Daniela Gobetti

The Italian language is adapting to the rhythms of modern life with the introduction of new idioms and the construction of simpler, more concise sentences and paragraphs. The basic rules of the Italian language, however, stay the same. Despite the ongoing transformation of the language, these rules remain the foundation that stabilizes it.

In Italian, nouns have gender and number — masculine or feminine, and singular or plural. Articles (a, an, the, and so on), which are associated with nouns, are also masculine, feminine, singular, or plural according to the noun they refer to. So the English definite article the is either masculine singular, masculine plural, feminine singular, or feminine plural in Italian.

In Italian, colors aren't just everyday adjectives; they also appear in idioms to express emotions, fears, feelings, and passions. Colors charge idioms with poetic nuance. Expressions like cronaca rosa (gossip columns), romanzo giallo (mystery novel), avere una fifa blu (to be filled with terror), dama bianca (the spectre of a woman [folklore has it that her appearance is an omen of death]), and anima nera ([to have] a wicked soul) are common in Italian.

Every day, Italians send more than 167 million text messages, for a total of 60 billion texts annually. Texting and chatting in Italian means learning new grammar rules, a new vocabulary, and a peculiar system of signs — all of which are necessary to convey the rhythms of conversation to this new hybrid language.

In Rome, the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth) encourages you to conjugate the present perfect indicative of the Italian verbs essere sincero/a (to be sincere/honest/truthful) and mentire (to lie). The Mouth of Truth is a carved marble mask of a deity or faun. Its fame stems from a sinister legend of the Middle Ages.

When learning the Italian future tense, imagine a romantic scenario involving the gorgeous Trevi Fountain in Rome. Tradition holds that you can ensure a return visit to the Eternal City by standing with your back to the fountain and tossing a coin over your shoulder and into the water. If you're really determined to return to Rome, review some key verbs in the future tense: Amare (to love) Tornare (to return) Vedere (to see) Partire (to leave) io (I) amerò tornerò vedrò partirò tu (you, inf.

Whether you're learning Mandarin, Farsi, German, or Italian, idioms enrich communication — but can't be translated literally. In Italian, the most common idioms use the following verbs: fare (to do), avere (to have), essere (to be), and andare (to go). Idioms using fare (to do) Here's a list of the most common idiomatic expressions with fare (to do): fare gli auguri (to give one's wishes) fare il bagno/la doccia (to take a bath/shower) fare bello/brutto/caldo/freddo/fresco (to have good/bad/warm/cold/cool weather) fare il biglietto (to get a ticket) fare buon viaggio (to have a good trip) fare colazione (to have breakfast/lunch) fare i compiti (to do homework) fare una conferenza (to give a lecture) fare la conoscenza di (to meet; to make the acquaintance of) fare il conto (to add up the total) fare due, tre, .

In Italian, the present indicative tense works much like the present tense in English. To conjugate Italian verbs in the present indicative tense, you first need to understand that Italian infinitives (the "to" form, as in to die, to sleep, to dream) end in one of three ways — and that you conjugate the verb based on that ending: Verbs that end in -are Verbs that end in -ere Verbs that end in -ire The endings of regular verbs don't change.

Fine-tune your command of the Italian language by knowing when to capitalize a person's title. If you have to write a formal letter or e-mail to VIPs, such as the principal of your child's school, show that you're familiar with the rules of Italian "bureaucratic" etiquette. Names that represent a particular title — by birth, merit, or qualification — should be capitalized.