Italian Grammar Concepts – Flashcards

Nouns ending in -ore are masculine Nouns ending in -rice are feminine Most ending in -ione are feminine Abbreviated words are usually feminine Cinema is masculine

Before nouns beginning with: M...........F a consonant ..........................un .......una vowel ....................................un ........un' s+consonant........................ uno .......una z ..........................................uno .......una

Agree in number and gender with nouns they describe -o..... -a -i...... -e -e..... -i *when an adjective modifies two or more nouns of different genders, or a plural noun that refers to both genders, the masculine plural form of the adjective is always used (When in doubt use the masculine plural form) *adjectives usually follow the noun

a, di, da, in, and su contract with the definite article: a + il = al ......lo = allo ......la = alla .......l' = all' .......i = ai .....gli = agli ......le = alle di + il = del .......lo = dello .......la = della ........l' = dell' .......i = dei .....gli = degli ......le = delle da + il = dal .......lo = dallo .......la = dalla ........l' = dall' .......i = dai .....gli = dagli ......le = dalle in + il = nel .......lo = nello .......la = nella ........l' = nell' .......i = nei .....gli = negli ......le = nelle *the definite article is usually not used with "in" before nouns designating rooms of a house, certain buildings, and areas of a city su + il = sul .......lo = sullo .......la = sulla ........l' = sull' .......i = sui .....gli = sugli ......le = sulle

1)"h" is inserted with ending changes to keep the guttural sound of the word

Before nouns beginning with: M...........F ...........................................S......P....S.....P a consonant .......................il .....i.....la....le vowel ................................. l' ....gli...l'....le s+consonant.......................lo ...gli...la....le z ........................................lo ....gli...la....le *only use when talking about someone

-are verbs: -o.....-iamo -i......-ate -a.....-ano -ere verbs: -o.....-iamo -i......-ete -e.....-ono -ire verbs: -o.....-iamo -i......-ite -e.....-ono *When conjugating the -isc- verbs, insert -isc- for all but the noi and voi forms of the verb.

*Used with plural nouns Before nouns beginning with: M...........F ...........................................P...........P a consonant ......................dei.......delle vowel ................................degli....delle s+consonant.....................degli....delle z ......................................degli....delle *uses endings like definite articles even though it's an expression of an indefinite quantity

*Use " è " with l'una, mezzagiono, mezzanotte *Use " sono le " with other indications of time *To indicate A.M. -- after time, " di mattina " *To indicate P.M. (afternoon) -- after time, " di pomeriggio " ............................(night)----------------" di sera " ...........................(early morning)---------" di notte "

*Used with singular nouns, words referring to food and other things that can be cut or measured but not counted Before nouns beginning with: M...........F ...............................................S...........S a consonant ..........................del.........della vowel ....................................dell'.......dell' s+consonant.........................dello............ *main thing is to remember when describing a part of a whole, de- is used with singular definite article suffixes

Piace -- for liked things in the singular Piacciono -- for liked things in the plural *"it is pleasing" *always used with "a" -- "It is pleasing to the subject" *can be used with "a" + disjunctive pronoun for emphasis *piacere is conjugated alongside essere when used with passato prossimo *to express "I like it too/not," use anche or neanche

*Used in many idiomatic expressions that in English would require " to be "

*agree in number/gender with noun they modify (NOT THE SUBJECT, BUT THE OBJECT) *usually preceded by the definite article, unless: 1) with a singular, unmodified family member (EXCEPT LORO) 2) with idiomatic expressions such as " a casa mia " *article is always used: 1) with famiglia 2) with loro 3) when the pronoun referring to the relative is plural or if it is modified by an adjective

*identical to possessive adjectives in form *agree in number and gender of replaced noun

*answers "whom?" or "what?" lo/la (him/her/it) li/le (them) *always precedes a conjugated verb *if a sentence is negative, non is placed before the pronoun *Lo/la often become l' before verbs beginning with vowel/h *Lo/la are always contracted when the verb that follows begins with the same vowel as the pronoun ending *Li/le are never contracted *Direct-object pronouns are attached to "ecco"

*When used with infinitives, reflexive and direct-object pronouns can precede the conjugated form of the verb or they can be attached to the infinitive after dropping the final -e EX. Ti devi vestire --> Devi vestirti

Article necessary when: 1) denoting a year 2) on the list of places around town 3) DA + going to a general place of business 4) DI + country with Andare: A + citta IN + stato IN + continent IN + stagione A + means of natural transport A + mesi IN + mechanical transport IN + places dealing with entertainment IN + nouns ending in -eca, -ia, -eria DA + person's house DA + articolo + general place of business IN + piscinia ....+ palestra ....+ piazza ....+ chiesa ....+ stazione ....+ ospedale ....+ banca ....+ ufficio ....+ salotto ....+ bagno ....+ cucina ....+ camera da letto A + al cinema ...+ al ristorante ....+ all'aereoporto ....+ al mare ....+ la bar ....+ allo stadio ....+ all'universita ....+ al supermercato ....+ teatro ....+ all'una ....+ alle sei ....+ mezzaogiorno ....+ mezzanotte with Essere: DI + citta DI + article + stato with Venire: DA + articolo .......................+ cinema .......................+ palestra .......................+ biblioteca .......................+ aereoporto .......................+ stazione .......................+ bar .......................+ ristorante ........+ teatro ........+ casa ........+ citta ........................+ stato

*used to replace nouns or expressions that refer to places or locations that have just been mentioned; like "there" *always placed in front of a conjugated verb

"Of them" *used with a description of quantity Ex. Ne compro due/molti --> I buy two/many of them.

*placed after the verb to indicate the English "already"

non + verb + negative word ......................mai --> never ...................ancora-->not yet ....................più--> not anymore ...................nessuno-->nobody ....................niente--> nothing ...................neanche--> neither/not even ....................nè...nè--> neither...nor *With the passato prossimo, the negative time expressions are placed between the auxiliary verb and the past participle. *When nessuno and other negative expressions precede the verb, non is not used. *Nessuno can be used as an adjective to express "not...any" (ending follows the pattern of an indeterminate article)

*When lo/la/li/le and ne are used with the passato prossimo, they are placed in front of aver and the past participle agrees in number and gender with the pronoun *Lo/la elide when helping verb begins with an o, a, or h *For reflexive/"changing states" (often intransitive) verbs, form with essere: *When formed with essere, past participle always agrees with the subject in number and gender *Reflexive verbs are always conjugated with essere in the passato prossimo *Piacere is always conjugated with essere in the passato prossimo *In the passato prossimo dovere, potere, and volere indicate actions that actually took place. *In the passato prossimo, sapere means "to find out" *In the passato prossimo, conoscere means "to meet someone"

1) The definite article is usually not used with in before nouns designating rooms of a house, certain buildings, and areas of a city, except: il piano soggiorno near the house, just not to the house 2) Andare + a + article is the rule, except for: No article with: teatro, mezzogiorno, mezzanotte 3) Andare + in (no article) 4) Venire + da + article is the rule, except No article with: teatro, case 5) Partire + da: only need article with da + stato 6) No article for school subjects

1) The indefinite article is only used for milione (un, uno, una) 2) When milione/miliardo are followed by a noun, di is used before

*When there is no specific subject performing the action of the verb * si + 3rd person verb * singular is used when there is no object

*used after prepositions (di, a, da, in, su, per, con, tra (fra)) *Can also be used after verbs for emphasis *Da is used with disjunctive pronouns to indicate the English equivalent of "at the house of" *Da can also be used with a person's name or profession or with the name of a restaurant to express "going to the place"

*To express the English equivalent of "Let's + verb," use the first-person plural of the verb Ex. Andiamo al cinema!

*Nouns that end in -ista can refer in the singular to males or females. When they refer to males, they are used with masculine articles and adjectives, and similarly for females.

1) When interrogative words are used, the subject is usually placed at the end of the sentence and the interrogative word at the beginning. 2) Prepositions such as a, con, da, di, and per always precede interrogative words. 3) Chi can be used as the subject of a question as well as the direct object (Who or Whom) 4) When quanto is used as an adjective, meaning "how many" or "how much," it agrees in number and gender with the noun it refers to ("How many tickets" versus "How much did it cost")

*formed by dropping stem and adding: -vo...-vamo -vi....-vate -va...-vano *Essere is irregular: ero...eravamo eri....eravate era....erano *bere, dire, & fare use an archaic stem to form imperfect (bevere, dicer, facere) *When describing events in the past, the imperfect is used to describe: 1) repeated or habitual habits and routines 2) physical and psychological characteristics, as well as age 3) the time, dates, the weather, and seasons 4) two actions going on at the same time, or an ongoing action that was interrupted (that action is described using passato prossimo) 5) when things happen in the past an indefinite or unspecified number of times *In the imperfect dovere, volere, and potere express "supposed to/had to," "wanted to, and could" & "was able to (but didn't necessarily do)" *In the imperfect, sapere means "to know something/someone" *In the imperfect, conoscere means "to be familiar with a place or concept"

*never change endings *are formed by the addition of -mente to the feminine form of their adjective *if the adjective ends in -e, add directly to the end *when adjectives end in -le or -re, the -mente is added after dropping the final -e *adjectives ending in -te and -ce do not drop anything before -mente is added

Questo & Quello *agree in number and gender of noun they modify *Questo has four forms: -o.....-a -i......-e *Quello's forms depend on the definite article preceding the noun *When used alone as pronouns they both have the forms of questo as an adjective and mean "this/that" & "this/these"

*Use -ino or -etto to denote small size and/or to convey a positive and affectionate attitude toward the person or thing described *Use -one to indicate largeness *Use -accio to denote poor quality and ugliness

*replace object receiving the action mi........ci ti..........vi lo/la....li/le *always placed directly in front of a conjugated verb *when used with infinitive, the final -e of the infinitive is dropped and the pronouns are attached to the end

*An indirect object introduced by "a" or "per" can be replaced by an indirect object pronoun "to whom" or "for whom" mi...........ci ti.............vi gli/le...gli/loro *indirect object pronouns precede the verb, with the exception of loro, which always follow but usually gli is used instead anyway *gli and le are never contracted with verb *Words commonly used with indirect-object pronouns: chiedere consigliare dare dire domandare insegnare mandare parlare regalare rispondere scrivere telefonare

*similar to di + article 1) "Un po' di" is used with singular nouns 2) "Alcuni" and "alcuna e" are used with plural nouns 3) "Qualche" is always used with singular nouns but has plural meaning

1) The forms of the informal imperative of -ere and -ire verbs are identical to those of the tu, noi, voi forms of the present indicative tense 2) For -are verbs, the noi and voi forms are identical to the present indicative tense, but the tu form is formed by dropping the -re from the infinitive 3) The negative imperative of the tu form of the verbs consist of non+infinitive. 4)The negative imperative of the noi and voi forms of the verbs is formed by adding non in front of the affirmative forms. 5) Most verbs that are irregular in the present indicative have the same irregular forms in the imperative EX. Vieni! 6) These differ in the tu form: andare-->va' dare-->da' fare-->fa' stare-->sta' dire-->di' 7)These differ in the tu and voi forms: avere-->abbi.....abbiate essere-->sii.......siate 8) The infinitive rather than the imperative is frequently used to give written instructions/direction. 9) Remember to conjugate with -isc- for commands of some verbs (only for tu form)

expressed with the plural reflexive pronouns plus the plural forms of the verb

Imperfetto: age psychological description physical description weather habital actions action being interrupted with "da" Passato prossimo: date specific time actions that begin and end with "per" (per un'ova --> for an hour) list of actions interrupting actions