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)

• you – voi
• they – loro

• io – tu – lei – lui – lei
• noi – voi – loro

Easy, right?

I am <username>

The challenge is in remembering the verbs. Each italian verb has a separate form for each pronoun – so called conjugation. We’re starting from ‘to be’ verb – essere – and it’s different forms.

Essere – singular forms

• I am – io sono
• You are – tu sei
• He is – lui è
• She is – lei è
• You are – lei è

Essere – plural forms

• We are – noi siamo
• You are – voi siete
• They are – loro sono

• sono – sei – è
• siamo – siete – sono

(repeat these lines 10 times: sono, sei, è, siamo, siete, sono, …)

“But where is, bloody hell, the essere word itself???” – you ask. These 5 words (sono, sei, è, siamo, siete, sono) are 5 different forms of essere. It behaves the same way as to be – we use am, is, are, was, … – but not to be itself.

We’re ready to introduce ourselves now:

• I am Taras. Nice to meet ya! – Io sono Taras. Piacere di conoscerti!

Let’s move to Lesson 2 for more examples!