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...

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....

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...

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 -...

Are you ready to learn the difference between 'smettere' and 'fermare'?  These verbs can be very confusing at first, but I'm here to help you out!

You can download this lesson in PDF format for free here!

Sometimes in your language learning journey you will come across some verbs that might sound similar but have different meanings. These verbs can obviously create a new challenge… In Italian you do have some of these too. 

With my videos I want to be able to help you better understand them and use them correctly. Maybe you have already watched my previous video on Conoscere and Sapere… you can check it out by clicking on this link: Conoscere vs. Sapere

Similar to those two verbs you also have the verbs SMETTERE and FERMARE. 

Why are these two verbs confusing? Well because when you are trying to translate them in English they both have the same translation and they mean to stop.

Let’s try to understand the real difference between these two verbs and let’s use them in sentences th...

10 Italian verbs all beginners must know!

So you have started studying Italian and you need to press on the gas to speed things up a bit? Well maybe you can start by focusing on these beginner level verbs. Start from these and build easy sentences that can lead to your very fist Italian conversation! Some are regular, some irregular… so this video is a wonderful starting point and practice. 

 Download here the PDF of this lesson for free!

1. CHIAMARSI

Why do I suggest you learn this? Well because most likely you will need it to introduce yourself. This can be your firs reflexive verb. Keep it as a starting point when you will learn reflexive verbs. 

This verb translates to the english verb to be called/ named.

Let’s conjugated it and let’s use it in a sentence. You can write your own sentence in the comment or answer the question that I will ask you by using the verb correctly.

"io mi chiamo Giulia, tu come ti chiami?"

2. ABITARE and 3. VIVERE

Abitare (to live) is super useful...

In this lesson I will teach you some common words that you can use to talk about the things you eat! So everything that deals with taste.

Download here this lesson in PDF format!

I think that the senses are very powerful and they can be a tool for us to link new vocabulary to feelings and memories. So we can use these nouns, verbs and adjectives to create a link that will allow for you to never forget their meaning and so use them correctly in your Italian language journey. 

Let’s start with SAPORE. Sapore means taste - IL SAPORE means the taste.

If you change one little letter you will have the verb SAPERE. The verb SAPERE means to know, and in this case you can use this verb to talk about flavor.

If I bite into a delicious piece of cake I might tell you: SA DI CIOCCOLATO, SA DI MANDORLA, SA DI PISTACCHIO. to talk about what I think the flavor of the cake is.

You have 4 main flavors that your tongue can usually “pick-up” easily. 

4 sapori: 4 flavours

• il dolce - sweet
• l’amar...

A super useful and common verb in Italian is MANCARE. A verb with many different meanings.  

Download for free the PDF of this lesson here!

The most common one is the translation of MANCARE with the English verb TO MISS.

How would you say I miss you in Italian?

• manco tu?
• manchi me?
• manca me?

The answer is MI MANCHI and YES you do have to use a horrible indirect pronoun before the verb! I will first explain this meaning and then add different meanings later on. The verb mancare is similar to the verb piacere. Both of these verbs have an irregular conjugation and they are called impersonal verbs. This means that you will need to remember to use indirect object pronouns in the third person singular and plural. 

Check out this chart:

This is the formula that you need to remember:

• Mi manca + singular noun / verb (in the infinitive form)
• Mi mancano + plural noun

So how can you translate the following sentence: Examples:

• Mi manca la mamma → I miss mom
• Ti manca la Fr...

The most common meaning of the word ecco is HERE IS and HERE ARE.

Download the FREE PDF here!

• Ecco il treno! Here is the train
• Ecco la mia macchina - Here is my car
• Ecco i miei amici - Here are my friends
• Ecco i biscotti - Here are the cookies.

Ecco is often used in together with the pronouns mi, ti, lo, la, ci, vi, li, le, 

In this case the pronoun will merge with ECCO and it will go directly at the end of the word.

 This is very interesting and is used a lot! I will list the meanings with each pronoun. 

• Eccomi – here I am

For example if you are in a classroom and the teacher is doing roll call if she / he says your name you can lift your hand up and say “eccomi!”

• Eccoti – here you are
• Eccolo – here it is or here he is 
• Eccola – here she is
• Eccoci – here we are
• Eccovi – here you are 
• Eccoli – here they are (boys)
• Eccole – here they are (girls)

You can add QUI to emphasize that you or somebody else has arrived or is here!

• Eccomi qui! 
• Eccoti qui!
• Ecco...