GLOSSARY

Active construction

An active construction is one where the subject of the sentence is the person carrying out the action, or the event taking place. A verb can have an active form: chiudono la porta a mezzanotte ‘they shut the door at midnight’ or a passive form (see below).

Adjective

Adjectives describe or give information about a noun. They can be descriptive (size, shape, colour, nationality, other qualities), demonstrative, indefinite, interrogative or possessive: see the relevant headings.

Adverb

Adverbs give information about a verb, saying how, where or when, for example, something is done. Adverbs of quantity such as molto, poco can also add further information about an adjective or another adverb.

Agreement

In Italian, adjectives, articles and, in some cases, past participles have to ‘agree with’ the noun or pronoun they accompany or refer to. This means that their form varies according to whether the noun/pronoun referred to is masculine or feminine (gender), singular or plural (number).

Article

Italian has three types of article: the definite article il, lo (etc.) ‘the’, the indefinite article un, una (etc.) ‘a’ and the partitive dei, delle, degli (etc.) ‘some’, ‘any’.

Auxiliary verb

Auxiliary verbs such as avere, essere are used in combination with the past participle to form compound tenses, both active ho mangiato ‘I have eaten’, siamo andati ‘we have gone’ and passive è stato licenziato ‘he was sacked’. See also Modal verb.

Clause

A clause is a section or part of a sentence which contains a subject and a verb. Complex sentences are made up of a series of clauses. The main clause (or clauses) is the part of a sentence which makes sense on its own and does not depend on any other element in the sentence. A subordinate clause always depends on another clause, and is often introduced by a conjunction such as che. There are various types of subordinate clause.

Comparative

When one person, object or activity is compared with another, a comparative form is used: La pasta napoletana è migliore di quella siciliana Neapolitan pasta is better than Sicilian pasta’.

Compound tenses

Compound tenses are tenses consisting of more than one element. In Italian, the compound tenses are formed by the auxiliary avere or essere, and the past participle: they include compound perfect, pluperfect, future perfect. See also Simple tenses.

Conditional

The conditional is not a tense, but a verb mood. It can be used on its own, particularly as a polite way of expressing a request: Le dispiacerebbe aprire la finestra? ‘Would you mind opening the window?’ It can also be used in conditional sentences, where the meaning of the main sentence is dependent on some condition being fulfilled: Andrei in vacanza anch’io, se avessi tempo ‘I would go on holiday too if I had the time’.

Conjugation

The way in which verb forms change according to the person, tense or mood, for example: (io) vado ‘I go’, (noi) andremo ‘we will go’, le ragazze sono andate ‘the girls went’. The word ‘conjugation’ is also used to mean the regular patterns of verbs ending in -are, -ere, -ire to which verbs belong.

Conjunction

A linking or joining word, usually linking two words, phrases or clauses within a sentence. Conjunctions can either be coordinating, linking two phrases or clauses of equal weight (examples include e, o) or subordinating, linking main clause and subordinate clause (such as perché, benché, mentre, quando).

Countable

A noun is countable if it can normally be used in both singular and plural, and take the indefinite article un, una (etc.): un bicchiere ‘a glass’, una pizza ‘a pizza’, whereas an uncountable noun is one which is not normally found in the plural, e.g. zucchero ‘sugar’ or an abstract noun such as tristezza ‘sadness’.

Definite article see Article

Demonstrative

A demonstrative adjective or pronoun is one which demonstrates or indicates the person or object we are talking about: questo carrello ‘this trolley’, quel professore ‘that teacher’.

Direct object

A direct object, whether noun or pronoun, is one which is directly affected by the action or event. A direct object can be living or inanimate. It is always used with a transitive verb: I miei figli hanno mangiato tutti i cioccolatini ‘My sons ate all the chocolates’, Li ho visti in città ieri sera ‘I saw them in town yesterday evening’.

Feminine see Gender

Finite verb

A verb which has a subject and is complete in itself, as opposed to infinitives or participles which have to depend on another verb: leri siamo andati in piscina ‘Yesterday we went to the swimming pool’, Domani i ragazzi torneranno a scuola ‘Tomorrow the children will go back to school’.

Gender

All nouns in Italian have a gender: they are either masculine or feminine, even if they are inanimate objects. Even where living beings are concerned, grammatical gender is not always the same as natural gender: una tigre ‘a tiger’ (either sex unless specified), un ippopotamo ‘a hippopotamus’. Gender is important since it determines the form of the noun, the article and the adjective.

Gerund

A gerund is a verb form ending in -ando or -endo: parlando ‘speaking’, sorridendo ‘smiling’, finendo ‘finishing’. The gerund is most often used in Italian along with the verb stare to express an action or event in progress: sto finendo ‘I’m just finishing’.

Idiomatic

An idiomatic expression is one which cannot normally be translated literally, for example ubriaco fradicio literally ‘soaking drunk’.

Imperative

The imperative mood is the verb mood used to express orders, commands or instructions: state fermi ‘keep still’, si accomodi ‘sit down’, andiamo ‘let’s go’.

Impersonal (verbs, verb forms)

Impersonal verbs or verb forms do not refer to any one particular person. They can generally be translated by English ‘it’ and use the third person form: non serve protestare ‘it’s no good protesting’.

Indefinite article see Article

Indefinites

An adjective or pronoun used to refer to a person or thing in a general way, rather than a definite person or thing. Examples are: alcuni ‘some’, certi ‘certain’, ‘some’, qualche ‘some’, qualcuno ‘someone’, qualcosa ‘something’.

Indicative (verbs)

The verb mood we use most in speaking and writing is the indicative mood. Within this mood are a full range of tenses: present mangio ‘I eat’; compound perfect ho mangiato ‘I have eaten’; future mangerò ‘I will eat’ etc., etc. The verb mood used to express uncertainty is the subjunctive, which also has a full range of tenses. See Subjunctive.

Indirect object

An indirect object, whether noun or pronoun, is one which is indirectly affected by the action or event, for example ho mandato delle cartoline ai miei amici ‘I sent some postcards to my friends’ or Marco telefonava a sua madre ogni sera Marco used to phone his mother every evening’.

Infinitive

The infinitive of a verb is the form always given in a dictionary and is recognised by its endings -are, -ere, -ire: for example chiacchierare ‘to chat’, sorridere ‘to smile’ and partire ‘to leave’. It cannot be used on its own but depends on a finite verb form, often a modal verb: vorrei ringraziare i telespettatori ‘I would like to thank the TV audience’.

Interrogative

Interrogative words are used to ask questions or indirect questions. They include chi ‘who’, come ‘how’, cosa ‘what’, dove ‘where’, quando ‘when’, perché ‘why’, quanto how much’ and interrogative adjectives such as quale ‘which’, quanto ‘how much’, ‘how many’.

Intransitive (verbs)

See also Transitive verbs. Intransitive verbs are verbs which cannot be used with a direct object such as Siamo arrivati alla stazione con un’ ora di ritardo ‘We arrived at the station an hour late’. Many of these verbs take the auxiliary essere, Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively (see Transitive verbs)

Invariable

Invariable nouns have the same form for both singular and plural: un film, dei film ‘a film, some films’ or for both masculine and feminine:, un artista, un’artista ‘an artist’. An invariable adjective is one which does not change form to agree with the noun, whether masculine or feminine, singular or plural: un vestito rosa ‘a pink dress’, una giacca rosa ‘a pink jacket’.

Irregular (noun or verb)

A noun or verb which does not follow a standard pattern: un uovo ‘one egg’ due uova ‘two eggs’; andare ‘to go’ vado ‘I go’, vai ‘you go’, va ‘he/she goes’, andiamo ‘we go’ andate ‘you (pl.) go’, vanno ‘they go’.

Masculine see Gender

Modal verb

A verb which is used with a verb infinitive. In Italian the modal verbs are potere ‘to be able to’, dovere ‘to have to’, volere ‘to want to’: posso lavorare domani ‘I can work tomorrow’, devo lavorare domani ‘I have to work tomorrow’, voglio lavorare domani ‘I want to work tomorrow’.

Mood

The four main ways in which verbs can express actions or events are known as moods. These four moods – all of which, except the imperative, have a full range of tenses – are the indicative (e.g. vado ‘I go’), subjunctive (e.g. che io vada that I may go’), conditional (e.g. andrei ‘I would go’) and imperative (vada! ‘go!’). See also non-finite verb forms (Infinitive, Gerund, Participle).

Negative

A statement is negative when it specifies an action or event which has not taken place or will not take place. Negative words or phrases turn a positive statement or question into a negative one. Examples of negative words in Italian include: nessun ‘no’, nessuno ‘nobody’, niente ‘nothing’, non … mai ‘not … ever’, ‘never’, non … ancora ‘not yet’, non … più ‘no longer’, ‘no more’.

Non-finite verb forms see Infinitive, Gerund, Participle

Noun

A noun indicates a person, place, thing or event, for example: un assistente ‘an assistant’, la festa ‘the party’. Nouns are inextricably linked to the articles (il, un, etc.) and to any adjectives that accompany them. All nouns have a gender and this determines the form of the adjectives and articles that go with them.

Number

Number is the distinction between singular and plural. Verb forms alter according to the number of the subject: il ragazzo nuota ‘the boy swims’, i ragazzi nuotano ‘the boys swim’.

Object

In grammatical terms, an object is the person or thing affected by the action or event, as opposed to the subject, which is the person or thing responsible for it. See Direct object, Indirect object.

Participle (present, past)

Verbs normally have a present participle and a past participle. The participles cannot be used on their own but are found together with other verb forms. The past participle is used with avere or essere to form the passato composto. When used with essere, it agrees with the subject. The present participle, less frequently used, changes form when used as an adjective, e.g. cantanti.

Partitive article see Article

Passato composto

We use this term for the compound past, a past tense formed by auxiliary and participle: ho mangiato ‘I ate’, sono andato ‘I went’. Some textbooks call it the passato prossimo ‘perfect tense’.

Passato remoto see Passato semplice

Passato semplice

We use the term for the simple past, e.g. andai ‘I went’. Some books call this tense passato remoto, English past definite’, ‘past historic’ or ‘past absolute’.

Passive (verb forms)

A passive construction is one in which the subject of the sentence is the person or thing affected by the action or event taking place (as opposed to an active construction): tutti gli studenti sono stati promossi ‘all the students were moved up a class’.

Person

The verb subject can be a first person (io ‘I’), second person (tu ‘you’), third person (lui, lei ‘he’, ‘she’) and so on. Most verbs have three singular persons (English ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he/she’), and three plural (English ‘we’, ‘you’, ‘they’).

Personal pronouns see also Pronouns

Personal pronouns can be subject pronouns io, tu, lui ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, etc.; direct object pronouns mi, ti, lo, la ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘him’, ‘her’, etc.; indirect object pronouns mi, ti, gli, le ‘to me’, ‘to you’, ‘to him’, ‘to her’, etc.; disjunctive pronouns, used as stressed direct object or after a preposition (con) me, te, lui, lei (with) me’, ‘with you’, ‘with him’, ‘with her’, etc.

Plural see Number

Possessive

Possessive adjectives and/or pronouns denote ownership: il mio orologio ‘my watch’, la nostra macchina ‘our car’.

Preposition

Prepositions give further information about a person, action or event, for example on time or place, value or purpose: examples include a, con, da, di, in, per, su and the combined forms al, da, del, nel, sul, etc.

Pronoun

Pronouns stand in for and/or refer to a noun. There are various categories of pronoun: demonstrative (questo, quello); indefinite (alcuni), interrogative (chi), possessive (il mio, i suoi), reflexive (mi, ti, si); relative (quello che).

Question

Direct questions sometimes begin with a question word: Dove vai stasera? ‘Where are you going this evening?’, sometimes not Hai tempo di parlarmi? Do you have time to speak to me?’ Indirect questions are introduced by words such as chiedere to ask’: Mi ha chiesto se avevo tempo di parlargli ‘He asked me if I had time to speak to him’.

Reflexive verb

A verb using a reflexive pronoun (English myself’, ‘himself’) indicating that the subject and the object are one and the same: mi lavo ‘I wash’, si è fatto male ‘he hurt himself’.

Regular

A regular noun or verb is one which follows one of the main noun or verb patterns, in other words whose forms and endings can be predicted, for example -are, parlare to speak’, -ere, sorridere ‘to smile’, -ire, partire ‘to leave’.

Relative

A relative pronoun introduces a relative clause which gives more information about a person or thing mentioned specifically: Ho visto la studentessa che veniva sempre nel mio ufficio I saw the student who was always coming to my office’.

Reported speech

Also known as indirect speech, this is a way of relating words spoken or written by someone else. Reported speech is usually introduced by verbs such as dire ‘to say’, ‘to tell’, scrivere to write’, annunciare ‘to announce’ and the conjunction che.

Sentence

A sentence must have a verb and a subject. It can either be a simple sentence (one subject, one verb): gli ospiti dormivano the guests were asleep’ or a complex sentence (main clause and one or more subordinate clauses): mentre dormivano, i ladri hanno portato via tutto ‘while they were asleep, the thieves took everything’.

Simple tenses

Simple tenses are formed of one word only. See also Compound tenses.

Singular see Number

Stem see Verb stem

Subject

The subject is usually a noun, pronoun or proper name denoting the person or object performing the action or the event taking place: Mia madre ha comprato un tailleur ‘My mother bought a suit’, la festa si svolge a maggio the festival takes place in May’. In the case of a passive construction, the subject is the person or thing affected by the action: Gli studenti sono stati criticati dagli insegnanti the students were criticised by their teachers’. With Italian verbs, it is not always essential to mention a subject explicitly since it is understood from the verb form: abbiamo mangiato a mezzogiorno ‘we ate at midday’.

Subjunctive

The subjunctive mood is used to express doubt or uncertainty. It is almost always used in complex sentences where one clause depends on another: Abbiamo comprato un cagnolino in modo che i bambini imparino a prendere cura degli animali ‘We bought a puppy so that the children can learn how to look after animals’, or where the subordinate clause depends on a main verb expressing uncertainty: dubito che lui possa farcela ‘I doubt if he can manage it’. However it can be found standing on its own, when used as an imperative form: Vada via! ‘Go away!’

Subordinate (clauses)

A subordinate clause is one which depends on another clause, usually the main clause in a sentence. It can be introduced by a conjunction such as che ‘what’, perché ‘because’ or a relative pronoun such as che ‘who’, ‘which’. See also Clause and Conjunction.

Superlative

When one or more persons, objects or activities are compared with others, or a comparison is implied, a superlative form is used to express the concept of ‘superior to all the rest’: la casa della mia amica Matilde era la più grande del paese ‘my friend Matilde’s house was the biggest in the village’. See also Comparative.

Synonym

A word with the same meaning as another word.

Tense

A finite verb form which normally provides a clue as to the time setting for an action or event.

Transitive verbs

Transitive verbs are verbs used with a direct object: ho fumato una sigaretta ‘I smoked a cigarette’. Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively, e.g. aumentare to increase’, diminuire to decrease’, cambiare to change’: abbiamo aumentato il prezzo del biglietto ‘we have increased the price of the ticket’, il prezzo del biglietto è aumentato the price of the ticket has increased’.

Verb

A verb describes an action, event or state. It always has a subject and can also have an object. Its form varies according to mood and tense, and the person, gender and number of its subject.

Verb stem

The stem of a verb is its base’, the part of the verb which is left when you take away -are, -ere, -ire from the infinitive form. In a regular verb the ending changes but the stem does not normally change. In an irregular verb, the stem may change too.

Voice

Verbs normally have two voices. See active and passive.