Learn Italian - Lesson Six

Lesson Six - Italian Adjectives, Negation, Past Perfect in Italian

Italian Adjectives

Adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun, if the noun is singular feminine then the adjective should be singular feminine. Adjectives usually come after the noun.

Italian adjectives are different than the English ones, The Italian adjective take 4 forms, usually adjectives take “o” at the end of the singular masculine, and “a” for singular feminine, for plural masculine “i”, plural feminine take “e”

Italian Adjectives

Singular masculine

Singular feminine

Plural masculine

Plural feminine

Small

Opened

Piccolo

Aperto

Piccola

Aperta

Piccoli

Aperti

Piccole

Aperte

However, it’s not always the case, some adjectives ending with “e” for example only change to their plural, the feminine or masculine doesn’t matter to them.

Italian Adjectives

Singular masculine

Singular feminine

Plural masculine

Plural feminine

Big

Interesting

Green

Emotional

Grande

Interessante

Verde

Emozionante

Grande

Interessante

Verde

Emozionante

Grandi

Interessanti

Verdi

Emozionanti

Grandi

Interessanti

Verdi

Emozionanti

Other exceptions are:

Adjectives ending in ~co/~ca and ~go/~ga are spelt ~chi/~che and ~ghi/~ghe in the plural; these modifications are made simply to maintain the same sound in the plural as well as the singular.

Italian Adjectives

Singular masculine

Singular feminine

Plural masculine

Plural feminine

White

Long

Bianco

Lungo

Bianca

Lunga

Bianchi

Lunghi

Bianche

Lunghe

Some Italian Irregular Adjectives are: buono, bello, quello, they’re

Buon/ Buono à buona, Buoni à Buoni (Buono is used when uno could be used)

For bello and quello, they are treated like the prepositions (a, con, da, di, in …)

Italian Contractions

The +

Bello (beautiful)

Quello (that)

l’

gli

bel

bell’

bello

bella

bei

begli

belle

quel

quell

quello

quella

quei

quegli

quelle

As said before adjectives in Italian usually come after the noun they are describing but there are exceptions where the adjective always stand before its noun; here some examples:

-possessive adjectives (il mio, il tuo…) -demonstrative adjectives (quest, quello …)-the adjectives "molto" (much) and "troppo" (too much) -some adjectives denoting size can come either before or after their noun (un grande amico: a great friend) (un amico grande: a tall/ huge/ big friend), usually when you have such adjectives before the name you focus more on the abstract meaning, while the physical meaning is conveyed when you place the adjective after the noun.

Negation in Italian

To form negative forms just add (non before the verb, Capisco (I understand), non capisco (I don’t understand). Also in other expressions where there is no verb: non c´é problema! (there is no problem)

Italian uses a lot double negatives: non ho detto niente (I haven’t said anything)

Italian Negation

Some negative expressions:

never: mai

no longer: non ... piú

nothing: niente

nobody: nessuno

not even: neanche

neither … nor…: nè ...nè …

not important: da niente

no, not...any: nessun

at all: per niente

If you have verb then you need to place it after the first non, all of them are double negatives:

never: non ...mai (di sabato non lavoro mai: I never work on Saturdays)

no longer: non ... piú (non lavoro piú: I no longer work)

nothing: non… niente (non ho niente: I have nothing)

nobody: non ...nessuno (non conosco nessuno: I don´t know anyone)

neither … nor…: non ... nè ...nè …(non ho né soldi né felicità: I have neither money nor happiness)

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not important: da niente (una cosa da niente: a not important thing)

Past Perfect in Italian

The Trapassato prossimo (recent pluperfect tense) is similar to the English past perfect "I had gone"; it expresses actions which have taken place a long time ago and ended.

In Italian you can only make the past perfect by combining (the auxiliary in the past + the past participle), it’s not that complicated, it’s almost like English, almost the same way you make the past perfect to express something that had happened in the past: I had written a book. (Io avevo scritto un libro)

Italian Past Perfect

Avevo

Avevi

Aveva

Avevamo

Avevate

Avevano

~ato (with ~are verbs)

~uto (with ~ere verbs)

~ito (with ~ire verbs)

Ero

Eri

Era

Eravamo

Eravate

Erano

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

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

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

Past Perfect in Italian
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	Avevo parlato Avevi parlato Aveva parlato Avevamo parlato Avevate parlato Avevano parlato	Avevo saputo Avevi saputo Aveva saputo Avevamo saputo Avevate saputo Avevano saputo	Avevo finito Avevi finito Aveva finito Avevamo finito Avevate finito Avevano finito	Ero partito Eri partito Era partito Eravamo partiti Eravate partiti Erano partiti	Avevo visto Avevi visto Aveva visto Avevamo visto Avevate visto Avevano visto	Ero andato Eri andato Era andato Eravamo andati Eravate andati Erano andati

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 “present perfect” 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 ero partita (I had gone, for a female)/ eravamo partiti (we men had gone…)/eravate partite (you females had gone)

Verbs associated 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 perfect 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 (ate, uto, ito) to these verbs on the top, take their whole new form and place an past form of the auxiliary verb “avere” or “essere” before them.

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

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”.

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

Italian Expressions
This/ That. Here/There	Questo/ Quello. Qui/ Li.
Till Monday.	Fino a lunedì.
Today/ Now	Oggi/ Adesso
Tomorrow/ Yesterday	Domani/ ieri
Very well, thank you. And you?	Bene, grazie, e Lei?
Wait a minute!	Aspetti un momento!
Wait for me!	Mi aspetti! Mi aspettino! Aspettatemi! Aspettami!
Wait!	Aspetti!
Watch out	Attenzione
We had a lot of fun	Ci siamo proprio divertiti.
Welcome! (to greet someone)	Benvenuto!/ Benvenuta! (female)
Well done	Ben fatto!
What a lovely day!	Che bella giornata!
What a mess	Che macello
What Do You Do For A Living?	Cosa fai per vivere?
What Does "scusami" Mean In English?	Cosa significa "scusami" in inglese?
What happened to you?	Che Le è successo?
What Is This?	Cos'è questo?
What should I say?	Cosa dovrei dire?
What Time Is It?	Che ore sono?
What? Where?	Cosa? Dove?
What's New?	Che c'è di nuovo?
What's That Called In Italian?	Come si chiama quella cosa in italiano?
What's the date (today)?	Che data è (oggi)?
What's the matter?	Che ha?/ Qual è il problema?
What's wrong with you?	Che ti prende? / Cosa c’è che non va?
What's Your Name?	Qual è il suo nome? / Come ti chiami?
What's the weather like today?	Che tempo fa oggi?
Where Are You From?	Di dove sei?/ Di dove è? (polite)
Where Do You Live?	Dove vivi?/ Dove vive? (polite)
Where is the (bathroom/ pharmacy)?	Dove posso trovare (il bagno/ la farmacia?)
Who is this?	Chi è questo?
Whom am I talking to?	Con chi sto parlando?
Who's that girl?	Chi è quella ragazza?
Who's this?	Chi parla?
Why do you learn Italian?	Perché studia l'italiano? (polite)
Will you show me your photos?	Mi farà/farai vedere le sue/tue fotografie?
Would you like (a cup of coffe, a drink)?	Gradisce (un caffè, una bevanda...)?
Would you like to go for a walk?	Vuole/Vuoi/Volete fare una passeggiata?
Write It Down Please!	Scrivilo per favore!/ Lo scriva per favore! (polite)
Yes, I do, but I prefer tea.	Si, mi piace, ma preferisco il the.
Yes/ No	Si/ No
You are right.	Hai ragione/Ha ragione (polite).
You're crazy!	Sei pazzo!
You're Very Kind!	Sei molto gentile!/ lei è molto gentile (polite)
You're Welcome! (answering "thank you")	Prego!