Grammar to demo #1

Ciao amici! In the first demo of our video game La leggenda di Borgo Bello you can discover the house of Kira and Cody. You will learn vocabulary and grammar. But which grammar? In this article we’ll quickly refresh it!

1. Where are you from?
2. The articles
3. The plural
4. The present
5. C’è, ci sono
6. Mi piace, mi piacciono
7. The time
   1. Which time is it?
   2. At what time…?
   3. From – to
8. The date
   1. What day is it today?
   2. When?
   3. From – to
   4. Birthday
   5. Weekdays, months and seasons
9. Where are you going? The prepositions IN, A and DA

1. Provenienza Origin

To talk about where are you from, you use the verb venire with the preposition da.

If you mention your country, then you also need the matching article (il, lo, l’, gli, i, le), which combines with the preposition. The decision of the article depends on the genus, number and initial sound of the noun (see point 2). Most countries are feminine.

Alternative: There is also this formula essere + di: Di dove sei? Sono di Milano/Berlino/Tokyo. This formula can only be used with cities, not with countries.

2. The article

In Italian, the article is determined by the numerus, genus and beginning sound of the noun.

Masculine

Feminine

3. The plural

Generally, the plural ending of the nouns depends on the final sound of the singular form.

4. The present

Verbs are divided into three conjugation classes in Italian: Verbs with infinitive on –are, –ere and –ire.

Some verbs are irregular:

• Essere to be: io sono, tu sei, lui è, noi siamo, voi siete, loro sono.
• Avere to have: io ho, tu hai, lui ha, noi abbiamo, voi avete, loro hanno.
• Fare to do: io faccio, tu fai, lui fa, noi facciamo, voi fate, loro fanno.
• Andare to go: io vado, tu vai, lui va, noi andiamo, voi andate, loro vanno.
• Venire to come: io vengo, tu vieni, lui viene, noi veniamo, voi venite, loro vengono.

5. C’è, ci sono

C’è and ci sono mean there is, there are.

Small tip to distinguish è from c’è: If the sentence starts with a location, then you need c’è.

• Sul tavolo c’è una bottiglia vs. La bottiglia è sul tavolo. On the table there’s a bottle vs. The bottle is on the table.
• Al bar c’è un signore vs. Il signore è al bar. In the café there is a man vs. The man is in the café.

6. Mi piace, mi piacciono

7. The time

7.1. Che ore sono? Sono le… What time is it? It’s…

Exceptions:

• 12:00 È mezzogiorno.
• 24:00 È mezzanotte.
• 13:00/01.00 È l’una.

7.2. A che ora? Alle… At what time? At…

To say at what time you are doing something, use the preposition alle followed by the time.

• Alle due at two
• Alle tre e mezza at half past three
• Alle sette meno un quarto at seven fifteen

Exceptions:

• A mezzogiorno at Midday
• A mezzanotte at Midnight
• All’una at one

7.3. Dalle – alle from – to

To express a time span, you use the prepositions dalle – alle from – to, both followed by the time.

• Dalle sette alle otto From seven to eight
• Dalle nove e mezza alle dieci From half past nine to ten
• Dalle tre meno dieci alle tre From ten to three to three

Exceptions:

• Da mezzogiorno / A mezzogiorno. From / to Midday
• Da mezzanotte / A mezzanotte. From / to Midnight
• Dall’una / all’una. From / to one

8. The date

8.1. Che giorno è oggi? Oggi è… What day is it today? Today is…

To say what day it is today, you need the article il before the day, followed without any prepositions by the month. The day is given as the basic number. But you don’t need an article before a weekday.

• Oggi è il 24 (ventiquattro) agosto. Today is August the 24th.
• Oggi è sabato. Today is Saturday.
• Oggi è sabato 24 aprile. Today is Saturday, April 24th.

Exception: 01 = il primo. Oggi è il primo agosto. Today is August the 1st.

8.2. Quando? When?

• With dates: il 3 agosto, il 5 luglio
• With years: nel 2020, 1980
• With weekdays: lunedì, martedì
• With months: a/in marzo, settembre
• With seasons: in estate, inverno
• With holidays: a Pasqua, Natale

Attention with weekdays:

• lunedì on Monday
• il lunedì Mondays (every Monday)

8.3. Da – a From – to

To express the time span of a date, you use da – a from – to, together with the article if necessary (dal – al):

• dal 10 al 15 marzo from 10th to 15th March
• da gennaio a febbraio from January to February
• da lunedì a venerdì from Monday to Friday
• dal lunedì al venerdì from Mondays to Fridays

8.4. Il compleanno The birthday

• Quand’è il tuo compleanno? Il mio compleanno è il 2 aprile. When’s your birthday? My birthday is on April 2nd.
  • Also: Quando compi gli anni? Compio gli anni il 2 aprile.
• Quando sei nato/a? Sono nato/a il 4 novembre 1990 (millenovecentonovanta). When were you born? I was born on November 4th, 1990.

8.5. Settimana, mesi e stagioni Weekdays, months and seasons

La settimana

I mesi e le stagioni

9. Dove vai? Le preposizioni Where are you going? Prepositions

The most common prepositions you need to answer the question dove vai? ‘where are you going’ are A, IN and DA, which can be combined with the article.

• IN with continents, countries, regions:
  • Vado in Italia Italy, in Germania Germany, in Toscana Tuscany, in Puglia Apulien, in Baviera Bavaria.
• IN with places of the hous:
  • Vado in cucina in the kitchen, in salotto in the living room, in camera in the bedroom (with ‘bagno’ bathroom/toilet you can use also ‘al’).
• A with cities:
  • Vado a Milano Milan, a Roma Rom, a Firenze Florence, a Londra London, a Vienna Vienna
• A with verbs in the infinitive:
  • Vado a mangiare eat, a leggere read, a fare la spesa grocery shopping.
• A with directions as:
  • a destra right, a sinistra left, a nord North, a sud South, a est East, a ovest West.
• DA (with article if necessary) with people:
  • Vado da Maria to Maria, da mia madre to my Mutter, dal dottore to the doctor.

With other locations there is more variation and difficulty in capturing a rule. In general, however, the following can be observed:

• Many male nouns have A + article, i.e. AL (or ALL’ + vowel);
• Many female nouns have IN; for certain those that end in –ia (e.g. pizzeria) and –teca (e.g. discoteca);
• Of course, some do not follow this pattern (e.g. in ufficio, in centro, all’università);
• Some, but not many words have A without article (e.g. a scuola);
• Some have a double possibility (e.g. alla/in posta).

Here there’s a list for you:

Note: When the name of a place carries some specification, like an adjective or a description, only the preposition a + article is used:

• Vado alla chiesa di Sant’Ilario. I go the church of Sant’Ilario.
• Vado alla biblioteca comunale. I go to the city library.
• Vado al negozio di giocattoli. I go to the toy store.

Now, play!

A few more words

We hope you enjoyed our article. You can help us by sharing our articles or leaving us a comment. We are looking forward to your feedback! Want to learn more about our game? Read our other articles! Have fun learning and playing!

Kira and Cody