel luogo) and it answers the question DOVE? where?

For example look at the example that we have used before…. 

  • Quando vieni a Milano?
  • Ci vengo sabato.

If you simply focus on the second sentence…. CI VENGO SABATO…and ask yourself…. DOVE? WHERE?… the...

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Learn Italian Passato Prossimo

In this video lesson we are going to learn how to use PASSATO PROSSIMO. This is the ultime super clear and straightforward explanation of this verb tense! This verb tense is extremely used in the Italian language! So if you are a beginner you MUST learn it and use it!

So give me a thumbs up on YouTube and grab a pen and paper and be ready to take notes… you will have mastered it by the end of the video!

So first thing… when do we use PASSATO PROSSIMO? We are using it to talk about the PAST.

How do we form it?

We need to take the present tense of ESSERE or AVERE and we need to add the past participle of the verb.

Let’s break it down:

  • I RAGAZZI HANNO MANGIATO LA PIZZA

HANNO is the present tense of the verb AVERE

MANGIATO il the past participle of the verb MANGIARE

Do you remember the present tense of Essere and Avere? 

My YouTube video on ESSERE and AVERE

ESSERE

  • Io sono
  • tu sei 
  • lui / lei è
  • noi siamo 
  • voi siete
  • loro sono

AVERE

  • io ho ...
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Italian Grammar Book Review - Perfect for self-study!

Here is a great Italian Grammar book for you!

Watch the quick review and if you are interested go grab your copy! This book is called "Via della Grammatica by Edilingua"

Here below please find my Amazon affiliation links! No discounts... but at least you can support me! :)

Use this book and my FREE LESSONS on YouTube to level up your Italian!

Remember that if you need to ask me something or if you have a suggestion for a video you can reach out at [email protected]

 

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Italian Indirect Pronouns - QUIZ

In this video you will be quizzed on Italian Indirect Object Pronouns!

If you need to review the rules on Indirect Pronouns you can do so with my YouTube video here!

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Quiz on Italian Direct Pronouns

It's time to test your Italian skills! In last week's video you learned about Italian Direct Object Pronouns!

(Here is the link to the video if you missed it)

Today you can check your skill with a FUN little quiz! This is not only a quiz but it's also a fun little review on the rules on Italian direct pronouns! Watch the video and let me know your score! Write it in the comments under the video!

If you want to you can also download the free PDF of the lesson on Italian direct pronouns! You can do so by clicking here! 

Remember that if you sign-up to my FREE newsletter you will receive all the PDFs directly in your inbox every time I made them (so you don't have to download them each time!)

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch all the other videos on Italian grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation! Let's learn something new together!

Direct link to my Youtube channel!

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Italian Direct Pronouns

In this video you will understand how to recognize and use correctly the Italian direct object pronouns. You can download the PDF of the lesson here!

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But first... What's a pronoun? 

A PRONOUN is something that is used to replace and not repeat the name of a person a thing or an animal.

For example:

  • Maria mangi la mela?
  • No, non la mangio 
  • Luigi hai le chiavi di casa? 
  • No non le ho.

Let’s analyze a little bit more the direct pronouns.

These pronouns substitute the direct object. They are used as a direct object when the verb is not followed by a preposition. They answer the question “CHI” (who) or “COSA” (what?)

  • Mangio una mela
  •  "una mela" is our direct object because it answers the question COSA?
  • Ho visto Paolo -- in this case the direct object is PAOLO because it answers the question CHI.

Here are the direct pronouns:

  • MI
  •  TI
  •  LO/LA
  • ...
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Prego!

Check out my free Italian course now!

I’m sure that you have seen it and probably used it yourself many times but quite a few of my students are confused on when to use it correctly so here is a new video  on this topic!

This word is indeed used in many different contexts the most common one is as a reply when somebody is thanking you.

For example look at this dialogue:

  • "Grazie mille per il regalo! Mi piace molto!" (Thank you so much for the gift! I really like it!)
    • Grazie means thank you 
  • Answer: prego!
    • Prego means you are welcome

So if somebody says GRAZIE (thank you) you will reply with PREGO!

In an easy dialogue like this one you will use PREGO as an answer to thank you:

  • Maria… mi fai un caffè per favore? (Maria... can you make e a coffee please?)
  • Certo! (Sure!)
  • Grazie! (Thank you!)
  • Prego! (You are welcome!)

 Prego can also be used if you have to say that you are sorry in this case you are almost begging for...

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