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Contents

Introduction

Part One              Basic Skills

CHAPTER 1       Italian Pronunciation and Spelling

Pronunciation of Italian Vowels

Introducing Yourself

Pronunciation of Italian Consonants

Introducing People

Italian Spelling and Capitalization

Using the Verb Piacere

Asking People How They Are

Names and Surnames

Quiz

CHAPTER 2       Meeting and Greeting People

Italian Nouns

Asking Chi è?

Asking Che cosa è?

Plural Nouns

Asking Chi sono? and Che cosa sono?

Italian Titles

Meeting and Greeting Expressions

Quiz

CHAPTER 3       Asking Questions

More Plural Nouns

Days of the Week and Months of the Year

Languages and Nationalities

Question Words

Italian-Speaking World

Other Countries Around the World

Quiz

CHAPTER 4       Describing People and Things

Personal Pronouns

Using the Verb Essere

Adjectives

Numbers from 0 to 20

Italian Currency

Numbers from 21 to 100

Asking Questions with Prepositions

Using Quanto and Quale

Quiz

CHAPTER 5       Expressing Likes and Dislikes

Forms of the Indefinite Article

Forms of the Definite Article

Expressing Here and There with Essere

Using the Verb Avere

Using the Verb Stare

More About Using the Verb Piacere

Quiz

Part One Test

Part Two              Expanding on the Basics

CHAPTER 6       Learning the Present Indicative with -are Verbs

Present Indicative of -are Verbs

Expressions of Time

Verbs Ending in -care, -gare, -ciare, and -giare

Italian Food and Drink

Using the Verbs Bere and Dare

More About Nouns and Gender

Numbers from 101 to 1000

Quiz

CHAPTER 7       Prepositions and the Present Indicative of -ere Verbs

Present Indicative of -ere Verbs

Using the Verbs Fare and Dire

Prepositional Contractions

Numbers Over 1000

Telling Time

Quiz

CHAPTER 8       Demonstratives and the Present Indicative of -ire Verbs

Present Indicative of -ire Verbs

Using the Verb Capire

Using the Verbs Andare, Uscire, and Venire

Ordinal Numbers

Demonstratives

Expressing Dates

Italian Holidays

Quiz

CHAPTER 9       Present Progressives and Possessives

Present Progressive Tense

Using the Verbs Potere, Volere, and Dovere

Possessives

Talking About the Weather

Italian Cities

Quiz

CHAPTER 10       Giving Commands

Imperative Tense

Negative Imperative

Using the Verbs Sapere and Conoscere

Partitives

Talking About Addresses

Quiz

Part Two Test

Part Three              Building Competence

CHAPTER 11       Using Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive Verbs

Imperative Forms of Reflexive Verbs

Reciprocal Forms of Verbs

Fractions and Other Numerical Expressions

Clothing

Quiz

CHAPTER 12       Using the Present Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Tense with Avere

Present Perfect Tense with Essere

Irregular Past Participles

More About the Definite Article

Quiz

CHAPTER 13       Using the Imperfect Tense

Imperfect Tense

Irregular Verbs in the Imperfect Tense

Progressive Form of the Imperfect Tense

More About Demonstratives and Possessives

Quiz

CHAPTER 14       Using the Pluperfect and Past Absolute Tenses

Pluperfect Tense

Past Absolute Tense

Irregular Verbs in the Past Absolute Tense

Transportation

Quiz

CHAPTER 15       More About Nouns and Adjectives

More About Masculine and Feminine Nouns

Nouns of Greek Origin

Position of Adjectives

Form-Changing Adjectives

Human Body

Quiz

Part Three Test

Part Four              Extending Competence

CHAPTER 16       Talking About the Future

Using the Future Tense

Irregular Forms in the Future Tense

Future Perfect Tense

Talking About Sports

Quiz

CHAPTER 17       Using the Conditional Tense

Conditional Tense

Irregular Forms in the Conditional Tense

Past Conditional Tense

Using Negatives

Italian People

Quiz

CHAPTER 18       Using Object Pronouns

Object Pronouns

Object Pronouns with Past Participles

A Bit More About Adjectives

Adverbs

Computers and the Internet

Quiz

CHAPTER 19       Using Double and Attached Object Pronouns

Double Object Pronouns

Attached Object Pronouns

Stressed Pronouns

Still More About the Verb Piacere

Quiz

CHAPTER 20       Making Comparisons

More About Pronouns

Adjectives of Comparison

Adverbs of Comparison

Relative Pronouns

Italian Coffee

Quiz

Part Four Test

Final Exam

Italian-English Glossary

English-Italian Glossary

Answer Key

Index

Introduction

This book is for those who want to learn the basics of the Italian language without taking a formal course. It can also serve as a supplementary, complementary, or even primary text in a classroom, tutored, or homeschooled environment, given its comprehensiveness in covering the main points of Italian grammar, vocabulary, and communication. You’ll find a straightforward explanation of key Italian grammar points including all of the major verb tenses. In addition to grammar points, you will learn key vocabulary through vocabulary lists and example sentences. The most common words will also appear in the glossaries in the back of this book.

There are two ways you can use this book. You can start at the beginning and go straight through, without skipping any part or omitting any exercise. Or, you can jump around, using the Table of Contents to pick and choose the grammar points you most need demystified for you.

This book contains an abundance of practice material. After a topic is introduced in each chapter, you will come across an Oral Practice section, which will allow you to become familiar with the topic by simple imitation and reading practice. This is usually followed by a Written Practice section, which will give you the opportunity to practice what you’ve learned by supplying the answers on your own. In the latter case, you can check your answers for correctness in the Answer Key at the back of the book and then move on with confidence. There is a quiz at the end of every chapter. The quizzes will help you to review the contents of each chapter and will reinforce your knowledge of the grammar points discussed. These are open-book quizzes. This means that you may, and should, refer to the relevant sections in that chapter as you work through a particular question. Write down your answers, and then check them in the Answer Key. Try to achieve a score of 80 percent on the quiz before moving on to the next chapter.

There are four major parts within this book, each organized in order of increasing complexity and focused on what you will need to know in order to use the Italian language in common situations. Grammatical accuracy and knowledge are emphasized in each chapter, and information on communication skills and Italian culture is interspersed throughout, forming the backbone of what you will be learning to do with the Italian vocabulary and grammar.

Each part contains five chapters, and each chapter contains from four to eight topics, making the overall learning easy to digest in small capsules. However, as you progress, you will have to recall what you have learned in previous chapters and use it along with the new material. The best way to do this is to review the chapter quizzes, which are designed to test you on the contents of each chapter. You may find that you need to review just a section in a chapter, or you may have to review the entire chapter.

At the end of each of the four major parts in this book, you will find a twenty-five-question multiple-choice test. Take the test only when you’ve completed the previous five chapters in that part. Each test is a closed-book test, which means that you should not look back through the text for the correct answers. The questions are not as specific in the tests as in the quizzes, but will help you gauge your knowledge to that point. A satisfactory score on each of these tests is 75 percent of the answers correct. You can check your answers in the Answer Key at the back of this book.

There is a 100-question Final Exam at the end of the book. The questions in this exam cover the main aspects of the Italian language and culture and are drawn from all four parts. Take the Final Exam only after completing all twenty chapters. A satisfactory score on the exam is at least 75 percent of the answers correct.

It is recommended that you complete one chapter per week, studying it for about one to two hours each day. Don’t rush through a chapter. Give your mind time to absorb the material in it. But do not go too slowly either. Take it at a steady pace and keep it up throughout the course. Languages are not easy to learn. They require time and effort. But the way in which this book is organized allows you to absorb each concept of the Italian language in small pieces, and doing so enables you to come out of the course with a firm knowledge of basic Italian.

When you’ve completed this course, you can use this book as a permanent reference manual to review Italian concepts whenever you need to. There is an Index at the back to help you find the topics covered.

Learning a foreign language is exciting and fun, so above all else, enjoy yourself!

Audio Program

This premium third edition of Italian Demystified comes with an audio program contained within the McGraw-Hill Education Language Lab app. This program is designed to accompany the text, chapter-by-chapter, section-by-section, step-by-step. In other words, you can use this supplement to get necessary oral practice and ear training, as well as reinforcement, as you study along in your text.

Each chapter in the audio program contains oral practice sections that start with clear instructions about what you should be doing. Listen to these carefully. You are then given an oral stimulus followed by a pause that allows you to respond to it appropriately. Then, a speaker will give you the correct response so that you can check to see if you had given the right one. Repeat the responses as many times as you deem necessary. For example, if you are asked simply to answer each question with a complete Italian sentence and are given the question stimulus Come si chiama la ragazza? (What is the girl’s name?) and then given the prompt Sara, you would respond La ragazza si chiama Sara (The girl’s name is Sarah.) That’s all there is to it.

Part One

Basic Skills

chapter 1

Italian Pronunciation and Spelling

In this chapter, you will learn how to pronounce and spell Italian words and names, as well as how to express your likes in a basic and simple way, how to introduce people (and yourself), and how to ask how they are.

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

In this chapter you will learn:

•  Pronunciation of Italian Vowels

•  Introducing Yourself

•  Pronunciation of Italian Consonants

•  Introducing People

•  Italian Spelling and Capitalization

•  Using the Verb Piacere

•  Asking People How They Are

•  Names and Surnames

Pronunciation of Italian Vowels

Come si pronuncia? How does one pronounce it? This chapter will address the important aspects of Italian pronunciation. There are two kinds of sounds in any language: vowels and consonants. Vowels are produced by expelling air through the mouth without blockage. The letters that represent these sounds in Italian are the same as those used in English: a, e, i, o, u.

Because Italian and English use many of the same alphabet characters, be careful! Some sounds represented by certain letters in Italian are different from the sounds those letters represent in English. Also, stressed vowels (vowels bearing the main accent) in Italian are not pronounced with a glide as in English (such as the added w sound in the middle of the word going).

Throughout this chapter there are pronunciation guides. These will help you become familiar with Italian sounds. Follow them carefully. You can also get listening and pronunciation practice on the companion audio program.

A

A is pronounced like the English a in father, or as in the exclamation ah!: Anna (Ahn-nah) Anne and Anna. Here are a few more Italian names that start with this vowel.

E

E is pronounced like the e in bet, or as in the exclamation eh!: Emma (Ehmmah) Emma. Here are a few more Italian names that start with this vowel.

I

I is pronounced like the i sound in machine, or as in the exclamation eeh!: Ida (EEh-dah) Ida. Here are a few more Italian names that start with this vowel.

O

O is pronounced like the o sound in sorry, or as in the exclamation oh! as in Otto (Oht-toh), Otto. Here are a few more Italian names that start with this vowel.

U

U is pronounced like the oo sound in boot, or as in the exclamation ooh!: Ugo (OOh-goh), Hugh and Hugo. Here are a few more Italian names that start with this vowel.

Differences in Pronunciation

The vowels e and o are pronounced differently in various parts of Italy. In some regions they are spoken with the mouth more open; in others, more closed. In many areas, however, both pronunciations are used. This is analogous to how the English a in tomato is pronounced in North America. In some areas it is pronounced like the a in father; in others it is pronounced like the a in pay. However, whether it is pronounced one way or the other, no one will have much difficulty understanding that the word is still tomato. Similarly, whether Elena is pronounced with the first e open, similar to the English word led, or closed, similar to the English word bet, Italians will still know it is the same word.

Diphthongs

The Italian letter i stands for a sound similar to the English y in yes if it comes before a stressed vowel. Similarly, the letter u stands for a sound similar to the English w in way if it comes before a stressed vowel. This type of syllable is called a diphthong.

Be careful! In some words i and u are pronounced as belonging to a separate syllable, even if followed by another vowel. In Italian there is no accent mark to show this feature.

In most words, the stress (main accent) falls on the next-to-last syllable.

But, again, be careful! This is not always the case.

Some words are written with an accent mark on the final vowel. This means, of course, that you must put the main stress on that vowel.

Introducing Yourself

To ask someone’s name directly in Italian you can say:

You answer with:

If you’re speaking about a third party, you would say:

Or:

Oral Practice

Practice saying the following sentences out loud. The focus here is on pronouncing vowels as they occur in names.

Pronunciation of Italian Consonants

E adesso come si pronuncia? And now, how does one pronounce it? Note two useful words within this question:

Single consonant sounds are produced by a blockage (partial or complete) of the air expelled through the mouth. Most Italian consonants are pronounced in the same way they are pronounced in English.

There are some differences, however. The consonant sound represented by the letter p is not accompanied by a small puff of air, as it is at the beginning of some English words.

In addition, the sounds represented by the letters t and d in Italian do not correspond exactly to the English sounds represented by these letters. In Italian you must place the tongue on the upper teeth, not just above them (as in English).

The sound represented by the letter l is identical to the English l sound in love. However, in English, the back of the tongue is raised toward the back of the mouth when l occurs at the end of a syllable or word, as in bill or filler. This feature, known as the "dark l," is not found in Italian pronunciation.

The sound represented by gli is similar to the English lli in million, but much more forceful. And the sound represented by gn is similar to the English ny in canyon, but, again, much more forceful.

The letter s can stand for both the s sound in the English word sip or the z sound in zip. The Italian z sound is used before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v, and between vowels; otherwise, the s sound is used.

z sound

s sound

The letter z stands for the ts sound as in the English word cats or the ds sound as in lads.

The letter r stands for a sound that is different from the English r. To