The document provides an overview of several key linguistic structures covered in Unit 2 of an Italian diploma course, including: 1) Regular verb conjugations in the present tense for -ere and -ire verbs. 2) Irregular verbs fare and stare. 3) Phrases using the verb avere. 4) The definite article. 5) Masculine and feminine professions. 6) Agreement of nouns, adjectives and articles. 7) Common prepositions like a, da, di, and in. 8) Interrogative words like chi, cosa, dove, and quando.

1. DIPLOMA IN ITALIAN
Strutture linguistiche
U2
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

2. Strutture linguistiche
Structures encountered in Unità 2:
• Present tense of regular verbs
• Irregular verbs: fare, stare
• Phrases with avere
• Definite article
• Professions: masculine / feminine
• Agreement noun/adjective
• Prepositions: in, a, da, di
• Interrogative words
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

3. VERBI (2)
PRESENTE DEI VERBI
REGOLARI IN -ere/ -ire
Present tense of regular verbs
ending in -ere; -ire
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

4. Italian verb endings
 As you already know, the infinitive of all Italian
regular verbs ends in –are, -ere or –ire.
 In Unità 1, we have already seen the present
tense of verbs in –are. Now we consider verbs
ending in –ere and –ire.
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

5. Verbs in
–ere: CHIEDERE (to ask)
–ire: SENTIRE (to hear/listen)
FINIRE (to finish)
 Chiedere, sentire and finire are regular
verbs.
 To form the present tense of these and all
other regular verbs in –ere/ –ire, just drop
ERE/IRE and add the endings shown in the
table:
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

6. chiedere sentire finire
io chied-o sent-o fin-isco
tu chied-i sent-i fin-isci
lui/lei/Lei chied-e sent-e fin-isce
noi chied-iamo sent-iamo fin-iamo
voi chied-ete sent-ite fin-ite
loro chied-ono sent-ono fin-iscono
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

7. Like finire
 The following are some of the most common verbs
which follow the same pattern as FINIRE:
 Capire (to understand)
 Costruire (to build)
 Preferire (to prefer)
 Pulire (to clean)
 Spedire (to post)
 Unire (to unite, join, link)
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

8. VERBI IRREGOLARI
Irregular verbs
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

9. Verbi irregolari
 There are several irregular verbs in
Italian. We will learn a few at the time.
 You already know essere and avere.
Here are fare, stare.
NB: stare (to be) is used to express being
well/unwell (sto bene/male) or being in a place
(sto a casa).
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

10. fare stare
(to do / make) (to be / stay)
io faccio sto
tu fai stai
lui/lei/Lei fa sta
noi facciamo stiamo
voi fate state
loro fanno stanno
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

11. ESPRESSIONI CON
AVERE
Phrases with Avere
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

13. Quanti anni hai?
 NB: To ask how old are you? we say:
Quanti anni hai?
 The answer is either just a number or
the full sentence:
38.
Ho 38 anni.
Ho 38 IS NOT CORRECT!
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

14. ARTICOLO
DETERMINATIVO
Definite article (= the)
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

15. Forms
MASCHILE SINGOLARE PLURALE
IL il gatto I i gatti
L’ l’amico GLI gli amici
LO lo studente gli studenti
lo zaino gli zaini
lo psicologo gli psicologi
FEMMINILE SINGOLARE PLURALE
LA la gatta LE le gatte
L’ l’amica le amiche
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

16. Use (1)
 IL before a singular masculine noun starting with a
consonant.
 LO before a singular masculine noun starting with S +
consonant, Z, PS, GN.
 L’ before a singular masculine or feminine noun starting
with a vowel. L’ is never used in the plural!
 I before a plural masculine noun starting with a
consonant.
 GLI before a plural masculine noun starting with a vowel,
S + consonant, Z, PS, GN.
 LE before a plural feminine noun.
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

17. Use (2)
 Unlike English, we use the definite article
1) with countries/continents: l’Italia, l’Irlanda, la
Francia, l’Europa. (BUT: in Italia, in Irlanda,
ecc.).
2) with abstract nouns: la libertà, l’amore, ecc.
3) with names of languages (however with the
verbs studiare and parlare the use is optional):
l’italiano è una lingua romanza.
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

18. PROFESSIONI:
femminile e maschile
Professions: masculine and feminine
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

19. Professioni: endings and
gender
ENDING MASCULINE FEMININE
-aio / -aia operaio operaia
-iere/-iera cameriere cameriera
-ista giornalista
-ore/oressa dottore dottoressa
-tore/-trice* attore attrice
• * Many professions in –tore do not have the feminine: agricoltore, minatore, ecc.
• Many professions do not have a different ending for the feminine: ingegnere, avvocato,
ecc.
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

20. ACCORDO:
ARTICOLI, SOSTANTIVI
E AGGETTIVI
Agreement: articles, nouns and
adjectives
(For singular/plural of nouns, see Unità Preliminare → Sostantivi)
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

21. Agreement
 Articles and adjectives must agree in
gender and number (singular/plural)
with the noun they refer to.
un lavoro faticoso, i lavori faticosi – una cameriera svelta – le cameriere svelte (fast)
 This DOES NOT mean that adjective
and noun must have the same ending:
un lavoro stressante, i lavori stressanti; una cameriera efficiente – le cameriere efficienti
(stressante/efficiente end in –e in the singular and
–i in the plural for both feminine and masculine.)
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

22. PREPOSIZIONI:
A – DA – DI – IN
Prepositions: a – da – di – in
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

23. Use of a / in – da – di
A Abito a Galway.
(to be in a town / La Fontana di Trevi è a Roma.
city / small Vivo a Capri.
island )
IN Abito in Irlanda.
(to be in a La Fontana di Trevi è in Italia.
country / Siamo in Europa
continent / large Vivo in Sicilia.
island)
DA Veniamo da Napoli.
(to come from a
town/city)
(to express Da quanto tempo (+ present tense)? How long?
length of time) Lavora a Pescara da tre anni – (S)he has been living in Pescara
for three years
DI Siamo di Milano.
(to be from a
town /city)
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

24. INTERROGATIVI
Interrogative words and expressions
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin

25. Interrogativi
CHI? Who?
CHE COSA / COSA/ CHE? What?
DOVE? Where?
QUANDO? When?
DA QUANTO TEMPO? How long?
PERCHÉ? Why?
COME MAI? Why?
COME? How?
QUANTO/A - QUANTI/E How much / how many?
Dr Laura Incalcaterra McLoughlin