Oki doki. Italian is a hard lanuage to learn for idiots like me. In my class is seems like my teacher is making the lanuage up as he goes along. Okay,
Getting Started...
Alright, learning Italian will probably confuse you, so in this section, I will teach you a few things about the lanuage. When you talk about a male or female, the ending of the word will be different. There are masculine words, and femminine words. Masucline words end in 'o', femminine words end in 'a'. Plural words end in 'i'. Every word is basicially like two words. i.e, say you're talking about a penguin. You would say, il pinguino. That means the penguin. Even if you're talking to the penguin, you still keep the il in front of the subject(the penguin is the subject). So, you would say, "Ciao il pinguino. Io amore la latteria." In Italian, that translates to, "Hello penguin, I love the dairy store. If you want to, you can say, "Ciao pinguino. Io amore latteria." This makes the phrase easier to say, by leaving out the words that mean 'the'. Now before we continue, I just want to make something clear. 'Ciao means hello and goodbye, even though ciao used in the US is sometimes used to say goodbye. Also, if you go to Italy, DO NOT say 'ciao', to any random person on the street. Ciao is used for young children and people you know well. Also, Ciao is pronounced 'chow'. Lastly, when writing a sentence in Italian, only the first letter of the first word is capitolized, even if a name or a place is in the sentence. i.e. "Ciao maria." Maria isn't capitolized. Okay, on to the first lesson.
Lesson 1. Conjunctions
Don't you people watch School House Rock? A conjunction is a word that connects a sentence. My Italian teacher never tought us these, because he speaks more Italian than English...But I managed to pick up a few words on my own using my Italian book. Here are a few conjunctions:
- Is- e`(Pronounced like the letter 'a', not like 'ah')
- Are-sei(Pronounced like the letter 'say')
- And-e(Pronounced like the letter 'a', not like 'ah')
- Have-ho(pronounced 'oh')
- Has-ha(pronounced like it looks)
- In-a(prounounced like 'aw')
Okay, that's all you're going to need for now. On to lesson 2!
Lesson 2. Nouns
A noun is a person place or thing. :) This lesson will teach you words like he, she they, you, me, ect.
People
- Me(female)-Mia(pronounced me-ah)
- Me(male)-Mio(pronounced me-oh)
- I-Io(pronounced 'e-oh')
- You-tu(pronounced like, 'to')
- Him-lui(pronounced like loo-e)
- Her-lei(pronounced like lay)
- They-loro(pronounced 'lore-oh')
Places
Whatever the name of the place is, you either capitolize it(at the beginning of the sentence) or if the place comes mid-sentence, you don't capitolize it.
Things
Just a bunch of random things...
- Dog-cane(pronounced cah-knee)
- Cat-gatto(pronounced got-toe)
- Pool(like a swimming pool)-piscina(pish-e-nah)
- Cake-torta(pronounced tore-ta)
- Cheese-formmagio(look closely at this word, and kind of flurish the gio, to where it almost sounds like you were saying, 'shhh'. Like, "For-ma-shio")
- Sun-sole('sole-a')
- Bathroom-bagno(ban-yo) or Gabinetto(ga-be-net-toe)
- Book-libro('lee-bro')
- Homework-compiti(com-pee-tee)
- Door-porta(pour-tah)
- Window-finestra(fin-es-tra)
- Ice cream-gelato(ice cream)
- Car-macchina-(mah-key-ah-na)
- Pen-penna(pen-na)
- T.V.-televisione(tele-vis-e-on-ay) or T.V(pronounced tee-voo)
- Wall-mura(mure-ah)
- Table-tavolo(ta-va-low)
- Bed-letto(let-toe)
- Shoes-scarpe(scar-pay)
- Food-cibo(che-bow)
This list could go on forever. Lets just go to the next lesson.
Lesson 3. Verbs
Verb. It's what you do. Verbs are action words. I'll just give you a few examples.
- To work-lavora(lave, like the word, have. lave-or-a)
- To get dressed-vestirsi(vest-ear-see)
- Celebrate-celebrare(sell-a-brar-ray)
- Write-scrivo(scriv-oh)
- Stand up-alzati(all-za-tee)
- To open-apri(ape-ree)
- To repeat-ripete(ree-pee-tay)
Okay, those are a few examples. Now one last lesson, then we'll get to the good stuff.
Lesson 4. Adjectives
This is one of my favorites lessons. Adjectives are fun. In case you didn't know, agjectives are descriptive words.
- Good-buon(bon)
- Right- bene(ben-nay)
- Wrong-male(mah-lay)
- Fat-grasso(gras-oh)
- Loud-forte(for-tay)
- Quiet-piano(Like the instrument)
- Stupid-stupido(stupid with an o)
- Slow-lento(lent-o)
- Tall-alto(all-toe)
- Short-corto(court-o)
- Dark-scuro(skur-o)
- Hot-caldo(call-doe)
- Cold-freddo(fraid-oh)
- Hungry-fame(fah-may)
- Thirsty-sete(set-ay)
- Ugly-brutto(brute-toe)
- Beautiful-Bello-a-(Bell-oh/bell-ah)
- Stingy-avaro(ave-air-row)
- Happy-contento(con-tent-oh)
Okay. Thats it for the lessons. There isn't enough information there for you to do anything really. So You can use some of these phrases in the next sectionn.
Random Sentences
You are fat and ugly-Tu sei grasso e brutto.
I am beautiful- Io il bella.
He is a fat pig- Lui e' il grasso maiale.
She lives in the kitchen...fat dog.-Lei abito a la cucina....grasso cane.
Good day- Buon giorno
Good evening- Buona sera
Good night- Buona notte.
My name is____- Mi chiamo e'_____.
What's your name?- Come ti chiami?
How old are you?-Quanti anni hai?
Bye-Arrivederci
I live in the city- Io abito a la citta'.
The fish is stupid and slow.- Pesce e' stupido e lento.
You're a donkey.- Tu loro il asino.
The penguin eats cake and icecream-Pinguino mangi torta e gelato.
I hate evil ducks. Io odio male l'oca.
More to come in the future people. Any suggustions on phrases can be emailed to me. Go to my contact page. Thanks.
