Italian For Dummies, Enhanced Edition

The fun and easy way to take your Italian language skills to the
next level

The tips, techniques, and information presented here give
students, travelers, and businesspeople a primer on how to speak
Italian. Complete with updates, a bonus CD, and the traditional
For Dummies user-friendly format, this new edition of
Italian For Dummies gives you reliable lessons, practice,
and language learning techniques for speaking Italian with ease and
confidence.

Featuring a revamped, user-friendly organization that builds on
your knowledge and ability, Italian For Dummies offers
expanded coverage of the necessary grammar, major verb tenses, and
conjugations that beginners need to know. Plus, you'll get a fully
updated and expanded audio CD that includes real-life
conversations; a refreshed and expanded mini-dictionary; more
useful exercises and practice opportunities; and more.

• Builds on your skills and ability as you learn

• Covers the grammar, verb tenses, and conjugations you need to
  know

• Includes a mini-dictionary

• Audio CD includes real-life conversations

If you're looking to reach a comfort level in conversational
Italian, Italian For Dummies gets you comfortably speaking
this Romantic language like a native.

Auteur

Berlitz has taught languages to millions of people for more than 130 years. Francesca Romana Onofri and Karen Antje Moller are veteran language teachers. Teresa L. Picarazzi, PhD, teaches Italian at The Hopkins School and has lived and worked in Cortona, Florence, Ravenna, Siena, and Urbino.

Résumé
The fun and easy way to take your Italian language skills to the next level The tips, techniques, and information presented here give students, travelers, and businesspeople a primer on how to speak Italian. Complete with updates, a bonus CD, and the traditional For Dummies user-friendly format, this new edition of Italian For Dummies gives you reliable lessons, practice, and language learning techniques for speaking Italian with ease and confidence.

Featuring a revamped, user-friendly organization that builds on your knowledge and ability, Italian For Dummies offers expanded coverage of the necessary grammar, major verb tenses, and conjugations that beginners need to know. Plus, you'll get a fully updated and expanded audio CD that includes real-life conversations; a refreshed and expanded mini-dictionary; more useful exercises and practice opportunities; and more.

• Builds on your skills and ability as you learn
• Covers the grammar, verb tenses, and conjugations you need to know
• Includes a mini-dictionary
• Audio CD includes real-life conversations
  If you're looking to reach a comfort level in conversational Italian, Italian For Dummies gets you comfortably speaking this Romantic language like a native.

Contenu

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

How This Book is Organized 3

Part I: Getting Started 3

Part II: Italian in Action 3

Part III: Italian on the Go 4

Part IV: The Part of Tens 4

Part V: Appendixes 4

Icons Used in This Book 4

Where to Go from Here 5

Part I: Getting Started 7

Chapter 1: Saying It Like It is 9

You Already Know Some Italian! 9

Cognates 11

Popular expressions 11

Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation 12

The Alphabet 13

Vowels 13

Consonants 15

Stressing Words Properly 19

Using Gestures 20

Chapter 2: Jumping Into the Basics of Italian 21

Setting Up Simple Sentences 21

Coping with Gendered Words (Articles, Nouns, and Adjectives) 22

Nouns and gender 22

The indefinite articles 23

Definite articles 24

Adjectives 25

Talking about Pronouns 26

Personal pronouns 27

Saying you: Formal and informal 27

Verbs 28

Introducing regular and irregular verbs 28

Idiomatic uses of avere 32

Having to, wanting to, being able to 37

Presenting the Simple Tenses: Past, Present, and Future 38

Chapter 3: Buongiorno! Salutations! 43

Looking at Common Greetings and Good-byes 43

Deciding between formal or friendly 45

Replying to a greeting 45

Specifying your reuniting 46

Making Introductions 47

Introducing yourself 47

Introducing other people 50

Getting Acquainted 53

Finding out whether someone speaks Italian 53

Talking about where you come from 54

Extending and responding to invitations 60

Chapter 4: Getting Your Numbers and Time Straight 63

Counting Numbers 63

Times of Day and Days of the Week 66

Using the Calendar and Making Dates 68

Making dates 69

Telling time 70

Chatting about the Weather 72

Familiarizing Yourself with the Metric System 77

Length and Distance 78

Weight 78

Part II: Italian in Action 83

Chapter 5: Casa dolce casa (Home Sweet Home) 85

Ordering Ordinals 85

Inhabiting Your Home 87

Hunting for an apartment 87

Sprucing up your apartment 92

Furnishing your new pad 93

Housekeeping in style 95

Cooking and cleaning 98

Doing household chores 100

Chapter 6: Where is the Colosseum? Asking Directions 103

Finding Your Way: Asking for Specific Places 103

Mapping the quarters and following directions 105

Verbs on the Move 109

Locations You May Be Looking For 113

Chapter 7: Food Glorious Food and Don't Forget the Drink 119

Eating, Italian Style 119

Drinking, Italian Style 119

Expressing your love for espresso 120

Beverages with even more of a kick 121

The Start and End of Dining Out 123

Making reservations 124

Paying for your meal 125

Having Breakfast 126

Eating Lunch 127

Enjoying Dinner 129

Shopping for Food 132

Al macellaio (ahl mah-chehl-lahy-oh) (at the butcher's) 132

Pesce (fish) (peh-sheh) 133

At the panetteria (breadshop) 134

Chapter 8: Shopping, Italian Style 139

Clothing Yourself 139

Deciding between department stores and boutiques 139

Sizing up Italian sizes 143

Talking definitely and indefinitely 144

Coloring your words 145

Accessorizing 147 <p&g...