GRAMMAR

  GRAMMAR EXERCISES
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  GRAMMAR RULES

Grammar rules

  VERB FORMS

Verb Forms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



GRAMMAR RULES

This page is incomplete.
To find more grammar rules check the pages with GRAMMAR EXERCISES
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MASCULINE-FEMININE

PRONOMI PERSONALI

MORFOLOGIA

 

 

MASCULINE-FEMININE

Nouns are divided into two categories: MASCULINE and FEMININE. Each NOUN belongs to one of these categories.

In some cases the GENDER of a noun, whether MASCULINE OR FEMININE is rather obvious: DONNA (woman) is FEM., while UOMO (man) is MASC.

In the majority of cases the gender is assigned in what seems an arbitrary way (often it depends on the original gender in Latin or Greek, but let's not get too technical). Thus MELA (apple) is FEM. and MELO (appletree) is MASC. It is important to know the GENDER of each noun because this determines the form of other elements, such as PRONOUNS and ADJECTIVES.

You can look up the GENDER in an Italian or bilingual dictionary: next to each NOUN you will find a (m.) or (f.).

 

There are a few simple 'rules' to help you remember the GENDER of a noun:

1) a nound ending with - A is generally FEMININE

2) a noun ending with - O is generally MASCULINE

 

Unfortunately for the numerous nouns ending with - E there is no hard and fast 'rule'. ThusLEZIONE (lesson) is FEM. but GENITORE (parent) is MASC.

As we procede with the course you will learn a few tricks that will make it easier to remember the correct gender of nouns.

 

PRONOMI PERSONALI

In a construction that contains an infinitive, the personal pronouns are attached at the end of the infinitive form (agglutinative process).

Ex: io posso portare Luigi alla stazione (I can take Luigi to the station) =>

Luigi is the direct object of the sentence. It is a masculine singular noun. The corresponding pronoun is LO (him).

The outcome is: <io posso PORTARLO alla stazione>, removing the last letter <e> from the infinitive and attaching the pronoun <lo>

 

MORFOLOGIA

"Lung - o" becomes "lung - h - issimo" with the insertion of an "h" in order to retain the same "hard g" sound.

Without the "h", it would be "lung - issimo" and would be read with a "soft g" as in "gelato"

The same rules apply to word ending with "c": bianco, poco, etc.

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