Joel Silva de

Assis

Joel Silva de Assis

Italiano

Joel Silva de
Assis

1 BASICS 1 TIPS AND NOTES

Welcome to the Italian course! Remember that you can click on the words to see
tips of possible translations.
Personal pronouns
The subject pronouns in Italian are:

Io - I
Tu - Singular You
Lui - He
Lei - She
Esso/Essa - It (archaic and literary)
Noi - We
Voi - Plural You / You all
Loro - They (speaking of people)
Essi/Esse - They (archaic and literary)

The verb is always conjugated to match the subject, and the subject is only specified for
clarity or emphasis.
Articles
Articles have to match gender and number of the noun they refer to.
The singular determinate articles (the) are:

Lo - masculine, used before Z, S+consonant, GN, and some rarer consonant

clusters.
Il - masculine, used before consonants except the above.
La - feminine, used before all consonants.
L' - an elision of the above used before vowels.

The indeterminate articles (a/an) are:

Uno - masculine, used before Z, S+consonant, GN, and some rarer consonant
clusters.
Un - masculine, used in all other cases.
Una - feminine, used before all consonants.
Un' - feminine, used before vowels.

2. BASICS 2 TIPS AND NOTES

Plural articles
The plural definite articles (the) are:

Gli - for masculine nouns before vowels, Z, S+consonant, GN and some rarer
consonant clusters.
I - for masculine nouns in all other cases.

Le - for feminine nouns.

Articulated prepositions
When some prepositions are followed by a definite article they merge into a single
word.

Article: il, lo, la, l', i, gli, le

Di + article: del, dello, della, dell', dei, degli, delle
A + article: al, allo, alla, all', ai, agli, alle
Da + article: dal, dallo, dalla, dall', dai, dagli, dalle
In + article: nel, nello, nella, nell', nei, negli, nelle
Su + article: sul, sullo, sulla, sull', sui, sugli, sulle
The compounds formed by con and per are archaic and literary, with the
exception of col (con + il) for which the contraction is optional.
3. PHRASES TIPS AND NOTES

Negations
In this section you'll use negations for the first time.
The English no has two main uses:
Particle (e.g. "no!"): this translates directly to the Italian no.
Determiner (e.g. "no one"): you'll learn the translations for this in a later section.
The English not almost always translates to the Italian non. However, while not often
follows the verb it negates or its auxiliary, the Italian non always precedes it.
Greetings
Ciao is used both ways in Italian: when meeting (also salve) and when parting (also
arrivederci or addio).
Buongiorno and buonasera are normally used when meeting, although they can be used
when parting as well: the first is used in the first half of the day and the latter in the
remaining half.
Buonanotte is always used when parting, as it presumes that the day is over (same as
"good night").
Prego is a courtesy form used in many occasions to accompany a kind action, and it's
the customary answer to reply to received thanks.
Per favore, per piacere and per cortesia are courtesy forms used when asking for
something.