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Usage of prepositions "a" and "in" in statements about places and directions

The use of prepositions, showing direction and answering the questions "Dove?" and "Verso dove?", is usually explained with very few rules, such as a with the names of cities, in with the names of countries, big islands and regions and then just…
I.M.
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“Fortemente voluto”

Osservo che in tempi recenti si è molto diffusa la locuzione “fortemente voluto”, specie in “aziendalese” e “politichese”, in frasi del tipo (prendo quasi a caso da Google Books): È uno dei rari esempi di collaborazione transfrontaliera di tipo…
DaG
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An Italian book suitable for a beginner

I have been learning Italian for several months now and I am looking for a book --- the genre is not important --- suitable for someone with a rather basic understanding of the language. It need not be a book; any substantial text that keeps the…
user12344567
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‘Se mia nonna avesse le ruote, sarebbe una carriola’

Se mia nonna avesse le ruote, sarebbe una carriola: ‘If my grandmother had wheels, she would be a wheelbarrow.' That's what Italians say when they want to interrupt your rambling hypothetical scenario. After all, if a rolling granny doesn't…
user519
20
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1 answer

Tanto va la gatta al lardo

I am interested to know what is the origin of the famous proverb: Tanto va la gatta al lardo, che ci lascia lo zampino I realize the figurative meaning (same as "curiosity killed the cat"), but is it known where the Italian form of the proverb was…
Sklivvz
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Preposition "a" or "al"?

I know all the rules about how to form the articulated prepositions in Italian, so I don't have to understand how to construct them, but rather I have a doubt on when to use the simple and when to use the articulated one: Vado a scuola. Vado…
Happyone
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5 answers

Plural form of "olio"

Wikipedia lists some rules and suggests that the plural form of olio is olii. I used to think that oli sounds (and writes) better, and Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia confirms that. Treccani, however, suggests yet another plural form, with…
I.M.
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Can a text in Latin be understood by an educated Italian who never had any formal teaching of that language?

Of all Latin derived languages, I presume Italian is the closest to Latin. This is just an assumption which I presume is correct. For this reason, I've always wondered whether an average educated Italian can read and understand a text in Latin. I…
Centaurus
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On the pronunciation of gnocco and gnocchi

I do not speak a word Italian but I wanted to solve the obligatory dispute amongst ignorants about the pronunciation of gnocco and gnocchi by looking up the IPA pronunciation on the Internet. Unfortunately my results were non-satisfactory (for…
Wrzlprmft
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Why was the Florentine Vulgar Latin chosen as the basis for standard Italian?

Standard Italian, the official language of Italy and the one Italian people speak (often along with their own local languages -or dialects-), derives from the Florentine subset of Vulgar Latin. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, the barbaric…
martina.physics
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What does "Boh!" mean, precisely?

I often heard people saying "Boh!" especially, but not only, when I stayed in Rome. However, I'm unsure what the intended meaning of "Boh!" is, either in Rome or elsewhere. Does it mean I don't know, I don't want to say, I'm not interested, or…
Kyriakos Kyritsis
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Etymology of conjugation 2-person singular

If we take a look at the conjugation of many Romance languages, we will see that their forms come from Latin. However there are some peculiarities. If we just look at French and Spanish, we will see that, in the 2nd person singular, the verbs have a…
Антон Бугаев
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How can I translate the expression "Got it!" in Italian?

How can I say "Got it!" in Italian? Google Translate gives "Fatto!" and "Ce l'ho!", but I think these are not correct answers.
april
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How should I translate "mica" adverb into English?

I sometimes guess the meaning in some uses of the Italian "mica" adverb, but I don't know how to exactly translate it into English. Let's consider these examples from Treccani: non è mica vero sono cose vere, mica fantasie! mica male questa…
symbiotech
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Can anyone help me with the proper pronunciation of the lateral palatal approximante (aka 'gli' trigraph)?

I've been learning Italian for the last year. While being fluent in Spanish helps tremendously, there is one infamous sound that is lacking from both English and my dialect of Spanish: gli. I understand that gli is a palatal approximate and that it…
Giambattista
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