Test 2 Study Guide

Imperfetto The "imperfetto" is typically used to express: - Continuous or habitual actions in the past: "Quando ero in Italia andavo al ristorante tutti i venerd" (When I was in Italy I went to the restaurant every Friday). If the action is not habitual in the past, we would use the past perfect: "Quando sono stato in Italia l'anno scorso, sono andato al ristorante tre volte" (When I have gone to Italy last year, I have been to the restaurant three times) - Descriptions in the past: "Negli anni '50 Venezia aveva una popolazione di 150.000 abitanti" (In the '50s Venice had a population of 150,000 inhabitants). - Physical, mental or emotional state in the past: "Da bambino avevo paura del buio" (When I was a child I was afraid of the dark). - On going actions: Quando arrivato Michele non avevo finito di mangiare. Ieri ascoltavo la musica mentre finivo gli esercizi ditaliano.

The "imperfetto" is quite regular and is built by stripping the infinite of the verb of the suffix -re and adding the "imperfetto" suffixes, as follows: Mangiare Mangia-vo Mangia-vi Mangia-va Mangia-vamo Mangia-vate Mangia-vano Avere Ave-vo Ave-vi Ave-va Ave-vamo Ave-vate Ave-vano Finire Fini-vo Fini-vi Fini-va Fini-vamo Fini-vate Fini-vano

The verb "essere" is irregular and needs to be learnt by heart: Essere Ero Eri Era Eravamo Eravate Erano

Punto di partenza Although the passato prossimo and the imperfetto are both past tenses, they have distinct uses and are not interchangeable. The choice between these two tenses depends on the context and on the point of view of the speaker.

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The passato prossimo and the imperfetto are often

used together for narrative purposes.
Ieri il tempo era bello e la neve mi sembrava perfetta. Ho deciso di andare a sciare in montagna e sono uscito di casa. Non cera nessuno in giro quando sono salito in cima. Improvvisamente, ho sentito un rumore che veniva dal bosco. Santo cielo, era lo Yeti! Yesterday the weather was beautiful and the snow seemed perfect to me. I decided to go skiing in the mountains and I left the house. There was no one around when I climbed to the summit. Suddenly, I heard a sound that was coming from the woods. Good heavens, it was the Abominable Snowman!

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Essere and Avere In the imperfect, avere follows regular conjugation. Essere is irregular with the stem er-. Let's go over the conjugations for these two verbs: Essere (io) ero (tu) eri (lui, lei) era (noi) eravamo (voi) eravate (loro) erano Avere (io) avevo (tu) avevi (lui, lei) aveva (noi) avevamo (voi) avevate (loro) avevano Irregular Verbs There are other verbs in Italian that have irregular verb formations in the imperfect tense. While the endings are similar to other imperfect endings, the stem is different if compared to regular verbs. Let's go over some of the most common irregular verbs in the imperfect form: Bere (to drink) (io) bevevo (tu) bevevi (lui, lei) beveva (noi) bevevamo

(voi) bevevate (loro) bevevano Dire (to say) (io) dicevo (tu) dicevi (lui, lei) diceva (noi) dicevamo (voi) dicevate (loro) dicevano Fare (to do, to make) (io) facevo (tu) facevi (lui, lei) faceva (noi) facevamo (voi) facevate (loro) facevano

Il verbo "piacere"
Introduction. In any language, we frequently talk about things we like (or dislike). Italians use the verb piacere ("to please") for this purpose, but grammatically, sentences constructed with piacere do not function the same as in English. 1. In English, we say "I like skiing." "He likes shrimp." There is an active subject who likes something or someone (=direct object). In Italian, think of it as "Skiing pleases me." "Shrimp please him." The subject (a person, thing, or activity) is pleasing TO someone (=indirect object). IND. OBJ. Mi Mi A Giorgio VERB SUBJECT piace sciare. piace l'italiano. piacciono gli scampi.

A lei

piacciono

le riviste.

Mi piace la musica Mi piacciono le canzoni Pronomi di oggetto indiretto

mi (a me) ti (a te) gli (a lui) le (a lei) Le (a Lei) ci (a noi) vi (a voi) gli (a loro) (maschile e femminile)

2. There are various ways to show the indirect object (the person to whom something is pleasing): A Maria piace studiare. A lei piace studiare. Le piace studiare. Alla professoressa piace leggere. A Giovanni... A lui... Gli... Al professore...

2. We use the third person singular and plural forms (piace, piacciono) most often although the other forms do exist.

Mi piaci. "I like you." (i.e. YOU are pleasing TO ME.) Ti piaccio. "You like me." (I am pleasing to YOU.) 3. When talking about an activity, the infinitive is used and this counts as masculine singular for purpose of agreement. Ci piace guidare. > Non ci piace guidare in montagna. Ti piace cucinare? Non mi piace cucinare per 20 persone!

If you only remember one thing: In English In Italian I like it/you/them it pleases me

The word is: PIACERE A (to like/be pleased by) is a regular verb takes essere in the past tense: mi piaciuto/a remember: piacere + a a me=mi; a te=ti; a voi=vi; a noi=ci; a lui = gli

Conjugation: present tense I like it/them Who I like You like You like She likes He likes You (pl) like They like What it/you it/you it/you it/you it/you it/you it/you Conjugation mi piace/i* ti piace Le piace le piace gli piace vi piace piace a loro/gli piace What them them them them them them them

Conjugation mi piacciono ti piacciono Le piacciono le piacciono gli piacciono vi piacciono piacciono a loro

In all cases the pronoun comes before the verb, except for with they, where a loro follows the verb. IMPORTANT: gli is often used for them instead of the more correct a loro (gli is also used for him). E.g. mi piace la musica pop (I like pop music); mi piace moltissimo (I like it very much). *NB: to say I like you Paulo you should say mi piaci, where for I like it or you Sig. Fretti

ITALIAN PERSO N I II III

DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS SINGULAR mi (me) ti (you, informal) lo, la (him, her, it) La (you, formal) PLURAL ci (us) vi (you, informal) li, le (them, masculine/feminine) Li, Le (you, formal, masculine/feminine)

In Italian, a direct object pronoun is placed immediately before a conjugated verb: Se vediamo i ragazzi, li invitiamo. (If we see the boys, we'll invite them.) Compra la frutta e la mangia. (He buys the fruit and eats it.) The only exception to that is when a sentence contains an infinitive. In this case, the object pronoun is attached to the end of it (note that the final -e of the infinitive is dropped): importante mangiarla ogni giorno. (It is important to eat it every day.) una buon'idea invitarli. (It's a good idea to invite them.) In a negative sentence, the word non must come before the object pronoun: Non la mangiano. (They don't eat it.) Perch non li inviti? (Why don't you invite them?) A few Italian verbs that take a direct object, such as ascoltare, aspettare, cercare, and guardare, correspond to English verbs that are used with prepositions (to listen to, to wait for, to look for, to look at). Compare the following: Chi cerchi? (Who are you looking for?) Cerco il mio ragazzo. (I'm looking for my boyfriend.) Lo cerco gi da mezz'ora! (I've been looking for him for half an hour!) Italian Indirect Object Pronouns Indirect object nouns and pronouns (i pronomi indiretti) answer the question to whom? or for whom? In English, the word "to" is sometimes omitted: We gave a cookbook to Uncle John. We gave Uncle John a cookbook. In Italian, the preposition a is always used before an indirect object noun: Ho regalato un libro di cucina allo zio Giovanni. (I gave a cookbook to Uncle John.) Perch non regali un profumo alla mamma? (Why don't you give Mother some perfume?) Puoi spiegare questa ricetta a Paolo? (Can you explain this recipe to Paul?) Indirect object pronouns replace indirect object nouns. They are identical in

form to direct object pronouns, except for the third-person forms gli, le, and loro. For all the forms, see below. ITALIAN PERSO N I II III INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS SINGULAR mi (to/for me) ti (to/for you, informal) gli (to, for him) le (to, for her) Le (to/for you, formal) PLURAL ci (to/for us) vi (to/for you, informal) loro (gli) (to/for them, masculine) loro (gli) (to/for them, feminine) Loro (to/for you, formal, masculine/feminine)

All indirect object pronouns except loro and Loro precede a conjugated verb, just like the direct object pronouns (loro and Loro follow the verb): Le ho dato tre ricette. (I gave her three recipes.) Ci offrono un caff. (They offer us a cup of coffee.) Parliamo loro domani. (We'll talk to them tomorrow.) Similarly, indirect object pronouns attach to infinitives, which lose their final e: Non ho tempo di parlargli. (I have no time to talk to him.) If the infinitive is preceded by a conjugated form of dovere, potere, or volere, the indirect object pronoun may also precede the conjugated verb: Voglio parlargli./Gli voglio parlare. (I want to talk to him.) Also note that le and gli are never elided before a verb beginning with a vowel or an h: Le offro un caff. (I offer her a cup of coffee.) Gli hanno detto "Ciao!". (They said "Ciao!" to him.) The table below provides a few common Italian verbs that are often used with indirect object nouns or pronouns. VERBS THAT TAKE ON INDIRECT OBJECTS dare dire to give to say

domandare to ask (im)prestare to lend insegnare to teach mandare to send mostrare to show offrire to offer portare to bring preparare to prepare regalare to give (as a gift) rendere to return, give back riportare to bring back scrivere to write telefonare to telephone Combining Direct and Indirect Italian There are many times when the same verb has both a direct object pronoun and indirect object pronoun. The indirect object pronoun precedes the direct object pronoun and the indirect object pronouns mi, ti, ci, and vi change to me, te, ce, and ve: Renato porta il libro a me. (Renato brings the book to me.) Renato me lo porta. (Renato brings it to me.) Il professore insegna la lezione a voi. (The professor teaches the lesson to you.) Il professore ve l'insegna. (The professor teaches you the lesson.) For a complete chart of all the double object pronouns, see the table below.

DOUBLE OBJECT PRONOUNS INDIRECT OBJECT LO LA LI LE NE PRONOUN mi me lo me la me li me le ti te lo te la te li te le gli, le, Le glielo gliela glieli gliele ci ce lo ce la ce li ce le vi ve lo ve la ve li ve le loro glielo gliela glieli gliele Note the economy in words: gli, le, and Le become glie- before direct object pronouns and before ne, and combine with them to become one word.