Learn Italian - Lesson Four

Lesson Four - Italian Past Tense, Present Perfect, Interrogative, Possessive, Pronouns

Italian Phone Conversation

Phone Conversation:

Linguanaut -- Pronto!

Antonio-- Pronto, chi parla?

Linguanaut -- Mi chiamo Linguanaut , vorrei parlare con Marco

Antonio -- Attenda prego... glielo passo…

Marco-- Pronto, chi è?

Linguanaut -- Pronto, sono Linguanaut .

Marco-- Ciao Linguanaut ! Come stai?

Linguanaut -- Bene, grazie!

Marco-- Posso aiutarti?

Linguanaut -- Si, come dite ‘I lost my wallet” in italiano?

Pronto: hello (on the phone)/ chi: who/ vorrei: I would like/ posso: can I/

Italian Past Tense

In Italian you can only make the past tense by combining (the auxiliary + the past participle), it’s not that complicated, it’s almost like English, almost the same way you make the present perfect to express something that happened in the past, you can say in English: I wrote a book, or I’ve written a book, in Italian you can only say I’ve written the book.

Italian Past Tense

Hai

Abbiamo

Avete

Hanno

~ato (with ~are verbs)

~uto (with ~ere verbs)

~ito (with ~ire verbs)

Sono

Sei

Siamo

Siete

Sono

~ato/a/i/e (with ~are verbs)

~uto/a/i/e (with ~ere verbs)

~ito/a/i/e (with ~ire verbs)

Italian Present Perfect
avere vs essere		“avere” Verbs			“essere” Verbs	“avere” & “essere” Irregulars
Pronoun		Parlare (to speak)	Sapere (to know)	Finire (to finish)	Partire (to go)	Vedere (to see)	Nascere (to be born)
I You He/She We You They	Io Tu Lui/ lei Noi Voi Loro	Ho parlato Hai parlato Ha parlato Abbiamo parlato Avete parlato Hanno parlato	Ho saputo Hai saputo Ha saputo Abbiamo saputo Avete saputo Hanno saputo	Ho finito Hai finito Ha finito Abbiamo finito Avete finito Hanno finito	Sono partito Sei partito È partito Siamo partiti Siete partiti Sono partiti	Ho visto Hai visto Ha visto Abbiamo visto Avete visto Hanno visto	Sono nato Sei nato È nato Siamo nati Siete nati Sono nati

As you may have noticed in the table above, most verbs are conjugated with “avere”, however some verbs are conjugated with “essere”.

As I have mentioned in the “past participle” lesson, regular form simply add (~ato, ~uto, ~ito) to the stem of verbs, depending on the type of verbs, if the verbs in the infinitive ends with ~are, then add ~ato: parlato (the verb parlare), add ~uto to the verbs ending with ~ere: creduto (the verb credere), and finally add ~ito to verbs ending in their infinitive with ~ire: partito (the verb partire)

Note that some verbs take their past participle with the verb “avere”, while some other verbs take their past participle with the verb essere (usually motion verbs)

Also note that the past participle of verbs associated with “essere” should agree with the number and gender, so for example partito (gone) can also be sono partita (I went, for a female)/ siamo partiti (we men went…)/ siete partite (you females went)

Verbs going with “avere” don’t have to agree with the number and gender, look at the examples in the table above.

Remember: to form the past participle with verbs conjugated with “essere” the gender and number matter, but not with verbs conjugated with “avere”.

Irregular Forms: memorize the verbs that take irregular forms in the past participle such as:

Verb/ Past participle /English

Fare: fatto (done)

Aprire: aperto (opened)

Chiedere: chiesto (asked)

Chiudere: chiuso (closed)

Coprire: coperto (covered)

Dare: dato (given)

Dire: detto (said)

Leggere: letto (read)

Mettere: messo (put)

Offrire: offerto (offered)

Perdere: perso (lost)

Prendere: preso (taken)

Scrivere: scritto (written)

Spendere: speso (spent)

Vedere: visto (seen)

Vivere: vissuto (lived)

Rompere: rotto (broken)

So you don’t have to add (ato, uto, ito) to these verbs on the top, take their whole new form and place an auxiliary verb “avere” or “essere” before them.

Verbs that go with “essere”, most of them are verbs of motion…here is a list:

Italian Verbs with Essere
Verb	Translation	Past Participle
andare	to go	andato
arrivare	to arrive	arrivato
cadere	to fall	caduto
diventare	to become	diventato
entrare	to enter	entrato
essere	to be	stato
morire	to die	morto
nascere	to be born	nato
partire	to leave	partito
rimanere	to remain	rimasto
salire	to get into	salito
scendere	to get out of	sceso
succedere	to happen	successo
tornare	to return	tornato
uscire	to go out	uscito
venire	to come	venuto

Except these verbs on the top, 90% of the rest of verbs go with “avere”.

Non ho mai visitato Roma. (I’ve never visited Rome)

Dove hai passato le vacanze? (where have you spent your vacation?)

Ho visto un film davvero interessante la settimana scorsa (I watched a very interesting movie last week)

Sono nato negli USA (I was born in the U.S)

Siamo nati in Spagna (we were born in Spain)

Italian Interrogative

To make a question in Italian you simply need to add a question mark to the sentence, if you’re speaking then just add a tone to your words.

However you need to know some other forms, you can make a question in three ways:

Hicham ha un cane? (does Hicham have a dog?)
Ha un cane Hicham? (does Hicham have a dog?)
Ha Hicham un cane? (does Hicham have a dog?)

Also you may need some interrogative pronouns and interrogative prepositions to help you make questions:

Who? Chi?

Whose? Di chi?

Where? Dove?

What? Che cosa?

What? Che?

What? Cosa?

Why? Perchè?

When? Quando?

How? Come?

How much? Quanto?

Which? Quale?

To whom…? A chi…?

With whom? Con chi…?

Where …from..? Di dove…?

Note: if (dove, come, quale) are followed by (è), then they drop their final e and add ‘è

Like (dov’è, com’è) quale adds only the è so it becomes qual è

Chi sono io? (Who I am?)

Cosa dici? (What are you saying?)

Come stai? (How are you?)

Qual è il suo nome? (What’s your name?)

Di dove sei? (Where are you from?)

Dove vivi? (Where do you live?)

Quanti anni hai? (How old are you?)

Come si dice quella cosa in italiano? (How do you say that thing in Italian?)

Cosa significa "scusami" in inglese? (How do you say “scusami” in English?)

Che ore sono? (What time i sit?)

Ti piace qui? (Do you like it here?)

Italian Possessive Pronoun

Most of the time the article (il/la/i/le) should be used before the possessive form, example:

il mio libro (my book)

la mia casa è dove sono felice (my house is where I’m happy)

However you may use the possessive form without its preceding article (il/la/i/le) in these cases:

-Before family relation words in the singular. “mio padre” (my father)

-When the pronoun follows the verb "essere", "Questa è mia" (this is mine)

-When the adjective follows the noun it refers to, "Questi sono libri miei" (these are my books)

Possessive Adjective			Preposition object	Italian Possessive Pronoun
	Direct	Indirect	Preposition object		Singular possessive		Plural possessive
Io Tu Lui/ lei Noi Voi Loro	Mi Ti Lo/ la Ci Vi Li/ le	Mi Ti Gli/ le Ci Vi Loro	Me Te Lui/ lei Noi Voi Loro	My/mine Your/ Yours His/Her/Hers Our/ Ours Your/ Yours Their/ Theirs	il mio il tuo il suo il nostro il vostro il loro	la mia la tua la sua la nostra la vostra la loro	i miei i tuoi i suoi i nostri i vostri i loro	le mie le tue le sue le nostre le vostre le loro

Italian Direct Object Pronouns

They are similar to reflexive pronouns, except in the third person singular and plural ("si"). Object pronouns have two forms: one is used when the pronoun is placed before the verb form or combined with it, the other when the pronoun is placed after the verb.

Object pronouns can replace more than one word or an entire sentence, and both direct and indirect pronouns go directly in front of the verb, except loro, which always follows the verb.

ti amo (I love you), la amo (I love her), mi ami (you love me).

With infinitives or participles, the pronoun (except loro) follows it and is written as one word. Posso studiarla oggi (I can study it today)

In the negative form, "non" precede the pronoun placed in front of verb. Non la posso studiare oggi (I can’t study it today)

In case you have more than one pronoun, the indirect comes before the direct. Ti amo, te lo dico adesso (I love you, I tell it to you now)

Confusion Issues

Don’t confuse;

E’: is

Che : what

Da’: verb (he gives)

La’: there

Se’: himself/ Herself

Si’: yes

With:

E: and

Che : that

Da: from

La: the (feminine)

Se: if

Si: himself (reflexive)

Writing training: write the same conversation which was between Speak7 and Antonio, but this time you and an imaginary person, try to look up info that you don’t know their translation in Italian, apply some of the grammar you learned, and see how it goes J

Speaking training: try to read the conversation you just wrote out loud, train yourself well, you might need that for a real conversation in the future.

This table has some useful expression that might help you expend your knowledge of Italian:

Italian Expressions
It's a deal	Affare fatto
it's bad (weather)	Fa brutto tempo
it's cold (weather)	Fa freddo
it's cool (weather)	Fa fresco
it's foggy (weather)	C'è la nebbia
it's freezing (weather)	Fa un freddo gelido
it's hot (weather)	Fa caldo
it's humid (weather)	È umido
It's me	Sono io
It's nice (weather)	Fa bel tempo
it's raining (weather)	Piove
it's snowing	Nevica
it's stormy	Il tempo è tempestoso
it's sunny	C'è il sole
It's urgent.	E’ urgente
it's windy	Tira vento
It's worth it	Vale la pena
It's your turn!	Tocca a te!
I've Been Learning Italian For 1 Month	Sto imparando l'italiano da un mese.
I've got a cold.	Ho preso il raffreddore.
I've got a headache/sore throat/ stomachache.	Ho mal di testa/gola/stomaco.
January 6 wish	Buona Befana
Just a Little.	Solo un po'.
Keep calm! Calm down!	Calma! Calmati!
Leave me alone	Lasciami stare
Let’s go/have something to eat?	Andiamo?/Andiamo a mangiare qualcosa?
Let's go home.	Andiamo a casa.
Let's see.	Vediamo.
Listen!	Ascolti/a/ate!
Look!	Guarda!
Lucky you	Buon per te
Lucky you!	Beato/a (te, lui, lei) Beati/e (voi loro)
Make yourself at home	Faccia come se fosse a casa sua/ Mettiti comodo
May I come in?	Posso entrare?
May I help you?	Posso aiutarLa?
May I help you?	Posso esserle utile?
May I talk to...	Potrei parlare con...
May I?	Potrei?
Me/ You. Him/ Her.	io/ tu, voi (you polite). Lui/ Lei
Merry Christmas	Buon Natale
Mind your business	Fatti gli affari tuoi
Mr.../ Mrs.…/ Miss…	Signor…/Signora…(usually for both Mrs. & Ms)
Much better	Molto meglio
My feet hurt.	Mi fanno male i piedi.
My Italian Is Bad.	Il mio italiano è orribile.
My name is ..., I would like to talk to ...	Mi chiamo ..., vorrei parlare con...
My Name Is ….	Mi chiamo ...
My pleasure	Con piacere/ Piacere mio
Never mind	Non importa
Next!	Il prossimo! / Sotto a chi tocca!