Strange singles

There are a few times when Italian uses the singluar when we, as English speakers, would use or expect the plural. This can be counter-intuitive, and like anything counter-intuitive, often leads to mistakes/difficulties for us.

Like most things I do around here, I'm not going to list off every possible example, just the ones that come to mind or prompt me to write an article. If you guys know of any examples, please feel free to comment. I say this because there are really only 2 examples that I want to talk about, which are VERY common:

1) Qualche - always takes the singular. It means "some" in the sense of "some thing", not as a quantity (like "some food", which would be "del cibo"). You might not think this is so strange, but I promise you that once in a while when you go to use it you'll catch yourself wanting to use the plural for whatever word comes next, and will have to go to the "grammar bank" to explicitly think of the "only singular" rule.

For a handy example, we can go to the title of a 1965 film, which I would translate to "For a few more dollars": "Per qualche dollaro in più". Note that "dollaro" is singular, though you would almost certainly translate it in the plural in english.

2) Gente - is a singular noun, even though it means "people", which is an inherently plural noun in english. This is always very tough for me, and it's one of several cases where I must "fly by grammar"- that is, do what I know is correct based on grammar knowledge instead of what I feel is correct. This really comes into play when "la gente" is the subject of a sentence, and does something, because that noun must, of course, be singular.

I could give some examples, but I suggest you head over to "google.it" and search for "la gente". You'll immediately see what I'm talking about. A few of the results that stood out to me:

«Pantheon chiude» concerto interrotto e la gente viene cacciata - "Pantheon Closed", concert interrupted and people chased out. "Chased out" might be a bit aggressive, but the point here is that you use the singular "la gente" instead of the plural that we'd use in english

"Spero che la gente torni ad esserci vicina" - "I hope that people come back to support us" - This phrase comes from a soccer player about a victory. My translation obviously isn't literal, but captures the sentiment. "Torni" is the singular, 3rd person, subjunctive of "tornare". It's subjunctive because it follows "spero che". The important part, though, is how "la gente" is used.

These are just a few small examples of this. I encourage you to explore by typing different phrases into google.it and see what shows up, or investigating more by searching the excellent forums at wordreference.com.

Alla prossima...

Filler word of the day: insomma

Continuing with the idea of filler words, today I want to highlight a simple but very useful one: insomma.

It came to mind today because I was listen to Radio24 this morning (Focus Economia, I think) and the guy kept using it over and over again.

As a filler, it can be used much like we would use something like "kind of", or "sort of" or "pretty much" when explaining something. Like most good filler words, the meaning isn't so definite, it's just wasting time so you can think of what you really want to say.

Esempio:

A: Allora, secondo te, quando migliorerà la situazione economica?

B: Insomma, ci vorrà del tempo, forse un anno. Sai, la situazione.... insomma... non cambierà velocemente.

Bonus usage: The word "insomma" can be a single word response to a question, indicating a generally positive but mostly "so-so" answer:

A: Come va?

B: Insomma...

In this example, it basically means "not great, but could be worse".

Fill'r up!

Filler words - as I call them - are an extremely important part of making your Italian seem natural and fluent. Building a good repertoire of these types of words can dramatically affect how your speech flows, and how people respond to you.

First, a better definition of what I'm talking about. Think about how you speak english, or perhaps try to be conscious of it the next time you talk to someone. How many words do you say that don't actually contribute to what you're trying to express? Probably more than you'd think. Here's something that I'd easily say:

"So, you know, with the way things are going... basically... I don't know what to do".

In that sentence "so", "you know", and "basically" really don't have any purpose besides giving me time to think, and helping things flow. These are what I call "filler words".

Italian, like any language, has the same things. However, it's an area that I've never seen explicitly explained to new learners, and that you probably don't think about much, because you don't really notice doing it in English. In this post, and in future posts with the 'filler words' label, I try to introduce phrases and expressions that fit this role, and that I've found extremely useful.

First up, one of the kings: Allora. This word is used a LOT in Italian. If you haven't already noticed that, you will now. The definition of the word is technically "then", but in conversation it most commonly functions as something like "So..." or "So then...". It is very often used at the start of the sentence.

It's so common and natural in Italian speech that, in fact, I often tell people this: Just start every response with "allora", and you'll instantly go from a beginner to an intermediate speaker. Native speakers will respond differently. At least for that single word to start the sentence, you'll be a perfectly fluent speaker- because it's a natural way to start to say something. 

In the sake of full disclosure I'll say that there are other ways to start sentences, and using "allora" every time might get a bit tedious, but I'm trying to prove a point. Give it a shot next time you're speaking to someone, and see how it goes.

Here are some common examples to help you see in context what I mean:

A: Da quanto tempo studi l'italiano?

B: Allora, ho cominciato 6 anni fa, più o meno

A: Che vuoi fare oggi?

B: Allora... prima mangiamo qualcosa, ho fame!

And it's a great way to just say "well then", like when everyone is just standing around and you want to say...

"Allora, che facciamo ragazzi?" 

A few resources...

I thought I'd take a brief moment to put up some links/things that I find myself referring people to all of the time.

I'll put more up from time to time under the label 'handy resources'.

#1) WordReference.com - First for a reason - the very best dictionary I've ever found, as well as the best web forum. I've learn so much by perusing the English<>Italian forum periodically.

#2) Italian: A Self-Teaching Guide - This is where it all started for me, and this book is responsible for 90% of my grammar knowledge. I think the order in which subjects are presented is perfect, and there are lots of exercises with answers in the back. I'm not normally a "do the exercises" kind of person, but I did it with this book, and I think it really helped me solidify a lot of grammar topics quickly.

#3) Assimil Italian With Ease - Ok, so I haven't actually used this. However, all the serious language learners out on the forums LOVE Assimil, and I've recently purchased some of their programs in other languages. You probably haven't heard of them, even though they've been in business over 80 years, because they're based in France. Anyhow, I'm working through the French course and I'm highly impressed by how much they teach in such small books, broken down into bite sized pieces that you can easily do every day (and you're supposed to- 1 lesson a day). I'd like someone to give the Italian a shot and let me know how it goes.
 

That's it for now, as I mentioned above, I'll try to make this an on-going thread and post more resources as time goes on.

Ho capito...

Simple today: to say you understand something when someone is talking to you, you use the past tense: "ho capito".

Doesn't make sense in English, but that's ok! It's a good way to get your feet wet with things that are just plain different in Italian. And it's used a lot. It can range from a full on "I understand what you're saying" to just a "got it" to even where we'd use "yeah".

In fact, it's not uncommon to carry a conversation for a while with someone who's fond of talking by simply replying over and over "ho capito".

Example:

Loquacious Italian Friend: blah blah blah

You: Ho capito

LIF: blah blah!

You: Oh si! Ho capito.

LIF: è tardi, me ne vado, ciao.

You: Ho capito, va bene, ciao

Might seem a bit much, but it's not too far from the truth!

Don't do it! Conjugate negative imperatives, that is...

One thing that struck me as strange for a long time was how the infinitive (full -re ending, like parlare, capire, volere) kept popping up from time to time in a seemingly imperative manner.

Well, truth be told it still seems to happen occasionally in a manner I can't explain, but I managed to finally solve the bulk of the mystery by one day stumbling on the fact that you use the infinitive for the negative imperative! (*for the informal "tu", which is the most common...)

OK OK, so many of you might say "of course! That's what it says in the book...". That might be true, but somehow I missed that page. Others of you might be saying, "Huh? What the heck are you talking about?", so I'll break it down a bit.

An imperative is a command, when you tell someone to do something, such as "Bring me the book!" or "Close the door!" or "Shut up!". These are considered positive imperatives, and are conjugated according to a certain scheme... "Portami il libro!", "Chiudi la porta!", "Stai zitto!".

A negative imperative, naturally, is the opposite- when you tell someone to NOT do something. "Don't go to work", "Don't leave me", "Don't worry". All of these are formed simply with the infinitive... "Non andare al lavoro", "Non mi lasciare", "Non ti preoccupare".

To the untrained eye, those can seem a bit strange... "Don't to-go to work"? "Don't to worry yourself"? But lucky you, you're no longer untrained!

Ma tu fai senso!

A man from Italy arrives in NYC.
He goes to a candy shop and buys a candy.
Then the shopkeeper asks him : -Five Cents !-

The man becomes very angry and replies. : - TU FAI SENS !!!!!!!!!
Taken from here

Why was the man upset? Because "fai senso" is bad, and pretty much means "you disgust me".

Quick, pop quiz: How would you say "that makes sense" in Italian?

Virtually all learners start with the direct translation, which would be.... "fa senso"! (fare=to do, to make) See where I'm going here?

Indeed, "fa senso" does not mean "it makes sense" in the literal way, but rather "it's horrible" (more or less). To say that something "makes sense", you actually say instead that it "has sense", which would be "ha senso".

Some examples:
"It doesn't make sense to travel so much" -> "non ha senso viaggiare così tanto"

"In my opinion, the lawyer's argument didn't make sense" -> "Secondo me, l'argomento del avvocato non aveva senso"

Ultimately, that small joke/story (barzeletta) above is what really helped me remember this, and hopefully it'll help you too! Ha senso? Spero di si!