Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Book I: Speaking Italian in Everyday Settings 5

Chapter 1: Exploring Pronunciations and Italian You May Already Know 7

You Already Know Some Italian! 8

Getting to the root of cognates 9

Picking up popular expressions 9

Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation 11

Starting with the alphabet 11

Vowels 12

Consonants 14

Stressing Syllables Properly 18

Chapter 2: Dealing with Numbers, Dates, and Time 21

Counting from Zero to a Billion: Cardinal Numbers 21

Building numbers in Italian 23

Speaking numbers like a native 25

Making sense of addresses 26

Putting Things in Order: Ordinal Numbers 27

Looking at the Calendar: Days, Months, and Seasons 29

Days of the week 29

Months and seasons of the year 30

Specific dates 31

Telling Time 34

Familiarizing Yourself with the Metric System 38

Converting the temperature to/from Celsius 39

Measuring in metric units 40

Chapter 3: Buongiorno! Salutations! 41

Looking at Common Greetings and Goodbyes 41

Issuing a greeting 41

Deciding between formal and friendly 43

Replying to a greeting 43

Specifying your reunion 44

Making Introductions 44

Introducing yourself 45

Introducing other people 47

Talking about Language, Countries, and Nationalities 49

Finding out whether someone speaks Italian 49

Talking about where you come from 50

Extending and Responding to Invitations 54

Chapter 4: Making Small Talk 55

Discovering Interrogative Pronouns 55

Asking simple questions 56

Taking care of basic needs 58

Talking About Your Family 60

Discussing What You Do 61

Talking shop 62

Discussing your job 62

Chatting about the Weather 64

Chapter 5: Casa Dolce Casa: Home Sweet Home 67

Describing Where You Live 67

Stating your country and hometown 67

Noting the type of home you have 68

Taking a Tour of Your Home 69

Il soggiorno: The living room 69

La cucina: The kitchen 71

La sala da pranzo: The dining room 72

La camera da letto: The bedroom 75

Il bagno: The bathroom 76

Other areas around the house 77

Chapter 6: Using the Phone and Talking Business 81

Phoning Made Simple 81

Connecting via cellphones, texts, and video 82

Calling for business or pleasure 84

Making Arrangements over the Phone 86

Asking for People and Getting the Message 88

Discussing Your Job 91

Referring to coworkers 92

Interviewing 92

Covering compensation and breaks 93

Describing things around the office 93

Chapter 7: Food, Glorious Food, and Drink 97

Eating, Italian-Style 97

Having breakfast 97

Eating lunch 98

Enjoying dinner 100

Drinking, Italian-Style 103

Expressing your love for espresso 103

Beverages with even more of a kick 105

Dining Out, from Start to Finish 106

Making reservations 106

Paying for your meal 108

Shopping for Food 109

Dal macellaio (butcher shop) 109

Pesce (fish) 109

At the panetteria (bread shop) 110

Chapter 8: Shopping, Italian-Style 115

Checking Out Stores 115

Deciding between department stores and boutiques 116

Navigating the store 116

Admiring shop displays 118

Clothing Yourself 119

Checking out various items 119

Sizing up Italian sizes 119

Talking definitely and indefinitely 123

Coloring your words 124

Choosing the right fabric 125

Accessorizing 126

Narrowing Your Options 127

Comparing items, more or less 128

Considering price 129

Book II: Exploring and Wandering About 133

Chapter 1: Where Is the Colosseum? Asking Directions 135

Finding Your Way: Asking for Specific Places 135

Mapping the quarters and following directions 137

Expressing verbs on the move 140

Exploring Italian Cities and Towns 143

La piazza: The heart of the Italian city 143

Viewing famous sites and architectural styles 143

Finding the places you’re looking for 144

Chapter 2: Having Fun Out on the Town 147

Experiencing Italian Culture 147

Taking in a movie 149

Going to the theater 150

Exploring a museum 152

Experiencing a local festival 153

Taking in the Italian Music Scene 154

Catching a concert 154

Exploring the world of Italian opera 156

Popular Italian music 158

Inviting Fun 159

Chapter 3: Exploring the Outdoors, Sports, and Hobbies 163

Getting Close to Nature 164

Playing and Watching Sports 166

Using the right names and verbs for sports talk 167

Watching sports 171

Talking about Hobbies and Interests 173

Speaking Reflexively 176

Chapter 4: Planning a Trip 179

Deciding When and Where to Go 179

Going to agriturismo 181

Going to the beach and spa 182

Visiting castles, palaces, and estates 182

Taking a Tour 183

Booking a Trip outside of Italy 185

Arriving and Leaving with Arrivare and Partire 187

Using the Simple Future Tense 188

Chapter 5: Money, Money, Money 189

Going to the Bank 189

Changing Money 190

Using Credit Cards 193

Looking at Various Currencies 195

Chapter 6: Getting Around: Planes, Trains, Taxis, and Buses 199

Getting through the Airport 199

Checking in 200

Dealing with excess baggage 202

Waiting to board the plane 203

Coping after landing 204

Dealing with lost luggage 204

Going through Customs 204

Renting a Car 206

Navigating Public Transportation 208

Calling a taxi 208

Moving by train 209

Going by bus or tram 210

Reading maps and schedules 212

Being Early or Late 213

Chapter 7: Finding a Place to Stay 215

Choosing a Place to Stay 215

Reserving a Room 216

Checking In 219

Chapter 8: Handling Emergencies 223

Getting Help Fast 223

Receiving Medical Attention 224

Describing what ails you 224

Understanding professional medical vocabulary 228

Getting what you need at the pharmacy 228

Braving the dentist 229

Handling Legal Matters 229

Reporting an accident 229

Reporting a robbery 230

Reporting a lost or stolen passport 233

Getting legal help 235

Dealing with Car Trouble 236

Book III: Grasping Basic Grammar Essentials for Communication 239

Chapter 1: What Do You Know? Parts of Speech 241

Recognizing the Parts of Speech 241

Nouns 245

Pronouns 246

Articles 246

Verbs 247

Adjectives 247

Adverbs 248

Prepositions 249

Conjunctions 249

Interjections 250

Conjugating Verbs in the Present Tense 250

Identifying infinitives 250

Establishing subject-verb agreement 251

Moving on to Other Verb Tenses 251

Composing a Simple Sentence 252

Chapter 2: Noun and Article Basics: Gender and Number 253

A Primer on Articles 254

Definite articles: Dealing with “the” 254

Indefinite articles: Saying “a” or “an” 256

Distinguishing between Masculine and Feminine Nouns 257

Recognizing common noun endings 257

Sorting nouns into classes 258

Moving from Singular to Plural: Basic Rules 260

Making Exceptions to the Basic Rules on Number 261

Changing more than just the ending 262

Changing only the article 263

Using nouns only in the singular or the plural 263

Deciding When to Include an Article 264

When (and when not) to use a definite article 264

When (and when not) to use an indefinite article 266

Chapter 3: All about Pronouns 267

Meeting the Subject Pronouns 268

Knowing when to use subject pronouns 269

Adapting subject pronouns for informal and formal usage 269

Emphasizing Stressed Pronouns 270

Digging into Direct Object Pronouns 271

What direct object pronouns are and what they do 271

Where to place direct object pronouns 272

Investigating Indirect Object Pronouns 273

Forming Double Pronouns 274

Figuring out how to replace direct and indirect object pronouns 275

Checking out common double pronouns 276

But Wait, There’s More! Special Italian Pronouns 276

The adverbial pronoun ci 277

The pronoun ne 278

When the Subject Is Also the Object: Reflexive Pronouns 280

Chapter 4: Adjectives, Adverbs, and Comparisons 281

Matching Adjectives to Nouns in Gender and Number 282

Regular adjectives 283

Irregular adjectives 284

Invariable adjectives 285

Associating One Adjective with More Than One Noun 286

Putting Adjectives in Their Place 286

Recognizing the adjectives that come before nouns 287

Using placement to change an adjective’s meaning 287

Forming Adverbs the Italian Way 288

Original adverbs 288

Derived adverbs 290

Finding a Place for Adverbs 290

Making Comparisons 292

Comparisons of equality 292

Comparisons of inequality 293

The best and the worst: Superlatives 294

Special comparatives and superlatives 295

Chapter 5: Meeting the Challenge of Prepositions 297

Combining Basic Prepositions with Articles 298

Forming Complements (Preposition + Noun, Name, or Pronoun) 299

Possession and specification 299

Qualities and functions 300

Place 300

Place and function 302

Time 303

Purpose and agent of action 305

Tools, reasons, and causes 305

Chapter 6: Demonstrative, Indefinite, and Possessive Qualifiers 307

Pointing to Something with Questo and Quello 308

Conveying Something Indefinite 309

Indefinite words used as adjectives or pronouns 310

Indefinite words used solely as pronouns 317

Indefinite words that express a part of a set 319

Assigning Ownership with Possessive Qualifiers 320

Chapter 7: Making Connections with Conjunctions and Relative Pronouns 323

Linking Words and Clauses with Conjunctions and Prepositions 323

Connecting words or sentences with coordinating conjunctions 324

Joining a dependent clause with an independent one 325

Joining Clauses That Belong Together 328

Dealing with your average relative pronouns 329

Economy of speech: Combined pronouns 333

Chapter 8: Asking and Answering Questions 335

Looking at Ways of Asking Questions in Italian 336

Adjusting your intonation 336

Inverting the word order 336

Asking some common questions 337

Digging Deeper: Asking More Complex Questions 337

Employing interrogative adjectives 338

Requesting the location and time: Interrogative adverbs 339

Inquiring about who, what, which one, and how many: Interrogative pronouns 341

Providing Detailed Answers to Questions 342

Answering Questions Negatively 343

Book IV: Mastering Italian Verbs and Tenses 345

Chapter 1: Jumping into Action with Italian Regular Verbs 347

Conjugating Regular Verbs in Italian 348

Conjugating -are verbs 349

Conjugating -ere verbs 353

Conjugating -ire verbs 354

Moving Past the Present Tense 356

Communicating Quickly with Verbs 357

Looking More Closely at Personal Subject Pronouns 358

Chapter 2: Talking in the Present Tense with Irregular Verbs 361

To Be or Not to Be: Conjugating Essere 362

To Have and to Hold: Conjugating Avere 363

To Make or to Do: Conjugating Fare 364

To Give: Dare 364

To Ask How Others Are: Stare 365

To Come and to Go: Venire and Andare 366

Declaring Needs, Wants, and Abilities: Dovere, Volere, and Potere 367

Do Tell: Dire 368

Stepping Out: Uscire 369

Bottom’s Up: Bere 370

The -orre, -urre, and -arre Verbs 370

Using Irregular Verbs in Idiomatic Expressions 371

Idiomatic expressions with essere 372

Idiomatic expressions with fare 372

Idiomatic expressions with dare and stare 373

Chapter 3: Using Reflexive Forms and the Imperative Mood 375

Reflecting on Reflexive Verbs 375

Pairing reflexive pronouns with reflexive verbs 376

Using reflexive verbs throughout the day 377

Altering the position of reflexive pronouns 378

Giving and taking with the reciprocal form 380

Using the impersonal si 381

Giving a Commanding Performance with the Imperative 381

Constructing commands (of the tu, noi, and voi variety) 382

Dealing with irregular imperatives for tu, noi, and voi 383

Commanding politely: Forming the Lei and Loro forms of the imperative 384

Adding pronouns to imperatives 385

Checking out commonly used commands 387

Chapter 4: Declaring Your Likes (And Dislikes) with Piacere 389

Understanding How to Use Piacere 390

Working with indirect object pronouns 390

Conjugating piacere in the present tense 391

Combining piacere with indirect object pronouns 392

Using piacere as a noun 394

Expressing Likes (And Dislikes) in Any Tense 395

Conjugating piacere and dispiacere in the subjunctive and past absolute 395

Checking out more conjugations for piacere and dispiacere 396

Looking at Other Verbs that Work Backward 399

Verbs that carry the indirect object in their constructions 400

The verb mancare 401

Chapter 5: The Future Tense and the Conditional Mood 403

Focusing on the Future 403

Forming the regular future tense 403

Spelling out -are exceptions in the future tense 405

Working with irregular roots 407

Talking about the future with some handy expressions 409

Could-ing and Would-ing: The Conditional Mood 410

Covering the uses of the conditional 410

Forming the regular conditional 410

Creating the irregular conditional 412

Using dovere, potere, and volere in the conditional 412

Chapter 6: Getting into the Subjunctive Mood 415

Forming the Present Subjunctive Mood 415

Mastering the Present Subjunctive 418

Spelling exceptions 419

Irregular forms 419

Making the Present Subjunctive a Valuable Tool 421

Expressing desires, wishes, commands, emotions, doubts, and beliefs 421

Working with impersonal expressions 423

Handling conjunctions and words that end in -unque 424

Checking out a few other uses of the present subjunctive 426

Understanding the Imperfect Subjunctive 426

Conjugating the imperfect subjunctive 427

Forming the imperfect subjunctive to express doubts, desires, and wants 428

Getting a grip on irregular imperfect subjunctives 430

Book V: Building Compound Tenses 433

Chapter 1: Been There, Done That: Talking in the Past Tense 435

Forming the Present Perfect Tense 436

Past participles 436

Auxiliary verbs: Avere and essere 438

Over and Done with: The Past Absolute 443

Once Upon a Time: The Imperfect Tense 446

Forming the imperfect 446

Perfecting the use of the imperfect 448

Adding Nuance to Meaning with Verb Tense 449

Chapter 2: Reflexive Verbs in the Past 451

Forming the Present Perfect of Reflexive Verbs 452

Using Reciprocal Verbs in the Present Perfect 454

Forming the Imperfect of Reflexive Verbs 455

Checking Out Reciprocal Verbs in the Imperfect 457

Picking the Present Perfect or the Imperfect for Reflexive Verbs 458

Recognizing Reciprocal Verbs in the Past Absolute 459

Chapter 3: Second-Guessing Actions with the Past Conditional and Past Perfect 461

Forming the Past Conditional 462

Using the Past Conditional to Play “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda” 463

Expressing Responsibilities, Desires, and Abilities in the Past Conditional 464

Forming and Implementing the Past Perfect Tense 465

Chapter 4: I Hope That You’ve Had Fun!

The Subjunctive Mood in the Past 469

Forming the Past Subjunctive 469

Composing the Past Perfect Subjunctive 471

Sequencing Your Tenses in the Subjunctive 473

Chapter 5: “If” Clauses, the Impersonal, and the Passive 477

Hypothetically Speaking: “If” Clauses throughout the Tenses 477

Expressing conditions within the realm of reality 478

Examining hypothetical constructions of probability and possibility 479

What-iffi ng the impossible 480

Come se: In a category of its own 481

Putting a Personal Touch on the Impersonal and the Passive 482

Forming the impersonal in the present 482

Applying the impersonal in other tenses 483

Getting proactive about the passive voice 485

Chapter 6: Progressing through Gerunds in Italian 487

Forming Gerunds in the Present Tense 488

Working with Irregular Gerund Forms 489

Creating Gerunds in the Past Tense 489

Putting Gerunds in the Present Progressive 490

What Were You Thinking? The Imperfect Progressive 491

Book VI: Appendixes 493

Appendix A: Verb Tables 495

Italian Helping Verbs 496

Regular Italian Verbs 498

Irregular Italian Verbs 518

Appendix B: Italian-English Mini-Dictionary 529

Appendix C: English-Italian Mini-Dictionary 545

Appendix D: Fun & Games 561

Appendix E: Audio Tracks 615

Discovering What’s on the Audio Tracks 615

Track Listing 616

Index 619