Italian music

Ever heard Italian music? "Bellissimo, no?!"

A few of my personal favourite songs:

Andrea Bocelli - Vivo per lei (I live for her)
Al Bano Carrisi & Romina Power - Felicità (Happiness)
Eros Ramazzotti - Un' emozione per sempre (An emotion forever)
Gianni Nannini - I maschi (Men)
Laura Pausini - Incancellabile (Unforgettable)

They can all be found on Youtube. Enjoy!

Cartoon italiano

Italian coffees

In Italy (especially in the South) coffee is an essential part of the everyday life. That is why they have many different coffees with different names. Here you can find some of the most well-known ones with their meaning:

Un caffè ristretto: a short coffee = strong
Un caffè lungo: a long coffee = faint/not strong
Un caffè macchiato: a stained coffee = with a drop of milk
Un caffellatte = a coffee with milk
Un caffè corretto: an improved coffee = coffee with a dash of cognac or grappa
Un cappuccino = a cup of strong coffee mixed with foamed milk

Make your choice and enjoy it ; )!

Uno or Un?

In Italian masculine words that start with "s" followed by a consonant or "z", are preceded by the indefinite article uno or the definite article lo.

Examples:

uno sport/lo sport
uno stadio/lo stadio

uno zaino/lo zaino
uno zio/lo zio

Pronunciation "h"

In Italian the "h" (e.g. "house") is not pronounced.
So mind the pronunciation when conjugating the Italian verb avere ("to have"):

ho (io)!
hai (tu)!
ha (lui/lei)!

(abbiamo) (noi)
(avete) (voi)
hanno (loro)!


The letter "h" in Italian also has a pronunciation-altering function:
If the "h" is added to "ci" or "ce" in Italian, e.g. amiche, the pronunciation changes into "k".

Other examples:
chimico = "kimiko" (pronunciation)
turistiche = "touristike" (pronunciation)

So mind the tricky Italian "h"!

Ce l'ho - Ce l'hai - Ce l'ha - ...

These forms, with the meaning "I have it"/"I got it" (Ce l'ho), are used quite often in everyday Italian speech.

Ce does not have a meaning in this context, as it only has the function to build up a fluent sentence and so it is untranslatable.

Personal pronouns

Italian personal pronouns in subject form:

I io
You tu
He/she lui/lei

We noi
You voi
They loro

Remember: these pronouns are ONLY mentioned in order to make a comparison or a contradistinction.

E.g.: Giovanni è di Roma; io, invece, sono di Venezia.

BUT

E.g.: Sei di Roma? - No, sono di Venezia.

In short: sentence = comparison/contradistinction --> mention the personal pronoun!