Ciao a tutti! Sono Taras.

• Chi sono? – Who am I?
• Chi sei? – Who are you?
• Chi è? – Who’s that/there?

Note: Chi pronounces as [ki]. Ch before vowel sounds as [k]. C before vowel sounds as [ch]

Okay, as we know from Lesson 1, Italian verbs are used in different forms for different pronouns. Happily there are only 3 types of verbs (we skip special cases for now) – ending on -are, -ere and -ire.

Verbs ending on -ARE. Parlare – 1st type verb

Today we gonna learn the conjunction rules for the first type of the verbs. First example will be parlare – to speak verb:

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Ciao a tutti! Hi everybody!

Last time we learned pronouns and essere (to be) verb. Let’s try to make statements, questions and answers with them.

Skip pronouns!

In English we generally need both pronoun + verb in a sentence:

• I am Joe, You are Bill, She is Carol, They are Mary, Ann and Jack.

In Italian (Italiano), pronouns are often skipped. Of course, you can say:

• Io sono Joe, Tu sei Bill, Lei è Carol, Loro sono Mary, Ann è Jack.

But, as a rule, you just use verbs – by the form of a verb it’s clear who are you talking about:

• Sono Pepe – I am Pepe

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Howdy, all?

I decided to move some of my handwritten notes on Italian studies to the blog, in case I lose my papers. There will be 15-20 short lessons – the very essence of Italian grammar, absolute minimum you should know to start speaking. I know, it’s not easy to start. But if you reach Lesson 7 (modal verbs), you’ll be able to build really a lot of phrases yourself.

We’re starting from pronouns and to be verb.

Italian pronouns – singular

• I – io (sounds like ‘yo, man!’, but sofffffter – jio)
• you – tu (informal)
• she – lei
• he – lui
• you – lei (formal or polite way)

Italian pronouns – plural

• we – noi (sounds like n + Oi-oi-oi! in songs)

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