Italian Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Italian grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Italian and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Italian and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Italian.

Prepositions - Italian
and e
above sopra
under sotto
before prima
after dopo
in front of di fronte a
behind dietro
far from lontano da
near vicino
in in
inside dentro
outside al di fuori
with con
without senza
about riguardo
between tra
but ma
for per
from da
to a

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Italian
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] mangio senza coltello
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] vive vicino alla chiesa
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] lui è più alto di lei
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] è venuto con il suo cane piccolo
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] può venire con me?

Negation in Italian

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Italian
I understand you [affirmative form] ho capito
I don't understand you [negation + verb] non ho capito
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] questa non è la parola giusta
don't leave me [imperative negation] non mi lasci
no problem [negation + noun] nessun problema

Negative Sentences - Italian
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] non parlo francese
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] lei non ha visitato la germania
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] lui non ci vede
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] lei non è capace di giocare a scacchi?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] noi non arriveremo in ritardo

Questions in Italian

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Italian
how? come?
what? che cosa?
who? chi?
why? perché?
where? dove?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Italian
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] dove abita?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] lei parla cinese?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] quanto costa?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] posso aiutarla?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] qual è il suo nome?

Adverbs in Italian

It's time to learn the adverbs in Italian. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Italian
now ora
yesterday ieri
today oggi
tonight stasera
tomorrow domani
soon presto
quickly rapidamente
slowly lentamente
together insieme
very molto
almost quasi
always sempre
usually solitamente
sometimes a volte
rarely raramente
never mai

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Italian
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] ha capito adesso?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] ho bisogno di aiuto subito
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] lei è molto intelligente
I will always love you [verb + adverb] io ti amerò sempre
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] possiamo imparare insieme il tedesco?

Pronouns in Italian

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Italian. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Italian
I io
you tu, lei
he egli
she ella
we noi
they essi

Object Pronouns - Italian
me me
you te
him lui
her lei
us noi
them loro

Possessive Pronouns - Italian
my il mio
your il tuo/la tua
his il suo/la sua
her il suo/la sua
our il nostro/la nostra
their il/la loro

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Italian
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] io sono il tuo amico
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] lei parla molto veloce
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] ha tre cani
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] parla tedesco
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] non non arriveremo in ritardo
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] hanno comprato il latte e il pane

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Italian
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] può dirmi il suo nome?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] io le darò i soldi
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] lei gli ha scritto una lettera
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] le hanno fatto visita ieri
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] lei ci può aiutare?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] lui ci ha dato del cibo

Possessive Pronouns - Italian
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] il mio nome è maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] suo fratello vive qui
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] la madre cucina per noi
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] il suo hobby è la lettura di libri
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] il nostro sogno è quello di visitare parigi
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] la loro casa non è lontana

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Italian
this is my house questa è la mia casa
that restaurant is far questo ristorante è lontano
these apples are delicious queste mele sono deliziose
those stars are shiny quelle stelle sono lucenti

I hope you learned a lot about the Italian grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!