The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Italian, 2nd Edition

Ciao, bella o bello! Crack The Complete Idiot's GuideA (R) to Italian, Second Edition and you'll have a one-stop resource for getting a handle on this beautiful language-whether you are traveling to Italy for vacation or chatting with the host at your favorite Italian ristorante. The new edition includes a new and improved Italian-English glossary, more practical exercises, easier-to-read tables, a quick travel reference and new sidebars on dialect. Copyright • 2001 by Gabrielle Euvino 3 Contents at a Glance 5 Contents 7 Foreword 18 Introduction 20 What You’ll Find in These Pages 21 Part 1 The Basics 24 Chapter 1 Why You Should Study Italian 26 You Love Life 27 Get Real 28 Getting Wet 29 There’s Nothing to Stop You 31 Chapter 2 Immerse Yourself 34 Latin Lovers 35 So What’s Your Story? 38 How Much Italian Is Enough? 39 Your Dictionary Is Your Best Friend 39 Speak Easy 40 It All Depends on How You Look at It 42 What’s the Object; Who’s the Subject? 44 Drawing from Esperienza 44 Read It, Write It, Say It 45 Chapter 3 Sound Like an Italian 48 Italian Pronunciation 48 Your ABCs 49 Don’t Get Stressed Out 50 Rolling Your R’s 51 The Long and the Short of It: Vowels 51 The Hard and Soft of It: Consonants 52 Give Me the Combo 54 Dipthongs 57 Double Consonants 58 A Is for Ancona 59 Get Help! 60 Patience and Practice Pay Off 61 Chapter 4 You Know More Than You Think 62 Cognates: A Bridge Between Languages 62 If It Looks Like a Duck ... 64 Nouns 68 Trojan Horses—False Friends 70 Verb Cognates 71 Put It All Together 74 Chapter 5 Expressively Yours 76 How Do You Do? 76 Communications 80 I Giorni: Days 81 I Mesi: Months 81 Expressing Your Honest Opinion 83 Idiomatically Speaking 84 Idiomatic Expressions in Italian 85 It’s All in the Details 86 What’s Your Opinion? 89 Seventh Heaven 90 Chapter 6 Almost Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex 92 Determining Gender: He Versus She 92 An Article Is Not What You Read in a Newspaper 93 Singular Nouns 95 Rules Are Made to Be Broken 98 More Is Better: Making Plurals 101 Chapter 7 What’s the Subject? 108 Your Loyal Subject 108 Subject Pronouns 109 You and You and You 111 Part 2 You’re Off and Running 114 Chapter 8 An Action- Packed Adventure 116 All in the Family 117 The –are Family 119 Practice Makes Perfetto 124 The –ere Verbs 125 Practice Makes Perfetto II 128 The –ire Family 129 The –ire Verbs (Group I) 129 More –ire Verbs (Group II) 130 Asking Questions 132 Chapter 9 Being There 134 The Birds and the Be’s 135 The Verb Essere 135 The Verb Stare 136 Essere vs. Stare: What’s the Difference? 137 C’è and Ci sono (There Is, There Are) 139 It’s Time to Have Some Fun: Avere 140 Professionally Speaking 143 In My Professional Opinion 143 So, What’s Your Story? 145 We, the People 146 Chapter 10 Tell Me About Your Childhood 152 One of the Famiglia 152 Are You Possessed? 154 Using Di to Show Possession 154 Possessive Adjectives 155 A Sense of Belonging 157 It’s Good to Know 157 Making Introductions 158 Who Is Who 159 Tall, Dark, and Handsome 159 I Colori 163 How Do You Do? Adverbs 167 Chapter 11 Finally, You’re at the Airport 172 On the Plane 172 On the Inside 174 Going Crazy: The Verb Andare 175 Prepositions: Sticky Stuff 177 Contractions 180 The Imperative: Giving Directions 182 Dazed and Confused 184 Passively Yours: Si 185 Chapter 12 Moving Around 188 Hoofing and Spinning 188 Which One? 189 On the Road 190 Baby, I Got Your Number 195 It’s Not What You Do, but with Whom You Do It 200 Questions, Questions 201 Ask Away 201 Getting On with Salire 205 Things to Do: The Verb Fare (to Do; to Make) 205 Chapter 13 Hallelujah, You’ve Made It to l’Hotel 210 A Cave Will Do 210 La Mancia (Tipping) 216 Who’s on First? 217 Feeling Moody: The Modal Verbs 218 Infinitive Verbs and Prepositions 221 A Review of the Irregular Verbs 224 Chapter 14 Rain or Shine 228 Talking About the Weather: Che Tempo Fa? 228 Il Clima: The Climate 230 Dipinto di Blu 231 La Temperatura: What’s Hot and What’s Not 232 The Four Seasons 233 It’s a Date! 235 What Century? 235 Do You Have un Appuntamento? 237 How Often? 238 Quando Quando Quando? 239 From What Realm Are You? 240 What’s Your Sign? 241 Part 3 Fun and Games 244 Chapter 15 I Can’t Believe My Eyes! 246 Seeing Is Believing 246 Let’s Go Visit, Find, See, Look At ... 248 Critters 248 More Irregular Verbs 249 The Power of Suggestion 254 The Big, Blue Marble 257 Once Upon a Time 258 Present Progressive Tense (–ing) 260 Making Progress 261 Chapter 16 Shop ’Til You Drop 264 Stores Galore 264 The Stationery Store: La Cartoleria 266 The Florist 273 Objection! 276 Chapter 17 Bread, Wine, and Chocolate 284 To Market, to Market 284 In Macelleria (at the Butcher) 288 Expressing Quantity 294 What’s Your Pleasure? The Verb Piacere 298 A Special Treat 301 Chapter 18 Shall We Dine? 304 So Many Restaurants 304 Il Bar 308 Il Caffè 309 Double Object Pronouns 319 You’ve Got Good Reflexes 320 Reciprocity 325 Chapter 19 Having Fun Italian Style 326 Name Your Game 326 The Arts 330 Il Passato Prossimo (the Present Perfect) 336 The Passato Prossimo and Double Object Pronouns 344 Part 4 Getting Down to Business 346 Chapter 20 You’re Not Having Un Buon Giorno 348 Get Down to the Basics 348 Stressed Out 356 Comparatives and Superlatives 358 Ci and Vi 362 Chapter 21 Is There a Doctor in the House? 364 What a Bod! 364 I Was What I Was: The Imperfect 373 La Pratica 375 Chapter 22 Can You Read Me? 378 Just the Fax 382 Rain or Shine: The Post Office 383 The Future Perfect 390 Chapter 23 Home Sweet Home 392 Your Home Away from Home 392 That Would Be Nice: The Conditional Tense 397 What Would You Have? 398 Chapter 24 Money Matters 404 Bank on It 404 The Wheel of Life 408 Everyone Has Needs: Il Congiuntivo (The Subjunctive) 409 Practice Makes Perfetto 413 Appendix A Answer Key 418 Chapter 2 418 Chapter 4 418 Chapter 5 420 Chapter 6 420 Chapter 7 421 Chapter 8 422 Chapter 9 422 Chapter 10 423 Chapter 11 424 Chapter 12 425 Chapter 13 426 Chapter 14 426 Chapter 15 427 Chapter 16 428 Chapter 17 429 Chapter 18 430 Chapter 19 431 Chapter 20 431 Chapter 21 431 Chapter 22 432 Chapter 23 432 Chapter 24 433 Appendix B Glossary 434 English to Italian 434 Italian to English 448 Appendix C Map of Italy 464 Appendix D An Idiot’s Guide to Additional Resources 466 Index 468 9780028641478 Learn the language of la dolce vita! For anyone who wants to learn and enjoy the most expressive and romantic of languages, the third edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Italian is the first choice for a whole new generation of enthusiastic students of Italian. This updated edition includes two new quick references on verbs, grammar, and sentence structure; two new appendixes on Italian synonyms and popular idiomatic phrases; and updated business and money sections.*First two editions have sold extraordinarily well*Italian is the fourth most popular language in the United States Whether readers want to communicate in the native tongue of their Italian ancestors or converse fluently while traveling on business, this language guide is their one-stop reference. Includes a new and improved Italian-English glossary and easier-to-read tables