Buondì. It’s cloudy in Bologna today, but it’ll be Friday all day, so no problem! Today I have an announcement you might want to take note of. Next week, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, I’ll be suspending the usual Monday, Wednesday, Friday articles. Why? Because after twelve years our Italian school is ‘moving house’ on […]
Archives for May 2017
Like dogs, cooking and grammar? This is your lucky day!
Buondì. Two more free Italian listenings for you. They’re level B2 (upper-intermediate) but worth a try wherever you are with your Italian. Each focuses on a different variation of the passive form. The passive in Italian isn’t, in itself, hard. But it helps to recognise it when you see it. The first listening is about […]
Free Italian Listening and New ‘Book of the Week’ Offer!
Buondì. This morning I have a new ‘Book of the Week’ offer for you – half the usual easy reader ebook price on a title we published a while back, which you may not therefore have seen. This time I’ve chosen L’ascensore, a sweet little story about two neighbours who dislike each other but get […]
Free Italian listening with transcript: la particella SI
Buondì. Today we have a free Italian listening (with transcript) which focuses on the use of the third, and final, pronominal particle. Monday we saw the particle ‘ci‘. Wednesday you listened to examples of the use of ‘ne‘. And so, if it’s Friday, it must be ‘si‘, which has got to be the easiest of […]
More intermediate Italian grammar – la particella ‘ne’
Following on from Monday’s article, which linked to an audio on la particella ‘ci’, today we have another from the same group of awkward little words. Personally, I find ‘ne’ much easier to use than ‘ci’. But maybe that’s just me. Have a go at the audio and see what YOU think: La particella NE […]
Some intermediate Italian grammar – la particella ‘ci’
Buondì. Thanks to everyone who supported us with purchases of last week’s ‘Book of the Week’ offer, Roma città aperta. The half-price promotion has now finished, but if you missed it, it’s still worth taking a look, even at the full easy reader price of £7.99. Click here for more information or download the free […]
Two more Italian listenings & ‘Buon viaggio Sheila’!
Buondì. I’m later today, sorry about that, as I had to go to the COOP and the CUP before settling down at my laptop. So half the morning’s gone, already! But anyway, here are two more old listenings, with new tasks. They’re both ‘advanced’ level, but listening practice is always good. And with the transcript […]
Two free B2 Italian listenings & ‘Book of the Week’ offer reminder
Buondì. A question for you. Who was Giuseppe Mazzini? Some sort of Italian Che Guevara? He must have been someone important as, according to Google, there are streets named after him in Verona, Milano, Bologna and Torino. Beh, listen to my daughter’s take on the issue, part of our ‘Italian street names’ series of audios […]
‘Book of the Week’ offer & more street name listenings
Where I come from, Garibaldi is a type of biscuit. But according to my daughter, he was one of the most important people in Italian history! And so, of course, there are plenty of streets named after him. Find out why with today’s first ‘street name’ listening: Garibaldi. And for dessert, another victim of fascism: […]
What a clever bunch of Italianophiles you are!
On Wednesday I linked to a listening about Giovanni Amendola, anti-Fascist activist, which includes the information that he was born in Napoli. Whoever recorded the audio for us (it was years ago, so I don’t recall), changed that to Salerno, and several of you wrote in to point out that this is incorrect. My fact-checking […]
