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The passato prossimo (present perfect) is used in Italian to describe events that have been completed in the recent past or were completed in the distant past but still affect the present. The passato prossimo is a one of four compound verb tenses in Italian. The other three are the futuro anterior (future perfect), trapassato…

While English verbs make no distinction in how long ago an event occurred, the same is not true in Italian. The compound passato prossimo (present perfect) tense is used when discussing events that have occurred in the recent past. The Italian passato remote, on the other hand, is a simple verb tense used for discussing…

A speaker of one Romance language faces unique challenges when learning another. Among these is the false sense of security created by the large number of similarly-spelled words with similar meanings. These similarities make the need to be on guard against false friends all the more important. Spanish and Italian, with their shared linguistic history,…

For this week’s lesson, we’re going to look at the conjugations and uses of some of the most common Italian irregular verbs. These include first conjugation irregular verbs, as well as the irregular auxiliary verbs avere (to have, to own, or to wear) and essere (to be).   First Conjugation Irregular Verbs Italian has about…

English has only one definite article: the. However, the Italian l’articolo determinative takes many forms. Which form you should use depends on the number, gender, and first letter of the noun or adjective that it precedes.   Use the following rules to determine the correct form: Lo (singular) and gli (plural) precede masculine nouns that…

This week we’re going to provide an introduction to Italian present and past participles. In modern Italian, the present participle is usually used as either a noun or an adjective. The past participle is integral to many verb forms. Compound tenses, including the perfect tenses, are constructed from some combination of the past participle and…

This week’s quiz covers thirty common Italian words. Match each Italian word on the left with its English equivalent on the right. As always, watch out for false friends. Italian has much in common with other Romance languages, most notably French and Spanish. If you are familiar with either of these languages and see a…

In this lesson we’re going to learn how to conjugate the simple present tense of Italian regular verbs. Similar to the English simple present, presente Italian verbs express what is happening at this exact moment time.   Conjugating the Present Tense The infinitives of regular Italian verbs end in either –ARE, –ERE, or –IRE. These…

This week’s quiz covers twenty-six common German words. Match each German word on the left with its English equivalent on the right. German and English have many true cognates, so be extra careful of false friends!   Check the answer key at the bottom of the quiz to see how well you did. If you’re…

This week we’ll be turning out attention to another language with a large number of false friends with English: German. As English is a Germanic language, there are many cognates between the two languages. However, this shared history also makes distinguishing between true cognates and false friends especially challenging. The following false friends will give…