For example:

C’è un negozio qui vicino.

Sono stato altre volte in questo negozio.

=

C’è un negozio qui vicino in cui sono stato altre volte. (There’s a store near here I’ve been to before.)

Ti faccio conoscere una ragazza.

Ti parlavo della ragazza ieri.

=

Ti faccio conoscere la ragazza di cui ti parlavo ieri. (I'll let you meet the girl I was talking to you about yesterday.)

This can be a bit tricky for English speakers because we now just tack the preposition onto the end of such a sentence – “What’s the name of that place we went to?” (Instead of, "What's the name of that place to which we went?")

When forming these types of sentences in Italian, translate from a stiff prissy Victorian English version of what you want to say.

Preposition + definite article + quale means the same as preposition + cui, but is more clear and specific.

For example:

Ecco Marco e Maria con cui ho seguito un corso di matematica. (Here are Marco and Maria with whom I took a math class.)

Ecco Marco e Maria con la quale ho seguito un corso di matematica.

In the first sentence you took math with both, in the second with Maria only.

As usual, hopefully some practice in the activities section will help you get it. If not, feel free to email! C4N.

We've seen quite a few other pronouns already...

Subject pronouns (io, tu, lui, lei, etc.) that stand in for a noun doing an action...

Direct object pronouns (mi, ti, lo, la, etc.) that stand in for a noun receiving an action...

Reflexive pronouns (mi, ti, si, ci, vi, etc.), that stand in for a noun that both does and receives an action at the same time.

But what are relative pronouns? Pronouns that stand in for an aunt or uncle? No!

When you have two simple sentences...

in which a single noun gets repeated...

you use a relative pronoun to replace one instance of the noun, so that you avoid the repetition...

while at the same time joining the two choppy sentences into a single more fluid one, so you sound smoother and more articulate.

For example...

This is a house.

Jack built this house.

Here we have two short choppy sentences in which the noun "house" clumsily gets repeated. By using the English relative pronoun"that," we join them into a single smoother, more fluid sentence and eliminate the repetition...

This is the house that Jack built.

See that? One sentence, one use of "house" - nice and smooth and efficient. That's a Toyota Way sentence vs the U.S. Big Three. Let's see some more examples...

I read a book. My friend Lenny wrote the book.

I read a book that my friend Lenny wrote.

I bought a Ford. The Ford doesn't run.

I bought a Ford that doesn't run.

My friend drives a '94 Tercel. The '94 Tercel runs great.

My friend drives a '94 Tercel that runs great.

Get the picture?

Now, it's important to realize that "that" isn't the only English relative pronoun - there are many. But it's the one we're going to learn the Italian equivalent of today, which is "che."

So how do you know when to use "that" (or che) vs another relative pronoun? Well, when the repeating noun you're replacing is either the subject or the direct object of the clause, you use che.

Doesn't matter if the noun is masculine or feminine, singular or plural, a person or a thing - as long as it's a subject or direct object, you replace it with che. Let's see some examples...

Ho conosciuto una ragazza italiana. La ragazza italiana parla cinese.

Ho conosciuto una ragazza italiana che parla cinese. (OR - La ragazza italiana che ho conosciuto parla cinese.)

Siamo andati a vedere un film. Il film non mi è piaciuto.

Siamo andati a vedere un film che non mi è piaciuto. (OR - Il film che siamo andati a vedere non mi è piaciuto.)

Tua mamma ci fa la pizza. La pizza fa schifo.

La pizza che ci fa tua mamma fa schifo.

Hopefully you get it! Next update we'll tackle another relative pronoun. C4N!

To form the past infinitive, you use the infinitive of avere or essere + the past participle.

avere mangiato (also aver mangiato)

essere venuto (also esser venuto)

As always, the participle of essere verbs agrees with the subject.

Maria è contenta di essere venuta. (Maria is happy to have come.)

These verb forms (present and past infinitive) occur in many constructions in Italian.

Infinitive – Uses

Subject or Direct Object

In Italian, the infinitive serves as the subject or direct object of a sentence, whereas English uses the infinitive or gerund (the -ing form).

Imparare il cinese è molto difficile. (subject) Learning Chinese is very hard.

È vietato fumare. (direct object) Smoking is prohibited.

With Modals

You may know the infinitive follows so-called modal verbs – volere, potere, dovere.

Voglio uscire ma devo studiare. Posso aver sbagliato.

Other verbs that function a bit like modals and precede infinitives:

sapere – Non so ballare.

piacere – Mi piace cantare.

preferire – Preferisco restare a casa.

desiderare – Desidero uscire con gli amici.

amare – Amo suonare il flauto.

Note that the infinitive is only used with modals when the subject of both the modal and the infinitive is the same. Compare:

Voglio uscire. (same subject – infinitive)

Voglio che tu esca. (Here the person wanting is not the same as the person going out, so we use the subjunctive.)

With a verb + “a” or “di”

Apart from the above modals, most Italian verbs take “a” or “di” + infinitive.

Some verbs that take “a” + infinitive:

abituarsi a – to get used to (Mi abituo a partire più presto.)

aiutare a – to help (Ti aiuto a fare i compiti.)

cominciare a – to begin

continuare a – to continue

convincere a – to convince

fermarsi a – to stop oneself

forzare a – to force

imparare a – to learn

incoraggiare a – to encourage

insegnare a – to teach

invitare a – to invite

mandare a – to send

obbligare a – to oblige

passare a – to pass

persuadere a – to persuade

preparare a – to prepare

riuscire a – to succeed

spingere a – to push

venire a – to come

Most other verbs take “di”. Some common examples:

accettare di – to accept

avere bisogno di – to need

avere paura di – to be afraid of

avere voglia di – to feel like

cercare di – to try

chiedere di – to ask

credere di – to believe

decidere di – to decide

dimenticare di – to forget

dire di – to say

domandare di – to ask

finire di – to finish

ordinare di – to order

pensare di – to plan

permettere di – to permit

proibire di – to prohibit

promettere di – to promise

ricordare di – to remember

smettere di – to stop

sperare di – to hope

In these constructions, you use the present infinitive when the action expressed by the infinitive is taking place at the same time as the main verb or after. If the action expressed by the infinitive occurred prior to the main verb, use the past infinitive. Compare:

Lucio dice di vedere Mario. – Here Lucio is seeing Mario (present infinitive) while saying so (main verb), or will see him after.

Lucio dice di aver visto Mario. – Here Lucio saw Mario (past infinitive) prior to saying so (main verb).

Mario crede di capire tutto. – Here the understanding (present infinitive) and the belief (main verb) are simultaneous.

Mario crede di aver capito tutto. – Here the understanding (past infinitive) took place prior to the main verb.

Mario dice di fare tanti viaggi. – Travels take place at same time as speech or after.

Mario dice di aver fatto tanti viaggi. – Travels took place prior to speech.

In Place of Imperative in Official Settings

You will often see the infinitive used in place of the imperative (command form) in official settings (such as signs, directions, instructions, cookbooks, etc.)

Ritirare lo scontrino alla cassa. (Get a receipt at the cash register.)

The infinitive is also used for negative imperatives (commands) in the “tu” form. Some examples:

Non dire sciocchezze! – Don’t talk foolishness.

Non ridere! – Don’t laugh.

With Impersonal Expressions

These include…

È bene imparare una lingua straniera.

È giusto aiutare gli amici.

Non è possibile ricordare tutto.

Bisogna sapere le regole.

Basta studiare un’ora.

But only when no subject is explicit. Compare…

È bene imparare una lingua straniera. (no explicit subject – infinitive)

È bene che tu impari una lingua straniera. (explicit subject – subjunctive)

With Per to Convey Purpose

In Italian, to convey purpose (“in order to”) you use per + infinitive.

Ho telefonato per salutarti. (I phoned to say hi.) Notice English uses the infinitive alone, with no equivalent of “per”.

Infinitves are extremely useful in Italian, as common as water to a fish and so, easy to overlook. But once you start noticing them they seem to pop up everywhere. So it's good to get a handle on them. C4N!

to talk - talking

to read - reading

to leave - leaving

In Italian the ending depends on the verb type. For verbs that end in -are, the gerund ends in -ando. For -ere and -ire it’s -endo.

parlare - parlando

leggere - leggendo

partire - partendo

The only irregular gerunds are…

bere - bevendo

dire - dicendo

fare - facendo

porre - ponendo

soddisfare - soddisfacendo

tradurre - traducendo

trarre - traendo

All of this is known as the “gerundio semplice” in Italian. But there is also a “gerundio composto.” To form the gerundio composto, you take the gerund of avere or essere and add the past participle (form ending in -ato, -uto or -ito) of another verb. The same verbs that take essere in the passato prossimo take essere in the gerundio composto.

avendo parlato

avendo letto

essendo partito

English has this too – having talked, having read, having left.

So what do gerunds do?

When you have a sentence consisting of a main clause and a dependent or subordinate clause, and the verbs in both clauses have the same subject, you can often replace the verb in the dependent clause with a gerund. For example…

When I make mistakes [dependent clause], I learn [main clause].

=

By making mistakes [dependent clause verb replaced by gerund], I learn.

While I write, I think. = While writing, I think.

While he read, he ate an apple. = While reading, he ate an apple.

While they ate, they talked. = While eating, they talked.

Notice the gerund doesn’t change forms to reflect different subjects or tenses. It’s “writing” whether the subject is he, she, I or we, and whether the tense of the main clause verb is present, past or future.

All of this is true in Italian too.

Quando sbaglio, imparo. = Sbagliando, imparo.

Mentre scrivo, penso. = Scrivendo, penso.

Mentre leggeva, ha mangiato una mela. = Leggendo, ha mangiato una mela.

Mentre cenavano, parlavano. = Cenando, parlavano.

As long as the two clauses have the same subject you’re good to go. Conjunction and conjugated verb or gerund – the choice is yours. The difference is purely stylistic. Some people find conjugated verbs more clear and specific, others find gerunds more fluid and concise.

So when do you use a gerundio composto? When the verb in the dependent clause took place before the verb in the main clause.

Ha dormito male perché aveva mangiato troppo.

=

Avendo mangiato troppo, ha dormito male.

The eating too much took place prior to the sleeping badly so we use the gerundio composto.

Pronouns stick onto the end of gerunds.

Copiandolo ho sbagliato. (While copying it I made a mistake.)

Parlandogli, lo ho persuaso. (By talking to him, I persuaded him.)

It’s important to note that the relationship between the gerund and the main clause verb isn’t always temporal.

Sometimes it’s causal…

Siccome è malata, non viene. = Essendo malata, non viene.

Dato che non ho capito la domanda, non ho potuto rispondere. = Non avendo capito la domanda, non ho potuto rispondere.

Poiché era indisposto, non è intervenuto al dibattito. = Essendo indisposto, non è intervenuto al dibattito.

Sometimes the dependent clause gerund describes the means by or manner in which the main clause verb is performed.

Ha attraversato il fiume a nuoto. = Ha attraversato il fiume nuotando.

Si tiene su di morale con il canto. = Si tiene su di morale cantando.

And sometimes the gerund sets up a concession in spite of which the main clause verb holds true.

Benché sia piccolo, capisce tutto. = Pur essendo piccolo, capisce tutto.

Sebbene mangi molto, non ingrassa. = Pur mangiando molto, non ingrassa.

Nonostante abbia promesso di venire, non è ancora qui. = Pur avendo promesso di venire, non è ancora qui.

One last important note about the gerund before we move on to the present participle: in Italian (unlike English) it can never be a subject or direct object. For this, Italian uses the infinitive.

Learning a language well is not easy. (English uses gerund.)

Imparare bene una lingua non è facile. (Italian uses infinitive.)

Do you prefer singing or dancing? (English uses gerund.)

Preferisci cantare o ballare? (Italian uses infinitive.)

So what does all this have to do with “present participles”? Nothing! The two are completely separate and unrelated. Beginners sometimes confuse them only because they look similar (e.g. andando / andante), and because both often end in –ing in English. But grammatically the two couldn’t be less alike.

So what is a present participle? The short answer: a present participle is a verb made into an adjective.

By adding -ante to -are stems and -ente to -ere or -ire ones, you create an adjective. As such it must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies.

In agosto ci sono molte stelle cadenti. (from cadere - to fall)

Per cuocere la pasta ci vuole l’acqua bollente. (from bollire - to boil)

D’inverno si usano vestiti pesanti. (from pesare - to weigh)

L’ebreo errante (from errare - to wander) è una figura leggendaria.

Some present participles (like many adjectives in general) have become nouns over time. A good example of a present participle that became a noun is Sabrina, because she is una bravissima insegnante (from insegnare – to teach)!

Important note: not all Italian verbs have a present participle. For instance, you can’t say, “Il ragazzo mangiante.” Or, “Jung Hoo è una persona molto studiante.”

Often to get around this you use the relative pronoun “che” – il ragazzo che mangia, Jung Hoo è una persona che studia molto, etc.

Hope this is clear! C4N.

Ha fatto lavare la macchina.

He had the car washed.

Questa volta, mi farò tagliare i capelli più corti.

This time, I’ll have my hair cut shorter.

Note fare can be in any tense. The thing you’re having done is in the infinitive.

It also expresses the idea of making someone specific do something. The person you’re making do the action is an indirect object, and takes the preposition “a”. The thing you’re making them do the action to is a direct object. The action itself is still in the infinitive.

Domani, faccio pulire la camera a Maria.

Tomorrow I’ll have Maria clean the room.

Domani le faccio pulire la camera.

Tomorrow I’ll have her clean the room.

The usual rules apply to pronouns in this construction. They go before the verb (before fare to be exact).

Facciamo riparare la macchina.

We’re having the car repaired.

La facciamo riparare.

We’re having it repaired.

Facciamo riparare la macchina al mecanico.

We’re having the mechanic repair the car.

Gliela facciamo riparare.

We’re having him repair it.

Remember, as always, if the direct object is a pronoun, and the sentence is in the past, the past participle agrees with the direct object pronoun.

Gli abbiamo fatto riparare la macchina.

We had him repair the car.

Gliela abbiamo fatta riparare.

We had him repair it.

And, again as always, pronouns get attached to informal imperatives.

Fagliela riparare!

Have him fix it!

But precede formal ones.

Gliela faccia riparare.

To express the idea of having someone (specific or not) do something specifically for you (or for anyone specific), make fare reflexive. Farsi fare qualcosa da qualcuno (no longer a qualcuno). Since the verb is reflexive now, it conjugates with essere in the past, and the participle agrees with the subject.

Some examples.

Mario si fa fare un vestito dal sarto.

Mario is having the tailor make him a suit.

Mario se lo fa fare dal sarto.

Mario is having the tailor make it for him.

Mario si è fatto fare un vestito dal sarto.

Mario had the tailor make him a suit.

Maria se lo è fatta fare.

Maria had it made for her.

To my knowledge, there’s no way to say, “He had him make it for him” (three pronouns, indirect, direct and reflexive). But even in English this sounds like gobbledygook.

A common Italian expression using the fare causativo is, “Chi me lo fa fare!” (Or, in the past, “Chi me lo ha fatto fare!”) You use it to express exasperation when some attempt is going badly. C4N!

lavorare

lavorai
lavorasti
lavorò
lavorammo
lavoraste
lavorarono

credere

credei (or credetti)
credesti
credé (or credette)
credemmo
credeste
crederono (or credettero)

finire

finii
finisti
finì
finimmo
finiste
finirono

So you just remove the –are, –ere or –ire and substitute the endings shown in bold.

The problem with the passato remoto is that it has too many irregularities! Let’s start with the usual suspects…

essere
fui
fosti
fu
fummo
foste
furono

dare
diedi
desti
diede
demo
deste
diedero

dire
dissi
dicesti
disse
dicemmo
diceste
dissero

fare
feci
facesti
fece
facemmo
faceste
fecero

stare
stetti
stesti
stette
stemmo
steste
stettero

But it doesn’t end here. Most –ere verbs are irregular in the passato remoto. The irregularity takes the form of a change in the stem of the io, lui / lei and loro forms.

Most stems of –ere verbs whose accent falls on the –ere ending (like “avere”) double their final consonant.

Most stems of –ere verbs whose accent falls on the stem (like “leggere”) change their final consonant to s, ss, ns or rs.

But again, this stem change only affects the io, lui / lei and loro forms. The following conjugations of avere and leggere will illustrate.

avere

ebbi
avesti
ebbe
avemmo
aveste
ebbero

leggere

lessi
leggesti
lesse
leggemmo
leggeste
lessero

Like avere:

bere – bevvi
cadere – caddi
piacere – piacqui
sapere – seppi
vedere – vidi
venire – venni
volere – volli
conoscere – conobbi
nascere – nacqui

Like leggere:

chiedere – chiesi
correggere – corressi
decidere – decisi
dipingere – dipinsi
discutere – discussi
perdere – persi
piangere – piansi
prendere – presi
ridere – risi
rispondere – risponsi
scrivere – scrissi
sorridere – sorrisi
succedere – successi
vincere – vinsi

Molto can mean very, much, many, a lot or a lot of. In other words, "molto" ha molti significati! This is part of what makes it tricky. But the really hard part is knowing when to make it agree.

In layman's terms, molto agrees when it comes before a noun. It doesn't agree before an adjective or adverb or after a verb.

Before a noun it means many, much or a lot of, and is an adjective, so it agrees. Leggo molti libri. I read a lot of books (masculine noun). Canto molte canzoni. I sing a long of songs (feminine noun).

Before an adjective or adverb or after a verb it means very or a lot, and is an adverb, so no agreement. Sei molto bella. You are very beautiful. Balli molto bene. You dance very well. Mangio molto. I eat a lot.

But what about when it's used on its own and doesn't modify a noun, verb, adverb or adjective? Well then it's a pronoun - it's standing in for a noun and is acting as the subject or object of the sentence. In this case it takes the gender and number of the noun it's replacing. Quante donne hai? - Ne ho molte. How many ladies do you have? - I have many.

And there you have it. A quick and easy lesson that should forever clear up the confusing word molto.

Try the exercises in the activities section to make sure you get it. C4N!

Stressed Pronouns

me (me)
te (you)
Lei (you formal)
lui (him)
lei (her)
sé (yourself, himself, herself, oneself - reflexive)
noi (us)
voi (you plural)
Loro (you plural formal)
loro (them)
sé (yourselves, themselves - also reflexive)

So they look like a hybrid of direct or indirect object pronouns and subject pronouns. But take note: although Lei, lui, lei, noi, voi and loro look like subject pronouns, when used disjunctively they are not subjects!

So how are they used?

1) after a preposition

Questo libro è per te. (This book is for you.)
Siamo usciti con loro. (We went out with them.)
Pensa sempre a sé. (He always thinks about himself.)
Studiano sempre da sé. (They always study by themselves.)
A me non piace questo vino. (I don't like this wine - a more emphatic way of saying, "Non mi piace questo vino.")
Andiamo da lui. (We're going to his place.)

2) after a verb to give the direct or indirect object greater emphasis

Lo amo. - Amo lui. (I love him.)
Ti cercavo. - Cercavo te. (I was looking for you.)
Mi abbraccia. - Abbraccia me. (She hugs me.)

The above pairs of sentences have the same meanings, but the second in each pair is more emphatic. For even greater emphasis, use anche, proprio or solamente - e.g. Cercavo proprio te. Abbraccia solamente me.

3) after a verb to distinguish between multiple objects

Riconosce me ma non lui. - He recognizes me but not him.
Ha invitato noi e loro. - He invited us and them.

4) in comparisons

Marcello è più alto di me. (Marcello is taller than me.)
Loro sono meno paurosi di noi. (They are less fearful than us.)
Tuo fratello non era intelligente quanto te. (Your brother wasn't as smart as you.) 

A very common Italian idiomatic expression that uses stressed pronouns is, "Tocca a me!" - It's my turn! Of course, you can use it with the other disjunctive pronouns too - Tocca a te, tocca a noi, etc. So when the waiter brings you the bill and someone asks, "Chi paga oggi?" just say, "Eh purtroppo oggi tocca a te!" (Who's buying today? - Unfortunately today it's your turn!) C4N!

But before we get to that, let's learn a few more useful negative expressions.

non...ancora
not yet

non...più
no longer

non...affatto
not at all

non...mica
not in the least

non...punto
not at all

The "non" part of pretty much any negative expression always goes before the helper verb (avere or essere), or before any direct or indirect object pronoun or reflexive pronoun. It's the second part that hops around a bit.

Nessuno, niente, nulla and né...né always follow the participle.

Non hanno visto niente.
Non ha trovato nessuno.
Non abbiamo mangiato nulla.
Non hai comprato né il pane né il formaggio.
Non ho scritto nessuna lettera.

Mica and punto always go between the helper and participle.

Non ha mica parlato.
Non è punto arrivato.

Affatto, ancora, mai, neanche, neppure, nemmeno and più can go either between the helper and participle or after the participle.

Non si sono svegliati ancora.
Non si sono ancora svegliati.

Non ha viaggiato mai.
Non ha mai viaggiato.

Non mi ha salutato nemmeno.
Non mi ha nemmeno salutato.

There's not nothing more to it. C4N!