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Arrrghhhh Italian doing my head in! | ||
Tags: Italian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| bobby1413 Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4196 days ago 32 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 1 of 30 12 October 2013 at 6:52pm | IP Logged |
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This is so basic, I feel stupid for having such a big issue with it. But...
This book I'm using to help with verbs has loads of exercises. It continues to say things like: io studio tu mangi voi parlate etc... So I do all the exercises. It asks me: "rewrite in Italian" and says "I eat". So I put down "io mangio". The actual answer is "mangio". ------------------------------------------------------------ -------- Now, I know that you know the subject by the eending - so mangio is "I EAT". But it seems some people do put io mangio and say it's correct, but others don't. What is write? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4842 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes  Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 2 of 30 12 October 2013 at 9:04pm | IP Logged |
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When you use the personal pronoun in Italian, you're adding emphasis to the sentence:
Io mangio pizza. --> I eat/am eating pizza (as opposed to you). In order to simply express an action without adding emphasis to who is doing it, the conjugated verb is sufficient: Mangio pizza. --> I eat/am eating pizza. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4356 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 30 13 October 2013 at 11:24am | IP Logged |
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Josquin, a wonderful explanation as always.
Coraggio Bobby, the more I read Italian (and about Italian), the more it all makes sense! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| drygramul Tetraglot Senior Member Italy Joined 4466 days ago 165 posts - 269 votes Speaks: Persian, Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2 Studies: French, Polish | Message 4 of 30 13 October 2013 at 11:24pm | IP Logged |
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Io mangio pizza. --> Io mangio LA pizza. Never forget the article, that's the most common mistake foreigners make.
Using the pronoun in such a sentence could have two possible meanings: 1) I'm going to eat pizza, I don't care about what you're going to do 2) I - specifically - am eating pizza, as opposed or not to others. That's more likely if you're explaining it to someone who's actually not there (on the phone, for instance). Otherwise, for a native, it sounds like you are reciting it from a language course book, even if it's correct --> the pen is on the table. Edited by drygramul on 13 October 2013 at 11:41pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4842 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 5 of 30 14 October 2013 at 12:36pm | IP Logged |
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Oops, thanks for the native speaker input! I totally forgot the definite article there. Edited by Josquin on 14 October 2013 at 12:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| bobby1413 Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4196 days ago 32 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 30 14 October 2013 at 8:45pm | IP Logged |
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So, although....
io mangio la pizza is correct, it's context and meaning is slightly off? So a native Italian would just say "Mangio la pizza?". ---------------------------- If that's right then I find it really frustrating how all the books seem to not make that clear! I've got a verb book which I've just noticed has a 7 page section on Articles including: a, un, uno, una, un' and il l' lo, i, gli, la, le and da, di, in, su... I'm going to read that as I don't really know how to use any of them properly. Assamil is good, I've learned loads, but actually knowing PROPERLY the language structure I've not found so good. I think maybe I need to be more technical with how I'm learning. Do you think that's a good idea? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| drygramul Tetraglot Senior Member Italy Joined 4466 days ago 165 posts - 269 votes Speaks: Persian, Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2 Studies: French, Polish | Message 7 of 30 15 October 2013 at 12:29am | IP Logged |
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So, although....
io mangio la pizza is correct, it's context and meaning is slightly off? So a native Italian would just say "Mangio la pizza?". That's correct. If that's right then I find it really frustrating how all the books seem to not make that clear! What you're missing here is that declining a verb, and practicing grammar or written language is different from speaking it in a context, although slightly. No need to lose heart with more grammar: 1 - Italian is quite easy and similar to English in structure. 2 - Most Italians don't have a good command of the language. This means they tolerate more mistakes in a conversation. 3 - It is very unlikely that you're not understood if your vocabulary is enough in order to make a sentence, despite your poor grammar. 4 - Many grammar subtleties need mostly practicing (by listening and speaking), rather than repeating the same thing a lot of times. For instance, you'll know which tenses to use in conditional sentences after hearing them 4-5 times from a native speaker, and you may not get it even by repeating them a thousand times. Build your vocabulary and as soon as you get a chance, start listening to tv or radio stations. Or better, talk with a native speaker. Edited by drygramul on 15 October 2013 at 12:31am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4045 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 8 of 30 09 November 2013 at 7:46pm | IP Logged |
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Actually:
- Mangio pizza - Io mangio pizza - Mangio la pizza - Io mangio la pizza - Sto mangiando pizza - Io sto mangiando pizza - Sto mangiando la pizza - Io sto mangiando la pizza are all correct. - The subject in case it's a personal pronoun is not mandatory - The article is also not mandatory - We use the present also to indicate an action that is on execution (but the continous form is more correct) Said that, there are forms that are more used because they sound better: - mangio la pizza - sto mangiando pizza - sto mangiando la pizza and forms that are used but usually not alone - Io sto mangiando la pizza, lui sta mangiando la pasta But don't worry, even Italians are not really confident with Italian grammar and make continuosly mistakes. Put more effort on conversational and understanding abilities. Edited by tristano on 09 November 2013 at 7:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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