Unità 6 – Grammatica

I sostantivi irregolari

Anna è una brava tennista. (Anna is a good tennis player)

Allevi è un pianista molto famoso. (Allevi is a very famous pianist)

Ho preso un bel voto al tema di italiano. (I got a good mark in the Italian subject)

Che bello questo panorama! (How beautiful is this landscape!)

As we know, Italian nouns are gendered. Usually, if they end in -o, they are masculine; if they end in -a, –sione, or –zione, they are feminine. However, some word endings don’t fit neatly into these categories.

There are three types of noun irregularities:

• Italian nouns of Greek origin that are masculine but end in –ma;
• professions of flexible gender that end in –ista;
• nouns that change from masculine in the singular to feminine in the plural.

• Nouns ending in –ma:

Though they end in –a, these nouns are masculine and take the masculine article in both singular and plural form. When they are plural, their ending changes to –mi.

• Nouns ending in –ista:

Though they end in –a, these nouns’ gender depends on the gender of the person they are used for. For this reason, adjectives must agree with the gender of the person referenced, and plural endings can adopt the masculine –isti or the feminine –iste.

• Nouns whose gender changes from singular to plural:

The most frequent examples of nouns whose gender change from singular to plural are body parts. With the exception of le orecchie, the plural feminine endings are –a instead of the typical –e. 

I numeri ordinali

Oggi è la mia prima lezione di italiano. (Today is my first day of Italian)

La Sig.ra Martellucci abita al nono piano. (Mrs Martellucci lives on the ninth floor)

Viviamo nel XXI (ventunesimo) secolo. (We live in the twenty first century)

In Italian, as in English, ordinal numbers are used to indicate the relative order or rank of numbers. While the first tenth numbers are variable (you need to memorize them), they then become more systematic. The numeri ordinali (11+) can be formed by replacing the last vowel of the cardinal number by adding –esimo (emphasis on the “e”).

 The last vowel is maintained when the cardinal number ends in –trè (no accent) or –sei.

Ordinal numbers are adjectives. Thus, they must agree with the noun or pronoun they refer to.

Additionally, they are usually abbreviated with a superscript vowel, depending on the gender and number of the subsequent noun. For example, il terzo premio would be abbreviated as 3^o premio, whereas la quarta ora as 4^a ora.

La forma progressiva

Adesso Rachela sta studiando in biblioteca per l’esame di Storia dell’arte. (Now Rachela is studying in the library for the Art History exam)

Ieri, a quest’ora, Li e Duccio stavano visitando la mostra di Balla. (Yesterday, at this time, Li and Duccio were visiting the Balla exhibition)

-Dov’è Giulio? – Secondo me, sta facendo lezione. (- Where is Giulio? – In my opinion, he’s teaching)

In Italian, we use the progressive tenses to express an ongoing action. The forma progressiva is only used to describe actions in progress, whether they be in the present or past.

To conjugate a verb in the forma progressiva, you need to use stare + the gerund.  If the action is happening in the present, conjugate the verb stare in the present tense. If the action is ongoing in the past, then conjugate stare in the imperfect tense.

To form the gerund of a verb, replace:

• –are ending with –ando,
• –ere and –ire endings with –endo.

These endings are the Italian equivalent of the English suffix -ing.

Present tense:

Past tense:

 Some gerunds are irregular!

bere > bevendo
dire > dicendo
fare > facendo
tradurre > traducendo

I suffissi

Domani è il compleanno del mio fratellino. (Tomorrow is my little brother’s birthday)

Giulietto, che cosa fai questa sera? (Giulietto, what are you doing tonight?)

Attento a Torakiki! È proprio un gattaccio! (Watch out for Torakiki! He’s a mean cat)

In Italian, nouns, adjectives or proper names can be appended by a suffix that gives a “special” meaning. When adding a suffix, drop the last vowel of the word you are changing. Then replace it with the suffix depending on the meaning you are trying to convey. The main common suffissi are:

• ino/a      –  to form a noun that expresses smallness or affection
• etto/a     – to form a noun that expresses smallness or affection
• uccio/a   – to form a noun that expresses smallness or affection
• one/a      – to form a noun that imparts a sense of largeness or importance
• accio/a   – to form a noun with a pejorative, negative connotation

To form a diminutive noun, or one that expresses smallness or affection, you can use the suffissi  -etto/a, –ino/a, and –uccio/a. Although these all hold similar meanings, some nouns take a specific suffix, whereas nicknames can be more variable (e.g. Luchino or Luchetto).

The best way to learn the “correct” suffix to use is through experience with culturally-relevant material, since Italians tend to use these frequently.