These two little verbs can cause a lot of confusion to Italian learners because the can mean the same thing in English but in Italian they are not always interchangeable.

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When do we use ESSERE?

You will need to use essere to talk about:

• yourself and your nationality: sono Giulia e sono italiana
• your job: sono un’insegnante di italiano e una traduttrice
• origins: sono di Milano
• your physical appearance and personality: sono bassa e sono simpatica

Essere also indicates the state of being and is used to:

• describe locations: Milano è una grande città.
• describe objects: la mia macchina è blue e vecchia
• stating where objects are located: dove sono le chiavi di casa? Sono sul tavolo!

Very often you will see the verb Essere with CI to say that somebody or something exists… the English equivalent of there is / there are.

• C’è un gatto nero in giardino – there is 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 and DI + infinitive. At the...

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In one of my previous videos we have learned about the pronoun CI. If you need to review it you can click on the link below!

Italian Pronoun CI 

Today we are learning about the Italian pronoun NE.

If you need extra practice on these two pronouns I suggest that you watch my videos and you follow up with this grammar book:

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What is NE? NE is a pronoun. Unfortunately there isn’t a single equivalent in English… so we need to learn how to correctly use it in Italian. 

NE can have several meanings, but if there is something that I can say to help you remember this small word is that you can associate it to QUANTITIES and AMOUNTS. 

For example it can mean SOME and it can be used without a noun just like in English.

• Would you like some? — Ne vuoi?
• Would you like some pizza? - No I already have some - Vuoi della pizza? No, Ne ho già

Ne answers the question QUANTO (ho...

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In this video we will learn to say the Italian Z sound. Listen and repeat with me 20+ words and start saying this tricky sound correctly!

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Here is a list of the words that you will say in Italian when you follow and watch my video (the translation is on the video)

1. zaino
2. zanzara
3. struzzo
4. zodiaco
5. descrizione
6. prozia
7. bellezza
8. grazie
9. zebra
10. organizzazione
11. lezione
12. zafferano
13. equinozio
14. bazar
15. zorro
16. eccezione
17. calzini
18. liquirizia
19. viuzza
20. merluzzo
21. gazebo
22. pazzia
23. dazio

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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 U in first position

• – ia, ie, io, iu
• piano, schi...

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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 answer will be MILANO… so this is to show you once a...

I learned this trick from a diction coach! Follow along and learn how to build this sound! Practice makes perfect! Keep at it and you will master it in no time!

Do not be frustrated! The Italian GL sound is very difficult, but with my help you will be able to say it correctly! Italian pronunciation is a fun journey!

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In this video you will not only work on vocabulary but you will enhance your listening and writing skills too! How? With a fun little spelling bee challenge!

Listen to all the different words and try to write them down as you hear them. At the end of the video... and at the bottom of this blog post you will find the words and the translations in English. DO NOT LOOK AHEAD! Watch the video and let me know in the comments how many you got right!

If you need help with grammar I suggest that you check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch my videos! If you combine my grammar videos to this book "La Via della Grammatica" you basically have a full Italian lesson! I suggest you check it out and buy it if you want to practice Italian grammar!

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I have not been paid to advertise this book. This is my personal suggestion. If you wish to purchase the book on Amazon the...