How to Talk About: Weather in Italian

StickyApril 2, 2020Let's Learn Italian!Fare and the weather, How to talk about the weather, Imperfetto weather expressions, Italian phrases about the weather, Italian verb fa and weather, passato prossimo and the weather, Passato prossimo weather expressions, Past tense Italian weather expressions, Weather and fare, Weather in ItalianKathryn Occhipinti

How to Talk About: Weather in Italian

How to talk about weather in Italian: Important Italian phrases and vocabulary you need to know when talking about the weather with Italian friends and colleagues!

This blog series, “How to Talk About… in Italian” will focus on the topics that have come up most frequently in my everyday conversations with Italian family, friends and colleagues. We will focus on the important Italian phrases and Italian vocabulary we all need to know to become more fluent when we speak about everyday events in Italian!

The topic for this month — the weather — comes up frequently during daily conversation, both when making small talk with acquaintances and also when planning activities with family, friends, and co-workers. In the “How to Talk About Weather in Italian” blog for this month, we will focus on common Italian phrases needed to ask and answer questions about the weather. We will also give examples of common Italian expressions that can be used to describe all four seasons.

Italians have a different approach than English-speakers when making references to the weather. For instance, Italians talk about what the weather is making, rather than what the weather is at a given point in time. So first, we will learn how to use the Italian verb fare (to do/to make) to describe “what the weather is making” when we speak. We must first “think in Italian” if we want to talk about the weather in Italian!

Enjoy the second topic in this “How to Talk About…” series, “How to Talk About Weather in Italian.” —Kathryn Occhipinti

Some of this material was originally presented on the Conversational Italian! blog “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! “ Special thanks to Italian instructor Maria Vanessa Colapinto.

How to Talk About: Weather in Italian

For a general assessment of the weather, Italians use the ever popular verb fare in the third person singular, which you will remember is fa. (If you need a refresher on how to conjugate the verb fare, you will find this in our Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs” reference book.)

In English, the verb to be is used to directly refer to “it,” meaning “the weather,” and how “it” actually “is” outside. Instead, Italians speak of the weather “it” is making with the verb fa. So, it is very important to think in Italian if we want to talk about the weather in Italian!

Remember that the reference to “it” in the Italian sentence will be left out, as usual.

Below are some examples of how this works, with the correct English translation in black and the literal Italian translation in gray, so we can understand the Italian approach to this topic.

If you don’t know what the weather is like and want to ask someone a question about the weather, you can use many of the same phrases that we have listed below to describe the weather. Just raise your voice at the end of the sentence to signal that you are asking a question. There is no need to invert the subject and the verb to make a question, as we do in English.

Notice that in Italian the same word means both time and weather — il tempo.

Che tempo fa?
What is the weather? (lit. What weather does it make?)

Fa caldo. Fa molto caldo! Fa caldo?	It is warm/hot. It is very hot! Is it warm/hot?	(lit. It makes heat.)
Fa fresco. Fa fresco?	It is cool. Is it cool?	(lit. It makes cool.)
Fa freddo. Fa freddissimo! Fa freddo?	It is cold. It is very cold! Is it cold?	(lit. It makes cold.)

Fa bel tempo. Fa bel tempo?	It is nice weather. Is it nice weather?	(lit. It makes nice weather.)
Fa bello. Fa bellissimo.	It is nice/very nice out.	(lit. It makes nice/very nice weather.)
Fa brutto tempo. Fa brutto tempo?	It is bad weather. Is it bad weather?	(lit. It makes bad weather.)
Fa brutto.	It is bad outside.	(lit. It makes bad weather.)

Of course, we may want to know how the weather was during a certain event or at a certain time. Chatting about the weather is a common pastime in any country. Why not chat in Italian about recent weather conditions yesterday, last week, or last year?

To talk about the weather in the immediate past tense, we must return to the imperfetto and the passato prossimo. For an in-depth explanation of how to use the imperfetto and passato prossimo forms of the Italian past tense, click on the link for the verb tense listed in this sentence that you want to learn about in this sentence. Or, take a look at our reference book, Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs.”

The imperfetto third person singular form of fare, which is faceva, is the most commonly used form with our general expressions.

Of course, if we want to refer to a specific time frame, the passato prossimo third person singular form of fare, which is ha fatto, should be used.

Below are the general questions about the weather from the last example table, this time in the past tense:

Che tempo faceva?	What was the weather?	(lit. What weather did it make?)
Come era il tempo?	How was the weather?

And our answers, depending on the situation…

Faceva caldo.	It was hot.	(lit. It made heat.)
Ha fatto caldo tutto il giorno.	It was hot all day.

Faceva fresco.	It was cool.	(lit. It made cool.)
Ha fatto fresco ieri.	It was cool yesterday.

Faceva freddo.	It was cold.	(lit. It made cold.)
Ha fatto freddo quest’inverno.	It was cold all winter.

Faceva bel tempo.	It was nice weather.	(lit. It made nice weather.)
Faceva bello.	It was nice outside.	(lit. It made nice weather.)

Faceva brutto tempo.	It was bad weather.	(lit. It made bad weather.)
Faceva brutto tempo.	It was bad outside.	(lit. It made bad weather.)

Now, let’s try to be more specific and descriptive when we talk about the weather, and talk about common weather conditions, such as the rain, snow and wind, and how the weather changes throughout the seasons. Below are a few conversational sentences. Living in Chicago, I couldn’t resist a few lines about the show we’ve had to shovel this past winter. How many more can you think of?

È primavera.*	It is springtime.
Ci sono nuvole scure.	There are dark clouds.
Viene a piovere.	(It) is going to rain. (lit. Here comes the rain.)
C’e la pioggia?	Is it raining?
Piove.	It’s raining.
Tira vento.	It’s windy.
I fiori sono in fiore.	The flowers are blooming.
Ho un mazzo di rose rosse che ho colto dal giardino.	I have a bunch of red roses that I picked from the garden.

È estate.*	It is summer.
C’è sole.	It’s sunny. (lit. There is sun.)
È umido. Andiamo alla spiaggia!	It’s humid. Let’s go to the beach!

È autunno.*	It is autumn.
Fa fresco.	It is cool. (lit. It makes coolness).
Le foglie cadano dagli alberi.	The leaves fall from the trees.

È inverno.*	It is winter.
È gelido.	It’s freezing.
La gelata è dappertutto.	The frost is everywhere.

C’è la neve?	Is it snowing?
Nevica.	It’s snowing.
C’è la bufera di neve.	It’s a snowstorm.
I fiocchi di neve sono tanti.	There are so many snowflakes.
I bambini fanno un pupazzo di neve.	The children are making a snowman.
Mi piace sciare. Ho gli sci belli.	I like skiing. I have wonderful skis.

Devo spalare la neve ora!	I have to shovel the snow now!
Voglio una pala per la neve.	I want a snow shovel.
Uso sempre uno spazzaneve.	I always use a snowblower.

*In a simple statement about what season it is, the definite article (il, la, l’ = the) is not used. However, in a longer sentence such as, “È l’inverno che porta neve,” the article is used. (Translations: It is the winter that brings the snow/Winter brings the snow.)

Finally, there are a few rules to follow if we want to talk about specific weather conditions in the past tense.

Let’s say we want to tell a story to our friend about the day that has just ended and we’d like to include a description of the weather. In this case, if we want to talk about a single, specific instance in time when we experienced a certain weather condition, we must use the passato prossimo form of the past tense.

When using the passato prossimo, the verbs piovere, nevicare, and tirare can be conjugated using either avere or essere, as the helping verb, as in:

Ieri ha piovuto per due ore. Yesterday, it rained for two hours.

Ieri è piovuto per due ore. Yesterday, it rained for two hours.

General phrases in the past tense about the sun, clouds, fog or humidity are spoken about using the imperfetto past tense. Or, if we want to mention the weather as the “setting” or underlying condition that edited at the same time as a certain activity that happened in the past, we would again use the imperfetto past tense.

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The expressions we have already encountered earlier in this blog are given below again, this time in the imperfetto in the first column and in the passato prossimo in the second column.

Notice the different meanings for each type of past tense. And how the word “it” is, as usual, left out of the Italian phrase, but necessary for the English translation.

The words gia (already) and appena (just) are commonly used with the passato prossimo to give additional information.

Pioveva. It was raining.	Ha già piovuto. It already rained.
Nevicava. It was snowing.	Ha appena nevicato. It has just snowed.
Tirava vento. It was windy.	Ha tirato vento tutto il giorno. It was windy all day.

C’era sole.	It was sunny.
C’era nebbia.	It was foggy.

Era nuvoloso.	It was cloudy.
Era sereno.	It was clear.

Era umido.	It was humid.
L’umidità è stata molto alta oggi.	The humidity was very high today.
L’umidità è stata bassa oggi.	The humidity was very low today.

Remember how to talk about weather in Italian and I guarantee
you will use these Italian phrases every day!

And remember to study our Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” pocket travel book if you want a handy way to remember all the important Italian phrases you will need to know!

Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1 and start to learn Italian today for FREE!
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Visit learntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy! Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

How to Talk about Email in Italian

Italian Pasta and Lentils for New Year’s Good Luck

StickyJanuary 14, 2019Italian and Italian-American RecipesChristmas pasta dishes, Family Style Italian, Free Italian recipe, Healthy pasta dishes, Italian Cooking, Italian family dishes, Italian Food, Italian holiday cooking, Italian Lentils, Italian New Year, Italian New Year recipe, Italian Pasta dishes, Italian pasta recipe for New Year, Italian pasta recipes, Italian Recipes, Italian Sunday Dinner, New Years Pasta and Lentils, Pasta and LentilsKathryn Occhipinti

Italian Pasta and Lentils for New Year’s Good Luck

Italian pasta and lentils — is said to bring families around the world good luck for the new year !

Italian Pasta and Lentils for New Year’s Good Luck!

Pasta with lentils or lentil soup is a New Year’s tradition in many Italian households. The lentil dishes are said to bring to luck to the family on New Year’s Day. I am not sure if anyone really knows exactly why lentils are supposed to be good luck. Maybe it is because they are shaped like small coins?

Whatever the reason, pasta and lentils is a hearty and delicious winter combination. Lentils are rich in protein, and the pasta/lentil combination was probably an important contribution to family nutrition in the days of the “cucina povera” cooking in Italy. Flavored with a bit of pancetta (Italian peppery bacon), garlic and tomato, the lentils make a delicious sauce that coats the pasta beautifully.

I used “maltagliati” or “poorly cut” pasta for this dish, which to me is reminiscent of its “cucina povera,” origins but also because the lentils cling nicely to the short, flat noodles. If you cannot find maltagliati pasta, lasagna noodles broken by hand into small, irregular pieces will give a similar effect.

Buon anno 2019 a tutti! Try my pasta and lentils dish on a wintry day for a warm and comforting meal. -Kathyn Occhipinti

Italian Pasta and Lentils

Italian Lentils and Pasta — Pasta and Lentils ready to serve for Italian New Year’s Sunday dinner

Ingredients
(Serves 4)

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pancetta (Italian bacon), diced finely
1 small carrot, chopped finely*
1 stalk of celery, chopped finely*
1 small onion, skin removed, chopped finely*
1 small clove garlic, chopped finely
1/2 cup dry Italian wine, such as Chianti
1 cup Italian lentils, rinsed
1 bay leaf
pinch of dried thyme or rosemary
3 cups of water
1/2 cup of chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1 Tbsp. tomato puree
1 lb. maltagliati pasta or lasagna noodles, coarsely broken into small pieces
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
*See below for note about how to chop soup vegetables.

Method

Before starting to make the lentil sauce, put a large pot of salted water to boil on a back burner. Cover so it will come to a boil quickly and be ready when you need to cook the pasta.

Use a large frying pan or Dutch oven to cook the lentils on the stove top. Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, which will take about 1/4 cup or so. Let the oil heat a bit over medium heat.

Add the chopped vegetables: carrots, celery, onions, and garlic, and saute in the garlic until they soften, about 5 minutes.

The pour in the red wine and then bring to a boil. Boil off about half of the wine.

Put the lentils to the pan. If you want firmer lentils, you can saute them at this point. Otherwise, add the water. Stir. Bring back to the boil and then lower heat and simmer the lentils about 20 minutes.

When the lentils have softened a bit, remove the bay leaf. Then add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken or vegetable broth. Add more water if needed. Bring up to a simmer again and cook 10 – 15 minutes more, or until lentils are of desired tenderness.

Meanwhile, put the pasta into the boiling water. Stir. Cover the pot to return to the boil Remove cover, stir again and let pasta cook, stirring occasionally. Cook for less time than the package directions, to a very firm al dente, as the pasta will finish cooking with the lentils.

When the pasta is ready, drain, reserving some of the pasta water.

Add the pasta to the lentils. Add the pasta water if needed. The sauce should be fairly thick and coat the pasta nicely as you mix.

Cook over medium low heat another 5 minutes or so, until all is heated through and pasta is al dente.

Add the grated cheese and mix again to coat.

Serve steaming hot with crusty bread. Serve additional cheese and black pepper on the side to be added as desired.

New Year’s toast: Buon Anno! Buon Appetito!

*How to Chop Vegetables
Carrots: Cut lengthwise to half, and then lengthwise again to get quarters. Line them up side by side and then cut crosswise from the tips to the base of the carrot to get small, even pieces that look like quarters of a circle.
Celery: Cut lengthwise through each celery stalk as many times as needed to give pieces the same thickness as the carrot pieces. (You will need more lengthwise cuts at the thicker part of the celery near the base.) Then cut crosswise from the tip to the base to get small, rectangular pieces of celery about the same size as the carrot pieces.
Onions: Cut lengthwise through the onion. Turn one of the halves flat side down. Holding the onion together with one hand, cut lengthwise along the green lines through the onion, except for the root holding the onion together at the base. Turn and cut horizontally, from the side away from the stem toward the stem. Just before reaching the stem, flip the onion flat again and make the final cuts. Discard the piece that contains the stem.

— by Kathryn Occhipinti

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

Italian Pasta and Lentils for New Year’s Good Luck

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice: Emailing Italian Families

StickyOctober 9, 2016Let's Learn Italian!About Italian, About Italian language, andare a trovare, come to visit in Italian, Command forms with fare, Email Italian, go to visit in Italian, Italian adverb "ci", Italian Language, Italian school system, Italian Subjunctive Mode, Italian subjunctive mood, Italian Travel, Language learning, learn Italian, Learn Italian language, Stella Lucente, venire a trovare, Visit in Italian, visitareKathryn Occhipinti

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice: Emailing Italian Families

Use our Italian practice tips to write your own Italian email! Revisit the Italian subjunctive mood when writing emails!

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

Can you speak Italian? By now, many of you have passed the beginning stages of learning how to speak Italian and can read and comprehend quite a bit of the language. Meraviglioso!

But have you tried to take the next step to communicate in Italian fluently? Do you know the usual Italian greetings and salutations to use in an email? Can you use the subjunctive mood correctly when writing an email? As everyone knows, email is now an integral part of daily communication all over the world. For Italy, this means that the subjunctive mood is important again in daily life!

For our first Italian practice email using the subjunctive, we will follow the story of Caterina and Francesca, two Italian cousins who are living in different cities and trying to reconnect. Then we will present information about Italian greetings and salutations used in informal and formal types of written communication in Italy. We will describe how to use the verbs trovare, venire, and visitare to describe visiting people and places, how to use the Italian adverb “ci,” and how to make command forms with the verb fare. We will also talk about Italian reflexive verbs of self movement. Finally, we will compare the American and Italian school systems that play such a large part in everyday family life in America and Italy today.

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Italian Practice: Email and the Italian Subjunctive Mood

A note about the Italian subjunctive mood: to express complex feelings in Italian correctly, it is important to use the Italian subjunctive mood. Using the subjunctive mood is difficult for English speakers, because we only rarely use this tense in English, and it’s something that I am always working on! This is the first blog post in the “Italian Practice” series that focuses on how to use the Italian subjunctive mood, or “il congiuntivo,” when writing an email to your family.

To review how to express one’s feelings using the subjunctive mood and how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in the present tense, see our Speak Italian Subjunctive series.

Enjoy the first blog post in this series, “Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families.”
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Some of this material is adapted from our textbook, Conversational Italian for Travelers © 2012 by Stella Lucente, LLC, found on www.learntravelitalian.com. Special thanks to Italian instructor Simona Giuggioli.

Italian Practice Email: All about… Family

How many phrases that use the subjunctive mood can you pick out of the following emails? Hint: these phrases usually include the word “che.” Look for the underlined phrases for help! And beware those phrases that sound like they should take the subjunctive but do not—these can also be found in the emails below!

Remember these examples as “anchors” in your knowledge for when you try to speak Italian and try out the subjunctive mood in your next Italian conversation!

Italian Practice Email: All about… Family
An Email to Francesca

Cara cugina Francesca,
Dear Cousin Frances,

Quanto tempo è passato da quando ti sei trasferita dall’Abruzzo a Roma!
How much time has passed since you have moved from Abruzzo to Rome!

Spero che tu stia bene.
I hope that you are well.

Spero anche che tuo marito e i tuoi figli stiano bene.
I also hope that your husband and children are well.

È peccato che tu e la tua famiglia vi siate trasferiti cosi lontano da vostra cugina che vi vuole bene.
It is a shame that you and your family have moved so far from your cousin that cares for you all so much.

Come sta la piccola Eleonora?
How is little Eleanor?

Penso che Eleonora debba essere cresciuta molto.
I’m thinking that Eleanor must have grown a lot.

Penso che Eleonora abbia dieci anni, ora, no?
I think that Eleanor is 10 years old, now, no?

Mi sembra che Eleonora debba essere una bella ragazzina ora!
It seems to me that Eleanor must be a beautiful little girl now!

E Giovanni, come sta?
And how is John?

È probabile che Giovanni sia alto e forte e un bravo ragazzo!
I bet that (probably) John is tall and strong and a very good boy!

È incredibile che il tempo passi cosi in fretta!
It’s incredible that the time has passed so quickly!

Si dicono in inglese che “il tempo vola,” e per me è vero!
They say in English that “time flies,” and for me, it is true!

Immagino che tuo marito sia contento con il suo lavoro a Roma.
I imagine that your husband is happy with his job in Rome.

Ma non sono sicura che tu sia felice di vivere là.
But I am not sure that you are happy living there.

Forse tu sei felice di vivere in una città per un po’ di tempo, ma lo so che ti piace molto la campagna.
Maybe you are happy living for a little bit in the city, but I know that you like the country a lot.

Per me, è molto difficile vivere senza di te, mia cara cugina.
For me, it is very difficult living without you, my dearest cousin.

Mi manchi molto!
I miss you so much!

Vorrei che tu venga a trovarmi in Abruzzo quest’estate.
I would like you to come and visit me in Abruzzo this summer.

Pensaci e fammi sapere. Mandami un’email.
Think about it and let me know. Send me an email.

Spero che tu abbia un buon weekend!
I hope that you have a good weekend!

Scrivimi presto!
Write me soon!

Baci e abbracci,
Kisses and hugs,

Caterina
Kathy

Italian Practice Email: All about… Family
A Reply Email to Caterina

Cara cugina Caterina,
Dear Cousin Kathy,

Ero molto contenta di sentire le tue notizie.
I was very happy to hear from you.

La mia famiglia sta molto bene, ed Eleonora e Giovanni sono cresciuti molto in questi due anni che siamo stati a Roma.
My family is very well, and Eleanor and John have grown in these last two years that we have been in Rome.

Eleanora fa il quinto anno di scuola elementare e Giovanni fa il primo anno di liceo.
Eleanor is in the 5th grade, and John is in his first year of high school.

Tutti e due sono bravi figli ed io e mio marito Giuseppe siamo molto orgogliosi di loro.
Both are good children, and my husband Joe and I are very proud of them.

Ho una buona notizia!
I have good news!

Sono libera di viaggiare in Abruzzo quest’estate in agosto per Ferragosto!
I am free to travel to Abruzzo this summer in August for the Ferragosto holiday!

Mi auguro che tu abbia tempo disponibile questo Ferragosto.
I hope that you have time free this Ferragosto.

Tu mi manchi molto, mia bella cugina!
I miss you very much, my beautiful cousin!

Noi siamo certi di avere una buona visita.
We are certain to have a wonderful visit!

Restiamo in contatto e spero di vederti presto!
Stay in contact, and I hope to see you soon!

Ti voglio molto bene.
I care for you very much.

Tanti baci!
Lots of kisses!

Francesca
Frances

Italian Practice Email: What You Will Need to Know…

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Phrases That Take the Italian Subjunctive Mood

Verbs in Italian can have a subjunctive mood that is used to express doubt, uncertainty, desire, or a feeling.

Certain phrases are commonly used to start a sentence in order to introduce the subjunctive mood, and these initial phrases will be in the indicative tense (the “usual” present or past tense). These initial phrases imply uncertainty and trigger the subjunctive mood in the phrase to follow. The phrase that follows will then describe what the uncertainty is about. These introductory phrases usually end with the word che, which means that. Che may also be the ending of the last word used in the introductory phrase!

Note that the simple present or past tenses can also be used after the introductory phrases listed below, rather than the subjunctive mood, if you are speaking about a fact or something that you believe to be true. This use will make perfect sense to the Italian listener, although the subjective mood is also commonly used. Notice that when speaking about the past using these phrases, the imperfetto form of the past tense is usually used.

To review how to express one’s feelings using the subjunctive mood and how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in the present tense, see our Speak Italian Subjunctive series.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Greetings for Family Emails, Texts, and Letters

Now that email has become an essential way to communicate, it is important to know how to address family, friends, and work colleagues in writing. In effect, that old-fashioned way of communicating—the letter—has been resurrected in electronic form! Here are some suggestions for greetings and salutations in Italian, depending on the formality of the situation.

For family and friends, most Italian emails will begin with “Cara,” for females or “Caro” for males, meaning “Dear.” This greeting is, of course, followed by the first name of the person to whom the email is addressed. Because caro is an adjective, the ending can be modified to match the gender and number of the person it refers to, just as other adjectives are. So cara(e) is used before a female singular/plural person(s) and caro(i) before male singular/plural person(s). Carissimo(a,i,e) is a common variation and means “Dearest.” Many times, no greeting at all is used for close family and friends who communicate frequently.

A note about texting, which is even more informal than email, because texts are usually made only to friends: there is much more variation if a greeting is used, and there are many creative ways to greet someone by text in Italian. One of the most common text greetings is probably “ciao” for “hi” or “bye.” There are many common variations, such as “ciao bella” for a female, “ciao bello” for a male, or simply “bella” or “bellezza” for a female, all meaning “hello beautiful/handsome.” If texting in the day or evening, “Buon giorno” or “Buona sera” may be used as well, meaning, “Good morning/Good day” or “Good evening.”

A text is still not acceptable in most situations for a first or a formal communication, although email is now often the preferred way of establishing an initial contact in business.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Greetings for Formal Emails and Letters

Letters are still frequently used in Italy. Several common salutations are used when writing a formal email in Italian. These salutations have been established over many centuries of formal communication.

A formal Italian letter will commonly begin with the Italian word for “Gentle,” which is “Gentile,” followed by a title, such as Mr., Mrs., or Miss, and then a surname. For example: Gentile Signor* Verde or Gentilissima Signora Russo. The Italian word “Egregio,” which used to mean “Esquire,” is still commonly used in very formal business communications, but in these instances, it is translated as “Dear.” “Pregiatissimo” is the most formal type of greeting and is similar to the English phrase “Dear Sir.” This greeting is only rarely used in Italy today.

This all seems simple enough, although a typical formal Italian greeting is often abbreviated and can seem a bit off-putting unless one is fluent in the abbreviations as well. Our salutations above are often written as follows: Gentile Sig. Verde and Gen.ma Sig.na Russo. The table in the next section lists the most commonly used abbreviations.

Also, in Italian, even more than in English, if one holds a professional title, such as “doctor” or “lawyer,” this title is always used as the form of address when speaking and in writing. In fact, those who have attended an Italian university or have an important job title are usually addressed by other Italians as “dottore” or “dottoressa.” A medical doctor is addressed the same way but is known specifically as “un medico” (used for men and women).

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
Commonly Used Italian Abbreviations for Business Greetings

Avv.	Avvocato	Lawyer
Dott.	Dottore	Doctor (male or female)
Dott.ssa	Dottoressa	Female Doctor
Egr.	Egregio	Dear (Esquire)
	Ingegnere	Engineer
Gent.mi	Gentilissimi(e)	Dear (plural) Very Kind
Gent.mo	Gentilissimo(a)	Dear (singular) Very Kind
Preg.	Pregiatissimo	Dear
Sig.	Signor	Mister (Mr.)
Sig.na	Signorina	Miss
Sig.ra	Signorma	Misses (Mrs.)
Sig.ri	Signori	Mr. and Mrs./Messers
Spett.	Spettabile	Messers

*When signore is followed by someone’s first or last name, in writing and when addressing someone directly, the “e” from signore is dropped to form signor.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:
Italian Salutations for Emails, Texts, and Letters

After we’ve written our email, text, or formal letter, how should we sign off? As you can imagine, this is very different depending on how close the two correspondents are. For two friends, the typical spoken salutations, “ciao” and “ci vediamo,” are commonly used for emails and texts, as are the many idiomatic expressions, such as “a presto” or “a dopo.”

For those who are close friends or family, one may send kisses as “baci,” and sometimes hugs, “abbracci,” as we do in English. You can imagine that there are many variations on this theme, such as “un bacione” for “a big kiss.” “Un bacio” or “tanti baci” are other variations and mean “a kiss” and “many kisses.” There is one big difference between salutations in English and Italian, though: Italians normally do not sign off with the word “Love,” as in “Love, Kathy.”

For business, the word “Saluti” is generally used in closing to mean “Regards.” One can also give “Un Saluto” or “Tanti Saluti.” “Cordalimente” means “Yours Truly.” “Cordali saluti” or “Distinti Saluti” are particularly polite, meaning “Kind Regards” and “Best Regards.” “Sinceramente” means “Sincerely” but is not as often used in closing an email or letter.

Commonly Used Familiar Italian Salutations

Ciao	Bye
Ci vediamo	Good bye (Until we see each other again.)
A presto!	See you soon!
A dopo!	See you later!
Baci	Kisses
Un bacio	A kiss
Un bacione	A big kiss
Tanti baci	Lots of kisses
Baci e Abbracci	Kisses and hugs

Commonly Used Formal Italian Salutations

Saluti	Regards
Un Saluto	Regards
Cordalimente	Yours truly
Cordali Saluti	Kind regards
Distinti Saluti	Best regards
Tanti Saluti	Many regards
Sinceramente	Sincerely

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know…
How to Use Trovare, Trovarsi and Visitare

Trovare means “to find” something.

When trovare is combined with the verb andare in the phrase “andare a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to go to visit” someone. An example would be, “Vado a trovare mia mamma,” which of course means, “I go to visit my mother.”

Similarly, when trovare is combined with the verb venire in the phrase “venire a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to come to visit” someone. In the email we have just read, Caterina writes, “Vorrei che tu venga a trovarmi in Abruzzo quest’estate.” She adds “mi” to the end of the verb trovare in order to specify the person who is being visited.

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Visitare means to visit or to see a place. For example, “Molte persone visitano l’Italia.” “Many people visit Italy.”

In a formal letter, one might use the phrase, “invitare a visitare,” to invite someone, to be a guest as in, “Vi invitiamo a visitare il nostro blog…” for, ” We kindly invite you to visit our blog.”

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Let’s go back and explore a few more interesting points about the verb trovare. Trovare can also mean “to meet by chance,” or “to run into” someone, as we would say in English. Trovare sometimes means “to think/consider” and is also used to mean “to notice” in some expressions. Trovarsi is a reflexive verb that is used to describe “finding oneself” in certain situations or in a certain place.

andare a trovare	to go to visit with/to look in on/to look up
venire a trovare	to come to visit with
cercare di trovare	to try to find
trovare per caso	to happen on/to happen upon/to come across
torvare i mezzi	to find means
trovare conforto	to take comfort
trovare informazioni su	to find information (something) on
trovare la propria strada	to make your way/to take the right road
trovare la risposta	to find the answer
trovare la soluzione	to find the solution
trovare il tempo per fare	to get around to doing something
trovare il giusto equilibrio	to strike a balance
trovare (qualcosa) divertente	to find (something) amusing
trovare qualcosa	to consider something
trovare un modo	to find a way
Dove si trova?	Where is she/he/it located?
Si trova in…	(He/she/it) is located in…
Non mi trovo bene con..	I don’t get on well with…
Troviamoci dopo cena.	Let’s meet (each other) after dinner.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:
How to Use the Italian Adverb “Ci”

The phrases c’è and ci sono mean there is and there are respectively. Ci can also be used to mean here or there when referring to a specific location. The location is either understood by the speakers or will have already have been mentioned in the conversation, and ci will be used in a reply to make the conversation flow more smoothly. In these instances, the location will be introduced by a preposition (a, in, su, da) and ci will replace both the preposition and the place when given in the reply.

Ci is placed before the conjugated verb. With helping verbs dovere, potere, or volere, ci can be placed before the helping verb or attached to the infinitive.

Non ci voglio più stare.	(I) don’t want to stay here anymore.

Vai in pizzeria stasera?	(Are) (you fam.) going to a pizzeria tonight?
No, non ci vado.	No, (I’m) not going there.
Ci sarò.	I’ll be there.

Vuoi venire a casa mia?	(Do) (you fam.) want to come to my house?
No, non ci voglio venire.	No, (I) don’t want to come there.
No, non voglio venirci.	No, (I) don’t want to come there.

Ci is frequently used as an indirect object to reply to certain questions regarding what someone believes in. “Credere a…?” which means, “Do you believe in…?” is one of the most commonly used phrases of this type. In this case, ci replaces the phrase that is believed in. The meaning of ci would be, “in it” or “about it.”

Ci is also used as an indirect object to reply to certain questions regarding what someone thinks about. “Pensare a…?” can mean, “What do you think about…?” In this case, ci replaces the phrase that is believed in. The meaning of ci would be, “in it” or “about it.”

In other contexts, the verb pensare can be used to ask if someone is going to care of something. The subject pronoun tu will come after the verb in these questions to signify intent. For the response, ci replaces the thing that is being taken care of and the subject pronoun io is placed after the verb to signify intent. The meaning of ci in both cases is, “in it” or “about it.” “Ci penso io,” can always be used when you want to say, “I’ll do it.” or “I’ll take care of it.”

Ci is also used as part of a command in order to ask someone to believe in or think about something that has been stated previously.

Credi alla religione cristiana?	(Do)(you fam.) believe in the Christian religion?
Si, ci credo.	Yes, (I) believe in it.

Pensi di trovare un nuovo lavoro?	Are you thinking of finding a new job?
Si, ci penso ancora.	Yes, I am still thinking about it.

Caterina, ci pensi tu a comprare il latte?	Kathy, are you going to take care of buying the milk?
Ci penso io.	I’ll take care of it.

Credici!	Believe in it! (familiar command)

Pensaci!	Think about it! (familiar command)

Ci mancherebbe.	Don’t mention it. (idiomatic expression)

Finally, if we want to combine ci with a direct object pronoun in a sentence to say ,“I’ve got it,” or “I’ve got them,” referring to something in our possession, the last letter-i of ci is changed to an e. This is an expression that follows the word order “ce – direct object – verb.” See below for how this works:

Do you have the ticket in your purse?	Hai il biglietto nella tua borsa?
Yes, I have it in my purse.	Si, l’ho nella borsa.
Yes, I’ve got it.	Si, ce l’ho.

Do you have the keys to your car?	Hai le chiavi alla tua macchina?
Yes, I have them.	Si, ce le ho.

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You will need to know:
Common Italian Command Forms with Fare

The verb fare, which means “to do,” or “to make,” often comes up when one person makes a direct request that another person do something. To ask for a favor politely, you could use the (by now, well-known) verb può with fare to make the phrase, “Può farmi un favore?” for, “Could you do me a favor?” But, more often, the familiar command form of this phrase is used; if one is instructing another person to do something, both people often know each other very well. Or, perhaps in the workplace, a superior is making a request of another worker. In this case, the commonly used phrase used would be, “Fammi un favore!” for, “Do me a favor! Piacere also works interchangeably with favore in this expression, as in, “Fammi un piacere!”

Notice that, when attaching an indirect object pronoun (except for gli), direct object pronoun, or a reflexive pronoun to the familiar command verb fa, the first letter of the pronoun is doubled. Below are some commonly used expressions which combine the command form of fare with their pronouns attached.

Fammi un favore!	Do me a favor!
Fammi un piacere!	Do me a favor!
Fatti vedere!	Come and see me! (lit. Make yourself seen!)
Fatti sentire!	Call me! (lit. Make yourself heard!)
Fallo!	Do it!

Fammi can also be used in an idiomatic way, with the meaning, “let me,” when followed by an infinitive verb, such as, “Fammi vedere,” for, “Let me see,” or, “Fammi chiamare,” for, “Let me call.”

Fammi vedere…	Let me see…
Fammi chiamare…	Let me call…

Two additional commonly used familiar commands with indirect object pronouns involve the verbs dire and dare:

Dimmi!	Tell me!
Dammi!	Give me!

Italian Practice: Emailing Italian Families

You Will Need to Know:
Italian Reflexive Verbs for Self-Movement

Italian reflexive verbs can be tricky for the English speaker because there are many situations where reflexive verbs are used in Italian but not in English. In these cases, we must learn to think in Italian! If we think in Italian, using reflexive verbs to refer to where one has moved to or from or to describe a change in one’s feelings does make sense.

We have already talked about the most common reflexive verbs in the second blog post in the Speak Italian! series, Speak Italian: All About… What I Am Doing! This blog post describes activities of daily living, which are the most common activities that use the Italian reflexive verbs.

Other activities of today’s “modern daily living” include interrupting one’s life at a certain location and starting life again in a different location. In this blog post, for instance, one cousin moves from Abruzzo to Rome. It makes sense, then, that the verb for the act of moving oneself is reflexive: trasferirsi, which can mean “to move (oneself) from town to another town” and “to transfer (oneself).”

Following this logic, the more general verbs “to move” (muoversi) or “to stop” (fermarsi) are also reflexive when they refer to an action that is being performed by a person.

Avvicinarsi a (to approach) alontanarsi da (to go away from/distance oneself from) are also included in the table below.

trasferirsi	to move (oneself), as in relocate towns; transfer towns or job
muoversi	to move (oneself) from one place to another
spostarsi	to move (oneself) from one place to another, relocate
dirigersi	to go over/head over somewhere
avvicinarsi a	to approach
allontarsi da	to go away from/distance oneself from
fermarsi	to stop (oneself)

Here is the way this works: if I have moved (myself) from one place to another and want to talk about this, I use the reflexive pronoun for myself (mi) with the conjugated verb for the first person, and then I say where I have moved. If someone else has moved (themselves), and I want to talk about this, I use the other corresponding reflexive pronoun (ti, si, ci, vi, si)/verb conjugation and then the location.

A few pointers are useful to remember.

When talking about a move we have made, we will be speaking in the past tense and will need to use the passato prossimo past tense verb form for this one-time event. All reflexive passato prossimo verbs use essere as the helping verb with the past participle. Females will need to change the passato prossimo ending from an “o” to “a” when referring to themselves.

Also, remember to leave out the subject pronoun (io, tu, Lei/lei/lui, noi, voi, loro) unless it is necessary for clarification.

Finally, remember how to use prepositions when talking about a location—“a” for cities and small islands and “in” for countries, regions, states in the United States, and large islands like Sicily.

All of this is easier than it sounds once you give it a try!

Mi sono trasferito(a) a New York.*
I moved/have moved to New York City.

Ti sei trasferito(a) nello stato di New York due anni fa, corretto?
You moved/have moved to New York State two years ago, correct?

Lui si è trasferito in America la settimana scorsa.
He moved/has moved to America last week.

Lei si è trasferita in America la settimana scorsa.
She moved/has moved to America last week.

Ci siamo trasferiti a Roma per un lavoro molto importante.
We transferred/were transferred to Rome for a very important job.

Vi siete trasferite alla scuola di Marymount Internazionale a Roma.
You all (girls) transferred/have transferred to the Marymount International School in Rome.

Loro si sono trasferiti in Italia per la loro società.
They transferred/have transferred to Italy for their company.

Finally, it should be noted that there are other ways of describing a person’s move from one place to another that do not involve reflexive verbs. To emphasize that one has moved from an old house to a new one, the phrase cambiare casa is used. To describe moving furniture from one’s old house to the new house (i.e., to move things), the nonreflexive verb traslocare is used.

Italian Practice: The Italian School System

The Italian school system is similar to the U.S. school system. School years are divided into primary, middle, and secondary, or “high” school years. College is referred to as “university,” and in the past, a “university degree” entailed 6 years of education, similar to a master’s degree in the United States. Some 4-year university degrees are now also available in Italy. Below is a comparative list of the American and Italian school systems with the number of years children spend in each level.

American and Italian School Systems

U.S. School	Years	Italian School	Years

Primary school	6	Scuola Elementare/la prima elementare	5
Middle school	2	Scuola Secondaria/Scuola Media/la prima media	3
High school	4	Liceo/il primo liceo	5

Italian Practice: Talking about the Italian School System

For elementary school, if a child is in the 1st through 5th years of school:

Anna va alla scuola elementare.
Anna goes to the grade school.

Anna è in prima (classe) elementare. (seconda, terza, quarta, quinta classe)
Anna fa il primo anno di scuola elementare. (secondo, terzo, quarto, quinto anno)
Anna is in the first year/1st grade of elementary school. (second, third, fourth, fifth year/2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th grade)

For middle school, if a child is in the 6th through 8th years of school:

Anna va alla scuola secondaria. or Anna va alla scuola media.
Anna goes to junior high school. or Anna goes to middle school.

Anna è in prima (classe) media. (seconda, terza classe)
Anna fa il primo anno di scuola media. (secondo, terzo anno)
Anna is in the first year/6th grade of middle school. (second, third year/7th, 8th grade)

For high school, if a child is in the 9th through 13th years of school, we can use similar phrases. Notice that there is no special title like “freshman, sophomore, junior, senior” for high school.

Anna va alla scuola superiore. or Anna va al liceo.
Anna goes to high school.

Anna è in prima (classe) liceo. (seconda, terza, quarta, quinta classe)
Anna fa il primo anno di liceo. (secondo, terzo, quarto, quinto anno)
Anna is in the first year/9th grade of high school. (second, third, fourth, fifth year/10th, 11th, 12th, 13th grade)

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Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice: Emailing Italian Families

Italian Subjunctive (Part 1): Speak Italian!

StickyApril 25, 2016Let's Learn Italian!chiedersi, Conjunction che, Conversational Italian, How to conjugate Italian subjunctirve essere, How to conjugate Italian subjunctive avere, How to conjugate Italian subjunctive mode, How to conjugate Italian subjunctive mood, how to use the Italian subjunctive, How to use the Italian subjunctive mode, How to use the Italian subjunctive mood, Italian Language, Italian Subjunctive, Italian Subjunctive Mode, Italian subjunctive mood, Learn Italian language, Learn Italian subjunctive mode, Learn Italian subjunctive mood, Speak Italian, Stella Lucente, Subjunctive in Italian, Subjunctive ItalianKathryn Occhipinti

Italian Subjunctive (Part 1): Speak Italian!

The Italian subjunctive mood is easy to conjugate, but tricky to use!

Speak Italian: How to Use the Italian Subjunctive Mood

Can you speak Italian? By now, many of you have passed the beginning stages of learning to speak Italian and can read and comprehend quite a bit of the Italian language. Meraviglioso!

But have you tried to take the next step to speak Italian fluently? Can you use the Italian subjunctive mood in the correct situations? To express complex feelings in Italian correctly, it is important to use the Italian subjunctive mood. Using the subjunctive mood is difficult for English speakers, as we only rarely use this tense in English, and this is something that I am always working on! The blogs in the “Speak Italian” blog series will focus on how to conjugate and use the Italian subjunctive mood, or “il congiuntivo.”

Let’s take that giant step from simple beginning sentences to more complex and fluid sentences in Italian by using the subjunctive mood. In this segment, we will discuss the phrases that take the subjunctive mood and the how to conjugate the subjunctive mood for avere, essere and stare in the present tense. Finally, we will learn about the verb chiedersi, which means “to wonder.” Example sentences will follow!

Speak Italian: How to Use the Italian Subjunctive Mood

In each blog in the “Speak Italian” series about the Italian subjunctive mood (“il congiuntivo”), we will first present phrases that take the Italian subjunctive mood.

Then, we will review how to conjugate the Italian subjunctive mood.

Finally, we will present common phrases used in daily life that take the Italian subjunctive mood.

Remember these examples as “anchors” in your knowledge for when you must speak Italian and try out the subjunctive mood in your next Italian conversation!

Enjoy the first blog in this series, “Italian Subjunctive (Part 1): Speak Italian!”
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Speak Italian: How to Use the Italian Subjunctive Mood (Part 1)

Introducing… Phrases That Take the Italian Subjunctive Mood

Italian has a subjunctive mood that is used to express beliefs, thoughts, or hopes with the verbs credere, pensare, and sperare.

The subjunctive mood is also said to “open up” a conversation to discussion about a particular topic by expressing doubt, uncertainty, desire, or a feeling.

The subjunctive mood is also used to express an expectation regarding the subject of the main clause.

Certain phrases are commonly used to start a sentence in order to introduce the subjunctive mood, and these initial phrases will be in the indicative tense (the “usual” present or past tense). The subjunctive mood is also used with the conditional tense, but this will be the topic of later blogs. These initial phrases imply uncertainty and trigger the subjunctive mood in the phrase to follow.

These groups are listed below:

Groups 1-6: “Noun Clauses”

Phrases that use the verbs credere (to believe), pensare (to think), and sperare (to hope). These verbs use the pattern: [verb + di + infinitive verb] to describe the beliefs, thoughts, or hopes that one has. When the subject in the introductory phrase is not the same as the subject in the subjunctive clause that follows, the pattern changes to: [verb + che + subjunctive verb].*
Impersonal constructions that begin with, “It is…” such as, “È possibile che…”
Phrases that express a doubt, such as, “I don’t know…” or “Non so che…”
Phrases that express suspicion, such as, ” I suspect that…” or “Sospetto che…”
Phrases that express uncertainty, such as, “It seems to me…” or “Mi sembra che…” and ” To wonder if…” or “Chiedersi se… “
Impersonal verbs followed by the conjunction che, such as, “Basta che…” “It is enough that,” or “Si dice che…” “They say that…

In Italian, the introductory phrases listed above are usually followed by a “linking word,” which in turn introduces the phrase that follows. This “linking word” is also known as a conjunction, and is the word che. In this situation, che means that. The clause that follows our introductory phrase will then describe what the uncertainty is about.

Note that the simple present or past tenses can also be used after the introductory phrases listed below, rather than the subjunctive mood, if you are speaking about a fact or something you believe to be true. This use will make perfect sense to the Italian listener, even when the subjective mood is otherwise commonly used.

To follow is a (long) list of phrases that can be used to introduce the subjunctive mood, with example from the present tense in the first two columns and the past tense in the last two columns. Notice that the imperfetto form of the past tense is given in our table for brevity, but the passato prossimo form of the past tense can also be used, depending on the situation. Use of the past tense forms will be the topic of later blogs.

Phrases That Take the Subjunctive Mood

Present Tense Subjunctive Phrase Groups 1 and 2		Past Tense Subjunctive Phrase Groups 1 and 2
Credo che	I believe that	Credevo che	I believed that
Penso che	I think that	Pensavo che	I thought that
Spero che	I hope that	Speravo che	I hoped that

È possibile che	It is possible that	Era possibile che	It was possible that
È probablile che	It is probable that	Era probabile che	It was probable that

È bene che	It is fine/good that	Era bene che	It was fine/good that
Sarebbe bene che	It would be good that	Sarebbe stato bene che	It would have been good that
È giusto che	It is right that	Era giusto che	It was right that
È meglio che	It is better that	Era meglio che	It was better that

È incredible che	It is incredible that	Era incredibile che	It was incredible that
È un peccato che	It is a shame that	Era un peccato che	It was a shame that
È una vergogna che	It is a disgrace that	Era una vergogna che	It was a disgrace that
È normale che	It is normal that	Era normale che	It was normal that

Present Tense Subjunctive Phrase Groups 3, 4, 5 and 6		Past Tense Subjunctive Phrase Groups 3, 4, 5 and 6
Non so che	I don’t know that	Non sapevo che	I didn’t know that
Non so dove	I don’t know where	Non sapevo dove	I didn’t know where
Non sono sicuro che	I am not sure that	Non ero sicuro che	I wasn’t sure that
Non ho idea che	I have no idea that	Non avevo idea che	I had no idea that
Non mi aspetto che	I couldn’t wait that	Non mi aspettavo che	I couldn’t wait that
Non c’è nulla che	There is nothing that	Non c’era nulla che	There was nothing that

Mi pare che	It seems to me	Mi pareva che	It seemed to me
Mi sembra che	It seems to me	Mi sembrava che	It seemed to me
Può darsi che	Perhaps
Ho l’impressione che	I have the impression that	Avevo l’impresione che	I had the impression that
Suppongo che	I suppose that	Supponevo che	I supposed that
Immagino che	I imagine that	Immaginavo che	I imagined that
Sospetto che	I suspect that	Sospettavo che	I suspected that
Dubito che	I doubt that	Dubitavo che	I doubted that
Sono convinto che	I am convinced that	Ero convinto che	I was convinced that
A meno che	Unless
Conviene che	It is best that	Conveniva che	It was best that
Basta che	It is enough that	Bastava che	It was enough that
Malgrado che	In spite of that
Si dice che	It is said that	Si diceva che	It was said that
Dicono che	They say that	Dicevano che	They said that
Bisogna che	It’s necessary that	Bisognavo che	It was necessary that

*When the speaker in the introductory phrase will carry out the action in the phrase to follow, Italian will use the following construction to link the phrases for credere, pensare, and sperare : di + infinitive verb. Example: Penso di andare a Roma domani. = I think I will go to Rome tomorrow. (Use pensare a when thinking ABOUT something or someone.)

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Finally, a word of caution:

DO NOT USE THE SUBJUNCTIVE WITH THE FOLLOWING THREE PHRASES!

Forse = Perhaps

Per me = For me

Secondo me = According to me

The above may seem like exceptions to the rule, but perhaps… because these phrases already express doubt or your personal opinion… in the Italian way of thinking, it would be redundant to use these phrases along with the subjunctive!

Speak Italian: The Present Tense Subjunctive Mood (Part 1)

How to Conjugate Italian Verbs “Essere,” “Avere,” and “Stare” in the Present Tense Subjunctive Mood

Here are the present tense subjunctive forms for the Italian auxiliary verbs avere and essere, and also the irregular verb stare, which are often used in the subjunctive mood in written and spoken Italian. Che is included in parentheses in the subject pronoun column as a reminder that these verb forms are typically introduced with the conjunction che. Also, make sure to include the subject pronoun in your sentence after che for clarity, since the singular forms are identical.

Practice the subjunctive verbs out loud by saying che , the subject pronoun and then the correct verb form that follows!

Avere – to have – Subjunctive Mood

(che) io	abbia	I have
(che) tu	abbia	you (familiar) have
(che) Lei (che) lei/lui	abbia	you (polite) have she/he has

(che) noi	abbiamo	we have
(che) voi	abbiate	you all have
(che) loro	abbiano	they have

Essere – to be – Subjunctive Mood

(che) io	sia	I am
(che) tu	sia	you (familiar) are
(che) Lei (che) lei/lui	sia	you (polite) are he/he is

(che) noi	siamo	we are
(che) voi	siate	you all are
(che) loro	siano	they are

Stare – to stay (to be) – Subjunctive Mood

(che) io	stia	I stay (am)
(che) tu	stia	you (familiar) stay (are)
(che) Lei (che) lei/lui	stia	you (polite) stay (are) she/he stays (is)

(che) noi	stiamo	we stay (are)
(che) voi	stiate	you all stay (are)
(che) loro	stiano	they stay (are)

Speak Italian: How to Use the Italian Subjunctive Mood (Part 1)

Example Phrases Using “Stare” in the Present Tense Subjunctive Mood

To follow are some examples of when the Italian subjunctive mood in the present tense might be used in conversation during daily life. Notice that the English translation is the same for the present tense examples and the Italian subjunctive examples used in the sentences below.

We will start with sentences using stare (to stay/to be) in the subjunctive mood because this verb comes up very commonly in this modern life, when not a day seems to go by without an email being sent and received! The old formalities of opening and closing a letter have returned! After the greeting in an email, especially if there has not been recent communication, it is customary to mention a hope that all is well with friends and family. Here is a case for the subjunctive!

Present Tense Phrase		Present Tense Subjunctive Phrase
Tu stai bene.	You (familiar) are well.	Spero che tu stia bene.	I hope that you (familiar) are well.
Lei sta bene.	You (polite) are well. She is well.	Spero che lei stia bene.	I hope that you (polite) are well. I hope that she is well.
Lui sta bene.	He is well.	Spero che lui stia bene.	I hope that he is well.
La famiglia sta bene.	The family is well.	Spero che la tua famiglia* stia bene.	I hope that the family is* well.
Tutti stanno bene.	Everyone/body is well.	Spero che tutti stiano bene.	I hope that everyone/everybody is well.

*Famiglia = family and is a collective noun and takes the third person singular.

Example Phrases Using “Avere” in the Present Tense Subjunctive Mood

We often close an email with a hope as well—for a nice weekend, for instance, or that we will see the person we have contacted sometime soon. In this case, the phrases we most commonly use will need to use avere (to have) in the subjunctive mood.

Present Tense Phrase		Present Tense Subjunctive Phrase
Buona settimana!	Have a good week!	Spero che tu abbia una buona settimana.	I hope that you have a good week!
Buon fine settimana!	Have a good weekend!	Spero che tu abbia un buon fine settimana.	I hope that you have a good weekend!
Buona giornata. Buona serata.	Have a good day. Have a good evening.	Spero che tu abbia una buona giornata/buona serata.	I hope that you have a good day/evening.

Example Phrases Using “Essere” in the Present Tense Subjunctive Mood

The verb essere (to be) is commonly used when describing someone’s characteristics to someone else. But what if we are not sure that someone possesses a certain characteristic, or we would like someone to possess a characteristic we fear they may not have? Then we must use the subjunctive mood in our sentence! Here are a few examples. How many more can you think of?

Present Tense Phrase		Present Tense Subjunctive Phrase
Lei è bella.	She is beautiful.	Mi sembra che lei sia bella.	She seems beautiful to me. (It seems to me that she is beautiful.)
L’insegnante è simpatico.	The teacher is nice.	Spero che l’insegnante sia simpatico.	I hope that the teacher is nice.
Dio è in cielo.	God is in heaven.	Credo che Dio sia in cielo.	I believe that God is in heaven.
L’attrice è brava in quel film.	The actress is great in that film.	Penso che l’attrice sia brava in quel film.	I think that the actress is great in that film.
Lui è fortunato.	He is fortunate.	Spero che lui sia fortunato.	I hope that he is fortunate.
Lei è contenta.	She is happy.	Mi pare che lei sia contenta.	She seems happy to me. (It seems to me that she is happy.)
Loro sono bravi cantanti.	They are wonderful singers.	Può darsi che loro siano bravi cantanti.	Perhaps they are wonderful singers.
Lui è un bravo studente.	He is a good student.	Dubito che lui sia un bravo studente.	I doubt that he is a good student.
Lei è sposata.	She is marrried.	È probabile che lei sia sposata.	She is probably married. (It is probable that she is married.)
Loro sono ricchi.	They are rich.	È possibile che loro siano ricchi.	It is possible that they are rich.

How to Use the Verb “To Wonder”
“Chiedersi”

********************

The verb chiedersi, from Rule 4, is worthy of special mention. Chiedersi is the verb Italians use to describe the idea of “wondering” if something might happen.

“Mi chiedo…” literally means, “I ask myself,” which translates into “I wonder.” This verb is often followed by the Italian word for “if” to make the sentence, “Mi chiedo se…” or, “I wonder if…” Given that this phrase ends in the word “if,” at first glance it may seem to fall into the category of improbable hypothetical phrases, which need a special conjugation (to be discussed in blogs to follow). But, cheidersi in its present tense form actually takes the present subjunctive mood, just as the other phrases in Rule 4 that we have learned about.

So, you already know how to use this verb and can easily wonder about things that might be!

Below is an example of how to use the verb chiedersi. We will revisit chiedersi again as we continue to learn about the subjunctive mood in blogs to come!

Mi chiedo se lui sia un attore bravo in quel film.
I wonder if he is a great actor in that film.

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Italian Subjunctive (Part 1): Speak Italian!

High-Speed Italian Trains Freccia and Italo for Travel in Italy

StickyFebruary 29, 2016Conversational Italian for Travelers Book Reviews, Italian Travel and Cultural NotesBuy Italian train tickets, Conversational Italian for Travelers books, Follow Caterina in Italy, Freccia Train, Frecciabianca, Frecciargento, Frecciarossa, High speed Italian train cities, High speed Italian trains, How to buy highspeed train tickets, How to take highspeed Italian trains, Italian train, Italian train connections, Italian Train travel, italiarail, Italo Train, Italy train travel, Milan, Milan trains, Milan transportation, Rome, Rome trains, Rome transportation, Stella Lucente, Travel in Italy, Trenitalia, VeniceKathryn Occhipinti

High-Speed Italian Trains Freccia and Italo for Travel in Italy

Follow Caterina in the
Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

High-Speed Italian Trains Freccia and Italo for Travel in Italy

One of the first things Caterina must do after her plane lands in Italy is find her way on the Italian railway system. To listen to dialogues from Chapters 4 and 5 about Caterina’s encounters as she buys a ticket and boards a train in Italy, go to the interactive dialogues on our website at learntravelitalian.com/interactive.html.

For more images and links to the high-speed Italian train system, visit our Pinterest Site, Stella Lucente Italian.

The Cultural Note below, also from the textbook, describes the exciting new high-speed Italian trains of the Freccia and Italo railway systems that have streamlined travel between the major cities in Italy.
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Cultural Note: Freccia and Italo Railway Systems for Travel in Italy

The future of train travel is here in Italy today, under the old Trenitalia Ferrovie dello Stato railway system, to which has been added a new network traveled by a fleet of beautiful, high-speed Italian trains—the Freccia (arrow) trains. The high-speed Italian trains for the railway line Frecciarossa (red arrow) link the major cities of Naples, Rome, Florence, Milan, Turin, and Venice and travel up to 175 miles per hour across the country. It is now possible to travel from Milan or Venice to Rome on these high-speed Italian trains in about 3 hours. This Italian network is linked to major European cities outside of Italy as well and can be an efficient way to extend travel plans to neighboring countries, with restaurant cars and sleeper cars available for longer journeys. These cars are also equipped with WiFi for a small fee. The Frecciargento (silver arrow) and Frecciabianca (white arrow) trains are part of this new family of high-speed Italian trains and link smaller cities and towns. For a slightly higher fee, they provide a more comfortable ride than the older local trains and make fewer stops. Ask about the availability of these high-speed Italian trains when purchasing a ticket at the station. Or go to the official Trenitalia site, www.trenitalia.com, and click on one of the three silver tabs in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage for the high-speed Italian Freccia train of your choice.

High speed Italian train Italo — Self-service machine to purchase tickets to ride on an Italo railway high-speed Italian train

Italo is a privately owned company that also offers high-speed Italian passenger train service. Italo offers a club membership for frequent travelers, with private waiting rooms at the train stations and special cars with reclining leather seats, personal TVs, WiFi, and meal service. Look for the bright red automatic ticket machines, or purchase tickets at the Italo ticket offices in the train station. For more information on the Italo family of high-speed Italian trains or to purchase tickets online, use the Italo website at www.italotreno.it.

Read all about this new high-speed Italian train network and learn about traveling throughout Italy on the different classes of trains offered by Trenitalia and Italo on the website The man in Seat 61 at www.seat61.com. Click on the link for Italy and search for “A beginner’s guide to train travel in Italy” to see pictures of each type of train and learn more about the accommodations that are offered.

All of the high-speed Italian trains require a reservation (prenotazione), and the ticket issued will have an assigned car (carrozza) and seat (posto) for each passenger. Look for the car number on the side of the train, or ask the conductor, who will come out of the office to the platform when the train enters the station before departure for the next stop. Tickets for the high-speed Italian trains, as well as local trains, can be purchased online in most cases, starting 60 days before departure, and in some cases, up to 90 days. These online tickets may be discounted up to 60% off the price paid at the train station, depending on how far in advance they are purchased. Beware, though—the timetables change in mid-June and mid-December each year, so be sure to check them again before departing if you have bought tickets in advance. An alternative site, all in English, is www.raileurope.com. And remember, along with your ticket, you will need a valid personal ID to travel between European cities. Or, if you choose ticketless travel (within Italy only), you will need the registration number.

Have fun visiting the Trenitalia and Italo websites!

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High-Speed Italian Trains Freccia and Italo for Travel in Italy

Train Travel in Italy for Your Dream Vacation

StickyOctober 25, 2015Italian Travel and Cultural NotesAll about Italian trains, All about train travel, Conversational Italian for Travelers books, Conversational Italian series of books, dream vacation in Italy, Follow Caterina in Italy, Free Italian dialogues, Italian dialogues, Italian dream vacation, Italian railway, Italian railway system, Italian train, Italian Train travel, Italian Travel, Italian travel for vacation, Italian vacation, italiarail, Italy vacation, Stella Lucente, Ticket validating, travel Italy, Trenitalia, Vacation in ItalyKathryn Occhipinti

Train Travel in Italy for Your Dream Vacation

Follow Caterina in the
Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books!

The Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook begins each chapter with a dialogue from a story about the character Caterina, an American girl who travels to Italy to visit her relatives. As the story continues from one chapter to the next, we learn Italian, and about Italy, in an engaging way through Caterina’s experiences.

Train Travel in Italy for Your Dream Vacation

One of the first things Caterina must do after her plane lands in Italy and she passes through customs is find her way on the Italian railway system. To listen to dialogues from Chapters 4 and 5 about Caterina’s encounters as she buys a ticket and boards a train in Italy, go to the interactive dialogues on our website at learntravelitalian.com/interactive.html.

For more images of Train Travel in Italy, visit our Pinterest site Stella Lucente Italian.

The Cultural Note below, also from the textbook, gives a bit of insight into how the Italian railway system works.
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Cultural Note: Taking the Train in Italy

Taking the train in the Abruzzo region, Italy. — Taking the train through the mountains of Abruzzo in Italy

After Caterina arrives in Italy at Malpensa Airport, about 50 km northwest of Milan, she must then make her way into the city. First, she takes a taxi to the nearby town of Gallarate to get onto the local train system, called Trenitalia (www.raileurope.com/Trenitalia-Italy). This local railway cannot be accessed directly from the Malpensa Airport, but until recently, it was the only way to catch a train after flying into Malpensa. The train line from Gallarate goes to the largest terminal in Milan, the Stazione Centrale. Gallarate can also be reached by bus from Malpensa Airport for a small fee, about 1–2 euros, and buses leave regularly from the airport all day. Of course, there are also bus routes to many other nearby cities from the Malpensa bus terminals, including to Milan, for those who prefer to take a bus for the entire trip.

When at the Gallarate train station, Caterina asks for a train that will take her directly to Stazione Centrale, avoiding the possibility of having to change trains along the way. A typical train ticket from Gallarate to Milan should actually cost less than we have noted in the dialogue, and it takes between 40 and 60 minutes to reach Milan.

A newer, separate train system called the Malpensa Express, which opened in 1999, leaves directly from Malpensa’s Terminal 1, underground floor, every 30 minutes. As the name suggests, this train goes directly into Milan, but it ends at a smaller station, the Stazione Cordona. The Malpensa Express trains are new trains with only first-class seats and luggage areas between compartments. Nonstop trains are available in the mornings and late at night, but during the day, there are a few additional stops along the way to Milan for the 40-minute trip. To learn more about the Malpensa Express trains or to view a train schedule and current ticket prices, go to www.malpensaexpress.it.

In our dialogue, the ticket agent Rosa very kindly reminds Caterina to validate her train ticket before boarding the local train. In Italy, when using the local train system, it is possible to buy an “open” ticket, which can be used at any time within a 2-month period. Stamping each ticket with the date and time before entry on the train prevents this type of ticket from being used more than once. The name of the machine that is used to stamp the date and time onto the ticket is translated by the makers of the machine as a “ticket canceling machine” or macchina obliteratrice. The older machines are yellow, but the new machines now in common use have a green and white face with the Trenitalia logo and name along the top. These small machines are usually found attached to the wall at the entrances of the individual train tracks, which are usually on the lower level of the train station. When referring to what the machine actually does, you can use the verb timbrare, which means to stamp, or convalidare, which means to validate. The verb obliterare, which means to cancel, also means to stamp or to punch when referring to tickets. In effect, all three verbs apply, because the ticket is literally stamped, which validates it for travel, and is canceled for further use at the same time.

After boarding the train, the ticket inspector (il controllore) will come through each car and ask to see each passenger’s ticket. If the date and time have not been stamped on the ticket, that passenger will be asked to pay a cash fine before leaving the train. Signs are sometimes posted on the interior doors of the trains warning of the fine to be paid if the ticket has not been convalidato (validated)—in Italian, with no English translation! Tickets for the Malpensa Express also need to be validated. So remember to look for those little yellow or green and white machines each time you board a train in Italy and stamp your ticket the way Caterina did. It takes only a second but can save a good deal of money!

A word about the other major airports in Italy: Alitalia flights into Milan used to land primarily at Linate Airport, but nowadays, most passenger airlines land in Malpensa, which is the second largest international airport in Italy.

Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport remains the largest international airport in Italy. It is located 26 km west of Rome, and the nearest city is Fiumicino (which is the old name the airport used to go by and is still used for the airport code: FCO). It is very simple to take the train from this airport to downtown Rome. Just follow the signs to the ticket counter, or buy a ticket at the on-site Alitalia office or from an automatic ticket machine. After a 30-minute ride, the train ends at Roma Termini, which is Rome’s central station.

The Marco Polo Airport serves the city of Venice and is on the mainland, near the town of Mestre, just across the lagoon. The major island of Venice (Venezia) is connected by a bridge to the mainland and is served by a local train station and a large bus station. A city bus or taxi can be taken over this bridge directly into Venice from the airport. A taxi ride to the nearby town of Mestre to the train station is possible and will connect you to points north of Venice on the mainland and to the train station in Venice, the Santa Lucia.

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Train Travel in Italy for Your Dream Vacation

Lentil Soup brings a Buon Anno Nuovo!

December 31, 2021Italian and Italian-American RecipesBuon Anno, Buon Anno Nuovo, Free lentil soup recipe, How to make Italian lentil soup, How to make lentil soup, Italian holidays, Italian Lentil soup, Italian Lentils, Italian New Year, Italian New Year recipe, Italian soup recipe, Lentil soup, Zuppz di lenticchieKathryn Occhipinti

Lentil Soup brings a Buon Anno Nuovo!

Lentil Soup brings a Buon Anno Nuovo! Called Zuppa di Lenticchie in Italian, it brings a Happy New Year!

Lentil Soup brings a Buon Anno Nuovo!

Lentil Soup brings a Buon Anno Nuovo! is a partial reprint from a blog originally posted on February 16, 2016, titled: “Italian Recipe: Lentil Soup (Zuppa di Lenticchie).”

In this updated version, I’ve added a note about what type of pasta is traditionally used for this soup and how to chop the vegetables so they are small enough and uniform shape to cook through evenly.

Also…

I’ve since added Instagram to my social media, and have added a video from Instagram to this post so you can see me cooking in real-time! I hope you like it!

For more recipes like these, as well as French recipes, follow me on my Instagram posts at Conversationalitalian.french.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kathryn Occhipinti (@conversationalitalian.french)

And now… the original story!

Lentil soup is said to bring to luck to the family on New Year’s Day. I am not sure if anyone really knows exactly why lentils are supposed to be good luck. Maybe it is because they are shaped like small coins?

Whatever the reason lentils are a preferred dish for the new year, lentils are loved by Italians year round, and make a wonderful, hot, nourishing soup for everyone. Try this recipe, and I think you will agree, even if you’ve never eaten lentils before. Any kind of miniature pasta can be used in this soup. My mother usually breaks regular spaghetti into shorter pieces for her version, although miniature ravioli are fun if you can find them in your local grocery store. For a vegetarian dish, dried ravioli with squash filling, which are pictured in this blog, are a wonderful complement to the lentils.

Warm wishes for a Buon Anno 2022 a tutti!
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Italian Lentil Soup
(Zuppa di Lenticchie)

Recipe for Italian lentil soup — Italian Lentil Soup (Zuppa di Lenticchie)

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion (chopped finely)
2 carrots (chopped finely)
1 stick of celery (chopped finely)
1 package (12 oz.) dried lentils (sorted and rinsed once but not soaked)
1 tsp crushed, dried sage
1 bay leaf
optional: meat stock or broth*
1 can (14.5 oz.) chopped tomatoes
about 6 oz. capellini pasta or dried miniature squash ravioli**

Use a large, wide-bottom pot to make this soup.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and then add the chopped onion, celery, and carrot and cook, stirring, until both have softened a bit.

Add the lentils and cook the vegetables a bit longer, stirring, but do not let the onions brown. (This initial cooking of the lentils is said to harden the skin, so they will not become too mushy. If you like more mushy lentils, skip the sauté and just add the lentils after the rest of the vegetables have become soft . This will also decrease the overall cooking time.)

Add enough water (or meat stock if you have it and do not want a vegetarian dish) to cover the vegetables—about 6–8 cups—the dried sage, and the bay leaf.

Cover and bring to a boil; uncover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes.

After the vegetables have cooked a bit, taste the soup. See how much the lentils have softened, and if they are still hard, cook longer. If they are about soft enough for your liking, proceed as follows:

Add about 1 Tablespoon of salt (to taste; less can be used) and an additional 2–4 cups of water for the pasta that you will soon be adding. Cover and bring soup back to a rolling boil.

When the soup is at a rolling boil, add the chopped tomatoes and the tomato juice from the can and the pasta. Dried, miniature ravioli with squash filling were used for this blog originally, as pictured above the recipe. Traditional pasta for this dish is capellini pasta, cut into short pieces, as shown in the Instagram video. Any small pasta will do, though, such as ditalini pasta or even miniature ravioli or tortellini.

Cook until the pasta is “al dente” or “to the tooth.”

Remember to remove the bay leaf before serving!

Enjoy with crusty Italian bread on a cold winter’s day!

*Italian “meat stock or broth” is often composed of whatever bones and small pieces of meat are left over from the night before—chicken and pork bones can be combined, for instance, or just one or the other used. When I make this soup for my family, it is usually with pork chop bones and meat left over from Monday night’s dinner. Adding homemade meat broth gives the soup a nice added complexity.

**The dried ravioli used for the dish pictured was the “La Piana” brand imported from Italy, “ravioli with squash filling,” which also adds a nice bit of flavor to the dish. Here are some links to help you find this pasta in the United States: Italian Foods Corporation, La Piana Italian foods Facebook page, Pennsylvania Macaroni Food Company.

Squash ravioli box — Italian dried squash ravioli used in the Lentil soup pictured above the recipe.

How to Chop Vegetables
Carrots: Cut lengthwise to half, and then lengthwise again to get quarters. Line them up side by side and then cut crosswise from the tips to the base of the carrot to get small, even pieces that look like quarters of a circle.
Celery: Cut lengthwise through each celery stalk as many times as needed to give pieces the same thickness as the carrot pieces. (You will need more lengthwise cuts at the thicker part of the celery near the base.) Then cut crosswise from the tip to the base to get small, rectangular pieces of celery about the same size as the carrot pieces.
Onions: Cut lengthwise through the onion. Turn one of the halves flat side down. Holding the onion together with one hand, cut lengthwise along the green lines through the onion, except for the root holding the onion together at the base. Turn and cut horizontally, from the side away from the stem toward the stem. Just before reaching the stem, flip the onion flat again and make the final cuts. Discard the piece that contains the stem.

—Kathryn Occhipinti

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Lentil Soup Brings a Buon Anno Nuovo!

Use “Prendere” to Speak Italian Like a Native

October 9, 2021Let's Learn Italian!Conjugate Italian verbs, Conjugate Prendere in Italian, Conversational Italian, Conversational Italian for Travelers books, How to conjugate prendere, How to use prendersi, How to use the past participle preso, How use prendere in the past tense, Italian Language, Italian verbs, learn Italian, Learn Italian language, Meanings of Prendere, Past participle of Prendere, Prendere in conversation, Prendere in Italian conversation, Speak Italian, Stella Lucente, The many meanings of PrendereKathryn Occhipinti

Use “Prendere” to Speak Italian Like a Native

Speak Italian like a native when you use the Italian verb “Prendere”!

In this blog, “Use ‘Prendere’ to Speak Italian Like a Native, “ we will focus on how and when to use the Italian verb prendere during daily conversation. This is the second topic in a new series, and I will try to post an in-depth analysis of a different Italian verb every few months.

The heart of any language is its verbs. Too often, language teachers focus on verb conjugation drills and provide a few example sentences, assuming that the student then has the tools he or she needs to communicate. Although many Italian verbs have similar meanings to those in English, and it is sometimes easy to transition between English and Italian during conversation, other times the use of an Italian verb will vary from its English counterpart. I believe that to speak fluently in any language it is important to have an in-depth understanding of how each verb is used in real life situations.

In which situation will one verb commonly be chosen over another? How will the point one is making change depending on the verb chosen? How will the meaning of the chosen verb change with use of the reflexive counterpart of the verb? This information must be studied and understood so it can be easily accessible when it comes time to have a conversation. Since this information is not commonly found in text books, I have decided to make it the focus of a blog series.

“Prendere,” the Italian verb that means “to take” and is one of those verbs that is important to “take seriously” if one wants to use it correctly.

Enjoy the second topic in this series: Use “Prendere” to Speak Italian Like a Native.

—Kathryn Occhipinti

Special thanks to Italian instructor Maria Vanessa Colapinto.

Parts of this blog have been reposted from Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! – “The Many Uses of the Italian Verb “Prendere” from Conversational Italian! a blog by the same author.

Speak Italian Like a Native:

Italian Verb Prendere

Prendere most commonly means “to take,” but can also be translated as “to bring,” “to pick up,” “to get,” or “to buy/acquire.”

The past participle preso can also be used to describe liking someone or something a lot. This use stretches the meaning of prendere a bit, but there is a similar expression in English — being “taken with” someone — that also expresses the same idea.

In its reflexive form, prendersi is used to convey how a person can “catch/come down with” an illness.

When you are able to visit Italy, use prendere when ordering food in a restaurant to really sound like a native!

Prendere is also commonly used by Italians in reference to earning money, taking medicine, or being “overtaken” by an emotional or physical condition.

Finally, the Italian expressions for “to tease” and “to sunbathe” use prendere. As you can see, this verb is used in many ways in Italian!

The present tense, familiar imperative (command) tense, and future tenses of prendere have a regular conjugation, and are used frequently in daily conversation.

Prendere is also commonly used in the past tense in order to describe what we “took,” “brought,” “picked up,” “got,” or “caught.”

To describe a one-time event that occurred in the past with prendere, we will most often use the helping verb avere (to have) with the irregular past participle preso. For conversation, we will focus on the io and tu forms. We can begin a statement with the io form, such as, “Ho preso…” for “I took…” We can ask questions with the tu form by simply stating, “Hai preso…?”

In the expressions that describe the subject “liking,” or “being taken with” a person or a thing, essere (to be) is used as verb that links the subject with the past participle preso.

The passato prossimo for the reflexive verb prendersi needs the helping verb essere, as do all reflexive Italian verbs. Remember to leave out the subject pronoun io when you want to say, “Mi sono preso un raffredore ieri.” (I caught a cold yesterday.) And, of course, when using essere as the helping verb with prendere, remember our usual rule for past participles: if you are female, or your subject is a group of people, make sure to change the past participle preso to presa, presi, or prese!

Examples follow below for the many ways to use the Italian verb prendere:

1. Use prendere to describe the act of “taking,” “bringing” or “picking up” something

In order to direct someone to take something and put it in a different place, use prendere. This includes when the object is on the ground or resting on another object, and you must literally “pick it up” from that place.
When directing someone to take something in Italian, it is important to use the command form of prendere, which has the same “i” ending as the tu form in the present tense. (To use the familiar command form, just use the present tense subjunctive mood ending. The familiar command form will not be used in our examples, but more information can be found at Italian Subjunctive (Part 7): Italian Subjunctive Commands).
Remember that for events in the recent future, Italians use the present tense. To emphasize that something will happen for sure in the recent future or well into the future, use the future tense.
Notice that in the past tense we must use avere as the helping verb with the irregular past participle preso to describe what we “took,” “brought,” or “picked up.”

“Prendi quella roba che nessuno vuole e mettila lì!”

“Take that stuff that no one wants and put it there!”

“Prendi il vino a tavola per cena!” (Porta il vino a tavola.)

“Take/Bring the wine to the table for dinner!”

“Quando faccio la spesa domani, prendo la tua macchina. Non voglio camminare con troppi bagagli pesanti.

“When I go grocery shopping tomorrow, I (will take) your car. I don’t want to walk with so many heavy bags.

Prenderò tante cose da portare alla famiglia quando viaggerò in America tra cinque anni.

I will take many things to bring to the family when I travel to America in 5 years.

“Prendi il piatto che tu hai lasciato cadere per terra!

“Pick up the plate that you let drop on the floor!”

“Prendo tutta la spazzatura nella tua stanza e la butto via domani.”

” I will pick up all the garbage in your room and throw it out tomorrow.”

“Hai preso il vino da portare alla nonna per la cena?”

“Did you take the wine to bring to grandma for dinner ieri?”

“Si, ho preso una buona bottiglia di vino specialmente per la nonna ieri sera.”

“Yes, I took/brought a nice bottle of wine especially for grandma last night.”

2. Use prendere to describe “picking up” someone

Use prendere with the verb passare when you want to “pass by” and “pick someone up.” As we’ve already seen in our blog about passare, these two verbs are combined to make the important every day expression “passare a prendere,” which means “to pick (someone) up.” The reference now-a-days is usually to driving in a car, but the same expression could be used when taking someone on a walk.
In the examples given below, the pronouns ti and mi are given in red to demonstrate that they are attached to the end of prendere.

“Passerò/Passo a prenderti alle otto.”

“I will (pass by and) pick you up at 8 AM.”

Grazie! Passa a prendermi alle otto! Sto aspettando!

Thanks! Pick me up at eight. I (will be) waiting!

Side note: if you want to ask someone to “pick you up” from a particular place, venire is used with prendere:

“Può venire alla stazione a prendermi?”

“Can you (polite) come to the station and get me?”

3. Use prendere when describing what food you would like to order/eat

“Prendo un piatto di spaghetti per il primo piatto.”

“I will take (have) a plate of spaghetti for the first course.“

“Stammatina prendo un buon caffè prima di andare al lavoro.”

“This morning I will take (have) a good (cup of) coffee before going to work.”

“Dai, prendi l’ultima fetta di pane!”

“Come on, take the last slice of bread!”

“Che cosa vuole prendere per dolce, signore?”

“What would you like to have (take) for dessert, sir?”

4. Use prendere to describe the act of taking medicine

“Devo prendere una pillola ogni mattina per l’ipertenzione .” “I have to take one pill every morning for hypertension.”

5. Use prendere to describe buying, acquiring or earning something

“Ho preso un chilo di mele ieri dal fruttivendolo in piazza.”

“I bought a kilogram of apples yesterday from the fruit vendor in the piazza.”

Lui ha preso la casa per pochi soldi la settimana scorsa.

He aqcuired (bought) the house for very little money last week.

“Ho preso cinquanta euro al lavoro iera sera.”

“I earned 50 euros at work last night.”

Lui non ha preso molti soldi l’anno scorsa a vendere le scarpe.

He did not earn much money last year selling shoes.

6. Use the past participle preso with these expressions to describe liking something or someone a lot.

The phrase “Sono preso da…” is similar to the phrase “Sono innamorato di…” and conveys the ideas of “I really like/I’m in love with…”
Other Italian expressions that describe the different ways we can like someone are: “Sono cotto di…” ” I have a crush on…” and “Sono colpito da…” “I am impressed with..”
Notice that some of these phrases take the conjunction da, while others use the conjunction di.
To form the past tense for these phrases, we must add the past participle of essere, which is stato, and change the ending of stato to (a,i,e) as necessary to reflect the gender and number of the subject.

“Sono preso(a) da questo libro.”

“I like this book a lot.” (I am really taken with this book.)

“Sono preso(a) da te.”

“I like you a lot!” (“I am really taken by you!”)

“Sono stato(a) preso da questo libro.”

“I liked this book a lot.” (I was really taken with this book.)

“Sono stato(a) preso da te.”

“I liked you a lot!” (“I was really taken by you!”)

“Io e Anna siamo presi molto l’uno dall’altra.”

“Ann and I (we) like each other very much.”

Anna e Michele non sono presi molto l’uno dall’altra.

Ann and Michael (they) don’t like each other very much.

Side note: if you want to describe how someone or something has so enthralled or dazzled you, in effect “blinding you” literally or figuratively (abbiagliarsi) so that you make a mistake, use the expression prendere un abbaglio.

“Ha preso un abbaglio.”

“I made a mistake.”

7. Use prendersi to describe getting sick, as in “catching a cold,” or “coming down with” an illness

Remember the Italian use of reflexive verbs to indicate “to get” in English. If you would like to review this topic, check out our blog How to Say “To Get” in Italian.

“Mi sono preso un brutto raffredore improvvisamente.”

“I caught a bad cold all of a sudden.”

“Mi sono preso l’influenza ieri.”

“I came down with the flu yesterday.”

8. Use prendere to describe “being overtaken” by an emotion or sickness, and prendersela when offended/angered

“Sono stato preso(a) da un grand tristezza quando ho incontrato il mio amore perduto.”

“I was overtaken by a great sadness when I met my lost love again.“

Me la sono presa con te ieri sera durante la riunone!

I was offended by you last night during the meeting!

9. Two more common phrases that use prendere

Prendere in giro = to make fun of, to tease

Mio fratello maggiore mi prende sempre in giro. My big brother is always teasing me. Non mi prendere in giro! (negative command) Don’t make fun of me!

Prendere il sole = to sunbathe

Oggi prendo il sole sulla spiaggia per tutta la mattina. Today I will sunbathe on the beach all morning.

Remember how to use the Italian verb prendere in conversation and I guarantee you will use this verb every day!

And remember to study our Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs” book if you want more real life examples of all the important Italian verbs you will need to know!
Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs” book to learn Italian.

Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area. “Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Join my Conversational Italian! Facebook group and follow me on Twitter at StellaLucente@travelitalian1 and start to learn Italian today for FREE! Conversational Italian! Facebook Group Tweet @travelitalian1 for Stella Lucente Italian

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Use “Prendere” to Speak Italian Like a Native

Capresi and Panzanella Salads with Tomatoes and Cucumbers from Your Garden!

September 16, 2021Italian and Italian-American RecipesAbout Italian tomato salads, Bronzino's Panzanella Salad, Buffalo mozzarella, Capresi Salad, Italian cucumber salads, Italian tomato salad recipe, Italian tomato salads, Panzanella Salad, Panzanella salad with cucumbers, Panzanella salad with tomatoes, tomato saladKathryn Occhipinti

Capresi and Panzanella Salads with Tomatoes and Cucumbers!

Capresi and Panzanella salads are best with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from your garden!

Capresi and Panzanella Salads with Tomatoes and Cucumbers from Your Garden!

Capresi and Panzanella Salads with Tomatoes and Cucumbers from Your Garden is a partial reprint from a blog originally posted on July 28, 2019, titled: “Caprese and Panzanella Salads with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil.”

Need I mention that as an Italian-American tomatoes are always the focus of my Italian summer vegetable garden? And of course, at harvest time I love to make traditional Italian Caprese and Panzanella salads!

I plant several heirloom tomato varieties every spring from the family-run nursery I’ve found where I live now in Chicagoland. Late in the summer, when all the varieties have ripened, I love mixing the the deep red tomatoes with golden yellow tomatoes to make a traditional Carpese salad. You can read all about the best method to make this salad in the reprinted blog below.

You can also read about a method to make Panzanella salad in my original blog on Italian tomato and basil salads, although my family did not make Panzanella salad when I was growing up. As an adult, I had tried this salad in in restaurants and thought it a nice change from the usual Caprese salad, so I added it to my post. Caprese and Panzanella salads, I thought, were the two important Italian tomato dishes. Recently, I learned from a blog by Emiko Davies titled “Bronzino’s Panzanella,” that Panzanella salad is indeed a popular and traditional Italian salad in Tuscany, mentioned by the great Italian writer of the Decameron, Giovanni Bronzino in a poem, prior to the appearance of tomatoes in Italy.

We can assume that Panzanella salad started out as a way to use up old bread, as stale Tuscan bread lends itself well to being softened with a sprinkle of water. A little red onion, perhaps some basil, and olive oil and red wine vinegar might have been all an Italian housewife had available to lend some flavor her bread salad. According to the recipe provided by Bronzino, cucumbers and even some arugula could be added to magically turn the bounty of summer into a crunchy and refreshing summer treat.

Serendipitously, I had been growing Armenian cucumbers in my garden for the very first time this year, when I came across Davies’ blog. When I read about Bronzino’s version of Panzanella salad, I made it myself and posted the result on Instagram on Conversationalitalian.french.

Panzanella salad made Bronzino’s way, with cucumbers, was truly a revelation. The seeds of the Armenian cucumber were easy to remove from the center of the vegetable, and without the skin this variety of cucumber was light, crunchy, and flavorful. There are no real proportions to this salad; use as much reconstituted bread as you like and as much cucumber and other ingredients as you have on hand. Now THAT’s Italian!

Read the reprinted blog below for the best methods to make Caprese and Panzanella Salad with tomatoes!

Also…

I’ve posted below the image with the method for Panzanella Salad with cucumbers!

For more recipes like these, as well as French recipes, follow me on my Instagram posts at Conversationalitalian.french.

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And now… the original story!

Caprese and Panzanella Salads

Making Caprese and Panzanella salads entails following a couple of simple methods, using whatever you have on hand, rather than following a strict recipe step by step. However, it is best to come as close as possible to the recommended ingredients, as the ingredients themselves will be the stars of each dish.

For the most mouth-watering Caprese salad imaginable, use fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes and soft, fresh buffalo mozzarella. In fact, do not make this salad if you do not have a soft, buffalo mozzarella, as this is the mozzarella that is used in the island of Capri, just outside Naples, where the salad originated. The hard mozzarella is for cooking, as it melts easily; it is too rubbery to be eaten with the soft, vine-ripened tomatoes and will not meld with the tomato juices and olive oil properly.

Coarse sea salt adds extra flavor to the tomatoes and will draw out their juices to meld with the olive oil for the dressing. Top all with a generous drizzle of your favorite pungent or fruity, extra-virgin olive oil from Italy, rather than the a more bland olive oil that you would use for cooking on the stove top.

A note about extra-virgin olive oils: A truly fresh extra-virgin olive oil will have a bit of a peppery flavor. Most olive oils sold in the US are old enough to have lost this peppery overtone, but will retain varying degrees of fruitiness and grassiness. Taste a few first press, 100% extra-virgin olive oils from different regions of Italy and you will be surprised at the nuances in flavor each brings!

For Panzanella salad, which probably originated as a clever way to use up day-old, stale bread with red onion for flavor, be sure to use a crusty loaf of good* Italian bread that is at least two days old and has dried out and hardened. Bread that has become stale naturally will need to be sprinkled with water to soften a bit prior to making this salad. Place the bread in a small bowl and sprinkle it with water the morning before you are planning to make the salad. The end result should not leave the bread mushy; the bread should spring back to life after the water is added if you are truly working with real Italian bread. If the crust is still too hard, it can be removed. Remember that the bread will continue to soften when it is combined with the vinegar and tomato juice when you make the salad.

If you want to make Panzanella salad with fresh Italian bread, you can always cut it into slices and dry it out in the oven just enough to be crunchy, or even add a bit of olive oil and brown it a bit to make croutons.

Panzanella salad originally did not contain mozzarella, but I like to include buffalo mozzerella in small pieces (bocconcini are nice), even though this is not traditional.

And, of course, large, sweet, fresh basil leaves from the garden are an essential ingredient for both Caprese and Panzanella salads!

But, whatever ingredients you have on hand, I’m sure you will enjoy these simple and refreshing tomato and basil salads on a hot summer day! -Kathyn Occhipinti

*Good Italian bread means Italian bread made in a bakery with the correct flour and cooked so that it has the proper, crunchy crust and soft but chewy texture. Only bread that has a good texture to begin with will “spring back” to life when you sprinkle it with water! Do not attempt Panzanella salad with cheap, grocery store bread labeled “Italian bread,” which will usually have a very soft grain and often even a soft crust and turn to mush when moistened again with water. And of course, no American “white bread” please! -Kathryn Occhipinti

Panzanella Salad

Ingredients
(Serves 1-4)

Dry Italian bread, cubed, or large croutons
Sprinkle the dried Italian bread with water to soften
(see comments about the proper bread to use above)

1-2 large, vine-ripened tomato, cut into small wedges
or several cherry tomatoes, halved
sprinkle lightly with sea salt

1/2 red onion, sliced thinly into crescents

Extra-virgin Italian olive oil
Italian red wine vinegar

Mozzarella, preferably soft, cubed or small bocconcini (optional)
Large, freshly picked basil leaves, hand torn

Method

In a large dish, combine small wedges of fresh tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes and dry Italian bread (as pre-processed as above) and red onions.

Drizzle on extra virgin Italian olive oil and red wine vinegar and combine. Make sure the bread has softened enough to be edible. If not, you may want to let the ingredients sit for a bit before finishing the salad.

Then add the optional mozzarella and torn basil leaves.

Mix gently.

Taste and drizzle with extra olive oil and vinegar if needed.

Mix again gently to combine all and enjoy!

Caprese Salad

Tomato, basil and mozzarella caprese salad — Italian Caprese Salad, with layers of tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil leaves ready to share

Ingredients
(Serves 1-4)

3 large, vine-ripened tomatoes,
(each a different color to add interest;
heirloom tomatoes if desired)
Sea salt

Fresh buffalo mozzarella, sliced
Large, whole, freshly picked basil leaves
Extra-virgin olive oil from Italy

Method

In an individual or large dish, create colorful layers of tomato slices (sprinkled with sea salt), mozzarella slices, and basil leaves.

If making in a large plate of Caprese salad for a crowd, have the tomato and mozzarella slices lengthwise once they are assembled and place a piece of mozzarella in the center to create a “flower” pattern, as in the picture above. Decorate with extra basil.

Let sit for about 15 minutes for the tomato juices to develop. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.

Serve with Italian bread to mop up the tomato juices and enjoy!

Check out my Instagram post if you’d like to see me actively making a Caprese salad that can be shared by two people. Remember, the correct choice of ingredients is the key to this simple “salad. A touch of sea-salt to bring the juices out of the tomatoes that provide the acid for the “vinaigrette” and a drizzle of your favorite extra-virgin olive oil makes an exquisite summertime treat!

— by Kathryn Occhipinti

YouTube videos to learn Italian are available from © Stella Lucente, LLC.
Learn Conversational Italian.

Capresi and Panzanella Salads with Tomatoes and Cucumbers from Your Garden

Pesto alla Genovese with Gnocchi: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Making Pesto!

July 25, 2021Italian and Italian-American RecipesAuthentic Genovese Basil, Authentic Pesto Recipe, Authentic Pesto recipe from Genoa, Basil, Basil grown in Liguria, Best method for making pesto, Best Pesto method, Free Italian recipe, Free Pesto Recipe, Genovese Basil, Gnocchi recipe, Growing basil, History of Pesto, Italian Pesto recipe, Making Pesto, Pesto alla GenoveseKathryn Occhipinti

Pesto alla Genovese with Gnocchi: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Making Pesto!

Pesto alla Genovese is a method that has withstood the test of time!

Pesto alla Genovese with Gnocchi: Everything You Always Wanted to Know!

Pesto alla Genovese with Gnocchi: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Making Pesto! is a partial reprint from a blog originally posted on October 11, 2017, titled: “Pesto alla Genovese Meets American Aquaponic Farming in Chicago.”

This summer I have had the usual bumper crop of fresh basil leaves from the basil plants in large pots that I keep in a sunny position in my garden and provide with an abundance of water. The plants started to go to seed — make the green and white column of flowers at the end of each stalk — by mid June. So, I dutifully cut back my basil: at first just the flowers, then the stalks with the flowers, and then in mid July did a hard ct-back, taking both stalks and leaves, leaving about 50% of each plant. This will enable the basil plants in the pots to keep growing new stalks with new basil leaves, hopefully into August. (For more information about how to grow basil, visit my Instagram, Conversationalitalian.french.)

This procedure left me with an abundance of basil stalks and leaves, which luckily love to create new roots in a vase of water and will last a few weeks or even a month. I also love to make pesto at least 2-3 times a summer when I have an abundance of fresh basil leaves.

There is truly nothing like the fresh aroma of newly crushed basil over a warm bowl of pasta. And best of all, my children love it!

Read the reprinted blog below to learn “everything you always wanted to know” about making pesto. I give a short history about my experiences trying to make basil, the best (Genovese) basil plant to use and the theory behind the method. I have included a video in the original blog about how to use a marble mortar and wooden pestle — essential equipment — no food processors, please!

Finally, at the end of this blog I have reprinted the recipe with the proportion of basil, garlic and cheeses that I like. Try my method and modify the ratio of ingredients for your family!

Also…

I’ve since added Instagram to my social media, and have added a video from Instagram to this post so you can see me creating pesto in real-time! I hope you like it!

For more recipes like these, as well as French recipes, follow me on my Instagram posts at Conversationalitalian.french.

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A post shared by Kathryn Occhipinti (@conversationalitalian.french)

And now… the original story!

Pesto alla Genovese is the famous bright green “pasta sauce” from the northern Italian region of Liguria, whose capital is the city of Genoa. My introduction to pesto, which was not a part of my southern Italian upbringing, was from one of those little glass jars I found in a grocery store in Peoria, Illinois. The jar had been labeled “pesto” by an Italian company. Back then, I was trying to learn to cook true Italian “regional” cooking and specifically to expand my sauce-making techniques beyond the ubiquitous and well-loved southern Italian red tomato sauce. Read the full post here: Pasta alla Genovese.
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Italian Recipe: Kathryn’s Pesto alla Genovese
con Gnocchi

Ingredients and tools needed for making Pesto alla Genovese: Mortar and pestle as it is being used, olive oil, cheese, basil leaves — Pesto alla Genovese: Ingredients needed are shown as they are slowly ground together in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle.

Ingredients for Italian Recipe
Kathryn’s Pesto alla Genovese
(Serves 4)

Small leaves from 1 small sweet basil plant (Genovese basil is best!)
(about 3 cups of lightly packed leaves, rinsed, patted dry, stems removed)
1 to 2 small garlic cloves, peeled, halved lengthwise
(and bitter green center removed if present)
2 tablespoons Italian pine nuts
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cups of extra virgin olive oil, from Liguria, if possible

If desired: Prosciutto to line the bowl of gnocchi and pesto dressing for serving.

Method for the Pesto

Note: Before starting, set a large pot of well-salted water on the stove to boil, and cook your pasta or gnocchi to “al dente” tenderness (“to the tooth). Time the pasta so it finishes cooking just before the pesto is complete. Keep in mind that fresh pasta and gnocchi will take far less time to cook than dried pasta.

Put the garlic cloves into the mortar with a few grains of salt and begin to crush. Add the pine nuts and continue to crush into a smooth paste.
Remove the garlic/pine nut mixture from the mortar to a small bowl.
Put a few of the basil leaves and a few grains of salt into the mortar and begin to crush, using the method shown in the link to the video in this blog post.
As the basil leaves become crushed and release their essential oils, add a few more. Continue to crush the leaves, adding a few at a time, until all are crushed fairly uniformly.
Add whatever salt is left to the crushed basil leaves, the garlic/pine nut mixture, and then drizzle in a bit of olive oil. Combine.
Add the cheeses and a bit more olive oil. Combine.
Drizzle in the rest of the olive oil while continuously stirring the garlic/pine nut/ crushed basil/cheese mixture until a creamy dressing has formed.
Reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons of pasta water and mix into the pesto to warm.
Quickly drain the pasta and put the warm pasta into a large serving bowl.
Dress with your pesto, mix to coat, and serve immediately!

If desired, as in the Instagram video above, line a large bowl with prosciutto and carefully added your pesto dressed gnocchi. Allow gnocchi to warm the prosciutto a bit, and then serve. This idea from John Coletta’, chef of Quartino Restaurant in Chicago, in his cook book titled: “250 True Italian Pasta Dishes.”

A large bowl lined with prosciutto slices and filled with gnocchi that have been tossed to coat with pesto dressing. This presentation is courtesy of John Coletta, chef of Quartino Restaurant in Chicago.

If you would like to preserve your pesto rather than use it right away, it can be frozen in small plastic containers. Top off with a small amount of olive oil. Leave a small amount of room in the container for the liquid to expand and then cover.

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Pesto alla Genovese with Gnocchi: Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know about Making Pesto!

Stare per: “To be about to” in Italian

March 31, 2021Let's Learn Italian!Doing something right now in Italian, How to "be about to" in Italian, How to say you are doing something "right now" in Italian, How to use stare in Italian, How to use stare per, Italian language learning, Italian verb stare, learn Italian, Learn Italian language, Present progressive in Italian, Stare and gerund, Stare imperfetto, To be about to do something in Italian, To be about to with stare perKathryn Occhipinti

Stare Per: “To be about to” in Italian

Use “stare per” when speaking in Italian to let someone know you are “about to” do something!

In this blog, “Stare per: ‘To be about to’ in Italian “ we will focus on how to conjugate and use the Italian verb and preposition combination stare per. This verb combination is the way Italians let others know they are “about to” do something.

The heart of any language is its verbs. I believe that to speak fluently in any language, it is important to have an in-depth understanding of how each verb is used in real life situations. And what can be more important than telling the one you love how special they are to you?

Enjoy the third topic in my blog series about Italian verbs: Stare per: “To be about to” in Italian. —Kathryn Occhipinti

Special thanks to Italian instructor Maria Vanessa Colapinto.

Parts of this blog have been reposted from Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! – “To be about to” with Stare per’ from Conversational Italian! a blog by the same author. Check out this blog as well if you are interested in phrases to use every day!

Stare per — “to be about to” in Italian

As we’ve seen in a previous blog about the verb stare, although the direct translation of stare is “to stay,” over the centuries stare has also taken on the meaning of “to be” with respect to one’s general health. The verb stare is often used in other ways as well. For instance, with the addition of the preposition per, the “stare per” combination conveys the meaning “to be about to.”

Stare is an –are verb that has an irregular root in the tu and loro forms. In the table below, the regular conjugations of stare are given in green and the irregular forms in brown, in order to make them easier to recognize. The stare conjugation table has been modified from our first blog on this topic to reflect the different meaning with the addition of the preposition per after the verb.

Stare per – to be about to

io	sto per	I am about to
tu	stai per	you (familiar) are about to
Lei lei/lui	sta per	you (polite) are about to she/he is about to

noi	stiamo per	we are about to
voi	state per	you all are about to
loro	stanno per	they are about to

Once we have stare conjugated to reflect the speaker, the rest is easy! Simply follow the conjugated form of stare with per and then the infinitive form of the verb that describes what you are “about to” do.

What are some things we may be “about to” do during the course of the day? The actions of going to or returning from a place are very common. For instance, if I were “about to” go to the store to pick up some wine for dinner, and want to inform a family member, the line may go something like this:

Sto per andare a comprare una bottiglia di vino. Preferisci rosso o bianco?
I am about to go to buy a bottle of wine. Do you prefer red or white?

Or, maybe your friend is putting on his coat, as if he were about to leave a gathering. Instead, you would like him to stay. You may say something like this (using the familiar command form of restare):

Stai per partire? È troppo presto! Resta qui un ora di più con me!
Are you about to leave? It’s very early! Stay here an hour longer with me!

We can continue in this manner with the other verbs of “coming and going” like arrivare (to arrive), venire (to come), entrare (to enter), tornare (to return), or rientrare (to come back).

There are many other daily activities that come to mind where stare per may be useful. We are often “about to” say (dire) something important, or “about to” answer (rispondere) a question. We may be “about to” write (scrivere), send (mandare), or read (leggere) an important text or email.

After hearing sad news, we may be about to cry (stare per mettersi a piangere).

Several commonly used verb combinations given above have been listed in the table below. How many more can you think of?

Stare per andare	About to go
Stare per partire	About to leave
Stare per arrivare	About to arrive
Stare per venire	About to come
Stare per entrare	About to enter
Stare per tornare	About to return
Stare per rientrare	About to come back
Stare per dire	About to say
Stare per rispondere	About to answer
Stare per scivere	About to write
Stare per mandare	About to send
Stare per leggere	About to read
Stare per mettersi a piangere	About to cry

*******************************

Now that we know how to say what we are about to do in the present tense, let’s go one a step further and talk about the past tense. In fact, many of the phrases listed in the last section are more commonly used in the past tense during a normal conversation.

For instance, the phrase, “I was about to say…” is often used when one speaker has interrupted another. “I was about to answer…!” might be used if one feels pressured into saying something too quickly. Or, is one is telling a story about an unfortunate event that has happened to a friend, this story might involve the sentence, “He/she was about to cry…”

In these cases, we have to conjugate stare in the past tense. The imperfetto conjugation is given below. The rest of the sentence structure remains the same!

Stare imperfetto per — was about to

io	stavo per	I was about to
tu	stavi per	you (familiar) were about to
Lei lei/lui	stava per	you (polite) were about to she/he was about to

noi	stavamo per	we were about to
voi	stavate per	you all were about to
loro	stavano per	they were about to

Stavo per dire la stessa cosa!
I was about to say the same thing!

Stavo per rispondere, ma non mi hai dato il tempo!
I was about to answer, but you didn’t give me time!

Stava per mettersi a piangere quando le ho detto che nonna è in ospitale.
She was about to cry when I told her that grandma is in the hospital.

*******************************

Another important use for the verb stare is to convey the idea that one is doing something right now. Stare plus the gerund of an action verb creates the present progressive form. In English, the present progressive is the “ing” form of a verb — I am going, coming, doing, etc.

In Italian, the present progressive tense is used sparingly; it is reserved for a happening that is going on at the exact same time as the conversation. In short, where in English we commonly say “I am going,” to mean we will leave anywhere from one minute later to sometime in the near future, in Italian, a simple, “Io vado,” will suffice. To stress that he or she is leaving momentarily, an Italian might instead use stare say, “Sto andando,”** but either tense is correct.

To form the present progressive tense, simply conjugate stare to reflect the speaker. Then add the gerund of the action verb that is to follow.

It is fairly simple to create a gerund to create the present progressive tense in Italian. Drop the -are, -ere, and -ire verb endings to create the stem. Then add –ando to the stem of the -are verbs and -endo to the stem of the -ere and -ire verbs. Most gerunds are regular, which generally makes for easy conjugation, although, of course, there are some exceptions! For more information on this verb type, check out our reference book, Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs.”

Let’s take a few of our example sentences one step further, from being “about to” do something, to actually doing it “right away.” Notice how the different use of stare changes the meaning of each sentence!

Sto andando a comprare una bottiglia di vino.
I am going (right now) to buy a bottle of wine.

Il treno per Roma sta partendo!
The train for Rome is leaving (right now)!

Stavo dicendo la stessa cosa!
I was (just) saying the same thing!

Stavo rispondendo, ma mi hai interrotto!
I was answering, but you interrupted me!

A couple more points…

*Another common way to convey you are leaving right away is with the phrase, “Me ne vado,” from the verb andarsene, but this is a topic for another blog!

*Instead of saying, “Sto arrivando,” for “I’m coming right now,” Italians commonly say, “Arrivo!”

Cover of Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Verbs book resting on an Italian red-checkered tablecloth — Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs” book to learn Italian. Fina an introduction to the Italian subjunctive mood in this book.

Stare per – “To be about to” in Italian

Valentines Day Sayings in Italian with “Sentirsi”

February 1, 2021Let's Learn Italian!How to say how you feel in Italian, How to say I feel with sentirsi, How to say I love you in Italian, How to say where you are from in Italian, Italian verb sentirsi, San Valentino, Sayings for Valentines Day in Italian, Sayings from San Valentino, sentire vs. sentirsi, special Italian sayings for Valentines day, Valentines Day, Valentines Day Phrases in Italian, Valentines Day Sayings in Italian, Valentines Day SentimentsKathryn Occhipinti

Valentines Day Sayings in Italian with “Sentirsi”

Valentines Day Sayings for the one you love with the Italian verb “Sentirsi” !

In this blog, “Valentines Day Sayings in Italian with Sentirsi, “ we will focus on how to conjugate and use the Italian verb sentirsi when talking to your speacial someone on Valentines Day. Or, any day, for that matter!

Enjoy the second topic in my blog series about Italian verbs: Valentines Day Sayings in Italian with Sentirsi. —Kathryn Occhipinti

Special thanks to Italian instructor Maria Vanessa Colapinto.

Parts of this blog have been reposted from Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! – “How to Say ‘I feel…’ on Valentines Day with ‘Sentirsi'” from Conversational Italian! a blog by the same author. Check out this blog as well if you are interested in phrases to use every day!

Valentines Day Sayings in Italian:

Italian Verb Sentirsi

Conjugation:

The verb sentirsi means “to feel” in Italian and therefore sentirsi is the verb Italians use to describe their deepest emotions.

You will immediately notice from the -si ending that sentirsi is a reflexive verb. English, on the other hand, does not consider “feeling” a reflexive activity; so when we English speakers put our emotions into words, we do not use a reflexive verb. Because of this important difference, we will really have to learn how to think in Italian to express our feelings with sentirsi!

Learning how to use the verb sentirsi is really not all that tricky, though, once you understand the general idea of how to conjugate a reflexive verb. Just remember to add one of the reflexive pronouns (mi, ti, si, ci, vi, si) before the conjugated form of sentirsi. Then finish the sentence by saying how you feel, just as you would in English.

Sentirsi has been conjugated in full in the table below. Sentirsi is a regular -ire verb, so its conjugations are presented in green. The reflexive pronouns that go with each conjugation are in blue. Since we do not use reflexive pronouns with the equivalent verb “to feel” in English, the Italian reflexive pronouns will not appear in the translation.

Sentirsi – to feel

io	mi sento	I feel
tu	ti senti	you (familiar) feel
Lei lei/lui	si sente	you (polite) feel she/he feels

noi	ci sentiamo	we feel
voi	vi sentite	you all feel
loro	si sentono	they feel

*******************************

Sentirsi vs. Stare

People across the globe commonly talk about how they are feeling. and Italians are no different! Let’s try to use our newly conjugated Italian verb sentirsi by creating some simple sentences to describe how we may feel.

From the table above, we can see that the common statement, “I feel…” is, “Io mi sento…” But, of course, we always leave out the Italian subject pronoun, so the phrase that Italians use is conversation is just, “Mi sento…” To complete the phrase, just add how you are feeling after the verb!

One way to use the verb sentirsi in conversation is to say, “Mi sento bene!” which means, “I feel well!” (Notice Italians do not say, “I feel good,” which is actually grammatically incorrect, although we say this in English all of the time.) If we remember how to use our reflexive verbs, we know that if we want to ask someone how they are feeling, we can simply say, “Ti senti bene?” “Are you feeling well?” (By the way, if you need a review of Italian reflexive verbs, please see previous blogs on this topic or our Conversational Italian for Travelers book, “Just the Important Verbs.”)

To have a conversation with one person about another person’s health, we can use the same phrase to relay a fact or to ask a question: “Si sente bene.” “He/she is feeling well.” “Si sente bene?” “Is he/she feeling well?”

(Io) Mi sento bene. (Io) Non mi sento bene. (Io) Mi sento male.	I feel well. I don’t feel well. I don’t feel well.

(Tu) Ti senti bene.	Do you feel well?
(Lei/Lui) Si sente bene.	She/he feels well.
(Lei/Lui) Si sente bene.	Does she/he feel well?

You may have read our Conversational Italian! blog about stare and learned that stare is also used to talk about general well-being, either “good” or “bad,” similar to the sentences above.” Since both stare and sentirsi are used to describe how we feel, the difference in meaning between these verbs can seem insignificant. But, by convention, stare is always the verb used when greeting someone. And, although sentirsi can be used to make generalizations, the use of sentirsi is more often a specific referral about how we feel, either to a health issue or actual feelings of happiness, sadness, etc.

**************************

Adjectives to Use with Sentirsi

The table below is a list of adjectives that you can use to describe how you are feeling. Just add one of these adjectives after the words, “I feel…” in Italian, just as you would in English. Remember that male speakers must use the “o” ending and female speakers the “a” ending for these adjectives that refer back to the subject. If the adjective ends in an “e,” the ending does not need to be changed, of course.

bene	well
contento(a) / felice	happy
male	badly, unwell
nervoso(a) emotionato(a)	nervous excited/thrilled
triste	sad

Some simple example sentences:

Mi sento conteno.	I am happy. (male speaker)
Mi sento contenta.	I am happy. (female speaker)
Mi sento triste.	I feel sad. (male or female speaker)

Notice, that both “contento(a)” and “felice” mean “happy” in Italian. But when an Italian wants to describe an internal feeling of happiness, the word chosen is usually “contento(a).”

Contento also translates into the English word, “content,” meaning to feel comfortable with or about something. The phrase, “Contento lui!” translates as, “Whatever makes him happy!”

Also, a note about feeling “excited” about things. In America, a very common phrase is, “I am excited…” about what I am about to do, or perhaps an event I will attend. In Italy, the word for “excited” or “thrilled” is “emotionato(a).” Although the Italian word emotionato sounds to the English speaker like “emotional,” the Italian adjectives for emotional are actually, “emotivo(a),” or “emozionale.” Be careful! The Italian adjectives emotivo(a) and emozionale are most commonly used to mean “excited” with a negative connotation.

The words emotionato and emotional, which sound like they should have similar meanings in each language, but do not, are often called, “false friends.”

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Valentines Day Sayings with Sentirsi

Now that we know how to make sentences with the verb sentirsi, let’s see how we can tell others how we feel on Valentines Day, or La Festa Degli Innamorati, as the Italians call this day.

One of the legends surrounding Saint Valentines Day is that San Valentino, a priest in the Christian church who was jailed by the Romans, wrote the girl he loved a farewell love letter and signed it ‘Your Valentine.” He knew that this lettera d’amore, would be the last he would write to her before his execution as a Christian. What do you imagine he could have written in this letter?

The Italian phrase for “I love you,” — when talking about love in a romantic way — is easy. It takes just two short words to relay your special feelings for someone: “Ti amo.” But after that, what do you say? How do you tell someone how wonderful they make you feel when you are with them?

Below are a few expressions that one can use on Valentines day, some of which use the verb sentirsi.

Quando ti vedo… mi sento contento(a).	When I see you… I am happy.
…mi sento un uomo fortunato.	I feel like a lucky man.
…mi sento una donna fortunata.	I feel like a lucky woman.
…sento che la mia vita è appena cominciata.*	I feel like my life has just begun.
… sento che il mondo è tutto mio.*	I feel like the world is all mine.

*You will notice from two of our examples above that the verb sentire was chosen for the Italian verb that means “to feel,” rather than the reflexive sentirsi. In these two cases, sentire is used in order to make a general comparison about how one’s feeling relates to something else, rather than to state one’s exact feeling. This type of comparison is called a simile and is used to make an idea more vivid — or in our examples, more “flowery” and romantic. It is easy to spot a comparison in Italian, because “che” will be used to link one’s feeling to the descriptive phrase. In English we can translate che into “like.”

Sentire is used in the following to phrases in our table below as well, but for a different reason. These two examples use the sentence structure, “You make me feel…” which requires sentire to be used in it’s infinitive form.

Mi fai sentire molto contento(a).	You make me feel very happy.
Mi fai sentire che tutto è possibile.	You make me feel that everything is possible.

If the time “feels right” for you and your Italian love to “officially” declare your feelings for each other, you may want to try the important phrases listed here.

Vuoi essere la mia fidanzata?	Do you want to be my girlfriend?
Vuoi essere il mio fidanzato?	Do you want to be my boyfriend?
Vuoi stare insieme a me per sempre?	Do you want to stay together forever?
Vuoi fidanzarti con me?	Do you want to get engaged (engage yourself to me)?
Vuoi fidanzarti con me?	Will you be my fiancée/finance?
Vuoi sposarti con me?	Do you want to get married (marry yourself to me)?
Vuoi sposarti con me?	Will you marry me?

How would you use sentirsi to tell your love how you feel? Please leave some examples. I’d love to hear from you!

One last note…

Italians do not use the words contenta or felice, to wish each other a “Happy Valentines Day,” but instead use “buon/buono/buona,” as for other holiday expressions, as in: Buona Festa degli Innamorati! Click on this blog from expoloreitalianculture.com if you are interested in learning more about the traditions of Valentines Day in Italy.

Buon Festa degli Innamorati a tutti voi!

Valentines Day Sentiments in Italian with “Sentirsi”

Use “Passare” to Speak Italian like a Native

November 30, 2020Let's Learn Italian!Conversational Italian for Travelers book sereis, Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Verbs, How to use Passare, How to use the Italian verb passare, Just the Verbs book, Passare, Passare in Italian, passare in the past tense, passare in the present tense, picking someone up with passare, Speak like and Italian, talking on the telephone, The many meanings of passare, what does passare mean in ItalianKathryn Occhipinti

Use “Passare” to Speak Italian Like a Native

Speak Italian like a native when you use the Italian verb “Passare” !

In this blog, “Use ‘Passare’ to Speak Italian Like a Native, “ we will focus on how and when to use the Italian verb passare during daily conversation. This is the start of a new series, and I will try to post an in-depth analysis of a different Italian verb every few months.

“Passare,” the Italian verb that means “to pass by” is one of those verbs that is important to “get to know” if one wants to use it correctly.

Enjoy the first topic in this series: Use”Passare”to Speak Italian Like a Native.
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Special thanks to Italian instructor Maria Vanessa Colapinto.

Parts of this blog have been reposted from Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! – “The Many Uses for “Passare” from Conversational Italian! a blog by the same author. Check out this blog as well if you are interested in phrases to use every day!

Speak Italian Like a Native:

Italian Verb Passare

The Italian verb passare means “to pass,” as in “to pass through,” “pass by,” “pass time,” or “spend time.” This verb is used in many ways in Italian! We use the verb “to pass” or “passed” less often in informal English, often defaulting to more general English verbs like, “get/gone,” put” or “spend/spent” when we really mean “pass or passed.” But in Italian, it is important to be more specific and use the verb passare if you want to sound like a native when describing situations that have come to pass!

1. Use passare when you will “pick up” or “spend time with” someone

Use the Italian verb passare when you want to “pass by” and “pick someone up.” Passare is used in the important everyday expression “passare a prendere,” which means “to pick (someone) up (by car).”
In the same way, use the verb passare to describe “dropping in to see” someone or “dropping in to visit” someone with the phrases, “passare a far visita” and “passare a trovare.” The latter phrase is similar to, but not identical in meaning to “andare a trovare,” which you may recall means “to go to visit” someone.
If you are inviting someone to visit you informally, but in an business setting, simply use passare with “in ufficio.” This phrase may be useful if you do not have a specific time you need to see someone on a particular day.
Another common informal phrase is “passare un attimo da casa,” which means, “to drop by the house for a bit.” Use this phrase to invite a friend over for an informal get-together or quick meeting at your house. If you use the verb passare in conversation, this will signal both your familiarity with both the person you are visiting, and with the Italian language!

Passerò/Passo a prenderti alle otto.”

I will (pass by and) pick you up at 8 AM.”

Side note: if you want to ask someone to “pick you up” from a particular place, venire is used with prendere:

“Può venire alla stazione a prendermi?”

“Can you (polite) come to the station and get me?”

And a few more examples:

Domani, passo a far visita a mia zia Anna.

Tomorrow, I will drop in to see my Aunt Ann.

Domenica, passo a trovare la mia amica del cuore Maria.

On Sunday, I will drop in to visit my dear friend Maria.

Per favore, passi in ufficio domani mattina,
alle otto o dopo.

Please drop in to my office tomorrow morning,
at 8 AM or later. (polite)

La settimana prossima, passeremo un attimo da casa mia.

Next week, let’s drop by my house for a bit.

2. Use passare to mention somebody “passing by.”

If a person has recently “passed by,” someone else or “passed by”/ “gone through” a place, whether walking or driving, we must use essere as our past tense helping verb. Notice that this differs from English, and the English translation uses the verb “to have” instead.

“Ma quando Giovanni è passato davanti a me, l’ho riconosciuto.”

“But when John passed by in front of me, I recognized him.”

Michele non in piazza ancora. È passato!

Michael is not in the piazza anymore. He has passed by!

3. Use passare when making references about time

Use the verb passare to talk about time “passing by” in Italian, just as we do in English. Time “passes by” all by itself, and is the subject of the sentence, so we must use essere (to be) as our past tense helping verb.

“Quanto tempo è passato!” ha detto Maria quando lei ha incontrato una vecchia amica* per strada.

“How much time has gone by!” Mary said when she met an old friend on the street.

*una vecchia amica = an old (longtime) friend; una amica vecchia= a friend that is old in years

If we want to talk about how we were doing something “to pass the time,” in the recent past, or if we have “spent time at” a certain location, we must use the verb passare with avere as our helping verb for the past tense.
To mention that you have “passed the night together with someone,” and imply a close relationship with that person, use the phrase, “passare una serata insieme.”
To express the wish that someone “passes time well” over the holidays, use the verb passare with avere for the helping verb. (Notice the use of the subjunctive tense for avere with the verb sperare (to wish) in the example sentence.)

Ieri, ho passato tutto il pomeriggio a casa di Giulia.

Yesterday, I stayed at Julia’s house all afternoon.

Ieri sera, io e Michele abbiamo passato la serata insieme.

Last night, Michael and I spent the night together.

“Passa un buon Natale a Chicago!”

“Have (spend) a nice Christmas in Chicago!”

“Spero che la famiglia abbia passato un buon Natale!”

“I hope that the family had a nice Christmas!”

In order “to let” or “allow” time, an event or comment to “pass by,” or to be ignored, we must use two verbs: lasciare and passare. If you want to read more about how to say “let” in Italian, visit our previous blog on this topic, “Italian Phrases You Will Use EVERY Day — ‘Let me…’ and ‘Let’s!’ Lasciare and Fare.”

Lascia passare i mesi dell’inverno e d’estate pensiamo alle vacanze.

Let the winter months pass and in the summer we will think about vacation.

4. Use passare when talking on the telephone

Use the verb passare to ask someone to “put through” another person talking on the telephone to you. This situation is encountered most often at work, of course, when trying to reach an individual important enough to have a secretary to screen calls. The first example given below is therefore in the polite tense. Now-a-days many individuals have cell phones, so it is less common, but still possible, to call a land-line at home and have a family member answer, so the same question may also be useful in the familiar tense.
When describing the act of passing the phone to someone in the past tense, use the helping verb avere (to have).
Notice the use of definite and definite pronouns to replace subject pronouns and names in the last examples. If you need a refresher course on how to use these pronouns, check out Chapter in Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar.

Mi può passare il signor Rossi?	Can you put me through to Mr. Rossi?
Passami Michele!	Put me through to Michael!
Ho passato Michele a te.	I’ve put Michael through to you. (Italian “a te” not frequently used.)
Ti ho passato Michele!	I’ve put Michael through to you!
Te l’ho passato!	I’ve put him through to you!

5. Use the reflexive passarsi to exchange things with someone

Finally, the reflexive verb, passarsi, has a slightly different meaning from the non-reflexive form that we have been discussing above. The reflexive verb passarsi means “to exchange” something and is used in the same way as the verb scambiarsi. Both verbs take essere in the past tense, of course, because they are reflexive!

“Allora, ci siamo passati i numeri di telefono per tenerci in contatto d’ora in poi.”

“Anyway, we exchanged telephone numbers and will stay in contact from now on.”

Remember how to use the Italian verb passare in conversation and I guarantee
you will use this verb every day!

And remember to study our Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs” book if you want more real life examples of all the important Italian verbs you will need to know!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs” book to learn Italian.

Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Use “Passare” to Speak Italian Like a Native

Chick Pea Soup with Ribs (Ceci con le Costine) for All Souls Day

November 1, 2020Italian and Italian-American RecipesAbout Italian language, All Souls Day, All Souls Day in Italy, All Souls Day traditions, Ceci e costine, Celebrate All Souls Day, Chick Pea and Rib Soup, Chick Pea soup for All Souls Day, FREE Italian soup recipe, How do Italians celebrate All Souls DAy, How do Italians celebrate Halloween, How to make chick pea soup, How to make Italian soup for All Souls Day, Italian Halloween, Italian holidays, Italian rib broth, Italian soup recipe, Minestrone Soup, Veal bone brothKathryn Occhipinti

Chick Pea Soup with Ribs for All Souls Day

Chick Pea Soup with Ribs (Ceci con le Costine) is a tradition in the northwest Italian region of Liguria as part of the celebration of All Souls Day.

Make a warm bowl of Chick Pea Soup for your family on November 2nd!

Today, I’m told, Italians celebrate the Halloween that we in America have popularized around the world with costumes, candy for the children, and parties for the adults. Of course, this is all great fun and my children always celebrate Halloween on October 31st. But, I’ve also been told that the Italian traditions for the days after Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day on November 1st and 2nd are still followed in Italy, and the food traditions have remained intact.

Since my father passed away almost 5 years ago, I have come to realize the importance of a day like All Souls Day. I want my children to remember the times they shared with their grandfather and other relatives who are no longer with us. Setting aside a special day to get together and reminisce about the past is one way to make sure we remember the times we cherished together as a family. After all, our connections to the past help to shape our future as well.

I was especially happy when I recently came across a blog by Cinzia from Instant Italy about All Souls Day. I discovered that in Liguria Italians celebrate All Souls Day with a special chick pea soup that uses ribs to flavor the broth, called ceci con le costine. I’ve made my own version of this soup to for my Sunday “remembrance” dinner in November this year. Given the circumstances (i.e. given that it is still 2020), this soup will be a warming treat I can present in decorative jars and drop on a few doorsteps.

Why not try to make this soup for your family? My version is like a simple minestrone soup, but without the pasta and the cooking time can be split up into two days. It’s a great way to start off the fall season!

If you’d like to read Cinzia’s blog to learn more about how Italians celebrate the Halloween season, just click on this link: All Saints’ Day in Italy.

-Kathryn Occhipinti

Recipe is listed below. Check out my latest Instagram video from Conversationalitalian.french and watch me make the dish if you like!

View this post on Instagram

Italian rib and chickpea soup for All Souls Day Nov 2, after Halloween. Celebrated in Italy to remember those in the family who have passed. Method: Brown garlic and ribs or veal bones in olive oil, add 16c water, coarsely chopped onion, celery, carrots, and bunch of celery. Stir once and let simmer at least 2h until meat falls off bone. Soak 1 lb dried chickpeas in water in separate bowl. Remove bones and vegs from broth. Refrig broth overnight. Skim off fat and add chickpeas. Cook 1 hr. Remove 1 c and puree; add back. Add final vegs: finely chopped onion, celery, carrots, 1 can 28 oz. chopped tomatoes. Cook until all vegs soft, stirring, and then add fresh Swiss chard or other green. Enjoy! #osnap #allsoulsday #allsouls #italiansoup #italiansoups #chickpearecipes #chickpeastew #chickpeasoup #chickpeasoupforthesoul #chickpeasouprecipe #italianholiday #italianholidays #november2nd

A post shared by Kathryn Occhipinti (@conversationalitalian.french) on Oct 25, 2020 at 11:44am PDT

For more recipes like these, as well as French recipes, follow me on my Instagram posts at Conversationalitalian.french.

Chick Pea Soup with Ribs for All Souls Day
(Ceci con le Costine)

Chick pea and rib soup for All Souls Day in Italy (Cece con le Costine)

Ingredients
For the Broth
(Best if made a day ahead)

1 lb. pork ribs or veal soup bones
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, papery skin removed
1 medium onion, skin removed and quartered
2 stalks of celery, chopped coarsely
3-4 carrots, chopped coarsely
1 bunch fresh parsley tied with cooking twine

1 lb. bag of dried chick peas, soaked in water overnight to soften
-or-
2 cans (16 oz.) chick peas, drained

Ingredients
For the Soup
(To be added to the broth)

1 onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
chick peas, either dried/soaked or canned (as above)
1 can (28 oz.) Italian plum tomatoes, chopped
Fresh or frozen Swiss Chard or Spinach

Procedure

Make the Broth
(Day 1)

Use a large soup pot or stock pot for this recipe.

Pour 2 Tbsp. of olive oil into the stock pot. Add the pork ribs or veal bones and 2 cloves of garlic, intact but flattened with the back of a knife. Salt and pepper the ribs. Brown the ribs on all sides over medium heat, turning while they cook.

Add 16 cups of water and the coarsely chopped onion, celery, carrots and the bunch of parsley. Stir.

Cook the broth uncovered as follows: Bring to a boil over high heat and then lower to medium low heat to keep the broth at a simmer until the meat has cooked and is falling off the bone, about 2 -3 hours. Skim off any foam that forms on the top of the soup periodically, but do not stir the soup while the broth is cooking.

After the broth has cooked long enough to gain flavor from the ribs and vegetables, remove the ribs and vegetables and parsley.

Put the pot of broth into the refrigerator if you have two days to make the soup. This will allow any fat to float to the surface and harden so it can be skimmed off the next day. Otherwise, proceed to make the soup.

Make the Soup
(Day 2)

The next day, take the broth out of the refrigerator and skim the fat off the top.

Put the pot on the stove. Add the soaked chickpeas and cook until they have softened, about 1 hour. (If you have a bag of old chick peas have been sitting in the cupboard for awhile, they may take longer to soften.)

Remove 1 cup of the pre-cooked chick peas and puree. Add back to the soup.
If using canned chick peas instead of dried, add the canned chick peas, with one cup pureed, at this time into the soup.

Add the finely chopped onion, celery, carrot and chopped plumb tomatoes with their juices from the can. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook until all vegetables have softened.

Add Swiss chard leaves or spinach leaves. Cook until the greens have wilted.

Serve the soup hot, with grated Parmesan cheese and a loaf of crusty Italian bread.

Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelersseries of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

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Visitlearntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy!Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC

Chick Pea Soup with Ribs (Ceci con le Costine) for All Souls Day

How to Talk About: Movies and TV in Italian

October 1, 2020Let's Learn Italian!About Italian language, Compare movies in Italian, di più, How to conjugate piacere, How to conjugate piacere past tense, How to talk about Italian movies, How to talk about Italian TV, Italian Language, Italian movie genres, Italian movies, Italian phrase vale the pena, Italian TV, Italian TV and movie vocabulary, Italian TV shows, Italian verb preferire, Italian verb preferisce, learn Italian, Learn Italian language, meglio di, mi piace, piacere, Preferire, preferisco, Stella Lucente, Vale the penaKathryn Occhipinti

How to Talk About: Movies and TV in Italian

How to talk about movies and TV in Italian: Important Italian phrases and vocabulary you need to know when talking about the shows you watch with Italian friends and colleagues!

The topic for this month —movies and TV — comes up frequently during daily conversation, both when making small talk with acquaintances and also when planning activities with family, friends, and co-workers. In the “How to Talk About Movies and TV in Italian” blog for this month, we will focus on common Italian phrases needed to describe the type of show you have watched, if liked it, and why . As usual, the focus will be on common Italian expressions that can be used to describe your own interests.

Enjoy the third topic in this “How to Talk About…” series, “How to Talk About Movies and TV in Italian.” —Kathryn Occhipinti

Special thanks to Italian instructor Maria Vanessa Colapinto.
Banner image credit: Como lake landscapes on film strip

How to Talk About: TV and the Movies in Italian

Using piacere to say we like a TV show or movie…

In Italian, a few simple sentences will suffice to say if we liked what we saw — or not. You may recall that Italians use the irregular verb piacere to convey the idea that they like something. For a refresher on how this verb works, please refer to the beginning Italian blogs in my Conversational Italian! blog, “Piacere — How Italians Say, ‘I like it!” and “Piacere: How Italians Say, ‘I liked it!’

The most important thing to remember is that the conjugation of piacere will have to agree with the number of things that are being liked.

So, when speaking in the present tense, if one thing is liked, simply use the third person singular conjugation piace.

If many things are liked in the present, use the plural third person, which is piacciono.

For the past tense, we can use the passato prossimo third person singular forms “è piacuto” and “è piaciuta” for the one-time event when we liked something.

If many things are liked, the third person plural forms “sono piaciuti” for the masculine plural (and mixed group plural) and “sono piaciute” for the feminine plural are used.

Then put the indirect object pronoun “mi” before the verb to make the simple sentence: “ To me, this is/was pleasing!” Or, as we would say in English, “I like/liked this!”

To ask a friend if they like or liked something, put “ti“ before the verb, for “Is/was this pleasing to you?” Or, as we would say in English, “Do/Did you like this?”

If, for some reason, we do NOT like what we have watched, just start your sentence with the word “non.”

What we might say about our favorite TV show or movie that we like:

Mi piace questo film.	I like this movie.
Mi è piaciuto questo film.	I liked this movie.

Mi piace molto questo film.	I really like this movie.
Mi è piaciuto molto questo film.	I really liked this movie.

Ti piace questo film?	Do you like this movie?
Ti è piaciuto questo film?	Did you like this movie?

What we might say about our favorite TV show or movie that we did NOT like:

Non mi piace questo film.	I don’t like this movie.
Non mi è piaciuto questo film.	I didn’t like this movie.

Mi piace molto questo film.	I really don’t like this movie.
Mi è piaciuto molto questo film.	I really didn’t like this movie.

Ti piace questo film?	Don’t you like this movie?
Ti è piaciuto questo film?	Didn’t you like this movie?

Using common expressions to say we like a TV show or movie…

Of course, there are many common expressions in Italian that go beyond the simple: ” I like it” or “I didn’t like it.” Just like in English, we might say, “It was cool,” or “It was out of this world,” It seems like new expressions are invented almost every day for how we feel about things! So, it should come as no surprise that Italians also have invented colloquial expressions that express feelings that go deeper than simply liking. Here are a few you might want to try to surprise your Italian friends.

If you want to ask your friend if it is worth your time to watch a certain movie, you can use the phrases, ” Vale la pena?” for “Is it worth it?” “Voleva la pena il film?” means, “Was the film worth it?”

In the table below are some answers to this question that you might hear from a native Italian if they liked the film you are talking about:

Mi piace un sacco!	I like it a lot! (lit. a sack full)
Mi è piaciuto un sacco!	I liked it a lot!
È stato bello!	It was great!
È / È stato meraviglioso!	It is / was wonderful!
È / È stato stupendo!	It is / was amazing / cool!
È / È stato fantastico!	It is / was fantastic / cool!
È / È stato fico / figo!	It is / was cool!
È / È stato fichissimo / fighissimo!	It is / was the coolest!
È / È stato da paura!	It is / was cool!
È / È stato il meglio!	It is / was the best!
È il migliore film che io abbia mai visto.	It is the best film that I have ever seen.

How do I say, “TV show” and “movies” in Italian?

The programs we watch on a television set ( il televisore) or on a screen (lo schermo) are referred to most commonly in both English and Italian as “TV.” The pronunciation, of course, is different in each language. In Italian, “TV” is pronounced as an Italian would pronounce the letters “t” and “v”, which sounds like “tee-vooh.” Notice from the table below that there is an Italian word for TV, “la televisione,” and therefore the abbreviation is feminine as well.

TV	La TV / La televisione
Cable TV	La TV via cavo
Satellite TV	La TV sattelitare
RAI-TV	Italian state television (Radio-Televisione Italiana)
Television set	Il televisore
TV or computer screen	Lo schermo
TV show	Un programma Un programma televisivo
TV series	Una serie TV Un telefilm
Episode	Una puntata
Situation Comedy	Una serie TV sitcom Una commedia
Comedy show	Un programma comico

To talk about a movie in Italian, we could refer to “la pellicola,” but this word is no longer in common use. Instead, Italians most often refer to a movie in general with the word “film.” Movies in general are either “i film,” with the borrowed English word preceded by the plural masculine definite article in Italian, or “il cinema,” a collective masculine noun.

The usual verbs for “to watch,” “guardare,” and “to see,”“vedere,” describe the act of watching a screen to see a TV show or movie.

Movie theater	Il cinema
Film studio	Lo studio cinematografico
Movie	Il film (La pellicola)
Movies	I film / Il cinema
to capture an image for a film	filmare / riprendere / girare
to be recorded	essere filmato
to watch a movie	guardare un film
to watch a movie	vedere un film

Using common expressions to say what we prefer…

The verb preferire means “to prefer,” which is a regular -isc conjugated -ire verb.“I prefer,“ is “Io preferisco…” To ask a question of someone else, say, “Tu preferisci…?”

If you want to say you prefer one movie genre over another, just use the adjective preferito. This also works for your favorite movie, TV show, color, etc. Just make sure to change the ending of preferito (a,i,e) to reflect what it is you are describing, whether masculine or feminine, singular or plural.

Here are examples from the dialogue below:

È il tipo di film che io preferisco.
It’s the type of film that I prefer.

Non per me. Il mio film preferito è un buon giallo.
Not for me. My favorite movie is a good mystery movie.

If you might want to say, “I liked (film) better than…” use the sentence construction:

“Mi piace… (film) più di + definite article… (film).

Ma mi piace La Vita è Bella più del Commissario Montalbano.
I like La Vita è Bella more than Detective Montalbano.

Another way to make a comparison between films: “This film is much better than…”

“Questo film è molto meglio di + definite article…”

Questo film è molto meglio del Commissario Montalbano, sono sicuro!
This film is much better than Detective Montalbano, I am sure.

Finally, to mention who has written or directed a movie, use the conjunction “di” to mean “by.”

Some common movie genres

Action	Film d’azione
Adventure story	Storia d’avventura
Costume drama (historical TV show with costumes)	Sceneggiato in costume
Costume drama (historical film with costumes)	Film in costume
Comedy	Film comico / commedia
Comedy drama	Commedia drammatica
Dark comedy	Commedia nera
High comedy	Commedia sofisticata / da intenditori
Low comedy (bawdy)	Commedia popolare
Slapstick comedy	Farsa / Pagliacciata*
Musical comedy	Commedia musicale
Romantic comedy	Commedia romantica
Documentary	Un documentario
Drama	Storia drammatica
Drama movie	Film drammatico / Dramma
Detective movie	Un poliziesco / Un giallo**
Film noir (thriller genre)	Film noir
Foreign Film	Film straniero
Horror	Film horror / Film dell’orrore
Mystery	Un giallo**
Science Fiction / Sci-fi	Film di fantascienza
Psychological thriller	Thriller psicologico
Thriller (suspense film)	Thriller / Giallo
Western	Film Western

*Reference to the opera “Pagliacci,” whose main character is a clown that performs slapstick humor with puppets.

**Mystery books and films are referred to by the color “giallo,” which is derived from the yellow cover all mystery books were given in the past.

Below is a simple dialogue between two friends, Maria and Anna, talking about their favorite movie and TV show. There are, of course, many variations. Think about your favorite movie and create your own!

Maria:	*Ieri sera, ho guardato il film, La Vita è Bella,* di Roberto Benigni.**
	Last night, I watched the movie, “Life is Beautiful,” by Roberto Benigni.

Anna:	Ne è valsa la pena?
	Was it worth it?

Maria:	Si, vale la pena. Mi è piaciuto molto questo film!
	Yes, it is worth it. I really liked this film!

Anna:	È una storia drammatica?
	Is it a drama?

Maria:	Si, è una storia drammatica, ma la prima parte è anche un po’ comica.
	Yes, it is a drama, but the first part is also a bit funny.

Anna:	Ah, una commedia drammatica.
	I see, a comedy drama.

Maria:	È il tipo di film che io preferisco.
	It’s the type of film that I prefer.

Anna:	Non per me. Il mio film preferito è un buon giallo.
	Not for me. My favorite movie is a good mystery movie.

	Commissario Montalbano è figo.
	Detective Montalbano is cool.

Maria:	Boh. Ho visto molte puntate del Commissario Montalbano sul TV.
	Well. I have seen many episodes of Detective Montalbano on TV.

	Ma mi piace La Vita è Bella più del Commissario Montalbano.
	I like La Vita è Bella more than Detective Montalbano.

	Questo film è molto meglio del Commissario Montalbano, sono sicuro!
	This film is much better than Detective Montalbano, I am sure.

Anna:	*Allora, devo guardare La Vita è Bella* un giorno.**
	*Well, then, I will have to watch La Vita è Bella* one day.**

Remember how to talk about movies and TV in Italian and I guarantee
you will use these Italian phrases every day!

And remember to study our Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Important Phrases” pocket travel book if you want a handy way to remember all the important Italian phrases you will need to know!

Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

How to Talk about Movies and TV in Italian

Tartufo — Gelato but Even Better!

September 1, 2020Italian and Italian-American RecipesAmarena cherries, Family ice cream recipe, Free Italian dessert recipe, Gelato, homemade chocolate covered ice cream, homemade ice cream balls, ice cream dessert, Ice cream treats, Italian ice cream, Italian ice cream dessert, Summertime gelato trerats, Summertime ice creamKathryn Occhipinti

Tartufo — Gelato but Even Better!

Tartufo is two flavors of gelato ice cream in a ball, made even better with a cherry in the center and a chocolate shell!

Make tarfufo ice cream treats and surprise your family tonight!

“Tartufo — Gelato but Even Better” is a reprint from a blog originally posted on July 31, 2016 entitled, “Tartufo: Summertime Gelato Treat.” I’ve since added Instagram to my social media, and have added a video from Instagram to this post so you can see me cooking in real-time! I hope you like it!

For more recipes like these, as well as French recipes, follow me on my Instagram posts at Conversationalitalian.french.

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Tartufo: A gelato treat made just for summertime!

The word Italian word “tartufo” refers to the round, brown-and-white truffles found in the densely forested Apennine Mountains that run down the spine of Italy. These slightly irregularly shaped round balls are found nestled between the roots of old beech, birch, and pine trees by specially trained dogs. A similarly shaped sweet French candy made from chocolate and cream, known as “ganache,” is also referred to as a truffle.

We present here a method for a round, chocolate-coated ice cream treat made from vanilla and chocolate Italian gelato ice cream that is also called “tartufo.” In the version that follows, there is a surprise in the center—a real Italian marinated Amarena cherry.* Try our recipe as is, or make your own version with any of your favorite Italian gelato flavors. Enjoy a cold, refreshing treat this summer with our simple method!
—Kathryn Occhipinti

Recipe is listed below. Check out my latest Instagram video from Conversationalitalilan.french and watch me make the dish if you like!

View this post on Instagram

Ice cream tartufo treats. Easy Italian dessert that even kids can make! Use two flavors of your favorite good quality ice cream, gelato if you can find it. Scoop out to make balls of desired size. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Unwrap balls, cut in half and add an Italian amarena cherry or a maraschino cherry in the center. Put two different flavors together, rewrap and freeze. For chocolate shell melt 4oz. bittersweet chocolate together with 4 oz. Semisweet chocolate and 4 oz. canola oil. Let cool slightly. Roll ice cream balls in chocolate quickly! Refreeze until shell hardens. Enjoy on a hot summer afternoon or a cool summer evening! #osnap #icecream #icecreamrolls #icecreamdessert #icecreamdesserts #icecreamrolls #icecreamroll #icecreamlovers #icecreamaddict #icecreamheaven #gelato #gelatoonmymind #gelatodessert #gelato🍦 #gelatoartigianale #gelatoartigianaleitaliano #tartufo #tartufobianco #tartufoestivo #tartufoitaliano #tartufogelato #gelatotartufo #gelatomania #gelatoitaliano🇮🇹 #gelatolove #gelatolovers #gelatolover #foodblogger #foodbloggersofinstagram @niaf #italianicecream🍦 #italianicecream

A post shared by Kathryn Occhipinti (@conversationalitalian.french) on Sep 1, 2020 at 6:33am PDT

Tartufo: Summertime Gelato Treat!

Tartufo: chocolate-covered gelato ice cream with an Amarena cherry in the center, cut in half and ready to enjoy!

Ingredients
(Makes approximately 8 ice cream balls)
(Method takes a few minutes each day for 3 days)

1 pint vanilla ice cream (gelato)
1 pint chocolate ice cream (gelato)
8 Italian Amarena cherries* in syrup

Chocolate coating**
4.0 oz. bittersweet chocolate
4.0 oz. semisweet chocolate
4 tsp canola oil

Procedure

To see step-by-step pictures, visit Stella Lucente Italian Pinterest.

Make the Ice Cream Balls

Let the vanilla and chocolate ice cream soften slightly in the ice cream cartons so it is easy to scoop out. (If it is too soft and watery, it will not make good ice cream balls.)

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out 4 balls of vanilla ice cream and place each ball on a piece of plastic wrap. Pull the plastic wrap above the ball and twist to seal.

Quickly put the balls into a freezer-safe container and back into the freezer. (Plastic tray containers from Chinese take-out food work well because they are just the right size for four balls and have a cover.)

The same way, make 4 ice cream balls from the chocolate ice cream, wrap each ball in plastic wrap, and place the wrapped balls into a second freezer-safe container. Quickly return the container to the freezer.

Freeze overnight. If you want, after the ice cream balls have refrozen, form them into a more rounded shape with the plastic still on and return them to the freezer.

The next day, or when the ice cream balls have frozen through completely and are hard, remove one vanilla and one chocolate ball from the freezer at a time.

Unwrap each ball quickly and save the plastic wrap.

Turn each ball over so that the smooth, round end of each ball is facing up.

Slice each ball in half and make a tiny well in the center of each half that is the size of half a cherry. Quickly press a cherry into the center of one of the ice cream halves, and then top with an ice cream half of the other flavor so that the final balls are half vanilla and half chocolate.

Wrap each ball in the original plastic wrap again and place them back into the freezer container.

Repeat the last 5 steps until all 8 ice cream balls have been used.

Freeze overnight.

If desired, you can form each ball into a more smooth circle after it has frozen again while the ball is in the plastic wrap.

Make the Chocolate Coating

**A note about baking chocolates: I like to use 1/2 bittersweet chocolate and 1/2 semisweet chocolate for children; you can use all dark chocolate if you like. Unsweetened chocolate is not recommended. Make sure to use good quality baking chocolate, whatever your choice.

On the third day, after the combined ice cream balls have completely frozen through, they are ready to coat with chocolate.

Microwave the chocolate and the canola oil in a small glass bowl (best) or glass measuring cup for about 2 minutes on medium heat (50%). Stir, and if all chocolate dissolves, set aside. Or microwave 30 seconds more, check and repeat as needed, until all chocolate is melted.

After the chocolate has melted, let it cool slightly. This is a crucial step, because if the chocolate is too hot, it will melt the chocolate balls; if the chocolate cools too much, it will start to harden. A glass bowl is best for coating the ice cream balls because it can be put into the microwave to melt the chocolate again if it starts to harden before you are finished working with it.

One at a time, take out an ice cream ball from the freezer, remove plastic wrap from the ice cream ball, and immediately place each ball into the chocolate, rolling the ball over once with a large spoon to coat the top and bottom of the ball.

Immediately set each chocolate-covered ball onto a cookie sheet or small tray covered in aluminum foil and place back into the freezer.

Repeat the last two steps until all ice cream balls have been coated with the chocolate. There will be just enough chocolate to coat 8 balls, so work quickly and reheat the chocolate as necessary, scraping down the sides of the bowl to use all the melted chocolate efficiently.

Freeze all chocolate balls uncovered at least 2 hours.

If you are not serving the tartufi right away, cover them lightly in aluminum foil or place them back into covered containers and store in the freezer.

When ready to serve, cut each tartufo in half with a serrated knife and place on a small plate.

Or place each tartufo ball as is in the center of a large fancy ice cream cup and watch everyone crack open the chocolate shell, dig in, and enjoy their summer treat!

*To find Amarena cherries if you do not have an Italian specialty shop in your neighborhood, simply search online. Look for the Fabbri brand pictured here.

Amarena cherries

The cherries, in heavy syrup, come in a beautiful white-and-blue decorated jar. Save the jar when you have used all the cherries and use it as a lovely decorative glass piece to give your kitchen a true Italian flair.

—Adapted from a cooking class given for the Italian-American Society of Peoria, by Kathryn Occhipinti

Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Important Phrases (with Restaurant Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions) is YOUR traveling companion in Italy! All the Italian phrases you need to know to enjoy your trip to Italy are right here and fit right into your pocket or purse.

Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of the
Conversational Italian for Travelersseries of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.
“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

More information on and photographs of Italy can be found on Facebook Stella Lucente ItalianandPinterest Stella Lucente Italian.
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Tartufo — Gelato but Even Better!

Italian Subjunctive (Part 1): Speak Italian!

Also…

And now… the original story!

Speak Italian Like a Native:

Italian Verb Prendere

1. Use prendere to describe the act of “taking,” “bringing” or “picking up” something

2. Use prendere to describe “picking up” someone

3. Use prendere when describing what food you would like to order/eat

4. Use prendere to describe the act of taking medicine

5. Use prendere to describe buying, acquiring or earning something

6. Use the past participle preso with these expressions to describe liking something or someone a lot.

7. Use prendersi to describe getting sick, as in “catching a cold,” or “coming down with” an illness

8. Use prendere to describe “being overtaken” by an emotion or sickness, and prendersela when offended/angered

9. Two more common phrases that use prendere

Also…

And now… the original story!

Also…

And now… the original story!

Valentines Day Sayings in Italian:

Italian Verb Sentirsi

Conjugation:

Sentirsi vs. Stare

Adjectives to Use with Sentirsi

Valentines Day Sayings with Sentirsi

Speak Italian Like a Native:

Italian Verb Passare

1. Use passare when you will “pick up” or “spend time with” someone

2. Use passare to mention somebody “passing by.”

3. Use passare when making references about time

4. Use passare when talking on the telephone

5. Use the reflexive passarsi to exchange things with someone

Using piacere to say we like a TV show or movie…

Using common expressions to say we like a TV show or movie…

How do I say, “TV show” and “movies” in Italian?

Using common expressions to say what we prefer…

Some common movie genres

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