Verb Drills 2 - Lesson 1
All about Essere
After this class you should;Be able to conjugate the verb Essere in
Simple and compound indicative tenses as well as
Simple and compound subjunctive tenses
And the imperative and conditional
Use a vocabulary to describe verbs and their tenses in Italian
GrammarAs I do with most everything I look at the division of tenses a little differently than most do. Technically speaking the correct way to categorize the various tenses would be;Definite - Indicative, Imperative, Conditional and then subjunctive Indefinite - Infinitive, Participle and the gerund For the purposes of this lesson I look first at what I call simple tenses (non subjunctive) meaning no auxiliary verb and then move on to the participle and compound tenses which are made from simple tenses and the participle. Then I handle the subjunctive the same way. The infinitive is in the title and I leave the gerund for the lessons on the progressive tenses. For most of you these first four tenses should be almost more of a review;
The imperative should also be more of a review while the conditional may be new. Remember with the imperative, we don’t look at it like; I, you, he/she, we, y’all and they – Instead it is listed as; You, us, y’all (informal) and then you, y’all (formal). There is no “I” with the imperative tense.
participio passato - Singular; stato (M), stata (F), - Plural; stati (M), state (F)Now we’ll look at the compound tenses. If you have the simple tenses that we have covered so far committed to memory along with the past participle options then these four are a breeze. Basically they amount to review and combining what we already know.
Once you get it – how to construct the compound tenses then the options just keep growing. Check out these next two! Once again, if you study and memorize the simple tenses and past participles then these become very easy.
Ok, now let’s look at two more simple tenses in a different mood, the subjunctive. We are not going to go into all that these tenses involve and when to use them as that is an entire lesson in itself and is already available online. It is also covered in verb drills II. So here we go!
Now let’s look at the compound tenses in the subjunctive – how to construct the compound tenses is exactly the same. You simply use the simple tenses in the subjunctive mood and past participles that you already learned! Once again, don’t get hung up on the meaning, translation or use of the subjunctive mood. We cover that in detail in a series of lessons just for that mood where we can really spend the time explaining and understanding it.
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 Class PDF |
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 basic online exercise advanced online exercise |
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Printable Vocabulary Printable large flash cards (English Side) Printable large flash cards (Italian Side) Printable small flash cards (English Side) Printable small flash cards (Italian Side)
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 Downloadable Podcast
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basic online exercise (Italian to English) (English to Italian)
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 printable crossword
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ComprehensionDomenic: Questo è il Gianicolo. Il Gianicolo è una collina di Roma, non appartiene ai sette colli. Potete vedere Piazza Venezia, il monumento alla Piatra, potete vedere la Sinagoga, dove porterò domani Chuck. Quello è il Ghetto, il più antico ghetto ebraico al mondo: la parola ghetto viene dall'italiano, è un quartiere di Venezia dove c'erano le fonderie, dove si fondeva il metallo e molti ebrai che erano stati cacciati dal nord Europa si erano rifuggiati nella Repubblica di Venezia, erano assistiti e ben voluti dalla Repubblica di Venezia, però loro parlavano una lingua che non era dolce come l'italiano, quindi la g, la dicevano gh, non dicevano getto, ma dicevano ghetto. Getto significa uscire, gettare. Queste fonderie, che fondevano appunto il metallo, da questa parola “getto”, pronunciata “ghetto”, viene fuori il ghetto ebraico.Chuck: si scrive ghe? Domenic: si in italiano si scrive così, però prima era scritto “getto”, ge; però i tedeschi, gli ebrei tedeschi, quelli del nord Europa che venivano in Italia, pronunciavano “gh”, non pronunciavano “g”, perché non avevano questo suono. E questa è Roma. Adesso andiamo in un altro posto molto più bello sotto. Lì c'è l'ambasciata di Spagna, quella lì con il campanile, lo vedi? Dove siamo passati prima. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Printable Video Dialog
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Printable Practice Sheets
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printable comprehension crossword |
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useful Italian phrase; In bocca al lupo! Good luck! (very strong form like "break a leg") |
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Class DialogLearn how to say everything below in Italian paying particular attention to the different tenses of "to be" used here. Then print out and bring the printable form of this dialog and be prepared to say the dialog below as one of the persons in class.Hello, Bob? This is Bob, may I help you? Bob, I am Peter, your neighbor. Where are you? I am in Rome. Rome? When will you be home? And why are you in Rome? I hope to be home tomorrow and I am in Rome because I had come here when I was a child. My relatives used to be in Italy. I hope that you are home tomorrow also. I have never been in Italy. Ranee has been to Italy 5 times. She thought that I had been in Italy but I had not. I wouldn’t have been in Italy so many times if I didn’t have family here. If I had family in Hawaii, I would be there right now! Would you be in Hawaii if you could be there? I am sure that by the time I turn 30 I will have been in Hawaii. Well I have to go now. Peter, why did you call? Oh ya Bob, Be strong! Your house burned down. My house burned down? Well it could be worse. It is, it burned down because you truck blew up when you new boat hit it. That is when the police found all of your illegal fireworks How did my boat hit it? Sorry Bob, I have to go now. I am busy, busy busy! printable class dialog
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You can learn more about the verb "essere" on these pages of the following books.
396 - 398 (page #'s may vary as I have an older edition) of "Ciao" by Carla Federici & Carla Larese Riga, copyright 1986.
247 of the book "Complete Italian Grammar" by Marcel Dansesi, copyright 1976.
50 - 51 of the book "Italian Verb Drills" (Third Edition) by Paola Nanni-Tate, copyright 2011.
If you do not own these books, don't worry, it is not mandatory that you do unless you were instructed to buy them at the beginning of the class. However, they can be very useful in a lot of ways and if you would like to know more about these books and where to buy them, simply go to our online bookstore or quicker yet, just click on the appropriate book below.
Did you know?
"The name Italy comes from the word italia, meaning “calf land,” perhaps because the bull was a symbol of the Southern Italian tribes.This information obtained from http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/05/14_italy.html
Have you heard?
Quando una stella muore by Giorgia is another beautiful song to add to the list that this Italian Singer has done so beautifully. In addition the pace at which it is sung is nearly perfect for the student trying to comprehend. Listen closely and see how much of this song you can understand the first time listening!|
great songs are available on ---> |
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