ItalianPod101.com Blog
Learn Italian with Free Daily
Audio and Video Lessons!
Start Your Free Trial 6 FREE Features

Archive for the 'Italian Lessons' Category

Learn the Most Useful Advanced Italian Phrases

Have you been studying Italian for a while? If so, it’s time to step up your skills and venture into more advanced scenarios. In this guide, we have listed a great number of advanced phrases, structures, and idioms that will help you show competence and confidence in the most diverse of environments. It is important to study advanced Italian phrases because it will allow you to fit right in wherever you are. For example, if you plan on attending an Italian university, knowing advanced phrases will help you write an essay or perform well in an oral exam. Or, you might need to submit your resume to apply for your dream job; advanced phrases will definitely help with that while also giving you more confidence when it’s time for your... Show more

Useful Italian Phrases for the Intermediate Level

Now is the time to step up in your Italian studies. As you get ready to surpass the beginner level, you’ll need to practice using more tenses (past, future, conditional) and memorize several ready-to-use intermediate Italian phrases. To help you level up with confidence, we have prepared a list of the 50+ most common (and useful) intermediate Italian phrases for a variety of contexts. This guide will bring to your disposal all the must-know phrases for telling stories about the recent past, asking for advice, recommending a restaurant to someone, and more. If you ever want to go deeper with your learning or have any questions, take a look at all the available Italian lessons, free resources, and interactive material on ItalianPod101.com! ... Show more

The 10 Best Italian Podcasts to Improve Your Italian

Listening is one of the four skills you need to master when learning a language (the others are speaking, writing, and reading). These are the skills that you’ll have to keep training as you study Italian or any other language. But if you’re not planning to travel in order to get an immersive experience or don’t have a bunch of Italians living with you, listening to authentic Italian might not be the easiest thing to do. Luckily, the internet is replete with a variety of Italian podcasts that, as it turns out, are great for learning the language. You can listen to podcasts literally anywhere! In this article, we’ll present and analyze a list of the ten best podcasts to help you learn Italian and improve your learning experience.... Show more

Simple Italian Phrases for Beginners

Are you just starting out with Italian? In this guide, you’ll find all the Italian phrases for beginners that you will need in order to meet and greet people, get around cities and regions, ask for directions, and even order food or go shopping. All the basic sentences to get you going in your first Italian conversations! Table of Contents Greetings and Self-introductions Courtesy Phrases & Social Expressions Dining Shopping Phrases Asking for Help Conclusion 1. Greetings and Self-introductions Hello. Good morning. How are you? Nice to meet you.  The first thing to know is that, in Italian, we have two ways of addressing people: with formal speech and with informal speech. Habits are slowly changing, and... Show more

Advanced Italian Words to Spice Up Your Vocabulary

So, you’ve passed the intermediate level in Italian. You have all the basics and then some, but you want to go the extra mile and learn more advanced Italian words and sentences.  Are you applying for an Advanced Italian certificate , corresponding to the C1 or C2 level? Or are you enrolled in an Italian university? Maybe you just need to write an essay, compose the perfect cover letter, or take part in more formal and complex discussions with your Italian friends and colleagues.  According to the Common European Framework Reference for Languages (known in Italian as QCER, Quadro Comune Europeo di Riferimento delle Lingue), advanced learners of a language are able to effortlessly understand virtually everything, whether it’s written... Show more

Italian Words for Intermediate-Level Learners

Mastering Italian is an ongoing process and a wonderful journey, but you’re definitely on the right track! Once you have secured the basics, it’s time to move on and tackle more complex grammar structures and vocabulary words. The topic of this guide is Italian words for intermediate learners, and you’ll find a great variety of nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, conjunctions, and more! We’ve included everything you need to improve your comprehension and to take part in more advanced conversations, watch movies without subtitles, or read books and magazines without a dictionary. While this list is by no means complete, we recommend you begin practicing these intermediate Italian words right away. Remember that you can find more... Show more

Italian Tenses Made Simple

Verb tenses are absolutely necessary in clearly defining when a given action is taking place.  If you were to browse through any Italian grammar textbook or study an Italian conjugation table, you would probably find yourself overwhelmed by the number (21!) and apparent complexity of the tenses. And on top of that, each of the Italian tenses has to be conjugated for the six persons (io, tu, lui/lei, noi, voi, loro). This means that—unlike in English—every person of every tense has a different form.  But don't worry, I have good news. Two pieces of good news, actually!  To have a complete and meaningful conversation in Italian, you really just need to know three (3!) tenses: presente (present), passato prossimo (near past), and... Show more

Time, Love, Wisdom: A Guide to the Top Italian Proverbs

Proverbs are pearls of wisdom, sometimes coined by famous individuals but more often of anonymous origin. Some proverbs go back to the beginning of humanity itself, and although they sound a bit old sometimes, they always have a practical application in everyday life and can help us deal with complicated situations.  In general, proverbs tend to transmit popular wisdom in a very concrete way. They often stand out for their irony, their colorful comparisons, and their funny tones and metaphors. Italian proverbs are an important part of the language, because...  ...Italians use them often in conversations....they belong to a shared body of knowledge....they typically denote specific cultural traits of the country.  That last... Show more

10 Places to Visit in Rome, the Eternal City

Tutte le strade portano a Roma. ("All roads take you to Rome.") If you plan to visit Italy, you might as well start in the nation’s political and cultural capital. Another popular saying—Roma, città eterna ("Rome, the eternal city")—sums up its unique historical importance and beauty. Rome is a multilayer city with immense artistic treasures and historical architectures that will make you dream of walking through the Ancient Roman Empire, the Baroque and Renaissance periods, and everything in-between. Before you plan a visit to Rome, though, you’ll have to do your research. And that’s where we come in. In this article, you’ll learn what to expect and where to go for the best experience!  Rome, Eternal City Table of... Show more

Itanglish: A Guide to English Words Used in Italian

Languages are influenced by a variety of factors, and words often travel from one language to another by way of loans, borrowings, translations, and general misuse. Some languages, including English and Italian, have had more of an influence on the world than others and are widely used (and misused) the world over. Italian has been influencing other languages, especially English, for a rather long time. This influence mainly appears in the fields of music, food, and science.  Today, there are also several English words used in Italian. This English influence on Italian is more recent, resulting from the huge influence that British and North American culture have had on our old continent in the last few centuries. Italians have borrowed... Show more