One of the advantages of taking a formal Italian course or using quality self-study materials is that you’ll spend your time and energy on the grammatical essentials, rather than waste time on crap you’ll never use (passato remoto, anyone?)
But I learnt Italian “my way”, without a proper course or decent materials, and consequently, after about 15 years of living in Italy, still have to admit to being fuzzy about some of the basics.
Such as the difference between “I like pizza” and “I like pizzas”….
Coming across the verb ‘piacere’ while leafing through our beginners’ self-study course, it occurred to me that this would be a good day to finally get this monstrous verb sorted out in my head (I’m “on holiday” and so have more time than usual).
‘Piacere’ basically translates as the English verb ‘to like’, but is grammatically more similar to ‘to please’.
So, rather than say “I like grappa”, I’d say “Me pleases grappa”, Italian word order being a bit back-to-front. What would be the subject (I) in English, becomes the object (Me) when translated.
Just to make things crystal clear, the verb needs to be conjugated not according to WHO is pleased (me, you, etc.) but according to WHAT is doing the pleasing: grappa, pizza, pretty girls, a healthy bank balance, and so on.
On the plus side, you only need to learn the 3rd person singular and the 3rd person plural, piace and piacciono, rather than the “I”, “You”, etc. forms of the verb.
Take a look at these examples:
A me piace molto il pesce, ma la carne non mi piace.
Ti piacciono le verdure? A me piacciono molto.
A Stefania piace nuotare?
A voi piacciono gli Oasis?
Don’t forget, the subject of verb ‘piacere’ is the thing that you like or don’t like.
So, if you want to say “I like chocolate”, it would be “A me piace la cioccolata”.
And if you rather like cookies: “A me piacciono i biscotti”.
You see? Cookies is plural, so you use the plural form of the verb. Chocolate is singular/uncountable, so you use the singular form.
Finally there’s the business of using the preposition “a” and the different pronouns correctly.
There are two ways to state WHO likes something. Either you use the preposition “a” + direct pronoun (or someone’s name), or you go for the indirect pronoun (or name) alone.
If that’s just so much gibberish, not to worry. Take a look at the examples, as it’s much easier than it sounds.
a me = mi A me piace leggere = Mi piace leggere
a te = ti A te piace il cinema? = Ti piace il cinema?
a lui = gli A lui piacciono le auto = Gli piacciono le auto
a lei = le A lei piace viaggiare = Le piace viaggiare
a noi = ci A noi piace il vino = Ci piace il vino
a voi = vi A voi piace la verdura? = Vi piace la verdura?
a loro = gli A loro piace la musica = Gli piace la musica?
If you’re still with me at this point, you now know more than I did when I started writing this article.
Well done, you!
For more basic Italian grammar and vocabulary, check out the sample chapter of Italian Workout! A1, which you can download absolutely free of charge here.
And if you find that useful, or need another level, check out all our e-books in the shop.
What do YOU find difficult about “basic” Italian grammar? Leave a comment and reassure me that I’m not the only one that wasn’t paying attention…
John Thomson says
Fino a questo momento, pensavo che sia assolutamente solo nel forum.
ma non e il caso, Daniel e qui
Come tu sai che mon solo mi piace Grappa ma anche a me piace caffe corretto ( con grappa naturalmente)
Di solito un buon post, come si dice un post in italiano
ho quasi finito e-libro A2
John (non me ne frega le errore)
Daniel says
Hi John!
But this isn’t the forum.. this is the comments section on an article (blog post).
In the forums, users can create their own topics and interact in a much more free way. Here, you’re basically commenting on what was written in the post. See?
But I agree with you, the forums have been quiet lately…
I’ll go over there, when I’ve finished here.
A presto!
John Thomson says
This comment is really directed to Jo, about embedding photos in a post
Daniel taught me how to do it, it is easy and works a treat
My problem was that, before Daniel, I did not know a URL from an HRT
I was trying to insert photos from my computer, it does not work that way, you can only insert photos which are on a web site i.e. they have a URL address, some call it a link.
What I had to do
I found a web site imageshack.us which allows you to upload photos on your computer to their site, I am assuming this is free, and this gives the photo a URL
the photo of Sam has a URL or direct link http://imageshack.us/a/img191/1058/5qjy.jpg
Gobbledegook to me but I recognise the web site name and the .jpg
To post a photo in the forum
1 copy the URL into your clipboard
2 start editing the post
3 place cursor to the left on the line you want the picture to be
4 click the photo button (second from right)
this places [IMG]|[/IMG] into your post, the inside bit is the cursor that is where any pasting will appear
5 right click your cursor select paste this copies your URL between the [IMG] placeholders
6 submit your post
as Daniel says ‘via’ anyone opening the post will see the photo
Jo you have your own web site so as long as a photo has been uploaded there it is easy for you
By the way what do you think of the new topic “le cose personale”, may or may not be a good idea
la mia filosofia è ” tutto lavoro e niente gioco fa Giacomo un raggazo noioso”
Cheers
John
Jo says
Grazie tantissimo Giovanni per la tua spiegazione molto dettagliato!! Ora ho capito!! Proverò ancora.
Ah sì … questo nuovo mondo dei computer e gadget informatici non è facile. Bravo a te!
Jx : )
Dot Read says
Ciao Jo,
Mi dispiace per la mia risposta tardi – anch’io ho un lavoro un po’ difficile al momento, quindi non ho il tempo a leggere tutti gli articoli!
Ho imparato l’italiano da cinque anni, ma dalle due anni scorsi ho studiato anche tedesco, perché ho un figlio e un nipote che abitono in Austria. Sono un po’ confusa! E il verbo “essere” è il solo che conosco al congiuntivo!
E tu? Da quanto tempo impari l’italiano? Dove abiti?
Dot
Jo says
Ciao Dot
è così bello sentirti! Cinque anni … brava!! Ma sì capisco … imparare due lingue allo stesso tempo sarebbe molto difficile e confondere!! Ma … brava a te!! Ho studiato l’italiano da due anni. La mia mamma anche impara con me. Solo ieri abbiamo fatto la nostra prima lezione via Skype. Abbiamo avuto molto divertente come sempre!
Il mio papà era italiano. Era nato vicino a Trieste nel nord. Parlavo italiano fino all’eta di cinque anni. Dopodiché i miei genitori lasciarsi. Ora non mi ricordo niente!!
Per caso la mia migliore amica ha appena arrivata a Austria (Vienna) ieri per il matrimonio della sua amica. Ho sentito che Vienna sia una città molto bella, è vero?
Ah sì, mi sembra il congiuntivo è il più difficile dei verbi. L’ho solo appena cominciato imparare. Finora riesco leggere e scrivere non c’è male ma parlare è molto più difficile. D’accordo?
Abito in Australia due ore ovest di Sydney in Montagna Blu (The Blue Mountains). È una zona di molto bellezza della natura. Infatti è un luogo dichiarato patrimonio mondiale.
E tu … dove abiti? E che lavoro fai?
come dicono in italiano … ciao ciao … ciao
ci sentiamo presto!
Jx : )
Dale Jones says
Penso che le prepositioni in italiano siano impossibili. C’e’ un modo piu’ semplice per imparare ad usarli?
Daniel says
Hi Dale,
Nice to hear from you. Prepositions ARE confusing. In my opinion, the best way to learn to use them is to read a lot and as a result to start noticing what “sounds” right.
Another option is to try a comparative analysis: try to identify the main preposition uses in your language, get good Italian translations, then highlight the differences that jump out. Usually it’s the ones that are obviously different that cause the problems.
And watch this space… maybe I’ll get around to a post on prepositions sooner or later, as that’s another thing that I’m “fuzzy” about.
sandslane says
After reading the post I was going to say one word – prepositions – but looks like someone beat me to it!
Daniel says
Ciao Sandslane,
“What sort of prepositions?” I know is a very “teachery” question, but if you could give me a clue, it would be a help… There are, after all, lots of them. So how about some examples of things you usually get wrong, or find tricky??
Or maybe we could narrow it down to preposions of place (at, on, under, above, etc.) or movement (to, from,).
What would be most helpful, do you think?
Daniel
sandslane says
in, a, di and da are the ones I get wrong frequently. I know da is used for purpose so I sometimes get those ones correct eg lampada da tavolo – though then you get la cassetta per le lettere . Then there is upstairs di sopra and upwards in su, nowhere – da nessuna parte and in nessun posto. These are just ones I’ve come across recently. (Hard to think of them just like that!). I suppose it comes to learning by heart but I like to have reasons for the choice!
sandslane says
other tricky ones I got wrong – where in English you might use than
-una memoria superiore al normale
– i risultati sono molto inferiori alle aspettative
Daniel says
Thanks for getting back to me (twice!) I’ll add them to the list next time I write about prepositions…
John Thomson says
Un articolo sulle preposizioni e un ottima idea, non vedo l’ora leggerlo
Potresti scrivere un altro articolo su le parole come “allora” “quindi” ” afatto” ” pure” etc.
Queste parole fanno la lingua italiana piu italiana, piu interessante e piu bella
Grazie
John
Daniel says
Your written Italian gets better each time you post, John. You must be very pleased with your progress…
Jo says
Hai ragione Daniel!!
Stavo pensando la stessa cosa riguardo al post di John. Ho pensato era molto ispiratore (inspirational). Bravissimo Giovanni!!
Grazie anche per il tuo post in quanto dei preposizioni. Ma purtroppo non ho ancora avuto il tempo studiarlo perché … non sono in vacanza come voi! : ) Ho un lavoro che è abbastanza problematico al momento. Ma dopodiché non vedo l’ora studiare l’articolo.
Grazie tantissimo come sempre!!
Jo : )
Mi puoi dire se ci sono errori nel mio italiano. Grazie!
John Thomson says
Ciao Jo
ti ringrazio per le tue parole gentile
se ricordo io ti ho promesso un foto di Sam,
spero che questo funzioni !
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/5qjy.jpg/[/URL]
auguri
John
Jo says
Ciao John
Non c’è di che. (You’re welcome).
Sam ho visto stamattina nel forum è ho lasciato un messaggio lì per te. Ho provato caricare una foto di Rosie ma non ha funzionato.
Jo : )
PS: Hi Daniel, The buttons which appear just above say a reply box on the forum pages don’t seem to be working. These are the buttons for editing text attributes such as bold, italics as well as other things such as uploading a photo. When you press any of them, the HTML code for the function in question appears in the message box below, but the function itself does not active.
Daniel says
Hi Jo,
Thanks for pointing out the problem, but in fact it’s supposed to work like that.
Sorry, but it’s old technology…
John and I were talking about upgrading it, but it would mean losing the existing posts.
If you press the picture button, you get [img][/img] (not html because the tags are square not arrows).
You paste the URL of the image between the two tags, and via!
Ciao,
Daniel
John Thomson says
Bah non funziona !
provero ancora
John
Dot Read says
Ciao Jo,
Penso che anche il tuo italiano sia buono!
Dot
Jo says
Grazie tantissimo Dot!! È un piacere conoscerti. (Ragazzi non siamo da soli più.) Da quanto tempo impari l’italiano? Hai usato il congiuntivo vedo … brava!!! Penso che questo sia il più difficile tempo verbale, cioè dopo i pronomi e i preposizioni, che ti pensi?
Spero di sentirti presto.
Jx : )
Jo says
Hi Daniel
Thank you so much for this wonderful post! Though I confess I did have a handle on this one BUT what I have been having trouble with are the personal pronouns (in general) so it was great to find out that you can say for example ‘a me’ or ‘mi’, ‘a lui’ or gli.
Jx : )
Daniel says
Hi Jo,
Thanks for contributing!
You’re the second person who’s mentioned pronouns… I’d like to write a post about them, but I’m not sure what exactly it is that people are having difficulty with.
Could you give me some examples of things you don’t understand, or have had difficulty with?
(And anyone else too! What’s this problem with pronouns?? Please tell!)
Daniel
Jo says
Ciao Daniel
Sorry I did not get back to you on this earlier. I started to try and explain the confusion but realised I was so confused that I could not even explain what it was exactly that I was confused about!! Thank you so much for the additional posts on pronouns. I will read them all and hopefully they will help me to get unmuddled.
Thanks again!!
Jx : )
Daniel says
No problem, I know you’re busy with work just now. Hope it’s going well!
When you get round to reading the posts, do let me know if things are any clearer…
Jo says
Grazie Daniel!
Ti spero non dispiace se scrivo in italiano oggi per praticare. Solo ieri sono riuscita finire quello lavoro orribile!! Meno male!! Ma oggi (domenica qui) devo andare a Melbourne perché è il compleanno della mia amica molto speciale si chiama ‘elka’. Il suo marito ha organizzato una festa sorpresa! Ballavamo insieme ai studi dei Sydney Dance Company (i classi aperti per studenti). Dovrei potere leggere il tuo articolo dei pronomi in aereo. Poi tornerò martedì sera e finalmente riprendo il mio progetto preferito, sai!!?
Avete tornato da Cornwell ancora? Siete divertenti il vostro giro?
Ci sentiamo presto.
Jx : )