Tag: Intermediate level – B1/B2

Informal letters are sent to family, friends and people who we know quite well. Example of an informal letter: Place and date Cagliari, 20 dicembre 2007 Recipient Caro Stefano, Introduction Riesco a scriverti solo adesso perché sono stato molto impegnato sia per gli allenamenti di basket sia per la scuola. B O D Y Purpose Ora però non posso più […]

Formal letters are used for matters of work and business. Often we don’t know who we are writing to. We could write to, for example: a public body a business department the manager of a company the head of a university department a freelance professional Because we don’t know the person, the language used is formal and we always use […]

This tense is used to indicate: a continuous action in the past Examples: Il telefono squillava ininterrottamente. (The telephone was ringing all the time.) Due anni fa andavo in palestra ogni tre giorni. (Two years ago I went to the gym every three days.) Prendevamo il treno ogni mattina alle 6:00. (We took the train every morning at 6 am.) or a […]

Some verbs are irregular in the direct imperative form: Essere (to be) Sii (tu) Siate (voi) Avere (to have) Abbi (tu) Abbiate (voi) Sapere (to know) Sappi (tu) Sappiate (voi) Other irregular imperative and monosyllabic verbs have two forms in the 2nd person singular: Dare (to give) Da’/ Dai (tu) Fare (to do/make) Fa’/ Fai (tu) Stare (to stay) Sta’/ Stai […]

The imperative is used to give orders or commands and corresponds with the present indicative. Es: Sii buono! (Be good!) Fai il bravo! (Behave!) Non dirlo a nessuno! (Don’t tell anyone!) Di la verità! (Tell the truth!) Abbiate pazienza! (Be patient!) Fate piano! (Take your time!) Mangia tutto! (Eat everything!) Dormite! (Sleep!) Leggete da pag. 1 a pag. 20! (Read from page 1 to page 20!) […]

The gerund is used to talk about: something happening now or at a certain time in the past something which happened in the past at the same time as another action It is formed from the root of the present simple + –ando or –endo, depending on the conjugation It can have two tenses: Present Mangiando una mela mi cadde un […]

The Italian future perfect tense is used in the following situations: Actions which will have already finished before another action takes place in the future (for which action we generally use the future simple). Example: Quando avrò finito di fare la doccia, uscirò. When I have finished my shower, I’ll go out.   To show uncertainty about whether something happened or not. […]