As you know in Italian there are some verbs that confuse English speakers. This is the case of the verbs Prendere and Portare. These two are very often translated to the English verb To take, so it’s understandable that lots of students confuse the two! A common mistake that I often hear is to use the verb prendere when you should be using portare. With this lesson I want to help you understand the difference between the two verbs. I will teach you the rules and give you some easy sentences to remember the difference. 

Download the entire lesson in PDF format by clicking on this link!

Let’s take the verb PORTARE.

Portare needs to me translated to the English verb “ to bring”. You will need to focus on a verb of movement that is the action of taking something or someone to a place.

So remember PORTARE - to bring.

Let’s look at some examples:

• Ti porto a scuola - I will take you to school
• Ti porto un caffè? - Can I get you a coffee?
• Porto la mamma a casa - I’m taking mom home...

Ciao! In this lesson you will expand your Italian vocabulary by learning words that describe containers and quantities. In this way the next time you come to Italian you can go food shopping and ask for things like:

“un etto di prosciutto, una fetta di torta , un quarto di vino!”

If you are curious to know more watch the video or read on! You can also download all this information for free by clicking on this link!

So first thing… how do you say shopping list? 

In Italian you would say: “La lista della spesa” 

Spesa is the Italian word for the shopping related to food. 

So if you say : “Vado a fare la spesa” you are saying that you are going food shopping. if on the other hand you are not buying food but other goods… you can say:

• “vado a fare acquisti” 
• “vado a fare compere” 
• “vado a fare shopping”

So you can have containers like:

• una bottiglia di (latte, vino, olio) – a bottle of (milk, wine);
• una lattina di (coca-cola, birra) – a can of (coca cola);
• un cartone d...

Già has different meanings. It’s a very simple quick but highly used little word in Italian everyday language.

Here is the PDF of this lesson!

Già with a little accent at the end can be used to give a reply, an answer in informal conversations. You can use it to comment that you agree to what the person is saying. In this case it can have the meaning of right, yup, indeed.

It can be a positive or negative answer depending on your tone of voice.

It can be a cheerful già in a sentence like this:

• Domani parti per le Maldive? (Are you leaving for the Maldives tomorrow?)
• Già! (yes! yeaah)

or a sad depressed one… 

•  le vacanze sono finite (holidays are over..)
•  Già! – (indeed! :( )

You can also use it to say “yeah I know”…. I’m aware. So like with an obvious question…

• Dovresti mangiare meno cioccolato se vuoi dimagrire....già… (You should eat less chocolate if you want to loose weight.. yup...duuuh)

You can make it more or less sarcastic or depressed depending on yo...

In this video you will learn to use correctly PERCHE’. 

You can download the PDF of this lesson by clicking here!

Let’s immediately begin by saying it correctly! Make sure you are saying that accent on the last vowel… repeat it a few times with me:

• perché
• perché
• perché

Want to practice listening to this sound? I suggest you listen to the song by Rita Pavone! in her song "La partita di pallone" she says perché many many many times!

Listen to the song here!

I think that this little word is interesting especially because in English it actually has two translations and each translation has its own use!

I’m talking about the use of why and because. In English, why is used in questions, and because with answers. On the contrary, perché in Italian is used both in questions and answers.This is the reason why Italians usually make mistakes with why and because in English. 

Let’s look at some common ways of using Perché in Italian:

1. Perché

This is the easy most common version....

In this lesson you will learn how to ask about the weather, how to answer about the weather!

You can download the lesson in PDF format here! 

The most used expressions to ask for information about weather in Italian are:

• Com’è il tempo?
  • How’s the weather?
• Che tempo fa?
  • What’s the weather like?
• Che tempo fa fuori?
  • What is it like outside?
• Come sono le previsioni per oggi / domani / questa settimana?
  • What’s the weather forecast for today / tomorrow / this week?

As you have probably noticed in the second and third questions we will use the verb FARE a little difference with English where you would use the verb to be.

How can you reply to that? You can use different sentences:

The first formula is with Fare + adjective 

• Stamattina fa davvero caldo!
  • This morning it’s really hot!
• Ieri ha fatto freddo.
  • Yesterday it was very cold.
• Ieri sera faceva più fresco.
  • It was cooler yesterday. 
• Questa settimana farà brutto.
  • This w...

Very often Italian will use OK to say that they agree with something. Let’s say that the Italian language has stolen this English word and uses it very commonly in everyday Italian. But honestly there are other words in Italian that are used daily and I believe that all learners should know and use.

Click here to download the lesson in PDF format! 

Let’s look at some of them together. 

1. Va bene - is probably the most precise alternative and translation to the word OKAY. 

We will use it when we agree with something, we are giving consent we are giving the green light to go ahead with a request or something. It’s not too thrilling of a reply.

• Domani vieni al mercato con me? va bene! (Will you come to the market with me tomorrow? - ok)
• Andiamo a casa sono stanca va bene! (let's go home, I'm tired - ok)

Va bene is not like a super enthusiastic reply it's not like you're saying yay VA BENE let's say it's bland.

2. Vabbé / Va beh / Va bè - It's a sort of evolution to va bene...

In this lesson we will talk about some pronouns that confuse students A LOT. 

I’m talking about those crazy pronouns that look like GLIELO… VE LI… ME LO… if you have no idea what these are or are simply confused this lesson will help you out!

Download here the lesson in PDF format! 

First thing remember that we use pronouns to substitute other word or parts of the sentence so basically we use them so that we don’t repeat ourselves. 

How do we create these double pronouns? 

You need to use the direct and indirect pronouns. 

Let’s quickly review them (I have videos with these where I explain them in detail… I will link them below the YouTube video)

The are the indirect pronouns: 

• mi
• ti 
• gli / le
• ci
• vi
• loro / gli

 The are the direct pronouns

• mi
• ti
• lo /la
• ci
• vi
• li /le

To make our double pronouns we will need to select some of these pronouns.

We will use these indirect pronouns

• mi
• ti
• gli
• ci
• vi

and these from the direct pronouns

• lo / la
• li / le
...

In this video you will learn a lot of new vocabulary linked to recycling. You will also level-up your Italian with a listening exercise and a free PDF with lots of new vocabulary words.

Click here to download the PDF and start to really focus on your Italian.

If you liked this video you should enroll in my in my "15 minute Italian Coffee Break" a podcast style course designed to help you with:

• reading
• listening
• comprehension
• vocabulary
• writing

All this AND a PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK! Check out more information here!

If you are learning any kind of language one of the first things that you will learn are greetings. So you probably know already your ciao, buongiorno etc. but usually right after the greetings you tend to say something else… right? It’s almost automatic to say, hi, or hello and add a How are you? You probably say it without even thinking about it… or meaning it.. but honestly we all say it.

Download the lesson in PDF format here!

You are probably already using COME STAI to say HOW ARE YOU, but today I want to teach you some extra expressions that people might ask you or that you can use instead of COME STAI. These are super common and they are used on a daily basis. 

Come va? 

The first expression that can substitute Come stai is Come va? Literally this translates to how is it going. You might spot out the verb here which is VA. This is the irregular verb ANDARE. In this case the verb is very let’s say neutral because you it refers to things or everything in your life that is “goi...

Today I want to teach you to describe your hometown or we can say places in general by using Italian adjectives

 Download here the entire lesson in PDF!

Remember that the adjectives need to match gender and number! Some might be easy because you can use the rule O when it’s masculine and A when it’s feminine… but you can have exceptions!  

Adjectives:

NOIOSO - be super carful here! This is a false friend! Noioso means boring! Your brain might trick you here and want you to say Noisy… but be very careful! 

• è un posto noioso. 

  It’a a boring place… 

INTERESSANTE- interesting. 

• Il parco della mia città è interessante e pieno di fiori e piante 

 My city's park is interesting, it's full of flowers and plant.

CAOTICO - this one easily translates to chaotic. So think of a busy downtown with lots of shops and people moving around:

• E' una città caotica. (It's a chaotic city). I matched the adjective with città: città is feminine so you will say CAOTICA. 

RILASSANTE -...