Matching exercises aren’t my favorite, if for no other reason than that our code always makes the pages look awful.
I prefer the dropdown menu ones.
Hate gapfills!
Maybe it’s because I’m lazy.
But today’s two exercises, each of which requires you to match an adverb to its definition, are a prompt to study or revise these frequently-occurring and useful words.
Those of you just starting out with Italian could do worse than spend half an hour over the weekend memorizing the sixteen adverbs in these two exercises.
Use an online dictionary to help you if necessary (I like wordreference.com). Then, perhaps the next day, try the exercises to test yourself.
The hard part, by the way, is not understanding the adverbs themselves, but making sense of the definitions… Some of which had me scratching my head.
Still, it’s all better for the brain than slumping in front of ‘Game of Thrones’, right?
Though that reminds me, if you have any DVD box sets at home, why not check the foreign language options?
You could, for example, watch an episode of ‘Friends’, ‘Dr. House’ or ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ in Italian each day.
You might have hundreds of hours of engaging listening practice right there in your own home, gathering dust on a shelf!
By the way, if you want to improve your listening skills, DO NOT USE SUBTITLES. Subtitles are death to the part of your brain that processes sound into meaning.
With subtitles, what you’re basically doing is reading, which is fine for consolidating your grammar and learning vocabulary, but won’t help you next time you get into a conversation with an Italian.
And yes, of course, it’s harder that way.
Much harder, at the beginning.
But you’ll get used to it in time, I promise.
Don’t worry if you can’t understand a word at first. Get yourself a cold beer and a bowl of your favorite snacks and just chill.
Look at the pictures moving, doesn’t matter that the dialogue is just noise to you.
Objective number one is to get to the end of the episode, to start building the habit.
– Look mum, I’m studying Italian!
– With ‘Friends’?
– Yup. And the cold beer is part of the methodology!
Anyway, I’ve digressed enough, so back to the adverbs. Here are the links:
Adverbs – Matching Exercise (1)
Adverbs – Matching Exercise (2)
And talking of listening practice, don’t forget this week’s new Italian easy reader, ‘Un giorno con Raffaello’, which is just €7.50 until Sunday but then €9.99 from Monday on.
Get your copy today to save yourself the price of a cappuccino and brioche breakfast for the next time you’re in Italy.
Yum!
A lunedì.