In Italy a ‘bar’ is a place where you’ll have breakfast, drink coffee at eleven a.m. or after lunch, and stop at for a glass of wine and some nibbles after work. If you’re on your own, there are usually some of the day’s newspapers to flick through. If not, you’ll be having a chat […]
New Italian easy reader + car rental dialogue
Today we have the launch of our latest Italian easy reader e-book, and also the third in our Italian Conversations series of dialogues. Which shall we talk about first? Ah, yes. The new e-book! ‘Alta moda, alto pericolo‘ tells the story of Maria, a former fashion journalist, who is invited by a fashion designer friend to the […]
Italian Conversations no. 2: “La mia macchina si è fermata!”
“La mia macchina si è fermata!” Fortunately I’ve never had to phone for help from the side of the ‘autostrada’ because my car radiatior has overheated. But I’ve had enough conversations with car mechanics to attest to the authenticity of our second ‘Italian Conversation’. The intern voicing the mechanic in today’s dialogue sounds JUST LIKE […]
Last of our 60 grammar exercises (+ ‘Book of the Day’ offer)
Way back I can’t remember exactly when, sometime before the summer anyway, we started publishing a series of new Italian grammar exercises. There were ten at each level, six levels from A1 (beginner) to C2 (super-advanced), so sixty exercises in total. So far we’ve published fifty-nine. If you’ve been doing each one as they’ve come […]
New exercise on ‘ci’ and ‘ne’ + Italian easy reader offer
Today we have a new Italian exercise on ‘ci’ and ‘ne’, two little words that can cause a lot of confusion! Searching in the ‘Grammar‘ index at OnlineItalianClub.com, I found we didn’t previously have an exercise specifically on these. But there is a ‘lesson‘, which might be worth a look before trying the exercise, as it lays out […]
Italian teachers’ favorite instrument of torment
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 […]
‘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 […]