Italian speaking practice and grammar tutoring
I have noticed that some of my students have a hard time with how to use ci and ne properly because – let’s admit it – they are a bit tricky, so I have decided to write this blog post to see if I can make things easier for people struggling with this topic as well.
The goal of the challenge was to get people to speak a little Italian every day, in order to help them improve their speaking skills and their self-confidence. In fact, many students not living in Italy have multiple opportunities to work on their reading, listening, and comprehension skills but not very many chances to speak the language.
Two weeks ago I wrote a blog post focusing on the Italian nouns that derive from books and theatre plays, today I am exploring the same topic but with a focus on adjectives.
I couldn’t sleep, a few nights ago, and I started thinking about our (ex)Prime Minister – not exactly the right thought to go back to sleep, I know – and I said to myself: “È proprio un azzeccagarbugli“. This weird word comes from Alessandro Manzoni’s I promessi sposi and made me think of all the Italian words that have similar origins.
I have seen many students struggle with this topic. In some cases, they were even advanced students who could use the congiuntivo quite confidently, for example, but would still stumble upon the choice of when to use imperfetto or passato prossimo.
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this sentence. This is what a lot of people tell me when they contact me for speaking practice but it is also what I am told by my students and what I read in comments and messages here and there.
I am blessed with many students and passionate followers and this means I am frequently asked for general advice about studying Italian or for tips and ideas to make language practice more effective.
Even when it was only used to share photos, it was a great way to learn new words, improve vocabulary, or practice reading comprehension. Nowadays, with Instagram Stories, Ig Tv, and Reels, it is literally packed with useful content you can use to improve your language skills.
I have decided to do it because, while answering emails requiring more information about the service, I have realized that some of the tips I gave can be applied to language learning in general, and I thought they might be useful for all students.
It just takes some time to memorize all the different pronouns but their use is very straightforward. The same can be said for indirect object pronouns but things become a bit more complicated when you need to figure out whether to use one or the other.
