Essentials of Italian Grammar [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780674188853, 9780674186255

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ESSENTIALS OF ITALIAN G R A M M A R BY J. L. BATTISTA ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SPANISH AND ITALIAN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

CAMBRIDGE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON : H U M P H R E Y

MILFORD

OXFORD U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S I929

COPYRIGHT 1 9 2 9 BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE

Printed in the U. S. A.

AL MIO "DOLCE DUCA" P R O F E S S O R С. H . G R A N D G E N T

PREFACE

T

H A T Europe and America are not constituted alike is no news; and one result of that unlikeness is a contrast in their attitude toward foreign tongues. The languages, to be sure, are widely studied on both sides of the Atlantic — but for different ends. The European learns to speak, the American wants to learn to read. To attain this laudable purpose with the least delay, our countryman craves a minimum of grammar. Now, that smallest dose can be cut down to very small compass indeed, if the reducing be skillfully performed. Selection and conciseness are the requisites; and these virtues, it seems to me, have made Mr. Battista's enchiridion a model of intelligent compression. I once wrote a German grammar in eighteen pages, but it never saw the light. It was sold, for a decent price, to an enterprising corporation, which, after paying me (but, I am sure, not in consequence thereof), immediately went into bankruptcy. This was many, many years ago; I would now give a tidy sum to see that masterpiece again. Happily Mr. Battista has not attempted, and surely will not attain, so high a degree of shrinkage. May happy fates attend his little book! С. H.

CAMBRIDGE, D e c e m b e r 16, 1928

ν

GRANDGENT

CONTENTS THE NUMBERS REFER TO THE SECTIONS PAGE

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

The Alphabet Diphthongs and Triphthongs Table of Diphthongs Double Consonants Accentuation Elision Truncation Syllabification Nouns Gender Number Adjectives Agreement Number Position Definite Article Contractions Some Uses of the Definite Article The Indefinite Article Present Indicative of Avere Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns Some Idioms with Avere Avere Essere Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns Demonstrative Pronouns The Regular Conjugations The First Conjugation Relative Pronouns vii

. . .

3 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 10 10 11 12 12 13 14 16 19 19 20 21 23

viii

CONTENTS PAGB

25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.

33. 34. 35.

36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53.

Interrogatives Conjunctive Pronouns Position of Conjunctive Pronouns Position of Two Object Pronouns Change of Forms Reciprocal Pronouns The Ethical Dative Forms of Direct Address The Intimate Form The "Voi" Form The Polite Form Formal Pronouns The Second Conjugation Comparison Comparison of Inequality Comparison of Equality Superlative Absolute Correlatives Time: Tempo, Volta, Ora Some Numerals Time of Day "Ago" Disjunctive Pronouns Uses of the Subject Pronouns Uses of the Object Disjunctive Pronouns Table of Personal Pronouns The Third Conjugation The Imperative Compound Tenses Participles The Infinitive The Passive Voice Reflexive as Substitute for the Passive . The Subjunctive Subordinate Clauses Partial List of Irregular Verbs

. . .

.

.

.

24 25 26 27 27 27 28 29 29 29 29 30 31 33 33 34 34 34 35 35 36 36 37 37 37 39 40 42 42 43 44 44 44 45 47 49

ESSENTIALS OF ITALIAN GRAMMAR

ESSENTIALS OF I T A L I A N GRAMMAR 1. THE ALPHABET 1. The Italian vowels and their approximate sounds are: a ё ё i 6 Ь u

like a (close) like e (open) like e like г (close) like о (open) like о like и

in in in in in in in

father they met machine note moss rule

Note. The vowels e and о may be either close or open when they are under the stress; elsewhere they are always close.

2. The Italian consonants and their approximate sounds are: b, f, 1, m, n, p, qu, and ν are pronounced as in English. с = k before a, o, u, or a consonant: cane, come, cuna, credo. ch=k before e, or i: poche, pan che, chilo, archi. с = ch in church before e, or i only: cera, falce, amici, porci. ci=ch in church before a, o, or u: marcia, ciö, ciurma. d = d in dormant, and t = tin tar; they are both pronounced with t h e tip of the tongue against the upper front teeth: dorme, carta. g = g in gh = g in g = g in g i = g in

go (somewhat softer) before a, o, or u: sega, pago, gusto. go before e, or i: paghe, larghe, aghi, lunghi. gender before e, or i only: gelo, giro, argento, mangi. gender before a, o, or u: giallo, giorno, giusto, orgio.

3

4

ITALIAN GRAMMAR g l + i i = lli in William; gl before any other vowel is hard: gli, globo. gn = ny in canyon (cf. French gn, or Spanish η): ogni, pegno. g u + a vowel = w in want: guancia, guida, guelfo. h is silent: ha, hanno (see ch and gh above).

r has a clear rolling sound obtainable by vibrating the tip of the tongue against the palate, slightly back of the upper front teeth. Avoid breath friction: Roma, саго, riso, morte. s = i in soon: sole, passo, polso. s between two vowels (some exceptions), and before the consonants b, d, g, 1, m, n, and ν is pronounced like s in rose: rosa, sdegno. sc immediately followed by e or i = sh in she: pesce, fascismo. z, zz = now ds in lands, now ts in its; it is always ts in words ending in -anza, -enza, -ezza, -izia, and -zione: zero, mezzo; prezzo, azione.

2. DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS The vowels a, o, and e are known as strong vowels; the vowels u, and i weak. Combinations of a strong and an unstressed weak vowel, or of two weak ones, form a diphthong. The two vowels forming a diphthong must be pronounced quickly together like oi in oil. They belong to the same syllable. A strong vowel between two unaccented weak ones forms a triphthong. In diphthongs composed of a weak and a strong vowel, the strong vowel receives the tonic accent; if the weak vowel is accented, the diphthong is dissolved. In diphthongs composed of two weak vowels, the u receives the stress except when it is immediately preceded by g, or q. The unaccented vowel i immediately followed by another vowel is pronounced like у in yes; unaccented u followed by another vowel is w in wood; ieri, libraio, uomo. 1 Gli is hard in the words: anglicismo, geroglffico, glicerina, glicdnio, negligere and its derivatives, and sundry others.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR 3. Weak Vowels

1 u

Strong Vowels

a 0

5

TABLE OF DIPHTHONGS Combinations of Weak Vowels

iu, fiume ui, fui

Combinations of Weak and Strong Vowels

ai, zaino ta, piano ua Capua au causa

ie, fieno ei, Leida ue, tenue eu, feudo

io, piove oi, poi uo, novo ou, . . . .

4. DOUBLE CONSONANTS Double consonants must be pronounced double and united like the two n's in unknown, or the two d's in good day, or the two t's in hoi tea, etc.: panno, terra, palla. 6. ACCENTUATION In the conventional Italian orthography only oxytones, and several words of identical spelling but of different meaning are marked with the written accent. In this book, for the convenience of the student, all vowel combinations not forming a diphthong, and all words not stressed on the penult are marked with a written accent. Words bearing no accent mark are understood to be stressed on the penult: cittä, piccolo, bambino. 6. ELISION In Italian, elision between words closely bound together in sense and in pronunciation is rather common: c'e (ci e), quest'älbero (questo älbero). 7. TRUNCATION Under certain conditions the final unaccented vowel of a word may be suppressed before an initial consonant. The final unaccented vowel of the word to be truncated must

6

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

be immediately preceded by one of the consonants 1, m, n, r, or their doubles which, in turn, must be preceded by a vowel. The word following the truncated one should not begin with a vowel, s impure (s followed by another consonant), or z: amor divino (amore divino), gentil signore (gentile signore), caval bianco (cavallo bianco). 8. SYLLABIFICATION Italian words are divided into syllables in accordance with the following rules: 1. Double consonants (cq is treated as double) are divided: ac-qua, bir-ra, lat-te, an-no, bel-lo, ros-so. 2. Any consonant immediately preceded by 1, m, n, or r, belongs to the following syllable: for-ma, pal-ma, gam-ba, al-to, pon-te, mor-to. 3. In the groups s+consonant, or consonant+1, m, n, or r, both consonants belong to the following syllable: se-sto, na-stro, pa-dre, a-tle-ta, le-gno, a-ri-tme-ti-ca. 4. A consonant between two vowels, and any consonant or consonantal group followed by the apostrophe, belong to the following syllable: ve-de-re, del-l'ar-te, a-gl'in-ni. 6. Combinations of vowels not forming a diphthong (see 2) belong to separate syllables: pa-e-se, mu-se-o, poe-si-a. EXERCISE 1

Pronounce: casa, cuna, come, arco, scala, Scheda, chilo, poche, scrivo, pacchi; camicia, voce, cucina, fanciullo, ciurma, croce, bacio, braccio; sciame, scena, scibile, sciolto, sciupare, cascia, fascismo, sciocco; gola, paga, ingrato, spaghi, arguto, paghe, guscio; gelo, cangia, cugino, giace, agisci, orgio, giusto, oggi; foglia, figlie, sciogli, pagliucola, aglio, canaglia; ogni, campagna, sogno, vigne; sera, uguale, qui, segui, quale, sangue, acqua, seguo, guai, inverno,

ITALIAN

GRAMMAR

7

trovatore, raro, Figaro, segue, carro; (5 in rose) viso, rosa, disdire, caso, deserto, smentire; (s in soon) cassa, seta, naso, arso, invasione, scalino; (ds) zebra, zero, zinco, mezzo; (ts) senza, altezza, calzoni, marzo, scienza, prezzo; fuoco, ieri, paese, piano, poesia, causa, fieno, füi, miei, paiira, farmacia, uomo; cittä, ag6vole, cicatrice, virtü, fervido, dätemelo, chiacchierone, discepolo, fischio.

9.

NOUNS

1. Gender, (a) Nouns denoting male beings are masculine 1 ; nouns denoting female beings are feminine: padre,

donna. (ιb) Nouns ending in -o, except mano, are masculine; most nouns ending in -a 2 or - u are feminine: oro, casa, virtü. (с) Of the nouns ending in - e , or in -i, most of those ending in -ale, -ile, -one, -ere, and -ore are masculine; most of those ending in -i, -ie, -si, -ione, a n d - ü d i n e are

feminine: sedile, padrone, tesi, stazione. 2. Number, (a) Monosyllables, oxytones, nouns in -i, -ie, or in a consonant do not change in the plural: re, citta,

crisi, serie, lapis. (b) All masculines, and feminines in - e change to

-i:

libro, libri; poeta, poeti; madre, madri. (c) Most masculines in -co change to -chi, if stressed on the penult 3 ; to -ci, if stressed on the antepenult: pacco,

pacchi; medico, medici. 1 Guardia, guida, sentinella, spia, and a few others are feminine though they denote males. 2 Some nouns in -a are masculine; the most common are: atleta, clima, colera, college, cometa, diadema, diploma, idioma, panorama, pianeta, poema, poeta, problema, sistema and tema. 3 T h e most important exceptions to this rule are: amico (amici), nemico (nemici), greco (greci), porco (porci).

8

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

(d) Feminines in -a change to -e; feminines in -ca change to -che: tävola, tävole; arnica, amiche. (e) Masculines in -ίο change о to i; masculines in -io1 drop the ο: zio, zii; studio, studi; figlio, figli. (/) Most masculines in -go change to -ghi: ago, aghi; catälogo, catäloghi. (g) Feminines in -ga change to -ghe: paga, paghe. (h) These masculines change -o to -a and become feminines: centinaio, migliaio, miglio, paio. (г) Some nouns have a double plural: a rare masculine in -i, and a feminine in -a (dito, diti, dita)2; the most common are: braccio, ciglio, dito, frutto, legno, membro, muro, osso, uovo. (j) These nouns have irregular plurals: bue, buoi; Dio, dei; moglie, mogli; uomo, uömini. 10.

ADJECTIVES

1. Agreement. Adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number. An adjective modifying a masculine and a feminine noun is put in the masculine plural: poco vino, fiori e rose rossi. 2. Number. Adjectives form their plural like nouns. 3. Position.3 Descriptive adjectives, especially adjectives of color, shape or strength, adjectives modified by an adverb, adjectives of nationality, religion, profession, proper adjectives, and participles used as adjectives, usually follow the noun: foglie verdi, uömini forti, ragazzi americani. Numerical and pronominal adjectives, and several common adjectives such as buono, bello, brutto, solo, 1

The change of io to ii is rare; that of io to ί or j (long i) is obsolete. The plurals in -a convey a collective meaning; those in -i a literary or scientific one. (Cf. English fish, plural fish and fishes.) 3 Fundamentally, of the noun and adjective, the one which is emphasized follows: fine things, belle cose; fine things, cose belle. 2

9

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

ünico, and a few others, generally precede the noun: questa guerra, molte cose. Note. The adjectives santo and grande become san and gran before any singular masculine noun beginning with any consonant except s impure or z; before vowels they are usually elided, and become sant', and grand': un grand'uomo; Sant'Agostino; un grande scrittore, San Pietro. EXERCISE 2

A. Learn the meaning, and give the plural of: abitüdine, habit arnica, friend, anno, year banco, bench bottega, shop cittä, city crisi, crisis figlio, son

fucile, gun lago, lake libro, book medico, doctor piacere, pleasure porta, door problema, problem re, king

sapone, soap scolare, student serie, series signore, sir stazione, station zia, aunt zlo, uncle

B. Find from a dictionary the English equivalents of all the words in 1, 9, and 10. 11. THE DEFINITE ARTICLE MASCULINE SINGULAR

il lo 1'

PLURAL

i before all consonants except s impure, or z. gli before s impure, or z. gli before vowels. FEMININE

SINGULAR

la 1'

PLURAL

le before consonants. le before vowels.

Note. Gli may be elided before i; le before e: gl'idoli, l'ere, but le etä (Why? See 9, 2, a).

10

ITALIAN GRAMMAR 12. 11

di a da in su con per

del al dal nel stil col pel

CONTRACTIONS lo

i dei ai dai nei sui coi pei

dello alio dallo nello sullo collo pello

gli degli agli dagli negli sugli cogli pegli

la

le

della alia dalla nella sulla colla pella

delle alle dalle nelle sulle colle ρ eile

of the to the from the in the on the with the for the

1. Elision does not prevent contraction: dell'America. 2. Con and per are seldom contracted. 3. Bello is declined thus: bello, begli, before s impure or z; bei, bei, before all other consonants; bell', begli, before vowels. Bella (/.) is usually elided before vowels: bell'era. 4. The article is often used with the preposition di to convey a partitive idea: delle rose, some roses; del pane, some bread. 13. SOME USES OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE Unlike English, Italian requires the article: before nouns used in a general sense; before surnames of great personalities, and before titles, except in direct address; before the possessive adjectives (see 16); with names of continents, countries, and provinces, except when, unmodified, they are preceded by the preposition in; and in several other rather idiomatic expressions 1 which students should learn from observation: L'uomo ё mortale Man is mortal Leggiamo lo Shelley

Let us read Shelley Mr. Verdi studies 1 The article is also omitted after di when the preposition and the name of a country can be replaced by an adjective of nationality:

П signor Verdi studia

cittä d'ltalia = cittä italiane.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR But Come sta, dottor Rossi? L'America ё bella Vive nella fredda Alasca But Fu scritto in Italia

11

How are you, Dr. Rossi? America is beautiful He lives in cold Alaska It was written in Italy

14. THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE 1. Masculine: uno, before s impure or ζ: uno scolare, uno zio. un, before vowels and consonants other than s impure or ζ: un anno, un libro. 2. Feminine: una, before consonants: una finestra, una casa. un', before vowels: un'ora, un'abitudine. Note. The adjective buono is declined like uno; buona like una: buono scolare, buono zio, buon giorno, buon anno. EXERCISE 3

A. Place the proper form of bello, grande, and buono before each of the nouns in Exercise 2, and give the plural. B. Place the proper form of the definite and the indefinite articles before each of the same nouns, and give the plural. C. Decline each of the same nouns with the definite article, thus: l'anno, dell'anno, all'anno, dall'anno, etc. D. Learn the meaning, and give the plural of: allegro-a, cheerful l'amico,1 the friend l'aria, the air l'aula, the classroom la bandiera, the bello-a, 2 beautiful la casa, the house la classe, the class 1

flag

cömodo-a, comfortable contento-a, pleased grande,2 big, great la lezione, the lesson la madre, the mother il maestro, the teacher la matita, the pencil il padre, the father

See page 7, footnote 3. When they stand alone or follow the noun, bello, buono, santo, and grande are inflected like all regular adjectives in -o, and -e. 2

12

ITALIAN GRAMMAR la penna, the pen il dito, the finger il ragazzo, the boy la ragazza, the girl

il ritratto, the portrait la scuola, the school 11 miglio, the mile ütile, useful

E. Give the feminine: il ragazzo allegro, al buon padre, dell'amico contento, al grand'onore. F. Replace the singular by the plural and vice versa: della casa comoda, nelle belle botteghe, delle lezioni utili, una porta grande, lo zio contento, un buon figlio, il gran lago, nella bella cittä, i begli Scolari, il bei problema. 16. PRESENT INDICATIVE OF AVERE, to have (ίο) ho, I have (tu) hai, thou hast (egli, lui) ha, he has (ella, lei) ha, she had

(noi) abbiamo, we have (voi) avete, you have (loro) hanno, they have FORMAL

(Lei) ha, you have

(Loro) hanno, you have

Note 1. As the Italian verb indicates by its ending the person and number of its subject, the subject pronouns are not expressed except when clearness or emphasis is required (see 41). Note 2. Observe that Lei and Loro are formal, and that they require the verb in the third person. 16. POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS MASCULINE

FEMININE

SINGULAR

PLURAL

SINGULAR

PLURAL

il il il il il il

ιi i i i i i

la la la la la la

le le le le le le

mio tüo süo nostro vostro loro

miei tuoi suoi nostri vostri loro

mia tua sfia nostra vostra loro

mxe tue sue nostre vostre loro

my, mine your, yours his, her, hers, its our, ours your, yours their, theirs

FORMAL

il Süo il Loro

i Suoi i Loro

la Süa la Loro

le Süe le Loro

your, yours your, yours

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

13

1. Possessives, except loro which is invariable, agree in gender and number with the thing possessed, and in person with the possessor. They are called possessive adjectives when the thing possessed is expressed, and possessive pronouns when the thing possessed is understood. 2. The article is generally omitted with singular unmodified nouns denoting close relationship, except when loro is used: mio fratello, my brother; il loro cugino, their cousin; but: i suoi figli, his children; la sua sorellina, his little sister. 3. When the meaning is not ambiguous, the article often replaces the possessive adjective if the thing possessed is part of the body, or clothing: Αΐζδ la mano, He raised his hand; Si mise le scarpe, He put on his shoes. 4. When emphatic, the possessive adjective may follow the noun. The article, then, must precede the noun: la penna mia, il padre mio, le matite sue, la scuola nostra. In direct address the possessive always follows the noun, and the article is omitted: Come stai, amico mio? How are you, my friend? 5. When the possessive of the third person is ambiguous, it can be made clear by using di Ш (of him), and di lei (of her) in its place (see 42, 3), il suo ritratto, his or her portrait; il libro di lei, her book; la matita di Ιύί, his pen. 17. avere avere avere avere

SOME IDIOMS WITH AVERE

anni, to be old caldo, to be warm freddo, to be cold fame, to be hungry

avere avere avere avere

sete, to be thirsty sonno, to be sleepy ragione, to be right torto, to be wrong

EXERCISE 4 A. Replace the singular by the plural and vice versa, and translate: il mio amico, le nostre bandiere, la tiia penna, i

14

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

suoi ritratti, le loro botteghe, nostra zia, la Süa casa, il Loro medico, il stio ragazzo, il nostra maestro, il vostro piacere, la Lora stazione, i tuoi problemi, la Loro scuola, il Süo re, vostra madre, il loro zio, le vostre amiche, la nostra cittä, le Siie matite, le mie lezioni, le Loro porte, i Suoi ritratti, vostro padre, la sua casa, i nostri Scolari, la nostra scuola, la mia matita e la tüa, le vostre penne e le nostre, il Siio libro e il mio, i suoi amici e i nostri, la mia buona penna. B. Translate: 1. Abbiamo una bella stazione. 2. Mia zia ha caldo. 3. Ho delle matite. 4. Hai il libro del maestro. 5. Sua madre ha un bei ritratto. 6. Loro (formal) hanno un buon amico. 7. Hanno sete. 8. Lei (formal) ha la penna dello scolare. 9. Avete freddo? 10. La ragazza ha dieci (ten) anni. 11. Lei (formal) ha sonno? 12. Noi abbiamo ragione, e voi avete torto. C. Write the translation of A and B ; then close the book, and translate them back into Italian. Open the book, and correct your own translation.

18. AVERE SIMPLE

COMPOUND

TENSES INDICATIVE

PRESENT

I have, etc. ho hai ha PAST

abbiamo avete hanno

DESCRIPTIVE

I hai, etc. avevo avevi aveva

avevamo avevate avevano

TENSES

MOOD PRESENT

PERFECT

I have had, etc. ho avuto hai avuto etc. F I R S T PAST

PERFECT

I had had, etc. avevo avuto avevi avuto etc.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR PAST

ABSOLUTE

I had, etc. ebbi avesti ebbe

SECOND P A S T

FUTURE

FUTURE

I shall hive, etc. avr Ö avremo avräi avrete avrä avranno CONDITIONAL

CONDITIONAL

SUBJUNCTIVE

MOOD PRESENT

abbia

avuto etc.

PAST

PAST

PERFECT

(that) I (might) have had, etc. avessi avuto avessi avuto etc.

(that) I (might) have, etc. avessi avessimo avessi aveste avesse avessero IMPERATIVE

Have

PERFECT

(that) I (may) have had, etc. abbia avuto

(that) I (may) have, etc. abbia abbiamo cbbia abbiate abbia äbbiano

FORMAL

PERFECT

I should have had, etc. avrei avuto avresti avuto etc.

PRESENT

abbi (tu) abbiate (voi)

PERFECT

I shall have had, etc. avrö avuto avräi avuto etc.

I should have, etc. avrei avremmo avresti avreste avrebbe avrSbbero

Have

PERFECT1

I had had, etc. ebbi avuto avesti avuto etc.

avemmo aveste ebbero

INFORMAL

15

MOOD

HORTATORY

Let us have

abbia (Lei) abbiamo äbbiano (Loro)

INDIRECT

Let him, her, them, have (che) abbia (che) äbbiano

1 This tense is rare. Aside from a few idiomatic expressions, it is used only after words meaning as soon as: Sübito che l'ebbe fat to, parld, As soon as he had done it, he spoke.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

16

INFINITIVE PRESENT

PRESENT

PERFECT

to have

to have had

avere

avere avuto PARTICIPLES PRESENT

PRESENT

PERFECT

PAST

having

having had

had

avendo

avendo avuto

avuto

19. ESSERE SIMPLE

COMPOUND

TENSES INDICATIVE PRESENT

I am, etc.

sono sei ё PAST

DESCRIPTIVE

I was, etc.

PAST ABSOLUTE

I was, etc.

fummo foste furono FUTURE

1

stato-a1 stato-a

sono sei etc. FIRST PAST

PERFECT

его eri

stato-a stato-a etc.

SECOND PAST

PERFECT

I had been, etc.

füi fosti

stato-a stato-a etc.

FUTURE

PERFECT

I shall have been, etc.

I shall be, etc.

sard saräi sarä

PERFECT

I had been, etc.

eravamo eravate erano

füi fosti fu

PRESENT

I have been, etc.

siamo siete sono

его eri era

TENSES

MOOD

saremo sarete saranno

Plural: stati, state (see 47, 2).

sard saräi

stato-a stato-a etc.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR INDICATIVE

MOOD

CONDITIONAL

CONDITIONAL

I should be, etc.

sarei saresti sarebbe

saremmo sareste sarebbero

sarei saresti

stato-a stato-a etc.

SUBJUNCTIVE

MOOD PRESENT

(that) I (may) be, etc.

PERFECT

(that) I (may) have been, etc.

siamo siate siano

sia sia

stato-a stato-a etc.

PAST

PAST PERFECT

(that) I (might) have been, etc.

(that) I (might) be, etc.

fossi fossi fosse

PERFECT

I should have been, etc.

PRESENT

sia sia sia

17

fossi fossi

fössimo foste fössero

etc. IMPERATIVE

INFORMAL

Be

FORMAL

MOOD

HORTATORY

Let us be

Be

sü siate

stato-a stato-a

sia (Lei) siano (Loro)

siamo

INDIRECT

Let him, etc., be

(che) sia (che) siano

INFINITIVE PRESENT

PRESENT

to be

PERFECT

to have been

essere

essere

stato-a

PARTICIPLES PRESENT

being

essendo

PRESENT PERFECT

PAST

having been

been

essendo

stato-a

stato-a

ITALIAN

18

GRAMMAR

EXERCISE 5 A.

Translate:

abbia sia ebbe abbiamo aveste saresti eravate stati ha avuto hanno abbiate avuto abbiate sei avrebbe avuto avräi avräi avuto eravamo sarei stato sarä. avemmo avremo ё stato avreste saremmo avro avuto saräi ebbi aveva av£ssimo avevamo

siamo avrete siano foste avresti ho avuto aveva avuto avendo siamo av£ssimo avuto fossi stata ebbi avuto fossimo fu saranno ёЬЬего avessi foste sii его avevi stato stati avranno avessi saräbbero siate avevamo abbia avuto

eri stato era fossero state avesti sareste essere sia stata abbiamo fosse его stato saräi stato saräbbero stati avesse sia stata fummo avrä abbia avuto sarebbe stata äbbiano essendo stato Mrono sarete fossero state ауёэзего avuto avranno sarö stato siano stati saremmo stati

avere avuto fiirono sarö fosti avreste ebbi avete Mrono stati hai ёгапо siete state avere saremmo aveste avuto fui avröbbero eravate essendo sono siate saremo abbia avrebbe stata eri av£vano avrö avuto sarä stata

B. Write out the translation of the above written forms, then close your book, and. translate them back into Italian. Open your book and compare your translation with the original.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR 20.

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS

MASCULINE SINGULAR

19

PLURAL

questo questi codesto1 codesti quello (like bello. See 12, 3)

FEMININE SINGULAR

PLURAL

questa

queste

this,

codesta

codeste

that,

these those

quella

quelle

that,

those

1. Questo2 refers to what is near the speaker; codesto,2 to what is near the person addressed; and quello, to what is more or less remote from both. 2. The above forms are pronouns when they are not followed by the noun they modify (see 16, 1). 3. The English neuters this and that must be translated by the masculine singular forms. 21. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS The pronouns given below refer to persons only. Their meaning is rendered into English by this man, this woman, those people, etc. SINGULAR MASCULINE

costüi (questi) colüi (quegli)

FEMININE

costei colei

PLURAL M A S C U L I N E AND

FEMININE

costoro coloro

1. The forms in parentheses can be used as subjects only; they may also be used to mean the former, the latter (in Italian, the latter, the former) when the reference is to persons. 2. The neuter ciö (this, that) refers to abstract ideas, or to things not mentioned by name: Ciö ё possibile, That is possible. 1 2

Sometimes written cotesto, cotesti, cotesta, coteste. Usually elided before vowels.

20

ITALIAN GRAMMAR EXERCISE 6

A. Learn: il cappello, hat felice, happy il fiore, flower gentile, kind il giardino, garden

molto, very nuovo, new l'orologio, watch ozioso, lazy pövero, poor

la rosa, rose rosso, red rotondo, round, la sedia, chair la tävola, table

Β. (1) Place the proper form oj questo, codesto and quello before each of these words, and (2) put each phrase in the plural: sedia grande, ragazzo gentile, scolare ozioso, ragazza allegra, povera madre, zio contento, bella cittä, bell'orologio, . tävola rotonda, cappello nuovo, acqua fresca. C. Replace the singular by the plural and vice versa: 1. Quel giardino sarä molto bello. 2. Avremmo avuto quelle matite nuove. 3. Costei ha un gran cappello rosso. 4. Quell'orologio nuovo έ per lo zio di questa ragazza. 5. Stio figlio sarä stato molto felice. 6. Queste rose sono rosse. 7. Costüi era ozioso. 8. Colore avέvano le penne di quegli Scolari. 9. Questi amici hanno i vostri bei fiori. 10. La loro bella casa έ in quella grande cittä. D. Translate the English equivalents of the above sentences back into Italian, without the use of the book. When your translation is complete, correct your errors from the original. 22. THE REGULAR CONJUGATIONS There are in Italian three regular conjugations distinguished from each other by the infinitive endings -are, -ere (-ere, -erre), and -ire. The stem (root or radical) of a verb is obtained by dropping the infinitive ending. All regular verbs are conjugated by adding to the stem certain endings which serve to indicate mood, tense, person, and number.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

21

INFINITIVE

ENDING

STEM

comprare vendere capire

-are -ere -ire

comprvendcap-

1. First Conjugation 2. Second Conjugation 3. Third Conjugation

23. FIRST CONJUGATION SIMPLE

TENSES

COMPOUND INDICATIVE MOOD PRESENT

PRESENT

I buy, do buy,1 am buying,2 etc. compr-o compr-iamo compr-i compr-ate compr-a cömpr-ano PAST

DESCRIPTIVE

I was buying, etc. compr-avo compr-avi compr-ava PAST

compr-avamo compr-avate compr-ävano

ABSOLUTE

I bought, etc. compr-ai compr-asti compr-ö

1

PERFECT

I have bought, etc. ho compr-ato hai comprato etc. FIRST PAST

PERFECT

I had bought, etc. avevo comprato avevi comprato etc. SECOND PAST

PERFECT

compr-ammo compr-aste compr-ärono

I had bought, etc. ebbi comprato avesti comprato etc.

compr-eremo compr-erete compr-eranno

/ shall have bought, etc. avrb comprato avräi comprato etc.

FUTURE

I shall buy, etc. compr-er6 compr-eräi compr-erä

TENSES

FUTURE

PERFECT

The English emphatic form (do buy, did see, etc.) does not exist in written Italian. 2 In Italian, the progressive form is constructed with stare: Sto cantando, I am singing; Stava scrivendo, He was writing. However, the simple verb form generally takes its place: Canto, I sing, or I am singing.

ITALIAN

22

GRAMMAR

CONDITIONAL

I should buy, etc. compr-erei compr-eresti compr-erebbe

CONDITIONAL

compr-eremmo compr-ereste compr-erebbero SUBJUNCTIVE

MOOD

PRESENT

PRESENT

PAST

PAST

IMPERATIVE INFORMAL

Buy compr-a compr-ate

FORMAL

Buy compr-i cömpr-ino

PERFECT

(that) I (may) have bought, etc. abbia comprato abbia comprato etc.

(that) I (may) buy, etc. compr-i compr-iamo compr-i compr-iate compr-i cömpr-ino

(that) I (might) buy, etc. compr-assi compr-ässimo compr-assi compr-aste compr-asse compr-ässero

PERFECT

I should have bought, etc. avrei comprato avresti comprato etc.

PERFECT

(that) I (might) have bought, etc. avessi comprato avessi comprato etc. MOOD HORTATORY

Let us buy compr-iamo

INDIRECT

Let him, etc., buy (che) compr-i (che) cömpr-ino

INFINITIVE PRESENT

PRESENT

to buy compr-are

PERFECT

to have bought avere comprato PARTICIPLES

PRESENT

PRESENT PERFECT

buying

having bought

bought

compr-ando

avendo comprato

compr-ato

Note.

PAST

Observe the following irregularities:

1. Verbs in -care or -gare insert h between those consonants and endings beginning with e or i : toccare: tocchi, tocchiamo, toccheräi, etc. pagare: pagherd, pagheresti, paghi, etc.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

23

2. Verbs in -ciare and -giare drop the i before e or 1: cominciare: cominci, comincerö, comincereste, etc. 3. Other verbs in -iare drop the i only before another i: sludiare: studio, studi, studieremo. 4. Some verbs of this conjugation undergo a stress shift in the first, second and third person singular and the third person plural of the present indicative and present subjunctive, thus: äbito, &biti, äbita, fibitano. The most common1 of these are: abitare applicare augurare capitate caricare complicare

dedicare desiderare dubitare esitare fabbricare indicare

limitare luccicare meditare naufragare navigare obbligare

occupare ordinäre pettinare vegetare vendicare venerare

EXERCISE 7

Conjugate the following verbs of the first conjugation: cercare, to search chiamare, to call domandare, to ask fumare, to smoke lasciare, to leave mandare, to send

mangiare, to eat mostrare, to show pagare, to pay prestare, to lend raccontare, to tell sbagliare, to err

24. RELATIVE PRONOUNS 1. Che 2 {who, whom, which, that) is invariable, and can be used as subject or object of a verb: L'uomo che fuma II ragazzo che chiamo La matita che compräi La via che mena a Roma I libri che legge 1

The man who smokes The boy whom I call The pencil I bought3 The way that leads to Rome The books which he reads

Verbs of this class are indicated by every good dictionary. Che sometimes means when or where: La sera che arrivd, The night (when) he arrived. 3 In Italian, the relative pronoun must not be omitted. 2

24

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

2. Cüi (to whom, of whom, of which, etc.) is used after prepositions and as indirect object of a verb: La scuola di cüi parlo La ragazza a cüi mandäi un bei fiore II ragazzo per cüi pagäi

The school of which I speak The girl to whom I sent a beautiful flower The boy for whom I paid

3. II quale (i quali, la quale, le quali) is fully inflected, and its chief function is to take the place of che, or cüi when the antecedent to which they refer is ambiguous: D figlio della donna, il quale parla inglese

The son of the woman, who (the son) speaks English

4. II cüi (i cüi, la cüi, le cui) means whose, or of which: La casa le cüi finestre sono bianche II padre il cüi figlio ё in America

The house the windows of which are white The father whose son is in America

Note. Sometimes del quale (dei quali, della quale, delle quali) takes the place of il cüi: II padre il figlio del quale ё in America. 6. Chi (he who, the one who) refers to persons only and includes its antecedent: Chi studia impara

He who studies learns

Note: Chi · . . chi (sometimes qual . · · qual) may be used to mean some: Chi cantava, chi sonava, chi beveva e chi ballava, Some sang, some played, some drank, and some danced. Note that chi in this construction is always singular. 26.

INTERROGATIVES

Chi, Who? Whom? Di chi, Whose? Che, che cosa, What? Quale-i, Which? Quanto-a, How much?

Quanti-e, How many? Dove, Where? Quando, When? Come, How? Perche, Why?

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

25

EXERCISE 8

A. Replace the dashes by the proper relative pronoun: 1. Le matite compräi ieri. 2. II danaro con pagärono quei biglietti. 3. La ragazza di parlö suo fratello. 4. Questa έ la via mena a Roma. 5. II signore figlia έ in Атёпса. 6. La padrona di questo cane, passa il tempo fumando. 7 cerca trova, compra paga, ma canta non έ sempre felice. 8. La signorina a mandasti quei fiori. 9. II ragazzo chiamammo. 10. La donna cantava "O Sole Mio." B. Translate: 1. Who sings today? 2. Whom did she call? 3. Whose boys are these? 4. What do you desire? 5. Which of these books is yours? 6. What man is this? Who is this man? 7. How many did she buy? 8. To whom did she speak? 9. How much does this chair cost? 10. Where will you be tomorrow? 11. When did she leave the city? 12. How do you desire your (gli) spaghetti? 26. DIRECT

CONJUNCTIVE PRONOUNS INDIRECT

mi, me ti, thee lo, him, it

mi, to me ti, to thee gli, to him

la,1 her, it, you ci, us vi, you li, them, you

le, to her, to you ci, to us vi, to you

. 1 himself, herself I itself, yourself ci, ourselves vi, yourselves S1

. f themselves I yourselves ne is a partitive pronoun meaning: any, some, some of it, some of them, of it, of them, etc. le, them, you

f to them loro 1I to , you

REFLEXIVE

Direct and Indirect mi, myself ti, thyself

S1

1 La is sometimes used elliptically to represent a feminine noun of general understanding: La pagherä сага, He will pay dearly for it.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

26

27. POSITION OF CONJUNCTIVE PRONOUNS They must be placed either directly before, or directly after the verb. When placed after the verb, they are attached to it as a suffix. Loro, however, always follows the verb, and is written as a separate word. Conjunctive pronouns always precede the verb except in the following cases: 1. After infinitives, 1 present participles, and past participles used absolutely: Desidero trovarla Avermi lasciato Avendoli2 comprato Chiamätovi

I wish to find it To have left me Having bought them Having called you

Note. Observe that the final e of the infinitive is dropped when a pronoun is attached to it. 2. After the informal and the hortatory affirmative imperative forms: Pdrtalo qui Bomandätegli Chiamifimoli

Bring it here Ask him Let us call them

Note. All conjunctive pronouns except gli double their initial consonant when attached to forms that end in an accented vowel: Dammi (da, give + mi, to me). 3. After the interjection ecco, here is, here are, etc. Eccola, Here she is 1

Eccone, Here is some

Pronouns may either precede or follow the infinitive of negative commands (see 45, note). 2 The addition of a pronoun causes no stress shift in the verb form.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

27

28. POSITION OF TWO OBJECT PRONOUNS Of two object pronouns, the indirect precedes the direct, and, if both main verb and a following infinitive have objects, the main verb, if it be not impersonal, usually takes all the pronouns.1 Mi si presenta Gli si desidera presentare But Bisogna dfiiglielo a lei

He presents himself to me He desires to present himself to him It is necessary to give it to her

29. CHANGE OF FORMS The pronouns mi, ti, si, ci, vi change to me, te, se, ce, ve, and gli and le change to glie when directly before the forms lo, la, li, le, and ne. Glie, then, is written as one word with the pronoun that follows it, and may mean to him or to her. Glielo prestammo Ve li mandiamo Ce ne parld

We lent it to Mm We send them to you He spoke of it to us

30. RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS The plural forms of the reflexive pronouns may be used to express reciprocal as well as reflexive action: Ci troviamo Vi parlate

We find ourselves, or each other You speak to yourselves, or to each other

Note. Since the plural reflexive pronouns may be also reciprocal, sometimes it is necessary to add l'un l'altro, each other, in order to avoid ambiguity: Si chiamano Si chiamano l'un l'altro Ci parliamo Ci parliamo gli uni le altre

They call They call We speak We speak

themselves each other to ourselves to one another

1 The infinitive never takes an object if the main verb is fare, lasciare, sentire, or vedere: Ce lo lascia vedere, He lets us see it.

28

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

31. THE ETHICAL DATIVE Indirect conjunctives are often used to indicate advantage or disadvantage. This use of the dative can seldom be rendered into English: Те la mangiasti Si piange i suoi morti

You ate it up She weeps for her dead EXERCISE 9

A. Translate: mi trova, vi trova, le trova, ci trova, ti trova, la trova, lo trova, li trova, ne trova; ti parla, vi parla, mi parla, le parla, parla loro, gli parla, ci parla, ne parla, mi parla, vi parla; ti trovi, si trova, mi trovo, vi trovate, si trövano, ci troviamo, mi trovo; ti parli, mi parlo, si parla, vi parlate, si pärlano, ci parliamo. B. Translate: he finds me, he finds them (/.), he finds thee, he finds her, he finds us, he finds some, he finds them (т.), he finds you, he finds him, he finds it (m.), he finds it (/.); I find him, I find some, I find thee, I find them (т.), I find you, I find it, I find her, I find them (/.); they speak to me, they speak to us, they speak to thee, they speak to her, they speak to you, they speak to him, they speak to them; I find myself, I speak to myself, they find themselves, they speak to themselves, you find yourselves, you speak to yourselves, he finds himself, he speaks to himself, thou findest thyself, thou speakest to thyself, we find ourselves, we speak to ourselves, she finds herself, she speaks to herself, they find each other, they speak to each other, we find each other, we speak to each other. C. Translate, and explain the position of the pronouns: ti ha trovato, trovätolo, ci parierebbe, lo aveva trovato, trövali, troviämole, trovarne, gli pariaste, parlätegli, vi troverä, ёссо1о, le avrebbe parlato, averla trovato, li trovammo, avendo parlato loro, parlarne, avergli parlato, av£ndola trovato.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

29

D. Translate: me li manda, glielo manda, ce lo manda, se la manda, se ne manda, ne manda loro, ve le manda, te la manda, se lo manda, ve ne mando, glielo mando, li mando loro, me ne mando, glieli mandate, ce lo mandate, ne mandate loro, ve la mandiamo, gliela mandiamo, ce la mandate, mandärgliene, mandiämoglieli, mandätecelo, avendocene manda to, manddtocene, avercene mandato. E. Translate: I send them to Mm, I send it to her, I send him to you, I send some to myself, she sends it to us, to send her some, they send her to you, send it to him, here it is for you. 32.

FORMS OF DIRECT ADDRESS

In Italian there are three different forms of address: the intimate (informal), the voi form, and the polite (formal). 1. The Intimate Form. This form is used to address animals, children, intimate friends, close relatives, and the Deity. Tu (thou) and voi (you) are the subject pronouns used with this form. Che mangi, Giovanni? Ragazzi, studiate

What are you eating, John? Study, boys

2. The Voi Form. As English you (F. vous), voi is used to address one or more than one person, but its verb must always be in the second person plural. Portätelo qui, Tonio

Bring it here, Tony

Note. Observe that the intimate plural is identical with the voi form. 3. The Polite Form. This is the form employed when addressing superiors, distinguishing personalities, and strangers. When using this form, the following points should be carefully borne in mind:

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

30

(о) The subject pronouns used with it are lei or Lei (more formal Ella) in the singular, and loro or Loro in the plural (see 15, and 40). (b) Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the person addressed: Lei ё molto buona, signorina, You are very good, Miss. (c) Possessives must be in the third person to agree with lei, or loro (see 16). (d) Conjunctive pronouns when referring to lei must be feminine and singular; when referring to loro, they must agree in gender and number with the person addressed. Signora, le parlo Signore, le parlo Signore, le chiama Signori, li chiama

Madame, I speak to you Sir, I speak to you Ladies, he calls you Gentlemen, he calls you

(e) The imperative of lei is the third person singular of the present subjunctive; that of loro is the third person plural of the same tense. 33.

FORMAL PRONOUNS

SUBJECT

/ lei

SINGULAR: I

_ PLURAL:

{ELLA)

DIRECT

"I , ( you

, loro, you

, la, you

INDIRECT

, le, to you

f li, you (m.) \ ( l e > ygu ({ ) f loro, to you

VERB

Г Third person ( singukr / Third person \ plural

Si is the reflective invariable for both lei and loro. EXERCISE 10

A. Translate, and replace the intimate by the polite form: 1. Tu mi portasti una grammatica nuova. 2. Voi eravate con vostro fratello. 3. Ora vi mostriamo il nostro bei giardino. 4. Quanto danaro ti ha mandato ? 5. Pägami

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

31

sübito sübito.1 6. Poi vi lasciäi soli soli. 7. Dopo averti cercato tanto, non ti ho trovato. 8. Portatemi una bottiglia del vostro vino. 9. Voi vi visitate troppo spesso. 10. Dove ti trovavi? B. Translate each of these sentences into the polite form singular and plural: 1. You were looking2 for the teacher. 2. He will speak of it to you tomorrow. 3. I found you in the school. 4. Bring me a large red rose. 5. Don't lend him any (del) money. Note. From now on, unless instructed otherwise, the student should use the polite form of direct address. 34. SIMPLE

SECOND CONJUGATION COMPOUND

TENSES INDICATIVE PRESENT

I sell, etc.3 vend-o vend-i vend-e PAST

vend-iamo vend-ete vend-ono DESCRIPTIVE

I was selling, etc. vend-evo vend-evi vend-eva

vend-evamo vend-evate vend-evano

PAST ABSOLUTE

I sold, etc. vend-ei (-etti) vend-esti vend-ё (-ette)

TENSES

MOOD PRESENT

PERFECT

I have sold, etc. ho venduto hai venduto etc. F I R S T PAST

PERFECT

I had sold, etc. avevo venduto avevi venduto etc. SECOND PAST P E R F E C T

I had sold, etc. ebbi venduto vend-emmo avesti venduto vend-este vend-erono (-ettero) etc.

1 With the polite imperative, the conjunctive pronouns always precede the verb. (Read carefully 27, 2.) 2 Cercare without a preposition. ' See page 21, footnotes 1 and 2.

32

ITALIAN GRAMMAR FUTURE PERFECT

FUTURE

I shall have sold, etc.

I shall sell, etc.

vend-erö vend-eräi vend-erä

avrö avräi

vend-eremo vend-erete vend-eranno

CONDITIONAL

CONDITIONAL PERFECT

I should have sold, etc.

I should sell, etc.

vend-erei vend-eresti vend-erebbe

avrei avresti

vend-eremmo vend-ereste vend-erebbero SUBJUNCTIVE

PRESENT PERFECT

(that) I (may) sell, etc.

vend-a vend-a vend-a

(that) I (may) have sold, etc.

vend-iamo vend-iate vend-ano

abbia abbia

PAST

PAST PERFECT

vend-essi vend-essi vend-esse

avessi avessi

vend-essimo vend-este vend-essero IMPERATIVE FORMAL

INDIRECT

Let him, etc., sell

Let us sell

vend-a vend-ano

venduto venduto etc.

MOOD

HORTATORY

Sell

vend-i vend-ete

venduto venduto etc.

(that) I (might) have sold, etc.

(that) I (might) sell, etc.

Sell

venduto venduto etc.

MOOD

PRESENT

INFORMAL

venduto venduto etc.

(che) vend-a (che) vend-ano

vend-iamo

INFINITIVE PRESENT PERFECT

PRESENT

to have sold

to sell

avere

vendere

venduto

PARTICIPLES PRESENT

PRESENT PERFECT

PAST

selling

having sold

sold

vend-endo

avendo venduto

vend-uto

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

33

Note 1. The forms in parentheses under the past absolute are less common. Note 2. Verbs ending in -cere and -gere insert i before the u of the past participle: piacere gives piaciuto (not piacuto). EXERCISE 11

Conjugate the following verbs: bättere, to beat perdere, to lose cedere, to yield premere, to press combättere, to fight ricevere, to receive credere, to believe riffettere, to reflect godere, to enjoy ripetere, to repeat 36.

COMPARISON

1. Comparison of Inequality. The comparative is formed by placing piü, more, or meno, less, before the positive; the superlative is formed by placing the proper form of the definite article before the comparative. POSITIVE

forte, strong сага, dear

COMPARATIVE

SUPERLATIVE

piü forte, stronger meno cara, less dear

il piü forte, the strongest la meno сага, the least dear

Note. The article of the superlative is omitted if the adjective follows the noun: la rosa piü bella. Than is translated by che or di: by di only when it is directly followed by a noun, a pronoun, or a numeral compared with an adjective, a verb, or an adverb in the first term of the comparison; in all other cases than is rendered by che: La casa ё piü alta della chiesa Cammina piü adagio di te Mi mandd meno di cinque II ballare ё piü divertente del cantare

The house is higher than the church He walks slower than you He sent me less than five Dancing is more amusing than singing

34

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

Ha piü ого che argento Ε piü gentile che onesto Domani sarä piü ricco che oggi Meglio tardi che mai Meglio ridere che piängere

He has more gold than silver He is kinder than he is honest Tomorrow he will be richer than today Better late than never It is better to laugh than to weep

Note. Che non must be used when the comparison is between two inflected verbs: Scrive piü che non legge

He writes more than he reads

2. Comparison of Equality.

It is expressed:

(a) By tanto . . . quanto, or simply quanto, if verbs or nouns are compared: Ho tanti ddllari quante lire Lavoro quanto voi

I have as many dollars as lire I work as much as you

(b) By c o s i . . . come, if adverbs are compared: Canta cosi bene come Maria

He sings as well as Mary

(c) By either tanto . . . quanto, tanto . . . come, tanto, or c o s i . . . come, if adjectives are compared: Ε tanto ricco come lei Sono pöveri quanto Mario Ε cosi sincera come voi

He is as rich as she They are as poor as Mario She is as sincere as you

3. Superlative Absolute. It is formed either by placing the adverb molto, very, before the positive, or by adding -issimo to the adjective after the final vowel is removed: bello, beautiful stupida, stupid

molto bello, or bellissimo, very beautiful molto stüpida, or stupidissima, very stupid

4. Correlatives. The more .. .the more, the less ... the less, are expressed by piü . . . piü, meno . . . meno respectively: Meno studia meno impara

Note 1.

The less he studies the less he learns

The following adverbs are compared irregularly:

bene, well male, badly molto, very poco, little

meglio, better peggio, worse piü, more meno, less

il il il il

meglio, best peggio, worst piü, most meno, least

35

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

Note 2. Most adjectives can be turned into adverbs by the addition of -mente to the feminine singular, but adjectives in -le and in -re drop the e before -mente: allegra, allegramente, allegrissimamente; gentile, gentilmente, gentilissimamente; regolare, regolarmente, regolarissimamente. EXERCISE 12

A. Replace the dashes by the Italian equivalents of "than"·' 1. Parla piu lavora. 2. Meglio cantare piängere. 3. Ε meno acqua birra. 4. Scrive meglio me. 5. II vestito e piu bianco rosso. 6. Avevano meno sette. B. Write complete original sentences illustrating each of the rules in 35. 36.

TIME

Time: Tempo, volta, ora. Both tempo and volta mean time. Tempo, however, means time in its most general sense, and also stands for weather; volta indicates a point of time considered a part of a series: once, twice, three times, etc. Ora means time only when used to indicate the time of day, otherwise ora means hour. 37. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

uno dfie tre quattro cinque sei sette otto nove dieci ündici

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

SOME NUMERALS dödici tredici quattördici quindici sedici diciassette diciotto diciannove venti ventuno ventidüe

28. 30. 31. 40. 50. 60. 70. 80. 90. 100.

ventotto trenta trentuno quaranta cinquanta sessanta settanta ottanta novanta cento

primo secondo terzo quarto quinto sesto sSttimo ottavo nono decimo imdfecimo

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

36

38. TIME OF DAY It is expressed by the cardinal numbers preceded by the definite article la or le, both article and verb agreeing with ora or ore understood. Che ora e? Sono le due Ε l'una

What time is it? It's two o'clock It's one o'clock

The words meno and e, followed by the proper cardinal number, indicate the time before or after the hour. Both ora and minuti (minutes) are understood. Erano le sei e mezza Ε l'una meno venti Sono le nove e dieci

It was six thirty It's twenty minutes to one It's ten after nine

Note. Observe these idiomatic ways of inquiring and indicating the day of the month: Quanti ne abbiamo del mese? Quanti ne abbiamo oggi? Che giorno del mese ё oggi? Ne abbiamo tre

) j- What day of the month is it? J It's the third

39. AGO Ago, in phrases like a year ago, two months ago, etc., is translated by fa, sono or or sono. Before, in phrases like a month before, five years before, etc., is translated by prima preceded by the required numeral. A week from today, two weeks from tomorrow, etc., is oggi a otto, domani a quindici. Füi a Roma sei anni fa Gli paxlai tre mesi or sono Ieri fece un mese che parti Eravamo stati lä tre anni prima Ve lo manderemo oggi a otto

I was in Rome six years ago I spoke to him three months ago She left yesterday a year ago We had been there three years before We shall send it to you a week from today

ITALIAN GRAMMAR 40.

37

DISJUNCTIVE PRONOUNS OBJECTS

SUBJECTS

ίο, I tu, you egli, Ιύΐ (esso), he ella, lei (essa), she noi, we voi, you loro (essi), they loro (esse), they

me, me te, you Ιύΐ (esso), him lei (essa), her noi, us voi, you loro (essi), them loro (esse), them FORMAL

Ella, Lei, you Loro, you

Lei, you Loro, you

Note. Of the several subjective forms standing for the third person, egli, ella, and loro are preferable in formal language; Ιύΐ and lei are more common in conversation than in writing; the forms in parentheses may refer either to persons or things, but are very seldom used. 41. USES OF THE SUBJECT PRONOUNS 1. As the Italian verb indicates by its ending the person and number of its subject, the subject pronouns are not expressed except when clearness or emphasis is required (see 15, note 1). When emphatic they may follow the verb: Lo comprai ίο Egli parla

I bought it He speaks

2. They are also used as predicate nominatives, but in the third person singular this use is limited to lui and lei. Его ίο; sono loro, siete voi, sarebbe lei, ё lui.

42. USES OF THE OBJECT DISJUNCTIVE PRONOUNS They are used either as objects of prepositions, or of verbs. As indirect objects of verbs, they must be introduced by a

38

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

preposition; as direct objects of verbs, they almost always follow the verb, but they are never attached to it, as in the case of the conjunctive pronouns. Their main function is to replace, or supplement their corresponding conjunctive forms in the following cases: 1. For emphasis: Lei chiama te Parlo a voi

She calls you (not me) / speak to you

2. When the same verb has more than one direct, or more than one indirect object: Inviteremo voi e Ш Li mandö a te e a me

We shall invite you and. him He sent them to you and to me

3. For clearness in the third person (see 16, 5): II sfio libro II libro di lei

His or her book Her book

4. In exclamatory expressions as subjects of an unexpressed verb: Pdvero mel Felice te I

Poor me!

Happy

you!

EXERCISE 13 A. Learn the numerals in 37.

B. Translate: It's one o'clock, it's 5.10, it's 20 minutes of nine, it's 7 minutes of four, it's 8.35, it's 1.30, it's 14 minutes of six, at 2.17, at 11.30, at 7, at 3 minutes of five, it's 16 minutes of two, it's 12.18, it's 5 minutes of six.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR 43.

39

TABLE OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS

CONJUNCTIVES DIRECT OBJECT

mi, me ti, you lo, him, it la, her, it ci, us vi, you li, them (m.) le, them (f.)

DISJUNCTIVES

INDIRECT OBJECT

mi, to me ti, to you gli, to him l e , t o her ci, to us vi, to you loro, to them loro, to them

SUBJECTIVES

ίο, I tu, you egli, lüi, esso, he ella, lei, essa, she noi, we vol, you loro, essi, they loro, esse, they

OBJECTIVES

me, me te, you lüi, esso, him lei, essa, her noi, us voi, you loro, essi, them loro, esse, them

Si is the conjunctive reflexive substitute for all third persons (see 26) Se is the disjunctive objective substitute for all third persons Ne, a partitive pronoun meaning of it, of them, some of it, some of them

Note. The conjunctive adverbs ci (here, there), vi (there), and ne (thence) are identical in form and position with the conjunctive pronouns ci, vi, ne. They precede ne, lo, li, la, le, and si, and follow all others: Ce ne sono, There are some; Non mi ci vuole, He does not want me there; Ce li mandammo, We sent them there. EXERCISE 14

Identify the forms, and explain the syntax of all personal pronouns found in these sentences: 1. Avöndomi trovato con Ιύϊ, lei c'invito a pranzo. 2. Gliene mandammo due a lei, e cinque a Ιύί. 3. Lei piangeva e loro ridevano. 4. Chisietevoi? Chi, ίο? ίο sono il servitore di lei. 5. Se Ιύί non ce lo manda a noi, noi non ve lo manderemo a voi. 6. Ella ci fa (do) molto onore, signore. 7. Pövero me! la mia bella Almanda non mi ama piü. 8. Lo raccontasti loro? Si, glielo raccontai a Ιύϊ, a lei, e alio zio di Ιύϊ. 9. Si ripetono sempre le loro sventure d'ogni giorno. 10. Maria, vendetemelo a me; ίο ve lo pagherö piü di Ιύί.

40

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

11. Portärono con её un ragazzo di dodici о tredici anni. 12. Io mi chiamo Gino; tu come ti chiami? 13. Eccovi qui! Dove siete stati? 14. Che lo paghi lei; ίο non ho nemmeno (not even) un soldo. 15. Domandiamogli se si trovava con loro quando loro raccontärono tutte quelle storie alia sorella di lei. 16. Non mi ci manda. 44. THE THIRD CONJUGATION SIMPLE

TENSES

COMPOUND INDICATIVE MOOD

PRESENT

I finish, etc.1 fin-isco fin-iamo fin-isci fin-ite fin-isce fin-iscono PAST

DESCRIPTIVE

I was finishing, etc. fin-ivo fia-ivamo fin-ivi fin-ivate fin-iva fin-ivano PAST ABSOLUTE

I finished, etc. fin-ii fin-immo fin-isti fin-iste fia-i fln-Irono FUTURE

I shall finish, etc. fin-irö fin-iremo fin-iräi fin-irete fin-irä fin-iranno CONDITIONAL

I should finish, etc. fin-irei fin-iremmo fin-iresti fin-ireste fin-irebbe fin-irebbero 1

See page 21, footnotes 1 and 2.

PRESENT

TENSES PERFECT

1 have finished, etc. ho finito hai finito etc. FIRST PAST

PERFECT

I had finished, etc. avevo finito avevi finito etc. SECOND P A S T P E R F E C T

I had finished, etc. ebbi finito avesti finito etc. FUTURE

PERFECT

I shall have finished, etc. avrd finito avräi finito etc. CONDITIONAL

PERFECT

I should have finished, etc. avrei finito avresti finito etc.

41

ITALIAN GRAMMAR SUBJUNCTIVE

MOOD PRESENT

PRESENT

abbia abbia

fin-isca fin-iamo fin-isca fin-iate fin-isca fin-iscano

PAST

PAST

avessi avessi

IMPERATIVE FORMAL

finito finito etc.

MOOD INDIRECT

HORTATORY

Finish

fin-isci fin-ite

PERFECT

(that) I (might) have finished, etc.

fin-issi fin-issimo fin-issi fln-iste fin-isse fin-issero

Finish

finito finito etc.

(that) I (might) finish, etc.

INFORMAL

PERFECT

(that) I (may) have finished, etc.

(that) I (may) finish, etc.

Let him, etc., finish

Let us finish

fin-isca fin-iscano

(che) finisca (che) finiscano

finiamo INFINITIVE

PRESENT

PRESENT

PERFECT

to finish

to have finished

fin-ire

avere finito PARTICIPLES

PRESENT

PRESENT

PERFECT

PAST

finishing

having finished

finished

fin-endo

avendo finito

fin-ito

1. Some verbs of the third conjugation reject the -isc of the present indicative, the present subjunctive, and the imperative. These are conjugated like the model verb vestire: P R E S E N T INDICATIVE

vest-o vest-i vest-e

vest-iamo vest-ite vest-ono

P R E S E N T SUBJUNCTIVE

vest-a vest-a vest-a

vest-iamo vest-iate vest-ano

IMPERATIVE

vest-i vest-ite

42

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

2. The most common verbs conjugated like vestire are: aprire* ЬоШге coprire* cucire

dormire fuggire morire* pentirsi

salire* seguire sentire servire

soffrire* tossire udire* uscire*

partire (intr.) venire*

Note. Verbs marked with the asterisk sign are irregular. EXERCISE 16

Conjugate: dormire, fuggire, sentire, capire, ferire, garantire, preferire, restituire, applaudire. 46. THE IMPERATIVE The imperative is the mood of command, request or exhortation. The true (informal) imperative has only one tense: the present; and only one person: the second (for the subjunctive used as imperative see the regular conjugations). The forms of the true imperative are regularly taken from the corresponding persons of the present indicative, but if the verb be of the first conjugation, the third person singular is used for the second person singular of the imperative (see regular conjugations). Note. When the imperative of the second person singular is negative, the infinitive 1 takes its place: Compra Credi Finisci

Buy Believe Finish

Non comprare Non credere Non finire

Do not buy Don't believe Don't finish

46. COMPOUND TENSES The compound tenses are formed by the proper form of the auxiliary verbs avere or essere, and the past participle of the verb required. 1

The infinitive is often used in brief commands, especially after advertisements: Per informazioni scrivere al Banco di Nipoli, For information, write to the Bank of Naples.

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

43

1. All reflexive verbs are conjugated with essere: Si ё tagliato

He has cut himself

2. All transitive verbs and many intransitive verbs are conjugated with avere. The most important intransitive verbs conjugated with essere are: andare, to go arrivare, to arrive cadete, to fall comparire, to appear dispiacere, to be displeased. entrare, to enter giacere, to lie down giiingere, to arrive morire, to die näscere, to be born parere, to seem

partire, to leave passare, to pass perire, to perish rlmanere, to remain riuscire, to succeed scadere, to expire scappare, to run scoppiare, to burst tornare, to return uscire, to go out venire, to come

47. PARTICIPLES The present participle is regularly obtained by adding -ando to verb stems of the first conjugation, and -endo to verb stems of the second and third conjugations; the past participle by adding -ato, -uto, and -ito to stems of first, second, and third conjugations respectively. 1. In phrases like by studying, by writing, etc., in Italian the present participle is used without a preposition: Studiando impari

You learn by studying

2. The present participle is invariable; the past participle when conjugated with avere may or may not agree with the direct object, but when conjugated with essere, or when it is used as an adjective, it must agree with its subject in gender and number: Hanno parlato Lei ё arrivata Libii stampati

They have spoken She has arrived Printed books

44

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

48. THE INFINITIVE When the English present participle is used as a verbal noun (as subject or object of a verb, or object of a preposition), it must be rendered into Italian by the infinitive almost always preceded by the definite article: II mangiare ё necessario L'arte dello scrivere

Eating is necessary The art of writing

49. THE PASSIVE VOICE It is formed by the proper form of essere (seldom venire, rimanere, andare), and the required form of the past participle. The a.gent, when expressed, is introduced by the preposition da: Questo libro fu scritto da Dante

This book was written by Dante

60. REFLEXIVE AS SUBSTITUTE FOR THE PASSIVE The true passive voice (see 49) is seldom used in Italian. The reflexive pronoun si followed by a verb takes its place. When si is used with a transitive verb, the verb must be in the third person singular or plural in order to agree with the thing or things acted upon, and its meaning can be rendered into English either by the passive voice or by the impersonal one, people, etc. Qui si vende vino rosso

/ R e d w m e is sold here I One sells red wine here

Si comprano scarpe vecchie / 0 l d s h o e s a r ° К One buys old shoes

When si is used with an intransitive verb, the verb is always in the third person singular, and the phrase cannot be translated by the passive voice: Si va a scuola

One goes to school

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

45

EXERCISE 16

A. State the form of the imperative used in these sentences, and translate: 1. Comprätemi un vestito nuovo. 2. Ripeti le mie parole. 3. Signorina, legga questo libro, lo troverä molto interessante. 4. Non chiamare tua sorella ora. 5. Non applaudiscano; non hanno cantato bene. 6. Che bei cagnolino! me lo venda. 7. Che scriva sübito quella tettera alia sua povera madre. 8. Non accettiamo niente da quel signore. 9. Non battere quello sfortunato asinello; lascialo stare. 10. Mandino loro qualche soldo. B. Study these sentences, and translate: 1. II giocare mi piace piu dello studiare. 2. II lavorare έ nemico del dolce far niente. 3. In queßta vecchia cittä si pässano le sere passeggiando per i suoi bei parchi. 4. Si vendono dolci per le signore, e sigari per i signori. 5. Per questa strada si va al Colosseo. 6. Quando fa caldo si beve molta acqua. 7. Loro sono partiti alle due, e noi alle due meno venti. 8. Dopo ogni guerra viene (comes) la guerra del caro vivere. 9. Avendo finito di lavorare, parti sübito per il teatro. 10. II passato έ morto. 51.

THE SUBJUNCTIVE

The use of the subjunctive helps to make Italian extremely flexible in the expression of the most delicate feelings of the human soul, and thus contributes not little to the beauty of the language. The indicative is the mood of the intellect: reason, fact, certainty; the subjunctive is the mood of the will: emotion, doubt, uncertainty; the former proceeds from the head, the latter from the heart. Hence, the subjunctive is used in

46

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

subordinate clauses whenever the principal clause conveys an idea of doubt or uncertainty (for the subjunctive as imperative see the regular conjugations): 1. After verbs of emotion (fear, surprise, joy, sorrow, etc.): Son contento che lo legga

I am glad he reads it

2. After verbs of doubt {probability, possibility, etc.): Dübita che sia vero

He doubts that it is true

3. After verbs of volition and commanding (desiring, requesting, forbidding, advising, permitting, etc.): Voglio che lei venga

I want you to come

4. After verbs of belief, and negative verbs of saying: Credo che sia qui

I believe he is here

5. After impersonal expressions implying probability: Ε probäbile che paghi

It's probable that he pays

6. After the words primo, ultimo (last), and solo (only), or a superlative: Ε l'ültimo che io compri

It's the last one I buy

7. After a relative pronoun the antecedent of which is restricted to one of its possible acts or conditions (not, however, when the speaker is certain that the antecedent possesses the act or condition to which it is restricted): Voglio un servitore che parli inglese But Ho un amico che parla italiano

I want a servant that speaks English I have a friend that speaks

Italian

8. After the words qualunque, chiunque, per quanto, dovunque: Chiunque lo creda Per quanto onesto sia

Whoever may believe it However honest he may be

47

ITALIAN GRAMMAR 9. After the following conjunctions: acciocche, affinche, perche, in order that a meno che non, eccetto che non, senza che, unless ancorche, anche se, even if avanti che, prima che, before (referring to future) benche, sebbene, non ostante che, although caso, in case come se, quasi, as if dato che, granting that purche, provided that

10. As in English the subjunctive is used after se (if) in conditional clauses contrary to fact: Se l'avessi te lo darei Se Ιύΐ avesse parlato lei l'avrebbe capito

62.

If I had it I should give it to you If he had spoken she would have understood him

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

In Italian, as in English, subordinate clauses may be implicit or explicit. A subordinate clause is called explicit if it is joined to the main clause by a conjunction, and has an inflected verb form for its predicate; it is called implicit if its predicate is an infinitive or a participle. Explicit

Implicit

She is glad that you are here

He wants me to speak

In English, implicit constructions are rather common; in Italian, subordinate clauses are implicit if the subject of the subordinate verb is the same as that of the main verb; they are explicit if the subject of the subordinate verb is different from that of the main verb: Voglio che lei parli I want you to speak

Voglio parlargli I want to speak to htm

But after verbs of command) prohibition, and causation a

48

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

subordinate clause is ordinarily implicit even when it has a different subject than that of the main clause: Ti proibisco di farlo or Proibisco che tu lo faccia

I prohibit you to do it

Note. When translating from English into Italian, the student will spare himself a great deal of trouble if he translates "explicitly" all clauses the subject of which is not the same as that of the main verb, thus: It is necessary for us to go there tomorrow = It is necessary that we go there tomorrow = Б necessario che andiamo 14 domani EXERCISE 17 Explain

the use of the

subjunctive:

1. Son contento che i miei amici siano lodati. 2. Che stüpido! gli pareva che i cattivi fossero felici. 3. Senta, vuole che ίο compri quel baule? 4. Dubitävano che fosse vero. 5. Non sapevo che loro Ι^νέεεεΓο lasciata a casa. 6. Non dissi che lui non amasse le virtü. 7. Mi meraviglio che gli uömini äbbiano cuore di odiarsi gli uni cogli altri. 8. Conviene che i malati зё§^апо i consigli del lr^dico. 9. СЬессЬё tu mi dica ίο ti vorrö sempre bene. 10. Per quante volte lo ripeta, loro non lo crederanno. 11. Questo έ il giorno piü bello che ίο abbia mai visto. 12. Se venisse con noi gli daremmo cinque lire. 13. Pärlino italiano; l'inglese non lo capisco bene. 14. ВепсЬё sia piccolo, έ molto intelligente. 15. Paria come se ci fosse stato. 16. Tu non impari mai l'italiano a meno che non studi bene la grammätica. 17. Glielo mandai senza che lei lo vedesse: 18. Se l'avessero perduto avrebbe costato loro cento döllari. 19. Che cominci a studiare la lezione prima che arrivi süo padre. 20. La vera amicizia non έ mai sentita da un cuore che sia corrotto.

49

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

53. PARTIAL LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS Forms not listed below are to be constructed as follows: 1. From the Present Participle, if given, if not from the Infinitive are formed: (a) The Past Descriptive. Сb) The Past Subjunctive. (c) The second person singular and the first and second persons plural of the Past Absolute. 2. From the first person singular of the Past Absolute the third singular is formed by changing final i to e, and the third plural by adding -ro to the third singular: dissi, disse, dissero. 3. From the first person singular of the Future are formed: (a) The Future, and (b) The Conditional. The principal parts are given in the order above; the past participle comes last. When a principal part is not given, it is understood to be regular, and all the tenses derived from it are constructed regularly from the stem of the infinitive. accendere, light; accesi, acceso accörgersi, perceive; mi accorsi, accörtosi affliggere, afflict; afflissi, afflitto alMdere, allude; allusi (alludei), alluso andare, go; andrd P R E S E N T INDICATIVE

vado or vo vai va

andiamo andate vanno

PRESENT

vada vada vada

SUBJUNCTIVE

IMPERATIVE

andiamo aadiate vädano

va' aadate

aprire, open; apersi (aprii), aperto irdere, burn; arsi, arso assumere, assume; assunsi, assunto

50

ITALIAN GRAMMAR bere, drink; bevendo, b e w i (bevei), berrö (beverö) cadere, fall; caddi, cadrö chiedere, ask; chiesi, chiesto chiudere, close; chiusi, chiuso cingere, gird; cinsi, cinto cögliere, gather; colsi, colto PRESENT

INDICATIVE

colgo

cogliamo

cogli coglie

cogliete cdlgono

PRESENT

SUBJUNCTIVE

'colga

cogliamo

colga colga

cogliate cdlgano

condurre, lead; conducendo, condussi, condurrd, condotto conöscere, know; conobbi (see 34, note 2) сбггеге, run; corsi, corso crescere, grow; crebbi (see 34, n o t e 2) dare, give; darö. P a s t subjunctive, dessi PRES. IND.

do dai da diamo date danno

PAST

ABS.

diedi or detti desti diede or dette demmo deste diedero or dettero

PRES.

SUBJ.

IMPER.

dia dia dia diamo diate diano

da' date

decidere, decide; decisi, deciso difendere, defend; difesi (difendei), difeso dipingere, paint; dipinsi, dipinto dire, say; dicendo, dissi, dird, detto PRESENT INDICATIVE

dico dici dice

diciamo dite dicono

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE

dica dica dica

diciamo diciate dicano

dirigere, direct; diressi, diretto discütere, discuss; discussi (discutei), discusso distinguere, distinguish; distinsi, distinto dividere, divide; divisi, diviso dolere, grieve; dolsi, dorrd (see cogliere) dovere, owe; dovrö (no imperative)

IMPERATIVE

di' dite

ITALIAN GRAMMAR P R E S E N T INDICATIVE

devo (debbo) devi deve

PRESENT

dobbiamo dovete devono (debbono)

SUBJUNCTIVE

debba (deva) debba (deva) debba (deva)

dobbiamo dobbiate debbano

esprimere, express; espressi, espresso fare, do, make; facendo, feci, fard, fatto P R E S E N T INDICATIVE

faccio or fo fai fa

P R E S E N T SUBJUNCTIVE

facciamo fate fanno

faccia faccia faccia

IMPERATIVE

facciamo facciate facciano

fa' fate

fingere, feign; finsi, finto giacere, lie; giacqui (see 34, note 2) P R E S E N T INDICATIVE

PRESENT

giaccio giaci giace

giaccia giaccia giaccia

giacciamo giacete giäcciono

SUBJUNCTIVE

giacciamo giacciate giäcciano

gitingere, arrive; giunsi, giunto intrüdere, intrude; intrusi, intruso invädere, invade; invasi, invaso leggere, read; lessi, letto mettere, put; misi or messi, messo mördere, bite; morsi, morso morire, die; morrö (morirö), morto P R E S E N T INDICATIVE

muoio muori muore

moriamo morite muöiono

PRESENT

muoia muoia muoia

SUBJUNCTIVE

moriamo moriate muöiano

muövere, move; movendo, mossi, mosso nascere, be bom; nacqui, nato nascöndere, hide; nascosi, nascosto negligere, neglect; neglessi, negletto ofiendere, offend; offesi, ofleso offrire, offer; ofiersi, offerto parere, seem; parvi (parsi), parrd, parso (paruto)

ITALIAN GRAMMAR PRESENT

paio pari pare

INDICATIVE

paiamo (pariamo) parete päiono

PRESENT

paia paia paia

SUBJUNCTIVE

paiamo or pariamo paiate päiano

perdere, lose; persi (perdei), perso (perduto) persuadere, persuade; persuasi, persuaso piacere, please; (like giacere) piängere, weep; piansi, pianto pidvere, rain; p i o w e pörgere, present; porsi, porto porre, put; ponendo, posi, porrö, posto PRESENT

INDICATIVE

pongo poni pone

PRESENT

poniamo ponete pöngono

SUBJUNCTIVE

ponga ponga ponga

poniamo poniate pöngano

INDICATIVE

PRESENT

SUBJUNCTIVE

possiamo potete pössono

possa possa possa

possiamo possiate pdssano

potere, be able; potrd (no imperative) PRESENT

posso puoi puö

prendere, take; presi, preso proteggere, protect; protessi, protetto röggere, support; ressi, retto ridere, laugh; risi, riso rimanere, remain; rimasi, rimarrÖ, rimasto (rimaso) PRESENT

rimango rimani rimane

INDICATIVE

rimaniamo rimanete rimängono

PRESENT

SUBJUNCTIVE

rimanga rimanga rimanga

rimaniamo rimaniate rimängano

rispöndere, answer; risposi, risposto römpere, break; ruppi, rotto satire, ascend; salii or salsi PRESENT

salgo sali sale

INDICATIVE

saliamo salite sälgono

PRESENT

saiga saiga saiga

SUBJUNCTIVE

saliamo saliate (sagliate) sfilgano

53

ITALIAN GRAMMAR sapere, know; seppi, saprd P R E S E N T INDICATIVE

so sai sa

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE

sappiamo sapete sanno

sappia sappia sappia

IMPERATIVE

sappiamo sappiate säppiano

sappi sappiate

scegliere, select; (like cogliere) scendere, descend; scesi, sceso sciögliere, untie; (like cogliere) scrivere, write; scrissi, scritto scdrgere, perceive; scorsi, scorto scuötere, shake; scossi, scosso sedere, sit P R E S E N T INDICATIVE

PRESENT

siedo (seggo) sediamo siedi sedete siede siedono (seggono)

sieda (segga) sieda (segga) sieda (segga)

SUBJUNCTIVE

sediamo sediate siedano (sSggano)

solere, be wont; sdlito (no past absolute, future, conditional nor imperative). PRESENT

soglio suoli suole

INDICATIVE

PRESENT

soglia soglia soglia

sogliamo solete sögliono

SUBJUNCTIVE

sogliamo sogliate sögliano

sörgere, arise; sorsi, sorto spendere, spend; spesi, speso spörgere, project; sporsi, sporto stare, stay, stand, be; stetti, starö. Past subjunctive, stessi PRES.

sto stai sta

IND.

stiamo state stanno

PRES.

stia stia stia

SUBJ.

stiamo stiate stiano (stieno)

PAST ABS.

stetti stesti stette

stringere, bind; strinsi, stretto succedere, happen; successi, successo tacere, be silent (like giacere) tenere, hold; tenni, terrö

stemmo steste stettero

IMPER.

sta' state

54

ITALIAN GRAMMAR PRESENT

INDICATIVE

PRESENT

SUBJUNCTIVE

tengo

teniamo

tenga

teniamo

tieni

tenete

tenga

teniate

tiene

tengono

tenga

tengano

tögliere (torre), take; (like cogliere) törcere, twist; torsi, torto trarre, drag; traendo, trassi, trarrö, tratto PRESENT

INDICATIVE

PRESENT

tragga

SUBJUNCTIVE

traggo

traiamo (traggiamo)

traiamo (traggiamo)

trai

traete

tragga

traiate

trae

traggono

tragga

träggano

uccidere, kill; uccisi, ucciso udire, hear; udird (udrö) PRESENT

INDICATIVE

PRESENT

SUBJUNCTIVE

odo

udiamo

oda

udiamo

odi

udite

oda

udiate

ode

ddono

oda

ddano

uscire (escire), go out PRESENT

INDICATIVE

PRESENT

SUBJUNCTIVE

esco

usciamo

esca

usciamo

esci

uscite

esca

usciate

esce

escono

esca

escano

v a l e r e , be worth; valsi, varrd, valso (valuto) PRESENT

INDICATIVE

PRESENT

SUBJUNCTIVE

valgo

vagliamo

valga

vagliamo

vali

valete

valga

vagliate

vale

välgono

valga

välgano

v e d e r e , see; vidi, vedrö, visto (veduto) venire, come; venni, verrö PRESENT

INDICATIVE

PRESENT

vengo

veniamo

venga

SUBJUNCTIVE

veniamo

vieni

venite

venga

veniate

viene

vengono

venga

vengano

ITALIAN GRAMMAR

55

vincere, win, conquer; vinsi, vinto vivere, live; vissi, vissuto volere, wish; volli, vorrd PRESENT

voglio vuoi vuole

INDICATIVE

P R E S E N T SUBJUNCTIVE IMPERATIVE

vogliamo volete vögliono

voglia voglia voglia

vogliamo vogliate vögliano

vogli vogliate

völgere, turn; volsi, volto

EXERCISE 18 A. Study 53, 1 с and 2, and observe: vedere

vidi

Past Absolute vedesti vidi vedemmo vide vedeste videro

facendo

feci

Past Absolute facesti feci facemmo fece faceste fecero

In the same manner, give the past absolute of: сбггеге, conoscere, ridere, leggere, piängere, sapere, scrivere, tenere, vincere, volere, rompere, and cadere. B. Translate: faccia, conoscessi, vadano, chiuso, dissi, fate, nacque, venne, cinto, pianga, dica, verrö, potresti, morderei, fingevano, distinto, potremo, potremmo, leggereste. tennero, steste, ödono, lessi, giäcquero, verremo, verremmo. vedräi, n&scosto, offersi, crebbe, mettano, posso, pioverä, diremo, diremmo, parvero, seppe, vuole, daremo, daremmo, scendereste, rimarrd, völlero, esca, risposto, fatto.