Italian teachers have lots of ways to make your life miserable. There are the myriad irregular verbs to begin with. Then there’s the ‘congiuntivo’. And conditional sentences – all those horrible -essi’s… But when they really want to show you who’s boss, they let out a wicked cackle and select their favorite instrument of torment: Concordanza […]
Archives for September 2015
‘I soliti ignoti’ out today + exercise on ‘pronomi relativi’
For a week or more I’ve been subtly hinting at the impending publication of our newest Italian easy reader… And now it’s here! The simplified story + audio e-book of 1958’s comic heist movie masterpiece ‘I soliti ignoti‘ is now available in our online shop, just waiting to fly off the shelves… And for the […]
A badly-written Italian exercise for you
Sometimes you can learn more from what’s done badly than from what’s done well. Listening to my Italian students speaking English, for example, has taught me masses about the differences between the two languages. And today’s Italian exercise on Pronomi relativi possessivi is a case in point. It’s so badly-written that it actually turned out […]
New Italian exercise on ‘preposizioni articolate’
I’m in a rush, so I’ll just share the link to today’s new, free Italian exercise, which is on ‘preposizioni articolate‘. Personally I can never get enough practise with these – I’m still mixing up ‘del’ and ‘dal’ after so many years of learning Italian. Click here to refresh your memory. It’s worth paying particular […]
Bet you’ll find this exercise easier than the last one!
Friday’s exercise on Connettivi e congiunzioni subordinanti was quite a challenge, wasn’t it? If it got you feeling depressed about your Italian, today I’m hoping to make amends. I have another exercise on the same topic, which I bet you’ll find easier! I managed 11/12 on my first attempt, compared to just 7/12 for Friday’s. So […]
A quick way to improve your written Italian
Today’s free Italian exercise is on ‘Connettivi e congiunzioni subordinanti‘. When I had a look at it just now, it reminded me of the time in 2003 when I’d decided to quit teaching and get a proper job, maybe in an Italian company, or better still a multinational, where it wouldn’t matter if my Italian […]
Some Italian to shout at your teenager
One of the questions in today’s free Italian exercise contains the phrase: “La vostra camera è un casino!” which is the sort of thing I often find myself shouting at one or other of my three teenagers. But if you’re picturing their bedrooms as being equipped with, say, a personal roulette table or slot machines with […]
Finché o affinché? Plus new Italian easy reader offer
Today we start the final ten exercises in our free Italian exercises series. They’re at C2 (proficiency) level, the most advanced material! As many readers will find this material challenging, I’ve picked out an easy one to begin with. The exercise tests your understanding of the difference between ‘finché’ and ‘affinché’, two words which are […]
Free Italian exercise on ‘verbi pronominali’
Today’s free Italian exercise is on verbi pronominali. It’s a follow up to one we published recently so you can see if you’ve improved (I’m afraid I haven’t.) There are links to explanations of this grammar area, and older exercises, under ‘V’ (for ‘verbi’) in our alphabetical Grammar Index. Try today’s exercise Coming on Monday… Over […]
Online lessons offer ends today (& why you should try one!)
This is the FINAL day of our online Italian lessons promotion. So there was me, scratching around for a subject line that would be more original than ‘Online lessons offer ends today’. I considered ‘Buy now or forever hold your peace‘, but then put it aside because it didn’t seem like such a great idea. […]
